THE DAY NATALIE MCCALL RACED INTO HISTORY AND GAVE QUEENSLAND A FAMOUS HOME-TOWN VICTORY
By Natalie McCall | Friday, June 5, 2015
Eagle Farm, June 7, 2014 was the day that Natalie McCall wrote her name in the record books by sending out River Lad to score an historic win in the Stradbroke. Winning her first Group 1 was a personal landmark for McCall but the fact that she became the first woman trainer to take out the race and that McCall is Queensland based set off a state-wide celebration of her achievement. Natalie McCall recalls that ‘amazing experience.’
The Stradbroke has always been my absolute favourite race ... one hundred percent.
I’ve always followed it. It’s our best race.
I strapped the winner of the race, Crawl, in 2001. So from then, even more so, it’s always been the race I wanted to win. I think anyone in Queensland will tell you the same thing.
So when did that dream come into focus with River Lad?
Well, four months before his Stradbroke win we took him to Sydney for the Expressway. He beat some very good Group 1 performers there.
He ran second to Appearance and he had the likes of Sizzling and Boban behind him. I think there were six Group 1 winners out of the race.
He’d won a Group 3 at that stage, but the Expressway result was the point at which we were able to say, ok, he can mix it with the big boys ... and it was a weight-for-age race, so he wasn’t in lightly.
That put us on track, because a year before he had come up really well and competed in the lower grade stake races and our twelve month plan had been to get him to the Stradbroke.
He has always had a lot of ability but did a lot wrong earlier but, having said that, when I got the horse I wouldn’t have said he was going to be a Group 1 winner.
I would have said this was a good, Listed / Group 3 horse, but every time we brought him in he just kept getting better.
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In terms of the build-up to the Stradbroke last year ... I mean he was 30-1 so I wasn’t really nervous as such.
You still feel the pressure preparing your horse for such a big race, but I think anxiousness is perhaps a better word to describe what you go through.
You want to get him safely to the race. You know how many things can go wrong along the way ... and he’s not the quietest horse. He is a real handful, so I just wanted to make sure I got him there as best prepared as I could with as little drama as possible.
Once I get to the races I’m generally fine.
I don’t not sleep or anything like that. I find solace in knowing I’ve done everything I can. Then I’m happy when I send him out there.
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It’s a game of fine lines.
Tim Bell was booked to ride River Lad in the Stradbroke. We kinda locked him in. I knew he was on Sacred Star in another big race before the Stradbroke. His manager hadn’t mentioned it but I had it in the back of my mind that if Sacred Star won that race, Tim would probably want to get off.
That happened. We probably could have kept him if push came to shove because we formally had him booked, but at the end of the day I didn’t want somebody on River Lad who doesn’t want to be on him.
Straight after Sacred Star’s win I texted Tim’s manager and I said, what’s going on? He said he would have to talk to Tim.
About five minutes after I’d sent that message Damien Oliver’s manager rang and said, if Tim gets off Damien wanted the ride on River Lad. Damien had never won a Stradbroke.
Tim got off ... so we went with Damien. Not a bad replacement!
We did have a few other offers but he was the one who stood out.
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As far as the race itself was concerned, I thought there would be more pressure.
I expected Srikandi to push up like she did, but I thought there would have been more pressure from the outside because there didn’t look to be a heap of speed in the race.
The start before was the first time River Lad had ever led and won. That wasn’t ideal for us because he normally does go quite hard.
We thought we might slot in somewhere, but I obviously never tied Damien down to any instructions. I never do with good jockeys. I just tell them the quirks of the horse and how I think it might pan out, but from there it really is over to the jockey.
With River Lad, he just needs to comfortable in a decent zone. If he gets pulling you can’t restrain him. He gets fired up. The best is to have a happy medium where you can let him run along a bit and then ask him to come back.
Damien is a great horseman obviously and the pairing worked well.
It generally takes a particular type of horse to win the Stradbroke. Never mind ability, they’ve got to be up for the fight. River Lad’s got that. He’s tough. He doesn’t leave anything on the table. He’s always all-out.
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Part of the pleasure of winning the race was the interaction with Damien Oliver after the race.
He’s won his one hundredth Group 1 a couple of weeks beforehand and I thought he’d get off and say, good on your guys ... but he was pumped.
He said he’d ridden some good horses in the Stradbroke before and hadn’t been able to win one before. He was just so excited.
People say I looked calm myself. I don’t know about that, but I do know I was so proud.
I not a crier or anything like that. I know dad shed a little tear. It was just one of those very special moments, particularly with all of my family being there, that left me bursting with pride.
You know, horses come and go but, way before the Stradbroke, but River Lad has been ‘that horse’ for me.
That’s been since I’ve had him. We’ve always had a good connection.
I do everything with him. I ride him in all his work and when we finished work I might sit out with him for an hour or so while he’s having a pick, so for me to see him do that ... it was an amazing experience.
What a day he gave us!
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