Podcast host shows off tattoo he got before horse he owns Yabby Pump had won a race

Meet Tom Dahl, a former miner from Gladstone who is the part-owner of promising Richard and Will Freedman-trained three-year-old Yabby Pump.

Dahl and his mate Cam Lowry are the co-hosts of the popular Alpha Blokes podcast – the pair kicked off the podcast in 2021 when both had “nothing but time on our hands, sitting in machines at work”.

• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

With 340,000 followers on Instagram and 327,000 on Instagram, the podcast is promoted as “a couple of mates who love all things outdoors, sinking tins, cooking up a storm, talking sh-t and having a laugh”.

The pair tapped into their podcast audience to syndicate $40,000 yearling purchase Yabby Pump, a son of Castelvecchio who has now enjoyed a promising start to his career, winning two of his first three in NSW.

“Before this horse had even won a race, I got a tattoo of a yabby pump and the horse’s brand (Arrowfield Stud) tattooed on my leg,” Dahl said.

“Will Freedman said to me at the time, ‘Do you know what the odds are of one of those yearlings winning a race are?’.

“So I reckon I manifested this horse into being a winner.

“My Dad and I have always pumped yabbies up the creek, to go fishing for whiting and stuff.

“And we reckon the action of pumping for yabbies is similar to the act of getting into a punch on with someone at a pub.

“So that became part of our chat on the podcast.

“Our podcast is a thing to keep the everyday battler company, the world is pretty PC these days.

“We just speak our minds and people seem to like how we talk.

“We always said we would own a racehorse and call it Yabby Pump.

“Cam and I own a share on behalf of the podcast and we sold the rest of the shares to the audience.”

• Gollan gun to start Stradbroke bid in $1m slot race

Yabby Pump had been set to race at Doomben last Saturday, but the races were postponed due to a wet weather deluge.

It was far from ideal for Dahl and Lowry, and the listeners of Alpha Blokes who also own shares in the gelding.

The crew had planned the race from a long way out and there was set to be at least 100 owners/supporters trackside wearing Yabby Pump hats.

• Everest dream over for James but trainer still proud

Yabby Pump will instead race in the QTIS 3YO Quality Handicap at Eagle Farm on Saturday, with the 1200m affair over a shorter distance than the 1350m race he had been set for last Saturday.

Yabby Pump is rated a $7.50 chance but Will Freedman says the sharper distance than was originally planned is not ideal.

Regardless, the Rosehill trainer thinks he has a terrific prospect on his hands - and one with a big following.

“He has got a cult following already, this horse,” Freedman said.

“We had been planning his run last week for two months so all the crew could come to Doomben and it had all gone to plan and then the meeting got washed out.

“He might now find the 1200m of Saturday’s race is a bit sharp for him.

“But if he keeps improving, he is on a (Group 1) Queensland Derby path.

“He was a cheap buy, but all the owners are having a lot of fun with him.”

Originally published as Podcast host shows off tattoo he got before horse he owns Yabby Pump had won a race