The McDermott Saga: Part One

Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Roz Neave

If you were writing the script for an exciting, feel-good showjumping film, I guess it might go something like this… Laconic Aussie shearer swaps his blades for a horse truck and takes off on the Australian showjumping circuit; it is a trip that will take him and his family to the Olympic Games and the World Cup Final in Europe. Another career swap, now it’s racehorses not showjumpers; but in the wings is an incredibly talented son whose showjumping career sees him take out the Australian Showjumping Championships just a year after he qualified to vote!

Greg working a young horse – Junee 1991 

Cut to the latest episode in this showjumping saga, and one of the most historic, and beautiful properties in NSW, and there’s a new dream, a showjumping centre that is state-of-the-art…

But this is no fantasy, this is the story of the McDermott family but let’s go back to the beginning, when young Greg McDermott’s first animal involvement was not horses, but dogs, greyhounds, and Greg got to take care of them…

“At one stage my father had 250 greyhounds. I used to have to walk them before school, I hated them. Dad was a shearing contractor but he used to breed and race a lot of greyhounds. I grew up in Junee. Left school when I was 14 and went shearing…”

But along with the greyhounds, there were always ponies and horses in young Greg’s life: “They bought me a pony when I was 18 months old. We just had a horse or a pony in the backyard. We lived in town until I was about 11 or 12, then they bought 20 acres just out of town. The first few years if I wanted to go to a show, I had to ride – I rode to Wagga, which was 25 miles to go to the show. Then we got a float and Mum used to take me. We did the gymkhanas and things like that. Mum was petrified of horses but she took me to all the shows.”

There is of course another very important thread in this saga, Greg’s wife, Jenny who after 35 years of married life, is very much part of today’s operation.

“Then I met Jenny at a pony club event. She lived on a farm between Junee and Wagga. We’ve been married 35 years this year. After we married, we both worked. I’d go shearing all day, come home and work the couple of horses after work – jumping horses. We’d go to weekend shows.”

Greg and Annista at Wentworth Park Futurity 1985 

But the shearer had fire in his belly, he was ready to pull up stakes and head to the West where maverick businessman, Alan Bond was pouring money into his daughter’s favourite sport, showjumping. It was a time of endless champagne and lobsters, wild parties and showjumping competitions with unheard of prizemoney. Greg was determined to get his share of it… and the unheralded shearer proceeded to clean up!

“The Bond Circuit came along in 1985, and we decided to give up the jobs and travel. We travelled virtually for five years, round Australia, round all the jumping circuits. We had Randas who won the Geelong Futurity in 1982. He was then named on the squad for LA in 1984. We had McCallum who had been given to us because he was stopping on the previous rider, and the thoroughbred mare Annista, who had been placed in the Wentworth Park Futurity. The first year we went to Western Australia, hardly anyone knew us. We took six horses, a truck, a 26-foot caravan, and away we went. Those first three months over there, I was the highest money earner.”

“It was an amazing scene over the on the Bond circuit – a party every night, it was wild. It was the best thing for Australian showjumping and the worst! When the Bond people came in, they said, get rid of everyone, get rid of all the local sponsors, here’s a hundred thousand, call it the Bond whatever. Then when he went down the tube, and they went back to those little local sponsors, can you sponsor us again? They told them to go jump. Showjumping went back 30 years.”
Meanwhile, Greg got the ride on the horse that was to take him around the world, Mr Shrimpton who had previously been a star taking Greg Eurell, another showjumper who decided to go racehorse training instead, to the LA Games:

 Greg on his pony in backyard – Junee 1959/60

“In 1987, I got Mr Shrimpton. The owner, Gordon Jones lived at Ganmain, which was only 25 miles from us. I was actually supposed to get him after Greg Eurell gave up showjumping. Leon Ryan had him for a little while – he went okay, then he started not going so well, and Leon said he couldn’t ride him any more because there was too much pressure. We got him.”

“We took him up to Queensland – Maryborough, Goondiwindi, Gympie – just starting him in the little shows, because he was stopping. We thought the best thing is to take him up where no one knows him. I ended up winning a few Grand Prix up there, then we took him back home and started to get serious with him.”

The Team at Work: Greg and Tom and Quintago

One of the stars at the McDermott’s new base at Fernhill, is the imported stallion, Quintago. The chestnut stallion is brilliantly bred, by the great Quidam de Revel out of the full sister to the Cassini brothers. It is fun to watch Tom ride the stallion, with Greg helping out with advice…

Tom and Quintano and Daisy the pig who accompanies Tom as he rides around the property 

Really there is not a lot of jumping done, and Greg explains this is Tom’s emphasis:

“Tom is fanatical about his flatwork, that’s basically all we are working on now. Quintago’s jumping style is okay, when we take him out to compete, he’ll be a bit sharper and a bit more on the ball. But really at the moment, it is just all flatwork, working on consistency, getting him so you can put him where you want.”

How long before he can start jumping seriously, because he looks like the sort of horse that will be better when the jumps are higher…
“He does. We’ve taken him to about four shows and started him in the 1.10m. The other day we started him in the 1.25m, and he jumped clear rounds. He is just at the point now where we can step him up. The bigger the fences, the better he will do. He is pretty casual…”

The little opening exercise what was that about, vertical then changing it to an oxer…

“Most of our exercises are a little short. I like them to jump up in the air rather than being on that long stride and jumping out. Everything I build at home, is nearly a metre short, so they can come back and jump up in the air.”

Even with Romantic Dream (Pinky) who is so naturally careful?
“Before the Grand Prix of Sydney, Tom put up a treble line that was a little longer – I know Brad Longhurst likes to build a little long, so we practiced on that line the day before. Really with Pinky it is just a matter of keeping her confidence – she has a terrific technique, everything is there. She is not the scopiest horse in the world, but she is like a Shrimpton, if you can keep their confidence, they will keep giving you everything they can.”

Is it frustrating with a horse like Quintago – that you have to wait another couple of years to see what he can really do? You have to make sure you don’t fry him on the way…

“It is hard. It is hard for Tom – even with the other young horse, Aussie Balou, he is a year younger. We broke him in ourselves, so of course we’ve done a lot more on the flat with him. He is nice on the flat, he could canter round a Futurity track now, and not even blink. You’ve got to really hold yourself back with him because you can easily burn them out. It is tough for Tom, when he knows he’s got a couple of really nice horses here, and at the moment, he hasn’t got an in-between horse. He’s got the older horses – like Rolex and Statford Delight – but they are almost past their best, then we’ve got Laguna Beach, who I think is going to be amazing, but she is a year too early. We put her in the Part 3 at Sydney Royal, and she won Part 3 horse, then we gave her a run in the Mini Prix, which was probably 1.45-1.50m, and she jumped it unbelievable. She’s seven on Australian time, six over in Europe. She does look amazing, and everyone is saying, this is the one Tom will be picked on for the WEG, but I just wonder if it is 12 months too soon.”

The Team at Work: Greg and Tom and Viscount

With Viscount, what were you trying to achieve?
“That was the first time Tom has jumped him, since he came back to us. I actually shortened the front rail about 12 inches, just so I could run him in a little deeper and make him use himself. You can see he has got a bit long, and has probably been taking a lot of long spots. The idea now is to just get him jumping in the air again, round him up again. It won’t take us long, Tom has already worked with him in the past.”

You were saying a couple of times, more leg off the ground, what do you mean by that?

“A little bit more leg off the ground is just to make them jump out, over it. A couple of times with the chestnut stallion, Tom backed his leg off a little, and he jumped up in the air, and came down very short. Just to put a bit of leg on just as their front legs are leaving the ground, just gets them to pitch up a bit more. The time I told him to put a bit more leg on, you could see the horse used his back end better.”

“I try not to complicate too many things. With the pupils, the simpler you are, the more effective you are. When you start riddling them with words, the kids only get confused. They don’t really know what you are telling them, and they just get half deaf to you.”

Tom does a lot of bringing the horse back to a halt or a walk, or even a rein back…

“We do a lot of half halts with our horses right from the word go. Tom has just got to open his shoulders and they come back under him. It is very rare on course that Tom has a horse long and strung out. That’s because we do so many half halts and they just respond, they come back without the rider having to do much.”

“If you are coming to a fence and you throw yourself forward a stride before the fence, they are going to flatten. If you can keep yourself open, let them get up, and then slowly move your shoulders forward, then they will jump out over it. I think shoulders are 80% of all the kids’ problems. Nick Sheahan is here now, and he had a really good run when he was younger, he had a couple of good horses and then he has gone off the boil. He’s living here now, and his horses jumped super at the weekend, and everyone was talking about how he was riding – and it was all to do with his shoulders. He only had one mistake at the weekend, and it was to do with his shoulders, he got a rush of blood, threw his shoulders forward and had a rail.”