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2008 Trainee Views

December 2009 - Australia

We leave Australia with sadness in our hearts but with the taste of victory fresh in our minds. As a fitting end to our stay, we competed in the Hunter Valley Games with five other teams from Arrowfield, Scone Vets, Paul Messara Racing, Darley Woodlands and Darley Kelvinside. A hard-fought but slow start saw us in 5 soccer and touch football games, although we were only two points away from the leader. We were quietly confident going into the swimming phase which consisted of a medley relay with Meagan (backstroke), Brian (butterfly), Chance (breaststroke) and Charlie (freestyle). Our confidence was rewarded with a resounding victory, with DFS clocking the fastest time of the day and lapping our closest rivals. This put us in a good position going into the tennis, the last leg of the competition, which Charlie and Melanie won with a resounding 6-1 victory. This gave us the overall lead in a tightly-contested competition, with Arrowfield and Scone Vets tying for second place, only one point behind.

This competition rounded off our last week in the Hunter Valley, which we have returned to after a month on work placement and a week in Melbourne. We left the Hunter after our four weeks of full time work on the farms, which we all agreed were very enjoyable. We arrived in Melbourne on the eve of Derby Day, the first of the four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington. The fourteen hour drive down from Aberdeen gruelling, but we all agreed that it was worth it when we arrived at Flemington the following day. 103,000 people were on hand to watch the four Group 1s , and we caught a glimpse of Tuesday’s Cup winner Shocking (Street Cry) winning his way into the Cup field with victory in the Gr3 Lexus Quality. The group was amazed by the complexity of facilities at the Carnival at Flemington, which ranged from the general public through to the Members’ Car Park and the corporate Birdcage.

The next day, we visited the beautiful Northwood Park, Darley’s Victorian Farm, where we saw the stallions and enjoyed lunch with Darley management, discussing the racing from the day before and for the rest of the week.

On the Monday we visited Lee Freedman’s Markdel property  on the Mornington Peninsula, where we saw some of Darley’s good horses, including sentimental favourite Romneya. We followed this visit with the Melbourne Cup Parade through the city centre, and a visit to the Racing Museum in Federation Square. Tuesday was Cup day, which was brilliant. We all saw the horses in their tie-up stalls before the race, and then watch The Race That Stops A Nation, with Godolphin’s runner Crime Scene a close second to Shocking, Mark Kavanagh’s Street Cry gelding. Street Cry had an amazing week, with his amazing filly Zenyatta taking out the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita the following Saturday. The day after the Cup, we visited trainers David Hayes, Paul Snowden, Mick Price, Tony Noonan and Mark Kavanagh, where we saw Shocking in his box. The next day was Thursday, Oaks Day, where we saw another Darley-sired horse win the feature race with Bart Cummings’ Faint Perfume (Shamardal) taking out the Oaks in emphatic style.

The three trainees bound for New Zealand work placements left the next day, while the rest of us wound up our Melbourne week with Emirates Stakes Day on the Saturday. In New Zealand Mick went to Waikato Stud where he used his expertise working with the broodmares and foals, Gary went to Windsor Park Stud and worked with yearlings and the sire of Cox Plate and the VRC Derby, High Chaparral, and Sorrel spent her time assisting trainer Roger James with his horses in training. They all enjoyed their time and were most impressed with the New Zealand bloodstock industry. In Melbourne, Meagan enjoyed her placement at the Victoria Racing Club where she was involved in compiling a report that looked at the source of the success of the VRC in the racing industry. Chance worked with David Hayes’ bloodstock agent Mark Pilkington, where he enjoyed a range of tasks including spreadsheet analysis through to helping at the Melbourne sales and attending race meetings. Charlie spent his time with Flemington Equine Veterinary surgeon John Van Veenendaal, and was lucky to work with some well credentialed racehorses including Makybe Diva and Weekend Hustler.

Six trainees were based in Sydney; Melanie struck up a great working relationship with Gai Waterhouse and was very busy riding trackwork, assisting in the office and with clients. Billy spent his time with Anthony Cummings and learned a different perspective of training horses which focussed on maximising wins rather than protecting a winning strike-rate. Brian perfected his clocking technique with John O’Shea and brought great luck to the stable, with two very exciting two-year-olds making their debut wins while Brian was part of the team. Bill used his great knowledge of pedigrees and the Hong Kong market to work on projects for Aushorse, and Jimmy was a great asset for William Inglis in researching the emerging Indian market. PJ had his placement with Peter Snowden at Crown Lodge, where he was very good at tacking up horses and driving sports cars!

As we wrap up our time here, we are all excited about our impending stay in Dubai. Lectures from Joe Osborne and Emma Ridley have ignited our enthusiasm and we are sure that the Christmas break will fly by with our eagerness to start the next phase of the course. We would like to thank everyone at Darley, especially Melissa Clarke and Fran Khan, who made our job as team leaders so enjoyable. We wish the group and the next team leaders, Bill and Jimmy, every success over the next four months.

Meagan Jamieson & Brian McGrath


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