Love and patience brings 20th win for quirky veteran

At 12 years old and with 190 starts under his belt, veteran gelding Golden Jaylet (Allamerican Ingot) has been the racehorse of a lifetime for South Australian harness racing trainer Kathryn Pickering.

While the pair are the best of mates now, things undeniably got off to a somewhat rocky start when the quirky pacer arrived at her stable more than six years ago, gifted to her by owner Waylon Hornhardt.

“Dani Hill had been training him, but Waylon had asked her to move him on and Dani thought of me. She said you will love him – but he does have some quirks that not many people would tolerate,” Pickering laughed.

“I found out the very first day when I went to put the breastplate on him – he is shocking to harness up!” she said.

“I thought he was going to kill me. Even now at the races he still gets a bit cranky when you go to harness him up, he might pigroot a bit and carry on. But once you have the gear on, and you’re in the bike, he is the safest horse I have ever had.

“I always think he’s a bit like a kid that always wants to say no – but once you get them there, they find they’re having fun.

“I just love working with him, and racing him is a bonus.”

Golden Jaylet won his 20^th race for Pickering at Globe Derby on Saturday night (August 16) courtesy of a perfect front-running drive by Hill, who, along with another SA reinswoman Lisa Ryan, has done most of the race driving on the veteran.

Pickering said both had been integral in getting the best from Golden Jaylet.

“Horses with ‘issues’ especially mentally, are my thing. I find them a challenge and I love that process of working with them to turn them around,” she said.

“I am very lucky that I have a good farrier in Terry Hoare and a good vet in Toby Ryan and very good drivers and that makes all the difference.

“Golden Jaylet is a bit precious, I suppose, and you’ve got to encourage him and be patient with him. Dani and Lisa both understand him that way and have been wonderful.”

The 68-year old’s passion for horses is lifelong, but her introduction to hands-on involvement came late.

“As a kid I loved horses – other kids had pictures of pop stars on their walls, and I had pictures of horses!  But I never had the chance to have one when I was young, so I was 36 when I finally got my first horse,” Pickering said.

That first horse was a palomino quarter horse mare who’d been bought by a friend from a sale and had significant behavioural issues.

“I wanted a horse and they offered her to me. All I knew when I took her on was that horses had four legs and a tail.  That was about it!” she laughed.

“(Globe Derby trainer) Merv Alcorn warned me off her – he said she was dangerous and that ‘green people and green horses don’t mix’!”

But Pickering poured herself into horsemanship articles and advice, particularly from NSW horseman Phil Rodey.

“I read everything I could about horse behaviour and worked with her and eventually I learnt to ride on her,” she said.

“In the end that horse followed me around like a dog. When I finally had to have her put down (due to age), I tracked down Phil and rang him to thank him, because everything in his articles helped me to understand her.  She was amazing, the most beautiful horse.”

A move into harness racing came later still, via Alcorn, who worked at the school where Pickering was teaching. Through Merv, she met trainer Jill Neilson, started helping at her stable, and eventually took the reins herself.

“Jill asked me one day if I wanted to drive. I said yes, and that’s how it started.”

Pickering, who trains from the Salisbury stables of Ingrid and David Smith, has always been a one-horse trainer and the bond with Golden Jaylet continues to deepen, even after more than six years.

“Every day since I got him, when I go out to his paddock to catch him, he’s turned his back and walked to the far corner,” Pickering said.

“But just this past week when I go out, he’s stopped eating, seen me with the halter, and come to me. The first day he did it, it brought a tear to my eye.

“Lisa Ryan once said to me: isn’t it wonderful you found each other? And I think that’s true. I just love him – he’s a delight.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink