Inglis proudly bring you:
Neil Osborne – All-Round Horseman With Cheeky Sense Of Humour
By John Curtis
NEIL OSBORNE can never be accused of not having a sense of humour!
Check out his website facebook page and have a look at the video of a little colt who was the last foaled in the breeding season on the Osborne property “Mane Lodge” on November 15 last year.
He was almost a month late arriving and Osborne tabbed him “Fart In A Pickle Jar” – and would be happy for him to race under that name.
“Whether the authorities approve it is another matter,” Osborne chuckled. “But that’s exactly what he looked like when he was born.
“He reminded me of a little blowfly darting around.
“We don’t mind submitting some cheeky names.”
The Headwater colt is the first foal of the Not A Single Doubt mare Friskee One, a six-times winner, including an incredible Class 2 Handicap (1600m) at the Grafton July carnival in 2017.
“She was slow to get going, gave them what seemed to be an impossible start and was still last approaching the home turn,” Osborne recalled.
“Racecaller Terry Spargo couldn’t believe it when she sailed down the outside and won.”
An all-round horseman, Osborne is equally at home breeding horses as he is training them.
Trainer Neil Osborne Photo: Bradley Photographers
Initially based at Gundaroo, he and his wife Denise took over their current property at Sutton (about 20 minutes from Canberra) some 35 years ago.
“We’ve got 200 acres on the Yass River. It’s a great spot,” he said.
“The former successful Canberra trainer Robbie O’Sullivan (who passed away last year in Queensland) initially set up the property and named it Mane Lodge after the horses’ mane.
“We keep around 20 broodmares, and I usually go on type picking which stallion I feel will best suit each mare.
“As well as the breeding side of the business and training, we also agist horses for many Canberra and Queanbeyan trainers, including Nick Olive and Matthew Dale.
“I have stood stallions at Mane Lodge but no longer. Frank Cleary’s Select Prince was our last one.”
Osborne was in Sydney settling in his seven “babies” – all by well-known sires – at Inglis’ Riverside complex set to be offered under the Mane Lodge Thoroughbreds banner for the Classic yearling sale when we caught up with him.
They were colts by Extreme Choice, Hellbent, Deep Field and Capitalist and fillies by Headwater, Russian Revolution and Hellbent.
And what a sale it was for Mane Lodge, setting a new Classic record with the Extreme Choice – To Dubawi Go youngster fetching a sales topping $825,000.
The colt is the fifth foal of six-times winner To Dubawi Go, whom Osborne trained.
Osborne first sold a yearling with Inglis way back in 1979, and both he and his wife were understandably thrilled to get such a fabulous result.
What Osborne doesn’t part company with at a sale, he takes home.
Such as Go Errol, whom he tried to sell without luck at no less than three different sales.
“I wanted only $10,000 for him,” Osborne said. “He raced more than 100 times and won 25 of them, including five in Sydney and two in Brisbane.”
Osborne is adamant the best horse so far to race Mane Lodge has bred was I Am Snippety, but unfortunately she didn’t get the chance to realise her potential.
“She ran second on debut at Warwick Farm in late 2013, won a Wagga 2YO the following month before finishing fourth in the Black Opal Stakes at Canberra and bolting home by more than six lengths in the Wellington Boot,” he said.
“Tragically, she blundered on straightening in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes at Randwick in April that year, and broke down so badly she had to be put down.”
The I Am Invincible filly was having only her seventh start.
Osborne on average keeps around 10 horses in work, but says eight would be an ideal number.
“I train only our own horses and for a couple of mates.”
He has high hopes for a lightly-raced pair of three-year-old fillies I Am Spirited (by I Am Invincible) and Robin Sparkles (by Vancouver).
“I Am Spirited had two starts at the Grafton carnival last July as a late two-year-old, and is back in work,” Osborne said.
“Robin Sparkles was 100s into 20s in the opening race at the Sapphire Coast Showcase meeting on January 30 at only her second start, and first since a lengthy break.
‘She ran fourth; couldn’t run third at $19,” he rued. “But I’m sure both fillies will turn out okay.”
Osborne regaled an interesting tale about one of Australia’s great sprinters, the now deceased Takeover Target.
“I was at former RacingNSW chairman Tony Hartnell’s Meringo Stud on the South Coast many years back, and they took us for a run to look at the yearlings,” he said.
“Fellow Canberra trainer Barbara Joseph with me, and this colt (Takeover Target) clearly stood out in the paddock.
“I was quickly informed he was going to Randwick trainer John Morish.”
Remarkably, Osborne caught up with Takeover Target three years later when he collected him for then Queanbeyan trainer Joe Janiak, who had bought the unraced gelding for a song at a dispersal sale after he had gone in the knees.
“Joe was astounded when I told him I knew this horse,” Osborne said. “To be honest, he didn’t believe me at first until I explained the background.”
Osborne’s son Stuart was Takeover Target’s strapper in the star’s two Singapore visits in 2008 and 2009, winning the Group 1 Kris Flyer Sprint the first year.
Osborne doesn’t mind travelling with his horses – he has competed at nearly 70 tracks – and has a soft spot for Coffs Harbour in winter.
“I usually take a couple of horses, but last year we took eight for the Grafton and Coffs carnivals, and had some luck,” he said.
“It gets pretty damn cold down here, so I like to get away to the milder weather for a couple of months.”
