Robert Thompson

Jockey
Inducted 28 November 2007

Robert Norman Thompson was born in Cessnock in 1958.

Given exemption to leave school early, Robert commenced his horse riding career in 1973 at the age of 14 years 10 months.

Robert was apprenticed to his grandfather, Norm Collins, a local horse trainer, and rode his first winner (It's regal) one month later at Wyong. He rode 499 winners as an apprentice.  

Since then, Robert went on to become one of Australia's most successful jockeys.

In 1987, he was invited to represent Australia in Singapore and Malaysia, at that time the only country jockey to achieve this honour.

In 1990, he rode six winners from six races at Newcastle.

In the 1990s he spent two years racing in Hong Kong for the Neville Begg stable, but apart from that period, Robert has always used Cessnock as his home base.

He rode his 3,000th winner on 12 July 2004, one of only a handful of jockeys to reach this milestone.

Robert has been previously honoured by Cessnock City Council as Sportsman of the Year and the grandstand at Cessnock racecourse is named in his honour.

In 2015 Robert was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, part of the Australian Racing Museum which documents and honours the horseracing legends of Australia.

For more information, read Robert Thompson's biography on The Age website.

---

Plaque location
91 Vincent Street, Cessnock (garden bed)