RETIRED Irymple horseman John Castleman could be considered the district’s most successful trainer after achieving five Mildura Cup wins during his career.
Castleman had local cup wins with with Top Quest (1970), Big Flood (1979), Sky Fury (1981), Kathabara Lass (1985) and Hard Core (1986).
Recently the local cups king took a canter down memory lane to reminisce about his Mildura Cup victories.
TOP QUEST (owned by Charlie Neyland).
“Patty Khan was going to ride him in the Cup and prior to the race he rode him in a track gallop. The horse always put his head down between his front legs in track work and on that occasion got tangled up and fell. Patty received a few scratches and after that he decided to take the Cup ride on The Charm and they ran second to us,” Castleman said.
BIG FLOOD (owned by Bill Lanyon, Don Martin, Bill Caffrey, Tom McGlashan and Ken Brennan).
“He came to me from trainer Andy White and he was set for The Harp race at Broken Hill and finished second. He then came out and won the Mildura Cup at his next start. He was a quirky horse, but it was a dogged Cup win.”
SKY FURY (Owned by N. Domaille, G. Wilson, G. Fitzgerald and R.Cleary).
“He was a NZ horse who came across to Australia. Was advertised in the Sporting Globe for sale and I decided to take him. There were a few things wrong with him, but he came good after a couple of years and we had a bit of fun with him,” Castleman said.
KATHABARA LASS (Owned by Kevin Kleinschmidt and Peter Porter).
“She was a breeder and was bought with the intention to breed with her. Had 12 months in the paddock and then won two races in Adelaide and then won the Mildura Cup.”
HARD CORE (Owned by Bill Lanyon).
He came from Rick Hore-Lacy and I ran him at Broken Hill to be primed for the Cup, but he didn’t handle the dirt and finished last, beaten 100 yards. He pulled up terrible after it and I thought he would never race again. It took two weeks and a lot of care to get him right, but he was a good horse and won the Cup very well.”
Castleman enjoyed a lot of success at the Mildura circuit and in Adelaide during more than 60 years of training thoroughbred horses.
“The Mildura Cup winners were all good horses to me and my training career. It was a good ride and I met a lot of good people over that time,” he said.
Castleman always had a handy horse in his stable which continued right up until he retired from training with success from Mango’s Lunch, Backwash, and Toxic Free Mallee.
Mango’s Lunch who was previously in the care of the legendary trainer Bart Cummings transferred to Castleman and recorded three city class wins in SA including the Listed Labor Day Cup along with Donald and Ararat cups.
The grey gelding Backwash was sent to the stable from Robert Smerdon and raced consistently with six wins from 18 starts, while Toxic Free Mallee found his best form in the district with 10 wins and 31 placings from 91 starts including six wins at the Mildura circuit.
Backwash achieved two SA city class wins at Victoria Park, while Toxic Free Mallee also had border hopping success with three victories at Morphettville.
Court Hero, who was one of Castleman’s favourite horses, joined his stable in 2001 after only a three start career with trainer Russell Cameron.
Court Hero achieved nine wins from 27 starts including city class wins at Sandown and at Cheltenham in SA on two occasions.
He displayed his scintillating speed by recording three consecutive cup day sprints over the flying 975 metres distance at the Swan Hill Carnival from 2002-2004.
“He was a favourite as he had a lot of problems, but was still able to win the three sprint races at Swan Hill and it was a big achievement,” Castleman said.
Castleman, who achieved seven training premiership’s at Mildura since 1986 was rewarded for his successful training career and being a long-time supporter of racing in the district by receiving life membership of the Mildura Racing Club in 2018.
