Inglis proudly bring you:
Adam Duggan – Was Never Going To Do Anything Else
By John Curtis
ADAM Duggan had an early initiation to the racing industry – and never contemplated doing anything else!
From the time as a young slip of a lad his uncle Trevor Ward began taking him behind the barriers on racedays, he was always going to be involved in one way or another.
Now, having held a training licence for more than a decade and a half, 46-year-old Duggan is regarded as one of the most astute in the business, always placing his horses to the best advantage from his boutique Gosford stable.
“I was born into a racing family as my grandfather Len Ward was a jockey, Mum’s cousin Neil Ward has trained successfully at Gosford for many years and still potters about with one or two horses, and uncle Trevor is the one who really got me interested,” Duggan recalled.
“He started taking me to the barriers on racedays when I was 11 or 12 years of age.
“Things are a bit different these days, and it probably wouldn’t be allowed.
“I used to go to Neil’s stables mucking out boxes, and return there after school.”
Duggan spent some time working with former Gosford trainer Kerry Walker (now living on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast), who had shifted his training base from Sydney to the Central Coast.
He became friends with then apprentices Corey Brown (later to become a dual Melbourne Cup winning rider) and Ben Hill (now training at Wyong).
“We knocked around together for about six months,” Duggan said. “Corey was apprenticed to Bob Law at Gosford and got a chance to join former jockey Neil Campton on loan at Rosehill.”
Duggan went with him and, rather ironically, considering he was born in the “big smoke” at the inner suburb of Balmain, he didn’t take to Sydney at all.
“I was 16 and a half and spent three months working with Neil, and he wanted me to stay on,” he explained.
“Perhaps I was too young anyway but I didn’t fancy the Sydney lifestyle and couldn’t get home quickly enough.”
Who knows where Duggan’s racing journey might have taken him had he stayed in Sydney, but he made the most of an opportunity which soon presented itself.
Adam Duggan with Hugh Bowman after Sir Elton’s impressive Randwick win (06/07/2019) – Image courtesy Bradley Photographers.
At just 17 years of age, he joined the Kylie Gavenlock stable – and it was the beginning of an enjoyable and successful association with the established Gosford trainer.
“I had always wanted to ride trackwork, and Kylie threw me in the deep end one day,” Duggan said.
“I took to it pretty quickly, and was up to three-quarter pace in a week.
“When I turned 18, Kylie appointed me as her foreman.
“I’m pretty sure I was the youngest foreman, and worked with Kylie for 15 years.
“It was terrific experience. They were great times.”
Newcastle jockey Andrew Gibbons was indirectly responsible for Duggan taking the leap to join the training ranks in 2006.
“I was always adamant that if I was going to take out my licence, I would do it properly,” he said.
“Friends of Andrew approached me as they were interested in buying a horse to race.
“It forced my hand to start training, and I probably needed a bit of a push to do it.”
That horse was Mr Blue Sky, a $7500 Scone yearling sale purchase – and whilst it was the first into his stable, he wasn’t Duggan’s initial starter.
Yo Ho Diablo, a $7.50 chance, began the trainer’s career on his home track on April 3, 2007, but failed to beat a runner home in a field of seven in an 1100m Maiden.
“Yo Ho Diablo managed a couple of placings at Gosford and Muswellbrook, but didn’t win a race from 15 starts,” Duggan said.
“We found out he had an AV block (heart murmur) and retired him after he finished last in a field of five as favorite at the Bong Bong picnic meeting in November, 2008.”
Though there wasn’t any joy with Yo Ho Diablo, blue sky was about to emerge.
Mr Blue Sky in fact.
Only seven weeks after Yo Ho Diablo’s debut flop, the gelding won at Gosford (fittingly with Andrew Gibbons on board) at only his second start.
“Mr Blue Sky didn’t begin racing until well into his four-year-old season and was a good horse for us, scoring twice at big odds,” Duggan said. “He was $21 when he won that day at Gosford, and I couldn’t run him again until toward the end of 2007 as equine influenza struck the industry.
“He won first-up at Rosehill over 1200m in December that year at $26.
“Mr Blue Sky kick-started my career. He won five races from only 16 starts.”
Whilst Mr Blue Sky certainly got Duggan off on the right path, along came Frozen Rope, who also strung some nice wins together.
He won successive races at Port Macquarie and Wyong in June 2011, and again put two Rosehill victories together in January and February, 2013.
“Frozen Rope came to me in rather unusual circumstances,” Duggan said.
“Some golfing mates who knew my good mate Josh Parr (who was the gelding’s rider in five of his eight wins, including those two at Rosehill) wanted to get involved in a horse.
“One of the golfers Grant Binns was playing in a pro-am at Canberra one day and rang me to say he knew of a horse in Victoria that was available for lease.
“He was an unraced two-year-old by King Of Prussia, and jockey Luke Nolen’s father Vincent had broken him in.
“They were happy to send the horse up to us, and I thought he was raw but a good-sized youngster when he got off the float.
“I got him going and loved the way he moved and his attitude. He was such a good horse to us.”
Duggan had high hopes for Sir Elton, an aptly-named son of Your Song, whom he went beyond his $100,000 budget to buy him for $175,000 at the 2017 Inglis Premier yearling sale.
He won his first three starts in 2019 at Gosford, Wyong and Randwick, and the phone kept ringing the more he kept winning.
“There were massive offers from Hong Kong, but in retrospect Sir Elton may not have passed a stringent veterinary test to go there even if it was agreed to sell him,” Duggan said.
“Frozen Rope was the best performed horse I have trained, but Sir Elton was potentially the best.
“I thought he had a terrific chance of winning the Provincial Championships the following year, but unfortunately he had a few issues and never reproduced his earlier form.”
On the recommendation of fellow Randwick trainer Mark Newnham, Duggan recently gained new clients in Derek Tam and Peter Coffey, who race The Everest contender Joyful Fortune, a recent brilliant first-up Flemington winner for Newnham.
“I’ve got three horses for Derek and Peter, and have already won races with Diamond Diesel and Wonder Brahma,” he said.
With assistance from young bloodstock agent Logan Salvador, Duggan has added a couple of nice two-year-olds to his team and is looking confidently to the future.
“Logan knows his pedigrees really well and has an outstanding eye for a horse,” he said. “I’m sure we can make a nice team,” he said.
“Whilst I don’t have room at present for more than 15 horses, I would definitely like to increase that number to around 20 to 24 and attract additional clients.
“My ambition is to race more often in Sydney in the Midway Handicaps because the prizemoney is so good, and to do that I have to get a bit more quality in my stock.”
Duggan also is especially appreciative of the tremendous assistance he has received from his partner Jess. The couple has two sons, 11-year-old Jack and four-year-old Henry.
“Jess has been with me from the time I began training,” he said. “She is a big part of the business and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without her encouragement and backing. She is my No 1. supporter.”
. HOOFNOTE: Duggan’s uncle Trevor Ward remains actively involved in the industry at 75 years of age.
“Trevor is at the track at 4am six mornings a week and does a terrific job for me,” Duggan said. “He is so neat and always has the area spick and span where I stable my horses.
“And he still helps out at the barrier on racedays. He is a marvel.”
