WINNING a feature harness race has been Kate McLeod’s burning ambition for some time and in Launceston on Sunday night she realised her goal when she partnered her talented three-year-old Hugo Play to victory in the $30,000 Globe Derby Stakes.
Hugo Play was sent out a short-price favourite and was not troubled to lead most of the way in the sires’ stakes final for colts and geldings.
McLeod, 34, has been training and driving for about a decade but it was only a year ago that she secured her A-grade licence and embarked on a full-time training career.
She worked for many years with experienced trainer Dick Eaves with whom she honed her skills before going solo.
“Winning the Globe Derby is a race most trainers want to win because of the prestige attached to it,” McLeod said.
“I’ve been doing this professionally for just over a year and while it’s been hard going at times, when you have a real good horse it makes up for most of the things that go wrong along the way.”
“They say all you need is one good horse to get things moving and that’s pretty much what’s happened for me,” she said.
Hugo Play has had only five starts for three wins and two seconds and he has been with McLeod throughout his racing career.
After spending 13 years working for Eaves at his Lilydale training complex McLeod bit the bullet and leased a property at Pipers River when she acquired her A-grade licence and she shared the training complex with Brooke Hammond.
When Pipers River property was to be sold she leased Bill Fawdry’s property at Bridport and that was definitely a turning point in her training career.
Hugo Play is owned by Bill Fawdry and his daughter Tamra Fawdry who also bred the gelding.
The gelding’s win evoked plenty of emotion from Bill Fawdry who has been trying to win the Globe Derby since the race’s inception 25 years ago.
“You wouldn’t think that after being in the game for over 30 years that you would get emotional over a win but this one has definitely touched me,” he said as he brushed away the tears.
“My horse Another Shy ran second in a Globe Derby and I had a filly start favourite in another sires stakes race and she get knocked off by a 33-1 shot so it’s great to finally win this race after many attempts,” he said.
Hugo Play was first trained by Tamra Fawdry who gave him three preparations as a two-year-old suffered from shin splints and kept going sore so the gelding was turned out until he was three.
When Tamra fell pregnant and had to forego her training role, she suggested to her father that they give the horse to McLeod who had already moved into Fawdry’s training complex at Bridport.
Tamra Fawdry heaped praise on McLeod who she regards as a talented horsewoman.
“Kate has done a marvelous job with this horse and the proof of her talent is what we see in this horse at the races,” Tamra Fawdry said.
McLeod said Hugo Play is likely to tackle a state heat of the Breeders Crown series in Hobart next month and if he is successful the gelding will travel to Victoria to contest a semi-final of the series that boasts a $200,000 final at Tabcorp Park Melton on August 19.