Piscina eyeing a bigger pool of prizemoney

When looking for the description of Piscina, it’s pretty simple: “A pool or pond for bathing or swimming” (in ancient Roman architecture according to Oxford languages).

The brown gelding bearing the name recently posted a maiden victory at Redcliffe with Leonard Cain in the sulky.

But why was the pacer originally named Piscina?

There's a few differing sides to this tale, but let’s allow trainer Brian McCall to paint the picture.

“Back in 2023, we [wife Rachel and daughter, Taylah] as a family headed down to the Gold Coast and ventured to the Magic Millions Sales Complex to have a look at the Sunshine Stars Yearling Sales for a day out,” McCall explained.

"After some general chit chat and watching yearlings parade and go under the hammer, I was taken by Lot 272 in the pre-parade, checked the catalogue and liked what I saw.

“To my surprise, he failed to meet his reserve of $20,000 and it was my older brother, Darren, that was the underbidder. We swapped some notes and then I went and spoke with the vendors, Lindsay and Mary Vagg.”

But this is where the story really grows. Do the McCalls buy a horse or go with Taylah’s request of having a swimming pool added to the family property?

It was the horse who won the coin toss.

“Honestly, there was no real intention to buy a horse that day. It was basically a day out and catching up with some friends but, after seeing his video appear on the board and then watching him parade, it was hard not to be taken by his appearance,” McCall said.

“I spotted Darren bidding and tracked him down after he was passed in and we swapped some notes on the colt before I went and found Lindsay and Mary.

"We had another look at him and then decided to have a crack and buy him.

“You could say it was a case of sink or swim; it was a fairly robust family chat.

"Taylah had really been wanting a pool for some time and given we’re now out of the Covid-19 era the timing was right for the pool, but then I stated that this colt could be handy and give us a chance of getting a nice pool.”

McCall was adamant the gamble on the colt was worth taking.

The colt dubbed ‘Harley’ by the Vaggs is by the super exciting sire Always B Miki from the unraced Bettors Delight mare Pretentious Lombo.

The Always B Miki/Bettors Delight cross has produced the likes of classic winners including Taking The Miki, Ever Hoping, Illavabubbles, Golly Gee Fellas and Rubira among others.

The maternal pedigree of the colt is very appealing too.

Pretentious Lombo is a 100 per cent producer with four foals to race for four winners including Artful Lombo, Lombo Heaven, Ideal Match and Ace Lombo.

Both Lombo Heaven and the ill-fated Ace Lombo have been multiple Queensland winners.

The granddam is the outstanding filly Misty Maiden, a winner of 12 races from 37 starts and earnings above $245,000.

Her biggest claim to fame as a racehorse was winning the 1992 Australian Derby at Albion Park defeating the likes of Bonamax, Warrior Khan, Sirsamm and Ace Of Whitby amongst others in a star-studded line-up.

Misty Maiden also claimed the $250,000 Oceania El Dorado 3YO Fillies Final at Moonee Valley for Vic and Glenn Frost. But as a broodmare, Misty Maiden has been outstanding producing nine individual winners including the champion juvenile Lombo Pocket Watch (by Jet Laag).

He is a winner of 45 races from 83 starts while earning more than $1.52 million.

And some of his biggest victories came via Albion Park including the 2006 Australian Pacing Gold Final and the Kevin Seymour Nursery Pace Final as a two-year-old while being beaten by Arkamigo in the 2007 Queensland Derby.

Other family members include Bachelor Lombo (14 wins, $103,000), Suave Stuey Lombo (33 wins, $587,000), Miss Trickin Lombo (15 wins, $230,000), Handsandwheels (29 wins, $707,000) and Lombo Skyrider (63 wins, $841,000) among others.

So, McCall is confident he has the right horse to provide the pool.

“I broke him in myself. He was very timid and it took me three months to get him done but I was pleased with the end result. The immediate family don’t really perform at two so I wasn’t really concerned if he would go early or not,” he said.

“He’s a good doing type and is easy to shoe but he quartered himself early on which forced him out for three months and he’s been a slow maturing type.

"In many ways he reminds me of Lebron (30 wins, $250,000) and Rocks Or Diamonds (12 wins, $168,000).”

Interestingly, of the four winners from Pretentious Lombo, only Ideal Match has been a winner as a two-year-old while Ace Lombo raced once at two.

Both Lombo Heaven and Artful Lombo went unraced as two-years-olds.

Following an education ‘Green’ trial at Albion Park on October 29, Piscina qualified at Marburg a month later while trialing well a week later at Albion Park.

His debut would come via at Albion Park on December 10 and he finished sixth behind Fight To The End in a time of 1:56.8.

“I wasn’t disappointed with the effort. Conditions were ordinary with constant rain, and he showed further improvement from his two trials,” McCall said.

“He’ll keep improving with time, I know what I’m in for with this guy so it’s all about patience and patience doesn’t cost a thing, so everything is good.

“And the best part is that Taylah actually likes him, and she doesn’t get close to the horses.”

Piscina is QBRED so with the maiden victory achieved, the pool planning will be well underway again.