Accomplished trainer Stephen Gray turned 60 on Saturday. On Sunday, he and his father Kevin, 87, celebrated their first winner back in partnership after Stephen and his wife Bridget ended their 25-year career training in Singapore.
They have trained the winners of bigger races, individually and together, but Sunday’s victory by Idyllic at Tauherenikau in New Zealand’s North Island was an important milestone.
There’s no doubt that Stephen and Bridget bear some emotional scars caused by the brutal demise of racing in Singapore, so much so they departed Kranji in April rather than staying until the final meeting in October.
“I still have good ambitions to achieve (big-race results) and I have a fantastic farm and training centre here at Copper Belt Lodge (at Palmerston North),” Stephen Gray, who has also invested in a carwash business back home in New Zealand, told The Straight.
“We are slowly getting over Singapore, but I now realise it was always going to close as they didn’t want it and didn’t want to fix it.”
The Grays’ six-year-old mare Idyllic hadn’t raced since May but she came into her first-up run on the back of two Foxton barrier trial wins. She has now won four of her 16 starts.
Story from Time Rowe – The Straight