Renita Beaton follows childhood friends footsteps into training on the Gold Coast

By Jordan Gerrans

If it was not for her childhood friend Kacy Fogden, up-and-coming trainer Renita Beaton does not think she would be where she is today.

Growing up together in New Zealand, Fogden and Beaton were known to sneak away from school to head down to the local stables and spend time with the horses.

From a young age, they were horse mad.

And, they have both followed their beloved equine pursuits into their working lives.

Fogden and Beaton soon departed New Zealand and have walked slightly separate paths since.

Fogden has made her name as a trainer on the rise in Australia while Beaton spent almost six years riding track work in Hong Kong.

Beaton also spent time in Australia first before heading to Asia.

They have reunited of sorts in recent years on Australia’s Gold Coast with Beaton following her childhood mate into the training ranks.

Fogden has quickly become a multiple black-type winning trainer with Best Of Bordeaux and while she was focussing on her own stable, she was quietly nudging her close friend to also take the leap into training.

“For me, Kacy has been a massive influence on me getting my trainers licence,” Beaton reflected this week about Fogden.

“She encouraged, supported and helped me.

"We grew up together, we have literally known each other all our lives.

“If I did not have her support, I do not think I would have my trainers licence.

"She is pretty much a sister to me.

“I was fortunate to be taught a little bit of everything with the horses from a young age.”

Beaton is only in the infancy of her training tenure – preparing half a dozen victories so far – the first of which came last year. 

She has recently added a pair of metropolitan triumphs to her resume as well.

The 32-year-old Beaton initially opened up her own stable at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast before acquiring boxes at Aquis Park.

She prides herself on being a hands-on trainer and while she is preparing a mixture of old, young and tried horses at the moment, she is hopeful of lifting that number up to about 20 in work in the near future.

She rides the majority of her own track work and the positive results have been rolling in of late.

The Beaton barn have collected two winners and 10 minor placings from their last 15 starters.

Born A Warrior provided the city victories – both coming on Wednesday cards last month.

While that is a stack of unlucky runners that have gone close without winning, the emerging trainer is hopeful they will eventually turn in to victories.

“The metro winners are certainly a different feel, that is for sure,” she said.

“It is going well, I am happy with how my horses are running and where they are at.

“I could not to be happier – you cannot ask for too much – you have just got to do your best and hope that you can keep improving.

“It is a massive advantage to sit on their backs and know them every single day.”

Before heading to Asia to ride track work for almost six years, Beaton had her first stint in Australia working under the tutelage of leading Brisbane trainer Rob Heathcote.

In those days, champion sprinter Buffering was flying the flag for the Heathcote camp, with Beaton riding the tough sprinter in his track work all around the globe.

The Gold Coast trainer says she took plenty of learnings from working under the Group 1-winning Heathcote, as well as her time in Hong Kong, that she is using in her training methods today.

“I learnt a lot from Mr Heathcote, one thing he does well with his horses is that he gets good longevity with them,” she said.

“Buffering is a really good example of that, he raced as an early two-year-old up until he was nine years old.

“Buffering travelled around the world and Heathcote always had his horses fit, while also knowing when to back off them.

“I certainly learnt a lot there.”

From her Gold Coast base, Beaton regularly heads into NSW to race her team and has runners nominated at Kempsey and Grafton in the coming days.