THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - JUST BEWARE, THIS COULD BE A TEAM ON THE MOVE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, February 2, 2014

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

Several Sunshine Coast based trainers are upping the ante … both in terms of chasing winners and in the quality of thoroughbred they bring to the game.

Last weekend a contingent of Sunshine Coast trainers advanced on Brisbane. They took the city by storm, tackling the city slickers in their own back yard and, when the dust had settled, they had captured four of the eight races on offer at Eagle Farm.

Their raids might not always be that successful, but the weight of victory last week suggests that, collectively, the best from the Sunshine coast could well develop into a rising force in racing in the state.

Certainly, if nothing else, the warning has been posted.

This would mark a turn away from the traditional status of the ‘provincial’ based trainer. Of course, there have been notable exceptions from both the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast trainers lists over the years, where individuals have superseded the norm and risen to the top their of their profession, but the speed-bump for the majority of provincial trainers traditionally has been that, more often than not, the majority of horses under their care are provincial grade horses.

To break those shackles a trainer either has to get lucky by having a superior horse enter his stable, or else he has to make a conscious decision to upgrade his stock (which is an expensive exercise normally needing the backing of a well-heeled owner) or he or she has to build up a run of good results which can bring its own positive spinoff.

Whatever avenue the trainer follows … it is a battle.
If you make it through to the other side however, it can be quite a rewarding exercise.

The Sunshine Coast flag-bearers last Saturday were Tom Bourke, Jack Duncan, Stuart Kendrick and Len Treloar … all well worthy of a place on centre stage.

Bourke’s handling of the sprinter Rocky King has been exemplary. The gelding has won ten of twenty-one starts with six of those victories coming in town. Jack Duncan always turns his horses out ready to run as evidenced by his healthy strike-rate. Stuart Kendrick also is a regular in the winners’ enclosure and has established a consistent level of performance while the Len Treloar stable is probably building the biggest momentum of all with a flurry of recent wins.

All of these trainers are very much part of the gathering force.

But they are not alone. Their back-up group contains some significant identities.

Golden Slipper winning trainer Jason McLachlan, Group 1 winning trainers Mick Mair, Paul Duncan and Paul Jenkins all race out of the Sunshine Coast, as does the Macall family (Ray and Natalie) who have fired winning salvos of their own recently with their quality performers Top Rada and River Lad.

The leadership group might change with each passing result and some identities might remain more high profile than others while just a step behind them is an even larger support base of trainers who are all working hard to improve their daily lot as they try to climb the shaky ladder of success.

Just beware … this could be a team on the move!

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