Long-term goal lands for Bundaberg's Wilson

By Jordan Gerrans

On the surface it looks like Bundaberg’s Amy Wilson has been striving to win her first race as a thoroughbred trainer for a tick over a year.

The 27-year-old had her first starter in a race under her name in late May of last year.

But, in reality, it has been a calculated decade-long process for the youthful conditioner to work her way through the ranks to finally claiming a race as a trainer on the sand at Gladstone on Saturday afternoon.

About 10 years ago Wilson decided she wanted to train her own team after riding track work for an array of trainers at Bundaberg.

She eventually elevated her licence from track work rider to trainer and then had to find her own crop of gallopers.

Wilson did not have much luck with her first two horses - African Zulu and Eagle Eye Star – but after a lengthy process to land Vitthal, she thinks it is all worth it now.

“It has been a long time coming and it was quite pleasing to get to the point where I can train a winner,” Wilson said.

After the emotional high of picking up a breakthrough victory on Saturday it was back to reality on Monday for the hobby trainer.

Wilson is a high school teacher for a day job, educating Bundaberg students on the topics of accounting, legal studies and business.

She manages a team of two gallopers currently as well as her teaching requirements and is hopeful that one day she can make a living preparing a larger team of horses.

“Eventually the long-term goal is to be training full-time and do the odd day of teaching at school if I wanted to,” she said.

“It would be the reverse of the way I do it now.

“It would be great to have my primary occupation of training – that would be amazing.”

Sunshine Coast apprentice Brodie Moffat guided Wilson’s Vitthal to score on Saturday over 1194 metres at maiden level.

The four-year-old gelding was previously under the watch of Tony and Maddysen Sears on the Darling Downs and was having his second start for Wilson on Saturday.

After taking 10 starters to the races without having a horse finish in the money before Saturday, Wilson admits there started to be some doubt in her mind about her training methods in recent months.

After riding work previously for plenty of trainers in the ‘Rum City’, Wilson only rides her own horses these days.

So, she was glad to get some reward for effort when Vitthal scored by almost half-a-length.

“I was in shock for a little bit that it finally happened,” she said.

“My partner was there with me on Saturday and we were ecstatic watching him, it was almost pure disbelief that he had actually won.

“He is a trier of a horse, he knows what to do and where he needs to be.

“He is a fantastic little horse.”

The son of Encryption ran third on the Polytrack at the Gold Coast at his last start for the Sears’ which Wilson felt was strong enough form for her area before making the purchase.

“We bought him online and I had been looking for four or five months before we got him, I was really taking my time to get the right horse,” Wilson said.

“I felt with the first two horses that I rushed into it, I didn’t spend enough money on them and they were not suited to short sprinting races.

“I made sure this horse was suitable for us and when he came up online, I knew straight away that he looked like the one for us.

“With his form already, it was exciting knowing he was capable. It all seems to be working well for him now since he has been in our stable.”

Wilson is born-and-bred in Bundaberg and got the bug for training horses through her grandfather Thomas Wilson.

Thomas trained out of Pakenham in Victoria and had a team of horses for a handful of years in the early 2000s.

“He trained and raced them so every time my mum would take me down to visit him I would always hang out with the horses,” she recalls said.

“I got my first pony when I was seven.”