Our Owner of the Month award winners for May are Grant and Sue Blight part owners of Harley’n’Rose – Jacqui Heaney sent us this nomination: I would like to nominate Sue and Grant Blight for owner of the month. Though they are relatively new to horse racing, they have jumped in boots and all. They now have shares in 7 horses including Harley’n’Rose and Zufasta.  They have become part of the stable and fitted in to the racing community very easily. Please consider these lovely people. Grant told us this about his racing involvement: Growing up, I was always around horses as my family were involved with trotters. As a child I would visit the stables and help my uncle with feeding. When I met my wife Sue, we discovered we had a common interest in horse racing with her family also involved with horses. As an adult, I developed a keen interest in punting and more recently thought about buying shares in a horse. Through a mutual friend, my wife and I were lucky enough to be invited to the sales at Morphettville and we were introduced to Jacqui and Gordon from Gordon Richards/Damian Moyle Racing. Our intention was to only buy shares in one horse, which quickly turned into two, Zufasta and Solid Rock. My wife and I couldn’t decide on which one and that was the beginning of us only buying shares in “one” horse and we now have several more in work and are hooked. More recently we had some very early success with Harley’n’Rose winning his first race and placing in two G3″s The entire Richards/Moyle racing team and owners have been very welcoming, and we have developed some great friendships along this journey. Harley‘n’Rose has now raced 5 times for a win, a second and two thirds. He has earnt just shy of $90,000 for connections with over $27,000 coming from Racing Rewards Bonuses which is a reminder of the value of being part of the SA rewards scheme. Harley was bred by SAROA treasurer Rob McBryde and is by Holler out of the Hawk Wing mare Zaraya Rose. The mare won twice up to 2100 m and has left several talented progeny including Saccharo (by Magnus) who has won over $380,000 and nine races. He raced successfully in Melbourne before being sold to the Phillip Cole stable and going on to win good races in Darwin and Alice Springs and picking up both the Birdsville and Bedourie Cups along the way. The promising, if somewhat enigmatic Knightstown (by Valentia) is also out of Zaraya Rose, he has won three races and run four thirds and earnt just shy of $220,000 which includes a very healthy $80,000 in Racing Rewards bonuses. The granddam Summer Magic (by Eagling) has produced several handy gallopers including Surmato (by Belloto) and Brewski (by Bel Espirt) Grant and Sue are also part own the promising Zufasta (by Zululand) a winner of 2 races and over $130,000 and again a great advertisement for the Racing Rewards scheme as that tally includes over $56,000 in rewards bonuses. Congratulations to Grant and Sue and best wishes for the future.

The mighty grey Calypso Reign Our Owner of the Month award winners for February are Joanne and Greg Campbell, for several horses they own. Trainer Yasmin Black nominated the couple as follows: I, Yasmin Black, would love to nominate Joanne and Greg Campbell for owner of the month! They are the fantastic owners of Calypso Reign and Valaroc, always involved in their horses and share such a strong passion for them. Not only do they love their horses whole heartily while they’re racing but also in their retired life. I trained Outinthestreet, they sold him to me to race, and they supported him like they still owned him, and still do in his retired life! They are the most beautiful people and you could not ask for better owners! Joanne and Greg have both been involved in the racing game for a number of years, breeding and owning horses. Joanne has always wanted a grey horse, as her father did before her, he passed away a few years ago, and she was blessed with Calypso Reign who is such a phenomenal up and coming horse! They have such a strong passion for racing and their horses. Joanne and Greg hail from Virginia where both became involved in racing. Joanne grew up with in harness racing environment while Greg’s family were friends of the fabled Melbourne cup winning jockey John (JJ) Miller and his family. Their first horse was the mare Perigule (by Perugino) who they raced with Richard Jolly, she was moderately successful and while other owners dropped out Joanne and Greg went on to send Perigule to the breeding barn. She was moderately successful with Outinthestreet (by Street Boss) being the best winning almost $90,000 from 5 wins and 9 minor placings.  Outinthestreet started his career with David Jolly where he initially showed a lot of promise but Bossy (as he was called around the stable) was a bit of a handful and it was decided that he might benefit from a change of environment. Bossy went to the South East, initially with Jamie Opperman and then the Campbells gifted him to a young trainer just starting out in Yasmin Black. He was able to win two for Yasmin and also place on several occasions before ultimately being retired. Yasmin retains Bossy who she uses as a mentor for her younger horses. While they no longer owned the horse, Greg and Joanne kept active tabs on Bossy as they do with his mum Perigule who is living out her life in retirement at a Victorian stud. As Yasmin mentions Joanne and Greg took up a share in two of the Grand Syndicates horses with David Jolly – namely Valaroc (by Valentia) and Calypso Reign (by Barbados). Calypso Reign satisfied Joanne’s desire to own a grey and what a grey he has been with 8 wins and earnings of over $450,000. He has taken the Campbells to Melbourne several times including running third in a Group 2, he has also won a the listed Spring Stakes back home in Adelaide and he is just such an honest gelding that usually finishes strongly in his races. Joanne’s penchant for grey horses has led to the Campbells picking up a Crackerjack King with long time friend Peter Nolan, a Puissance De Lune with David Jolly and another Barbados grey Spencer Gulf who has joined the Yasmin Black stable. Joanne and Greg clearly care about their horses both while racing and after they retire, and we wish them continued success.