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That winning feeling of finding a yearling sales gem

Racing at Flemington. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Rookie
10th November, 2015
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Some call it intuition, some call it a sixth sense, others a gut feeling. For Russell Cook, he just knew it would happen and he had to be there.

The incident in question was a Saturday night race meeting hosted by Redcliffe Harness Racing Club on March 29, 2014, and a race-book promotion gave the lucky winner $2000 towards the purchase of a yearling at the Redcliffe Yearling Sales to be held the following day.

With a passion for the trots that ignited in the early 1970s, Russell had raced a few horses with limited success, but was an avid follower and would regularly attend Saturday night meetings.

“I used to love going to the trots and I raced a couple, mainly around Rocklea and I used to head into Albion Park every Saturday night,” he said.

Family commitments then saw Russell’s visits to the Saturday night trots became less frequent as he and wife Leanne began raising their two daughters.

“Once the girls came along, it was a case of not living the bachelor-style life as much and the focus was on raising them.”

All the while however, the passion for the trots was still there.

Time and life went on and as the Cook’s daughters reached adulthood, it was time to start heading to the track a bit more regularly.

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Having heard about the promotion the Redcliffe Club were holding as part of their big night of metropolitan racing, Russell and Leanne headed to the peninsula for the evening.

“I hadn’t been to the trots at Redcliffe for about 35 years,” Russell recalls. “I had heard about the prize and felt like I was going to win it so told Leanne, ‘We need to go to Redcliffe.’”

Arriving on course that evening, Russell managed to back a few winners prior to the draw being conducted. Like the 17th Century English poet John Milton suggested, “that luck is the residue of design”. When the winning ticket was drawn, Russell and Leanne’s names were called out.

So how was the feeling, winning a $2000 cheque towards a yearling?

“It might sound strange, but I was not surprised, because I knew we were going to win,” Russell said matter of factly.

Armed with their $2000, the Cooks headed to the yearling sales to see what they could buy, without having to put any more money in. With nothing jumping out to them, a meeting with club president Kerry Ebert led to an introduction to trainer and breeder Phil Mitchell.

“Kerry introduced us to Phil and I was pleased with his manner and he showed us some of the horses he was trying to sell at the sale, and that he would be happy to sell shares in one.”

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The result of this introduction saw Russell and Leanne buy into a filly by the stallion Major In Art, out of the mare With Diamonds, bred by Mitchell’s On Pace group.

With Diamonds foaled in 2006, and faced the starter on 34 occasions for the impressive return of 10 wins and 10 placings. Beside the 10 victories, a highlight of her career was finishing second in the Gold Coast Oaks. The sire, Major In Art, is a son of one of the great modern-day pacing stallions, Art Major, who is known for passing speed into his progeny.

Fast-forward 19 months and the horse in question is set to make its race debut this Thursday at Redcliffe. Now officially known under the racing name Lerusco – the first two letters of Leanne, Russell and Cook – the filly has had one official trial, which was a pleasing performance against older and more seasoned opponents.

It is so far so good, with Mitchell pleased with how the filly is progressing. The Cooks have even made the trek out to Churchable, 90 minutes wWest of Brisbane, to Mitchell’s training establishment to watch their new “daughter” in action.

The new association they have formed has seen them closely follow the deeds of Mitchell’s other pupils, including Cullens Jewel who was victorious earlier this year in the QBred Breeders Classic for three-year-old fillies at Group 2 level.

This same race may be a future target for Lerusco, because the filly is a QBred and will be eligible for the Breeders Classic Series with a final that features total prizemoney of $50,000 and a consolation of $15,000, while the Triad Series features total prizemoney of $100,000 for the final and $20,000 for the consolation.

Add to this is a bonus payment of $7000 paid to the owners of any three-year-old QBred filly winning its first eligible race in Queensland, and the value in racing in Queensland will have the Cooks hopeful of winning a share of the available riches.

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So with a new-found interest and enthusiasm, the whole family are now beginning to follow the trots more closely. “Leanne is reading up on them and is really getting into it,” Russell said.

Thirty-eight years in the making, one can only hope that this Thursday at 1:14pm, Russell announces, “I just feel like I’m going to win!”

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