Baby Franklin steals the show in Beaudesert victory

By Jordan Gerrans

The Dunn and Jamieson clan will not forget baby Franklin’s first afternoon at the track anytime soon. 

Having just turned six weeks old, young Franklin was on hand to be in the winning photograph at the Beaudesert races on Saturday afternoon as his family combined to win the feature Diggers Cup with The Catch. 

Prepared by Franklin’s father Jeff Dunn and strapped by his mother Rikki Jamieson, The Catch was a dominant winner of the 1650 metre event in Benchmark 65 company. 

Jamieson stepped away from race riding when she became pregnant with Franklin last year. 

The former jockey was handling the eight-year-old gelding in the mounting yard and quickly asked her mother to hand the youngster to winning hoop Jason Taylor so he could be in the post-race snap. 

Ace photographer Greg Irvine, who works for Magic Millions, then did the rest. 

“It was so nice,” Jamieson said of the post-race scenes at Beaudesert. 

“My Mum came with me for the day to help me out. 

"I was only working for the day because Jeff had four runners in Brisbane and we had another one go to Toowoomba.

“I wanted to be close to home so Mum could help me with the baby, so I stayed at Beaudesert and I got to handle the winner (laughs).

“It was really nice to have Franklin there and him be there for the winner of the Cup, as well. It was really good.

“We own half of The Catch, as well, so it was a real family affair.”

Group 1-winning rider Taylor made his move before the home turn aboard the veteran gelding and The Catch bounded away in the concluding stages.

The son of Medaglia d'Oro has been a shrewd purchase for Dunn and his ownership group after going through the hands of several training teams earlier in his career.

The Catch has now won four races since he entered their Beaudesert barn in the early stages of 2024.

While the 34-year-old Jamieson is likely to have already ridden in her final race, she was able to win on the stable favourite back in July of 2024 at Ipswich. 

“The Catch is a special horse to us because he is also a family horse for the Livingstone family with Jimmy and Avril, Heather, Jamie, Calum and Ainsley,” Jamieson said. 

“He has been a really good horse to us, he's always consistent.

“He's been a really good old horse and he's an absolute pleasure to do anything with.

“He's easy to ride, he's pretty push button to ride.

“Jason rode him a treat. We know The Catch loves the wet track and it poured down before the race, so it worked out well.”

It was a busy weekend for the Dunn camp as they had several runners in town, headlined by stable star Sha Of Gomer running seventh over 1200 metres at Eagle Farm.

On the home front, young Franklin joins Dunn and Jamieson’s daughters Maci and Piper in their growing family.

While she misses being a jockey, Jamieson says she is unlikely to ever ride in a race again following the birth of her third child. 

She is focused on getting back to trackwork when she feels comfortable.

With three children at home, 20 horses in work as well as a few spellers and a small breeding interest, Jamieson believes it is enough to keep her busy going forward. 

“It's a good balance,” she said.

“Especially because our home is where our stables are. It's very handy. If I've got to go down and do something or help out, the girls will come with me and the baby will come with me.

“Or, I'll just say I'll be gone for 10 minutes and then I'll just take the baby with me. It works really nice.

“It's pretty relaxed most of the time. 

"We are so busy with the business now. I love race riding, but I want the family balance now. The girls are getting a bit older and I want to do pony club up with them.”

In a riding career that started in 2011, Jamieson collected more than 270 winners, including two at Listed level.