Chatterton honours Hartley with Koojan's rise

By Jordan Gerrans

The late Leanne Hartley sadly never got the chance to take Koojan to the races before her tragic death last year, but emerging Beaudesert horsewoman Ruby Chatterton is ensuring the gelding carries on in her memory.

A son of Ocean Park, Koojan had three starts for champion conditioner Chris Waller before the leading stable moved him on and he ended up with Hartley in Queensland.

Hartley had Koojan in pre-training in September of last year with an aim of taking him to the Beaudesert track to start his first racing preparation for her team.

Tragically, she did not get the chance to test him out of the grass at Beaudesert, as she unfortunately passed away in a training accident.

Koojan was not seen publicly for almost a year before he was brought back into work by Chatterton via a trial at the Gold Coast in May.

The 31-year-old Chatterton produced Koojan to score a maiden victory last week and the four-year-old gelding will be out to make it two on the bounce on Friday at Ipswich.

Chatterton did not know Hartley well, but the pair regularly crossed paths at the Beaudesert track.

“I knew her and always had a chat to her,” Chatterton said of her experiences with Hartley before her passing.

“I saw every morning at the track and always had a yarn. It's very, very sad what happened.

“Koojan was in work, but he was in pre-training and she hadn't taken it to the track yet.

“It was all planned to go to the track the following week before she unfortunately passed.”

Despite operating a small stable, Hartley was in the winners’ stall twice in 2025 with Crackenthorpe breaking his maiden on the Sunshine Coast before winning a Class 1 at the same track two starts later.

Crackenthorpe was eventually transferred to Caloundra trainer Darryl Hansen, as were a couple of other of Hartley’s horses.

Chatterton took over Koojan after moving her spelling horses to the property where Hartley had previously trained.

“That's how I got the horse,” she said.

“He was just sitting in the paddock because they didn't know what to do with him. 

"The owners tried rehoming him as like an off the track horse, but they weren't getting a lot of interest.

“So, I suggested we bring him back into work and here we are.

“He's a New Zealand stayer, so we thought, time's probably done him the world of good.”

Chatterton now owns Koojan alongside her partner Lachlan McHardy as well as fellow Queenslanders Wayne Backhouse and Tanya Banks.

Koojan was able to break maiden ranks at Casino in Northern New South Wales in a Class 1 and Maiden Plate over 1900 metres on Thursday of last week.

Ridden by Queensland jockey Anthony Allen, Koojan led throughout to score in the small field.

The task becomes tougher on Friday when the Kiwi-bred stayer contests the Class 1 Plate over 2180 metres at Ipswich.

Allen has retained the mount.

While Koojan is still green with just five starts to his name, Chatterton is hopeful he will take a lot of benefit from the Casino triumph.

"He's very immature, even though he's a rising five-year-old by Ocean Park," Chatterton said.

“I think he's just one of those ones that's just, they take a bit longer to mentally mature.

“Physically, he's mature, but he's just, I don't even think he knew he won the other day (laughs). So, he's just a bit of a kid still.

“But, I'm hoping now that we've got a bit of a routine with him and jump and try and lead and hopefully, he'll be a lot more interested now that he's done that.

“I think that would be a nice race for him at Ipswich on Friday. I think the further he gets, the better he will be too.

“I think he's just one of those ones that's just going to appreciate getting further and he can just make the speed for himself.”

Before the team heads to Ipswich on Friday, they are set to run Oakfield Galaxy at Eagle Farm on Wednesday in the Maiden Plate over a mile.

Classy hoop Brandon Lerena takes the booking of Oakfield Galaxy from a wide gate.

Oakfield Galaxy is still a maiden after 17 attempts, but Chatterton thinks he has a victory in him.

“He's a horse that you ride cold anyways, so I don't think the wide draw will hurt him too much,” she said.

“Ideally, a few more scratchings would be great.

“I think the mile is going to suit him really well because the other day he got held up down the straight and lost all his momentum and then had to start again.

“He was left a little bit flat footed and pulled up enormous.

“I think that extra 200 meters is going to help him a lot, but he's a really nice horse. He's still trying to put it together.

“He carries his head quite high still, so he's still got that higher action.

“He hasn't quite learned to really stretch out yet, but he's something that could be really exciting once he breaks that maiden status.”