Trainer set for ‘mind-blowing’ adventure
Group I-winning horsewoman Donna Logan is heading offshore to take up the next challenge of her career.
The Ruakaka conditioner, who has enjoyed top-flight success at home and in Australia, has been licensed by the Malayan Racing Association to train in Singapore where she has been granted 36 boxes at Kranji.
Logan will follow a trail successfully blazed there by New Zealand Racing Hall of Famer Laurie Laxon, the winner of nine Singapore premierships, and join fellow Kiwi trainers Stephen Gray, Bruce Marsh and Mark Walker. She admitted to experiencing a raft of emotions when she received confirmation on Thursday evening of her stabling from the Singapore Turf Club.
‘‘It’s quite daunting really, I’m nervous and excited, but I know I’m ready for this challenge at this stage of my life,’’ Logan said from Singapore.
‘‘My daughter Sam has proven she’s a very good trainer in her own right and my son Robert is grown up as well so this is the time to do it.
‘‘It’s quite a stringent process and I got my licence from the Malayan Racing Association and I’ve passed the medical and now the Singapore Turf Club have granted me boxes.
‘‘I was handed a letter tonight, which said congratulations – it’s all a bit mind-blowing.
‘‘I take over the boxes on December 1 and will basically start training up here as of January 1.’’
Logan, 56, will now begin the process of assembling her racing team in Singapore.
Logan currently trains in partnership with Chris Gibbs, who will be taking sole charge of the Ruakaka operation.
‘‘Chris had to be happy to do that and he is.
‘‘I’ve got great faith in him and it will be another string to our bow,’’ she said.
‘‘I think it will be a happy and rewarding move with benefits for both our existing New Zealand clients and new ones.’’
Logan trained her first winner in 1987 courtesy of Silver Kris, a half-brother to the former champion three-year-old Uncle Remus.
‘‘Silver Kris was a maiden and I had to run him out of his grade at Ellerslie to get a start, David Peake rode him,’’ she said.
She subsequently enjoyed a successful training partnership with her husband Dean.
Despite going their separate ways in private life, Logan continued to train with Dean until his passing in 2015 following a battle with cancer and she was later joined in partnership by Gibbs.
Logan’s current career tally of winners is in excess of 850 with 60 at black type level, including eight individual Group I winners.