Though a prolific winner of races for two-year-olds near the turn of the Century, Scobie most liked conditioning stayers

James Scobie (1860-1940), horse-trainer, was born on 18 July 1860 at Ararat, Victoria, son of Scottish parents William Scobie, stonemason, and his wife Marion, née McVicar. After a brief education Scobie worked as a horseboy and jockey in western Victoria. In 1880 he rode his first metropolitan jumping winner, as stable rider for Robert Howie of Ballarat. He was a determined but usually friendly rival of Tommy Corrigan, and between 1882 and 1893 rode and trained the winners of each of the principal jumping races in Melbourne and at Oakbank, South Australia.

Scobie bought the stables at Miners Rest near Ballarat from Howie in 1882, and later a farm in the same area. Scobie demonstrated his exceptional capabilities by successfully training the victors of an impressive six races. Throughout the remainder of the decade, Scobie skillfully balanced his training responsibilities with his active participation in cross-country riding. In 1882 he won the Grand National Hurdle with Rhesus and in 1888 the Grand National Steeple with Ruby. His first major training wins on the flat were the 1885 with Ringwood in the Hobart and Australian Cups for Norman Wilson. He deliberately sought rich patrons. About 1892 he began a long association with (Sir) Rupert Clarke and his brother Ernest. In the spring of 1900, Jim Scobie's remarkable talent for training horses became fully evident. His initial attempt at the A.J.C. Derby occurred in 1895 when he brought Onward and Acton to Sydney for the Randwick Spring Meeting. Notably, Onward achieved second place in the race that year.In 1900 he trained Maltster to win the first of his Australian Jockey Club and Victoria Racing Club Derbys, and his first Melbourne Cup winner, Clean Sweep. James Scobie bought Clean Sweep as a yearling for just 90 guineas and was particularly fond of the horse, however, Maltster was the more brilliant and better weight carrier of the pair. He also trained the brilliant daughter of Carbine, La Carabine, who confirmed her talent by adding the Sydney Cup and A.J.C. Plate to her tally of victories

Though a prolific winner of races for two-year-olds, Scobie most liked conditioning stayers, and was proud that his horses were rarely beaten in the run-offs then common after dead heats. Ernest Clarke established a stud at Melton in 1906 with Scobie as non-resident manager. At the urging of R. G. Casey, then chairman of the V.R.C., and others, in 1911 Scobie moved to Pytchley Lodge, Flemington. There he prepared the Melbourne Cup winners King Ingoda (1922), Bitalli (1923) and Trivalve (1927), and the unlucky second, Stand By (1924). Trivalve, also a dual Derby winner, had been bred at the Melton stud. However, Bitalli's win educed perhaps the public's greatest tribute to Scobie. The horse was delicate, and Scobie had to bring it gradually to fitness, without racing it for over three months. Still the public backed it, 'first up', to 4/1 favourite. Scobie continued training almost to his death. He won his eighth Victoria Derby in 1937 (Hua) and fifth South Australian Jockey Club Derby in 1939 (Lusson). Neat, ascetic, in later life he used a walking-stick to save a three-times broken leg.