A pocket-sized trotter named Whiskey Business could well be Australia’s most versatile standardbred.
The 10-year-old gelding is blazing a trail on Victoria’s barrel racing circuit (picture by Smyk Images), the latest addition to his burgeoning resume.
Whiskey Business (Minty to his friends) was bred by his owner/rider Kylee Paull in partnership with her father, John.
The son of JR Mint made his racetrack debut on Christmas Eve 2012 with an inglorious performance, beaten 246 metres at Maryborough. It was a sign of things to come.
“He was basically no good racing in the cart, we couldn’t stop him hitting behind,” Kylee explained.
Minty’s 50-start career would have ended much earlier if not for the advent of montes (trotters competing in ridden races under saddle) in Victoria.
“We don’t know why, but he always trotted faultlessly in monte races and really found his niche,” she recalled.
“Some people thought that perhaps the weight of a rider on his back helped to spread his back legs a little wider when he was trotting but it was the strangest thing because he became pretty much bombproof.
“His great manners meant he was much more competitive and eventually he found a race where he did everything right and all the other horses did things wrong, and he brought up his only win,” Kylee said proudly.
To keep his mind engaged, Minty regularly enjoyed trail rides and beach outings while racing so he was a vastly experienced saddle horse by the time he retired 100 per cent sound from the track in October 2017.
Kylee’s family has long had a keen interest in pleasure harness pursuits, so it was no surprise that the gelding’s first foray into life after racing was showing.
He adapted easily, earning his most notable blue ribbons in the standardbred harness classes at Melbourne Royal in 2018.
But the lure of the western world, a legacy of her father’s cowboy heritage, was never far from Kylee’s mind.
Just two weeks after rubbing shoulders with the equestrian world’s elite, Minty stepped out in his first barrel race. He finished second in division three.
“He did quite well. We can only train on grass so although we had practiced the pattern, the first time I’d ever asked him to go full speed was on competition day.
“Even when I was training him under saddle to race, I used to canter him regularly as a part of his work.
“It was an unorthodox approach, but he did a lot of his race training on an arena to help build muscle and strength in his back.
“He’s a very clever horse and he seemed to understand that when he was on the track, he didn’t do that.
“Now that he doesn’t have any restrictions, he just wants to canter all the time,” she joked.
Minty is absolutely loving his change in direction and consistently improving with each competition.
“We get out at least every couple of weeks. He usually improves between half a second and a second and is now getting down to times that make him quite competitive against good horses.
“He is currently up against quarter horses, who are purpose-bred for barrel racing, and I’m really confident that eventually he will be able to run times just as good them,” she predicted.
At his first competition in October last year, Minty clocked 24 seconds. At the time of writing, he boasted a personal best of 19.4 while the top performers at his regular event run high 17 or low 18 seconds.
Barrel racing requires riders to complete a clover-shaped course. Benchmarks vary depending on the size of the arena.
The Nilma (near Warragul) events in which Minty and Kylee race usually attract 20 to 25 horses, which subsequently are graded into three divisions, based on time.
“I have the only standie currently barrel racing in my area but there have been others in the past,” Kylee said.
“He has already proven he’s good enough to be there and I hope one day we can win either a jackpot or a competition on the rodeo circuit and show that there really is no reason why a standardbred can’t do it.
“I’m very fortunate. I haven’t encountered any negativity because I ride a standie, most people are just genuinely surprised to see him out there. “But I do get the odd person questioning his breeding, despite the freeze brand on his neck.”
Kylee juggles her horse commitments around a seven-day-a-week milking roster, which requires 4.15am starts and 7pm finishes.
“The farm I work for is flexible around weekends luckily, which enables me to ride,” she said.
“There are competitions at Nilma every month and a new circuit is about to start up at Bacchus Marsh, as well as the rodeos which run most weekends from December.”
Kylee has also retained her standardbred racing interests with a part share in promising three-year-old trotter Donttouchtheduco, a half-brother to Whiskey Business.