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The late Mr Ken Chilby pictured on his 101st birthday

Racing NSW has been informed of the passing of former trainer Ken Chilby at the age of 101.

Mr Chilby was a trainer at Canterbury Racecourse and is the father-in-law of current Warwick Farm trainer Ron Leemon.

Mr Leemon first became interested in racing after meeting and marrying Gaye Chilby, the daughter of Ken Chilby.

“I was studying to be a teacher and was foreman to Ken for 10 years prior to taking out my own licence in 1977,” Leemon said.

Ken started his career off as an apprentice in the 1930s but due to increasing weight, he could no longer continue riding and became a successful track rider/foreman to Ossie Pettit at Canterbury.

During this time, Ossie sent Ken to Melbourne with Two Grand which he prepared (trained) to run third in the 1947 Caulfield Cup.

Ken obtained his licence in 1952 and started to train a small team while working outside the industry to make ends meet.

Ken only wanted to train a small team as he was very much hands-on and was supported over many years by loyal clients such as Bill Picken, Les and John Muir and Jim Sundell.

Ken had reasonable success with a few horses in his stable such as Bonnybel, winner of the 1973 VRC Oaks and 1974 Queensland Oaks, Anatomic, Overtone, Mighty Keys, Farnworth, Tod Craig, Bye Shane, Hot Cinders, Avadana, Southern Plate, Mister Craig, Persian Craig and Al Kuwait.

During the mid-80s finally left his beloved Canterbury and trained from Warwick Farm at his son-in-law Ron Leemon’s stables.

He eventually retired in the 80s but still enjoyed the races, accompanying Ron in his journey into the racing world.

In later years he part-owned several horses trained by Ron Leemon including his last winner Dapper Dancer at Hawkesbury on 14 May 2024.