Archieo’s fullfilling his promise, nearly three years on

Victorian harness racing trainer Barry Beasley dared to hope that his first group race success might be within reach with his handy trotter Archleo (Wishing Stone) – he just didn’t expect it would take so long!

Archleo on Sunday (Dec 11) gave Beasley his first feature success in the Wimmera Mallee Vet Service Stawell Trotters Cup (Gr 3) at only his fourth start back from a long, injury-related layoff.

A $13,000 purchase at the yearling sales, Beasley freely admits Archleo was the choice of his brother-in-law Doug Coxon, but the horse quickly impressed, making the finals of both the 2YO and 3YO Breeders Crown, and banking $72,000 along the way.

When racing as a four-year-old, Archleo had just completed a hat trick of wins, beating a strong field of seasoned campaigners, when disaster struck.

“What went wrong?  I wish I knew.  We had a perfect little trotter who went along beautifully and never missed a beat, then one day we worked him, and he pulled up a bit lame and the next day he couldn’t even trot,” Beasley said.

“He was just so very sore in the back – I could put my thumb on the spot and nearly put him on the ground.  He went from a smooth, beautiful little trotter to one that was crunching and breaking and banging himself. It was terrible,” he said.

“We tried nerve blocks, chiropractors and vets – no one could really give him any relief.  The final piece of the puzzle was going to be a scan that would have cost a lot, and no doubt would have ended in a recommendation to turn him out for a year.

“So that’s what we did – sent him to Doctor Green, out on the grass, and watched country cups and feature races go by!”

Archleo ended up spending 18 months in the paddock and has had an extremely long and slow preparation – but for Beasley and Coxon, their patience paid off at Stawell on Sunday.

“It was just so sweet to get that win with a little horse we have a hell of a lot of time for.  We were absolutely stoked.  To win my first Group race was fantastic.  Hobby trainers like me only dream of winning something like that.  But really, it was almost as satisfying just to get him back to the races,” Beasley said.

A former dairy farmer, Beasley has retired on the family property at Kolora near Terang, and admits he and Doug spend their time “mucking around with a few horses”, usually around two or three.

“Dairy farms and horses have always gone hand-in-hand, I guess. I got involved through my grandfather Harry Elliott, who trained them,” Beasley said.

“I was the only one of the grand kids who was interested. I’ve loved horses all my life and harness racing was a game you could get into, and you could virtually do it all yourself, training, driving, shoeing and breaking,” he said.

“I enjoyed the breaking-in side more than anything and I used to break a few in for some of the bigger stables.  I’ve virtually given it up now, but I find it so satisfying to take a young horse that knows nothing and help it learn and finally getting the job done.

“This little horse is probably the best ability wise that I have ever had, and he’s a lovely horse to have around.  But the favorite horse I ever had was Maccas Choice (Toffee Gent) who won eight races.  I had a great association with Ian McCallum (the late legendary Charlton trainer-driver).  I’d have some of his mares down here, and we’d swap horses we were getting frustrated with and so on.

“One day Macca turned up to drop off a mare and told me when she foaled, the foal was to be mine. That was Maccas Choice.  I got him going and he won the very last two-year-old of his season at Stawell. He’d been racing but hadn’t won and I thought: I’ll put Macca on. He got the job done!

“Macca’s Choice gave me my own biggest thrill in the sport. He qualified for a (Vicbred Series C) final at Moonee Valley. I never had a metro driver’s license, but you could drive on a permit. So, I had one drive at the Valley in my career, for one win, on Maccas’ Choice.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink