Inglis proudly bring you:
Steve Schofield – One Of Racing’s Great Characters
By John Curtis
SURELY not even those who backed the beaten brigade would have begrudged one of racing’s great characters a long overdue position back in the city winning list at Canterbury Park last Friday night!
So long in fact that STEVE SCHOFIELD couldn’t exactly remember when and with which horse.
A check of the records indicates it has been just over 11 years since his previous city winner as a trainer was with one of his favourites Beaveroo, at another night meeting at the same track on December 17, 2010.
A dual Group 1 winner (consecutive Doomben Ten Thousands in Brisbane on Prince Trialia for then Hawkesbury trainer Warwick Hailes in 1990-91) during a riding career which netted more than 1000 winners – along with finishing runner-up twice to Malcolm Johnston in the Sydney apprentices’ premiership – Schofield has been plying his trade at Wyong for more than a decade and a half.
He goes about his business without any fuss, rents four boxes on course from Wyong Race Club, and still rides his horses in trackwork (he’ll be 65 in a couple of months).
Steve Schofield with Courtly after a Newcastle win. Courtesy: Bradley Photographers
Schofield currently has only two horses in work (another two are spelling), so it was especially pleasing to see him back in the city spotlight with a cast-off as he describes it, alias $26 roughie Mosht Up, who burst to the front in the straight and scored comfortably under former WA apprentice Madi Derrick.
And what a job he has done with this six-year-old mare, who had three previous trainers before coming to Schofield out of the blue.
Mosht Up won a Ballina Maiden (1000m) and Class 1 (1100m) at Grafton in the latter part of 2019 when prepared at the Gold Coast by Michael Costa, but failed to place in five runs for another trainer on the Northern Rivers in the first half of 2020.
“They were going to sack her until Lisa, the daughter of a good mate of mine Barry Gale, knew the owner and bought 20 per cent of her for $500,” Schofield explained.
“That’s how she came to me.
“Mosht Up was a bit hypo at first, but I’ve got her to become more relaxed.
“I ride her in all her work; she isn’t the easiest horse to handle but is getting better.”
Schofield paid tribute to Derrick, now based at Wyong with fellow trainer Kristen Buchanan, who has partnered Mosht Up at seven of her last eight runs for three wins and as many placings.
“Madi likes her, and they get on really well,” he said. “I have had senior riders on the mare and she has bolted with them.
“Mosht Up tries so hard in her races, and has been a wonderful addition to the stable, having earned more than $150,000 since she came to me in mid-2020.”
The mare pulled up well after her Canterbury victory, and her trainer is looking to strike again at another Friday night meeting this week.
“I nominated her for two Benchmark 72 races, one of them over 1100m against her own sex,” Schofield said.
“I might accept in both and see how she draws.”
Born in England, Schofield migrated to Australia with his parents when he was seven.
He says he became a jockey because he was so small and “couldn’t do anything else.”
Schofield started with Bill Williams at Rosehill, then spent some time with John Poletti before joining Jack Denham’s successful Rosehill stable.
Whilst Schofield now calls Wyong home, that track was the scene of a bad fall he had in 1978.
“I crashed on a horse called Hail Tornado, but never knew much about it as I had amnesia for a few months,” he said.
“I was sidelined for about 12 months and, then, a few months after returning, I broke a leg at Canterbury in my worst fall.
“That put me out of the saddle for another nine months.”
After retiring, Schofield took out a trainer’s licence, starting out at Canterbury.
When Canterbury closed as a training venue, he shifted to Randwick – but wasn’t there long.
“You needed big money behind you to survive there, so I had to look elsewhere,” he said.
“Wyong is terrific. The facilities are great and I don’t have to float the horses to work of a morning as they are stabled so close.”
Beaveroo (who also won a Wagga Guineas as a three-year-old, a Cessnock Cup and two Bong Bong Cups) may have been his previous city winner, but he says two roughies he landed in town before that horse’s 2010 Canterbury win, gave him the impetus to relocate to Wyong.
“I won with Cool Phantom (ridden by the now successful Sydney trainer Mark Newnham) at a Saturday meeting at Randwick in July, 2005, and backed him each-way at $101,” Schofield said.
“It was a great result. Then a year later Yiannina (Larry Cassidy) won for me on the Kensington track midweek at $81.
“She had a couple of other trainers during her career, but that was her only win (from 46 starts).”
Content with his lot and ever positive, Schofield doesn’t picture himself quitting an industry he has known all his working life anytime soon.
“I like what I do; I really enjoy it,” he said.
“But I’ve got a crook left knee (a legacy of that Canterbury fall when a steel plate was inserted) which causes me pain, and I need to get a replacement in a couple of months.
“That will probably slow me down for a while.”
Those of us who know Steve Schofield will bet it won’t be for long!
