Carpenter laying groundwork for success

By Jordan Gerrans

With a training partnership on the horizon just days after winning the Wagga Town Plate Prelude as an owner, everything is looking up for young Queensland horseman George Carpenter.

The Sunshine Coast product initially trained a small team of his own at Caloundra before recently shifting to New South Wales to take up an assistant trainer’s role with Mitchell Beer.

Ironically, Beer was in the Sunshine State on Sunday – buying at the annual Capricornia Yearling Sale – as his stable newcomer I Am Lethal shocked many to claim the Prelude of the Wagga Town Plate.

I Am Lethal was Carpenter’s maiden winner as a trainer at Rockhampton last year and has eventually made his way down to Beer’s barn at Kembla Grange.

Carpenter and a big crop of his Queensland-based friends and family have stayed in the ownership team of the bay gelding and are now eyeing the $200,000 on offer in the Town Plate early next month.

The 26-year-old Carpenter and Beer are in discussions to go into a training partnership once the 2025-26 campaign commences.

After preparing a couple of winners in his first foray into training on his own, the up-and-coming Carpenter says joining Beer’s team has been a dream move.

“I wanted to go somewhere where there was potential for a partnership and from conversations with Mitch, he was keen to look at that if all went well,” Carpenter said.

“We are going to do that at the end of the season in July. I think it has been great for me working with Mitch who is an established trainer who has had a lot of success himself and has good owners and horses.

“Mitch’s team will only continue to get better with nice horses and owners going forward.

“I feel like it was a step in the right direction for me to have that experience with nicer horses while also managing staff, without having that financial risk of growing my own stable.

“Mitch has been confident in me with my horsemanship and my skills as a trainer since day one.”

Carpenter says the biggest learn curve working with Beer was the popular trainer’s calmness under pressure, whereas he would previously stress and be nervous about plenty of things he couldn’t control.

Reflecting on his own short solo training career with a handful in work, Carpenter notes he was struggling to take the next step from a financial perspective and with staff to compete at a higher level.

Beer – who has a sizeable following on social media – was quick to praise Carpenter following I Am Lethal’s near last-to-first romp along the fence on Sunday.

“That's a terrific result first-up for the stable,” Beer said.

“A former winner in Queensland for our assistant trainer George Carpenter. Both have been incredible additions to the stable.”

The former Chancellor State College student on the Sunshine Coast previously worked for Stuart Kendrick and Matthew Hoysted before having his first runner in April of last year.

After being purchased for just $6,000 online, I Am Lethal became Carpenter’s maiden winner at Callaghan Park in Central Queensland and he quickly added Missayter to his winning hit list on the Polytrack at the Gold Coast not long after.

I Am Lethal was prepared by John O'Shea and Chris Munce in the early stages of his career so his ability was not in question but he did not show it enough at the races.

The hands-on Carpenter went back to basics with the son of I Am Invincible and it provided beneficial almost immediately.

“He could definitely gallop but he was just very temperamental and needed a bit of time to settle down,” Carpenter said.

“I did a lot of different things with him like taking him to the beach and the pony club, things like that to break the cycle because he obviously knew how to gallop.

“We took our time with him and aimed to teach him to relax and enjoy himself. We wanted him to be a happy horse and I feel like he did that.

“He won at Rocky and even his first-up run was terrific, he arguably could have won that day at Caloundra.

“We are really happy with him and knew he always had a great amount of ability; it is about him being in the right head space to put his best foot forward.”

Once Carpenter took the role at Beer’s barn, I Am Lethal had two lacklustre runs for Caloundra’s Billy Healey.

The decision was made to give the six-year-old one more shot at being a racehorse for Beer and if he showed he did not want to continue, then the team were happy to retire him.

He put in a smart trial last month at his new home deck of Kembla Grange before going bang first-up in Sunday’s Prelude.

Carpenter says his previous knowledge and experience with the galloper helped him settle in at Beer’s stable and believes the change of environment may have done him wonders in the later stages of his racing career.

Now, the team are dreaming of landing the $200,000 prize in the 1200 metre Town Plate on the first Thursday of next month.

“Everyone is stoked,” Carpenter said.

“Being my first winner as a trainer in Queensland, he obviously means a lot to me. I have a lot of friends and people close to me in the horse so he is a very special horse.

“There are a lot of good owners in the horse, people that have been close to me for a long time and their families.

“The horse has never let us down and everyone is so happy to see the horse do well.

“To qualify for the Plate is an added bonus, but just seeing him back in the winner’s stall, we are over the moon because he deserves it, the horse. He is a very special horse.”