Col has team firing in Qld

While Victorian harness racing horseman Colin Godden could have reason to be a bit down in the dumps, he’s definitely making the best of an unfortunate situation.

Godden and his wife Michelle were excited to be heading to Queensland nearly a month ago for the wedding of their daughter Holly and decided to take a few horses and extend the stay.

“Holly and her partner Abigail had originally planned for July 10, but it had to be cancelled because of the uncertainty with COVID. Then they were planning for August 13, but with everything still pear-shaped, they’ve now had to call it off again for the moment,” Godden said.

“They’re certainly a bit sad and disappointed, but you can’t do much about it in these times.”

Godden, of Nanneella, near Rochester, decided months ago that visiting Southeast Queensland for the special occasion during the winter months was too good an opportunity to miss with a small team of his horses.

“I’d never raced up there and Holly, who is a vet, has a horse property at Deception Bay with a 900-metre track,” Godden said.

“It hadn’t been used for ages so with a bit of work and some crusher dust spread on top, it came up pretty well,” he said.

“We’ve done some fastwork at the Redcliffe track which isn’t far away. I didn’t really believe it when people told me that it’s a triangle shape, but I can now say that’s dead set true!”

And it’s evident the three racehorses the Goddens took with them have also been enjoying the winter break in the sunshine state.

From a combined eight starts, they have posted two wins and four placings.

Ajay Breezy Rose (McArdle-Elegant Outlook (Dream Away) has been the star with two consecutive wins at Redcliffe, while Sport Mental (Sportswriter-Kamwood Cully (Christian Cullen) and Miss Victoria (Shadow Play-Our Waltzing Mathilda (Presidential Ball) have two placings apiece to their name.

“I did a deal to buy Miss Victoria, who was advertised on TradingRing, and got her the day before we hit the road. She is going along okay and should pick up a race very soon,” Godden said.

“We also tossed a retired horse we had at home on the float because Abigail plays polo cross and he’ll be a good horse for her.”

Colin and Michelle own a dairy farm and also visited Queensland last Christmas as Colin was recuperating from a second shoulder reconstruction.

“I had the first one about 10 years ago, but this time it seems a lot better. It’s an old football injury and to best honest, milking cows probably isn’t the best,” he said.

During this visit Godden said after rain in the first three days, the weather since had been brilliant.

“We’ll see how it all plays out, but we’d like to stay for another month,” he said.

“Our son James is looking after the cows back home while we’re away. He told me the other day that if we can keep winning two races a week, we can stay away for as long as we want!

“He’s milking 140 cows, so I think when calving starts early next month and it gets real busy, he might just be singing out for some extra help.”

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink