Sport
29 May, 2024
Trainer's 1500km Mount Isa treks continue to pay dividends
Barcaldine trainer Bevan 'Billy' Johnson landed a treble at Buchanan Park on Saturday.
Long distance trips go hand in hand with Outback living, but few would be as well travelled as Bevan “Billy” Johnson, who makes his living sending horses to Queensland’s most remote racecourses.
Now based at Barcaldine, the trainer has become a regular in the North West – and for good reason – he usually comes home with a swag of winners.
On Saturday, Johnson and his stable jockey Corey Bayliss won three of the five races at Mount Isa, along with a second and third placing.
They took home more than $23,000 in prizemoney.
No trainer in Australia would boast a better strike rate at a racecourse than Johnson’s at Buchanan Park.
From a lifetime 113 starters in the Isa, he’s had 38 wins at a strike rate of 33.6 per cent and 71 top-three finishes for a place strike rate of 62.8 per cent.
That strike rate is even better in recent times.
Johnson first came to Mount Isa in the 2010-11 season and was a part-time visitor until the 2014-15 season. In that time he had five wins and two placings from 19 starters.
He wasn’t sighted for six years, but since his return in the 2021-22 season he’s had 94 runners in the Copper City for 32 winners and 31 placings.
“Must be something in the Barcy water,” Johnson joked.
Formerly based in Miles and then Moranbah, the horseman is well travelled and has fine tuned his arrangements while on the road.
But Johnson wasn’t keen to give away his secrets when North West Weekly made some polite enquiries in the mounting yard on Saturday.
Asked about his travel arrangements, knowing that it is about 750 clicks from Barcaldine to Mount Isa, he quipped: “I can’t tell ya that.”
“We used to go all the way to McKinlay and then stop, but it was a bit too far, I reckon.”
Johnson is believed to stop somewhere near Winton on the way, leaving Friday and finishing the trip to Mount Isa on Saturday mornings.
It’s a long trip back to Barcy, but usually made a lot sweeter when the horses have performed well on the track.
It would have been an extra sweet trip home on Sunday.
No doubt Johnson will be back on Saturday week for the Mount Isa Cup meeting. He’s planning to bring the Peter Moody-owned Caffrey for the feature event.
They grey gelding finished fourth in last year’s Cup.