Life After Racing - Still Turning Heads

by Brad Bishop (Inside Racing Magazine)

The name Headturner disappeared from Australian racetracks in March 2008, but it’s not far off making a comeback in another arena.

Headturner, whose crowning glory as a racehorse came when he won the 2006 AJC Australian Derby, when trained by John Hawkes, is in the final stages of being prepared for a career in dressage.

It is a huge thrill for latest owner Helen Guy, who admitted to feelings of apprehension when she learned of Headturner’s deeds. The Derby success was one of five wins in 23 starts that generated $1,598,035 in earnings.

“As soon as I heard his racing name was Headturner, I got straight on the computer and Googled him and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” she said. “He was in the top 50 racehorses in the world in 2005-06 and was the top three-year-old distance horse in Australasia.

“How could I ride an AJC Derby winner and Melbourne Cup horse in a dressage arena?

“How could I even tell people I had such a horse? This horse was such a star and had won almost $1.6 million in prizemoney. ‘He must be far too good for me’, I thought, and started to feel very inadequate.”

But Headturner (b g 8, Anabaa (USA)-Monroe Magic (NZ), by Zabeel (NZ)) and Guy, a retired Commonwealth Bank employee, have proven a great combination.

The older brother of 2010 Caulfield Guineas winner Anacheeva found his way to Guy, who lives at Koonwarra, south of Leongatha, after she had a call from a friend, who knew she was looking for a dressage horse to replace the one retired in January 2009.

Guy had become disillusioned with many potential replacements failing vet checks, including one at the fourth inspection, but she couldn’t believe her luck when she discovered Headturner – or Lewis, as he had been introduced to her as.

Melanie Knill, of Bittern, had owned Headturner since acquiring him from Hawkes’ pre-training farm in September 2009. She did the early dressage work with him, before a splint forced him on to the sidelines.

It was during this time off that a pregnant Knill realised she wouldn’t be able to train two horses and a baby, which is how Headturner came to be on the market.

Guy made contact with Knill and, after having her instructor Rosemarie Thiele inspect Headturner, knew from the time she sat on him, last June, that he was what she was looking for. “After all the horses I had ridden, here was a willing horse that had a lovely soft mouth,  lovely movement, could stay on a circle, had great rhythm, felt great in my hand and didn’t seem to be fussed by anything,” Guy said.

“After 15 minutes, I stopped and asked Melanie if she was prepared to sell him to me.  I didn’t need to ride him any more to know I would love to own this horse. She was happy with the way I rode him and agreed.”

Guy said Headturner had been quick to pick up on the intricacies of the dressage circuit and that he displayed the necessary talent to rise through the dressage ranks.

“It is hard to predict exactly how far he can go, but he has the right attitude and aptitude, together with undoubted ability, to do very well on the dressage circuit,” Guy said.

And any successes will be achieved under the name he made famous on the racetrack.

“He will compete proudly under the name Headturner,” Guy said. “He has earned his name and deserves to be known firstly as an exceptional racehorse and then,
hopefully, as a successful dressage horse.”

 

  

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