Peoples' choice working well for mother-and-son team

By Jordan Gerrans

Mother-and-son team Kristie Clark and Louis Peoples believe they bring the best of both worlds to their training partnership after launching the joint venture last month.

Kristie has trained out of Rockhampton in Central Queensland in recent years before recently relocating to Caloundra to open the new training combination with her son.

The stable have had two starters as co-trainers in recent weeks and have a glut of horses nominated to face the starter over the next week.

Louis brings a unique perspective to the training ranks in the Sunshine State after recently discharging from the Army after a decade of service.

After stepping away from the Army, Louis spent time learning under champion trainer Peter Moody before entering the partnership with his mother.

Louis was long interested about diving head-first into the racing industry and his mum was keen for him to receive some hands-on learning before officially taking out the licence.

“I encouraged him to go and get that opportunity with Peter Moody and he was great taking him on,” Kristie said.

“We have known Peter for years and after coming home from that, Louis was keen to do it.

“It is good to get that outside experience, Peter was great. Louis has put his heart and soul into it so fingers crossed things start firing for him.

“We are starting with a manageable number of horses until Louis gets the experience and he can go bigger if he wants to.”

When Kristie was training on her own, her name was up in lights in recent years through the deeds of Centaur who qualified for the last two Country Cups Challenge Finals in the city.

Centaur was the mother-and-son team's first starter as a partnership on the Polytrack at the Gold Coast late last month.

The Clark and Peoples surnames have a deep racing history in several regions of the Sunshine State.

Kristie’s father Allan Clark, who most recently trained at Rockhampton, was based previously based in the Central West for many years and claimed the Longreach Cup six times.

Kristie’s husband David Peoples also previously trained a team of horses and is still hands-on with the stable.

Centaur won the feature Longreach Cup back in 2022 before finishing second by a nose in his attempt to win the event in two straight seasons last year.

Stable mate Persevere was third in the Longreach Cup of 2023.

Louis is hopeful Persevere can be the partnership’s first winner.

They head to Ipswich Turf Club on Saturday with Bobbi Darlin' starting in the QTIS Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate over 800 metres while Persevere tackles the Benchmark 70 Handicap over 1666 metres.

Persevere was luckless at Ipswich earlier this month.

“I think he will be a different horse this week,” Louis said.

“He has shown everything we need to see.”

Debutant Bobbi Darlin' trialled smartly at Doomben on Tuesday ahead of her first race day assignment over the speedy trip.

The stable had aimed the daughter of Encryption at the rich The Debut race at the Gold Coast before she headed to the paddock.  

“She showed us a fair bit in her first prep,” Louis said.

“She trialled well this time in and she has come back a different horse.

 “We are happy with where she is at. No doubt we will learn from this first start.”

Preparing horses to go to the races is a fair change of pace for Louis after five years in the artillery area of the Army before spending the same amount of time in the specialized military police.

With her name regularly in the form guide over the last decade, Kristie thought it would be best to help her son kick-off his training journey alongside her.

“It would be ideal to keep my name in the partnership just for a bit as I have been training for a while,” she said.

“We have had a lot of runners in the country the last few years, winning country Cups and being on the circuit of the Finals in Brisbane.

“It is a great opportunity for Louis, I am happy for him to step up and do this.”

It is most certainly a family affair for the Clark and Peoples clan as Louis’ younger brother Ollie has broken in many of the new juveniles that they are set to race.

Ollie runs his own breaking in and pre-training business and will soon start work for leading Eagle Farm trainer Robert Heathcote.

The Clark and Peoples stable has six in work with four more in the paddock.

After predominantly racing on the country and provincial circuit in recent times, the new partnership have been busy at the sales with the aim of hopefully having more runners in the city as they build along.

“We are full on into it now after buying some more babies in March,” Kristie said.

“We are trying to buy better horses. We feel like we have bought a few nice horses to kick off with a few winners and get going.

“We are trying to get it all up and going and I hope with these next few runners we can get a winner and get him going.”

The stable are based just around the corner from the Caloundra track and regularly use the beach on the Sunshine Coast with their gallopers.

Kristie Clark and Louis Peoples join Corey and Kylie Geran as co-trainers with the mother-and-son combination in the Sunshine State.