Sinclair scores first training win

Waverley horsewoman Nicole Sinclair is on cloud nine after recording her first win as a trainer at Otaki on Friday when Ziggy Khan (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) took out the Foxton New World Foxton Cup (2100m).

Runner-up in her two previous starts, the six-year-old mare jumped a $4 favourite and duly rewarded her backers with a half-length victory over Jungleland, much to the delight of Sinclair.

“I am absolutely rapt,” Sinclair said. “It is really cool that my first win is a Cup win.”

Sinclair said she was relatively confident heading into the public holiday meeting, but she did share concerns about Ziggy Khan’s recent busy schedule.

“I was worried because she has done a lot within the last month, we have backed her up,” she said. “But she comes through her races so well and so strong and is loving it, so we were confident.”

Sinclair has been around horses her entire life and followed the usual path of riding in pony club as a child before progressing into racing, where she worked for Waverley trainer Bill Thurlow for several years and competed as an amateur jockey.

“Mum and Dad were both horse mad, so I didn’t have much choice,” Sinclair quipped. “I rode pony club and that sort of thing.

“I started off working for Bill Thurlow and I worked for him for years. I had my amateur (jockey) licence as well and Dummy (Kevin Myers) gave me my first ride and win as an amateur, and I won the Duke of Gloucester Cup, so that was pretty cool.”

Sinclair won three races as an amateur rider before taking out her trainer’s licence in 2008, and she trained for two seasons before taking a break from racing to concentrate on raising her family.

“I did train years back, mostly pre-trainers, and I trained a couple,” Sinclair said. “I then had quite a break when having kids.”

While dormant, Sinclair still had the racing bug and she didn’t take much convincing to return to ride track work a couple of years ago, and this season she decided to rejoin the training ranks.

“Harvey and Ann Wilson got me back into riding track work a couple of years ago and Mark, my partner, and I have got horses here of our own, so I was pre-training them around the farm and I thought I may as well take my licence back out.”

Sinclair’s dairy farm and children keep her busy, but she makes time to train a couple of horses, and she is loving life back in the saddle.

“I have just a couple in work at the moment and after winter I will bring a couple of more in,” she said. “With kids and the farm, I just work a couple, and I ride a bit of work for Harvey and Ann.”

With a win now under her belt, Sinclair is hoping there are many more to come, and that could be at short notice, with Ziggy Khan set to return to the races in the coming weeks.

“She will have a couple of quiet weeks and then we will push on, she is enjoying winter racing,” Sinclair said.