by Alan Parker
Former Gloucester Park Vice-President and leading owner and breeder Roy Annear died last Friday after a long illness.
Annear, aged 74, was also a leading Australian Rules administrator and after a period as President of the South Fremantle Football Club and later President of the West Australian Football League.
He played a leading role in the entry of the West Coast Eagles into the Australian Football League by managing to convince the WAFL Presidents that a national competition was the only way forward for Australian Rules in WA.
Roy and his wife Diane were bitten by the trotting bug in the late seventies and their first winner was Honest Talk at Bunbury on 27th March 1978 and the husband and wife combination won more nearly 700 races in Western Australia including 100 in the 1979/80 season alone.
In 1978 Roy Annear established Summerfields Stud in Baldivis and had the Australian breeding industry agog when he imported leading USA stallions Romeo Hanover and Adios Vic to Western Australia.
At the time both stallions were in the top echelon of the USTA Sires lists and Annear also bought a number of mares from the best New Zealand families at the time including Countess Belmer (dam of NSW Derby winner Belmers Image) and Golden Guest.
He also purchased a number of well-bred fillies from New Zealand which he raced before retiring them to stud including the likes of Big Bucks (NSW Oaks winner), All Arranged, Countess Gina (WA Oaks), Fantasy Lass, Krina Bella, Miss Bo Scott, Rose Of Dundee, Roydon Wren, Tiger Maid and Nevele Score.
He also imported numbers of other racing stock including Speedy Cheval (Fremantle Cup), Lumber Leon (Golden Slipper Stakes), Nautilus (August Cup) and Timely Score (Winter Cup). Timely Score later stood at Summerfields Stud.
In 1980 Roy Annear was elected to the committee of the WA Trotting Association and was instrumental in the Pacing In The Eighties conference which set out a strategic direction for trotting in this State.
He served as the Association’s Vice President from 1982 until 1984 when he resigned to concentrate on his business interests.
The Association extends its deepest condolences to his widow Diane and children Danielle and Grant.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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