Distance no barrier to success for QOTT Acknowledged Retrainer

By Andrew Smith

Adrienne Kelley lives over 500 kilometres from the nearest eventing course, while the closest equine specialist vet is more than 120 kilometres away.

Her property just outside Ingham was also inundated by flooding at the start of 2025.

But rather than be hampered by the long distances and the extreme weather that are part and parcel of living in North Queensland, the Queensland Off-The-Track Acknowledged Retrainer relishes the amount of freedom and space she has to work in.

The 35-year-old has been part of the QOTT Acknowledged Retrainers Program since September 2024.

Kelley was always destined to go into retaining retired thoroughbreds, having grown up in a family heavily involved in horsemanship.

“It runs in the blood - my family has been involved with horses for generations, my granddad was a staunch pony clubber, and my dad followed through with that,” Kelley said.

“Granddad used to break in racehorses for a few of the families locally, so I always had an exposure to thoroughbreds.

“My first real horse after I finished riding ponies was a thoroughbred that came through him, Blue Mystique was her name - she was very cool, and I fell in love from there with the thoroughbreds.

“I grew up within a five-kilometre radius of where we are today, and I bought out the remainder of the family farm with my partner a few years ago.

“We built our paddocks, and then we built our house, and we're just constantly evolving the property from there.”

Kelley participates in everything from dressage, showjumping, eventing, endurance, sporting, mustering cattle, trail riding, the occasional bout of horseback archery or working equitation, as well as riding as clerk-of-the-course for the Herbert River Jockey Club.

She has taken a number of off-the-track thoroughbreds from the track through to top 10 placings at Pony Club Queensland State Championship level.

Her first galloper as part of the QOTT Program was No One There, a former racehorse trained by John Manzelmann who has since gone on to a career in pony club.

Retired gallopers from the Janel Ryan and Georgie Holt stables have also graced the property in the last few years.

Kelley is one of only three QOTT Acknowledged Retrainers north of Townsville, alongside Jenna Arnett and Rebecca Henry.

While the remoteness of her location can prove challenging, Kelley said it was important to provide suitable options for retired racehorses in the region.

“It's often a little bit tough doing anything with horses in regional North Queensland - I'm an eventer at heart, and we're about 500 kilometres from our nearest eventing course,” Kelley said.

“Our local pony club has a cross-country course, and we unfortunately got flooded quite badly last year, and we're very slowly regaining that ground and equipment, but to compete, we've got to travel over 500 kilometres.

“We're 120 kilometres from our nearest specialist vet, and we've got an equine chiropractor, but we don’t have any other remedial therapy providers locally.

“But one good thing about living regionally is that there's plenty of space, and I'm always happy to help out our local trainers who don't want to put their horses on a truck to the Brisbane area to find a retraining opportunity.”

Kelley’s resilience was put to the test at the start of last year when a one-in-100-year rain event wreaked havoc on the region.

Her property at Braemeadows was inundated, with over 600 millimetres of rainfall falling in 24 hours around the area.

It led to some nervous moments for Kelley and partner Levi as they worked to keep their horses safe.

“It certainly wasn't advertised to get as serious as quickly as it did, and we were caught a little off guard,” Kelley recalls.

“We did find ourselves moving horses through waist-deep water to get them out and onto dry ground.

“Luckily, the roads are fairly high so we could get out there and walk them down to our wonderful neighbours who had a sandlot out of water, which was much appreciated by all of us.

“We did lose a little bit of gear, we had water go through our shed, a bit of tack was lost and a fair bit of feed got wet and mouldy.

“But the North Queensland spirit is strong, the community came together, and our horse community locally was really well supported by the crew north and south of us, and Cairns and Townsville really came together to help us out.”

Kelley currently has seven horses on her property, with retired galloper King Canute progressing through the QOTT retraining program.

The bay gelding had 21 starts over his career in the care of FNQ trainers Trevor and Peter Rowe, Scott Cooper and Renee Schluenz.

The thoroughbred is likely to head into the discipline of eventing in Mackay for his new life post-racing, with Kelley committed to seeing King Canute thrive in retirement.

“I have always been an advocate for thoroughbreds, particularly in the pony club world,” Kelley said.

“I don't think you can find a horse that's more capable and affordable, and just all-round pony club appropriate, so long as they've had a good foundation.

“I spend a lot of time on the basics and the foundations, and I don't get out very much in the competition world with my off-the-track horses.

“My greatest achievement is producing good horses that are capable of going on to any home, and I know that they're not going to cause problems or upset or misbehave as much as I can guarantee, having put them through their paces in a range of circumstances.”

Kelley could not speak higher of the QOTT Program for providing support to retrainers as they prepare retired racehorses for their new careers.

“I think it's fantastic - it makes it doable to do the diagnostics, to do the rehab that needs to be done,” Kelley said.

“A set of rehab shoes are not cheap, and in the normal day-to-day, that's not what I would consistently be able to afford for one of my horses.

“But with the support of the QOTT Program, I know I can pour the money into getting to the answers and hopefully the best outcomes possible for the horses without having to stress and eat noodles for a month.

“I also appreciate the access to the lessons and then being able to on sell that to my clients and to the people who are purchasing my off-the-track horses.

“Knowing I send them off with all of the information they need to join the QOTT Program initiatives, stay involved in the QOTT Program, and continue that contact with Racing Queensland and its Approved Coaches and Acknowledged Retrainers is fantastic.”

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