Off and racing: Winning bidder Mick Hetrelezis (left) with trainer Colin Scott, Gerry Van Ameyden and the Rochester Football Netball Club silks that will be worn by the horse’s jockey. The club will receive 10 per cent of any future winnings from the horse
Connections of the racehorse that will carry the Rochester Football Netball Club colours onto the racecourse will be hoping trainer Colin Scott can repeat history.
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Scott will train the Holler/Songs of Ireland filly from his Pakenham base and also has a share in the $20,000 filly which he said was “bred-for-speed’’.
That status had Rochester club officials, which will receive 10 per cent of prizemoney from the horse’s racing career, drawing parallels with Scott’s most successful horse — Speediness.
Speediness, who retired from racing in 2009, was the first yearling selected and bought by Scott.
The horse won more than $1 million after being purchased for just $18,000 at the Inglis Premier Sale.
The yellow-and-black silks, featuring the Tiger emblem on the breast plate, were unveiled prior to the auction of a five per cent share in the horse at the Melbourne supporters’ luncheon last Friday.
Mick Hetrelezis, who identified himself during the bidding process only as “Mad Mike from Cobram’’, made the winning bid of $3000.
He joins friends, and former Rochester brothers, Andrew and Geoff Sharp, as part of the ownership group with renowned racing identity Gerry Van Ameyden.
Marj Sharp, the 94-year-old mother of the successful Melbourne businessmen, still lives in Rochester.
The three, along with trainer Scott, offered up a share in the horse to support the club following the flood event of October last year.
The Sharp brothers and, particularly, Van Ameyden have a history of finding winners and their stable star Buenos Noches has already won more than $400,000 in just seven starts.
Beunos Noches is a three-year-old colt who ran third in the $2 million Group one Coolmore Stakes and second in another group one race in October last year.
Scott, a track work rider and foreman through the years, worked with accomplished trainers Mick Price, Peter Moody and, more recently, Ciaron Maher before starting his own operation.
Premiership captain Mick Auld started the bidding at $1500, with Andrew Sharp’s sister Jan Grant chiming in and then long-time Rochester supporter “Bluey’’ Callahan bid $2700 before ”Mad Mike’’ rounded it out at $3000.
Mike Hetrelezis was originally from Cobram and has been a long-time friend of the Sharps and van Ameyden.
The horse will also have a name that links it closely to Rochester Football Netball Club, one of those that was in keeping with the club’s 2023 theme of Recover and Re-Connect was Recovery Time.
Club colours: Barry Riordan models the Rochester Football Netball Club-coloured silks that will be worn by the Colin Scott-trained filly when it races. Ten per cent of any prizemoney won by the horse will go to the club.
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