Trainer Danny Bougoure eyes Warwick winner

By Glenn Davis

Trainer Danny Bougoure has been a quiet achiever all his life and doesn’t flinch at the daily grind of travelling to work and to find winners.

Formerly based at Eagle Farm, Bougoure is now training at the Gold Coast and makes the round trip to look after his stable each day from his Hendra home in Brisbane.

Bougoure is stabled alongside leading Gold Coast trainer Les Kelly and has 22 horses in work but is looking for more boxes to accommodate his growing numbers.

The 57-year-old is a triple Group 1-winning trainer and will make a rare appearance at Warwick on Tuesday when he saddles up Expresso Love in the Benchmark 65 Handicap over 1200 metres.

He has booked Rikki Jamieson to partner the daughter of Love Conquers All.

Expresso Love hasn’t started since winning a Class 2 at the Gold Coast in November but Bougoure is hopeful of a strong showing first-up.

“She recently ran second in a barrier trial when she led but that’s not her go any more,” Bougoure said.

“She’s got a good first-up record and I expect she’ll get back and will be running on strongly.”

Expresso Love was a $32,000 buy at the Magic Millions March sales as a yearling and has started 24 times for three wins and seven placings.

Bougoure has been based at the Gold Coast for six months. 

“The stable is going well and they all seem to love the salt air,” Bougoure said. 

Bougoure and his late father Doug Bougoure trained at Eagle Farm for 70 years and are the only Queensland father-son duo to have produced Australian Champion and Hall Of Fame horses.

Bougoure knows what is required to train a Group 1 winner after victories at the highest level from former stars Falvelon and Scenic Peak.

Falvelon won two Hong Kong International Sprints and claimed back-to-back wins in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in the early 2000’s while Scenic Peak won the Group 1 Emirates at Flemington in 2002.

“I should have won four Group 1’s as Nauders was a certainty beaten when third in the Brisbane Cup won by Prized Gem that year,” he said.

Doug Bougoure put the early polish on former champion Strawberry Road, who won three times at Group 1 level in Australia, before a star-studded international career.