Wyong trainer Damien Lane expands stable

Helensburgh Ham has returned to familiar surroundings ahead of his first trip to town.

Stephen Farley’s 12-month disqualification for a cobalt offence left his 20 boxes at Wyong vacant and fellow trainer Damien Lane moved in on Monday.

Helensburgh Ham is one of a group of former Farley-trained horses now in Lane’s care.

The gelding will race in Sydney for the first time in a 1250m benchmark 78 race at Canterbury on Saturday.

“I probably picked up eight or 10 horses that were previously with Crusher (Farley),” Lane said.

“There are a few of them that have got good form, so it’s a good opportunity to get them in and increase the numbers a little bit.”

Lane said he would be able to keep the on-course stable full while maintaining his farm where he lives, pre-trains and spells horses about 15 minutes from Wyong.

WilliamHill.com.au

In Helensburgh Ham’s first start for his new stable at Newcastle on July 9 he over-raced and finished fifth.

“We put the blinkers on and it didn’t work for him,” Lane said.

“He went way too hard at Newcastle.”

Despite the disappointing start for Lane, the trainer is keen to get the horse to a metropolitan race while he can still compete in restricted age races.

“The three-year-old career is nearly over,” Lane said.

“It’s just a chance to give him a run in town against his own age before they turn four and they have to take on the older horses.”

Lane also had Pirate Ben in a benchmark 85 race at Canterbury but will wait until next week to run him at the midweek meeting at the track.

Related Posts

Comments are closed.