Inglis proudly bring you:
Connie Greig – Have Horse, Will Travel
By John Curtis
IT could not have been a more fitting anniversary!
Twelve years to the day after she saddled her first winner (Lay Down Sally at Bathurst on February 19, 2010), CONNIE GREIG scooped the pool at Condobolin picnics last month, taking six horses from her Dubbo base and winning five races in a row, including landing the Cup quinella.
“It was unreal,” she said. “I didn’t have a runner in the first race and felt we might win the second with Call Me Trinity ($1.90 favorite), which we did.
“When Linden Tree ($4.60) and Gossip ($3.10) also won, I thought Get Up Alby ($3 favorite) might turn the tables on Valadyium ($3.80) in the Cup with a 4kg turnaround after finishing fourth to her in the Bedgerabong Cup a week earlier, but she was too good, so what would I know?
“After getting the Cup quinella to make it four for the day, I thought how good was that and didn’t even think about the last race.
“There were only four runners and they were spread across the track in the straight. Mine (Merdeka, $2.40) was on the outside and got there.
“It was a dream. Fancy winning five races anywhere at the same meeting; easily my best ever result.”
Condobolin Cup runner-up Get Up Alby is the first foal of Greig’s inaugural winner Lay Down Sally – but therein lies a sad tale!
“We had to put her down last December when cancer got her,” Greig said, with noticeable sadness in her voice.
“We saved her from the knackery and bought her for $1000. She used to flip over in the barriers as a young horse and wasn’t named at the time.
“That’s how she became Lay Down Sally.”
Greig had special praise for Brazilian expat Leandro Ribeiro, who rode four of her winners (Brent Evans rode the Cup winner).
“He is the most passionate racing person I know,” she said. “Leo would make it as a professional jockey if he was lighter.
“He does his form, listens to what you have to say and comes back afterwards and tells you exactly what he thought.
“Condobolin is a sand track, and he rode in the first race and commented afterwards that it was very heavy on the inside.
“As a result, all my horses raced four and five deep and it made a huge difference.
“Leandro and his partner, apprentice Julia Presits, are a great couple. She was there at Condobolin supporting him all the way.”
The hugely popular sprinter Apache Cat (who racked up eight Group 1s in a marvellous 19-win career and is now 19 years of age and based at Living Legends after beating a cancer scare last year)) was the catalyst for Greig taking up training.
“I had never even considered doing it,” she said. “I was working as a stablehand at Hawkesbury when Greg Eurell (Cranbourne trainer) sent Apache Cat there as a three-year-old for the Phar Lap Stakes at Rosehill in March, 2006, which he won.
“I was asked to strap him and started riding him work.
“Because I could drive a truck, I then got the job of taking him when he went interstate.
“I used to marvel at how the experts (trainers) did it, and then started to think that the more I rode work, the more confident I became that I could give training a go.”
Greig began pre-training for Grahame Begg (now based at Cranbourne) and Gerald Ryan at Hawkesbury and, whilst she initially started training there, she made the move to her current Dubbo base six years ago – and doesn’t regret it for a minute.
Connie Greig Photo: Nick Guthrie
“My horses weren’t up to city standard, although I did run second with Magical Lady at Warwick Farm in October, 2013 and the winner (Freckle Face) broke down and never raced again,” she said.
“I was doing a lot of travelling to the country, and sending horses out to Kylie Kennedy at Narromine to race at the picnics.
“One day when driving past the racecourse at Dubbo, I noticed this property across the road was for sale.
“The next time I went past it was still for sale and I bought it, and moved to Dubbo in 2016.
“It’s ideal. I usually have 12-15 horses in work and they are never stabled and live outside all the time.
“Horses don’t like being boxed. We have good covered shelters and, being herd animals, they will get together and use them when they want to.”
Greig certainly doesn’t mind the travelling. Remarkably, she has raced at 75 tracks in New South Wales, and won at 47 of them, including all the provincials.
And it’s not over by any means!
“I would like to race at every track in NSW,” she said. “COVID put a stop to things for a while, but that’s what I want to achieve.
“The once a year meeting at Enngonia is definitely on my list. They weren’t able to race last year, but I will definitely get there when they race again.”
Greig’s five-timer at Condobolin came on top of a double at Bedgerabong picnics a week earlier, and the Tottenham double boosted her overall tally for the season to 20, along with being the leading trainer at the picnics.
Since starting out in 2009-10, she has trained winners every season and is well on the way to setting a new benchmark, topping her current best of 25 in 2016-17.
Having trained five winners on the same program, the question had to be asked how she celebrated.
“Stopped off at Parkes on the way home and had a meal at McDonalds,” she quipped.
“It was a long day. I was up at 4 am to ride my horses work, and Condobolin was a five-hour return trip. Didn’t get home until around 9pm and was too tired to worry about anything else.”
Thankfully, Greig didn’t let such a special result slip by without a proper celebration and arranged a dinner at Dubbo a few nights later.
“Five winners on a day doesn’t come around too often. I might never get the chance to do it again,” she said.
HOOFNOTE: Connie Greig continued her love affair with the picnics at last Saturday’s Tottenham meeting. She won races with two of her Condobolin winners (Call Me Trinity and Linden Tree), and supplied five of the 10 runners in the Picnic Cup (1400m).
This time, however, she had to be content with second and third placings with $4 joint favorites Gossip and Valadyium; victory going to the former Hawkesbury gelding Jin Chi Phantom, now with Sharon Jeffries at Parkes.
