A long wait for a magic win

Success in harness racing is often an exercise in persistence – and for that reason, a maiden victory by six-year-old mare Midnightmagic (Mach Three) was among Melbourne trainer Kerry O’Riley’s most satisfying moments in the sport.

“She has certainly had a battle through life and to come through and get that win, I’d have to say it was one of my most satisfying in 50 years in the sport,” O’Riley said.

Midnightmagic is the daughter of Hermione (13 wins) who was trained by O’Riley around a decade ago – a handy racemare (13 wins) who, after retirement, was found to be less suited to life as a mum.

“Midnightmagic had a rough start.  Her mother tried to kill her when she was three days old, and she still has the scars on the neck and the back from that.  So as a foal she had to be raised on a foster mum,” O’Riley said.

“As a yearling she ended up at the equine hospital and hovered there for a few days with a virus, but pulled through and when she was broken in the breaker actually thought she was one of his best for the season.

“Once I got her, as a two year old I actually thought she was better than Hermione  — I thought she would be my best horse, early days.”

But bigger problems emerged once Midnightmagic got to the races.

“She finished second at her first start and it was a good run, but she pulled up with a high heartrate and was slow to recover,” O’Riley said.

“She had three more starts, but it was always the same.  We had her scoped that many times if you lifted her tail, you’d see light at the other end! But we had her dynamically scoped by (vet) John Russell and he found that the back of her throat was collapsing into the airways – it would have stopped Usaine Bolt.

“He said there was really nothing we could do about it with surgery or anything, so we just had to turn her out at one of the owner’s, on a property at Riddells Creek.”

Fate intervened, though, and two years on, the same owners were working with O’Riley on improving the manners of another two-year-old they part-owned.

“It was a bit of a terror to load, and they would come down every morning to help me load him when I had to take him to another track around the corner to work,” O’Riley said.

“Eventually we came up with the idea that we’d bring Midnightmagic down and try her out as a loading companion for him, and hope that we’d be able to get her going quick enough to work along with him at least.

“Well that didn’t work out so well, because Midnightmagic had turned into a bit of a kicking, squealing outfit, and wasn’t any good as a loading companion at all.  She did have three months on the jogger, though, and when we decided to turn out the two-year-old, I thought I’d keep her going, just to see. And the rest, as they say, is history!”

Midnightmagic’s condition improved with time and maturity and, now racing without hopples, she ran an unlucky second and third at Melton before the effortless all-the-way win at Yarra Valley on Thursday (Nov 3).

“It’s been 11 months of work, all up. (Driver) John Caldow has been a great help with her.  I’ve kept at her and taken her to John’s place a lot for her fast work, and he’ll be the first to say he doesn’t miss them. He kept saying he thought she was coming up pretty well,” O’Riley said.

“It wasn’t as though I was starting off with something that had no ability – I knew she had that, but it was a question of whether she could bring it to the races.  It was a very satisfying win for all of us, and good for the horse, after all she’s been through.

“My last winner was in 2016 on Ballarat cup night – after the win at Yarra Valley I went off looking for my race replay video, but apparently they don’t give them out anymore!” he laughed.

The 79-year-old and his wife Judy live on a property at Bulla, near Melbourne Airport, and said he couldn’t imagine life without a horse or two in work.

“I grew up in Mildura and I always liked horses. My grandfather was a hobby gallops trainer, and my dad Bill rode a bit as an amateur jockey,” he said.

“My uncles Frank Hood and Roy Miles were into the trots up there and I liked both the gallops and trots, but I’ve always preferred harness racing, just because it’s more hands-on,” he said.

“The horses give you a reason to get out of bed.  I’m up at 5.30 every morning and at times when I haven’t had a horse in work for a while I’m at a loss – I’ve got the grass cut by seven o clock in the morning!

“I see friends who retire and they suffer because they haven’t got anything to do. I’m happy to have one or two in work all the time, but getting a winner definitely does give you a kick along!”

For complete race results, click here

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink