Damien Batters eager for success with exciting new yearlings

After a whirlwind 2022-23 season Damien Batters has named his stable’s rising stars, including one who matched motors with Melbourne bolter Party For Two.

Sunshine Coast racing trainer Damien Batters who has found some success with his up and coming stable.

Sunshine Coast racing trainer Damien Batters says he’s extremely excited for the new racing season with a number of young stars being put through their paces.

With only six horses in work last season, Batters recorded four wins and six placings.

He said his clear standout was taking his two-year-old filly Party For Two to Melbourne for the $2m Blue Diamond Stakes.

“I was really happy with how the season went and with how many we had in work throughout the year,” he said.

“We probably only had six in work at that stage so to take Party For Two all the way down to Melbourne and compete with the best of the best and run second in the Blue Diamond Prelude was definitely a highlight of my career to date.”

Nikita Beriman riding Party For Two in Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

He has since expanded his numbers to around 22 horses.

“There’s about 12 unraced two-year-olds and three-year-olds mixed in with those older and tried horses as well,” he said.

“It’s an exciting mix as we know we want to be more competitive in the metropolitan area.”

Batters has high hopes for some of the fresh-faced horses too.

“We’ve got Party For Two’s full sister who has shown a lot of promise and had an educational jumpout at Caloundra the other day,” he said.

“She’ll go to the paddock for a few weeks but then there’s a Jungle Cat two-year-old from Telemon Stud who has also been going through the same process and is equally as nice.

“We’ve got a lovely Jukebox three-year-old who has shown a lot of promise when being broken in and during his pre-training process.

“He had a jumpout last prep, has picked up a bit of shin sore, but is a big strong horse and probably the surprise packet is a lovely, lovely filly by Barbados.

“She was working alongside Party For Two in the early stages and was equally as impressive as her early but she was growing and picking up a few niggles so we’ve had to be patient with her but I think the owners are going to reap the rewards.”

Queensland apprentice jockey Brodie Moffat (right) and Sunshine Coast trainer Damien Batters. Picture: Racing Queensland

Batters said he was also proud of rising jockey Brodie Moffat make his racing debut.

“It’s been a long journey for him and he’s still got more to learn but it’s amazing to see him grow into the rider that he is and be quite successful in the early stages,” he said.