Search for next star keeps Roy young at heart

Just ask champion trainer Roy Chillemi and he’ll tell you his success is all about numbers.

Premierships are nice to have, but these days producing good young horses to tap into the rich QTIS bonuses is the number one game.

Now in his 70s, Chillemi collected his 17^th Townsville trainers’ title this year as the number one trainer for good friend and the north’s king of racing Tom Hedley.

The partnership produced 21 winners at Cluden last season, enough to beat Tablelands neighbour Sharlee Hoffman (19) whose effort to finish second with a small team was extraordinary in itself.

Overall Chillemi trained 39 winners across the north, a majority were in two and three-year-old races.

As he gears up for another Townsville season with six runners at Cluden tomorrow, a decision in the last five years to focus more on yearlings than tried horses has given him a renewed energy for the game.

He says there’s no better motivation than the thrill of producing another exciting young galloper like last season’s brilliant two-year-old and Horse of the Year Missile Thunder.

“It’s nice to win premierships but that’s not why we race. Most of our horses are young horses these days and that’s fine with me,” Chillemi said.

“Having young untried horses gives me a bit of a thrill and excitement because you don’t know what you’ve got until you bring them along.

“You buy a nice little horse (yearling) and you hope you end up with a Ferrari. And we’ve been fortunate to have produced some nice ones – Tyzone (2020 Stradbroke winner) , Tennessee Boy, Palencia, and now Missile Thunder.

“They won races like the Pallarenda and the 2yo Classic – that’s all there is to do here in the north. They can’t do any more.

“We had a terrific year last season with Missile Thunder (unbeaten in six starts) and Go Getaboy.

“Missile Thunder was very exciting and very classy and Go Getaboy was a revelation.

“He won seven races and improved with every start, and there’s no doubt he’ll get 1400m or a mile. I just have to be careful how I manage him.”

Missile Thunder was undoubtedly the headline act in 2021/22. The Smart Missile gelding was never overly pushed in his six wins and recorded sizzling sectional times with his devastating acceleration.

Chillemi resisted the temptation to head south with the brilliant galloper and instead stuck to his guns to tackle the $100,000 2yo Classic in June.

They say there’s no such thing as a certainty, but this was a forgone conclusion.

Missile Thunder wrapped it up in a few giant bounds in the straight with his jockey Stephen Wilson enjoying the ride.

The next day a slight swelling in a knee threw a scare into the camp.

Extensive x-rays revealed Missile Thunder had a bone chip which was swiftly removed.

Chillemi said the gelding is receiving all the treatment he needs and won’t return until he’s 100 per cent.

“Giving them time is the thing. We’ll be making sure he’s fully recovered before he comes back in. Early May maybe,” Chillemi said. “But you don’t rush these things.”

But already the stable’s focus is on the new recruits with 12 two-year-olds going through the Chillemi-Hedley system this season.

After early education in the south-east, the youngsters will join the Chillemi team in two batches of six.

The first crew have already had jumputs and are being prepared for official trials at Atherton on October 8 ahead of  Pallarenda Stakes day at Cluden on October 22.

Chillemi doesn’t give too much away but says his babies are shaping up well, and made special mention of a Spirit Of Boom youngster.

In the meantime, the business of “numbers” continues for the Chillemi-Hedley firm on the eight-event Cluden card tomorrow.

Chillemi expects to be competitive even with his number 1 stable jockey Wilson out with injury.

He thinks his best chances are Heroic Boy and Neveton in the TAB 3yo Hcp (1200m), and likes the way restricted class galloper Smarty Lee is shaping up for the TAB Cl3 Plate (1200km).

His good older galloper Love Is Blind, who he has developed from a yearling, may be headed south for a no metro win at Eagle Farm next month depending on how he performs in the Mitavite Open Hcp (1200m).