MONDAY 20 JULY 2026
By GRAEME WHITE
Jim Scobie trained his first winner with his very first stater in the 1980s, he has tasted success in hometown Gundagai Snake Gully Cup and in more recent times is having a winning run he has never experienced.
Scobie is a knockabout – one of racing’s good guys – who trains a handful of racehorses as well as competing in show jumping.
He shoes his own horses, transports his horses five kilometres from his home to the Gundagai racecourse almost daily and rides his own track work.
The 67-year-old has won with five of his past twelve starters and two of his team – Heart Balm and National Asset – have been successful at their past two starts.
Scobie also won with $51 chance Tea Or Coffee at Queanbeyan on May 17 to get his winning roll started.
Tea Or Coffee and Heart Balm will represent him at Wagga on Monday, while his other recent winner, National Asset, will wait until the next Gundagai meeting.
“I have been in this game long enough to know the run of winners will come to an end,” he joked.
“I have learnt a lot about training over the years and have changed a few things.”
Scobie acknowledged the efforts of his trackwork rider Tyla Smith – an accomplished show jumper who has been a big part of his recent success – and also the efforts by his wife Kathy Blay who has been his biggest supporter for many years.
“We race all these horses ourselves with the family and that what has made the wins even more special,” he said.
“Tyla’s mother Gai Derrick was a jockey and she has a lot of natural ability. Tyla is at the track every morning and we work the horses together and she has made a big difference to how the horses are going.
“It’s a team effort. The horses have come good with time and in particular Heart Balm who was very slow early on.”
Tea Or Coffee will contest the Kennards Hire Wagga Battlers Cup Benchmark 50 (1300m) with Jordan Quince aboard.
Quince has also ridden Heart Balm in his two wins, while experienced jockey Brad Vale has been aboard National Asset.
Scobie elected to engage Quince for the ride on Tea Or Coffee when she was having her first ride back in the region after relocating to Canberra.
“Tea Or Coffee has a wide draw on Monday, but Jordan knows what to do and always does her best,” he said.
“I have persevered with Heart Balm and he has kept getting better.
‘National Asset has tested my resolve and Brad (Vale) has stuck to him like Tarzan’s Grip. It’s exciting to see where he might end up because his last two wins have been pretty good.
“He was a naughty horse early days dumping Brad, but he has learnt as he has gone.”
Scobie said he was happy show jumping and having fewer horses in training until his numbers started to grow and the horses he had in training started to prove their worth.
From his first win with Stuckashy at Tumut, Scobie has something of a new lease on racing life with his run of wins.
His 2015 Snake Gully Cup win with Zero To Ten remains a career highlight, but as far as winning strike-rates are concerned nothing during his career comes close to that of the past couple of months.
Heart Balm chases three straight wins in the Wagga Workwear Benchmark 58 (1600m) and Scobie is expecting him to be in the finish.
“It’s the perfect race for him and the mile suits,” he said.
Heart Balm’s wins have been over 1400 metres on very heavy tracks at Wagga and he will step up to the 1600 metres for the first time on a similar surface.