Birchley dreaming smart with promising juveniles

By Jordan Gerrans

Liam Birchley admits it was a humbling experience to rebuild his stable from scratch as his new-look team shapes as major players on the QTIS Jewel program on Saturday at the Gold Coast.

The Sunshine Coast-based trainer will present with leading contenders in both age divisions of the rich Jewel, which is raced for Queensland-bred youngsters.

Betterlucknexttime will fly the flag for the Birchley operation in the QTIS Jewel 2YO while Dream Smart was a booming winner of the Prelude in the older division late last month.

Both events will be run over 1200 metres.

The 60-year-old was a multiple runner-up in the Brisbane metropolitan premiership earlier in his career but spent a couple of seasons in the wilderness as he built his barn back up.

With 26 in work at Corbould Park and with a strike-rate nearing 20% this campaign, the top trainer concedes while things were difficult in the early days of his training return, he is pleased with where he is placed now.

“It is always tough kicking off and it does humble you a bit,” Birchley reflected.

“You do have time to refocus and think of better ways of doing things and in the long-term, it has been great.

“I am obviously really happy where we are now with the strike-rate and the way the horses are racing.

“Overall, where it may have been a bit tough at the beginning, it has come good in the end. I am really happy with the system we have got.”

Birchley is putting together his best season since the 2018-19 campaign as he has 22 winners to his name.

A large contingent of that success has come with juveniles such as Betterlucknexttime, Dream Smart, Amosu, Rocky Reward and Scriptus Vivace, among others, who have all won races against their own age in recent months.

While it is nice to get reward for effort right now, Birchley says targeting age-restricted racing as he has done will hopefully set up his team to flourish in the coming years, as well.

Amosu won the rich Magic Millions The Debut in the middle of January and is yet to be seen at the races again.

He was known for his nous with young horses when he was training at a high-level earlier in his tenure in the industry.

“I have always built my base around the two-year-olds, basically,” he said.

“I have always bought horses myself, it is something I have always done without an agent so to a degree you can be a master of your own destiny.

“This time of year is the most important to me because I am going around to all the sales and trying to find the best athletes that we can.

“What you do now impacts the coming two, three, four and five years down the line.

“You really need to try and make it count.”

As a a multiple runner-up in the Brisbane metropolitan premiership with an array of black-type victories on his resume, Birchley says he is content training the team of 26 he has in work at Caloundra.

He says he does not think he will ever compete for premierships in the city again as he does not want to go past 30 in work, noting he is comfortable with the model he is currently using.

Staged on Saturday, the $2 million Queensland Jewel race day returns to the Gold Coast Turf Club once again headlined by the $500,000 2YO QTIS Jewel and the $500,000 3YO QTIS Jewel.

Now in its eighth year, the Queensland Jewel race day is one of the premier horse racing events for Queensland-bred horses.

The Birchley barn was prominent at the QTIS Jewel Prelude program at Doomben last month as Dream Smart was a stylish winner of the three-year-old race while Betterlucknexttime ran into fourth against the two-year-old boys.

The son of Zousain - Betterlucknexttime - had an unblemished record after his first two trips to town in October of last year.

He carried 59.5kg in last month's Prelude where he finished almost three lengths behind the winner.

Betterlucknexttime was a $3,750 online buy as a weanling.

With some weight relief come Saturday afternoon, Birchley believes Betterlucknexttime is well placed to add the third victory of his short career.

“I really liked his last 100 metres in the Prelude so I think he will like the 1200 metres and the extra distance in the Jewel,” the conditioner said.

“I will make a minor gear change for him, he lost a bit of focus mid-race so I will probably put the winkers on him for his next start.

“He has been set for the Jewel so the plan was always to have him improving in to it.

“I think his last run was good under the weight conditions and he is going to drop a few kilograms on Saturday. I think he will be very well placed.”

While the $500,000 on offer on Saturday is attractive for Birchley when it comes to his daughter of Smart Missile, he believes there is much more to come down the line with her.

“Being first-up, there will be a degree of improvement in her,” the Caloundra trainer said of Dream Smart's win in the Prelude. 

“I have been seeing from day one with her, that she has a bright future, but because of her size and scope – she has just taken a little while to put things together.

“She has always shown that amount of ability but sometimes they just need to mature a bit.

“She had a good break after her last preparation and she has obviously returned to the track in really good fettle. I really think there is some big things in store for her.”