Victorian eventer Murray Lamperd has had some of his greatest successes on the back of off-the-track Thoroughbreds. When the opportunity arose to become a Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer, it was a natural progression.
Murray Lamperd has always been a fan of Thoroughbreds as eventing horses. It’s a love that stems from a partnership he had more than 25 years ago with Propaganda, a horse that took him to an Australian national title. “He’s probably one of the horses I have the most affection for,” reflects Murray. “He has a big place in my heart.”
Later on, it was another Thoroughbred that took the Victorian around the world to some of eventing’s most prestigious venues. “Under The Clocks had a big influence on my career. Mick Kent trained him originally – he raced under the same name and had 20 starts for two wins. Mick put us onto the horse, as he wasn’t quite going to make it as a show jumper or as a show horse. We got him as a seven-year-old and he was a magnificent horse who we ended up taking overseas as an 11-year-old.”
Before heading overseas, Murray and ‘Ninja’ finished on the podium in the five-star at Adelaide, and then went on to complete Burghley twice – finishing 10th in 2014 as the best performed first-timers. They also competed at Badminton, Luhmühlen and Aachen, and were members of the Australian Olympic Squad in preparation for Rio 2016.
“To be honest, early on I just didn’t know if we were ever going to get him settled enough,” recalls Murray. “In the end, he was competing in front of hundreds of thousands of people on the cross country, and in stadiums of 10,000 people. Not without consideration, but he was amazing the way he could handle that. He did a lot for us.
“Both Propaganda and Under The Clocks were so similar; sensitive, but they’d do anything for you and I had a very deep relationship with both of them. We achieved a lot together.”
More recently, Murray has found himself partnered with another talented off-the-track Thoroughbred named Secret Mojo. The now 14-year-old gelding, by Keffelstein out of the Big Boost mare, Ulterior Motive, only had four starts in his racing career before being retrained and ridden by a number of riders. Owned by Raenor Priest, he came to Murray’s stable two and a half years ago – and this year they successfully stepped up to four-star level, with Secret Mojo ultimately being named Off The Track Eventing Horse of the Year.
A NATURAL PROGRESSION
With Thoroughbreds always having been a part of Murray’s life, he watched on with interest when Racing Victoria launched their Acknowledged Retrainer program ten years ago.
Not wanting to be involved in something unless it was quality-driven, Murray sat back initially and observed – and over time he became convinced that Racing Victoria were really on to something. “From what I’ve seen it absolutely is (quality-driven); Racing Victoria has made steps in the right direction at every point along the way to develop quality control, safety and accountability.”
Taking his observations into account – and coupled with the natural benefits for an eventer in having a connection with the racing industry to scout potential competition horses – Murray took the plunge and became a Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer earlier this year. He hasn’t looked back.
“Like so many of the Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainers, (retraining Thoroughbreds) is just something we had always done, and done successfully,” Murray explains. At present, two of his four eventers are OTTs, and half the riding school horses at Stonesthrow Equestrian Centre – the Whittlesea-based business that Murray and partner Jade Wishart began developing a few years back – are OTTs as well.
Murray’s aim is to always find the right path for each horse. After some initial retraining, he says many are able to join the riding school program with the more experienced riders, and this then forms part of the retraining process. Those that show more talent to go on as serious competition horses may change paths and either join his eventing team or find competition homes, while others remain in the school or find homes with those that want pleasure horses or to compete and have fun at the lower levels. It’s all about horses for courses and finding the right match.
“Secret Mojo was actually the OTT
Showjumping Horse of the Year last year.”
TRANS-TASMAN GOAL
On the competition front, Murray has a few show jumping events to close out the year where he’ll take a team, including Secret Mojo. Heading into next year, the Racing Victoria Off The Track Jumping Series at Boneo – which is run over three events in February, Mach and April – is also on the calendar.
“Secret Mojo was actually the Off The Track Showjumping Horse of the Year last year,” notes Murray, adding, “We’re not going to push his show jumping height-wise too hard now that he’s an established eventing horse; his comfortable level is probably 1.25-1.30m. We’ve got to strike that balance between testing him and encouraging him push himself to get better, but also keeping him super comfortable as well.”
Murray’s big goal with the gelding is to make the Australian senior team for next year’s 2023 Oceania Eventing Championships, which are to be held in Hasting, New Zealand in March. “I think at this stage that would be realistic and a good test for him to try and qualify,” Murray enthuses. With the Australian eventing season disrupted by wet weather, Murray is anticipating there will be competitions coming up early next year where they’ll hopefully be able to put their best hoof forward in front of selectors.
FINDING THE NEXT STAR
Like every professional rider, Murray always has an eye out for his next star – but he admits that he’s so busy with his current team and developing both the property and business at Stonesthrow Equestrian Centre, that he actually hasn’t got the time to scout horses directly from the track himself. Fortunately, as a Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer he now has many coming through his doors – and he’s always on the lookout.
“There are the basic things, such as the conformation and being an athletic type… but there’s no looking at a young horse and going ‘that’s the one’ in terms of developing into a high-level eventer. I must admit, whenever I’ve thought that I’ve usually been wrong!” laughs Murray. “I think it’s when you get further into the partnership that you really figure out what their qualities are. You’ve just got to test them and the only way to do that is to ride them and then compete them and see how they react at competitions, and how they change over time.
“The thing about eventing, it’s like being an all-round sports person but we’re talking about horses, so they’ve got to have pretty good decision-making skills under pressure, they’ve got to be able to have a never-give-up attitude, and they’ve got to have a good amount of athleticism – but the latter is not necessarily everything. You’ve of course got to make sure there are no obvious soundness issues, and then all along the way you’ve got to keep an eye on them when they get to the higher levels, because a horse that seems completely sound at a lower level may not be at the highest level where the demands are much stronger. You’ve got to monitor where the horse’s limits are and what limits are presented to you along the way.”
Having enjoyed great success with Propaganda all those years ago, and then more recently with Under The Clocks and now Secret Mojo, Murray hopes that down the track another OTT with international potential will find its way to Stonesthrow. “Competing in Europe was amazing for me and I’d love to do that again with another Thoroughbred. There’s a background hunt going on all the time; you’re just keeping your eyes out for the right horse.” EQ
This article was written in conjunction with Racing Victoria’s Off The Track program. You can find out more via OTT Community.
READ MORE ABOUT OFF THE TRACK HORSES:
Astro, the Horse of Many Talents – Equestrian Life, November 2022
Thoroughbreds in Their Element – Equestrian Life, October 2022
Thoroughbreds Making Their Way to Melbourne – Equestrian Life, June 2022
Thoroughbreds Shine in the Ring – Equestrian Life, April 2022
A Grand New Career – Equestrian Life, February 2022
The Women Transforming Equine Welfare – Equestrian Life, December 2021
Clear Vision for a Better Future – Equestrian Life, October 2021
A Thorough Belief in Thoroughbreds – Equestrian Life, September 2021
General Ready To Conquer Again – Equestrian Life, June 2021
Sparks Fly When Cutting Meets Racing – Equestrian Life, May 2021
