Shane Fliedner has spent a lifetime in racing and has finally come to the realisation there is more to life than the sport.
After a successful career as a jockey, Fliedner has spent the past 20 years as a trainer, based at Bendigo.
There have been successful forays to town, but the majority of Fliedner’s winners have been on country tracks and after a lifetime of battling around the bush he’ has decided to downsize his team.
Fliedner has recently teamed with breeder Mario Cesnik and the pair combined to win at Flemington on Saturday with juvenile St Edward’s Crown.
“I’ve cut my team down over the past 12 or 18 months and probably half the team is his and the other half is mine,” Fliedner said.
“I’ve only got about 14 in work now. I’m not retiring but I want to enjoy life a bit more and restrict it to horses that can gallop.
“I want to become more of a boutique trainer and as I’ve got a daughter living over in Perth I want to be able to take two or three holidays a year and enjoy it.”
Fliedner says Cesnik runs Riverina Downs Stud at Tarcutta and sends 14 or 16 horses to the different sales each year.
St Edward’s Crown is a half-sister to Godolphin’s Viridine and Cesnik is sending Fliedner a close relation to Bandipur, who was recently sold by Godolphin after winning eight of his 20 starts.
“Maybe it’s my chance in life to get some decent horses rather than battling around the bush all the time,” Fliedner said.
Fliedner hopes St Edward’s Crown can live up to his lofty expectations and make it to the better spring three-year-old filly’s races in the spring.
“She’s a really good filly. I haven’t had many good horses but she’s one of the best ones I’ve had,” Fliedner said.
“She’s a lovely filly and she’s got three-year-old written all over her.”
