Kym Afford in line for Burnett to the Beach honours

By Jordan Gerrans

Kilkivan trainer Kym Afford is banking points in the 2022 Burnett to the Beach Series as he is well aware his consistent galloper Modern Family is in for a dry spell.

The Afford barn leads two of the three categories in the popular Burnett to the Beach Series this year, the trainer well in front in his category while gelding Modern Family is in the lead in the horse division.

The duo banked more points towards the leader board at Monto last Saturday, Modern Family running into third in a Benchmark 55 Handicap over 1400 metres.

Developed by the South East region race clubs, the Burnett to the Beach Points Series is a group of races with above standard prize money.

The series does not culminate in a Final, but there is an owners, trainers and jockeys bonus based on points accrued in the 11 races across the series, with five more remaining.

As Afford explains, the chasing field are set to descend on Modern Family over the next few legs as he does not appreciate racing on the sand – ruling him out of grabbing any points at Wondai, Bundaberg and Gympie.

He is hopeful the 35 points he has banked – giving the gelding a 13-point lead to Kakatiya – might just be enough to hold on.

“Modern Family is the horse we are chasing the series with and we need to get the points up now as he does not like the dirt,” he said.

“I think I can beat him on the dirt (laughs). The next one for him will be Burrandowan.

“We have had him for a couple of years, he has won a handful of races for us after we purchased him online from Dubbo.

“He has been a good purchase for us at $1,000, he has been a good horse for us. The series should be close in the finish because my one wont race on the sand.”

Afford is a former South Australian-based horseman, relocating to the Sunshine State around eight years ago to pursue his interests around show jumping.

After working as a farrier and as a pre-training earlier in his life, he thought he would try his hand at training and has developed a decent strike rate in the bush, collecting 39 winners since 2018.

Afford works his horses on his own track at Kilkivan – which is based between Gympie and Wondai - four days a week and will go to track at Wondai at two days a week.

The 2022 edition is the first time Afford has set horses towards the Burnett to the Beach and he is enjoying involved after picking up some early points and then deciding to follow the series through.

“We wanted to be apart of it because it is a bit of a series, you look at the Battle of the Bush and you can qualify for that in one race, where as this goes for some time and you need to keep your horse up for it,” he said.

“We won at Esk with Modern Family and then we spelled him purposely heading towards Monto.

“I think plenty of the trainers out here follow the series and want to be a part of it.

“The extra prize money on offer is pretty important for a series like this.”

The managing owner of the horse that accrues the most points in the series receives $6,600, while there is $3,300 on offer for the winning trainer while the leading hoop will land $1,100 at the end of the series.

With Modern Family unlikely to tackle the upcoming sand legs of the series, Afford has stablemates Yes No Maybe So and Elusive Element who will represent his barn and aim to continue racking up points in the trainers category.

The series gives points to runners in every race with Elusive Element, who ran sixth at Monto at last week, still adding four points to the Afford tally.

Kristen Roon’s Kakatiya is second in the horse category after landing points in three separate races.

Afford leads the way with 53 points in the trainers section, with Bob Murray and Roon also in the top three.

Kelly Gates, who rides for Murray, is the leading hoop in the series so far, followed by apprentice Shannyn Stephan.

The next leg of the series will be run at the South Burnett Race Club next month with the last race to be held at Nanango in three months time. 

Click here for more information on the series.