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Ex-Sydney trainer reignites career on Peninsula By Ben Triandafillou SINCE leaving the hustle and bustle of his Randwick training complex in 2014, Grahame Begg has begun to reemerge onto the racing scene with his boutique stable located at Pinecliff, Mt Eliza. Begg earnt his first winning double since returning to racing, at Cranbourne on the 31 March with local jockeys, Jake Noonan and Jamie Mott, guiding Woman in Red and Phoenix Park to victory. The double is a testament to Begg’s horsemanship and although he was unable to attend the meeting, said that it was a step in the right direction. “I was at the Sydney Easter yearling sale purchasing two horses for clients and wasn’t able to make it but I was thrilled when I got the news and for the jockeys to be local boys is a bonus,” Begg said. “The next step will be to eventually get a winner in town.” Begg’s stable of 12, which consists of mainly unraced thoroughbreds, has been highly successful with their placement of runners, with almost every second runner finishing in the first three. Grahame’s training career spans 25 years with 14 Group One victories from star thoroughbreds such as All Silent, Ilovethiscity and Secret
Admirer. Grahame handled some of Australia’s best thoroughbreds, including the 1984 Australian Horse of the Year, Emancipation, when learning the trade from his father, a legendary Hall of Fame trainer, Neville Begg. The tiresome routine and endless loop of what many trainers face became too much for Begg and so he decided to close his Sydney operations in 2014. “I had just had enough of the day in-day out routine, so I decided to take a break,” Begg said. “After about 15 months I decided it was time to come back and a good friend, Anthony Freedman, told me about the opening here at Pinecliff.” “The set-up here is brilliant and it’s a lot calmer than it was in Sydney.” Grahame says he continues the demanding career as a horse trainer in hopes to one day have the privilege of training another gifted thoroughbred. “We start and end the day cleaning out the stables but we continue our routine in hopes to one day get the opportunity to train the next best thing, that one remarkable animal.” Begg will now be looking to continue his success and expand the stables training operations in the coming months.
Peninsula boxers crowned nations best By Ben Triandafillou PENINSULA Boxing has been rewarded with two gold medals after a flawless performance at the 2017 Australian Boxing Championships in South Australia on April 8. Peninsula Boxing went undefeated at the national championships with the Victorian representatives Tyla McDonald and Jason Whateley triumphing in their respected divisions. Tyla McDonald, 13, added to her impressive record defeating last year’s national champion, Tameriah Barney-Sandy, in the final round of the ‘Schoolgirls Division’. Jason Whateley, showed his class at the Elite World Games breezing through the opening rounds of the 91kg division and earning gold, defeating fellow Victorian, Adrian Paoletti, in the final. Peninsula Boxing head coach, Marcos Amado, said that the result is recognition of the athletes continuous training and constant hard work. “It takes a lot of commitment and dedication to reach a high standard,” Amado said. “We really make sure that we are training with a purpose and have a goal in mind otherwise it doesn’t work, you can’t do it aimlessly.” The training has clearly paid off for Peninsula Boxing as they returned home as
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the only gym in Victoria with two gold medals. Amado said that the gym rallies behind their athletes when they have an important fight coming up. “It’s an individual sport but it’s been a team effort,” Amado said. “We all chip in to help out our boxers and with one person being successful out of the gym, the whole gym feels the success.” Tyla was the only female in Victoria to earn a gold medal at the nationals and will now be looking to head to Canberra for an AIS Boxing Camp. “She could go five or six months without getting a fight but we want to keep her active and she’s flying at the moment so we might as well strike while the iron’s hot,” Amado said. Whateley has taken his record to five wins from five fights since joining Amado at Peninsula Boxing and will be attempting to qualify for the Commonwealth Games later in November. “He’s at the pinnacle of boxing and to have five fights already for a 91kg boxer is massive,” Amado said. Whateley will fly over to Poland for the Feliks Stamm tournament in four weeks before heading to the OCBC Oceania Confederation Boxing Championships in June.
Mornington News 18 April 2017
Mornington junior footballers tour New Zealand By Ben Triandafillou THE Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League (MPJFL) will join the 2017 New Zealand Football Tour for the first time by themselves under the name, ‘The BlueScope Steelers’. The MPJFL has competed in the tour for the past two years with the Frankston football league but will this year be tackling the tour on their own. The teams will leave for Wellington on April 21 for their five-day tour which will be held over the ANZAC Day weekend. MPJFL president, Andrew Souter, said that it has been six weeks of hard work by both AFL New Zealand and the MPJFL representatives but it will be worth it for the players to have this opportunity. The BlueScope Steelers will take their youth girls side and an under-16 boy’s side to face the AFL New Zealand Academy Level Two (youth boys) and the New Zealand Kahu Youth Girls. Representatives from the southeast football league will also be joining the MPJFL BlueScope Steelers on the tour. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for our players to represent the league,” Souter said. “We have a dawn service on the final day to remember the ANZAC’s but we will also be interacting and embracing the New Zealand culture, so it’s a real learning experience.” The junior footballers will get to show their talent in four matches at Hutt Park and the Westpac Stadium. The tour follows a successful trip to Tasmania where the MPJFL youth girls and under-16 boy’s side got the chance to sing their song loud and proud with victories over Tassie.