A Gympie win of cosmic proportions

By Jordan Gerrans

Gympie’s Melanie Finnigan grew up around racing before taking a long break from the sport to raise her family but in her hiatus, she did not lose any of her nous when it comes to the gallopers. 

The 47-year-old’s father Dale was an amateur jockey in the 1970s before training a team of horses around the Central Coast region of New South Wales in the following decade.

After riding trackwork around the Canberra area in her younger years for Peter Staunton, Finnigan has settled in the Sunshine State and prepares a couple of her own gallopers out of Gympie. 

Training in her own name for the last year or so, Finnigan nabbed her maiden victory on Saturday afternoon when Cosmic Proportions broke maiden ranks on her home deck. 

Finnigan was chuffed to nab the victory for her own fledging training team as well as Cosmic Proportions’ connections. 

Queenslanders Susan Borrello, Raymond Mason and Angus Fitzgerald previously owned a smart galloper named Nutso who won four of his first 10 starts before he was forced to be retired.

Finnigan was quick to note the ownership group’s trust in her to take on the galloper they purchased online from the Tony Gollan barn, with the filly having not debuted when she was bought.

“It was amazing, considering I have been trying for the last couple of years since I got my licence,” Finnigan said.

“It was a really big thrill, especially for the owners.

“It was really special for them to get back into the winner’s circle, they bought her, paid for her and believed in her.

“They gave me a shot to train her, even though I had never trained a winner before.

“We have become quite good friends through it all, we had a good day on Saturday and I think I screamed the grandstand down (laughs).

“It was like we won a really big race, even though it was one at Gympie, but it was ours and we had won it.”

Finnigan learnt the ropes of the industry from her father in her younger years before being guided by other trainers in recent times. 

She worked as a stablehand for Glenn Richardson before she took out her own training ticket to get back into the groove of the caper after being away from it on a consistent basis for decades. 

Her uncle Grant, who trains a team of horses out of Scone, has also been influential, the fledging conditioner says. 

“It is in the blood, but I grew up, got married and had kids and went away from racing for a period of time,” she said.

“I rode work as a teenager and before I got married in Canberra for a few years and if my mum let me be an apprentice jockey, then that is what I probably would have done, but she wanted me to go to school.

“Training horses does not fit in with having small children and all those kind of things.

“Once my kids were grown and I had the opportunity to get back into it, I did.

“I eventually applied for the licence and I have been slogging away since then.”

The Gympie stable of Finnigan have prepared a couple of other gallopers before landing with breakthrough winner Cosmic Proportions.

The three-year-old filly ran a smart race on the Sunshine Coast Polytrack in the middle of May which gave her trainer confidence a victory was not far away. 

Ridden by apprentice jockey Perrie Carter, Cosmic Proportions scored by more than a length on Saturday in a 1170 metre QTIS Maiden Plate.

“She is a beautiful filly and really well educated,” Finnigan said.

“She took a little bit of time to get her head around what she is supposed to be doing but now she has, she wants to do it every day in her trackwork.

“Fortunately, Perrie got the split on them a little bit early and probably had enough ground to hold on.

“Perrie did say she was having a good look at all the marquees at the races when she hit the front as it was a big crowd at Gympie, they aren’t normally there.

“She might get over more ground so we will look for another race soon if she shows she is not ready for a spell yet.”

Cosmic Proportions’ stablemate Chick Chick Stick is another horse Finnigan is hopeful of winning a race with soon. 

Chick Chick Stick is owned by her uncle Grant and has placed on four occasions from a dozen attempts. 

Hoop Carter collected a winning double on Saturday on the sand at Gympie.