Amy Kennedy and Goandcullect set for Eventing In The Park

Goandcullect (Gotta Go Cullect) heads towards his biggest challenge this weekend when he takes on the Diamond Class at Eventing In The Park at Crown this Saturday, November 25.

In a massive class of 65, ‘Ajay’ as he’s affectionately known around the stables, is the only standardbred and former harness racing horse competing this weekend, flying the flag for the breed, and showcasing just what these fantastic horses are capable of.

With no huge expectations of the now 13-year-old, Amy is hoping to have a nice enjoyable competition on Saturday, with her only concern the weather, with Saturday set to be a scorching 38 degrees in Perth.

“I’ve told myself the whole way along, all I want to do is canter into the arena, jump the first fence and anything that happens after that, it was just about the journey of getting there and we’ve already won in that area.”

When Amy Kennedy took on Goandcullect back in 2019, not even she could have dreamed the pair would be where they are today, and it was just by chance this amazing horse ended up in her care, with Kennedy doing the rounds at the Albany trots asking if anyone had a quiet standardbred they were looking at retiring.

That’s when she bumped into Ian Mulcahy who mentioned the then 8=year-old, who subsequently retired just two weeks later on March 1st, 2019, with Amy taking him home the very next day.

“I hadn’t met him, I literally just said ok, and I went two weeks later for his final race and met him there and asked him (Ian Mulcahy) when he wanted him picked up and he said the following day, so I did, and that’s how it all started.”

Knowing early on he had a flare for jumping, the pair has been an unstoppable force ever since, with the pair doing their part to eliminate the stigma around standardbreds.

“I’d never really dealt with the standardbreds before, so I didn’t really have any expectations, I just wanted to train something different,

“They look so quiet, and I wanted a change of pace from the thoroughbreds, just to have a bit of a quieter horse,

“He’s unbelievable, you can take him anywhere, anyone can ride him, he adapts to everyone, my three-year-old nephew led him around, he’s just a part of the family.”

The 29-year-old did the hard yards with Ajay, coming to her unbacked, she took him from racehorse to riding horse, a change of professions that he took to like a duck to water.

“He didn’t really pace that much, he made it all really easy,

“But I think his worth ethic says something for that because he just wants to please.”

Spending this season competing at 110cm, this weekend’s Diamond Class at Eventing In The Park will see the pair flying around the 105cm course.

The Trots WA wish Amy and Ajay the best of luck for their Eventing In The Park debut on Saturday.

“He’s just lovely, he’s really just the once in a lifetime horse, he’s got everything going for him, he just tries his little heart out.”

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA