Brian Gentle looking to scale new summit

By Brodie Nickson

Beaudesert trainer Brian Gentle has a small team in work but has his eyes pinned on next year’s Queensland Winter Carnival.

His emerging three-year-old Destinys Summit has been brilliant this preparation, winning three races in a row despite nothing going to plan.

It’s a family bloodline Gentle has worked a lot with; and he has trained for Destiny Thoroughbreds’ Brett Knight for many years now.

“The first horse I trained for him was called Destiny Rising in Sydney and he was a half-brother to [Destinys Summit] mother,” Gentle said.

“He won his Maiden at Canterbury by four or five-lengths so we are sort of carrying on the same line that most horses are called Destinys something.”

Gentle broke in Destiny Summit’s Dam, Destiny’s Revolt, though she had nowhere near the ability her first foal does as she struggled throughout her career to retire a Maiden.

“She was always the one that we’d earmarked to carry on the family line,” Gentle said.

“She is doing a good job so far with him and we have got a yearling half-brother to him as well.”

Gentle had a big opinion of Destinys Summit after showing ability from day one.

“I remember the first gallop I gave him as a yearling I rang my mate and said, ‘this is the best one of the lot we’d had’,” Gentle said.

“From day one he has just been an absolute natural. I broke him in myself.

“He obviously won his first two trials and then he sort of went off the boil a little bit and we couldn’t work out why.”

“In the end we sort of knew he got his leg over the inside of the walking machine one day and we thought he was fine because he was sound and everything, but he had another couple of trials where he started hanging and doing everything wrong. [We] had the chiropractor to him and he popped his shoulder out.”

Hong Kong interest in Destinys Summit following his first trial win subsided after two disappointing trials.

Gentle was playing catch-up the entire preparation as the two-year-old struggled with a virus.

“His first run we were sort of pretty disappointed because we expected a lot more of him and he came home with a virus,” Gentle said.

“Pretty much that whole preparation he had a virus and pretty much every time we would go to the races it was back again.

“That whole first racing prep was a forget preparation.”

Destinys Summit finished his preparation after four starts, including contesting the Group 3 BJ McLachlan.

From his first return trial at Beaudesert following the spell it was clear to see his attitude was great.

“When he won his first trial back he was nowhere near fit enough to be trialling but, because the trials were at Beaudesert, instead of galloping him on the track we just trialled him,” Gentle said.

“Colleen Krahnen rode him and she has educated him the whole way through. She came back and said he just didn’t want to get beat.

“She said ‘all he wanted to do was beat those horses’ and he was just there for a gallop.”

Gentle held praise for apprentice Krahnen as the key educator of Destinys Summit since he was a yearling.

“She has been probably the main cog in the wheel to get the horse where he is,” Gentle said.

Destinys Summit returned to the races against the older horses in an 1100m maiden and was held up down the straight to finish second.

Connections didn’t have to wait long for his deserved maiden victory when winning over 1000m at Murwillumbah.

“We obviously let things roll through and he was unlucky first-up,” Gentle said.

“We missed a bit of work with him between first-up and his second run, hence he went back from 1100m to 1000m. He was meant to start the week before at Eagle Farm but he drew 14.”

Destinys Summit made it three-in-a-row at his next two starts winning at Beaudesert before an outstanding metropolitan victory at Doomben.

Experienced jockey Michael Hellyer was full of praise for the three-year-old after riding each win.

“Even though he only just won (at Murwillumbah) he did a lot wrong,” Hellyer said.

“I remember getting off him thinking he is a really nice horse he has no idea what he is doing.

“Not many horses can do what he did at Beaudesert that day. I’ve always said since the first day I rode him that he is crying out for 1400m because all he wants to do is relax, which is good.

“It will be good to get him over 1400 where he can jump, find his feet a bit and if he can let down like he does over these shorter distances he is going to be extremely hard to beat.”

Despite disagreeing with Gentle’s decision at the time to scratch from a wide gate over 1200m at Eagle Farm and wait a week to step back in trip, Hellyer says Destiny Summits’ win over 1110m at Doomben only showed his class.

He was at the gelding the whole race to try keep up with the pack and unleashed a brilliant close to win.

“Coming around the home turn I was travelling well. I thought ‘I am going good, I just need a bit of room here’ and as soon as I went for him, I know it sounds a bit bullish but I thought ‘I am going to win this’,” Hellyer said.

“He was only just starting to wind up now and when he hit top gear he just straight past them.

“You know that he is not at his full potential yet.”

Hellyer has enjoyed success with similar emerging three-year-olds including booting home 2019 Queensland Guineas winner Baccarat Baby.

He also rode Group 1 winner Knights Choice before his Group 3 Winx Guineas victory and believes he has another untapped horse who may be on a winter carnival trajectory.

“He is obviously nowhere near his full potential yet,” Hellyer said.

“I went down on Tuesday and galloped him on his own at the Gold Coast and, even then, he only did what he had to do.”

Gentle had a laugh reminiscing his decision to scratch from Eagle Farm in favour of freshening Destinys Summit back in trip, hindsight making it a great decision after Alpha Sophie won the race.

It showed the class of Destinys Summit being ‘off the bit the whole way chasing’ and still charging over the top to win.

“That’s how he was when he won his Maiden at Murwillumbah,” Gentle said

“The 1100m (at Doomben) he was off the bit chasing the whole way again. We always thought he would probably get to 1400m but it is hard to get it at the right time when you are ready to go there.

“You are dictated by the program and you have to deal with it.”

There is no doubt Gentle isn’t getting carried away about how good Destinys Summit may be, but he is insistent his three-year-old is at least a preparation away.

“I think it [his best] will be next prep as a later three-year-old. While he has always shown us good natural ability he seems to have lost that toe that he had early days,” Gentle said.

“He sort of wants to settle back and hit the line.

“To be honest he has never been trained yet. He does it on his raw ability.

“He has never been screwed down or asked to do anything.

“He is still growing and maturing I think winter time is roughly when you will start seeing him sort of at his best as a three-year-old.”