Begg, Conners join Newcastle and Hunter Racing Hall of Fame

And both had no idea the other also hailed from Newcastle.

Neville Begg and Clarry Conners were inducted into the Newcastle and Hunter Racing Hall of Fame on Tuesday at Broadmeadow racecourse.

Begg, 92, and Conners, 77, shared stories of spending their earliest years in the Hunter, where their connection to racing started.

Conners was born in Newcastle and grew up on Elder Street, Lambton. His father, Clarry snr, trained horses part-time at Broadmeadow. In his early teens, Conners followed his father around the state, including a stint in Cessnock, in search of success as a trainer.

They eventually moved to Sydney, where Clarry jnr started training in his own right. In a career still going after 58 years, Conners has claimed 37 group 1s, including four Golden Slippers, out of his Warwick Farm stables.

Conners said "there were great memories when we lived there" at Lambton. He said it was "nice to be recognised among your peers in the industry" on Tuesday and he was honoured to be inducted alongside Begg.

"Neville was a few years before me, so I looked up to him as a champion trainer," Conners said.

"In our industry, most of us, you look at how people present their horses and Neville's horses always looked fantastic."

Begg, the trainer of 39 group 1 winners and a member of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, was born into racing.

His childhood home was in Park Street, Hamilton, "a half mile" from the Broadmeadow track. His grandfather, Jack Reynolds, was a trainer and prepared the great mare Tibbie.

Begg rode horses from a young age and began working for local trainer Ray Cashman. He then moved to Randwick to work for trainer Maurice McCarten at age 14 but his career as a jockey was shortlived.

After 22 years with McCarten, Begg began training in his own right in 1967. Among his stars was Emancipation, the winner of six group 1s.

Although carving out a career in Sydney, Begg has regularly returned to Newcastle and was humbled by Tuesday's induction.

"It's been very nice, I appreciate it very much," Begg said. "I had a good childhood here. I enjoyed it."

Two-time winning Melbourne Cup jockey Albert Shanahan and the great Jim Pike, who partnered the legendary Phar Lap, were also honoured on Tuesday.

Arrowfield Stud owner and former Racing NSW and Racing Australia chairman John Messara and the late Roy Mahony, a long-time Newcastle Jockey Club administrator and chairman, were the associates inducted.

The horse category inductees were Scone mare Ortensia and Kris Lees-trained three-time group 1 winner Samantha Miss.

Paul Messara-prepared Ortensia claimed group 1s on three continents and won more than $1.4 million.

Samantha Miss won all four legs of the Princess Series for three-year-old fillies in 2008 before injury stopped her career at just 12 starts.

Lees, a hall of fame inductee already alongside his late father Max and his champion, Luskin Star, accepted Samantha Miss's induction with pride.

"It's so long ago now and you think at the time, I've got to wait for the next one to come through, and it hasn't come yet," Lees said.

"She's the yardstick of our stable. I must be starting to sound like my old man talking about Luskin Star, but I always compare everything to her and she's still the best horse I've trained."

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