14-year-old marvel does it again

Albert Cefai is fully aware his evergreen 14-year-old pacer River Patrol (Live Or Die) is any harness racing hobby trainer’s dream.

“He’s just a marvel,” Cefai says of the New Zealand-bred pacer, who recorded his 17^th career win at Ballarat on Thursday night (Feb 6) in the 7+ Pace, driven by Chris Alford.

“He’s just a really nice horse who always puts in and he’s just about the only horse I have never had any problem with. He’s been sound every day of his life,” he said.

Cefai said River Patrol’s low-maintenance qualities also extend to his training program.

“Every day he’s waiting at the gate for me, and once he’s fit, he really doesn’t do much on the track between races,” he said.

“I don’t even fastwork him at home.  I feed him, and take him out for a jog every day because if you leave him behind, he makes a racket and wants to go out there when the others do.  That’s all he does, jog and go to the races.”

Cefai, who’s now in his 60s, found his way into harness racing through his father, Frank.

“Dad never had a licence himself, but since I was a kid he used to muck around with a few horses, and had some with George Gath,” he said.

“So it’s always been in me.  I started hanging around with Billy Galea and helping him out, and I got going when I had Buffalo Bill with him (17 wins) and then I trained Albert’s Pride (10 wins).”

Cefai said he purchased River Patrol in 2017, in partnership with his late brother Spedito.

“We were looking for a nice horse and (former trainer) Lance Justice was over in New Zealand so we asked him to look out for one,” Cefai said.

“River Patrol was bred by Ian Bennett and he was six when we got him. He’d won a couple of races before and Lance liked him so he drove him in a race at Invercargill. He won that day, so we decided that was good enough for us!

“It’s a bit of a lucky dip, buying horses, but I think we got lucky with River Patrol. He’s been just a lovely horse.”

Cefai is a welder by trade, but is now semi-retired, although he still does a bit of welding from home in St Albans.

“But with horses, you’re never retired, are you? I’m working five and it’s seven days a week that I’m out there at the stables at Rockbank (20 minutes away). I’m lucky to have a stablehand, Trevor Moore, who gives me a hand and feeds up and does waters,” he said.

“It definitely doesn’t pay, but you don’t look at it in the money way – it’s the thrill when the horse goes well or wins.

“The place (stables) has been sold for development, and I have to decide what I can do.  Do I hang up my gloves and decide this is it, or keep going and find another place?

“I have a couple ready to go, a young one just a few months old and I’ve got one mare in foal this season…so it’s self-inflicted, I guess!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink