Mark Yole is a winner, in life and on the track

Pacer driver and trainer Mark Yole with horses The Deal and Tisu Spirit. Photo by Sharon Webb

Mark Yole driving Tisu Spirit, winner of the North-Eastern Pacing Cup at Carrick in January

Photo by Sharon Webb

Mark Yole is setting his own pace

Sharon Webb

AFTER MARK Yole drove Tisu Spirit to a win in the North Eastern Pacing Cup at Carrick last month, he strode up to the horse and gave him a big kiss.

‘It’s like you’re at the Olympics seeing an athlete do well’, he said.

‘These horses are amazing, born to race and compete. They’ve got their own personalities and quirkiness. They become part of the family.’

Mark is growing his training and driving business next to the Carrick racetrack. Just five to eight horses for now, including some he owns.

Watching the pacers parade before a race, you can understand Mark’s Olympic athlete simile.

Coats gleaming in the sunshine, their muscles defined, they’re the cream of the crop and they know it – proud, toned athletes.

These horses don’t have jockeys. Their reins men drive carts, known in the business as spiders. Older aficionados of this sport don’t go to the pacing, they go to the trots.

Mark and his older brother Ben have high profiles in Tasmanian pacing. Ben more so, because he trains about 80 horses out of his Sidemouth stables.

They have both won the coveted awards of Tasmanian pacing, leading trainer and leading driver.

Mark has won the leading driver award twice, in 2015–2016, and more recently in 2018–2019 with 88 wins in the year.

From that, he was named the second most skilled pacing reins man in the 2019 Australian Driving Championships.

‘That was a huge thrill’, he said.

Mark and Ben grew up around pacing. Dad Wayne chaired the Hamilton Racing Club in Victoria.

Ben got a job with Devonport owner Mick Maxfield and when Mark finished year 12, he came to the 2006 Tasmanian Interdominion races and was then invited to join Ben in Devonport.

Now all the Yole family is in Tasmania, Ben and Mark anchored here firmly by their Launceston wives, Catherine and Danica.

Being successful in pacing is tough.

‘It takes a long time to build up your reputation, to get opportunities. You struggle’, Mark said.

The key pressure is that the industry is highly results driven. ‘It’s financial. If you don’t win races it affects your income and you can’t afford to feed your family. It’s tough, especially when you’re starting out.’

It helps to have people who give you a hand. Mark acknowledges Oatlands shearing contractor, 75 year old Murray Johnson.

‘He’s been the biggest supporter of my stables and career since I met him 10 years ago’, Mark said.

‘He’s been fantastic for my career. I couldn’t have done it without him. He’s a fan of my driving. We bought a yearling, Black Ox, and went from there.’

But Murray says his regard for 33 year old Mark goes beyond driving.

‘Yole is a gentleman. He’s older than his age’, he said.

‘He’s a very good trainer and driver, and he’s more than repaid me. I met him when he played football at Mt Pleasant [near Oatlands], and he wasn’t a bad footballer either.’

Murray acknowledges, as does Mark, that when the black dog of depression was nipping at Mark’s heels he most needed support.

‘Sometimes when a young bloke gets down he need support, financial help as well.’

In his twenties, Mark was suffering from depression, but he didn’t know what it was.

His mother Louise named it, because she and other family members suffer from it too, and she got him help.

‘That was a major step’, Mark said, ‘just knowing what was happening.’

Depression was responsible for Mark’s down times in the pacing industry, where he backchatted stewards and behaved badly.

While he may have the illness all his life, these days he knows what he’s up against and talks things over with Danica.

He doesn’t shy away from talking about depression publicly. Tas Racing provides counselling to those who need it and Mark helps drivers and trainers who approach him for help.

In 2019 Mark Yole took the big step of buying his Carrick stables from trainer Andrew Arnott, who was retiring. It’s right next to the Carrick racetrack where he trains his horses.

Working from home he can keep his kids Lucas, Amelia and Oliver close. Oliver is only eight weeks old.

‘It’s been going well over the past 12 months. I’ve had 10 or 11 wins.’

His win with Tisu Spirit at Carrick was sweet.

After watching the horse for a long time, Mark bought him four months ago and built his work and training regime.

‘I liked him. He was well built, seemed really tough and looked like a stayer.

‘He had good standing start manners and I thought he could win country cups.’

In the North-East Pacing Cup, Tisu Spirit stepped away cleanly, but so did pacer Gogo Gigi.

‘After 300m we were putting pressure on the leader and we rolled to the front. When the favourite, Kardesler, made a move a mile from home I quickened the tempo, but up the straight it was a battle.

‘My bloke found enough on the line to hold on.’

Mark Yole’s difficulties have given him an appreciation for wins, in horse racing and in life.

‘My attitude was wrong when I first started out. I was cocky and over confident’, he said.

‘These days I enjoy the successes when they come because I don’t know what’s in the future.’

Mark Yole talks about depression on Youtube – In the Gig profile: Mark Yole.