By Garry Dell
Perseverance is an admirable trait in the racing game and when it pays off it makes life easier and worthwhile.
Just ask Mackay trainer Olivia Cairns and her partner Matthew O'Connell to recall the tale behind what it took to buy "iron horse" Fire King, one of the highly-fancied starters in the $105,000 Northern Jewel QTIS 3YO Handicap over 1300 metres at Cluden Park Townsville on Friday.
Equal top weight with 61kgs, Fire King will be lining up for his 24th career start and his 16th of the season with regular rider Ryan Wiggins in the saddle from an ideal barrier draw.
O'Connell was keen on buying the son of Worthy Cause as a yearling because his dam is also the mother of Last Chance, who Cairns trained to win several races at Townsville and Mackay and he recently won successive races in Brisbane.
A mobile lender with the ANZ Bank, O'Connell watched the colt passed in for $19,000 at the 2020 Magic Millions and a similar amount at the following Rockhampton yearling sale.
However, he happened to be at Clear Mountain Stud a couple of months later and learned that the colt was still for sale, having been broken in and given a brief pre-training program.
So he nabbed him for $33,000 and brought stable clients Brad and Mel Bates from Bowen and miner Peter Henderson from Moranbah into an ownership partnership.
To date, Fire King has earned prize money of more than $190,000 and Friday's first prize of $60,000 would put the icing on the cake.
Olivia, 42, the son of a former jockey John rode successfully for several years in the north until a serious race fall ended her career and she turned her hand to training.