Brooke Somers has had enough bad luck in her short career as a trainer to know that when you find out you have got a good horse, you have to strike while the iron's hot.

So she embarks on what could prove a Gold Coast dream with her debutant filly Enchanted Glory (Olympic Glory {Ire}) in Wednesday's Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic.

Somers, who boasts a strong background in equestrian and spent considerable time working under Joe Pride at Warwick Farm, only has nine horses in work at Hawkesbury as part of her Somerstone Racing operation.

She takes on some of the biggest trainers in the land at Wyong, including James Cummings, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott as well as the Lindsay Park operation led by David Hayes.

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"Every single trainer in that field has had multiple stakes winners, and then there's little old me, with one metropolitan winner," Somers told TDN AusNZ.

"At this point of the year, with a 2-year-old and her being Magic Millions eligible, if you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly."

"What other opportunity would I have as a small trainer with a nice horse, if I don’t have a shot at the stumps with a horse that is sound, not shinsore, and eating all her feed and trialling really well. I thought I'd be crazy not to."

An impressive recent trial, where the Arrowfield-bred filly missed the start but then challenged the highly-rated Peter and Paul Snowden filly L'çosmo (Lonhro) on the line, convinced Somers she may have a horse worthy of the Wyong feature, and perhaps even the Magic Millions 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast next month.

"2-year-olds are very much day-to-day propositions. You just don’t know when 2-year-old fillies might say that's enough, but she's great heading into it and we see how she comes through the run," she said.

"It will be amazing if she got enough money to be able to run in the race at the Gold Coast. But it’s a dream to come this far and even be in the field."

Turning it around

It’s amazing how a good horse can alter the mindset of a trainer. Six months ago, Somers went to the National Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast with a weight on her shoulders and no money to spend.

"I'd had a run of bad luck. A horse that I recently purchased, I'd bought him from a country trainer and he really improved and then on his third start when he was primed to win, he got himself stuck in a bit of traffic in the run and ended up doing a proximal suspensory and was out for eight months," she said.

"Then my Mum helped me out and bought a horse off Inglis digital, who we improved and he won a trial at Newcastle. Three days after that. He got cast in a box and had to be euthanised, which was so terribly sad. He was by Squamosa."

That Squamosa connection was to prove important on the Gold Coast, where she ran into a couple of old friends who helped her organise some vendor finance.

The first was Clare Bird, who helped her organise enough to secure a colt by Swiss Ace out of More Assertive (Zedative), from the family of Reset, for $35,000.

The second was Arrowfield Sales and Nominations manager Sally Gordon, who helped Somers get vendor finance for an Olympic Glory filly half-sister to Squamosa, who had been passed in the previous day. Somers paid $25,000 for her.

"She was a beautiful little filly, with deep girth and just a really lovely attitude and the way she walked, was really gorgeous," Somers said. "I was quite enamoured with her and we brought her home."

A dream run

"Daniel Robinson broke her in and just basically from day dot, she has been a dream. Everything about her has been easy," Somers said.

"She's got a really good attitude as a filly. She wants to do everything right and please you, but it took us ages for us to sell shares in her, because I'm a nobody, and I've had a bit of bad luck and haven’t had that many winners."

But since Enchanted Glory stepped out in that Wyong trial last week, Somers' phone has been ringing off the hook.

"My phone just rang like crazy. And it wasn't as if we were selling expensive shares. The shares were really reasonably priced because she was a reasonably priced filly. Now I've got every man and his dog wanted to be in her," she said.

The ethical approach

Enchanted Glory's emergence as a 2-year-old of considerable promise is a turn of good fortune that Somers certainly deserves.

She takes a horse-first approach to her training, something that she describes as 'ethical racing'. It's hard not to be won over by her enthusiasm for educating thoroughbreds so they enjoy a life both on the track and after it.

"Racing can be quite hard on them at times and you push them to do things that you wouldn’t normally do if there wasn't a lot of money at stake," she said.

"I think in fairness to the animal, we need to do everything we can, so that when they are finished their racing that they are rewarded for the efforts they have made while racing."

Using her equestrian knowledge, Somers builds her thoroughbreds up to become easy to handle and easy to ride.

"Everything that we do with horses while training prepares them to be balanced organised, sensible, easy-to-ride racehorses but it also gives them a basis of education for their post racing life," she said.

"All of my horses can do a basic dressage test and jump over some small jumps, so if I wanted to retire any one of them out of my stable today, it wouldn't take them long to be out at a competition, jumping and competing at a reasonable level very quickly."

"They are all very nice to ride and I feel like that's the best way to handle them. I want my horses to know that they will always be in a safe environment and never end up somewhere where they are not loved or taken care of."

It’s an important part of Somers' philosophy built from a lifetime working with horses.

"I read something very poignant when it comes to how we treat how horses. It said the best thing you can do for your horse is to teach it manners because then they will always be loved," she said.

"We have to give them the education so they never end up where they shouldn’t be."

Lyndhurst Farm has three carefully hand-picked colts set to do them proud at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

The Cambridge operation of Mark and Shelley Treweek shopped to a strict set of rules when they sourced their draft for the January 9 to 15 auction.

“We sat down and had a good think about it and we had to get them by proven stallions and early foals were critical,” Shelley Treweek said.

“The I Am Invincible and Hinchinbrook are both August born and the Pierro was September born.

“They are three lovely colts and we didn’t have any clients to sell yearlings in New Zealand for one reason or another.

“They either sold them as weanlings or didn’t breed so we decided to do our own thing, our own way and give it a go.”

A $150,000 Inglis Chairman’s Sale purchase, Lot 92 is the son of Pierro and Sandy Desert (USA) (Line In The Sand {USA}) and is a half-brother to three winners, including the stakes performer Desert Fox (Not A Single Doubt). It is the family of the G2 Japan-New Zealand Trophy winner Millennium (NZ) (Prized {USA}).

Family of O’Reilly

The I Am Invincible colt, Lot 384, was bought at the Inglis Sydney Weanling Sale for $255,000 and is out of the Pins mare Bang On (NZ), who is a daughter of the G1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic winner Critic (NZ) (Centaine) and the family of champion stallion O’Reilly (NZ) (Last Tycoon {IRE}).

The Hinchinbrook youngster, Lot 463, is out of Classic Guitar (Lonhro) and a half-brother to three winners. He was secured for $150,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.

“We are very happy with them and, at this stage, they are very forward and right on target,” Treweek said.

Magic opportunity

Meanwhile, Wentwood Grange will try their luck at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for the first time, selling a colt and a filly.

“We’ve never really had forward enough types to take there, but we believe these are the right types by speedy stallions with pedigrees that are strong enough,” Stud Manager Dean Hawkins said.

“You’ve got to try new things and we’ve been fortunate enough to produce Group 1 winners off the farm so we’ll see how we go.”

Wentwood will offer Lot 183, a daughter of the dual Group 1 winner Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry {IRE}) from Storm Fronts (Hurricane Sky), who is the dam of the two-time South African Group 3 winner Readytogorightnow (More Than Ready {USA}).

American black type mare

Lot 842 is a son of Darci Brahma (NZ) (Danehill {USA}) colt from the Listed American winner Ms Seneca Rock (USA) (Seneca Jones {USA}).

The colt is a half-brother to the Listed Crocket S. and Listed Redelva S. winner Minaj (Commands) and a brother to the Group 2 placegetter Shenandoah (NZ).

“We bred them and are prepping them and Tony Rider of Milan Park is a prepping a Savabeel colt that we’ll sell on his behalf,” Hawkins said.

He is Lot 823 and is out of Misspro O’Reilly (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), the dam of two multiple winners and the family of the Group 1 winners Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park), Grunt (NZ) (O’Reilly), Critic (NZ) (Centaine) and Prince Kaapstad (NZ) (Kaapstad {NZ}).

Tom Marquand’s first visit to Australia was something of a happy accident. Freshly minted as champion British apprentice, he was under instructions from his employer Richard Hannon not to extinguish the remainder of his claim and was expecting to largely be fulfilling a month’s trackwork obligations for the David Hayes stable on a scholarship funded by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour.

It proved to be such an eye-opening and rewarding experience that, three years on and now established on the fringes of the domestic top-20, he has decided to return for another six weeks with the hope that it could propel him even further.

“I was very lucky, the Hayeses put me on a horse called Tashbeeh (Aus) (Commands {Aus}) before I got on the plane, I rode him on my second day out there and on my first ride won a 100-grand handicap at Caulfield,” he says.

“Then on my third-last day in the country he ran again at Flemington and won. It was my first winner for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and I couldn’t have asked for a better start, in England or anywhere. It was also nice to have a winner that was relatable to England as well, because when you’re on the other side of the world it’s kind of easy for people back home to forget what you’re doing.”

A change in tactics

On that second strike, in the Doriemus H., he beat the legendary Damien Oliver in a tight finish. Although that kudos was a welcome bonus, it was dealing with the change of tactics which left the longer-lasting impression.

He explains: “The race-riding out there is so much different, even the untrained eye can tell that watching it. It sharpens you up, and opens your mind a bit into different ways of riding. It’s very easy to get stuck into the monotony of all-weather racing and riding the same.

“It doesn’t so much happen faster, but things develop at a different rate and at a different time to in England. It has you concentrated 100% of the time. That’s sort of the main reason I wanted to go over, to have a proper stab at getting into the full swing of it and get used to it. I’ve not met a jockey who’s come back worse from Australia, anyway.

A strong argument

“James Doyle had a strong old argument for how good it was last winter when he went out there and he has come back and ridden better than he ever has in my eyes, and I think in the eyes of a lot of others as well.”

This week Marquand flies out to Sydney and will spend his time at Randwick with John O’Shea.

“The Hayeses were very kind and I was actually going to ask them if they’d have me back but a lot of people said try Sydney once, if I enjoy it, I enjoy it, go back, but there’s always the possibility to go back to Melbourne next year instead.

“I started to organise it myself but our assistant trainer at Hannons’, Tom Ward, was foreman for John O’Shea for quite a few years when he was with Godolphin, so it was nice and easy to set up and understand what was wanted from both ends.

First century

“Most people know his reputation, he’s a renowned master for training horses, jockeys, people, trainers alike. We’ve spoken a couple of times on the phone and he’s been an absolute gent organising things for me. Hopefully it can work out well and I can come back having learned a bit more.”

O’Shea should not fail to take to the well-mannered and personable 20-year-old. He has also been in inspired form of late, recently passing 100 winners for 2018 and cultivating a useful secondary association with William Haggas. The trainer provided part of a treble at Kempton earlier this month which also included success on Spark Plug (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire} in the L. Wild Flower S.

“Mr Haggas has got some really nice horses in, he’s a phenomenal trainer and his strike-rate and record speaks for itself,” he says. “To be riding for set ups like him and the boss, you can’t really ask for an awful lot more I don’t think.

“The century was a target, big time. Last year Sash (Righton, agent) and I got quite close at 86, not painfully close so we could take it, but it would have been harder taking going to Australia a couple of weeks before the end of the year getting even closer, say finishing one or two short. Then I ended up riding seven or eight winners in a few days and did it. It’s ridiculous how it works sometimes.”

Marquand admits that he saw little of Melbourne beyond Flemington and the Hayes/Tom Dabernig private base in Euroa and would like to attempt at least a few of Sydney’s sights. If he is to maintain domestic harmony, however, it might be advisable to use some restraint with the Bondi Beach and Harbour Bridge selfies as his long-term girlfriend Hollie Doyle, another of the country’s most promising young riders, will be confined to the chilly British winter circuit.

“She was initially thinking of coming with me but (trainer) Archie Watson has snapped her up and that’s all gone really well,” he says before adding convincingly: “She doesn’t want to come, which is a brilliant thing because she’s got something she wants to stay for, and it’s worthwhile.

“She’s having plenty of winners and rides for different trainers, she’s of the view just to keep on kicking and be in a good position to improve from last year.”

Marquand might not make such an immediate impact on a metropolitan track this time around. Nonetheless, with close to 1000 rides under his belt this year and an enduring partnership with Hannon which has included the G3 Supreme S. on Anna Nerium (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and an opportunity aboard the 1000 Guineas winner Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in the G1 Nassau S., he is entitled to believe that his progress has been significant enough for him to be taken seriously.

“Last time I went out as a 5lb claimer, I’d just turned 17. It’s different now, I’ve had a few seasons riding as a professional and I think I can view it in a different light and hopefully people view me in a different light too. I’m going there with the intent to be flat out if possible.

"It’s a step into the unknown, but you’ve got to take the odd risk, haven’t you?”