Cover image courtesy of Newgate Farm
Spring is the time of year when trainers take big punts with young horses, and trainer Jerome Hunter is no different. He’s asking debutant winning 3-year-old filly Double Dodger (Profiteer) to step up from Ballarat to Saturday’s G2 Thousand Guineas Prelude. Raced by Graeme and Barbara Gathercole’s Graebar Park, Double Dodger has a big task ahead of her.
It’s a tough field with Group 2 winner Grinzinger Heart (Toronado {Ire}) and Listed winner Rebel Tuesday (Rebel Dane) already showing stakes class ability. Several of the others are stakes placed; Profligate (Xtravagant {NZ}), Portinari (Home Affairs), Almost An Angel (So You Think {NZ}) and Icelady (Maurice {Jpn}).
Double Dodger deserves a chance
Double Dodger won her maiden at her first attempt by 1.5 lengths, ridden by Craig Newitt. She’s joined by fellow debutant winner Joely (Toronado {Ire}) to make up the field of 14. The only other one in the race who is putting an unbeaten record on the line is two-from-two Tolaga Bay (Alabama Express).
“She always showed a bit of ability and she proved that at her first start at Ballarat. She's in at the right time to have a crack at something a bit harder. And we thought we'd throw her in and see what she does on Saturday,” Hunter said.
“She hasn't been raced in town or anything, but she’s already won a race and she won quite well. Hopefully the next step will be a Group 1 race.”
Double Dodger | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Rich River Meat Exports, aka Graebar Park, purchased her for $20,000 from Blue Gum Farm’s 2024 Inglis Great Southern Sale draft.
It was an astute purchase, as her year older half-sister Extragalactic (Deep Field) placed in the G1 Goodwood Handicap in 2026, two years after Double Dodger was bought.
The pair are the second and third foals of Alliterate (Al Maher) who was a tough racemare, winning six of her 55 starts and over $285,000. She is a half-sister to Listed Reginald Allen Handicap victrix Alart (Excellent Art {GB}) who won eight of her 53 starts.
The private trainer model for Graebar Park
Graebar Park Principals Graeme and Barbara Gathercole aren’t the type of people to get in the news a lot, and Hunter says Graeme prefers it that way.
“He's a private person. In his own life, he likes to keep to himself and have a low profile,” Hunter said.
“He loves his breeding. That's probably why he's got bigger and bigger because he buys fillies and then, after racing, they become broodmares.”
And it was this growth factor that led to Hunter taking on the job as private trainer for Gathercole. Having worked in racing since the age of 12, Hunter ended up doing pre-training for Gathercole, before taking out his public licence.
“Back then Graeme only had about 10 horses of his own on the property, so I had outside owners and I did that for about five years before I decided to move up to Ballina in New South Wales. I bought a property up there and trained up there for a few years until I needed a break,” Hunter said.
Jerome Hunter | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Hunter took a break from training, largely from the stress of managing the financial side of it, and did a course in equine acupuncture. After working in that realm for a few years, the training bug found him again when Gathercole gave him a quiet nudge.
“Graeme approached me and asked if I'd like to train privately for him. It took away the stress of paying all the bills and chasing people for money and horses, and it fitted him well. I kept the acupuncture up and he got bigger and bigger with his breeding and buying horses and until it became a full-time job. Now I’ve been his private trainer for basically 15 years.”
Double Dodger is a typical horse in the stable, where all the horses are homebreds or were purchased for good value prices as young horses. Hunter ran through a few others who look like they'll have a big spring.
“Wonder Boy is probably flying the flag at the moment. He’s a stakes winner and group placed,” Hunter said.
Wonder Boy (Cosmic Force) won on debut at two, then placed in the G3 Vain Stakes at his second start which was his first run at three. The now 5-year-old gelding counts the Listed Bendigo Guineas among his four wins. Graebar Park paid $125,000 for him at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale from Rothwell Park Thoroughbreds draft. He’s earned $590,000 and recently resumed for the spring in the G3 Bobbie Lewis Handicap.
“We have some nice 3-year-old fillies. Certainly Quiet who came second in a group race in Adelaide. She's going good,” Hunter said.
Wonder Boy | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Certainly Quiet (Dundeel {NZ}) placed in the G3 South Australian Fillies Classic last season, and has four placings from seven starts. She was a $100,000 buy for Graebar Park at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale from Willow Park Stud’s draft.
Other recent winners for the stable include 3-year-old filly Announced Speed (Lean Mean Machine) who won on debut in early August and Princing (Casino Prince), a homebred who took his record to three wins when victorious at Sale.
“We had a lot of success with Barb Raider a couple of years ago. She was placed three times in Group 1 races and won quite a few Group 2s and Group 3s.”
Barb Raider (Rebel Raider) won five times, including the G2 AV Kewney Stakes and G2 The Roses. She placed in the G1 MRC Thousand Guineas, G1 Australasian Oaks and G1 Queensland Oaks and earned nearly $1 million. Her first foal Plunder One Time (Hitotsu) is a 2-year-old colt.
Barb Raider | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“We've always got a lot of young horses and if they aren’t going to be winning races, we don't really keep them. They all cost the same, whether they're slow or fast, so we just try and keep the fast ones,” Hunter said.
The private trainer model is an unusual one in Australia. Godolphin, for a long time, was the biggest example but they’ve moved away from that now. Mishani Thoroughbreds and Peters Investments are two others who mostly use that one-on-one model.
“There aren’t many like us in Australia. The trainer has to have a good relationship with the owner. It's been tried a few times and some haven't worked and some have, but for us, at the moment, it’s going great.
“We haven’t really had any major issues along the way because we both listen to each other and accept if it's a fair call. Graeme's aware that not every horse is fast and I think that's the best thing. He’s realistic about a horse's ability.”
Although Gathercole buys at auction, he doesn’t sell at auction. Horses who aren’t up to Victorian racing are sold privately to trainers in Queensland or the Northern Territory.
“They can keep racing there. There’s been quite a few that aren't up to Victorian standard and they go on and win quite a few races up north.
“We're happy to definitely happy to win in the city, but horses that will go through their classes and they'll win 4 or 5 in the bush, we’ll keep them for that.
“It's all about getting the joy of winning races. It doesn't matter where it is.”
Profiteer’s recent run of winners
Double Dodger is one of five winners for second season sire Profiteer in the last four weeks. The second season sire’s best runner so far is G2 Skyline Stakes-placed Star Of Jamaica. Profiteer was, himself, a very early maturing type who won the R.Listed Inglis Millennium Stakes. He placed in the G2 Todman Stakes, sandwiched between the winner Anamoe and third placed Home Affairs, which is not bad stallion-making form.
“He’s hit the ground running with these 3-year-olds. He was a neat sharp, really early type himself and mare owners sent him a lot of bigger mares with a lot of scope. He got those mares that need tidying up because he’s a neat compact horse,” Newgate Farm’s Bruce Slade said.
“We're seeing those ones come through now where they've got a bit of speed from him, but they're able to carry that over a little bit further from the dam's side. We’ve seen that with Jerome’s horse, who will probably see out a strong 1400 metres and mile, which Profiteer couldn't do himself.”
Profiteer | Standing at Newgate Farm
The son of Capitalist began his career at a fee of $16,500 inc GST, dropping to $11,000 inc GST for his third and fourth seasons. This season, he remains at $11,000.
“He’s come off a really low base. He had enough mares to do the job and like any horse in that part of the market, he just needs a decent horse. If he can come up with a really nice horse this spring, then the market can quickly swing and get right behind him.”
Will Double Dodger be the one to give Profiteer a boost? We will know more after Saturday. Whatever happens, she’s already a valuable broodmare prospect for Graebar Park with the potential upside of her own performance and that of her Group 1-placed older half-sister Extragalactic on the page.
