Old racers on the right track with a new look in Light Horse troop Former harness racer Sheffield Mark, third from left, at a Light Horse re-enactment. WHAT have a Light Horse historical troop, slow trotters and a fast greyhound got in common? Read on ... One of this column's more eccentric acquaintances - call him Geoff Slattery - has had a midlife crisis involving greyhounds. Slattery breeds and races "dishlickers." In a weak moment, he even conspired to import one from Ireland. He named a greyhound Mary Virginia after his late mother. When she had pups he called the best one Tommy Brislane after an uncle he never knew. Tommy Brislane the man went to war in Syria in the early 1940s and never came home. Tommy the dog is among the fastest in the land, a Group 1 winner with a big future at stud. There are worse ways to be remembered and if Uncle Tommy was anything like his nephew, he'd appreciate both the gesture and the jokes. All this leads to a problem. What does a soft touch like "Slatts" do with good dogs he's raced once they're past chasing a fake hare? This hit him hard when Robert John - named after Slattery's late father, naturally - retired after 99 race starts. Slatts didn't have the heart to have a brave dog like that put down. He and his long-suffering wife Sally had just moved to a city apartment with their pet labradoodle but there was nothing else for it. Last we heard, the big black dog was snoozing on the Axminster a dozen floors above Spring St. Better a quiet hound than a yappy terrier, maybe, although there were some tricky moments when they took him walking in the Fitzroy Gardens and he spotted the possums. The neighbours don't seem to mind having the big fella in residence, possibly on the grounds the greyhound is more docile than its owner. The truth is, they should count themselves lucky Slattery gave up his first racing obsession, which was with trotters - the horses we now more accurately call harness racing horses. Slatts is nearly crazed enough to have brought a trotter home rather than see it end up as the main course at the zoo. He and his mates called one of his best trotters Lion Dancer, but he didn't want to see the horse end up inside a lion. Or a greyhound, for that matter. That brings us to the subject of Australia's biggest Light Horse troop - and what it is doing to "rehome" harness racers, properly called standardbreds. For the dogs and cats (and lions) out there, the horses leading Melbourne Anzac Day march are the ones that got away. The 7th Light Horse charge at Beersheba in 1917 during World War I. It's decades since there were any real Light Horsemen left to ride in the parade. One was that great man Sir Wilfred Selwyn Kent Hughes KBE, MVO, MC, who fought in the Light Horse in Palestine in World War I, was imprisoned in Changi in World War II and ran for Australia at the Olympics in between, later going on to be a politician and mastermind of the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. Not a bad CV. Apart from being the answer to a great trivia question (Sir Wilfred is also the great uncle of enigmatic gangland lawyer Zara Garde-Wilson) he used to lead the Anzac march on horseback pretty well until his death in 1970. After his generation vanished, it was up to younger people to polish up the military saddles, sabres and rifle "buckets" and keep up the Light Horse tradition. For a long time, mounted "troopers" used borrowed police horses in the parade. But in recent years, sharp-eyed spectators will have noticed that nearly all the Light Horse mounts have the distinctive freeze brand high on their necks that is the mark of registered harness racers. Therein lies a story. There was a time when harness racing has-beens and failures faced a brief and bleak future. Once it was clear they weren't going to pay their way, it was a one-way trip to a sale where buyers pay by the kilo. For a start, they are harness horses, educated to pull a sulky rather than to be ridden. Secondly, the standardbred tends to be plainer than its aristocratic cousin, the thoroughbred galloper. The best of recycled thoroughbreds are prized for their athletic ability and their looks as jumpers and show horses. By contrast, ex-trotters tend to be appreciated more for their relatively sensible temperament and tough constitution. That calm temperament, and the fact trotters can be picked up for "meat prices" (or nothing), has helped make them the mount of choice for Australia's most successful historical Light Horse troop - and a great example of "rehoming" that's a credit to the harness fraternity. The forerunner of the Creswick RSL Light Horse was born 20 years ago when a policeman decided to do something for the local youth club. Gary Chandler was the policeman. He still is a horseman. His grandfather William Chandler took part in the famous Light Horse charge at Beersheba. Chandler encouraged local teenagers to join one of the first Light Horse "re-enactment" groups at nearby Castlemaine in the early 1990s. But when the Castlemaine "old guard" imposed a minimum age limit, he started another troop attached to the Creswick Police Youth Club. They called the new club the "Blue Light Light Horse Troop," which he admits was "a bit of a mouthful." Sheffield Mark (front) during his racing days. But he was determined that even kids who couldn't afford to feed a horse would get their chance to be in the troop. Word spread among the harness trainers. Chandler and his son Alex and his mate Eddie Koene and Ed's daughter Jessie now get their pick of retired and "slow" harness horses. They have recruited a mob of "troop horses" to be used by anyone willing to join and train. While the Castlemaine group collapsed because it had no fresh blood, the young Creswick group keeps growing. Now it is booked two years ahead to supply mounted "troops" for all sorts of events at all times of year. And all but one of their regular troop horses are standardbreds. One of them is ridden by harness racing farrier and trainer Dean Lewis, who trains with his wife Donna at Toolern Vale. They call him Russell but as Sheffield Mark he won 23 races from 180 starts and $165,000 on the track. Russell, an elderly 23, appeared at the Shrine last Anzac Day but will be home in the paddock next April 25. Lewis has replaced him with Richie, a nine-year-old that raced as Tibur Finale. He'll be there with Elliott, alias Son of Sting, and Eddie, among 20 other veterans of the track. Harness Racing Victoria has given the troop some money to build a round yard to help re-educate more trotters as troop horses. "But we really need a sponsor," says Gary Chandler. Horse feed and truck fuel costs. Hoofnote: The writer raced a slow galloper with Geoff Slattery and others. He is now a fast show horse.