For most Victorians the Racing Carnival means a day off and a chance for an unofficial long-weekend, but for others it means long hours and hard work to get their thoroughbreds ready for the big races.
For the Gelagotis family, this period is particularly etched in their calendar. Out of their property in Moe, Peter Gelagotis trains 25 thoroughbreds, while his brother Manny takes care of the welfare of the business – and they are starting to build an impressive CV.
After 15-plus years in the industry, Manny tells Neos Kosmos that it was his father, who first migrated to Australia as a 16-year-old in 1956, who first got the family involved with horses.
“Dad always owned horses in the early to mid-90s, he bought an eight-acre property in the outskirts of Moe in ’91 and said ‘I might train a couple of nags’ and that’s how it all started – and we used to help out.”
“By the mid-90s Pete was about 27 and I was 25, I was playing soccer in the national league, so whilst I loved horses I couldn’t do it, and my brother took one of dad’s horses to Moonee Valley and it won and then he caught the bug. Peter took the business on and where it was a sort of hobby and doing OK – dad won a few races – Peter took us to the next level. He’s carved out a sensational … well, especially the last five years, it’s been outstanding.”
Peter and Manny have transformed the business from a training field of 25 horses, which Manny explains is relatively small compared to some based in Melbourne, who train hundreds of horses at a time. Manny puts the business and Peter’s successes down to their boutique model.
“The pinnacle of horse racing is attracting clients for success, and Peter’s been the champion trainer of Gippsland for I think eight years.
“Pete’s the head trainer and obviously he’s pulling through there in relation to what he started. He’s up at 4.00 am every morning training out of Moe and pretty much with our successes it’s commercialised. We’ve managed to attract clients like Gerry Harvey, and once you’re in mainstream racing you’re in the public domain, and Pete’s been very successful.”
Manny explains the seven-day-a-week business is possible due in part to their mother’s support and Peter’s hands-on-deck staff.
Their top thoroughbreds, Mourinho and Hvasstan, have elevated them to the main stage, having competed at the top level over the past few years.
Manny is a strong industry advocate, especially for the controversial jumps racing model, and believes the problems associated with it have been addressed by the racing industry.
“Horses love jumping, sure you don’t want to hear of fatalities, but we accept sports people being killed or injured – motor racing is a high risk sport. To target jumps racing is weak, think of it in terms of recreation or show jumping. Many trainers include as part of their training regime jumps for horses, because it stimulates them.”
“If naysayers and protestors continue, they won’t stop at jumps racing. Two-year-old racing, you can’t whip the horse … if I whipped you with a horse whip you wouldn’t feel it, ’cause they’ve changed it, it’s not like it used to be, it’s not like the old strap of years ago, these are more like persuaders, not something that hurts them. Welfare is important and the industry has responded well to that.”
After a week marred by the deaths of Melbourne Cup favourite Admire Rakti, from suspected heart complications, and Araldo, euthanased after breaking its leg on Cup day, Manny says he’s happy with Racing Victoria’s response.
“Horse welfare and safety on a racecourse is paramount. I believe the Cup favourite had a heart attack – unfortunately horses do have heart attacks like humans, and that’s just part of life and that’s unfortunate.
“Implementing changes when the horses come off the track (Araldo) is very positive and it’s great to see Racing Victoria has responded to a really tragic accident. I definitely believe that you can’t do enough to protect the thoroughbred from the public.”
He says horses and socialites should always be separated at large events, so accidents like Tuesday’s are not repeated.