John Tapp Racing

Had a phone call recently from former top jockey Gordon Spinks to tell me that Bruce Compton was in retirement with wife Marina on a Moreton Bay island in Queensland. A quick phone call and we had Bruce locked in for a chat. We check out where he’s living and what he’s doing in retirement. Bruce begins by talking about the final years of his riding career in northern NSW,  and a couple of business ventures he and Marina operated when he quit the saddle.    He highlights a few smart bush gallopers he got to ride at the end of his career, and talks of the health scare that ended it all.   Bruce talks of his exploits as a wine grower and as a waiter in a small restaurant he and Marina opened on their South Kempsey property. The former ace jockey takes us back to early days in Hastings NZ and his apprenticeship to George Cameron at Takanini. He relives the thrill of his very first race win. Bruce talks of three apprentice’s premiership wins and a trip to Sydney for a short stint with the legendary Theo Gre