Horses Keep The Heart Young

BY KRISTEN MANNING

It seems likely that Colin Webster will be stopping for a few chats as he makes his way around the Swan Valley sales complex come late February.

Aside from the business of finding his next stable star, Webster has always enjoyed the social aspects of the Magic Millions sales and more than ever there will be a host of people wanting to shake his hand.

There were plenty of congratulations to be had on the day that the Webster trained Trix Of The Trade stormed home to secure his oh so memorable win in the Group 1 Railway Stakes - and plenty since.

But there are still people Webster has not caught up with since the last Magic Millions and there is no doubt that Trix Of The Trade will be the focus of many a happy conversation!

“I love the sales,” Webster enthused.

“The atmosphere, meeting the breeders, seeing people you have not seen in a year and getting to look at all those lovely horses... it is all great.”

Webster is the veteran of quite a few yearling sales, preferring to buy rather than breed (“I tried that once, that was enough for me!” he joked) with his keen eye on the lookout for a horse who appeals both on type and temperament.

“I look for a horse with good presence and I love a good walker - a horse who walks over and through.”

The Magic Millions has been a happy hunting ground for Webster who has secured, for not too much money (“if a horse looks like fetching a few hundred thousand I let other people have them!”) such talented gallopers as Field Commander (a $16,000 purchase whose 12 wins and three stakes placing earned him in excess of $350,000) and Settlers Creek (a stakes placed 11 times winner of over $600,000).

He has also enjoyed plenty of success with owner/breeder

horses, most notably with a tough gelding who made his debut in a Bunbury maiden in January 1997. The bay had shown a fair bit but was a slow maturer, first seeing the track as a four-year-old.

He didn’t win that day but was a solid fourth and he went on to win his next four, quietly working his way through the grades. By his next campaign he was a city horse and the following March he was able to win the Group 3 Bunbury Cup.

And then in January 2019 he was only just beaten in the Group 2 Perth Cup, his stellar effort over the two miles planting a seed in his trainer’s mind... this could be a Melbourne Cup horse.

Webster had previously travelled east - the triple Group winner Beau Heed, despite suffering from travel sickness, running some very nice races during the Melbourne spring of 1996.

Webster learned from that experience, sure that a good horse would do better with a more permanent base close to the Melbourne Cup action. And so he recommended to owner Wendy Green that her horse - and we are of course talking about Rogan Josh - be moved to Bart Cummings.

“A selfless recommendation,” the legendary Cups King said at the time.

One that saw Rogan Josh write his name into the record books on that famous First Tuesday in November in 1999 - three days after his Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes win he and John Marshall able to outgun Frankie Dettori aboard Godolphin’s Central Park to the roar of the Flemington crowd.

Watching the Melbourne Cup from the stands that day was Colin Webster, alongside his wife Lynette and a very very happy Wendy Green.

“It was absolutely fabulous,” Webster recalled - thinking that it would be difficult to top such an experience.

But come November 19 last year he did just that, Trix Of The Trade winning one of Perth’s biggest and most prestigious races, the Railway Stakes - one of the city’s three million dollar contests.

A story which began when Bill and Patricia Robinson, introduced by a mutual friend, asked Webster if he’d be interested in training their horses... “I’d love to” was the response.

The Robinsons and the Websters have a bit in common - a love of horse racing that spans decades. Bill Robinson was an apprentice jockey quite a few moons ago but riding as a long term career was not meant to be. Establishing a successful business in the security industry, he maintained his interest in racing and in retirement enjoys the challenge that is thoroughbred breeding.

Trix Of The Trade’s Group 1 win put the Robinsons in the spotlight - it is not, after all every day that a big race is won by owners in their 90’s with a trainer in his 80’s. And best of all, they were there to witness their horse’s success. There were plenty of smiles to be had and a few tissues being dabbed at eyes across the course!

“It was unbelievable, he is a magnificent horse - I am so proud of him,” Webster said, noting that - like Rogan Josh - Trix Of The Trade is a horse who just needed that bit of time.

The winner of nine of his 15 starts, Trix Of The Trade is, along with exciting stablemate Baby Paris (a four times winner and twice runner-up from her first six starts) - being set for a crack at the new sprinting contest The Quokka in mid-April. Having two runners in the race would be quite the achievement for Webster, a man who has already achieved so much.

Whilst raised amongst horses at Collie around 160km south of Perth - “we had ponies, went on the show horse circuit” - Webster did not have a great deal of exposure to the thoroughbred until his brother Graeme began to serve his apprenticeship as a jockey.

And when Graeme moved to Perth, Colin soon followed and after some early success with sharing a farm with another trainer, he decided to make the move to the city and by 1961aged just 21 - he was training at Ascot. Where he has happily been ever since.

“I have always loved it,” he said as he heads into his 63rd year as a trainer... “horses keep you young!”

Helped by his son and foreman Colin Jnr and grandson Brandon, Webster loves the hands-on aspects of training, deriving great joy from getting to know each horse.

“Nearly all horses have great temperaments,” he said. “They are very kind animals who absolutely love humans back. They are all different, they have their quirks that you have to be aware of - you have to study each of them a bit.”

The sort of study that makes Webster the very good trainer he is, that and his philosophy of the horse being the centre of everything - “no matter what, you have to put them first.”

Trix Of The Trade, he says, has been a pretty easy horse to deal with - “he is a beautiful horse. He goes to the races and goes to sleep in the stall, he knows how to conserve every bit of energy for his racing.”

“And he knows where the winning post is, a good horse strives to get to the line - and he really strives!”

Trix Of The Trade joins a long list of Webster success stories with the likes of Queen Inca (his first Group 1 winner with her success in the 1980 Western Australian Oaks), Pop Culture (winner of that same Classic 32 years later - along with five Listed contests), Terwilliger (Group 3 AJ Scahill Stakes and dual Listed winner), All Legal (a dual stakes winning sprinter) and Hasten Lass (a triple stakes winning successful broodmare) all doing their trainer proud.

Such is his love for his horses that it is hard for Webster to pinpoint a favourite but he has a definite soft spot for one of his early good ones - Wolf City, the 13 times winner who he took over to Queensland during the winter of 1997, winning the Listed Tattersall’s Cup.

“He was a magnificent horse, just wonderful!”

Webster has room in his racing heart for other people’s horses as well. He loves attending major race meetings and, along with Lynette, has attended some forty Melbourne Cups.

With Makybe Diva’s three amongst his favourite racing moments.

“I don’t think anything in race could exceed that, I had a tear in my eye - it was a very emotional day.”

Witnessing the career of Western Australian star Northerly was another highlight - “wasn’t he an absolutely wonderful horse!?,” he enthused - “he was the fighting tiger alright!”

Webster is widely respected not only as a trainer of horses but as a mentor of jockeys, many a successful rider serving their apprenticeships under his tutelage.

“We have had 35 apprentices,” Webster said - rightfully proud of this achievement, one which includes two sets of fathers and sons; Rodney & Craig Staples and Troy & Jordan Turner. The apprentices become part of the Webster family and so the excitement of winning the Railway was heightened by the fact that Troy Turner was aboard.

Lynette Webster is a bit part of the success, looking after the apprentices in the days when boarding with the trainer was part of the process. Her grandfather was a trainer and she and Colin met at the races.

Many of the stable’s horses are owned by people who have been with Webster for years and whilst many have passed on, their families keep up the involvement.

Every win is still cherished by the stable - “we still get a big thrill out of the wins,” Webster said - and retirement is a dirty word... “I will keep on going for a long as I can.”

It is not the easiest of lives, the early starts, the hard work, the disappointments... “it is a very different lifestyle,” Webster said.

Different but in a good way and Webster wouldn’t swap it for anything!