Counting their blessings from bargain buy

Victorian harness racing father and son Wayne and Connor Ronan have had more than a few frustrations with their enigmatic mare Common Courtesy (Tintin in America), but their patience is paying off.

The lightly raced six-year-old mare has won six of her 42 starts, but Wayne said there have been some long stretches of head-scratching and problem solving involved.

“Finally, we’re getting there.  She has had a few little hurdles along the way, mainly with her feet,” Wayne, of Glen Park, near Ballarat, said.

“She flares out in the back feet so it’s been a constant battle finding out what works and what will suit her.  (In 2021) we decided to Equilox them up (adhesive foot repair) and she ran really well in the Vicbred 4yo super series – she ran second in a semi and fifth in the final,” he said.

But, with the ongoing difficulties, Common Courtesy managed only a dozen starts in season 2022, then just as Ronan believed he had sorted her issues in October she sprung a shoe and suffered bruising running second at Ballarat.

A firm believer in the “one percenters” Ronan took an opportunity to reset the mare in December, believing she was also becoming resentful.

“I thought she might have stopped trying a bit, so we decided to send her to the water walker over Christmas. Then when she got back, we reshod her with 3D pads on the front, and equilox on the back.  And so far, so good!” he said.

Common Courtesy was nicely driven by Wayne’s son Connor at her Melton win (Jan 28), finding the one-one sit from an awkward barrier 11 draw.

For full race results, click here.

The mare is just one of the assets to flow from what Wayne Ronan called “the best $6000 I ever spent” – a broodmare he purchased with his dad Gerard in the 1990s.

“My family wasn’t in harness racing, but I played footy and cricket with my cousins Anthony and Peter Walsh. They were involved, and I’d go to the trots with them,” he said.

“I leased a mare out of the trotting weekly called Glencora Gold and raced her with Peter.  She won first start for us at Boort, then won five before she went amiss.  Then, as they say, once you’re in, you’re hooked for good!” he laughed.

“My dad had never owned a horse before we bought a broodmare called Norwood Topsie (New York Motoring) in 1999 on the advice of Gordon Campbell, who had a company called Computerbred. Virtually everything we have raced since has been bred from her line.

“She was in foal to Panorama when we bought her and that foal was Jerry Hatrick (11 wins), and her next foal was by Albert Albert and that was Trebla Trebla (12 wins) and we’ve gone on from there.”

In addition to leaving handy racehorses including Bettor Downunder (Bettors Delight) (13 wins $134K) and Khafaji (Somebeachsomewhere) (12 wins $124K), Trebla Trebla has also produced another generation of Ronan broodmares.

“Now we race some and put some through the yearling sales most years and they are all from that line. We’ll have three in the Nutrien sale in Melbourne this year, and another one that’s gone up for the Gold Coast sale,” Ronan said.

Wayne’s chiropractic work takes him to Queensland each fortnight for up to two weeks a month, so son Connor steps in to train the team while he’s away.

“I’m just a hobby trainer and Connor works full time and drives as a hobby as well.  We just have the one or two racing and bring the young ones through and get them started.  Dad loves being involved as well in the ownership, so it’s a real family interest for us. We’ve been blessed.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink