Triple treat for McGuire family at Richmond

By Jordan Gerrans

The McGuire surname is royalty in the regional Queensland community of Richmond and the long-standing racing clan recorded a unique milestone on their home deck on Saturday afternoon.

Three different McGuires took horses to the races across the non-TAB program on Saturday and remarkably all walked away with a winner.

The father-and-son training team of Patrick and Matthew have both collected winners on the same day on a few occasions over the years.

And, they added uncle Ken to the family act on Saturday as the McGuires accounted for more than half the victories on the five-event North West program.

Ken kicked off the winning ways in the opening event with Arrogant Heart, Patrick chimed in with The Eighth I Am claiming the third race before the youngest of the trio Matthew secured the rare trifecta in the last with Another Jack.

Patrick and Matthew base their stable in Townsville but always support the bush meetings on the dirt tracks such as the Richmond Turf Club.

“That is where my family all grew up,” Matthew said.

“My dad, Kenny and all that grew up out there as kids. It was sentimental at the same as being happy to train winners.

“Given the background of our family in Richmond and it being our home town, it was great.

“Not all the horses in our stable here can be competitive on the coast so it is good to have a bit of success in the bush.

“It is fun to go out there and race the horses as well as seeing familiar faces, we really enjoy the racing out there.”

Before turning his hand to training gallopers, Patrick was a jockey in the North West of the state for decades, mainly riding at Mount Isa and Richmond.

He occasionally came to the coast to ride at Townsville but mainly focused on the bush circuit.

A long-time follower of North West racing noted that Patrick was a top rider in his day before he gave away the saddle and moved to Townsville.

Ken is Patrick’s brother and prepares his team at Charters Towers.

Consistent galloper Arrogant Heart is the only horse in Ken’s barn and claimed the Benchmark 45 Handicap over 1000 metres.

Another of Matthew’s uncles Bob also conditions a small team at Charters Towers.

Bob last prepared a winner in late June and has predominantly raced on the TAB circuit in recent times.

Matthew is the ‘biggest’ trainer in terms of size of his stable, working with 16 gallopers at his complex not far from Cluden Park.

As Bob, Ken and Patrick only ever work with a few horses at a time, there is not really much chance for the McGuires to often race – and win events – on the same program.

“We have all been to the races before and had horses all race on the same day but never all three of us trained winners,” Matthew said.

“There has been days where my dad and I have trained winners on the same program before.

“My dad and uncle only have a small team of horses so any time they get a winner it is special.

“But, all of us getting a winner on the same day, it was a good achievement for the family and a bit touching.”

Matthew’s Another Jack only just completed the family milestone as the gelding survived a photo-finish to score in the Benchmark 50 Handicap over 1400 metres.

The former Chris Munce-prepared galloper has taken a liking to racing on the dirt surface of late after being transferred north. 

“It was good to see him win as he is probably not up to the standard of racing on the coast,” Matthew said.

“We took him out to Hughenden a few starts ago and he really relished the dirt conditions out there so we were pretty keen to get him out there again.

“He is now two from two on the dirt and hopefully we can find some more races for him out there.”

Matthew had success in the bush on Saturday and he has swiftly turned his attention back to TAB racing this week.

He is set to have runners on Thursday at Mackay as well as three from his stable being nominated for Saturday’s Cairns Cup meeting.