Start a conversation with Matthew Craven about Pink Galahs and you don’t have to do much talking. Just sit back and let him tell you all about a horse that means so much to him and a close network of family and friends.
She’s only a tiny four-year-old mare with less than 20 starts under her belt, but already she’s taken the Ecklin South trainer on the ride of a lifetime.
Owned by one of Craven’s good mates in Caleb Lewis, his wife Laura and her father Bryan Healy, Pink Galahs went from a nice filly to a megastar last preparation when she won three races at Group 1 level.
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She picked up the Bill Collins Trotters Sprint, Victoria Trotters Oaks and Victoria Trotters Derby in a whirlwind period through October and early November before being sent for a well-earned spell.
While her name is now up in lights as one of Australia’s most promising squaregaiters, Pink Galahs has been an unlikely cover-girl given her modest appearance.
“She was this tiny little thing and out of maybe 10 two-year-old trotters we had that year, she would have been the last one you got out of the paddock to work as far as looking at them all,” Craven said.
“As much as she was something very insignificant, she was just that one that kept putting her hand up and kept improving all the time.”
The horse, who is named after the John Williamson classic ‘Galleries of Pink Galahs’, carries some famous bloodlines. The Healy family bred Maori Miss, a mare who instigated arguably Australia’s most famous trotting breeding line, which includes the famed Maori’s Idol but also Maori Mia, the great-great granddam of Pink Galahs.
Craven’s mare returns to the races in tonight’s What The Hill Great Southern Star series at Tabcorp Park Melton, where she lines up in the second of two heats. The daughter of Skyvalley has drawn awkwardly in barrier eight, but if she can qualify as one of the top three place-getters – or as one of the next few fastest across the line – Craven is confident she’ll handle the quick back-up into the $300,000 final a couple of hours later.
Win, lose or draw, the Pink Galahs ride appears to have only just begun.
“It’s not just us, it’s a huge team and there has been a lot of help from a lot of people. I think the success that Pink Galahs has brought, so many people appreciated it and have felt a part of it. And to me, it’s a little bit about what it’s all about: to bring all those people on that journey,” Craven said.
“I guess it’s like when you win a premiership at a footy club. Yes, you have your team of 22 that get the medals, but when you get back to the club to celebrate, it’s the people behind the scenes that help you put the show on every week – that wash the dishes, that sit on the gate or whatever – that actually get a huge thrill out of the journey and winning.
“The success is as much for those people as it is for us.”
