Rogerson closing Aussie stable
Graeme Rogerson is poised to quit his stables at Sydney’s Randwick racecourse.
Rogerson has trained at Randwick since the early 1990s but yesterday revealed he was likely to close his stable there in order to concentrate on his Hamilton stable.
“I haven’t decided and I won’t till I get over there on July 15, but my gut feeling is I’ll probably finish up there,” Rogerson said between races at Te Rapa on Wednesday.
Rogerson said he still intended campaigning gallopers in Sydney but they would make the trip from Hamilton, rather than being Randwick-based horses.
“I just don’t know whether I can do it justice any more,” Rogerson said.
The Australian Turf Club has allocated 24 boxes each to leading Australian trainer Peter Moody and Matamata’s John Sargent, who will shift to Sydney while maintaining a satellite stable in the Waikato with new training partner Hayden Allen.
Is likely to close his Randwick stables in Sydney in the coming months.
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph yesterday reported the club would introduce a performance criteria next month that required trainers to prepare a certain number of metropolitan runners and winners if they wanted to continue training in Sydney.
Rogerson yesterday said his Hamilton stables in Tuhikaramea boasted vastly superior facilities to Randwick, though adding he had loved his time in Sydney.
“I like Sydney. I’ve had a great time in Sydney. I’ve won just about every big race there, but I’ve got no vested interests there anymore.
“I’ve got 110 racehorses, I have the best team of young horses I’ve had for years, so I’ll get back there for the carnival,” he told the paper.
The performance criteria requires trainers to attend at least one city meeting a month, a criterion that has affectionately become known in Sydney as “the Rogey clause” because the Hamilton-based Rogerson was most affected by it.
Rogerson had his arm in a sling as a result of a fall from a viewing platform at the Cambridge trials a fortnight ago, in which he suffered a broken wrist and rib and sternum injuries, but said he was making good progress, despite still being in pain.