Walk in the Park for Darling Downs racing family

By Jordan Gerrans

For the Park clan on the Darling Downs, winning a Cup race is almost as good as it gets.

The family has a decades long history in winning feature Cup races that goes through the generations.

Now retired from the training ranks, Ben Park put the polish on a galloper named Berossus who won the famous Cup at Roma in three straight years: 1987, 1988 and 1989.

Watching on at Bassett Park all those years ago was Ben’s daughter Amanda.

She can still recall her memories from the prized three-peat triumph back in 1989 with the Cup chasing Berossus. 

Now in the training ranks herself, Amanda has quickly added to the Park Cup trophy cabinet. 

She landed the Chinchilla Cup last year with Avoca and on Saturday at Jandowae she recorded the rare milestone of preparing the first three runners past the winning post in the Jandowae Cup.

Martini Dancer won the prize with stable mates Del Campo and Kneze not far behind in Benchmark 65 Handicap grade over 1500 metres.

All three raced in Ben’s colours – purple with white hoops.

“To win a Cup, it is a bit more special for our family,” Amanda said.

“It is something we have carried on from dad.

“I was only a little girl at the time and I still remember the caller talking about Berossus when he went on to the track for the third time.”

The 41-year-old Amanda rode track work for her father for much of his training tenure.

She suffered a bad fall many years ago which forced her to look elsewhere for career opportunities and she studied to become a registered nurse.

Amanda now splits her time between training gallopers at Oakey and caring for patients on the Darling Downs.

She stepped into the training ranks when Ben decided he was going to live the grey nomad lifestyle and stop training his team on a daily basis.

Ben last started a horse in his name back in September of last year.

“He still has a big hand in everything and helps out when he is here, often driving the float,” Amanda said of her father’s involvement despite retiring from training officially.

“When Dad wanted to give up training, I told him I would take over the helm. Dad has been my biggest mentor and my greatest critic at the same time. He is a great mentor and is always there to help.

“I learnt a lot of my training methods from him, things like what you feed a horse and those kind of things.”

The father-and-daughter team are aided by a couple of other family members in their pursuit of more Cup success.

Amanda’s brother Phillip rides track work alongside her while her teenage son Oscar also gives the stable a hand in the afternoons when he has knocked off from school.

Oscar – a third-generation industry participant – is a driving force behind the team, Amanda says.

Oscar is regularly online looking at horse sales’ sites to try and pick up the next tried-galloper for the barn.

“I’m only as good as the team behind me and I am very lucky to have them share my passion,” Amanda said.

“I’m very grateful for the support of my entire team, to be honest.”

Amanda first started a horse in her own name back in the 2020-21 campaign and she has slowly built out her stable ever since.

They mainly stick to purchasing tried-horses online with a loyal bunch of owners.

Amanda has a career-best nine victories so far in the 2023-24 season with every chance she will build on that before the term comes to an end.

Amanda laughs that Oscar is always keen to raise the bar season-on-season so they might have some lofty ambitions in the 2024-25 campaign.

As well as the Cup trifecta on Saturday at Jandowae Race Club on the dirt, the Park team also broke through with The White Mouse in maiden grade over the sprint trip.

The entire non-TAB program was a momentous occasion for the family - a Cup trifecta and a winning double. 

“It was pretty special,” Amanda said.

“As a team we thought we were in with a shot with all three of them in the Cup but we were not sure how the race would play out.

“To have them run one, two and three – that is a feather in the cap. I think we just put the polish on them at the right time.

“Jade Metcalfe rode the Cup winner perfectly and another one for us earlier in the day as well, she did a great job for the stable as she listened to instructions.”