Our Industry – Vale Bob Sweet
With the sad passing of Bob Sweet, this week we take a look at the remarkable life of Bob and all that he achieved in his 90 years of life and his many years of success in harness racing.
After meeting his wife Debra in 1983, after training horses for her in South Australia, the pair made the move to Western Australia in 1984 where they purchased their first property in Mundijong. Making the move with their smart filly Ebony Imp, the 2-year-old filly contested the Silver Bracelet Stakes where she finished third in the feature, and whilst she didn’t win a feature race in WA, seven of her 11 career victories were in WA, with five being metropolitan classed races.
In 1985, Bob and Debra welcomed baby girl into the world, who they named Tara, and the two were married a year later in 1986. Tara followed in her father’s footsteps, an avid horse lover and heavily involved in the breaking in and educating of pacers with her husband, Donald Harper.
Throughout his many years involved in harness racing, Bob trained a total of 114 winners in WA, but his passion was in the breaking in and educating of youngsters, which the talented horseman showed a real talent for.
“Dad always said he owed a big thank you to Trevor Warwick as he was the first person to give Dad a go in WA with educating horses for him,”
“He was a master when it came to breaking in, educating and problem horses. He has broken in some very talented horses over the years but said his favourite horse by far was Saab.” His daughter Tara Harper said.
Not only was he an astute horseman, but many would also vouch that Bob was just an all-round great man.
“Dad really was one of a kind, a true gentleman who would give the shirt off his back to help others. He was a very loving husband, father and Pa and we are truly blessed to have had shared this wonderful and amazing life he lived. He lived and breathed for his horses and family.” Tara said.
The father of six had five children from his first marriage in South Australia, with his children Christine, Lynette, Julie, Phillip not following on with his passion of horses, however his son Leslie did, spending many years as a trainer and driver in South Australia himself, as well as Bob’s grandson Garry Butler, who spent a lot of his childhood with his ‘Pa’, followed him around from a young age and had a love for the horses, going on to train and drive in WA himself.
Sweet was the first person in South Australia to hold a dual licence, training both thoroughbreds and standardbreds at one point before relocating to the west. His love of horses began at a young age, with Sweet’s father training horses, and at age 14 he started driving and from that day forward he was hooked and never looked back.
Up until just seven years ago, aged 83, Sweet still had a couple of horses in work but unfortunately after suffering from a mild heart attack and stroke, he hung up his reins and moved into what some would call, semi-retirement.
“He would come to our (Donald and Tara Harper) place every morning and make the feeds up, hay up and sweep the sheds and do odd jobs around the stables for us.”
Bob Sweet had plenty of success over his 70 plus years of involvement in harness racing, with special mention to Devastating, who took out the 2004 2YO Western Crown Classic, 2005 Group 1 2YO Colt sires Stakes and ran second in the 2005 Group 1 2YO Golden Slipper. Centrefold Angel was another of his breaking and educating successes, with the filly trained by his wife Deb, adding the 2009 Group 1 Diamond Classic Final and the 2010 Dainty’s Daughter 3YO Classic to her impressive resume, just to name a few.
Ashleigh Paikos