Cluden Winners Taylor-Made for Clinton

Rockhampton trainer Clinton Taylor looks set to continue his extraordinary winning strike rate at Cluden Park tomorrow and take another step in a plan to one day ply his trade in Brisbane.

Taylor and his wife Erin have established one of the most successful new stables in provincial Queensland and built an imposing away record in Townsville with 18 winners at an almost 50% strike rate.

The stable will saddle up three runners tomorrow – targeting the two QTIS 3yo Mdns with El Of A Senorita and Show And Go, and Magnetic Drive in the Top Shelf Training BM 65 Hcp (1400m).

Taylor nominated El Of A Senorita, a half-sister to the good mare El Of A Saga, his best chance in the Brown Brothers QTIS 3YO Mdn Hcp (1300m) to continue his great run at Cluden.

“It’s a long way to Townsville so we have to try and get it right when we go that way,” Taylor said. 

“The Rocky track is a lot harder. I really like going to Townsville. It’s got good give in it and they always present the track in terrific order and I really like racing there.

“The horse I’m probably there for is El Of A Senorita. She’s been very unlucky, she gets to the 1300m which I think she’s been crying out for, and she’s the one out of the three that I think will be the hardest to beat.

“Show And Go was an improved run last time but from the outside gate from the 1000m there it’s a bit difficult. She’s got good speed and if she can cross them she’s a chance but it all depends on how she jumps and whether she can get a breather somewhere.

“Magnetic Drive is a model of consistency. She’s been a terrific horse for her owners and I’d love to see a down pour up there. The wetter the track the better she races. She’ll be around the money, she always is.”

Just four years into a full time training career, Taylor is already on 43 winners this season and on track to surpass last year’s stable high of 54 wins.

He says his close association with leading Brisbane-based jockey Justin Stanley has played a big part of the stable’s success.

Stanley has ridden almost half of Taylor’s 157 career winners and will be aboard all three of the stable’s runners tomorrow.

“We’ve formed a terrific partnership and he’s a very close friend now, more than just a stable rider, and we probably talk on a daily basis,” Taylor said.

“He works very hard for me. There’s plenty of times he’s ridden trials for me in the morning and then flown to Townsville to ride later that day.”

Another key factor in Taylor’s success is his focus on buying well-bred young horses – many by gun stallions Spirit Of Boom and Better Than Ready - and targeting the QTIS scheme.

The stable unearthed the exciting filly Chinny Boom last season. The filly has won six of her seven starts, including a 6.5 length romp at Cluden, and boosted Taylor’s profile in the State after a win and a Listed placing in Brisbane late last year.

“We went with a model which is a little bit different to most. Most of the northern boys chase the tried horses where a lot of the horses I take to Townsville are QTIS horses,” Taylor said. 

“We chase the QTIS money – they’re horses I fortunately got to pick myself.

“We spend three days at the Magic Millions, come home with four horses. We’ve had owners give us horses and we mostly just chase the QTIS scheme really.

“Chinny Boom was actually passed in at the sale. One of my owners bred her and put her in the sale and she was passed in and he gave her to me to train.

“I was the under-bidder for her half-sister by Encryption who went through the sale yesterday and went for around $90,000 to Tony Gollan.

“I actually have a terrific strike rate with Spirit Of Boom. He’s a stallion I’m really focused on but he’s really hard to get – they’re very expensive now. He’s a terrific stallion and I think they can all gallop.

“I seem to have a little trick with them – I think they like to have their runs spaced – and we’ve had good luck with them.”

Taylor, whose father Garnett runs a successful stable on the Sunshine Coast, is delighted with the success he and Erin have enjoyed so far.

But they are thinking ahead with a long-term plan to train in Brisbane.

“When Erin and I started we had a 10 year plan, and we’re half way into that plan, that’ll end up with us in Brisbane and racing,” Taylor said.

“That’s the big picture and in the end where I’d like to be, but right now we’ve just got to stick to what we’re doing. I pride myself on placing them where they can win.

“We clock up more kilometres than most and taking them where they can win is the key.

“My wife Erin is a massive part of the team. I’m on the road a lot and she keeps things ticking here. She worked for John O’Shea in Sydney in the days when he had Private Steer and Charge Forward.

“I run a lot of things by her and she makes a lot of decisions - it’s not just my decisions that’s for sure.

“We want to work very hard and one day play with the big boys.”

The Cluden card kicks off with the Carlton & United Breweries Mdn Plate (1609m) at 12.57pm.

Pictured:Top jockey Justin Stanley and trainer Clinton Taylor with Seductive Spur after landing a big win at Cluden last week. They will chase more success with three runners tomorrow.

See the racing calendar for upcoming race days.