Loch trainer Bob Beecroft and Stanborough, the horse he purchased to have some fun on the picnic circuit over the summer, were again successful at Kyneton on Monday, combining with promising Flemington apprentice Stephen Brown to take out the benchmark 64 over 1100 metres.
Stanborough, now a nine-year-old, has certainly covered plenty of miles in pursuit of glory, boasting wins as far afield as Moruya, Sapphire Coast, Warracknabeal and Balaklava.
He’s also raced at Alice Springs, Queanbeyan, Towong, Wagga Wagga, Narrandera and numerous Victorian circuits, while being trained in Gippsland almost throughout his career. (He did have one campaign in South Australia.)
Impressively he’s now a winner of 10 races from 68 starts.
Beecroft, 78, has been around horses all his life. He trains a team of four from the Loch property he purchased a year ago, with fast work at the Pakenham Racing Club’s Tynong facility, 45 minutes away.
Previously he trained from a farmlet at Willung (south of Rosedale), commuting to Sale (a 30-minute trip) for fast work.
Beecroft trained Stanborough for his original owners from June to August of 2016, before the owners decided the gelding wasn’t viable under that arrangement.
Beecroft purchased the galloper for “a couple of thousand”, confident he would recoup his purchase price on the picnic circuit. Beecroft felt the galloper would be ideally suited to the Woolamai and Healesville tracks.
Fast forward to February and Stanborough has now raced seven times for Sue and Bob Beecroft, posting exciting wins at Moe, Cranbourne, Traralgon and Kyneton, earning $47,680.
Any punter following his campaign would be rolling in dough, as he’s started at $21, $21, $5.50 and $17 in his four wins.
His partner on all occasions has been the young man who holds the distinction of being Australia’s tallest jockey.
Brown’s claim (currently two kilograms) has been valuable as the old fellow rises in weight and rating.
A delighted Beecroft said this week: “It was really exciting to win first up with the old fellow. He’s not renowned as a first-up horse but I thought he was ready.
“Thankfully we opted for Kyneton after he drew wide on Sunday (at Moe).
“Stephen rides him great. He’s flying but he’s old like me.”
Stanborough will target a benchmark 70 over 1200 metres at Pakenham on March 2, with Beecroft upbeat but realistic.
“He’s real bulldog, always tries hard and does his best and that’s all we can ask of him. But that grade of race will probably go too quick for him.”
Beecroft is toying with the idea of pushing Stanborough out to 1400 metres, believing he will cope better with higher-class rivals at a steadier tempo.
Meanwhile Stanborough will keep to his ritual — rarely visiting a training track between races, instead doing beach work and wading in the shallows at Corinella beach (35 minutes from Loch).
The beach has been used to great effect in recent years by trainers including Eric Musgrove, Belinda Simpson, Jim Cerchi, Mick Price, Julien Welsh, Hawkes Racing, Gai Waterhouse, Shea Eden, Tony Vasil and Ricky Maund.
The best galloper Beecroft has trained is the four-time city winner Out of Options, who raced from 2002-2006, winning over distances ranging from 1500-2600 metres.  
Out of Options was a listed race winner at Eagle Farm, placed in a Group 2 Memsie Stakes, ran second in a Cranbourne Cup, won twice at Flemington and won once at Sandown. He won seven of 46 starts all up, accumulating stakes of $229,100.