Slipper win just what the Doc ordered for Messara
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday April 1, 2010
When Alverta triumphed in the group 1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill Gardens recently, Dr Geoff Chapman was quick to point out to his protege, trainer Paul Messara, the mare had seven letters in her name."They say seven-letter names are lucky," Doc Chapman related. "I read it in a book and the author quoted Eclipse and Man o'War. Of course, there is Phar Lap, Gunsynd and a heap of others ..."He might have included Dr Grace and Myocard, two winners of The BMW prepared by the Doc.Only this week he was relating it is 18 years since he quit training to return to medicine. Twenty years previously he had turned his back on being a GP and orthopaedic surgeon to make training racehorses his career. Most figured he was a "bit of a joke", then possibly a loose cannon.A former Wallaby, the Doc came on to the turf when trainers were very much in the tug-the-forelock mode with officialdom. He did not cop fools gladly, and when it comes to owners freely admits he was not the ideal sweet talker. In fact, his trackside manner was one more suited to All Blacks forwards.Still, he had major successes, more with stayers, perhaps, than two-year-olds. Now he is comfortably ensconced in a medical practice at Main Beach on the Gold Coast. So why has he come back on to the autumn carnival radar?Well, he is the mentor of Messara, one of the rising lights in the training ranks. And the Doc figures nobblers, fence jumpers of the current era, are plying their go-slow trade again. More of that in Sunday's The Sun-Herald but first, Messara and the Golden Slipper.Folklore has it John Messara, father of Paul and one of the major players in Australian racing through Arrowfield Stud, offered The Doc $100,000 to deter his son from pursuing a career as a trainer.You think a doctor diving into the deep end is unusual? Paul Messara could have gone into marketing where you print your own currency. Even if you have access to the best training facility in Australia, at Scone, training is a somewhat precarious caper.However, Paul Messara is on a high with Beneteau, a top contender in Saturday's Golden Slipper at Rosehill. But the Doc refuses to take any credit for Messara's rise."It's not fair to detract from his achievements," he declared. "Yes, he's lucky he can ring [super-vet] Percy Sykes and me and get 100 years of knowledge in two telephone calls. Percy always said to me if you don't train a group 1 winner in four years you're not going to make it ..."Messara qualified with Alverta and the Doc puts his rise down to a rare blend based around intelligence."He can take out information on what's useful for him and what isn't," the Doc maintained. "He's got his own ideas. Been all round the world with different horsemen and he's seen many methods. Racehorse training is primarily an art, not a science. If it was a science everyone could do it. Paul has a synergy with horses but his sporting background, too, is beneficial."He knows about getting fit, and understands the physiology of work and training per se. Basically it's sports medicine. And he can handle the owners ..."Back in his first season, 1975, the Doc had a strong Golden Slipper fancy in St Louis Blue. "He had won a Silver Slipper (then run in the spring) by a minute but picked up a virus when spelling and was never the same again."Another of his Silver Slipper winners was Giostra - note the seven letters - which created something of a furore. She was originally named Merkin, a pubic wig. Racing officialdom in this instance did not appreciate the Doc's sense of humour and the name was changed.Beneteau, according to the Doc, is a much better two-year-old than his Golden Slipper runners, and is forgiving of his recent Randwick failure. "He trialled against some smart horses at the [Arrowfield] farm and donkey-licked them," the Doc explained.The Doc regards the colts and geldings giving fillies weight in races as a nonsense."There should be two Slippers: one for fillies and one for colts and geldings," he stressed. "I do not think fillies should get an allowance in the Slipper. If fillies and mares were slower than the colts and geldings there would be no horses in existence because the predators would have eaten the slow ones, the mares. What would have been left to breed?"People try to humanise horses, which is absurd. They are an animal species, nothing like humans and shouldn't get an allowance. To think Admiral Rous (the father of the weight-for-age system) got it right 300 years ago is just as absurd."In theory fillies should always win the Golden Slipper [because of the weight edge] but that [does not happen] only because the [winning colts have] been more than two kilos superior [on a given day]."[Surprise results are] going to happen with two-year-olds, because many don't even know how to gallop. Like Beneteau, he's the dumbest horse in the world. He gets out there, he's not sure where to go, he gets to the front and thinks, 'Where's my mates'."The Doc regards this year's Golden Slipper field "as good as any" considering recent foal crops of more than 17,000."I'd say two-year-olds are all pretty good rather than one just being outstanding," he submitted. "When Phar Lap was going around there were only 4000 racehorses. Obviously [it was] easier to be a champion."Alas Beneteau has eight letters."A horse will always come along and bugger up a system," The Doc concedes. "Look at Secretariat."SUNDAYAre the nobblers back? Read more in The Sun-Herald this weekend.
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