As another Tasmanian racing season gets underway, so too does another chapter in one of the state’s longest and most enduring sponsorship stories.
The 2026/27 season marks the 32nd year that Tasmanian Turf Club Hall of Fame inductee Kevin Sharkie has been associated with racing on the Apple Isle — a remarkable commitment from a proud Victorian who now regards Tasmania as something of an adopted home.
Sharkie’s involvement in Tasmanian racing began in the mid-1990s, but the seeds were planted after he became frustrated by the cost of sponsorship opportunities in his home state.
“I originally did a lot of work with racing in Victoria, but everywhere I went, the money was excessive,” Sharkie told Tasracing.
“I then started thinking about what I could do in Tasmania.”
It proved to be the beginning of an association that has now stretched across more than three decades and several Tasmanian racing clubs.
A Launceston Beginning
In 1995, Sharkie played a key role in establishing major tenants for a new call centre facility at Kings Meadows through his company, Cybernetics Australia.
During that period, he worked closely with Tasmanian Turf Club Chairman Margot Smart OAM and CEO Scott Whiteman, strengthening his relationship with the club and Tasmanian racing.
His first sponsorship involvement came almost by chance.
Sharkie noticed that the 1995 Tasmanian Stakes, held at Mowbray on Boxing Day, did not have a trophy for the winning jockey.
He decided to do something about it.
By the following year, Sharkie had stepped up his involvement considerably, sponsoring the entire race under the Cybernetics Australia banner.
Even after selling the company, Sharkie’s commitment to Tasmanian racing continued.
When the Tasmanian Stakes was later transferred to Hobart, rather than ending his association with the Tasmanian Turf Club, Sharkie found other opportunities to maintain his support at Mowbray.
He went on to sponsor the Tasmanian Oaks and, more recently, the Launceston Guineas, continuing a relationship with the TTC that has survived changing administrations, committees and generations of racing participants.
Sharkie has long held the view that during Tasmania’s important Summer Racing Carnival, clubs should strive to ensure every race has a sponsor attached to it.
More importantly, he has backed those words with his own support year after year.
Support Spreads Across Tasmania
What started at Launceston with the Tasmanian Stakes eventually expanded to Hobart and then to the North West Coast.
Sharkie’s involvement with the Devonport Racing Club began in 2018 after he was approached at a Hobart Cup meeting about supporting racing on the North West Coast.
He was only too happy to become involved.
It was another example of Sharkie’s willingness to support Tasmanian racing beyond just one club or one major event.
His connection with the state itself stretches even further back, to 1972, and over the decades Tasmania’s racing industry has provided Sharkie with something he values just as highly as the racing itself — friendships.
“It is my love of Tasmanian hospitality, and the many friendships I have built through my association with our great Tasmanian Turf Club — its chair people, committees, operations team, owners, trainers, jockeys and patrons,” Sharkie said.
May this opportunity continue for many more years.
Hall of Fame Recognition
In 2024, Sharkie’s extraordinary contribution was formally recognised when he was inducted into the Tasmanian Turf Club Hall of Fame.
The honour acknowledged not only his financial support of the club, but the loyalty and longevity behind it.
Sponsors inevitably come and go in racing, but Sharkie has remained a constant presence.
From spotting a missing jockey’s trophy at the Tasmanian Stakes more than three decades ago to supporting some of Tasmania’s most important races, his contribution has become part of the fabric of racing on the Apple Isle.
Now, as the gates open on the 2026/27 season, Kevin Sharkie is back for a 32nd year.
For a Victorian who once wondered what he could do to support racing in Tasmania, the answer has turned out to be quite a lot.
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