New training partnership target a Sydney first

By Glenn Davis

The new father and son training partnership of Stuart and Bayley Kendrick is hoping talented mare Just Precious can deliver the stable another first when she makes her Sydney debut at Rosehill on Saturday.

Team Kendrick only began its training partnership in late last September and it was Just Precious who provided the stable with its first winner in a 1200-metre Benchmark race at Eagle Farm last month.

Now Just Precious will be aiming to give the Kendrick stable its first Sydney winner when the five-year-old tackles the Group 2 Hot Danish Stakes over 1400 metres.

“Regan Bayliss will ride her and it would be great if she could give Bayley and I our first winner together in Sydney,” Kendrick said.

“In fact, I’ve never trained a winner myself in Sydney.

“I’ve run third in an AJC Derby and had a couple of fourths in the Golden Slipper and Champagne Stakes.”

Kendrick is pleased with the early success he has shared with his son and will be delighted if Just Previous wins.

“She’s had two starts for two wins this campaign, so hopefully she can continue the form,” Kendrick said.

“If she can pick up some black-type it’ll make her a valuable broodmare later on.

“She was an ugly duckling when I bought her on-line, so I just gave her plenty of time to develop.

“Her last win was very good when she sat in behind the leader before putting them away easily. However, it’s a very hard race and being set weights isn’t ideal.”

Kendrick has been one of the state’s most successful trainers since he moved from Mackay to the Sunshine Coast where he’s won the past 13 Sunshine Coast trainers’ premierships.

He was born in Sydney but was raised in Mackay in north Queensland and after leaving school he studied Aquatic Resource Management at university in Rockhampton.

However, he dropped out after two years and returned to Mackay to take up the challenge of training horses in his early 20s.

He proved an instant hit in his nine years training in Mackay, winning five Mackay trainers’ premierships before deciding to move to Caloundra on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“I did two years at Uni in Rocky before I pulled the pin and moved back to Mackay,” Kendrick said.

“University wasn’t my thing and I ended up delivering pizzas for Eagle Boys so I could get enough money to go to the races. University for me was a gap year that lasted two years.”

Bayley Kendrick has followed his father’s love of horses and joined the stable as soon as he left school.

“Baylee has been working with me for eight years now, three of which he’s been my foreman,” Kendrick said.