Passionate and successful harness racing owner Kevin Gordon is enjoying the ride of his life at the moment – a journey that started many years ago with a $200 outlay!
Gordon, of Warners Bay, a suburb of Newcastle, will be chasing Group One honors on Sunday at Menangle with his talented youngster Lochinvar Art (Modern Art USA-Ponder In Paris (Ponder USA) in the $150,000 Vincent Alabar NSW Breeders Championship Final for colts and geldings.
"He's a nice little horse, with a touch of class. And he doesn't have any vices which is a good thing," Gordon said.
"We've drawn the number one alley for the first time in his career, so we'll be prominent. But it will be exciting because there are some outstanding horses in the event."
At a purchase price of $29,000 at the yearling sales, Lochinvar Art is proving to be a dream buy. His incredible record now stands at 22 starts for 12 wins and 10 minor placings for a staggering $253,580 in stakemoney.
Prepared at Kialla, near Shepparton by up-and-coming young trainers Laura Crossland and her partner David Moran, the three-year-old colt has never been unplaced in his two seasons of racing.
"I'm enjoying every minute of having horses with them. They are hard workers and do a really good job. We buy a yearling every year from the sales and I just leave it to David to make the call on which one," Gordon said.
"We have a two-year-old in Lochinvar Fire that looks a likely type with two starts for one placing and a Captaintreacherous yearling we have high hopes for."
Prior to his Breeders Championship campaign, Lochinvar Art put together four consecutive wins, including a heat and final of the $104,000 Bathurst Gold Chalice, giving the popular owner his first Group One success in the sport.
Lochinvar Art finished runner-up in his Breeders semi last Saturday – but was so brave he lost no admirers.
After pressing forward from barrier seven, Moran angled into the one-out and two-back slot, albeit third last. At the halfway mark he made a three-wide move to put his charge into the race, whizzing around to be outside the leader, Hardhitter (Luke McCarthy), the eventual winner. The mile rate was a brisk 1.51-4 with a scorching 26.6 up the home straight.
Gordon owns Multicam Routing Systems, a national business he founded 32 years ago and still laughs about how he got into harness racing in the late 1970s.
"My wife-to-be Leonie was at a boarding school at Lochinvar, about half an hour out of Newcastle," he said.
"A foal was born across the road from the school and later on, the two of us decided to buy it. We paid $200!
"It was our first-ever pacer and raced as Lochinvar Girl. She went on to be a top mare and won 15 races at Harold Park including the Australia Day Cup. And that was the start of the Lochinvar prefix in our horses and greyhounds."
Over the years, apart from Lochinvar Art, Gordon has also raced Lochinvar Fille (10 wins, 15 places), Lochinvar Delight (8 wins, 8 places), Lochinvar Hugo (now racing in SA: 15 wins, 6 places) and Lochinvar Sun (2 wins, 3 places).
Gordon said he had received some decent offers to buy Lochinvar Art.
"I had to knock them back because I'm at the stage of my life now where we get the most excitement out of seeing him race.
"We'd rather have him because our four daughters in Emma, Heather, Clare and Karla and their extended families are big supporters of harness racing, so it's a lot of fun.
"I bought them a filly for Christmas. She's named Gordon Girl and has had one win and three placings. She ran fourth last start and is also prepared by Laura."
Gordon said his association with the Crossland-Moran team kicked off a few years ago after he was advised to send former Kiwi pacer Smo to them.
"We had the horse with Sydney trainer John Binskin and won a couple of races with him. But he developed a few problems and John suggested he may recapture his form on country Victorian tracks.
"I was quite impressed with Laura and David, and I think they won six races with Smo before we moved him over to the west. I know Smo became Laura's favorite horse at the time."
On the greyhound scene, among the standouts have been Lochinvar Marlow, who provided Gordon with a Group One Paws of Thunder triumph. The dog finished with three Group wins, $300,000 in stakes and later proved a sensation at stud.
"We probably breed between 50 and 60 greyhounds each year," he said.
Gordon is also well-known through high-profile roles in greyhound racing. His contributions have included in 2016 being a vocal and pro-active representative on a steering committee that fought successfully to overturn a decision by then-Premier Mike Baird to ban the sport.
But Gordon's attention this weekend will be squarely on Menangle, for the Breeders Championship Final.
"We'll all be there, the girls and all of the extended family – we wouldn't miss it. Lochinvar Art's given us some fantastic memories already, and we're excited to be there and see what he can do," he said.
"After that, if he's still going as well as he is now, we'll probably be looking at the Queensland Derby."
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura