Kelley tryin’ to enjoy ride of his life
Matthew Kelley is on the ride of his life and things can go to a new level with the aptly named I’ve Bean Tryin’.
Kelley, 26, is one of the emerging trainers in NSW and the ACT.
“I was involved with horses from a pretty young age,” he said.
“It started with pony club, into show riding, show jumping and rodeo riding.”
After leaving school he did a trade and helped his father, Cooma-based trainer David Kelley, work his small team.
In 2020, Matthew moved to Canberra to run a satellite operation for his father while riding work for other stables.
“I decided to move up to Canberra to try to make a go of it and a few years later, here I am,” he said.
“I had my first runner in June last year and things are going as well as I could ever have dreamt.”
Matthew’s first runner was I’ve Bean Tryin’, winning a class two handicap at Wagga in June then his second runner, I’ve Bean Tryin’ again, was a Highway Handicap winner at Randwick.
“Dad and I pre-trained the horse before he went to Stevie Johnson, who now straps him for me,” Matthew said. “He gave him his first prep, and he said he was too good to be trained out of Cooma so he sent him up to me.”
The four-year-old son of Spill The Beans was unlucky when third in the $500,000 Country Championships at Randwick on April 1 before he set the record straight at Warwick Farm last Wednesday in a Benchmark 78 Handicap.
Kelley hopes that win will launch the gelding into the spotlight at Gosford on May 6.
“The way he won at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, I’d like to take him to Gosford and have a go at The Coast,” he said.