A grey gelding that is building a cult following in the Riverina harness racing region, is providing his trainer and owners with plenty of joy.
In what's a rare spectacle on a racetrack, two greys fought out the finish at Wagga Wagga last Friday. But it was Brobenah Boy (Modern Art-Lombo Copywatch (Lombo Pocket Watch) narrowly getting the judge's decision from Time Keepa Lombo.
Brobenah Boy is back from a spell and clearly means business – following up the Wagga victory with a handy third at Griffith last night, giving him a start in the $12,000 Griffith Cup final next Saturday.
The six-year-old is trained at Leeton by Guy Retallick, who is the local Shire Council Waste and Recycling co-ordinator and owned by his father and mother-in-law Phillip and Jeanette Dempsey.
"It's a team effort and it's working well because Brobenah Boy has won 12 races for us. He's probably never going to be a star, but he's a terrific horse in that he tries so hard every start and keeps earning," Retallick said.
"He's been building a bit of a cult following because everyone wants to look at him and give him a pat. It's unbelievable that he's sired by Modern Art and is a grey. But it obviously goes back to the dam who was by Lombo Pocket Watch."
A former star pacer with 12 Group One wins and $1.4 million in stakes, the Mick Lombardo-owned Lombo Pocket Watch was dubbed the 'Grey Bullet'.
Retallick said they purchased the mare Lombo Copywatch (dam of Brobenah Boy) at a Shepparton sale held by Lombardo.
"We gave her a few preps, but Phil thought it was best to breed from her. I think she was more than a handful for him, so it was a good decision," he said.
"Phil has held a licence for a long time and the success of Brobenah Boy is due to his patience and hard work. He does all the slow jog work and his old training methods of putting time into their legs has been spot on. The horse has now won first-up on two occasions.
Happy part-owner Phil Dempsey is with Brobenah Boy. Phil helps son-in-law Guy Retallick prepare the popular grey pacer. (Photo Wagga HRC)
"We have a great partnership in that we both have other jobs and share the workload. We're out at Phil's farm at 5 am each day because Phil has a day job as well, at State Water NSW. We both have tasks to do. Phil also does the shoeing, while I take care of the fastwork and planning the training and racing programs.
"It's been fantastic. Phil says he's never had a horse to win so many races over the years. I think as well as the wins, the pacer has run 18 placings from 69 starts which works out that he's earnt on average $1000 per start."
But Retallick said while Brobenah Boy was capable of pinging off a quick last half, he could also be cunning at times.
"We have to change his gear a bit at home and we also have to put up with his quirks – like he's always got to be fed first, and he also has to be the first one out on the training track," he said.
"All that aside, he's a beautiful old fella. We've used him as a cart horse and had yearlings tied on the side.
"We sent him down to Bernie Hewitt in the early days and he won a race with him and got him qualified for a G1 event. Bernie always believed he would make a nice horse later on."
While Retallick and his co-trainer Phil aim to target all the cup races in their region, it hasn't all been plain sailing with their popular pacer.
Brobenah Boy was born three and a half weeks premature and they took it in turns to milk the mare and bottle feed the newborn foal.
"We did it all night and we were very lucky that things turned out the way they did," Retallick said.
"The harness racing community in the region is tight knit. Apart from Bernie, we can always ring Norm Diebert or David Eurell anytime of the day and they'll help you. Norm is brilliant with youngsters and has taught me a lot."
Brobenah Boy is being handled by young Wagga reinsman Jordan Seary, 20, who got involved in the sport about six years ago when he lived nearby to well-known trainer-driver Bruce Harpley.
The youngster, with 16 wins and 51 placings this season, drove Ned Pepper to win the Griffith and Leeton Cup two years ago for trainer Katie Jenner and will be aiming to repeat the effort with Brobenah Boy.
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura