Life of a Thoroughbred

Raced by Mr Lai, who is a big supporter of the stable, Delectation took out the 2015 Group 1 Darley Classic at Flemington when beating one Australia’s top sprinters Chatauqua. Delectation had a few quirks early on in his career and a decision was made to geld him, to enable the stable to get the best out of him and because of that, he was not given a stud career and instead Team Thoroughbred NSW retrained him and has found him a nice home.

Harry Green proudly tells anyone who will listen he has ridden a Group 1 winner. He’s not an elite jockey though. In fact he is only 13 years old. The Group 1 winner he is referring to is his riding instructor Sue Small’s Thoroughbred, Delectation.

“Harry just loves Delectation,” Sue said. “His pony is only 11hh so for him to be riding this 16.2hh Thoroughbred shows what a great temperament Delectation has. All the kids love riding him because it gives them such a confidence boost.”

Delectation retired from racing in late 2017 with a record of five wins, seven places and more than $1.6million in prizemoney. He entered Racing NSW’s retraining and rehoming program, Team Thoroughbred NSW, where he was prepared for life off the track.

Delectation’s first major assignment was as a therapy horse in Team Thoroughbred NSW’s Spur program, run in partnership with RSL Lifecare. Veterans and first responders with PTSD learned horse care, retraining and riding as part of their recovery. He was then offered for rehoming and was lucky to be adopted by Sue.

Since then, Sue’s students who don’t have a horse of their own have been learning to ride on Delectation. He loves trail rides, beach gallops and has participated in some low-level showjumping competitions. He also has a special role as a guest teacher at Taree Christian College with year 9 and 10 agriculture students practicing their horse care and handling skills on him.

“All the kids want to work with Delectation, not just because he is a Group 1 winner but also because he was trained by Chris Waller,” Sue said.

To read more about the work of Team Thoroughbred NSW, head to www.teamthoroughbred.com.au

Bred and raced by the Ingham family, Japonisme carried the famous cerise colours to victory in the time-honoured Coolmore Stud Stakes down the Flemington straight as a three year old, giving the Ingham’s their first Group 1 win with the Waller stable. Foaled at Coolmore Stud, once retired, a decision was made by the Ingham family for this lovely horse to live out his days at the farm he was born and help to educate the youngsters coming through.

Japonisme was born and raised at Coolmore prior to putting together some outstanding performances on the racetrack during his race career, Japonisme now enjoys a slightly more subdued lifestyle on the same farm that he was born.

Not one to lounge around, Japonisme fills his days of retirement as a lead-horse in the pre-training barn for six months of the year. Beginning after Magic Millions January Yearling Sale each year, he leads the yearlings out on the training track – no doubt imparting wisdom on how to win Group Ones!

Japonisme takes his second career as seriously as the first; keeping the yearlings in check if they are getting boisterous. The pre-training process at Coolmore incorporates a variety of hacking in paddocks, trackwork and barrier practice, all of which Japonisme leads – he is the perfect horse for this role and we would be lost without him.

With a large personality, and a heart of gold, the staff at the pre-training barn love Japonisme. During weekends, he is often found hacking around the farm and for the remaining six months of the year he enjoys retirement in a paddock of geldings and the odd weekend hack with one of the staff members.

Originally purchased from the Tattersall’s In Training Sale in Europe, McCreery was a very good horse to the stable winning six races including the Group 3 Kingston Town stakes, and amassed over $700,000 in prizemoney. He was only small in stature but had a huge heart and was a lovely natured horse.

McCreery came to me at the start of the year and had a spell for a couple of months before starting his Re-training in March. Since then, he’s proven himself to be a sweet and willing student with a quick brain and a lot of natural talent.

McCreery will do Eventing with me, and though we are yet to compete due to COVID, he has been to numerous venues, clinics and lessons in XC, SJ and dressage. He recently attended a XC clinic at Wallaby Hill and stood happily by the float before walking calmly down to the XC area and impressively tackled the water, banks and ditches with not a single spook, shy, refusal or run out.

McCreery is regularly hacked on the roads, and in the National Parks (on his own and in company) and handles bikes, children, trucks/cars, prams, wildlife and livestock with very little fuss. His natural curiosity and our bond built in trust means you can take him pretty well anywhere now!

McCreery is in a paddock with my 2yo filly and they’re besotted with each other. I often see him allowing her to share his dinner (though he’d be very embarrassed if he knew what a big softie he is).

I’ll take another ten of him please!!!

– Jen Lynch, Government Worker
20 years owning, training and competing horses

To see more of McCreery’s progress on Instagram go to @JBangLynch

Well known for running second, Tom Melbourne had a huge following throughout Australia during his racing days. He joined our stable a little later in his career and whilst only winning one race in our stable, he gave the owners a number of thrills including running close seconds in two Group 1’s, and a number of Group 2 and 3 races.

Tom Melbourne joined us at Living Legends at Woodlands Historic Park in April 2020. He was such a welcome addition to the team and was a real smoocher from day one.

Tommy enjoyed a good long break before starting in our Legends Under Saddle team. Legends Under Saddle is a great riding program that allows our retired legends to stay fit and active in their retirement.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions we haven’t yet had the chance to really show him off but he’s proven to be incredibly popular both with visitors to the farm and our friends that follow along on our social media channels.

We expect great things from Tommy, and he may even join Barry (Who Shot Thebarman) over the jumps in the not too distant future!

Brought by the owners sight unseen for only $8,000, this ‘warhorse’ ran in four Melbourne Cups, and five Sydney Cups, winning the Sydney Cup as a nine year old. He was the winner of two Group 1 races and over $4million. He was well named, after the O’Leary brothers’ late aunt who used the saying ‘who shot the barman’, when her glass was empty and she was ready for another drink. A real stable favourite and a testament to the stable having him retire at the age of ten, as a sound and happy horse.

Who Shot Thebarman or ‘Barry’, has become a fast favourite at Living Legends. Living Legends was established to bring retired champion racehorses back to the public. Based at Woodlands Homestead in Woodlands Historic Park.

When Barry arrived at Woodlands Historic Park, it was straight to ‘work’ with a Christmas photo shoot and a meet and greet with a busload of tour visitors.

As a healthy and happy horse, Barry has adjusted to farm life well and is now part of our riding program, Legends Under Saddle, which involves exercise on the horse walker and/or round yard and being ridden through the park with his best mate Serife. And while he’s definitely no dressage horse (dancing is not his forte) he is showing talent in show jumping and participated in a number of jumping events last year.