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$600 BUY GIVES WYONG TRAINER HIS SECOND WINNER

HE was unraced and unnamed as a three-year-old and cost only $600 online. And at Port Macquarie yesterday he broke through for his first win – and has now returned his owner and trainer Shaun Harvey just over $25,000. Wyong-based Harvey also had Don’t Tell Jack engaged at his home track meeting today, but decided to head north and achieved the desired result, though only just. Don’t Forget Jack’s Maiden Handicap (1006m) was the second race on the program, and no further races were run after jockeys expressed concern with a section of the track. “Thankfully we were able to run the second race, and Don’t Tell Jack did a terrific job to win,” Harvey said this morning. “It was a very tough effort as there was a real battle for the lead in the first few hundred metres, and he still found enough at the end to hold them off.” Harvey pulled the right rein in ringing Murwillumbah trainer Matt Dunn to ask if his apprentice Jett Newman could ride his four-year-old Sebring Sun gelding. “I’ve been watching Jett ride, and was impressed with what I saw,” Harvey said. “Her 3kg allowance proved very handy on a horse who likes to roll along.

Harvey decided to buy Don’t Tell Jack when he saw him advertised online in March last year.
“Being a brother to Sumo Fish (who has won his last four starts including the Mid North Coast Qualifier of the Country Championships at Port Macquarie on February 16), I thought he was worth a punt for only $600,” he said.
Don’t Tell Jack was having his 11th start, had been placed twice and his trainer opted to put blinkers on him for his Port Macquarie assignment.
Harvey has brought his first winner Buckin’ Rippa back into work, and is keen to help apprentice Bronte Simpson gain her ticket to start riding in races.
“Bronte is apprenticed to Sara Ryan and rides Buckin’ Rippa trackwork,” he said.
“I gave Buckin’ Rippa a good break after he won for me at Walcha 12 months ago as I was educating a couple of two-year-olds.
“He will be ready to trial shortly, and Bronte will ride him, and hopefully be able to begin her career soon afterwards.”

BUCKIN RIPPA GIVES HARVEY HIS FIRST WINNER  !

The Wyong-based 34-year-old was on top of the racing world when he won his first race last Saturday with only his sixth starter – and fourth in his second venture nearly eight years apart.
Harvey made the trek to Walcha for the second day of the annual Cup carnival, and landed the Class 1 Handicap (1200m) with $7 chance Buckin’ Rippa.
In a thrilling three-way finish, Scone apprentice Chelsea Hillier got the seven-year-old gelding home narrowly from Allande ($4.60) and $2.10 favorite Bring Me To Life. 

“It was very exciting; definitely worth the trip,” a delighted Harvey said. Coincidentally, Buckin’ Rippa was previously also trained at Wyong, by Damien Lane, and though he won only the one race – at Tamworth in July, 2022 - was placed on 15 occasions (eight of them seconds).
“My mother-in-law Chistine McMillan bought him online through Inglis Digital in January last year for $2250,” Harvey said.
Harvey had dipped his toes into the training water in 2016 as a hobby when he had a full-time job in Newcastle.
“I was working as a nurse at an aged care centre, and found it took difficult to do both and let my licence slip,” he explained.
“The only horse in my care (Naked Prince) at the time had two unplaced starts on the Beaumont track in May 2016, and he finished up having two more runs in Victoria for another trainer, and was retired after 10 starts without a placing.”

Harvey says he has always been obsessed with horses.
“I travelled around a bit, but helped out Cessnock trainers the late “Pud” Davies and Jeremy Sylvester when I was much younger,” he said.
“Jason Waters was another trainer I worked for, and later became Grant Allard’s foreman at Gosford before he relocated to Queensland.
“Jake Hull, now training at Gosford, was apprenticed to Grant at the time.”
As well as rehoming horses, Harvey is now also foreman to Wyong trainer Kristen Buchanan.
“Along with working with Kristen, the advice she has been giving me about training has been invaluable,” he said.
“I couldn’t do this without the support of my partner of 11 years, Jack Harrex.”
Harvey renewed his licence late last year, but not before giving his breakthrough winner Buckin’ Rippa a lengthy spell.
“He had been racing around country tracks, and I felt a really good time away would be of great benefit to him,” he said.

“We let him run around with some other horses for six months, and be a horse himself.”
Buckin’ Rippa was Harvey’s first starter back after 2024 Rising Star winner Anna Roper rode the gelding when second in an 845m trial at Wyong on December 15.
“I took him to Bowraville on December 28 for his first run in 12 months, and he ran second in a Benchmark 50 Handicap (1000m),” he said.
“After two more runs at Taree and Tuncurry last month when not beaten far in either, I thought he had a good chance at Walcha with only 53.5kg after Chelsea’s claim.”

As for Buckin’ Rippa, Harvey is looking ahead a few weeks in order to hopefully put another win on the board.