GREYHOUND GOSSIP - Get to know Matt Pascoe.

Simon told Helen wins a half length Zack Manelli second welcome to Greyhound gossip py Blinder start cheering for Tommy Shelby wins the wa Sprint Championship final featuring Peter O'Neal Mozza moves up to mermaid Manelli Fabs gem 3 deep Here Comes Fab's Jam hard sty Reco by fight LS to Simon and thir Tommy Shelby this segment is dedicated to the discussion and promotion of greyhound racing Cindy Oliver Rockstar Patriot Paul Stewart backto back with Rockstar Patriot in the Galaxy handsome prince a bould CLE the former Tasmanian handsome prince has won the million dollar Chase and a very good morning everyone welcome along to Greyhound gossip apologies for the voice had a little bit of a flu over the weekend hopefully we get through okay it was a big weekend of greyhound racing moleta Cruz was absolutely brilliant for new trainer Eric Campana Nick minillo on a well-deserved overseas sour and moleter Cruz went back to back and went 20 693 in defeating barbecue man and also crumble Manelli that was a really good lead into the Heats on Friday Night of the mandre cup and we saw champagne cuddles trial earlier on in the day in preparation for the mandre cup of course grahe joose over in W he's had um a lot of success in Western Australia in the past and he'll St stay during the week and nominate champagne cuddles for the mandre cup Heats on Friday night and of course uh the nominations for the mandre cup closing 8:30 tomorrow morning in Greyhound gossip today we're about to be joined by a very special guest it's not very often we get to talk to the Integrity department and Matt Pasco is about to join us and tell us a little bit about how he got involved in greyhound racing and his life in general and he joins us online this morning Matt good morning and welcome along to Greyhound gossip good morning P thanks for having me tell us a little bit first of all when you first got involved in greyhound racing and decided to become a steward it was back in 2018 Pete um I started off as a casual Steward but leading up to that I was a farer for about 18 years and um it's a very physical demanding job and uh it started to really take its toll on my back I was going to work quite sore actually and um I just needed to make a decision to change and a friend of mine who's a senior Stewart at the thoroughbread he said that the grey hands may have been looking for a casual Steward so I got into contact with Carlos the chief steart of the time and I went down for an interview and I started as a casual Steward shortly after that did you have any um sort of interest in greyhound racing before you you met Carlos not at all I didn't even know anything about greyhound racing um i' been involved in the thed racing industry because I'd been shoing a lot of horses in racing St tables um but until then I just needed to make the decision to change jobs and um yeah that one come up and I end up completing a a Cadet ship and becoming a star hry Steward and um yeah it was just it something that I had to do I didn't really have any choice if I continued Shing horses um my back was just going to get worse and worse so I think it was in 2020 you you finished your Cadet ship and uh you're now a full fully fledged Steward with racing wag wa do you do you enjoy your role I love it it's a great job um in fact the guys was telling me the other day that were just sort of reminiscing about the the day I went in for my interview for the Casual position and they were telling me it was uh probably one of the most well probably the the best and worst interviews of all time I'd gone in completely unprepared um I knew nothing about gryan racing I didn't really know what a steward was but the fact that I turned 10 minutes early and and wore a certain tie um and I was honest is probably the only reason I got a job let's go back to the start um our producer Taylor cin who would have phoned you just before you came on air um him and his lovely wife had a had twins not that long ago and you're a twin yourself yeah I am got a identical twin and um yeah we pretty much speak every day um like any twin you uh end up doing the same thing in life generally same interest you um were raised on a were you raised in the country yeah I was raised on a farm in in gingin mom and dad had a a small farm up there and they were heavily involved in uh horses and uh competed at rodeos and um we ended up really as kids my twin brother and and sister we we competed a lot of rodeos over the years and Rod horses and yeah great time is a real family event for us so tell us about the RO rodeos and how you got involved with that when was the first time that you got onto the back of a of a horse in a rodo or a bull and which was it um well we're just born into it um from a very young age I guess Mom and Dad would put us on horses and um I think from memory I was about four years old my first rodeo a poty ride at stamped Areno in bullsbrook at New Year Eve and I've got a photo somewhere I was about 4 years old and um from there we just went through the junior events and and um competed all over wway Mom and Dad would um take us to various country terms and um yeah we all competed together it was great we had a a rodeo Arena up on the farm and would come home from school and ride our horses and if we had an event coming up we run some cattle into the arena and start team racing and by the end of the day my brother and I were were getting on the back of them is it uh harder to ride a horse or a bull oh definitely harder to ride a bull because they're such a a big sort of wild animal but um I think riding horses and growing up riding horses definitely helped uh riding rough stock that's for sure and you obviously weren't scared I remember riding in in a barrier Trail once on a on a racehorse and I was petrified jumping out of the barriers you obviously weren't scared jumping on the back of these Beast I wasn't scared there's always a little bit of fear I suppose but when you grow up doing something for so long um you get used to it and um like someone who rides a motorbike I guess um I'd be scared getting on the back of the motorbike jumping off a off a jump but yeah riding bulls never really scared me I wouldn't say so how far did you go with the rodeos did you um only compete in Western Australia or did you travel eastern states I never went over East I wish I did actually but um mostly in Western Australia and um it was up until I was about 22 I think I I stopped riding just because of work I didn't want to risk getting hurt but um there was one time about 2003 I think it was early 2003 my brother and I went over to America initially we just went over to travel and um but we met up with a family over there that were uming riding at rodeos and we started traveling with them and joined an association and we we would go to a rodeo most weekends it was it's a huge sport in America there's thousands of competitors and um yeah it was just an eye opener really it was it was a great time and just one last question on the rodos um or rodeos um when you were riding were riding for money in in Western Australia or when you went to America yeah every event had had money up so um which was the main I was attracted to bull riding actually because there was always a pot of money and if if you were the only one to to make time you got the whole lot and um normally you would have 30 or 40 sometimes 50 competitors and you might only have three people that make time so you split the winnings between between three people it was it was quite good so did you ever win yeah over the years I won quite a lot actually um especially in wa and um when I went to America it took a while actually I I remember going to a few radios there and and did no good at all until um the junior Association I rode in I started winning some bull rides and um by the end of it um I ended up winning the bull riding title for that Association there in Montana wow fantastic um and you've obviously um had a lot of success with your brother in ball riding and in Ros how did you actually become you mentioned earli on that you became a theer so you were at school um you left school to become a theer yeah I left school in year 11 um I was doing a a program at school that you had to do some work experience and there was a local faer in the area I started with him and um yeah from 16 years old and uh I did that for 18 years I I love the job I'd probably still be doing it now if it wasn't for my back um but I I had to change it was just one of those decision decisions I had to make you obviously would have been a fer for some of the leading stables in Western Australia being out at bullsbrook yeah definitely uh I was Shing for a lot of big racing Staples at the time um especially in Ascot and um got to to sh a couple of famous horses back in the day I I'd t a couple of shoes on take over Target one year and um and I used to Northerly used to go spell out of bullsbrook and I used to go trimmy feet when he was on spell which was pretty cool yeah that would have been cool um your grandfather I think it was you telling me was heavily involved in racing and had quite a bit of success himself up in the gingen area as a trainer yeah well my grandfather was the owner my my father was actually the trainer and you know over the years he always had race horses in the stables and um he had some really good horses over the years um think he had a horse that uh ran a place in the railway Stakes one year and he just had a lot of uh good horses that he would take out into the country mainly if horses were getting a bit tired in the city he would get them out in the country and um take him to Northern and P and Jon and win those sort of races he loved it and you also the family also had some success in the goldfields well back in the day there was an interview years ago with my grandfather I think W Cameron did the interview and I didn't know but yeah Grandpa he had a few horses I think Miss mus was its name and I think it won the chag cup or something and then backed up after that won the bumy cup in in the same year you he had some fantastic horses back in the day yeah is your family still involved in horses or not no Grandpa's since passed and um once he passed D sort of lost interest I think and um and got out of it he's getting to that age where he wants to retire and enjoy living up on the beach I think has he still got the farm or has he solved that he's still got the farm there's not a lot going on the farm at the moment um the cattle that he's got he normally puts on a feed lot up in MOA and um yeah he just buys and sells for for company up there but he he's looking to retire he's um he's had enough he's been farming his whole life so uh well it was back in what 2018 is or about that time that you approached Carlos Martins um for a job at the Greyhounds at the time would you have preferred to go into thoroughbread racing or not as a steward no I was actually happy just to um do something different I'd been involved with the horses for that long um I was I was happy to do something different um I do love the horses but no I'm happy to stay at the gounds I love it and how do you find you've got a really good team headed up by Gro day a really good team that you work with how do you find that and also how do you find working with with the industry it's a it's a great team we've all got different personalities it's uh creates a a fun environment actually and um I get along with the industry fine uh I find that the people are great people generally and um yeah no issues at all I communicate well with them it's great to have you on Matt and hopefully we'll get to hear from some of the other stewards um in in the near future because I think it's a great way for us to learn about the people behind the Integrity Department here in Western Australia you do a great job and without the Integrity uh Department we wouldn't have greyhound racing or any racing for that matter so thanks for sharing some of your story um are you off to Northern today or not no fortunately I've I've managed to get the day off and um I'm going to go see my grandmother she's 92 years old and um she's not doing too well at the moment so I'll go catch up with her and um yeah see how she's going well I hope I hope uh she sees you and uh it brightens her day I'm sure it will thanks for joining us again and enjoy enjoy your week thanks a lot pabe thanks for having me good on you Matt Pasco so from being a rodeo riter now being one of our leading stewards at the Integrity Department of racing and wagering Western Australia um just a short Greyhound gossip this morning we've got a big show coming up with off and pacing some big news coming up so make sure you stay tuned with that later on today we have greyhound racing coming in from Northern and don't forget tomorrow morning from 8:30 the nominations close for the rich mandra Cup coming up on Friday night at mandra a break and then Tim Walker back with off and pacing after this imagine what you could be buying instead for free and confidential support visit gambling helpline.com