Jenna Arnett hailing Ceasar for post-racing career

By Andrew Smith

Jenna Arnett is keen to take on more retired racehorses from the southern corner of the state, but it is her connection with some of North Queensland’s top trainers that is proving to be the most beneficial.

The Queensland Off-The-Track Acknowledged Retrainer is based in Bluewater, just north of Townsville.

The 38-year-old has been part of the program since February 2024, having retrained and rehomed six horses in that time.

Former gallopers Joint Forces, Top Fella, Edification, Super Fast, and Hunt The Hunter have been amongst that group, but it is a former Steven Royes-trained thoroughbred that has been one of her star pupils.

Ceasar was a regular around the New Zealand and Victorian racing circuit in 2022 and 2023, posting wins at Te Aroha, Sandown and Moonee Valley in the care of Group 1-winning trainer Michael Moroney.

Heading north to the Royes stable in mid-2024, the bay gelding raced six more times on the North Queensland circuit before being retired in August 2025.

It was at that time that Arnett contacted Royes to see if the Cairns-based conditioner had any gallopers that would be suitable for her retraining program.

“After I collected Ceasar, he came home for eight weeks of rest - he had to have a spell and a little letdown first,” Arnett said.

“He's always been the most charismatic, huge personality, lots-of-energy type of horse, he's quite a dominating creature.

“But he's just been a gem – he tries so hard to do the right thing, whatever that may be.

“His retraining coincided with our wet season, which can kind of put the handbrake on a little bit as far as being able to get horses out to competitions and things like that, but we did get there eventually.

“He did a couple of online dressage tests in the meantime before we could get out into public and attend competitions, but he's just been such a pleasant horse to deal with and quite entertaining at the same time too.”

Ceasar is now enjoying a new life with a local farming family, with a mother-and-daughter team sharing the eight-year-old for cattle work and pony club riding.

Arnett has also recently welcomed Ellis Beach (formerly trained by premier Townsville conditioner Georgie Holt) and Ready Tiger into the program, who was trained most recently by Graham Hughes.

The horsewoman has also taken on retired gallopers from Stephen Massingham in Cairns, Gavin Kinlyside in Townsville, and Mount Isa’s Holly-Maree Robertson.

Arnett said she was always open to being approached by racehorse trainers who were looking for post-racing homes for their retiring equine athletes.

“I do get approached a lot more than what I’m actually able to help out with, and I do tend to rely on the trainers that I know and trust a little bit more,” Arnett said.

“I think there's peace of mind when they're able to send a horse to a QOTT Acknowledged Retrainer, because they know that we've gone through the appropriate steps with Racing Queensland.

“I could have rehomed 20 horses by now if I had more space, and I always feel guilty that I can't take on more.

“My only hope and dream is that these horses just find someone who's going to really cherish them and treat them well.

“It doesn't necessarily mean they have to go and be five-star competitive horses, although Ceasar would be quite capable of doing that.

“It's more just providing the right feed, the right care, the right love, the right attention and the right companionship with other horses as well.

“So every time I'm rehoming or selling these horses on, I'm just trying to find the right people and find a good match for each horse.”

Arnett prides herself in also having the ability to retrain standardbreds.

Despite the distance between North Queensland and the state’s harness racing hubs of Albion Park, Redcliffe and Marburg, she is keen to take on more former pacers and trotters.

“I know logistically that it is more difficult to send them up from Brisbane to North Queensland to be retrained, because we don't have a trotting track up here,” Arnett said.

“We've got a lot more thoroughbreds coming through than we do standardbreds for sure, but I'm always open to it, and the odd one does pop up every now and then.

“Prior to signing on with the QOTT Program, I retrained three standardbreds for life after racing, but there hasn't been an opportunity to work with any since.

“I'm always trying to find ways to bridge the gap between North Queensland and the rest of Queensland, and there's a few initiatives that some other retrainers and coaches in the area have in the works.”

Arnett’s life with horses has taken her all over the world, including working in hunting and show jumping stables in Ireland, caring for World Equestrian Games endurance horses in Florida, dressage training in Spain and completing the world’s longest annual charity horse ride – the Gobi Gallop in Mongolia.

She eventually headed to Queensland with husband Matt, spending time in Hervey Bay and Mt Isa before finally settling in Bluewater.

It was there that Arnett started a full-time horse training and coaching business in APH Equine Services, which retrains and rehabilitates horses, while also offering pre-race training.

She said joining the QOTT Program as an Acknowledged Retrainer had helped open several doors for her in the retraining space.

“The program has been a gift, there’s no other way to put it - it's enabled me to take on horses that I may not have fit into the business plan prior to that,” Arnett said.

“It's also worked fantastically for being able to find horses that need more help, and I wouldn’t have been able to find them prior to having this network.

“The Subsidised Lessons Program has also been really good - I've seen a lot of people that have taken on off-the-track racehorses participate in this program, and some of these people have been in the infancy of their horsemanship stages as well.

“As a QOTT Approved Coach, it's been a really great way for me to bring my knowledge and my experience to help new owners and their retired racehorses with their journey, even if the horse hasn't come directly through a retraining program initially.”

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