With the Cobar Races only a month away, horse trainer Wayne ‘Wap’ Prisk is gearing up for the local event and also preparing to hand over the training reins to his son.
Wap has been training horses for 20 years and has recently been joined in the stable by his eldest son Geoff, who Wap’s hoping will soon take over the running of the business.
“I’ve owned horses all my life, then one day after I had just turned 50, I decided I’d go and train horses,” Wap told The Cobar Weekly.
After 70 odd wins, and with about a dozen horses currently in the stables, Wap’s keen to wind down and let Geoff take over.
“Geoff’s been working horses with me for years, but he just moved back to Cobar in December.
“He had young horses and decided to come home and do it,” he said.
Geoff said he moved home because it’s easier to get his licence working here as a foreman under his dad.
“I’ve had 10 years away breeding horses and I’ve done a lot of track work for a lot of other trainers in Wagga,” Geoff said.
Wap plans to hand over the whole operation in the next 2-3 years and, while Geoff will follow his dad’s directions, he might just make for a better trainer than his father as he has the advantage of being able to ride them.
“I’m pretty in touch with the horses, I’m riding them every day now, I’ve got a real good feel for them,” Geoff said.
The pair expect to have 10 horses ready for next month’s Cobar Autumn Race meeting.
“We’ll have two in the cup, Lord Percy who won the Picnic Cup, and Recovery Road,” Wap said.
“In the lead up, training and competition will intensify with a key focus on the one-percenters and making sure the horses are all fit and ready to go.
“We haven’t had a very successful season so far, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Wap said.
“We’ve had miles of places but haven’t had any winners.
“Last year we had 13 winners and not one this year.”
Wap said the ever-changing racing landscape over the past few years has made it much harder to win races and be able to compete.
“It’s probably harder now to win a race than anytime in the last 20 years,” he said.
“The prize money has increased in the bush, they now come from everywhere to win it.”
Wap said horses bought for $30,000, who race at TAB races every other weekend, are now competing at bush race meetings.
“That’s in a race that’s only worth a few thousand dollars in prize money compared to horse owners from the bush who pay far less for their horses and are unable to compete against their TAB rivals.
“It’s easy when you’re having a bad run like we are at the moment, to listen to the outside noise, and the way people say you should do things, whereas you’ve got to do what you’ve done for the last 20 years.
“You’ve just got to believe in yourself and stick with it,” Wap said.
The rising fuel prices are also having an effect on the trainers, jockeys, punters and crowds attending bush race meetings.
Wap said for the first time in many years, they didn’t go to the Saint Pat’s Races in Broken Hill last month as he couldn’t afford the $1,400 fuel bill.
“I think it will affect the numbers that come to the Cobar Races,” Wap said.
“We went to Hillston last weekend but only six jockeys turned up because they can’t afford it.”
With no travel expenses for the Cobar Races, Wap and Geoff have high hopes for three horses from their stable: Recovery Road, Mr Pointer, and Mr Invincible.
“We’re also hoping for a bit of luck at Cobar,” Wap said.
He said it would be great if Mr Pointer makes a good showing as a memorial is being planned on the day for Mr Pointer’s former co-owner, Colin ‘Butch’ Eves, who passed away last year.
“We’re having a bit of a remembrance day for Butch and I’m inviting all Butch’s friends to come along and have a beer for him,’ Wap said.
