Long before she became one of Australian harness racing’s greatest reinswomen, Kerryn Manning was just a teenage girl with big dreams, taking her first steps in the sport.
The horse that would change everything cost her just $500. But the gangly youngster from Great Western, in Victoria’s western Wimmera, would take Manning on a ride that dreams are made of.
Manning and her husband Grant Campbell last week farewelled that horse – Allbenz, affectionately known around the stable as “Chester” – after the 34-year-old succumbed to a bout of colic.
Although he was a winner of 24 races and almost $192,000 in stakes, Allbenz’s greatest legacy extended far beyond the racetrack to launching one of the sport’s most celebrated careers.
“He didn’t just make this young girl’s dream come true – he changed my life,” Manning posted in a social media tribute.
“He wasn’t the greatest horse in the world, but he was the greatest horse I could ever have wished for,” she said.
Manning is noted for one of the most decorated careers in Australian harness racing – more than 1000 training wins, countless Group 1 victories, Hall of Fame induction and appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.
But in 1992, when the Allbenz story started, she had only just obtained her harness racing driver’s licence and went with her dad, legendary Victorian trainer Peter, to inspect two yearlings bred by Ararat butcher Robert Dixon.
Dixon had two youngsters by Inner Circle from Young Dancer and wanted $500 each.
“Dad had never owned a horse in his life – and he still hasn’t!” Manning laughed.
“I’d saved up a bit of pocket money and asked him what he thought. He wasn’t too keen, but I wanted to do it anyway. I just had to decide which one I liked.”
The colt she selected hardly looked like a future Group 1 winner and the father and daughter set about breaking in the youngster.
“Chester was a gangly-looking weanling, but he was my first racehorse and that was pretty special in itself,” Manning said.
“He was called Chester around the stables, but I named him Allbenz because of his sire Inner Circle, and a circle is ‘all bends’ – I’ve always had to explain that to everyone!”
As the youngster progressed to his two-year-old preparation, he began working at home alongside the capable three-year-old Scotty Wiper. The older horse, a Metropolitan-class pacer, had finished third in the Gr 1 Tatlow Memorial and runner up in the Gr 1 Australian Gold in his two-year-old year season.
“Chester was working with him and working really well and we thought, ‘Well… he might just be okay.’”
He proved to be far more than okay.
Allbenz announced himself as one of the country’s brightest juveniles, winning six of his first 10 starts, including the Tatlow at just his third appearance.
That victory made Manning the youngest driver in Victoria to win a Group 1 and announced the arrival of an extraordinary talent.
Several weeks later, Allbenz added the prestigious Group 2 South Australian Golden Nursery to his growing resume.
“He was a rough-going young horse,” Manning recalled.
“He’d jump things. We went to Leeton once and he fell over—I ended up in Leeton Hospital. He could do silly little things, but his little legs went fast when he got it right.
“He was my first horse, so I bought every winning photo in those days! After a while I started thinking, ‘I’m not sure if I need to keep buying every photo anymore!’ But I guess it was a good problem to have.”
The obvious talent of Allbenz attracted plenty of attention. After the Tatlow heats and Semi-Final, Manning received an offer before the final of $45,000.
“Dad was keen for me to sell him because it was life-changing money back then,” she said.
“He still says, ‘If he’d been mine, he would’ve been gone.’ But I knocked the offer back. Dad thought I was mad.”
It proved a defining decision. Allbenz won the Tatlow Memorial – albeit with a little luck, Manning admits – and his earnings eventually climbed to almost $192,000.
“He built my house,” Manning said.
“In 2000 I built my house and it cost about $140,000. To be able to build a house and not have a mortgage at such a young age – that’s pretty big. We named the property after him, Allbenz Park.”
While his racetrack career was stellar, retirement did nothing to diminish Chester’s standing. Originally raced as a colt and not gelded until he was six or seven, he remained the undisputed king of the paddock well into his senior years.
“Even after he retired, he was still the boss and he used to make sure all his paddock mates knew it – they were all scared of him,” she said.
“It’s never easy to lose one like him, but he had lived a great life. He was old but he’d been really well right up to the end. He got a bit of colic and it was a sad way to go,” Manning said.
“We’ve buried him in a special spot at Allbenz Park where he’s got pride of place – he can see the house he built and he’s never going to be far away.”
