THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: A TRAINER GETTING THE BEST OUT OF A SMALL TEAM OF HORSES

By Graham Potter | Sunday, September 22, 2019

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.

The 2019/20 racing season is only seven weeks old and so the premiership ladders across the board will obviously not mean too much at this stage, but a look at the current Sunshine Coast Premiership table is worth a second glance as the leader is a trainer who, even on the small scale in which he operates, clearly enhances the training ranks on the Sunshine Coast.

Paul Jenkins has proven expertise. He is a Group 1 winning trainer and his resume at the elite level includes wins with King Keitel in the Doomben Cup (2001) and with Bazelle in the Auckland Cup and the Zabeel Classic (2005). In July 2012 Jenkins closed his Matamata stables, a decision which ended forty years of direct New Zealand racing involvement by the Jenkins family, and opted to relocate to the Sunshine Coast.

“I had become very disillusioned with what was happening in NZ racing,” Jenkins said, taking up the story. “I moved here with four horses thinking I wouldn’t have too much trouble maintaining a team of fifteen up to twenty horses. That wasn’t the case. I struggled for numbers and clients.

“At the time I moved, the Sunshine Coast wasn’t what it is now as training centre and that seemed to deter clients. Back then there was very little in the way of infrastructure. There were very few ancillary services ie spelling farms, breakers, pre-trainers, vets and farriers … that sort of thing.

“That’s all changed dramatically now and I think the Sunshine Coast will ultimately become the dominant training centre in Queensland so I am very happy to be here.

“I’ve only got seven in work. I would like to have something like twice that amount. To me it has always been more about having quality than quantity. I like a smaller team. I like to be more hands on than you sometimes can be with big numbers. I enjoy my horses and enjoy working closely with the horses.

“I’m probably more a horseman than a businessman and that does have its downside in this day and age. Training as a modern-day business now very much includes social media marketing. The young blokes are all over it. They are tweeting. They are on facebook and by using all of that social media stuff they can get the jump on you.

“That’s not a complaint. That’s is just the way it is. I’m just happy to remain focussed on my horses and that is where I spend my time and I try to let my results do the talking to the extent they can given the small string that I have at my disposal.

“It’s taken time but I have a bit of a client base now … predominantly New Zealanders actually around my age who are looking to spend time up here as they retire. They are pretty solid guys I have known them for a long time. That’s worked out pretty nicely. So, in relative terms, things are going well.

“We are not winning big races but there are some promising types starting to come through and hopefully some of them can make a mark higher up the ladder,” Jenkins concluded, in typically modest style.

Six winners in six weeks from seventeen starters means the stable’s season strike rate is a an impressive 35.29 %.

Different times. Different place but the Group 1 winning trainer certainly hasn’t lost his touch.

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