Sweet as a Honey Pot
CENTRAL Queensland cattle property owner Alan Acton may yet have the state’s most talented two-year-old, but he has been in racing long enough to know not to take anything for granted.
Unraced Tony Gollan-trained filly Honey Pot is the talk of Queensland racing circles after brilliant trial and jumpout wins and the $300,000 Gold Coast Magic Millions, but is set to make her highly anticipated debut on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.
Acton and his wife, Jennifer, own several cattle properties but their main one is Wilpeena, just outside Dingo, 150km west of Rockhampton. Four years ago, the couple celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Wilpeena, a property that used to host picnic races that drew crowds of up to 3000.
Acton has raced hundreds of horses over the years, the best being Gollantrained mare Outback Barbie, who won $1.6m in prizemoney.
There are high hopes that Honey Pot could be a future star.
But Acton knows it would be folly to get too excited, considering the daughter of Group 1 winner Spirit Of Boom has yet to even race.
“She does look like she could be good – but I have had different trainers over the years ring me up and say that a particular horse of mine is going pretty good,” Acton said.
“I say to them that I will tell them how good the horse is when the (prizemoney) cheques start rolling in.”
The Acton family has been racing horses for three generations and Alan, 64, is searching for the Group 1 winner he has long craved.
He takes no chances with selecting one yearling to buy at the Gold Coast Magic Millions sales every year, using knowledge honed from years on the land and being around horses as long as he can remember.
“I have broken horses in myself, I’ve ridden them and jumped them out of the barriers – I was born and bred with horses and I’ve had a lot of stockhorses,” he said.
“That's why I don’t need anybody else picking them, I’d back myself to pick a good horse. Also, that way, I have got nobody else to blame.
“But I’m not pig-headed, I might ask Tony (Gollan) to run his eye over a horse and see what he thinks as well.
“I bought this one (Honey Pot) because she is out of a General Nediym mare, the same as what Outback Barbie was … and her dad was Spirit Of Boom as well.”