Tony Ottobre, the failed jockey turned strapper, turned LED light entrepreneur, returned racing tragic, is a cult like devotee of the fabled Italian breeder Federico Tesio, an influencer, before the word was used socially. Nearco, Ribot, you’ll find them everywhere on a catalogue page. That’s Tesio.
Tesio proffered that a horse galloped on its lungs, sustained speed through its heart but won on character.
Then Ottobre, some character himself, used Tesio’s lines to find and give us Pride Of Jenni - she obviously full of heaving lungs, rich of much heart, and bursting with character.
Sure she is the reigning champion Australian Racehorse Of The Year - but so much more.
She’s one of the rare horses that will bring people through the gates and then normally give them something of awe as only a headline act can.
Which is why, even with Ottobre, his wife Lyn, and son Michael listed as Pride of Jenni’s racebook owners, the Melbourne Racing Club and its dynamic chairman John Kanga, knows her pulling power and is offering a rich and rare behind the scenes experience for two members to join them as co-owners for the day.
But who’d have thought that possible, when Ottobre declared that after the $10m winning mare bled in the Cantala Stakes, that was her final curtain.
“That was a silly thing to do in hindsight, but in that moment, after what had happened to her there was no way she was going back to the races, you should never make decision on a race day, anyway, that’s what I did,” Ottobre said.
Ottobre has been doing it his own way, not just with Jenni, and we her know that emotional back story by now, but as he builds a team of people and horses around him at Cape Schanck, there will be no change to his modus operandi – it will be Tony’s way.
So, on the eve of Jenni’s return, Ottobre opened as only he so frankly can do - on:
Why? – “she’s a racehorse, she loves to race, I wouldn’t be doing it if we weren’t 100 percent convinced, she was ready to do it”
On the haters – “All those on the outside of this have no idea, I am not taking any risks, I have seen her since she was a yearling and I know her better than anyone else, everyone else can shove their opinion up their arse, I don’t listen to fuckwits.”
On the jockey change from Declan Bates to Craig Newitt – “No-one gave Declan a go like I did, and he did a good job, but he got caught out in the King Charles and made a big mistake in the Cox Plate. Froggie has ridden her before and is a great front riding tactician.”
On the expectation – “well I’m putting my money on her and as you know I love a bet, forget the first up stats, this is 1800m, but I will say she has to run first or second to ensure we go forward, if it doesn’t work out, we may not go any further.”
But first let’s go back. Bleeding means an automatic three-month ban, but with retirement the then first thought, that meant life in the paddock as he worked through initial ideas of breeding to a Japanese superstar stallion like Equinox, if the Tesio lines worked out.
“That all became too hard, very expensive but the timing wasn’t going to help anyway, though I gave it plenty of thought.”
“Then I started to sit down and work things out. After two months, we were able to start working with her under the rules, we gave her two months and two days.
“From the house on the farm with all the angles of the windows, she was the first horse I saw every morning and the last I saw every night, she was absolutely thriving, eating everything, and that well in herself, got to 600kg, had never been passed 584kg before,” he said.
(Her peak racing weight primed hard, and fit is 536kg, she won’t be that Saturday, but Ottobre and the Ciaron Maher sports science team are confident she is ready to go.)
“It has been a process from my team here (under farm manager LeAnne Imboden) to Ciaron’s to see if we could get her fit enough to be competitive and get her going on this time frame.
“I was never interested in a Brisbane campaign, it was Saturday, Australian Cup and the Queen Elizabeth, but as I have said she has to run first or second in the Peter Young for us to move forward, which we think she will.”
“Sammi (Waters, her strapper and Ottobre's closest ally), knows her as well as I do and she’s happy, we just wouldn’t be doing this without being confident we are doing the right thing by her, she’s such a valuable racehorse and broodmare, but she comes first.”
“But she seems better in herself now than she’s ever been before, little things like her tail, you can see when’s happy its flowing like in that latest jumpout, when she wasn’t on song her tail was between her legs.
“Look it’s never plain sailing with horses at this level, anything can happen, it’s why you admire Black Caviar, she raced through injury most of her career because she was a sensational animal. And we think Jenni is showing us the right signs right now.”
Craig Newitt is the returning ally in the saddle, seen once on her back in that stirring battle with Amelia’s Jewel in the Stocks Stakes at The Valley the night they broke the track record.
He’s been down to Cape Schank and aboard recent gallops.
Mind you - you it hasn’t been easy to keep the saddle on for any jockey – When David Brideoake started training the mare for Ottobre, Ethan Brown had the first two sits, Jamie Melham won her first two thereafter at Mornington and Noel Callow was then placed in a black type at Flemington.
Transferred to Symon Wilde, Beau Mertens had a fly, Jye McNeil, two, then Declan Bates’ first two unsuccessful attempts and Daniel Moor.
Off to Maher and the then Eustace partnership , Zac Spain scored a win from two goes Jamie Melham and Moor had other opportunities, Blake Shinn, Robbie Dolan, Regan Bayliss (controversially), Bates again before Froggie’s Valley crack and then Bates back for 12 and the limelight including that staggering Queen Elizabeth.
“Declan was really good until they started putting in pacemakers and started to play games and he wasn’t smart enough to react.
“He got it wrong in the King Charles, but the final straw was the Cox Pate,” Ottobre said.
He was sacked (from Jenni but still rode for Ottobre) and Ben Melham rode her in the Cantala where she bled.
“I needed a jockey not affiliated to any trainer, experienced, doesn’t play games, and smart enough to react. Froggie had ridden her before, look what happened there, is fantastic on front runners and is my sort of guy,” Ottobre said.
“I make no compromises in what I do, I have four full timers here at the farm under LeAnne, a couple of track riders, we use all our equestrian facilities to relax them, everything is about that one percent.
“When I was with Colin Hayes, it was about clean barns, meticulous presentation, everything was spot on. I buy 16 to 20 yearlings a year now (Tesio methodology naturally), cull as we go, and they end up where they are best suited, yes, they do get moved, “Ottobre said.
Ottobre is hoping Kanga’s “Shout the Bar” promotion if Pride Of Jenni wins the Peter Young is moving enough for fans to get to the track tomorrow.
“It will be Alice In Wonderland like stuff, it’s fantastic for racing that he can see the benefits of promoting racing with Jenni – let’s hope everyone is having a beer or a wine Saturday.”
Hopefully character building, as Tesio would say.
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