Queensland hobby trainer Craig Cousins is feeling the nerves ahead of The Inflictor’s shot at the $2 million Five Diamonds at Rosehill – and that’s a good thing.
“I’m excited, and normally if I’m excited and get a bit nervous, he always races well,” Cousins said.
A truck driver by day, Cousins has three thoroughbreds he trains on the side, all stabled at the rear of his 90-year-old mother’s house in Brisbane.
While delivering firewood and particle board to cabinet makers and shopfitters pays the bills, training racehorses feeds his heart, although The Inflictor has done a good job of both.
Banking over $700,000 in 29 starts, the gelding won the Listed Tattersall’s Mile (1600m) at Eagle Farm in June and provided Cousins with his biggest thrill on a racecourse when third to Saturday’s Five Diamonds (1800m) rival Transatlantic in the Prelude (1500m) at Randwick last start.
That race was the horse’s initial goal, although Cousins always had Saturday’s rich feature back of mind.
“I’ve got to be honest, the main target was the race the other day, but when he raced so well, we had the option of going to this race,” Cousins said.
“That was the greatest racing day of my life the other day. You would have thought I’d won. To have a horse race at Randwick and run well was unbelievable.”
The Inflictor has never been stretched beyond 1600m and the 1800m of Saturday’s assignment is an unknown.
However, Cousins has been buoyed by the confidence of jockey Alysha Collett, who partnered the five-year-old last time and will again be in the saddle.
“I said to Alysha, ‘I’m a bit worried about the 1800’. She said, ‘Craig, I know the horse now and I’ll ride him to run the 1800′ so that was good,” he said.
“He’s coming here in good form and he has done very well since his last run.”
While training thoroughbreds isn’t Cousins’ main job, he has worked with horses for close to 45 years, his grandfather, father and uncle all hobby trainers in Tasmania.
However, he never expected the ride The Inflictor has taken him on.
Not only did the horse compete in Queensland’s greatest race, the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), earlier this year, but on Saturday he will put Cousins’ name in the racebook alongside that of Chris Waller, William Haggas, Tony Gollan and Ciaron Maher, who all have Five Diamonds runners.
It will be a ‘pinch yourself’ moment for the delivery driver, who is thrilled to be sharing such a stage.
“If he runs top three Saturday, I’ll be a very happy man,” Cousins said.
