Leacock-Jones on cloud nine after maiden training success

Nobody forgets their first success in the sport of harness racing, whether it’s a winning drive, your first win as an owner or maybe just seeing a horse you bred getting the job done.

For Norm Leacock-Jones, yesterday afternoon’s Banks Peninsula meeting will live long in the memory banks as the day he trained his first winner.

Prior to yesterday, the Greendale horseman had 25 starters at the races going back to 2020 when he first took his license with Nor’West Franco’s second placing, beaten three-quarters of a length his previous best result among three further third place dividends.

That all changed with the gritty win of his lightly tried four-year-old mare, Varenna Franco (Vincent), who overcame barrier nine, some late fancy footwork, and a fast finishing favourite to salute the judge at odds of $20 to one.

Standing at the stabling area of the Motukarara track is never the best viewing on course, and Leacock-Jones admits to having just been happy to see his enigmatic mare enter the long straight a live chance.

“It was pretty hard to gauge where the others were, so we were just listening to the race caller,” said Leacock-Jones.

“When she ran past us, we were like, ‘Holy s*%$, she just got second!’ We were jumping around, hugging each other—just thrilled with that. But then, everything went quiet. The announcer wasn’t saying anything. And then, over the speakers, we heard that she had actually won. It was like, ‘What the hell?’ We couldn’t believe it. First, we were happy she got second, and then realising she won was just unreal,” he said.

VARENNA FRANCO REPLAY

While Leacock-Jones may have been just as surprised as some of the punters by the win of Verenna Franco, he admits to having had a bit of time for the mare since acquiring her from Spreydon Lodge on a lease deal.

“I always thought she had ability, but she’s a bit spooky—always looking around at things. Mentally, she’s not quite there yet. She’s a nice-sized horse, and she’s fast, but she still needs to get her head in the game. That said, she’s improving, and we’ve been adjusting her gear to help her along. If she can go around the track without swerving, spooking at something, or misstepping, that’d be nice.

“I think the more she races, the better she’ll get. We’re taking her down to Ashburton on Saturday to give her a shot. She’s had a few runs there before, so hopefully, she’ll go a bit better this time,” he said.

Leacock-Jones journey to the winners circle is an interesting one given he grew up around horses with his father, Donald Jones, knocking around with a horse or two and training 10 winners in his own right. And while the interest may have started with his father, it wasn’t exactly a case of love at first sight.

“My old man, Don Jones, was a trainer. He did it because he loved horses. Me and Dad didn’t always get along. To be honest, everything he did, I basically hated. But that’s family, you know,” he laughed.

“When he got sick, I wasn’t really doing much, so I decided to give him a hand. It was him, Greg Manson, my sister Pam Turner, and me. We were working with there for a bit, and then Greg mentioned that a trainer needed some help, which led to me taking a job with Jamie Keast.

“I worked with Jamie for about six months before Darren Keast came home from Australia and started working there too. With him back, the work dried up for me, so I moved on to work with Nigel McGrath. That was a great experience as well, but again, work dried up. So, I went back to working with Dad. Then, when he passed away, I took over because there were horses here that needed looking after. That’s really how it all started—I just began working a few horses on my own.

“Right now, I’ve got five horses—four three-year-olds and one four-year-old that just raced the other day. We try to get free leases with the option to purchase, and we’ve had a lot of help from Spreydon Lodge, which has been great,” he said.

Leacock-Jones might not be a household name in the industry, but it’s always great to see new names coming through and getting rewarded with results such as the win yesterday with Varenna Franco.

How did he celebrate the special milestone?

“We went out for dinner that night to celebrate—it was a pretty special moment.”

For complete Banks Peninsula results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink