So, you know jockey Dylan Gibbons won his first group 1 in the Sydney Cup on Saturday. He’s just 21, and some suggest there are many more coming.
Opaki trainer Jim Wallace won his first two Group 1’s last century. And it’s taken him until the last month to add another two.
Part of the massive team celebrate with Jim Wallace after Pennyweka won the Australian Oaks. Picture: Jeremy Ng–Getty Images
Some might suggest he’s on a roll, but at 76, Wallace reckons he’s just lucky enough to roll out of bed in the morning, something his now dual Oaks winning filly Pennyweka now makes a little easier to do.
The right names were there on Championships Day headlined by the Queen Elizabeth and Sydney Cup - Maher/Eustace, Waller, William Haggas giving an international imprimatur, but almost overshadowing the quite warming story of Pennyweka, raced by a near on 80 syndicate of one and two percenters with their leased filly, 40 who made the trip to Randwick.
Proof again, that with the right horse, anyone can play this great game on the big stages.
Like Wallace and his close-knit family have done since his father Jim Snr raced horses with Jack Denham and George Hanlon before establishing Ardsley Stud back in the 1970’s at Masterton and landing an Australian Cup winner Kip (1982).
Jim’s still the reluctant trainer - "just pottering along with a few, I did have 30 to 40 in work back in the old days.”
Now it is just homebreds like Pennyweka, but Wallace still a horseman through and through (he’s had shares in horses since he was 18). But after taking over the name plates to run Ardsley Lodge from his father he still didn’t get his trainers licence at 51 and only because New Zealand racing authorities told him too when his brother Les took horses to Australia for an extended period of time.
It was 21 years to the day Saturday, Wallace was last at Randwick, he’d been there with his NZ dual group 1 winner Cent Home running 6th in Defier’s Queen Elizabeth, a week after finishing second to Sunline in the All-Aged Stakes.
“It’s been a few summers since then,” Wallace recalled.
But he knows a good horse, the durable homebred Cent Home, a two-time 1999 Group 1 winner in New Zealand, named after it failed to get a bid at the sales because of “horrible legs” and was (insert horse name) but good enough to still hold the Caulfield track record over 1800m (in 2001).
Pennyweka doesn’t need to be better, but Wallace knows how good she is. He has already earmarked the 2024 Melbourne Cup as her goal (not 2023 – ‘I don’t believe four-year-old mares are mature enough’.)
So, to the Pennyweka story, one of triumph of family, friends and hope in times of adversity.
Let’s get the name bit out of the way. The Penny bit comes from the dam Threepence.
The Weka, well officially it comes from a flightless native New Zealand bird, the about the size of a chicken, which became the name of the syndicates by adding “Galloping” to Wekas, which Jim’s brother Les and his wife Janine have put together.
There is a Maryweka (named after Jim’s wife and winner of three), there’s been a Wekaforce (won seven), it started with a Skyweka (who won five), Morweka (maiden), Starweka (maiden), Sir William Weka, CC Weka and there will be more Weka’s coming no doubt off the back of Penny.
The Australian Turf Club racebook (and Wallace couldn’t thank the club enough for the courtesy shown to his group on Saturday) recognises ownership of Pennyweka to the “Galloping Wekas Jazweka syndicate”.
“My brother and his wife were out with their son one day walking where they came across this bird, which we found was a Weka. It had a rather ungainly gait apparently and the young fella suggested it would be a good name for their racing syndicate,” Wallace said.
“The Jaz bit comes from her stable name as a young horse,” he said of then untried Pennyweka, who goes back through a half sister to Group 1 winner Titch, bred at the family’s Ardsley Stud being by their stallion Lord Ballina.
“My brother and I had the mum but never really got to test her to find out how good she was, she was a three-year-old filly, and one night the dogs got lose and she went over a fence injuring a knee,” he said.
She has produced the now Michael Hickmott trained Lord Bouzeron (a three-time winner for him), but who started in New Zealand with three wins for Chrissy Bambry, before Francis Finnegan won with her fresh at Caulfield.
“Kevin Myers has got the latest out of the mare, we entered this filly for the sales but withdrew her, I wanted to keep this one,” Wallace said.
And he was right.
“We sent two to the breakers, this filly and Maryweka, when they came back, I rang my brother and said you can send the other one to whoever you like (now Terri Rae), but I’m keeping this one.
“It was just the way she moved, she’s not the biggest or most powerful, she will furnish a lot later, but she was a beautiful mover like water running,” he said.
“But a good horse can make a mug look good,” Wallace would offer as diminishing his value and skills.
Pennyweka would race once at two but break her maiden at her third start as a three-year-old under Sarah O’Malley who had a lot to do with the young horse.
“She was a good rider with good balance but needed a shoulder reconstruction, before I got a message that she couldn’t ride her as she was expecting a baby, so it didn’t upset many when I put Ryan (Elliot) on,” he said.
Elliot would win the New Zealand Oaks on her under quite extraordinary circumstance for the Wallace clan, but the trainer offered the syndicate three names for a late entry fee Australian Oaks campaign and when Damian Lane was available, someone Wallace had never met, the booking was done and on Saturday, Lane did his job going back to back for him in the ATC Oaks, and Pennyweka following Bonneval on NZ-Australian Oaks glory.
But this story is more than about these wins. It has brought a large family and extended one together. Wallace acknowledges “it has meant a lot.”
On the Friday before the New Zealand Oaks, the Wallace clan held a memorial for his son David’s wife Madeleine who passed away through illness. It came with remembrance of his own mother Margaret who died the day before.
“It was a very special time, the first time the whole family had been together in something like seven years,” Wallace said.
“I suppose it was something like Karma to win the Oaks the next day, but it was more special to have everyone together from all over the world to share it.”
Wallace’s son Michael, lives in Kentucky and is one of the world’s leading bloodstock agents, he bought seven for clients at Easter including the $1.75m sales topping half to Learning to Fly for new players Gandharvi, allowing with regulars Michael Freedman, My Racehorse and the Rosemont Alliance.
David is more the breeder. He’s got shares in the likes of Russian Revolution and In The Congo and others and had a good result with a Savabeel sold at Easter. A daughter lives in Washington, so Pennyweka has bought them and many others together.
“Of the syndicate I am starting to get to know them all, they absolutely went off when she won at Wellington (The NZ Oaks), it was fantastic, and I met a few more on the weekend, a few of my contemporary age group and plenty of youngies, it’s just great for racing that they can say they own an Oaks winner."
As for Sydney celebrations?
“Well, I did have to get up at 4.15am on Sunday to load the horse to come home, but we had a good old knees-up, and I was a bit seedy,” Wallace said.
Which is fine by me if you are 76, and still lining up every other day.
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