KROPP RACING STABLE UPDATE (OCTOBER 6, 2026)

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Talk about horses for courses. If you take the five-year-old gelding Trusty Bandit to Kilcoy you know you are in for a big run and the son of Trusty Lad certainly didn’t disappoint when trainer William Kropp made that trip to Kilcoy for Trusty Bandit to contest a BM58 Handicap over 1900m on October 6, backing up five days after Trusty Bandit had finished fourth at Gatton in a Band 0-58 Handicap.

Trusty Bandit ($2.90) started a close second favourite marginally behind his market rival Seeress ($2.80), who was a last start winner at Lismore, but with Seeress never raising a competitive gallop, it became a race in one with Trusty Bandit able to dominate as he liked when set alight by Brandon Lerena over the final 400m as he turned the race into a procession.

After holding station some four lengths off the lead for much of the race, Trusty Bandit’s authority could not have been more emphatic once Lerena pushed the Kropp trained runner three wide in search of the lead, and he looked to be loving it as he maintained a strong gallop down the home straight, putting his rivals to the sword to win by a whopping 8.30 length margin.

This was Trust Bandit’s third win in five starts at Kilcoy.
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Trainer Matt Kropp and apprentice Isabel Jessop combined to complete a useful training and riding double at Charleville on October 4, saluting with Rowdash and Cardiologist.

Rowdash got the show on the road, winning a QTIS Ratings Band 0-55 Handicap over 1000m.

The eight-year-old mare, now a veteran of sixty-six starts, was the ninth choice in the betting in a ten horse race, but she merely shrugged her shoulders at that lack of support as she and Jessop proceeded to systematically plot a path into the race before producing a finish that took care of the opposition.

It wasn’t an easy watch with Rowdash just worse than midfield early … then up to midfield mid-race … then very wide approaching the home turn, and on straightening … and then still having it all to do with 250m left to run … but Rowdash knuckled down over those last 250m, forging into contention before taking the lead with 100m left to run and racing away to win by a widening 2.31 length margin.

Two races later, Cardiologist completed a stable double to make the trip that much more worthwhile for the Kropp team.

There was no doubting the Kropp trained runner this time as Cardiologist dominated both the betting and the race itself, starting favourite at $2.70 (which was still a good price for his followers) and winning by 4.64 lengths, taking no prisoners along the way as he simply took the opposition apart.

Jessop was content to sit just off the leader in the first half of the race, but she then had Cardiologist starting to apply the pressure up front … and the Kropp runner quickly gained the ascendancy as early as the 700m mark, at which stage it was essentially already ‘race over’.

Maintaining a comfortable gallop, while his rivals were left scrambling, Cardiologist’s run to the line was as comfortable as it gets, a fact underlined by that 4.64 length winning margin.

This was Cardiologist’s fourth career win, and it took his career earnings to within touching distance of $100 000 … $99 385 to be exact.

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