Brisbane trainer Liam Birchley has trained a provincial feature race winner as he continues his business despite an inquiry in Victoria hanging over his head.
Birchley has pleaded not guilty to charges relating to race day treatments in the Aquanita case which is scheduled to be heard at the end of the month.
He has got on with business winning races on five different tracks in recent weeks.
Birchley has won feature two and three-year-old races in areas from Melbourne to Auckland to Townsville in recent years.
He was in Rockhampton on Saturday to win the $100,000 Capricornia Two-Year-Old Stakes with Wicked Ways.
The race is for graduates of the Capricornia Yearling Sales which began in Rockhampton on Sunday.
“It is s good race and I have had a bit of luck in it,” Birchley said.
“I won it with a horse which cost me $5000 and this one cost $10,000 so I better get one for $15000 at this sale.”
He said Wicked Ways was a nice horse but probably a year away from being a winter horse.
“I will probably give him a break and then we might look at races next summer,” he said.
Wicked Ways is by Wicked Style and raced by a syndicate headed by Birchley’s biggest client Mark McLean.
