19 February 2019 | Alan Parker
Mick Lombardo has been involved as an owner, breeder and administrator since 1975 when he bought the Garry Rowan colt Yam Seng from the horse’s Victorian breeder Kevin Newbound.
Yam Seng became Mick’s first winner when successful at Northam on 5th November 1977 for trainer Kevin Keys and driver Barry Street.
Born on 17th April 1937, Mick Lombardo was first exposed to harness racing at the Richmond Raceway track in Fremantle in the 1950s as a teenager.
His father Vince had jumped ship off the coast of Bunbury in 1929 after a journey from Siciliy and began to work as a fisherman.
Mick joined his father in fishing for crayfish and then moved to trawlers fishing the Indian Ocean before he took a punt and built his first fishing boat in 1962.
The steel boat was regarded as the best in Western Australia at the time and Mick contracted to carry out some seismic work off the North West Shelf.
“We set off bombs in the ocean every three minutes while the seismic signals were recorded back at the American base at Exmouth”, he recalled some years later.
In 1969 he began a ship-building business and for the next 25 years Lombardo ships were used by the Americans for off-shore exploration and by the oil industry for their work in Bass Strait.
At their peak the Lombardo companies employed more than 1500 people throughout Australia and South East Asia and one of Mick’s boats was the first to fish for prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
In the early 1970s Mick and a partner purchased some 325 acres in the Margaret River region for the purpose of commercial marron farming and with the development of Mick’s passion for harness racing Notable Breeding Farms became the first home for his horse breeding operation.
A decade later Mick purchased a property at Congupna near Shepparton in Victoria and established Concorde Park where his first stud stallion was Northern Lights.
By 1998 he employed seven full-time staff to handle his harness racing business which at that time had 96 broodmares. He sold most of the colts he bred and kept a select band of fillies for broodmare purposes after their racing careers had finished.
Mick has reduced his numbers of broodmares in recent years but the statistics relating to his contribution to the breeding of Standardbreds in Australia are worth noting.
Under various banners Mick Lombardo has bred some 1440 foals of which 962 (67%) have raced and 626 (44%) have won.
Those 1440 foals have had a total of 33,379 starts and won 4261 races and been placed a further 7502 times and earned total stakes of some $32,620,894.
His famous White, red Maltese Cross colours derived from Mick’s football team South Fremantle with the red Maltese cross being the symbol given by the American Bureau of Shipping to the best and safest of ships.
Mick Lombardo – Administrator
Mick Lombardo became a member of the WA Trotting Association (Gloucester Park Harness Racing) in 1976 and served Gloucester Park as a member of committee for a total of 12 years (1984 – 1991) and (1998 – 2003) and was President between 1989 and 1991. He was made a Life Member of Gloucester Park in 1991.
He represented Western Australia on the Australian Harness Racing Council (now Harness Racing Australia) for a total of six years and was chairman of the National Body between 2002 and 2004. He also represented Australia at the World Trotting Conference and was made a Life Member of the World Trotting Conference in 2009 in Norway.
His contribution to Australian Harness Racing has been recognized twice with a Distinguished National Service Award in 2001 and in 2015 Mick Lombardo became just the eighth individual to be presented with the nation’s top award the J P Stratton Award for Significant Achievement, Leadership, Distinction, Eminence, Repute, Renown, Foresight, Initiative, Innovation, Creativity on an International or National Basis over a significant period of time.
In 2011 Mick Lombardo was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the Australian harness racing industry and his contribution as a breeder, owner and administrator.
In announcing the award comment was made that “Mick is passionate about harness racing, the development of the Standardbred breed, animal welfare and the people who are involved in the industry”.
Horses bred by Mick Lombardo have won a number of National Awards as set out below
2006 Lombo Pocket Watch – Australian Harness Horse of the Year
2004 Lombo La Fe Fe – Australian Aged Pacing Mare of the Year
2001 Lombo Rapida – Australian Aged Pacing Mare of the Year
2000 Tailamade Lombo – Australian Aged Pacing Mare of the Year
1999 Tailamade Lombo – Australian Aged Pacing Mare of the Year
1998 Concorde Lombo – Australian Aged Pacing Mare of the Year
2007 Lombo Pocket Watch – Australian 3yo Pacer of the Year
2007 Lombo Pocket Watch – Australian 3yo Colt Pacer of the Year
1998 Tailamade Lombo – Australian 3yo Pacer of the Year
1998 Tailamade Lombo – Australian 3yo Filly Pacer of the Year
1997 Concorde Lombo – Australian 3yo Filly Pacer of the Year
1992 Misty Maiden – Australian 3yo Pacer of the Year
2010 Aussie Made Lombo – Australian 2yo Filly Pacer of the Year
2006 Lombo Pocket Watch – Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year
2006 Lombo Pocket Watch – Australian 2yo Colt Pacer of the Year
2002 Lombo La Fe Fe – Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year
2002 Lombo La Fe Fe – Australian 2yo Filly Pacer of the Year
2001 Lombo Skyrider – Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year
2001 Lombo Skyrider – Australian 2yo Colt Pacer of the Year
2001 Espeshlimade Lombo – Australian 2yo Filly Pacer of the Year
1998 Lombo Rapida – Australian 2yo Filly Pacer of the Year
1997 Tailamade Lombo – Australian 2yo Filly Pacer of the Year
1986 Mazzini Magic – Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year
2010 Tailamade Lombo – Australian Broodmare of the Year
2006 Misty Maiden – Australian Broodmare of the Year
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
