The guys asked me this week to take a look back at my first season as a trainer, and to look forward to the new season that just commenced.
Well, first of all, I’ve only been going since late January 2015. And I’ve been happy with how things have gone.
The first winner for the stable was Specific Choice at Ipswich in February. Since breaking the duck, we’ve had a good, consistent flow of winners.
I’ve been most proud of the fact that our horses have always raced genuinely. They’ve always put their hand up, always put in, and we’ve never made excuses.
As far as highlights go, no doubt Wicked Intent was the highlight. From a training perspective, when he was narrowly beaten by Blueberry Hill after a setback leading in Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doomben, it was a fine effort.
We then ran him in the Sires, more hoping than expecting he’d get the 1350 metres. He disappointed then, but the little colt stood up to blow them away at Ipswich in the Bundamba Plate.
He was so impressive with that run. He broke Buffering’s record at the track, carrying an extra four kilograms. That’s not bad!
Queensland racing
All I can say for Queensland racing is that I just hope they get their act together. It’s frustrating and disappointing the way things have been handled. It’s all a blame game, with ego and politics coming in before actually doing something.
No one will just take the ball up and run full-steam at the problem. To say I’m disappointed at the way things have unfolded would be an understatement.
Aims for the season ahead
I’d love to be in the top-10 trainers in Queensland again this season. To do that you just have to have the numbers. I’ve said before I’m still gradually building my team, with the numbers getting there. I’ve got a good number of horses – 30 or so, with around 20-25 in work – but we’re probably looking for a couple more consistent town runners, a couple of real Saturday-class horses.
I have some handy mid-week and provincials horses and a lot of babies.
A big aim is a Group race. Realistically, that chance will come with Wicked Intent.
My crop of yearlings is exciting. The beauty of these yearlings – some really nice two-year olds – is that you never quite know what you have got. You can work them up, train them, get them used to the barriers, prepare them, but until you take them to the races you just don’t know.
As a trainer we get up to see these babies develop and mature into fast racehorses. I do love the young horses for that reason. I’ve got a handful of babies – six or eight – and I just can’t single any out in particular. You never quite know – most of them are Magic Millions babies so we’ll be looking towards that massive race day if we can.
As for Wicked Intent, he’s in about his third week back at work. He enjoys his routine, his trackwork, and being looked after. He’s going well. He is a sensible little bloke, with a good attitude and he picks things up very quick.
He’ll probably trial towards the end of this month or early September, we’ll give him a run up here and then hopefully a look at a race in Sydney. If he goes well, on to Melbourne, where we’d be looking at running him down the straight.
Over the next period it’s generally about building and growing the stable, so I have got the numbers and can keep working with a consistent flow of winners. It’s funny how much life as a trainer completely revolves around them.
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