Early Days
Colin was born in Semaphore, South Australia in 1924. His father died when he was 10 years old. On leaving school he gained employment with the South Australian Electricity Trust as a boilermaker, but his love of horses soon led him to purchase a steeplechaser named Surefoot for £9. As an amateur rider, Colin rode Surefoot himself with his best result being a third in the 1948 Great Eastern Steeplechase run at Oakbank.
Popular legend has it that Colin bet his honeymoon money on Surefoot, which ran third at odds of 60/1, enabling Colin to recoup the money and a little profit. His wife Betty was apparently very angry about the incident at the time.
His son David followed in his footsteps and is a horse trainer. His other son was also a trainer, but Peter Hayes, who at the time was training Fields Of Omagh, died in an airplane crash in 2001.
Read more about this topic: Colin Hayes
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