Horse Race in Australia – Trainer Mark Kavanagh Had a Little $1.8M in Prize Money in the Process
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2 1 3 7 4 6 5 8 10 9 11 HORSE SENSE & SENSIBILITY As the Spring Racing Carnival reaches its crescendo in Sydney and Melbourne, Glenn Cullen looks at the preparation and odds involved in reaching the winner’s circle. 1. Black Caviar 2. 2011 Melbourne Cup celebrations 3. Mark Kavanagh with the 2009 Melbourne Cup 4. Megan Gale photography: getty images; no.8: fairfaxphotos.com 5. Americain 6. Kate Waterhouse 7. Shocking 8. & 11. Gai Waterhouse 9. Miranda Kerr 10. Ben Melham on Black Caviar OCTOBEr 2012 QANTAS 83 SPRING CARNIVAL RACING From top: Maldivian ducks no part of training; victory salute from jockey Corey Brown on 2009 Melbourne Cup winner Shocking; Maldivian dressed for success after winning the 2008 Cox Plate he day Maldivian won the 2008 Cox Plate – the richest weight- After his hurdle training, Maldivian took out the Cox Plate and for-age horse race in Australia – trainer Mark Kavanagh had a little $1.8m in prize money in the process. Kavanagh, who in 2009 would something up his sleeve. A temperamental gelding, Maldivian’s go on to train Shocking to win Australia’s most revered race, the quality was unquestioned, but this was a horse with attitude. The Melbourne Cup, has a history of thinking outside the square. But, he six-year-old was famously scratched ahead of the 2007 Caulfield Cup, says, it takes more than lateral thinking to win some of Australia’s bloodied and stricken after rearing at the gate and injuring himself. biggest races during the rich Spring Carnival season each October He’d been a warm favourite in the $2.5m race. and November. “You see [jockey] Corey Brown jump up and cheer A year on, Maldivian was flitting between flighty and just plain and Mark Kavanagh jump around and dance, but behind all of this uninterested when Kavanagh decided to shake things up. A former are the people who look after him.” jumps jockey, Kavanagh decided on race day to put blinkers on the That list of people is extensive. Kavanagh trains 55-60 horses at horse for the first time and jump him over a series of hurdles. any one time and has virtually the same number of staff. On his “That sharpened him up and changed his attitude,” says Kavanagh. payroll are strappers, who look after the horses in the stable, general Such a strategy, he says, makes a horse more alert. “Each time they hands for when horses spell, a farrier to look after their hooves, a go round the bend they think there’s a jump there. It certainly sparks veterinarian and administration staff. them up and makes them work a little bit harder.” “It’s a large operation and each one of them has some sort of input Horses can be a little hot-headed. “They are trained each day to do into winning races like that,” says Kavanagh. “It’s a big team effort.” the same thing,” he says, “so they can get a little bit bored and just Kavanagh doesn’t employ a dietician as such, but the feeds are lope along in their races and have a good time.” carefully monitored for each horse and include a combination of photography: getty images 84 QANTAS OCTOBER 2012 SPRING CARNIVAL RACING Clockwise from above: 2011 Melbourne Cup at Flemington; hats incredible on race day; model racegoer Ashley Hart “THERE IS EXTRAORDINARY AttENTION TO DETAIL, BUT IT FAR FROM GUARANTEES THAT THINGS WILL RUN TO PLAN” oats, glutens, corn, sunflower seed and bran, often coated in molasses people enjoyed the festivities of an event that takes less than three to make it more palatable and to facilitate the inclusion of medicine. and a half minutes to run. There is extraordinary attention to detail, but it far from guarantees The Melbourne Cup is the crowning glory, but there’s more than that things will run to plan. Kavanagh’s top horse, the unbeaten a month of top racing on display with the Caulfield Guineas (October Atlantic Jewel, was struck down with an unusual tendon injury in 13), Caulfield Cup (October 20) and the WS Cox Plate (October 27) mid-August that ruled her out for the spring. He was optimistic the among the highlights. Sydney also gets a slice of spring fever, with mare would return in autumn, but she misses out on a shot at the $3m the focus a touch more on races with youth and speed. For all-round Cox Plate, where she was the early favourite. quality, it’s hard to go past Epsom Handicap Day (October 6) with its Like many of the country’s top trainers, Kavanagh’s attention will four group one races. turn to the Melbourne Cup. Held on the first Tuesday of November It’s a tale of two cities and trainers can be caught between them, each year, it is the richest handicap race of its length (3200m) in the finding it difficult to have sustained success in both given the tyranny world, with a prize purse of more than $6.2m in 2012. The Victorian of distance and the logistics of alternating between the capitals. That’s capital enjoys a public holiday for the event, but it is literally a race something Gai Waterhouse knows all too well. The daughter of that stops a nation. While a financial boon awaits bookmakers, pubs, legendary trainer TJ Smith, Waterhouse took over the fabled Tulloch clubs and the fashion houses (milliners have their field day then, too) Lodge stables in 1994 and has gone on to produce no fewer than 93 on a day where 100,000-plus spectators pack into Flemington group one winners and take out seven Sydney trainer premierships. Racecourse, workplaces tend to go into hiatus. It was estimated in But the first lady of Australian racing has thus far had to settle for 2010 that 31 million hours of productivity was lost nationally as second-best when it comes to Australia’s premier horse race. photography: getty images 86 QANTAS OCTOBER 2012 SPRING CARNIVAL RACING Clockwise from top right: Ben Melham on Black Caviar; Gai Waterhouse with 1995 Melbourne Cup runner-up and Victory Derby winner Nothin’ Leica Dane; Descarado wins the 2010 Caulfield Cup In 1993, her first year as a licensed trainer, she finished runner-up overseas. So much so that seven of the past 10 Melbourne Cup at the Melbourne Cup with Te Akau Nick. Two years later, another winners have been bred in the Northern Hemisphere. second with Nothin’ Leica Dane. There was little joy in the The savvy Waterhouse saw the writing on the wall and went on intervening years before her 2010 Caulfied Cup winner Descarado a $1m buying spree in Europe earlier this year, picking up four English looked set to become just the 12th horse to claim the Caulfield/ stayers – Galiando, Glencadam Gold, Monopolize and Julienas. She Melbourne double the same year. It drew badly and finished at the hopes to have three runners at this year’s Melbourne Cup. tail of the field. The Melbourne Cup remains the glaring omission on For Waterhouse and most of the top trainers, racing at this level is what is otherwise an extraordinary racing résumé. more of an art than a science. Just like a curator speculating on “I suppose it is [unfinished business],” Waterhouse says. “The a painting, there are often signs of the value that lies ahead. Melbourne Cup has become the premier staying race in the Southern “They step out a certain way, their demeanour is positive, their coat Hemisphere and is very much on the calendar for the English, French gleams and you know you have a horse that is going to be very and Germans because of the prize money. People strive to win it.” competitive,” says Waterhouse. “Of course, they also do the right With sprinters such as the indomitable mare Black Caviar (spelling things on the training track and the race track.” c after going unbeaten in 22 starts) the flavour of the month in Australia because they are easier to train and generally offer a quicker return For airfares call Qantas on 13 13 13 or visit qantas.com for investment, the best stayers of late have tended to be found For holiday packages to Melbourne call Qantas Holidays on 13 14 15. photography: getty images; nothin’ leica dane: fairfaxphotos.com 88 QANTAS OCTOBER 2012.