Runaway Skittle sparks double bid

By Jordan Gerrans

Dual-code conditioner Nathan Evans will bid for a rare milestone when promising filly Kvas returns at Ipswich on Thursday afternoon. 

Evans is a former jockey, who has taken on the role of training in two codes of racing – thoroughbreds and greyhounds. 

While he only keeps a small team in work across the codes, he goes in search of a winner in both disciplines in the space of a fortnight on Thursday. 

The Evans-prepared Runaway Skittle landed the prize at Q1 Lakeside on Tuesday of last week. 

The 43-year-old has not had a starter in the gallopers since Kvas was last at the races in March of this year. 

The three-year-old filly placed in three of her last four runs before a spell and Evans believes she is forward enough to score over the speedy 800 metre trip on Thursday in the Maiden Plate. 

“I picked her up for $5,000 on the Inglis Digital sale and then I broke her in,” Evans said.

“The first few trials were really good and I thought that I've got something a bit better than average.

“But, she was still very immature like body-wise, she was lean, a little filly at the time.

“Then, the first two preps I raced her, she probably wasn't ready to race, but that's all to do with me to learning as a trainer.

“I'm learning still as I'm going and she just wasn't ready.

“Last prep, I just noticed a lot of improvement in her from a physical perspective and she has come on with it again, she has matured. 

"This looks like a suitable race on Thursday, but there are a few good ones in it."

Evans has put all his energy into training in recent times after stepping away from race riding in November of last year.

He will still ride Kvas and the others in his stable in trackwork, but is content to focus on the training side these days.

The Helidon-based Evans has a few other gallopers on the books, who are spelling. 

With more than 470 winners on his resume as a jockey, Evans thought he knew what adrenaline was about from his decades in the saddle. 

But, he admits it is a different thrill in training across two codes. 

“I didn't realise how much more there is on the training side,” he reveals.

“I got more enjoyment when I was training my dogs actually and then when I trained my first winner as a horse trainer, it was the same. 

“It was just a different buzz. Because there's a lot more to it and some jockeys don't realise.

“I never realised when I was riding. There is a lot more to it than just going to the races and riding.

“The background, the work the trainer's got to put in - it's a lot of hard yards.”

Evans enjoyed early success in the greyhound code with Femme Folle, when he was still riding.

The black bitch won 10 races and placed on nine more occasions before Evans decided to retire her and move her into the next phase of her journey as a broodbitch.

Runaway Skittle is a daughter of Femme Folle from a Shima Shine mating.

She claimed the second race of her career over 390 metres by more than four lengths last Tuesday.

Runaway Skittle is a littermate to Armarta, who recently finished second in the Straight Of Origin at Capalaba.

While Armarta is prepared by Tom Tzouvelis at Park Ridge, Evans has remained in the chaser’s ownership as he has won 19 races in 41 attempts.

He prepares three greyhounds, with Veloce Maserati heading to Q1 Lakeside on Tuesday in search of a maiden victory at her eighth attempt.

In the gallopers, Evans is stabled at Toowoomba alongside the father-and-son team of Harry and Cameron H Richardson, who he says he leans on for advice.

Evans rode and trained simultaneously as a dual-licensed participant for several years before deciding to focus solely on training.

“I found the more you put into your own horses, the better results you get,” he said.

“That's another thing I learned too, because I was riding and training. I've only trained a few winners and I've just realised, when you do both, you don't get the proper results you want.

“You've either got to focus on one or the other, you either train or you ride. I'm only doing it as a hobby.”

Evans prepared his maiden winner as a horse trainer Rozeena in 2022 and has since collected three more.

On top of his greyhound and thoroughbred interests, Evans manages a farm for a day job.