Blinkers Off Townsville Star In Brisbane
- Thursday, 20 October 2011 03:30
Farrier and hobby trainer Jim Fogarty could be in for an extended stay in Brisbane if north Queensland star Last Gift is successful at Eagle Farm.
Fogarty, 59, has mixed his farrier business with training for the past 32 years and is hopeful Last Gift can make a big impression in Saturday's Earthborn Waste Services Handicap (1200m).
Last Gift has started six times in Townsville and could have a far better record had it not been for his bad barrier behaviour.
The son of Escalation has missed the start badly in all bar one of his races yet has still managed to produce brilliant finishes to win three times.
Fogarty has tried every trick in the book to coax Last Gift out of his bad barrier habits and will try another when he removes blinkers from the three-year-old in his Brisbane debut.
Fogarty admits it's never been plain sailing with Last Gift who suffered complications from a gelding operation before an eye injury.
"He's not real good in the coat but that's got a lot to do with the antibiotics he was once on," Fogarty said.
"He got an infection after I gelded him and he needed treatment.
"Then I was picking up manure one day and I accidentally poked him in the eye with a rake.
"The vet was very worried and at one stage he was going to operate."
Fogarty is one of racing's real journeymen having worked for several years as a farrier for the late Bruce McLachlan at Thornhill Park in the mid-1990s.
"I started off as a farrier in Townsville before I came to Brisbane," he said.
"I worked for Bruce for a couple of years then I bought some stables at Deagon and trained there for about seven years.
"I also did a lot of work for Pat Duff at Deagon and I shod for Kelly Schweida who I knew from his days in Townsville before he moved to Eagle Farm."
Fogarty took a one-year break from training and his farrier work to travel around Australia in 2005.
"I did the grey nomad thing. Had a year off travelling around Australia," he said.
"I did some farrier work at Lindsay Park and ended up working for 10 days during the Alice Spring carnival when their regular farrier was crook.
"I've only got one horse in work. But I've another two-year-old by All Bar One in the paddock and the farrier work pays for any slow ones I get."
Last Gift missed the start badly before winning his only two starts this campaign at Townsville but Fogarty knows he can't afford a repeat against stronger opposition.
"I've tried everything from blinkers to pacifiers and now I'm taking the blinkers off in the hope he'll jump," he said.
"I'll be disappointed if he doesn't win but he'll need to jump against this type of opposition. It's not Townsville."
