Junling Sun in Scone

Featured Image: Darley Flying Start pen picture of Junling Sun.

It may come as a surprise, but Junling Sun aka ‘Jimmy’ has a close association with Scone. He was resident here at ‘Willowgate Hall’, Kingdon Street in 2008.

I first met Junling Sun (‘Jimmy’) in 2004 when I was with a group from the Australian Stock Horse Society on an exploratory trade mission to the People’s Republic of China. CEO Steve Guihot led the ‘charge to China’ accompanied by Ray Hynes, Mike Thew (Scone TAFE), Terry Blake, Duncan & Jill Macintyre, Craig Young (Gloucester) and a few other interested parties. It was an eye-opening expedition to the then emerging PRC.

One of the most impressive individuals we met was Junling Sun. He was an undergraduate student at the Nanjing Agricultural University and delivered a most enthusiastic address in perfect English to our group. We all agreed he was a ‘find’ and should be nurtured as a significant contact.

Through the aegis of TAFE NSW, we invited ‘Jimmy’ to visit Australia funded with a ‘travelling fellowship’ arranged by Mike Thew, then head of SCONE TAFE Campus. The first thing we discovered was that Jimmy was not as proficient at English as we thought! He’d learned his address in Nanjing by rote and carried it off with aplomb. Nonetheless the trip was great success. My great friend and professional colleague Derek Major at Agnes Banks gave him the sobriquet ‘Jimmy’ which delighted him! Until then we didn’t know whether to call him ‘Sun’ or ‘Junling’? He was very gregarious. In retrospect ‘Sunny’ would have been apposite.

Fast forward a few short years to 2008. Through foundation CEO Ollie Tait I developed an association with Darley Australia, then newly established at ‘Kelvinside’, Aberdeen. Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, had developed a grand vision of global hegemony in the esoteric world of Thoroughbred Racing & Breeding. Few individuals on the planet could ever have nurtured such a far-sighted concept! It’s worked.

See: | Australia (darley.com.au)

See: Godolphin Flying Start | Graduates of 2008 – Godolphin Flying Start

Through and early association suffice it to say I managed to ‘orchestrate’ an application for Junling Sun access the intake for 2008. Ollie Tait was the catalyst , conductor and Master of Ceremonies.