There is an urgency about Sydney racing that will test the patience of even the most measured racehorse trainers.
It’s an era where stables have an obsession with young horses which can run fast because their owners are mesmerised by the wealth involved in two-year-old racing and the opportunity it creates for a swift return.
And if newcomers want to make a name for themselves against the mega stables of Godolphin, Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse, it’s inevitable they will also have to tailor their training to chase juvenile riches.
With Resurrect shooting for a hat-trick of city wins in the Swim Between The Flags Handicap (1800m) at Randwick on Saturday, Scott Aspery might be an exception.
At 600kg, Resurrect isn’t built for speed because he tips the scales as one of the biggest racehorses in training.
He was never going to make the racetrack as a two-year-old but for Aspery it was somewhere to start.
In Aspery’s case, when you leave the security of working for an established Group One trainer to open your own yard, you cobble together a stable the best way you can.
Now, four years after Aspery left John O’Shea to branch out on his own, Resurrect’s syndicate of owners are being rewarded for taking a gamble on a rookie trainer.
“It would have helped Scott to have people buy precocious yearlings at the sales but when you are starting out you’ve got to take what you can get,” Justin Mathie, a part-owner and breeder of Resurrect, said.
“In Resurrect we gave him what we thought we wouldn’t be able to sell. For all of us it definitely hasn’t been a quick journey. The horse is five (years old) and it’s only now that he is showing what he can do.”
Mathie and his brothers Andrew and Jason have flirted with the best moments racing can offer as part-owners of Vigor, a Makybe Diva Stakes winner and a Caulfield Cup placegetter as well as Purrealist, one of the favourites for the 2007 Caulfield Guineas before he broke down.
Resurrect isn’t in their class but with some astute placement he has managed to win five races during 2014 with the promise of more to come.
“Expectations weren’t high because he was a big clumsy horse … there wasn’t a lot of optimism to start with,” Mathie said.
“He’s not the most fashionably bred and he’s been a slow maturing horse so it’s a credit to Scott that he has been able to get the best out of him.”
