Alex Kelly far from feeling blue over retired standardbred

By Andrew Smith

Alex Kelly admits she was a little nervous to take on a veteran standardbred to retrain, but that uneasiness has been quickly quashed by Altana Blue.

The former harness racehorse has been with the Queensland Off-The-Track Acknowledged Retrainer since October, after retiring from a career that amassed 41 victories from almost 400 starts on the track.

The now 15-year-old started his career in December 2013 in Broken Hill, and raced in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, before being retired in August last year.

Kelly, who is based on a property at Widgee, just west of Gympie, said the gelding had come to her through a connection with Peter Murray near Beaudesert.

“We've had a couple of their horses, and they've all been fantastic,” Kelly said.

“It's one of those things where we develop relationships with the trainers, and they hit us up when they’ve got something there.

“I just heard that he was coming off the track, and they said he was a stable favourite, and one that had hung around there for a long time.

“They definitely wanted to make sure that he ended up somewhere good and went on to have another career and be valued.”

Kelly said despite his veteran status, Altana Blue was adjusting well to post-retirement life.

“Sometimes when people ask me to take older standardbreds, I get a little nervous because they have been in one job for a long time,” Kelly explained.

“I guess it'd be equivalent to a person changing careers when they are 40 or 50, wondering whether they’ll fit into a new workplace, learn a new job, and be able to pick up new skills really quickly?

“So I get a little nervous sometimes when they ask if I can take this older one, but this horse has been exceptional.

“The Murrays assured me that he was an amazing horse, so I thought we'd take the chance, and he's definitely proved us right.

“If you didn't tell me he was 15, I would have thought he was a five-year-old with the brain that he's got in there - he's just taken everything in like a sponge which is really cool.”

Altana Blue had enjoyed a spell after landing at the Widgee property, before being sent out into the paddock to amalgamate into a herd.

Kelly said interaction with fellow off-the-track horses was an important part of her retraining process.

“Alongside that spell, it’s balances them up mentally, emotionally and physically as well,” she said.

“Some of these horses have been stabled for an extensive period, so they're learning to adjust to being a paddock horse, as well as the herd dynamics too.

“We make sure that they get all their vet work done, and make sure we know exactly where we're starting from before we even start the retraining process.

“From there, we build in - he's done a bit of groundwork already and it’s just working out where they're at and where their faults are and where their strengths are too, before we even get on them.”

While Kelly retrains both thoroughbreds and standardbreds, the 30-year-old said there were some unique challenges that come with bringing former harness racehorses up to speed.

“They're very different kettles of fish, to be honest - the standardbreds are a little bit different to the thoroughbreds, obviously because 99 per cent of them haven't actually been ridden and they've just pulled a gig,” Kelly explained.

“So, it’s pretty different for Altana to actually have someone up on his back.

“One of the typical things we find with our older standardbreds is that it has something to do with having the shafts down either side of them.

“For the first few times you put a leg on, a lot of the time they actually shift into your leg, instead of away from your leg, and they want to push it out of the road like a gig.

“It can take a little bit for them to wrap their head around, moving off your legs, rather than into the side of a gig.”

Alex has had just the five rides on Altana Blue so far, with the aim of seeing the veteran take up trail riding in the future.

“I think this guy will probably step more into a pleasure career, so probably a women’s trail mount or something like that,” Kelly said.

“We are always a little more careful with our older guys who have had extensive careers, just to make sure that we're not putting too much physical strain on them in those later years.

“So if we can find him a great trail riding home, that would be amazing.”

The horsewoman has been part of the QOTT Acknowledged Retrainers Program since April 2024.

Kelly and husband Jack currently house 12 horses on their 20-acre hobby farm, five of which are in the QOTT Program, with Altana Blue the lone standardbred.

She said the support from the QOTT Program had helped her to expand her retraining base.

“It's an incredibly important program - they give us support in so many different ways, and it helps us to help a lot of different horses,” Kelly said.

“Queensland Off-The-Track have been absolutely fantastic to me in the support that they've provided.

“They're always there, whether we've got a question or we need a bit of extra help here or there, they've just been incredible to deal with.

“I started this program thinking that I might be able to push two or three through each year, but with the support provided, we've rehomed around about 30 horses now in over two years.”

Click here for more information on the QOTT Acknowledged Retrainers Program.