Life After Racing

LIFE AFTER RACING

Making the leap

What do a thirteen-year-old novice rider and an OTT Standardbred have in common? A very special partnership and some serious Pony Club successes, writes PETER STAPLES.

Many retired Tasmanian racehorses have successfully transitioned into careers in

hacking, show jumping, polo, dressage and eventing, or have become Pony Club success stories – an excellent case in point being Samantha (Sami) Barker and her OTT Standardbred Ollie.

Ollie, a former pacer who raced as Ezygatboy for premier Tasmanian harness trainer Ben Yole, has taken a particular shine to Pony Club. So much so that after he and Sami put in an outstanding performance at the Pony Club State Trials in March 2021, they

qualified for the recently held 2021 Pony Club Nationals, which due to COVID was unfortunately a virtual event only.

But to take a step back, it’s fair to say that Sami is as new to the world of Pony Club as Ollie. Now thirteen years old, she was introduced to horses just over a year ago when she was invited to go on a trail ride by her neighbor and friend Haylee Chilcott. “When I first tried riding I was petrified! But after my first trail ride I loved it, and I just kept on going out for rides with Haylee,” Sami says.

Meanwhile Ollie had had 35 starts for five wins and three placings, earning over $25,000 in the process. His first four wins were in Western Australia, after which he was relocated to Victoria where he won at Mildura before finally landing a berth in Ben Yole’s stable. But when it became apparent that he’d reached the end of his racing career, it was decided to rehome the nineyear-old gelding and earlier this year he entered the Off the Track program facilitated by Tasracing, Tasmania’s peak racing authority.

It was around the same time that Sami’s new-found love of riding had reached the point where her parents had decided to buy her a horse. But destiny intervened when Sami and Ollie became beneficiaries of Tasracing’s OTT program. Ollie was gifted to Sami, and the pair developed their partnership with the help of Kristin Pitt, a qualified Equestrian Australia NCAS coach, who gave them lessons subsidised by Tasracing as a part of its ongoing program.

And the partnership could not be more solid. The pair have a great rapport and as Sami refines and develops her skills, she teaches Ollie what he needs to learn about equestrian disciplines. “I couldn’t have got a better horse to start me off because he is just so honest, and he deals with everything I ask of him,” she says. “He’s prepared to try anything and that gives me so much more confidence.” Keen to take her sport as far as she can, Sami’s equestrian horizons broadened considerably when she joined Lilydale Pony Club in November last year, which is when Ollie was first introduced to jumping. Although he’s an enthusiastic learner, he initially found trot poles challenging, but these days he’s popping over 80cm fences like an old hand.

Sami and Ollie progressed quickly, and earned their chance to shine at the Nationals in the sub-junior section of the Tetrathlon. A relatively new discipline, the event comprises a kilometer run, a 100 metre swim, pistol shooting, and an equestrian element that includes cross country and show jumping. “I like swimming and I am fair at running. I’m a member of a pistol club and I love jumping, so it’s a perfect sport for Ollie and me,” Sami says.

Sami has not only benefited from Kristin Pitt’s expert tuition, but also from lessons with her riding coach Jules Targett. “I’ve been lucky to have very good coaches. Jules has been helping me a lot with my jumping technique over the last couple of months, and Kristen has helped with getting Ollie cantering and educated to deal with jumping,” she says. “I love what I’m doing with Ollie, and it’s so pleasing to see how he has grown in confidence, and that also helps my confidence grow.”

Much to the pair’s credit, Ollie is the first Standardbred to make a state Pony Club team and the only ex-pacer to compete at the Nationals.

But while Sami has relished her achievements thus far, she has her eyes fixed firmly on the future. “The next step up from Tetrathlon is Pentathlon, and that’s an Olympic sport which is the same as Tetrathlon plus fencing,” she explains. “Because I have a black belt in Taekwondo, I should be able to pick up fencing skills more easily than most, so that could be my ultimate goal. A year ago I didn’t think I would be riding as well as I am, let alone representing the state in a national competition.”

And that, without a doubt, is the stuff dreams are made of.

NEW HRV HERO AMBASSADORS OUT TO PROVE WHAT A STANDARDBRED CAN DO IN THE DRESSAGE ARENA

Born To Rocknrolln racing at Tabcorp Park

Born To Rocknroll is an eight-yearold gelding by Rocknroll Hanover USA out of Aston Villa USA. He was affectionately named after Buddy Holly hence his stable name, ‘Buddy’.

He had 39 starts for 17 wins and prize money of $300,683. He finished racing on April 4, 2020.

His owners Anne and Bill Anderson of Lauriston Bloodstock, who are also the sponsors of his future endeavours, say of ‘Buddy’, “He is a lovely, kind horse who thrives in a stable environment.” When the offer came from HRV HERO for us to sponsor Born To Rocknroll, in the words of Buddy Holly, we didn’t have to ‘Think It Over’, ‘It’s So Easy’ we did it in a ‘Heartbeat’.

“His best win was the Breeders Crown FFA (Group 2) when driven by Gavin Lang,” they added.

‘Buddy’ will be spending his time as an ambassador for the breed, training with Susan and Heather Paix of Patchwork Park Equestrian Centre located in Ballarat.

Susan’s passion for riding started as a young girl. After saving every cent she could she purchased her first horse at 16 and spent many years in the hunt field before stepping on to the eventing scene, where she and her talented stallion at the time, Le Bronze, helped secure the win for the South Australian team at the 1979 WA 3DE.

After having two children, Susan decided to move on to dressage where she purchased a six-month-old WB filly soon to be known as Sheer Etiquette (Ellie).

Ellie and Susan flew up the grades with scores up to 74 per cent and in 2011 they had jumped to Grand Prix CDN, and by the end of the year

He is a lovely, kind horse who thrives in a stable environment.

Heather Paix riding Buddy

were transferred to International Level to reign as the longest standing international level combination in Australia (seven years).

Heather began riding when she was very young. Her first tall horse was a green broken crossbred four-year-old gelding, which she trained and campaigned up to Advanced level in dressage.

Heather took a short break from training and riding in 2019 to complete basic training for the Australian Defence Force Reserves.

Since 2020, Heather has been campaigning two promising mounts, the first, a Patchwork Park bred gelding called ’Patchwork Stolen Moments‘ who is competitively working at EA Advanced level and won his Advanced debut and Medium level Champion 4 times consecutively,

the second is Torvina De Meyer, who is by De Niro and out of a Rituel/ Dutchman mare.

He aced his first EA Medium with 67 per cent, one judge placing him first at 69 per cent.

‘Buddy’ is excelling in his training with Sue and Heather after arriving in midAugust. He already has several rides under his belt and is showing good promise for the dressage ring with a kind, trainable temperament, and expressive paces.

Patchwork Park also recently announced the closure of its riding school.

“We got tired, the horses got tired, we just closed it down which was sad,” Heather said.

“So we looked at our idle time and said there are many people who had school lessons with us and they don’t have a horse. ‘What can we do to fix that?’ So, we contacted Tara from the HRV HERO program and here we are.

“We were initially thinking of not being re-trainers and we just wanted to try and see with this ambassador horse.” “And as soon as we had ‘Buddy’ (Born To Rocknroll) for two days, we thought let’s get more. This is obviously going to be pretty straightforward.”

“He (Buddy) is absolutely incredible. He is just such a lovely horse, we couldn’t seem to workout initially whether he was a trotter or a pacer, he would just walk, trot, canter, he just does everything we want he is an absolute darling of a horse, really quiet, but I can’t believe that he’s come from racing, after winning so much money and being such a brilliant horse that you know, he can be so quiet,“ Susan said.

“It’s a testament to Lauriston Bloodstock for their hard work to get him to this point. You can’t fault him,” Heather added.

“Within 24 hours (of him arriving) we had a saddle on him and we lunged him around. Within a day I was on board and soon to be in the big arena, on my own. It’s like he’s a beginners horse, already broken to saddle.” Patchwork Park has had several standardbreds in training as well as two school horses. Heather worked for Yabby Dam Racing for two years handling all racing standardbreds, helping with transportation to and from venues and weaning and handling.

Patchwork Park loves the standardbreds’ kind nature and easy trainability and look forward to showing what a standardbred can do in the dressage arena.

And the team is valued its role as ambassadors and have enjoyed commencing as HRV HERO recognised re-trainers from September.

It’s a testament to Lauriston Bloodstock for their hard work to get him to this point. You can’t fault him.