3 minute read

Prominent Tasmanian racehorse owner Wayne Roser spends a great amount of time mulling over names for his racing animals and one that stems from one of the greatest wartime human interest stories is a three-year-old that won in Devonport on Sunday.

Hero Of Romani should have been the omen bet at Sunday's Anzac Day meeting as the gelding's name is derived from a story of a horse that defied the odds and showed incredible courage to rescue four soldiers during the Battle of Romani in Turkey during World War I.

Of all the horses that were used by the Australian Infantry Brigade during World War I, only one, a Waler named Bill, emerged as an ANZAC hero.

Hero of Romani's namesake started out as an uncontrollable stallion that nobody could ride, but he eventually made his way to Gallipoli as a pack horse and went on to become a serviceable member of the Australian Light Horse Brigade in Turkey and Egypt.

The only man who could sit on the stallion that stood 17.1 hands was Major Michael Shanahan, and it was he who took his trusty steed Bill into the battlefield and the brave stallion returned to base carrying his rider and four Aussie soldiers who had been rendered riderless during the battle.

Striding headlong into Turkish gunfire, Bill showed enormous courage as did his rider and it was the book Bill the Bastard written by Roland Perry that Wayne Roser was reading at the time, led to Roser naming the son of Outreach-Frankie, Hero of Romani.

"I was fascinated with the story of Bill the Bastard, a horse that nobody could ride but eventually connected to one man and together they took part in such heroic acts during the First World War," Roser said.

"There are no real similarities between Bill and my racehorse in terms of character, but I was hoping Hero of Romani would display those characteristics that made Bill such a wartime hero.

"He has shown glimpses of courage in his nine starts and his last two efforts in particular showed us his courage is growing."

Roser is not expecting anything grand from Hero of Romani but his trainer Adam Trinder is confident his best is yet to come.