2022 Hall of Fame inductee – Thomas Alan Parker

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Harness, Uncategorised

In the long history of WA harness racing, it is safe to say that no one person has contributed more to the accurate historical documentation of the sport than Alan Parker. He has evenre-invented the way documents are recorded by designing an archive system that has become the foundation of index databases for Harness Racing Australia, as well as Gloucester Park.

Parker’s attraction to trotting began at school around friends like reinsman Laurie Robinson. That lure was cemented at the first race meeting he attended, at Gloucester Park on New\ Year’s Day, 1970.

There the awestruck teenager was treated to the spectacle of the legendary Mount Eden winning a three-year-old race, as well as the horse that was to become Parker’s lifetime favourite, Dainty’s Daughter, winning the WA Trotting Cup in world record time.

After leaving school Alan Parker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at UWA with a dual major in history and English.

The degree took four years instead of the customary three because Parker spent much of the time studying the history of WA trotting, which unfortunately was not part of the syllabus.

That study, however, led him to start creating a file of index cards recording details of breeding, wins, placings and so on. This diligence led to an intrigued WATA Racing Manager Ray Holloway and Registrar Laurie Collins interviewing Parker in 1977 with a view to giving him a job as Collins’ assistant. Interesting to note, Parker would replace Collins as registrar within three years, in 1980, and Holloway as racing manager in the early Nineties.

In between, Parker began providing statistical data to the starved media. This information became more and more
valuable to journalists and commentators and Parker kept seeking to expand and improve his record keeping.

All through these years he laboriously trawled through a maze of yellowing scrapbook articles in the WATA’s numerous and voluminous dust-covered tomes, hidden under staircases and in dark, rarely visited rooms in the admin building, patiently compiling a detailed list of race results dating back to 1910, the beginnings of licensed trotting in Western Australia.

This log currently incorporates around 150,000 races run in WA and from it was born the 500 Club for drivers.

No other state has such comprehensive statistical data looking back but all states now share the ability to ensure the accuracy and completeness of their archives, going forward.

Alan Parker’s research has also led to otherwise lost stories being uncovered, which in turn have led to his penning
hundreds of articles and earning a plethora of national harness racing awards.

He also co-wrote “The Village Kid Story” with beloved trainer Bill Horn.

In addition to all of this, while he was racing manager at Gloucester Park, Parker made it his business to cajole the
connections of the greatest pacers in Australia to journey to Perth for the annual summer carnivals.

And he also organised flights for the horses – often a nightmare task – and stabling for the visitors.

Pacers he helped get to Perth include Westburn Grant and Franco Ice in the unforgettable summer of 1991/92, Grand
Circuit Champion Sunshine Band in the mid-Nineties, tripleInter Dominion winner and dual WA Pacing Cup winner Our Sir Vancelot late in that decade and the likes of Miracle Mile winner Franco Tiger, Sokyola, Jofess, Shakamaker and too many more to list.

In his devotion to harness racing, from bloodlines to form guides, industry publications to newspaper articles, there is not much Alan Parker has not written about, expanded on or improved.

Retiring in 2015, he nevertheless continued to devote time researching history and pedigrees and the day he dies he will undoubtedly leave some half-finished article for his much loved wife Dot to find. Alan Parker, Keeper of the Scrolls, and worthy resident in the WA Racing Industry’s Hall of Fame.