Pen was put to paper yesterday with Troy Corstens officially taking over 100% of Malua Racing as his partnership with John Sadler comes to an end. Pictured here with former Sydney sprinter Pampelonne, Troy is keen to move forward training horses in his own right after a flame was lit whilst left to manage the role during John’s recent extended time out with depression.
Malua, the conception and vision of Troy, has done very well to date in partnership with John who is widely regarded to be right up there with the best horseman and trainers in the game. His training of one time Melbourne Cup stayer Linton to win the Group 1 Stradbroke over 1400 in such dynamic fashion is testimony to his skills and the impact he has had on the development of Malua Racing. It is such a ruthless caper and for whatever reason the ripple of flow on from that highpoint seemed to work in a negative manner rather than the expected positive one. All you can do as participants in this industry of passion and opinion is keep presenting and keep working hard. John certainly did just that but it came to a head and the subsequent time away followed by the separation will undoubtedly in time prove to be the right move forward for all concerned.
John has recently returned to training with a focus on the smaller team of his personal clients and is showing to be in a “good space”, making it look as easy as ever. It didn’t take too long for the steady flow of winners to begin and he moves to Caulfield this weekend with the best wishes of all at Malua to focus on a small manageable team for Aquinita Racing, a brand he originally founded and formed.
“John is a world class horseman and he leaves his legacy here make no mistake. The detail with which horses are cared for and the processes put in place and adhered to day to day has been one of the more difficult things to embed . The development of the system by which our complex at Flemington runs by from the initial days to the way it does now is the legacy that John will leave. We can build from that foundation and continue to develop in our pursuit for more success.” Says Troy
Troy ultimately is still a relatively young man in this industry wanting to go places and take his brand and grow with it. He has some good support and has moved quickly in making an extremely exciting new acquisition of a beachside training and spelling facility for Malua horses going forward. He is planning to maintain the current 34 stables at Flemington in conjunction with 20 in work at this new Balnarring property Pine Lodge. Horses in work will have fantastic variety to year round stable life mixing their time between the beach and the city. Maintaining freshness and overall wellbeing of body and mind in racehorses is one of the most difficult things to do and this beautiful new facility will go a long way to helping that.
Troy has his first Group 1 runner next Saturday June 7 with the second favourite for the Queensland Derby in Pinstripe Lane and the horse is going as well if not better than ever and has all concerned hopeful of a dream start for the new trainer and his racing brand.
**For those interested there are still a few cracking yearling available you can check out from the great team at Malua… They have trained a Stradbroke winner, could they train a Derby winner this weekend!
