Youngsters offer Daley a bright final quarter to 2025

By Josh Spasaro

Park Ridge conditioner Jemma Daley believes she is set for a big final quarter of the year due to the emergence of some talented juvenile chasers.

And, that will start with the Dave Brett Memorial heats over 457 metres at Q1 Lakeside on Saturday night.

Dave Brett is the late father of champion trainer Tony Brett. 

She has Hara’s Oden (heat one), Hara’s Chuck (heat five) and Hara’s Frankie (heat six) all engaged.

The latter two have enjoyed good starts to their careers, while Hara’s Oden will make his debut after showing plenty of promise on the training paddock.

All three are owned by Tony Glover, and out of a different Hara’s dam, with Daley previously training all three of those brood bitches for Glover.

“And, there are plenty more coming behind them,” she said.

“This is when we start to roll into the young ones now. Obviously, Chuck and Frankie are a little bit older than Oden, but we’ve got a few out of the Bernardo litter that are going to start rolling out soon.

“We’ve been pretty lucky – they seem to do the right thing. And, they’ve been incredibly sound, touch wood, so far.”

Daley said she enjoyed educating all three of her starters across the upcoming heats.

“It’s pretty easy to get a litter handed to you and you race them. But, we can take full credit for whelping most of these and we’ve reared them right through,” she said.

“We’ve done all the education, so I think it’s just a product of what we try to produce and we do the right thing from the start.

“So, we’re just lucky we’ve got the backing of Tony and Tony puts a lot of trust in us to do the right thing. I’m just really looking forward to seeing these young ones start to roll out.”

Daley is impressed with the physique of Hara’s Oden, as well as his attitude, and he will start from box three on Saturday night.

The 17-month-old is by Group 1-placegetter Bernardo and out of Hara’s Penny, who won 11 from 42 starts for Daley.

“He’s a nice young pup. He’s quite a big pup. He’s still very young, but he’s always done everything right and he’s been very sound right through,” she said.

“So, this race has kind of just lobbed at the right time for him. He’s going to need the race experience, but there’s only so much he can do at the trials.

“Everything he’s done at the trials so far has been right, so you’ve just got to hope he does the right thing on race day.”

Hara’s Chuck is by two-time Group 1-winner Houdini Boy and out of Hara’s Bonnie, who saluted on four occasions from 47 starts.

The two-year-old has one win from five starts and drew box eight.

“I really like this dog. He’s shown a little bit of ability and he’s surprised us,” Daley said.

"We’ve put a little bit of time into his trialling and he’s shown us that he’s getting stronger and stronger.

“So, it’s the same thing – the 457 metre step up I think is going to benefit him. I don’t mind him out of the eight. He’ll get plenty of room to muster and go through his gears.

“I’m happy with where he’s drawn and hopefully he runs out a strong 450 metres.”

After some early congestion, Hara’s Chuck fought hard to finish second in his last start over 390 metres at Q1 Lakeside on August 19.

“He’s got a bit of speed out of the boxes – he just hasn’t had much luck the first 20 metres in the run,” Daley said.

“I’m happy with him being drawn out of the eight. Hopefully he just gets a nice clean path through.”

And, Daley was happy with the run of Hara’s Frankie to finish third, which was her third career start, over 457 metres at Q1 Lakeside on Tuesday night.

“We opted to go Tuesday with her,” she said.

“If she didn’t win, this was going to be the next plan. She was a bit luckless on Tuesday and copped a bit of interference.

“You’re not disappointed if you get beaten from something like that and you can still manage to lob in a race like a Dave Brett Memorial heat.

“We’re happy with her. She’s pulled up well.

“The question mark over the four-day backup is not something we normally do, but she’s pulled up well and feeling well.”

Hara’s Frankie has a runner-up, win and third placing from her three starts.

The 23-month-old bitch is beginning her career with some consistency.

She drew box three for the sixth Dave Brett Memorial heat this weekend.

“She tries. That’s all we ask. I think box three will be to her benefit, if she can get away cleanly and stay out of trouble the first little bit,” Daley said.