Close mate delivers Ben Lang his maiden victory

By Jordan Gerrans

Deagon’s Ben Lang experienced all the highs and lows of being a thoroughbred horse trainer in the first year or so of holding a licence.

And, alongside him for much of the way was his close mate - Queensland jockey Adin Thompson.

The 22-year-old hoop was overjoyed at Kilcoy on Friday afternoon to deliver the rookie trainer his maiden winner on the non-TAB program.

Thompson – who not long ago completed his apprenticeship with the Hulbert clan in Brisbane – saw first-hand the struggles Lang had with his first two gallopers he started in a race.

The Kiwi native Lang did not have much luck with Why Shy and Dawn Rebel but he is hopeful there is some upside with Friday’s winner Autumn Bloom.

The four-year-old mare handed Lang his maiden victory as a trainer after heading to the races on 11 occasions since August of 2022.

It was extra special to have Thompson in the saddle.

“He is a good mate of mine and he has seen me struggle with the last couple of horses I had,” Lang said.

“Those horses were probably just not suited around here so it is good to finally get that monkey off my back.

“Adin is as involved as anyone and he did like riding the winner. He out rode them at Kilcoy in that race.”

Autumn Bloom was forced to wait for scratchings to even get into the QTIS Maiden Plate field on Friday over 1100 metres but Thompson ensured her presence was felt early on.

From the eight alley, the hard-working hoop fired the mare to the lead and she was never headed again, scoring by just over two lengths.

Autumn Bloom previously did her racing for southern stables such as the Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou team and Dwayne Schmidt before she was purchased for just $800 by Townsville’s Gavin Kinlyside and Lang.

The 35-year-old Lang was surprised with how much speed his new mare showed in her recent jump-out and that same early tempo rolled into her maiden start for the stable.

“It was probably more of a weight off my shoulders to be honest,” the Deagon-based trainer said.

“Obviously I had a couple of other horses earlier on in the piece and they were limited horses.

“It is good to have one with a bit of ability to train. She improved out of sight from the day she arrived.

“She had a couple of niggling issues that we needed to overcome and get a bit of condition on her – from that she has gone ahead in leaps and bounds.”

Lang comes from strong New Zealand stock in the racing game.

His father Graham has long been a trainer in the country.

“I was basically born a stable kid,” he said with a laugh.

He has spent time working in the stables and riding work for the NZ partnership of Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott as well as Australian-based trainers Chris Waller and ‘Team Snowden’ before settling in Brisbane’s north.

“I have worked for some astute trainers over time and I would like to think I use some of that from them with my team today,” he said.

Lang operates a small team of gallopers while also running an agistment property as well.

He has high hopes for unraced two-year-old Battesimo who is nearing his race debut.

As for Autumn Bloom, Lang is considering how far he can step the mare out over distance in the coming weeks.

He has his eyes on a 1200 metre Class 1 event at the Gold Coast in a fortnight that could be an option.