O’BRIEN CLARIFIES HIS QUEENSLAND COMMITTMENT

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, July 14, 2009

High profile owner and breeder Kevin O’Brien was at the Toowoomba meeting on Saturday where HRO asked him to clarify the position of his team with regard to his racing interests in Queensland.

O’Brien has enjoyed tremendous success over the years with the likes of Gold Edition and Ice Chariot who raced under the care of trainer Ron Maund. With Maund currently disqualified, O’Brien’s horses went to trainers Michael Lakey and Tracey Wolfgram on an interim basis while O’Brien considered his options as where his famous orange and emerald green colours might find a new permanent home.

As it turns out, Neville Saunders, the long-time foreman for Ron Maund, was the critical factor as to whether O’Brien’s horses would remain in Queensland. But Saunders was no easy piece to fit in the puzzle. It was almost easier for O’Brien to cut and run. Instead he stayed to fight his cause.

The story is best related in his own words.

Kevin O’Brien (speaking at the Toowoomba meeting on Saturday): “No, we haven’t settled everything” (with regard to his racing interests in Queensland). “That’s what we are up here for. We are not just here for the day. We’ll be here until Tuesday. We have got a few things to sort out with all of our folk.

“When Ron Maund was disqualified it took us a little bit by surprise. We really thought he was going to cop, at the worst, a fine. When he was disqualified we realised we had a little bit of a problem so we just placed horses we had in work for the Winter Carnival with other people we had an affiliation with.

“I like working with people I know, or have known. Neville (Saunders, who was Ron Maund’s stable foreman for many years) I have known for forty-odd years. He rode his first winner for me. As a consequence, we wanted Neville to apply for a (trainers’) licence. It took a little bit of convincing that he should, but he knew that was going to get our support. He did ... and after a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the integrity people ... the stewards up here said they wouldn’t licence Neville unless we made some undertakings.

“Then, after I’d spoken to them they said, yes we will license Neville, but he is not to train any horses that have previously been trained by Ron Maund, because he’s had a close association. There is a rule of racing (in these circumstances) that precludes close associates (of a disqualified trainer) taking over the stable.

“I then wrote to Bob Bentley ... and I wrote to him in no uncertain terms that this was an imposition of a restriction of trade, not only for Neville Saunders but also for us. We have made a substantial investment in Queensland racing. We’ve got QTIS qualified horses that were going to be worthless if they didn’t have anybody to train them that I could trust. I’ve got a property out here which is not going to be sustainable. I mentioned this (situation) to him and as far as I was concerned they needed to address it.

“To his credit, Bentley obviously did. They had Board meeting. At the board-meeting they discussed my letter, and Orchid, the chap from the Integrity Department, phoned me and said we will be in touch with you. On the Monday a fax came through to say they had revoked that decision about Neville and he can train (former) Ron Maund horses so long as he has no association with Ron ... which we know. That’s the way it works. That’s the way it works.

“That sort of relieved the pressure. That’s why we decided to transfer all of the horses (in the interim) to Michael Lakey and Tracey (Wolfgram). Tracey was just helping us out anyway because she had her licence. She did well. She had two winners on the first day. So she was happy. And then Michael had a winner with Vocalic. I’ve known Michael for a little while too. He is an ex-Hayes man down south. We will probably be leaving some horses with Michael, but I have to sort that out between now and when we go back.

“If you had asked me this question three or two weeks ago before they’d approved Neville’s licence I would have said no, in actual fact we’ve entered half of these horses for the sales in August ... Volcalic, Sequallan, horses like that, all the older horses were going on sales... and I was going to take the rest back to Melbourne.”

So, while the final details have yet to be decided, the bottom line is that the O’Brien’s are not leaving Queensland.

As if to emphasise that fact, Neville Saunders trained his first winner since taking out his licence this time around when Sequallan took out the second race at Toowoomba on Saturday.

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