The life of former Sale jockey and trainer Tony Bannon was celebrated on Tuesday as family, friends and Gippsland racing folk took the opportunity to pay their final respects to an entertaining, hard-working man devoted to his wife and family.
Bannon died on Monday May 28, aged 89, with his loving and devoted wife of 68 years, June, by his side. The couple had been together since meeting at a dance as teenagers. 
They went on to have five children, 13 grandchildren and dozens of great grandchildren, with a great, great grandchild soon to be welcomed into the world.
Anthony Peter Bannon was born in Melbourne on April 12,1929, the 12th child of Thomas and Lily Bannon. 
They were tough times, with Australia soon to be in the grip of the Great Depression. 
Lily Bannon became ill not long after giving birth to young Tony and an elderly neighbour offered to care for him during this time. Lily died not long after, and “Nana Prest”, who had three grown-up children of her own, cared for and raised the youngster, while encouraged him to interact with his siblings.
Bannon attended St Kilda State School and Caulfield High School, which was near the racecourse, where a lifelong affinity with the horse was born. 
Bannon, a good student and talented musician, worked part time as a stablehand at Caulfield while still at school. On leaving school, he worked at the Caulfield and Mentone tracks for a variety of trainers including Phar Lap’s trainer, Harry Telford, and Jim Cummings, father of Bart.
Twice the leading Victorian apprentice jockey, Bannon rode against jockeys of the calibre of Scobie Beasley, Alan McLean and Alan Burton. He rode winners in every state bar WA.
Tony and June married in 1950, with the devoted jockey riding work on his wedding day and on both days of his honeymoon. 
The couple welcomed Shirley, Neil and Michael into the world in the early 1950s, before moving to East Gippsland to raise their children in a country environment.
Bannon had often travelled to Sale to ride for Boisdale trainer Charlie Ruthberg, and when the opportunity arose to join the stable on a permanent basis, he jumped at the chance. He was the leading local rider several times. Youngest children Toni and Wendy were born during this period.
Weight, every jockey’s challenge, eventually caught up with Bannon. But working with horses would remain a constant.
For a time he was the local milkman, delivering daily via horse and cart.  Eventually he would secure a job at the local RAAF base, where he worked until his retirement in 1989. He took out a trainer’s licence in the early 1980s.
In 2006, having held a trainer’s licence for “20-something” years, Bannon notched his first city winner when Good Swing saluted at Sandown over 3000 metres, with Logan McGill in the saddle. 
The Rubiton gelding was purchased by grandson Mark Ruff as a yearling, joining Bannon as a two-year-old. 
Good Swing was retired after going amiss in winning at Moe on Anzac Day 2007. That would be Bannon’s last runner and winner.
Good Swing raced 50 times for six wins and 18 placings, accumulating $103,435 in stakes. 
Bannon was a big fan, describing Good Swing as “a marvellous little horse”. 
“He hasn’t got a lot of ability, but he’s got a hell of a lot of heart.”
June was never far from Tony’s side — she loved the horses as much as him (although she wouldn’t get on).  The couple were firm believers that the key to their successful marriage was working together throughout their lives.
The Bannon racing legacy will live on, with Ruff having 10 horses in training at Flemington with Mick and Luke Cerchi. Ruff was also a part-owner in 2017 Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling.
Granddaughter Trinity Bannon is a third-generation trainer, having inherited the gene from her father, Michael, who had success as both a jockey and trainer. 
Trinity had plenty of success as a jockey in Queensland before turning her hand to training. She only has around 10 horses in work at any time, but not many weeks go by where she doesn’t train a winner at Mackay, Townsville or Rockhampton.
Among the mourners on Tuesday were Steven Shiels, who rode the great local galloper Brandy Balloon, Ron Crawford, who put the polish on the great Luther’s Luck, and veteran local trainers Colin Butcher, Reg Manning, Kevin Ruff and Heather Stephens.
Track mishap claims Queen
It was sad to hear of the tragic and untimely death of honest Tynong-based mare Elegant Queen at trackwork on Tuesday. 
The Tom Scanlon trained five-year-old was certainly no champion, but to a hobby trainer like Scanlon and his family, she was an absolute superstar.
Scanlon bought Elegant Queen for $1500 as a yearling from a Scone sale in 2014. He raced the daughter of Nicconi with wife Anne and children Kathy (Upton), Rachel, Daniel, Paul and Alanna (Pomeroy). 
Elegant Queen won nine of her 55 starts, racking up another 10 placings and amassing stakes of $198,315.
A dual city winner, Elegant Queen broke an 11-year drought for Scanlon at metro level in February 2017, winning at Sandown with apprentice jockey Ethan Brown in the saddle. 
Elegant Queen was also victorious at Yarra Valley, Moe, Cranbourne, Mornington (twice) and Sale (three times), in races from 1000 to 1600 metres. 
Choose Choysa
The Wayne Walters-trained Choysa heads to Flemington on Saturday for Heat 4 of the Banjo Paterson Series (2500m) and might be worth something each way. 
The Zabeel seven-year-old was luckless in the listed Andrew Ramsden (3200m) last month.
The big bay looked bright and in peak fitness on Tuesday morning, galloping strongly on the inner grass at Sale in preparation for Saturday. Huge chance!