Family matters for young harness man Charlie Martin

By Jordan Gerrans

Horseman Charlie Martin is understanding of the privileged position he is in through a family connection in the early stages of his training career.

When the majority of trainers start out in any of the three racing codes in Queensland, they usually battle away with slow stock in the beginning months and years of their training tenure.

Not long after he took out his training licence, the 31-year-old from Peak Crossing has walked into a talented pacer in Mydadsaid.

The four-year-old gelding handed Martin his maiden victory as a trainer on Sunday afternoon at Marburg at just his third start.

Mydadsaid was bred and is raced by Martin’s uncle Steven Prentice.

“I just said to my uncle that Jordy – who is my cousin - and I, the horses that we had been getting were not really as good as this bloke if I am being honest,” Martin said.

“I suggested to him that he give us a go with him, give us an opportunity.

“Put it this way, if it was not my uncle and cousin, I don’t think I would be getting this horse if I was to be honest. Not a lot of people would be given a horse of his class at this stage.

“I am glad he gave us a chance and we picked out this race at Marburg.”

Martin and Prentice both have strong links to the Riverina region of NSW and Victoria having lived and worked there in recent years.

That is where Mydadsaid started his racing journey before Prentice relocated to Brisbane and the talented pacer followed, heading to the barn of Group 1-winning conditioner Wayne Graham.

He was a five-time winner under the tutelage of Graham.

At the time, Martin was aiming to kick-off his own training career and after a quiet word to his uncle, the rest is history.

The son of Sportswriter scored by almost 15 metres with Leonard Cain in the sulky on Sunday.

Making a strong mid-race move to get outside the leader, the Cain-driven Mydadsaid proved too strong and pulled clear for an emphatic win over Sir Brigadoon for Brendan Barnes.

The win of Mydadsaid set a new track record of 1.59.5, shaving 0.5 seconds off the previous record held by Misty Creek. 

Owner and breeder Prentice is glad to be keeping it in the family while also continuing to produce results on the track.

“He was pretty impressive on Sunday, he is going good at the moment and hopefully he can keep going as well,” Prentice said of Mydadsaid. 

“He is only lightly raced still. Charlie is doing a top job with him.”

The victory on Sunday was a heat of the Oakwood Capital Goldstrike series which qualifies Mydadsaid for the Final on the last Sunday of this month.

Martin has worked for a number of racing barns through his life and is currently giving Queensland trainer Mark Rees a hand at his stables every morning.

Rees allows Martin and his cousin Jordan a few stables of their own for their horses while they are working with him.

Martin spent time working for Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion-winning harness racing trainer David Aiken and Victorian harness racing horseman Tony Peacock before relocating to Queensland.

Mydadsaid is his stable star alongside After Darn.

After Darn went close to handing Martin his maiden winner as a trainer earlier this month after the mare ran in the money on two occasions.

“Mark has let us have two horses at his stable at all times,” he said.

“Moving forward, I would like to get up to maybe four in work but I don’t want to have too many more than that.”

After the Marburg Final, the team already have plans to head back to headquarters at Albion Park with their talented gelding as well as potentially looking at a race at Menangle down the line.

“He is a Saturday night horse,” the young trainer said.

“We have spoken about it and we will look for a qualifying race after this Marburg race.

“We may look to take him down to Menangle following that but we will have a chat about it all if Mark is taking a few horses down.”

Martin described Mydadsaid as being just 80 per cent fit for last Sunday’s assignment and believes there is plenty more to come with him ahead of the Final.

He considered giving the gelding another run before the Final but will opt to keep him fresh.

Prentice also has the two-year-old younger brother of Mydadsaid that is being prepared by Graham.

“I think the two-year-old will be pretty handy,” Prentice said.