WAYNE Curran has had to battle for success during a lifetime in the racing industry.
Firstly as a jockey and for the past 30 years as a trainer, Curran has learned to appreciate every win.
They don’t come easily and, when you have only a couple of horses in work, they don’t come often.
No one at Elwick on Sunday would have begrudged seeing Curran back in the winner’s stall for the first time in 14 months.
Court Candel, a mare he bought cheaply as a yearling, scored her second win from 10 starts in the Class 1 Handicap.
Her previous victory was in a maiden at Mowbray in March last year, and Curran has had no other winners in between.
‘‘I’ve only had a handful of runners, so I’m very happy to have picked up another race,’’ the owner-trainer said.
‘‘This mare cost me only $600 and has now won $20,000, so she was a cheap buy.
‘‘She was one of three I bought at the same Magic Millions sale in Queensland – one died and the other was no good.’’
Curran, like many in racing, is no stranger to bad luck.
He lost one of his most promising horses, Torriann Express, in a road accident mid-2013.
Not long after, he had his own health problems.
But he’s never contemplated giving up his involvement in racing.
‘‘It’s a disease – death is the only cure,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m retired (from the workforce) now and my horses keep me occupied.
‘‘At the moment, I’ve only got two that are racing and another that is just starting out.
‘‘But I’ve got six boxes at Longford and a couple of paying owners would be nice.’’
Curran would like to think that Court Candel can win a few more races.
‘‘It would be good if she could,’’ he said. ‘‘She handles wet tracks and she likes the synthetic (at Spreyton), so this is her time of year.’’
Court Candel is not fashionably bred – her sire Court Command is deceased and her dam Candelabra was retired after a very moderate stud career – but Curran bought her because he liked the way she looked.
‘‘She was a nuggety little thing,’’ he recalled.
‘‘And it’s turned out that her breeding isn’t too bad.
‘‘Her mother is by Success Express and he’s now going gangbusters as a sire of broodmares.’’
By GREG MANSFIELD of The Examiner