Doug Duryea set to break city drought

By Glenn Davis

Veteran Beaudesert trainer Doug Duryea is hopeful of claiming his first metropolitan win in more than two years with Pivotal Motion at Ipswich on Wednesday.

Pivotal Motion, a Samantha Collett mount, will be chasing his third win from his past four starts in the Great Northern Class Four Handicap over 1200 metres.

The six-year-old was chasing a hat-trick of wins last start when he was nosed out by the Barry Lockwood-trained Applecross in a 1200-metre Class 4 at Ipswich on March 19.

Duryea, who turns 74 in June, trained his last metropolitan winner when Ice Frost was successful at the Gold Coast in January, 2020.

“Ice Frost was my last metro winner at the Gold Coast which was a city meeting in 2020,” Duryea said.

Pivotal Motion is raced by Duryea’s wife Carol and daughter Darleen, who also trained at Beaudesert before being injured in a training accident on her home track in June last year.

Darleen Duryea suffered serious spinal injuries and bleeding on the brain in the fall and has since undertaken extensive rehabilitation.

She hasn’t been back to a racetrack since the fall and has vowed not to return until “upright”, according to her mother, Carol.

Pivotal Motion has only had 12 starts for four wins and five placings with three of those wins as well as two placings coming from five starts at Ipswich.

The son of Kuroshio has been adaptable on all surfaces winning on both good and rain-affected tracks including two from two on heavy tracks.

“Darleen trained him early in his career and he went to Hong Jong as a three-year-old but he never raced over there for some reason,” Duryea said.

“When he came back to us, he needed a good six-month spell, that’s why he’s been lightly raced and he never raced until he was five.”

Duryea trains a small team of four horses at Beaudesert is confident of another strong showing from Pivotal Motion.

“He’s a pretty good horse and he likes Ipswich,” Duryea said.

“He should go well again and it’s good for Darleen who is working hard in her rehabilitation.

“She works every day, all day and every day she’s improving.”