On a non-descript Tuesday in inner suburban Brisbane, an ageless warrior claimed another scalp.
Not any more glorious or exciting than his impressive war chest holds, however the number of battles that warrior has fought in is quite staggering.
Dexter as he is affectionately known is the modern equine warrior that shows no signs of his age holding him back. A warrior that refuses to lie down. A warrior that, if he continues to fight in the same vein he has thus far, he will soon add another record to his name.
You see Dexter is a standardbred pacer that races under the name Destreos.
Another moniker that this 11YO marvel rightly claims is King Of The Creek. For no horse has won more races at Queensland’s premier harness track than the Ken Rattray trained gelding.
On Tuesday Destreos recorded his 80th career victory and 60th at Albion Park. Yes you read that correctly.
Eight-zero, eighty.
When the average number of starts for a pacer or trotter is much less than that figure and the average number of wins for all horses to race is in the single digits, the enormity of the achievement is realised.
Quite simply, there are not enough adjectives to describe what Destreos has achieved. He is an equine freak, whose love of competing, durability and longevity cannot be paralleled. Considering the majority of his racing and victories have come in open class events, where there is never any easy day at the office, his will to compete is undeniable.
And so it is with the trotting game, the name Destreos would be known by very few people outside of this wonderful sport. Granted that he has never reached the lofty heights of the elite in terms of big race wins, the sheer quantity of his wins should be rewarded and acclaimed.
There would be very few thoroughbred horses who have even started as many times as Destreos has finished in third placing, yet if he were a member of the galloping world, Destreos would certainly have achieved a great deal more mainstream media coverage than he rightly deserves.
The trainer of Destreos Ken Rattray, has been involved in harness racing for the majority of his life. Hailing from arguably Tasmania’s first family of trotting, a permanent move to Queensland in the late 1990’s has seen a number of handy performers enter the Rattray barn.
Horses such as Very Cool won 20 times, Good Boy Diesel was a 21 time victor, Luxor Las Vegas more than a dozen wins. While Funny Boy, the long time stablemate and travelling companion of Destreos has saluted the judge 34 times for Rattray.
These are all impressive numbers that point to Ken’s ability to keep a horse sound, fit and competitive. With only ever a small team in work, the current team boasts an average starts per horse that exceeds 200 with an average win per horse of 32.
Ken Rattray, and partner Sally Stingel purchased Destreos from New Zealand for a moderate five-figure sum back in 2008 as the winner of seven lifetime races. His first race start for Rattray was at Redcliffe in the Group 3 Patrons Purse where he finished in fifth position.
Amazingly, since August of 2008, when he first arrived in Australia, Destreos has started at least once every calendar month since, with the exception of September 2013. The durability and constitution of the standardbred horse cannot be questioned.
The Australian record for both the number of wins and starts in a race is held by Cane Smoke. A pacer who competed mostly on the Central and Northern Queensland tracks, Cane Smoke retired after start number 400, as a 15 year old.
At 11 years of age, a bankroll that has just eclipsed $650,000 and after 369 starts, that record looks in serious jeopardy.
After that career PB win in March, regular driver Kelli Dawson pointed out “He’s an absolute champ; that was as good as it gets today because the emotion on the face of Ken when we returned to the stables after the event was priceless. It’s amazing how horses can really touch people and this horse means the world to both Ken and Sally”.
Meanwhile, Rattray has previously said “He’s my champion and I’m so proud of him, he’s been such a great warrior for such a long period of time, his resilience is remarkable and Sally and I owe him so much”.
Kelli Dawson has partnered Destreos 194 times at the races. Her record stands at 43 wins, and 29 times in both second and third place. That equates to Kelli obtaining a podium finish 101 times aboard the old marvel. In another remarkable feat, all 43 wins for Dawson have come in a mile rate (the timing method for harness racing) in under 2.00.0.
Destreos highest credentialled win came in the Group 3 Status Be Good Johnny Sprint. Overall he has competed in 5 Group 1 events and 31 Group status races.
Tuesday’s win also passed another milestone.
It was career win 73 of Destreos under Rattray’s tutelage. That saw him eclipse Blacks A Fakes 72 career wins for Natalie Rasmussen, making him the most winning horse in recent times for a single trainer.
This Saturday night, Destreos will return to Albion Park for another night at the office. He may not be a winning chance this week after drawing the widest barrier in the event, however, the old boy just loves to be there.
On current performances and timing, it will be just a few more months before Destreos breaks the 400 barrier for The King of the Creek is showing no signs of abdicating his throne.
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