Garry Schwenke finally finds the magic in North Queensland

By Jordan Gerrans

A plan hatched four years ago in a northern trip for the carnival has delivered Warwick’s Garry Schwenke an unlikely Ben Bolt Cup at Bowen in 2024.

The Southern Downs-based trainer campaigned a team of horses through Central and North Queensland back in 2020, with Magic In Me a promising young gelding at the time.

Magic In Me is a son of former race mare Cuban who Schwenke prepared throughout her 92-start career.

Schwenke had high hopes for Magic In Me back in 2020 and targeted the juvenile features – including the Cairns Guineas - across the north but headed home without any silverware.

He will drive back down the Bruce Highway this week with a shiny Ben Bolt Cup in his possession after the gelding lugged a big weight to win the 1470 metre feature on Saturday.

Schwenke and his travelling band of owners had lofty ambitions for the seven-year-old for the trip.

They originally thought they could snare a Rockhampton and Mackay Newmarket or the Cleveland Bay with Magic In Me.

He led into the straight at Callaghan Park in the Newmarket at Rockhampton before finishing just over five lengths behind the winner.

While the Ben Bolt Cup at Bowen does not offer the status and stakes of a Cleveland Bay Handicap, the team behind the gelding were celebrating like they won one of the major prizes of the 2024 Northern Winter Carnival.

“Our target was always the Mackay Newmarket but his rating was not high enough to get into it and it was the same with the Cleveland Bay in Townsville,” Schwenke said.

“He ran well in another race on Mackay Newmarket day with 62 kg on his back. He ran good in another race at Mackay a few weeks later, in a Benchmark 70, and ran second again.

“He carried a big weight in the Ben Bolt Cup and did it pretty hard and he won for us. The crowd erupted when he won, it was great.”

The facility at Bowen is called Ben Bolt Park.

The name for the club’s racing surface comes from a champion horse who won the Caulfield Cup way back in 1886.

Ben Bolt began his career in the north of Queensland at Bowen, eventually making his way down to Melbourne before winning the Caulfield Cup.

He went around in a Melbourne Cup as well as competing in several other major races.

They still celebrate his achievements to this day where Ben Bolt’s career started.

Cairns-based hoop Masayuki Abe was in the saddle for Magic In Me’s victory in Saturday’s Cup.

Abe rode Magic In Me’s mother Cuban throughout her career.

While Schwenke calls Warwick home, he was basically a local on Saturday at the track which is just down the road from the famous Whitsundays.

Schwenke and his wife Joann, as well as Magic In Me’s part-owners David and Sharon Amedee, have stayed in their caravans at the Bowen track for the last month or so.

When Schwenke campaigned his team north four years ago, he enjoyed the experience but battled to find suitable stables.

He has called Bowen home this time around after striking up a friendship with Bowen Turf Club secretary Helen Daley and president Stephen Daley.

“We have been set up at Bowen racecourse for a month or so while going back and forth between the tracks to race in Townsville and Mackay,” Schwenke said.

It was a fitting result to see the ‘local’ claim the famous Ben Bolt Cup.

“We did similar four years ago to follow the carnivals, it was a bit of a dream of ours,” the Warwick trainer said.

“It was tough back then as we were searching for stables all the time as we moved up north.

“We met Stephen and Helen back then and we become very good friends with them.

“They are the best people and the whole Bowen committee have done a great job accommodating us and helping us with anything we need.

“The club have put some serious work into their facilities and it just looks terrific.

“We made a lot of friends up here and met a lot of people, it has been fantastic.”

It was a fruitless northern trip before Saturday as the Schwenke stable had taken more than 10 starters to the races without landing a winner.

As well as Magic In Me, stable mates Coltman and Red Hot Love also campaigned through the winter months and started at Bowen on Saturday.

Stayer Frijoles also had three runs in the north but did not figure in the finish on any occasion.

Schwenke notes that outside of Magic In Me, a few of the other gallopers in his team did not handle the northern travel and were just starting to acclimatize themselves.

The 64-year-old trainer has decided not to press on to Far North Queensland for the remainder of the carnival and will head home to Warwick this week.

After running in a country level race on Saturday, Schwenke says he may consider heading towards the 2025 Battle Of The Bush with Magic In Me.