Under Starters' Orders Griffiths Racing

In 2000, Simon Miller responded to an advertisement in the Winning Post to work at Griffiths Racing Stables. In Simon, Robbie shared a passion for the quality of the craft, for embracing the lives—and specialities—associated with each horse that entered their stables. In the stables appeared a grumpy grey named Big Pat, who would take Robbie and his team into the mounting yard of Flemington for a shot at the race that stops the nation: the Melbourne Cup. Hear from the likes of Simon Miller, Deane Lester and more.

In the late 1990s, breeder Bill Watts asked Robbie and Deane Lester to visit Berrigan to meet a foal out of Demus and Miss Tecoma. Budding stablehand and horse enthusiast Rhiannon Schiffer met the young horse at the Cranbourne stables, where he was later named Dandy Kid, and established a life long bond with him. Dandy Kid was a record holder at the Moonee Valley racecourse, and was a relatively antisocial horse who achieved a number of important accomplishments during his time at Griffiths Racing Stables. Hear Robbie Griffiths, Michael Wachter, Rhiannon Schiffer, Ryan Maloney and more reflect on that special time, as well as Dandy’s legacy in Australia’s racing industry.

After just starting Griffiths Racing Stables, Robbie and Shiranee Griffiths find out they are having a baby. They move into a vacant lot on Ballarto Road, and invest their time into the rehabilitation of the horses they have. Having had enough success to afford to install a walking machine on the property, Robbie encounters a terrible tragedy. Hear from the likes of Kerry Ellis, Rosemarie Jansz, Phillip Mohr, Rodney Griffiths, Geoff Kemp and more.

After their marriage ceremony, Robbie and Shiranee Griffiths—as well as Rodney and Kerry Griffiths—were ready to embark on a brand new chapter. Follow the two couples as they jet set across the globe, reflecting on just how incomparable the racing industries of Sri Lanka, Ireland and Australia are when compared with one another: from ponies being chased around with loose palms in the Sri Lankan tea fields, to atmospheric trail rides through the Irish countryside. Also, did the economic recession impact Robbie’s new career? Hear from the likes of Don Healy, Shawn Cosgrove, Kerry Ellis, Rosemarie Jansz and more, and follow the trajectories of Go Raami, Star View and Bells Are Tolling.

What happens if—or when—someone doesn’t make it the finish line? From restrictive diets, precarious rides, 4:00am starts and wasting away in the sweltering heat of a local sauna, a jockey’s lifestyle is no picnic. Robbie tells all in a revealing episode about how being a jockey took it out of him, and why retiring in his twenties was his only option. Hear from the likes of retired jockey Ivan Culliver, Paul Innes of the National Jockeys’ Trust, Emma Goring and more.

Before Robbie ever rode for a living, he had a short lived career as a greyhound handler after being given a timid dog who gained his trust in a short amount of time. In the meantime, his brother Rodney embarked on his own riding career. Somewhere amongst the velocity, the thrill and the expedition of Rodney’s newfound profession, Robbie caught the bug. In the first episode of Under Starters' Orders, meet the people that paved the way for Robbie to embark on his short-lived riding career and his entry into horse racing: his parents, Bob and Carol Scarlett, his brother Rodney, his friends Phil "Philby" Mohr and Michael Kent, and his father-in-law, Gary Ellis.