Capewell aims to Outsmart Ipswich rivals

By Glenn Davis

If Toowoomba’s Jake Capewell wasn’t a trainer, he’d loved to be an NRL star.

Capewell is a brother of Queensland Origin and New Zealand Warriors’ star Kurt Capewell alongside siblings, Liam and Sam, who have played rugby league at a high level in Ipswich, west of Brisbane.

However, Jake has found his own niche in sport working with horses and is now a highly respected trainer, breaker, and pre-trainer on Queensland’s Darling Downs.

“We all played footy as kids but my brothers all got more size than me,” Capewell said.

“I was chased away from the feed bin by the other three colts but I still played league up until I was 19.

“As well as football we all mucked around riding horses when we were kids so I got more involved with them.”

Capewell has a small team of six horses he trains himself but is highly regarded for his skills as a breaker and pre-trainer.

“I constantly have between 60 and 70 horses I break-in and pre-train for trainers like Tony Gollan and Stu Kendrick,” Capewell said.

Capewell will head to Ipswich on Wednesday hoping for more success with his promising sprinter Outsmarted who is chasing a hat-trick of wins in the Class Five Handicap over 1350 metres.

Outsmarted – a Michael Rodd mount - has a near unblemished record with four wins from five starts.

He won his first two starts at Bathurst and Canberra for the Sydney training partnership of Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou but was moved on to Gold Coast trainer Paul Shailer after fracturing a pedal bone.

The son of Written Tycoon never started for Shailer and was later snapped up for a paltry $2,000 at an online auction and transferred to Capewell.

Outsmarted finished third in a 1200-metre Class 3 at Warwick at his first start for Capwell before winning a 1350-metre Benchmark race at the same venue in early February.

“He should have won his first start at Warwick and be five from five,” Capewell said.

“He got knocked down that day but he picked himself up well and ran home strongly for third.”

His Warwick win convinced Capewell to test Outsmarted in the city where he produced another dominant victory in a 1300-metre Benchmark race at Eagle Farm on March 1.

Ipswich is rated slow but Capewell would prefer a dry track.

“He’s very versatile and can lead or take a sit,” Capewell said.

“He’s still green and wobbled around in the straight last start so I’m putting him winkers on him for the first time.

“He should race well but the more sun the track receives the better for him.”