Stuart Tinney admits to being fond of off the track thoroughbreds –after all, he did win a gold Olympic medal on one.
At the Sydney @SIEC Weekend Eventing in July Stuart won the CNC 2* on the very talented up and coming mare Annapurna but he was also very happy with an off the track thoroughbred he was competing called Triple Honour owned by Clare McKinnon.
Triple Honour, who is by Honours List (Danehill) out of Myrrh (Nassipour), had 53 starts, winning 7 and placing 13 times, with his most notable win being the 2008 Group 1 AJC Doncaster Handicap, one of the toughest weight for age mile events in the country. It was trainer Chris Waller's first Group 1 win and one he admits gave him a lot of confidence in that he could foot it with the best Australian trainers.
Chris and Triple Honour Photo courtesy Chris Waller Racing
Chris had selected Triple Crown at the Inglis Classic Sale for $50,000 in 2006 and he was raced by Phillip and Eliza Ng and Kenny Li. The win with Triple Crown may have been the first but certainly not the last. Since then, Chris has gone on to record three consecutive NSW metropolitan trainers premierships including breaking the record for the number of winners in one season of 156 set by Tommy Smith and also his daughter Gai Waterhouse. The stable also produced the most Group 1 winners in the country this season with 9 wins from 8 horses.
Photo courtesy Chris Waller Racing
Apart from the fact that he was Chris’ first Group 1 winner, Triple Crown was always a popular horse in the racing stable being ‘a pretty cool, uncomplicated customer’.
Rider Clare McKinnon took Triples on when he retired and it seems that this lovely character has taken to eventing as well as he took to racing. The combination have been training with Tinney Eventing and Karen Tinney, who usually trains Clare, says
“He is just a lovely horse to ride and have around. Clare rides him most of the time but occasionally he will come to us for a week’s training and everyone loves him”
Clare and Tripples
Clare has had great results on him from his very first event at the SIEC Newcomers in February where he came second and has been consistently placing at Intro level at events since; he’s also been a bit of a whizz in the dressage arena with wins and placings earier this year. Stuart rode him in the EvA95 at Sydney @SIEC to finish fourth, a great achievement for the horse’s first start at this level.
“We think he has lots of talent and could go a lot further” says Karen “But I don’t think that Clare will part with him, he is so lovely! However, if she decided to be an owner rather than a rider, this is one off the track thoroughbred we’d love to have as a part of the team at Tinney Eventing”
