The Edmonds struggle
GOLD Coast trainer Toby Edmonds will go to Saturday’s Eagle Farm meeting where he and son Trent have four genuine hopes of delivering the family’s first Group 1 success.
As one of the state’s most successful trainers, it’s a world away from where he found himself a few short years ago.
Team Edmonds have Wisdom Of Water and The Drinks Cart in the J.J. Atkins and then Winter Bride joining last year’s runner-up Tyzone in the Stradbroke Handicap.
It’s almost a decade since Edmonds parted ways with the crumbling Patinack Farm empire and relaunched his own career.
He had two horses.
“It was extremely difficult,” he said. “It was a tough road after we left there in 2011. Now we have 90 horses in work all the time.
“It’s been a long road and hard work. At times very frustrating, with the quality of horse you get, but it’s been very rewarding.
“We’ve picked up some great clients and met some great people on the way through.”
Edmonds, 54, formed a training partnership with son Trent midway through last year and they have already prepared more than 120 winners together.
Trent, 29, readily recalls the tough times his dad went through rebuilding his career, before he returned home a couple of years later to help.
“Even when I came back, Dad was renting 37 boxes. He had 15 horses in work and 10 of those were horses to prep for overseas, so only five racehorses,” Trent said.
“He was backing himself to try to get a bit of a go on.
“So you don’t take anything for granted now when you have a bit of luck here and there.”
The acquisition of clients like Segenhoe Stud, which races Winter Bride, has helped build the profile of the
Edmonds brand. But like so many other trainers around the country, every sales season means putting your neck on the chopping block in a bid to replenish stock and keep the stable name up in lights.
“We’ve been ballsy enough to do it and at times it’s been tough going,” Toby said.
“We only finalised Houtzen (who went on to win $2 million) one week before she was due to trial.
“It’s basically been the same all the way through.
“Bruce Slade (renowned bloodstock agent) came on board this year and most of our sales are pretty right, but along the road it has been very trying and frightening to be truthful.
“When you have $2 million in bloodstock hanging over your head, with interest accruing and pressure mounting, it’s really difficult.”
There’s no sugar coating the fact this year’s Stradbroke isn’t the glamour event it normally is.
There’s only a fraction of the money on offer and there will be no crowd to create the usual buzz of a big race day.
But one thing that remains is the Group 1 tag for both the Stradbroke and J.J. Atkins, a label that Team Edmonds has been knocking on the door to achieving for a while.
“Look, I’m not as excited as I would be if everything was back to normal with the crowd,” Toby said. “I felt embarrassed last week cheering Vanna Girl home when I was the only one cheering.
“But it is what it is and we would obviously love to win that first Group 1 race.”
Trent said: “I’m only fairly young, so to have a Group 1 next to my name would be huge if we’re so lucky.”