FNQ trainer keen to honour late mate in racing series

By Jordan Gerrans

Alex Malliff drew first blood in the Rob Koch Memorial FNQ Up and Coming Stayers series for 2024 and the Mareeba trainer is keen to go on with it to honour his late mate.

Koch was a popular North Queensland racing ­administrator and horse owner who passed away in March of 2020 after years of involvement in several different roles within the racing industry.

He devoted his time to the Far North Country Racing Association, where he was the secretary, with plans to eventually become president before his sad passing.

Koch’s greatest legacy in the north will be the Magic Millions FNQ Up and Coming Stayers Series, which he started, in conjunction with local clubs in 2014.

Following his death, organisers added the memorial element to the title of the series.

The series kicked off on Sunday afternoon at Mareeba with Malliff’s Last Not Least landing the first prize for the year.

Rob’s wife Jane, who is still involved in the industry, was at Mareeba on Sunday for the presentation of the first race of the nine event series.

“I would like to win it because Rob was a bit of a mate of mine,” Malliff said.

“We were not super close but we had similar interests in racing and football with his son playing at the same football club as I did.

"I really appreciated what Rob did for the racing industry up here as well.

“I would like to have a go at winning this series as it's obviously named in his honour.

“Rob was really highly thought of up here in our industry. We will have a crack at winning it, that’s for sure.”

The Up and Coming Stayers Series is an event that provides horses with lower ratings an opportunity to race over staying trips and look to eventually qualify for NQ Cup races later in the year.

The series does not culminate in a Final, but there is an owner, trainer and jockey bonus based on points accrued. 

Points are accrued through the series with Malliff, Last Not Least and winning hoop Chelsea Jokic taking three points from the opening event on Sunday.

The series heads to Atherton later this month and then onto Mount Garnet.

Mareeba horseman Malliff will be targeting Last Not Least at both those events to build his points tally.

Last Not Least was previously raced by David Matts in NSW and looks to be a shrewd purchase from Malliff’s team of connections.

The big ownership group were keen to find a galloper for the country Cup races throughout North Queensland as the gelding has won up to 2235 metres.

“That was only his third start for me and I actually thought he won at his last start, he must have just got bobbed out of it in the photo,” Malliff said.

“He is a nice horse and he is going to want further.

“We bought him as a sort of a country Cups contender, thinking about places like Einasleigh and Mount Garnet, those types of places.

“But, he might even be a little bit better than that but we will have a go at the Mount Garnet first in a month, that is for sure.”

It could have been a massive afternoon for the Malliff team on their home deck on Sunday.

They walked away with the Last Not Least victory and a number of near misses.

They landed four seconds across the six event program.

Malliff is on the verge of posting his best training season over the last decade.

He has 11 winners to his name so far in 2023-24 and with some time left in the campaign, he is likely to surpass his 13 victories of last term.

Malliff’s Paniagua had the second run of his comeback campaign on Sunday over 1500 metres and was well beaten.

The Cairns Cup winner – Paniagua – had almost two years in retirement before making a surprise comeback earlier this year.

Malliff believes his stable champion is still keen to race and just needs a few more miles in his legs before he produces his best.