Paul Richards: Craig, you’re giving up riding.

Craig Dinn: Yep, I’ve been riding work for Godolphin (James Cummings ’s stable) at Flemington for the past five years and last Saturday was my last morning.

Who was the last horse you rode?

It was a three-year-old called Legio Ten. He won at Bendigo the other day (May 17). He goes okay.

And why are you giving it away?

Well, I’m 58 now. I was having a chat to Reg Fleming and Sean Keogh from Godolphin a few months back and told them I didn’t think I could do another winter. I finished riding on Saturday and got up here to my place on the Gold Coast on Monday for a short break. I’m 200 metres from the beach and looking forward to enjoying some warm weather instead of getting up at 3.30 every morning to ride in the cold at Flemington. I’ve been riding at Flemington for 40 years. I’ve had enough. I’ve been lucky that I’ve never broken any bones and I get to leave on my terms and on good terms. If it wasn’t for Godolphin giving me a job five years back I would have given it up ages ago.

Has Flemington changed much 40 years?

A lot. When I started there were no tunnels under the track. There were no lights either, so we were working them in the dark with just a lamp on our heads, if we were lucky. There were no sand tracks or polytracks. It was just turf.

Let’s go right back. How did you get involved with racing?

Roy Higgins (champion rider) was a good friend of the family. His wife Janine’s sister went to school with my mum at Heatherton State School. I was small and Roy said If I ever wanted to become a jockey to let him know. I was living on the Gold Coast for a little while when I decided to come back to Melbourne and have a go. I stayed with Roy and the plan was that I’d ride trackwork for a few months and see if I liked it. Roy was good friends with Tommy Hughes at Flemington, so I went along and he took me on as an apprentice.

So Roy taught you how to ride?

Yes, he and Gary Murphy, who was also riding for Tommy, were a great help. When I first started riding winners I was being touted by the media as Roy’s protégé.

How was the exposure?

Fine, because Tommy’s stable was a punting stable and one of the first things I was taught was to keep my mouth shut and my eyes open. So, the press would ask me questions but I wouldn’t say much so they stopped asking me. I also rode for George Hanlon, and it was the same thing.

You mentioned Tommy Hughes’s stable was a punting one. Did the boss always give you a sling?

Not always. But I rode a few winners for Mark Read back when he was training. There were a few nice results there. I remember one day a horse called Track Jester ... I rode him first up at Ballarat over 1000m and let’s just say he wasn’t fit enough — he finished seventh. Mark had a 1400-metre race at Werribee picked out for him and wanted to run him in a 1200-metre race beforehand. I said, “No, don’t — he’s going too well. He’ll win it.” So he held off and was able to get a nice return on the race he’d planned all along.

Do you remember your first winner?

Yes, I rode a double on Vanuatu and Fittipaldi at Kyneton on July 1, 1982. They were both for Tommy Hughes.

And your first city winner?

Fiery Embers at Flemington on July 9, 1983. I beat David Charles narrowly (Asterman). I used to look up to him as a rider back then and now, 40 years on, he’s working for Godolphin in Sydney and I’ve been working for them in Melbourne.

You are pretty good with the dates.

Ha ha. When I knew we were catching up I dug out my old scrapbooks so I had an idea what you might want to talk about.

You rode Combat in the Melbourne Cup that year.

For TJ (Tommy) Smith. We led going past the post the first time.

Really? You ended up finishing second-last (23rd). When did you realise you weren’t going to win?

Probably in the jockeys’ room before the race. He was a 100/1 chance.

Do you remember the day you won the Chirnside Stakes on Lake Worth at Caulfield (1985)?

Yes, I came back to scale and all the punters were booing. I didn’t care because I’d won the race. Rory’s Jester was the odds-on favourite but he forced the gates open before the starter said go. A couple ended up running the whole course, but the rest of us pulled our horses up and went back to the start. They scratched the other two, then started the race again. Rory’s Jester didn’t jump that well and ended up missing a place.

You won your first Group 1 the following year on Simbolico (1986).

Yes, the VRC Sires’ Produce. I won it again on Rechabite (1989) a few years later. Simbolico was a pretty talented two-year-old. I think he would have developed into a good horse in the spring. He won a trial, but then got crook and died. Rechabite was a bit moody but very good.

You also won a Gadsden Stakes (now Champions Sprint) on Taj Quillo (1986) for Bart Cummings.

I’ll never forget that day. I knew he was a good chance but I was a bit nervous given it was such a big race. Anyway, just as Bart was about to leg me up, I asked him, “How do you want me to ride him?” He just said, “You know what you’re doing. Good luck.” It was such a vote of confidence.

I read a report where Bart’s stable foreman Leon Corstens wondered what the hell you were doing when you let Bullion Broker go past you at the 250m mark.

I don’t remember that. I was always a very patient rider so it doesn’t surprise me that he was concerned when Bullion Broker hit the lead, but I was always confident in Taj Quillo. He raced in the same colours as Taj Rossi, white with the brown hoops.

Speaking of Taj Rossi (1972 Cox Plate), I believe Bart considered Broad Reach the best three-year-old he’d had since him after he won the Moonee Valley (Stutt) Stakes in 1986.

Did he really? Well, he was very good. I remember before the race at the Valley, I rode him in work and he didn’t seem right. I told Bart and he said, “He’s okay but I’ll check him out.” After he won a few days later he said, “Still think he’s sore, son?”

You might have been right though as I believe he wasn’t right after the Caulfield Guineas.

He finished a close third to Abaridy, who was a 250/1 chance. Broad Reach hung out most of the way and then pulled up sore.

You also won a very rich race on Prince Regent at the Gold Coast (Southern Cross 3YO Classic, 1989).

It was worth over $500,000 to the winner. There were only a handful of races like that back then. I only got the ride because Neil Williams had a fall and wasn’t able to take the mount. I was up there on holiday and he rang me on the Monday and asked if I wanted to ride it. I said, “No, I’m on holidays. I don’t want it.” Anyway, he convinced me to take it, then he drew very wide and it poured rain in the lead-up. Kelso Wood was the trainer and he said, “I don’t think he’ll handle the wet track. Just try to get him some cover and see how you go.” Anyway, he flew the gates and I got across to lead and hugged the paint the whole way. He won easily.

Who was the best horse you rode?

I rode a two-year-old for Cliff Fahler called How Proud. He won three Saturdays in a row. He could have been anything, but he wasn’t quite right when he ran fourth in the Maribyrnong Plate (1984) and died in his paddock soon after.

You gave away race riding in October 2003. Why was that?

I’d been finding it hard to get rides and I’d just had enough. My brother Peter was a builder, and he had a good project going on the Gold Coast. He asked me to go and help him, so I gave it away and went and did that.

Did you miss race riding?

Not at all. I’d always planned to be a builder at some stage. I did it for a few years, then that project finished up. I was sitting at home one day flicking through the paper and saw an ad for an English-speaking person to go and be a teacher in South Korea. I thought that could be fun, so I applied and got the job. I did that for three months, teaching English, science and economics to kids aged between five and 12.

Were science and economics your specialties at school before you became a jockey?

Ha ha, no. Given I was teaching young kids I thought, “How hard could that be?” I managed to get by.

You also did a bit of acting, with a role in Ride Like a Girl.

Well, I got paid well for half a day’s work. I was only in the background, walking from the mounting yard to the scales, but it took all afternoon to film it.

What will you do now you’ve given up riding track work?

When I came back to Australia from South Korea I got a job with Sophie Clark Saddlery, making horse rugs, head collars etc as well as making repairs to other bits of gear. I’ve been doing that for 10 years and had been riding work at Flemington as a second job. I’ll keep working at Sophie’s so I’ll still sort of be involved in the industry.

Excellent. Craig, great to catch up and well done on 40 years in the saddle and all the best for the future.

Thanks for the call, Paul. It’s good to finally talk to the media after not being allowed to when I was riding.