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History Made In Listed Weetwood Handicap Seals Plans For Ben Currie's Move!

Written on the 10 April 2017

History was made at the Toowoomba Weetwood in the signature race on Saturday when trainer Ben Currie's mare Col 'N' Lil finished in a dead-heat with Jumbo Prince. A first since the Weetwood was first run in 1895.

Currie thought he had won but was just as happy with a dead-heat, given Jumbo Prince's trainer is his uncle, Michael Nolan.

"I am great mates with Michael and to share a race with him is unbelievable," Currie said.

"We set Col 'N' Lil for this race as she has just been a wonderful mare for us.

"She has been to Sydney, she has run in Group races and always given her best."

Nolan was also happy with Jumbo Prince's run after the gelding was a certainty beaten in last year's Weetwood.

"He is still trying to get a run from last year's race. But Luke Tarrant got him clear this year and we have shared a win," Nolan said.

"Ben likes to give me plenty and I give it back. But there will be a celebration tonight."

Currie won last year's Toowoomba Cup with Honey Toast but it was his first Weetwood win.

Funny enough, the day at the Toowoomba Weetwood didn't start out the best for Currie but things soon turned around with a double win and the dead-heat win.

"We came here thinking we had a good team of horses but when the one I thought was our best for the day (Girl In A Million) and runs like she did, then you think it's not going to be your day," Currie said.

"Racing is funny like that. Forty minutes later it turns straight back around."

Currie had never even trained a metropolitan double before Saturday's trio of winners - Cantbuybetter, Kuznetsova and Col 'N' Lil.

We've been working towards this for a long time," he said.

Currie has become used to dominating most Saturday nights on his home track but to do it at his signature meeting ranked as a career highlight.

"This is number one for sure. Nothing else comes close," he said.

Currie has now clocked up 45 winners on his home turf this season, which is more than double his nearest pursuer.

But the 26-year-old is now keen to forge his trade in Brisbane.

"I am very keen to get boxes at Eagle Farm. I just see it as the next step for me. Realistically, I could train horses all my life from Toowoomba and live comfortably but I'm an extremely competitive person and would rather have tried and failed in Brisbane than never had a crack," Currie said back in January.

Currie is still waiting on Brisbane Racing Club to make the call.

"If the opportunity came, I would be there tomorrow, but until it does, I'm pretty happy with the set-up we have here. I'm getting some really nice horses to train and we're getting good results for our clients."

(Top photo: Ben Currie and Michael Nolan, Photo Credit: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography)

(Bottom Photo: Jumbo Prince (inside) and Col 'n' Lil in dead-heat win at Weetwood Handicap, Photo credit: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography)

 


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Authorised Representative
(AR 001 272 774) under the TTSC's AFSL (288-213)