After decades behind the scenes with his father and more recently his younger brother, Chris Meagher saddles his first runner in his own name at Mornington.
He has Comacina engaged in thebigscreencompany.com.au Handicap (1200m) on Wednesday.
Meagher has been an integral part of Melbourne Cup-winning trainer John Meagher’s operation firstly at Flemington, then Singapore and in a training partnership in Brisbane.
More recently he worked with his brother Dan in Singapore until the decision to set up stables at Mornington.
He arrived at the start of August to eight horses in work with stabling for 25.
Meagher and his father both hold trainers’ licences, but Chris says his father will eventually have a racing manager’s role.
“Eventually I’ll take over in Brisbane as well and it’ll be scaled back from 25 to 15 horses,” Meagher said.
“A lot more owners wanted to race horses down here with the prize money.
“Down here they pay back to tenth while up there they only pay back to fourth.
“There’s also more options and you can plan for them a bit better.”
Meagher has noted a lot of changes from the time he left for Singapore in 1999 to his return last month and instantly felt the cold of winter.
But he said it was also a good time to get the team up and running.
“I’m taking over Cruising Speed and Meet And Greet who raced in Sydney recently,” Meagher said.
“He’s owned by the BRC chairman Neville Bell so it’s great that he’s sending one down and I’ve got another one of his by Desert King.
“There’s some nice horses coming through that are already up and going and we’re not having to rely on young babies to get started.”
Meagher is expecting Wednesday’s race to be a bit short for Comacina.
“It’s not his pet trip but it’s been a month between runs,” Meagher said.
“We’ll look at the weather and decide on Wednesday morning whether we go around or not but hopefully we’ll get on the board quickly.”
