Scott Cooper tickled pink with carnival results

By Jordan Gerrans

The hot pink colours of BS Racing might just become an emerging force in North Queensland.

The BS Racing ownership group have had a prolific run of form of late and they are hoping it rolls into Cairns Cup day where the team have two chances in the Magic Millions Daintree Guineas.

Long-time FNQ trainer Scott Cooper has been putting the polish on the runners for the up-and-coming group of owners.

The orange colours of big-time owner Tom Hedley have dominated racing in North Queensland for decades.

And, while the new-look hot pink is unlikely to rival the dominance of Hedley’s runners anytime soon, they are certainly punching above their weight.

Cooper has produced six winners in the colours since the start of May.

“They are real good supporters of the stable,” Cooper said.

“I picked them up a couple of years ago and they had a couple of horses who were not really making the mark, so we moved them on.

“We started getting new ones and it has worked out really good.”

Galloper Lucky Leni – who sports the eye-catching hot pink colours – provided Cooper with one of the biggest wins of his training tenure when the mare won the Belle Of The Burdekin race at Cluden Park earlier in the carnival. 

She landed the major share of the $50,000 prize purse as an outsider in the market and Cooper – who was a jockey before turning to training – says it was a special occasion for his small stable.

 “It was great, it was probably the biggest win I have had in my training career, so far,” he said.

“I hope there is bigger ones to come.

“We are really happy with her, Lucky Leni. It is exciting, the carnival.

“You could basically call it our grand final, that is what it is to us up here.

“It is bigger prizemoney and bigger races; we all look forward to it every year.”

As Cooper notes, the prize from the Belle Of The Burdekin was one of the greatest triumphs in his training career. 

And, that would go up another level again if he was able to prepare the winner of the feature Magic Millions Daintree Guineas at Cannon Park, which offers up $75,000 in stakes. 

He will present with stablemates Attentive and The Honey Badger who both race under the BS Racing banner. 

Attentive got the cash last Saturday on Cairns Amateur Cup day and is backing up while The Honey Badger has won two of his last five starts. 

“A couple of starts ago here at Cairns, he was a long last and flew home over 1500 metres,” the trainer said of The Honey Badger’s recent form. 

“If he runs up to that form, he will be hard to beat on his home track.

“I know there are two that go really good in the race but I think he will be thereabouts.

“As he has stepped up in class, we have put blinkers on him for the first time and hopefully that just smartens him up a little bit.

“Attentive's run was super last Saturday.”

The Cooper team produced 10 winners in the 2024-25 season, which was their best result in the last few campaigns.

The stable will also have Gem Of Scots and Gold Classic in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1250 metres on Saturday.

Looking ahead into the coming season and beyond, Cooper says he has a couple of promising types by Dracarys that he says are showing plenty of promise.

One of them is a close relation to Shaun Dwyer’s Dragonne Rouge who has won the first three of her four starts.