By Jordan Gerrans
Kale Sinclair will not forget his first day as a licensed thoroughbred trainer any time soon.
The rookie Thangool trainer had his maiden runner on Saturday afternoon on his home tracks non-TAB program.
And, with it, came his first winner as mare Hallo Poppet was able to cause an upset in Benchmark 50 grade over 1400 metres.
Sinclair was able to share the special milestone with his two biggest fans – his young children - Kolsen and Kiahri.
A trainers maiden victory is always a career highlight and a milestone they will never forget.
But, for the 31-year-old Central Queenslander, he says having his children there to share the spoils in the mounting yard post-race made the achievement even sweeter.
“It was awesome, I had a smile from ear to ear,” Sinclair said.
“I picked up the kids the day before the races so I was not nervous about the race itself, I was just thinking about controlling my kids while I had a horse in at the races (laughs).
“The little fella understands what the racing is about and had a smile.
“I do not think he knew our horse won but he knew something won with the expressions on my face.
“He gave me a big cuddle and a kiss and they were stoked to get in the winning photo as well.”
Sinclair’s children – who are both under four years of age – are keen on the horses, regularly give him a hand around his stables with feed buckets and odd jobs.
Like his children are now, Sinclair was introduced to the industry at a young age, through his uncle Dave Vale.
Dave – who started his last horse as a trainer back in 2006 – is the father of current Rockhampton trainer Ricky Vale.
Dave gave Sinclair his start in racing at 12 years of age before he would go on to work as a foreman with Ricky at Callaghan Park in more recent years.
“He got me into it and I really idolised uncle Dave,” Sinclair said of his uncle.
“He showed me the ropes at a young age.
“I have been helping then on and off for most of my life.
“Basically watching Ricky, he is very good at what he does and I have never seen someone spend time with a horse the way he does.
“He has taught me a lot over the years.”
Sinclair spent around 18 months as Ricky’s foreman for his 30 horses in work before relocating to Thangool to kick-off his own training journey.
The emerging youngster is one of a handful of trainers who use Thangool Race Club as their base to prepare their team.
Damien Rideout – who also trains out of Thangool – has been another huge influence on the training aspirations of Sinclair.