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Randwick Inside Mail: Amazing stat will put Pep in your step

If racing had its own version of the Dally Ms, Luke Pepper would just about have to be voted Trainer of the Year.

Shayne O’Cass
5 min read
July 11, 2025 - 12:47PM
Trainer Luke Pepper has a good winning hope at Randwick on Saturday with the in-form Bengal. Pictures: Getty Images
Trainer Luke Pepper has a good winning hope at Randwick on Saturday with the in-form Bengal. Pictures: Getty Images

If racing had its own version of the Dally Ms, Luke Pepper would just about have to be voted Trainer of the Year.

Going into Friday’s Moruya meeting, Pepper’s tally of wins stood at 50.

His stable earnings? $997,355.

His strike rate of winners-to-runners? A truly remarkable 25 per cent.

“It’s been unbelievable,’’ Pepper said.

“The move back to Canberra was the starting of it all I guess. We obviously trained a few winners before we left Scone but it has been amazing being back home.

“I’ve got to sort of pinch myself all the time. There’s a lot of hard work going on, I’ve got a really good team behind me but it is good to see it is all paying off.

“We’ve got to about 30-31 in work at the moment now and for the majority of the season, we have had less than 20.

“So to get this amount of winners and the amount of prizemoney we’ve been able to earn is a credit to all my staff and the support of the owners.”

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Consistency is one thing but Pepper, like all trainers large and small, is eager for another ‘banner-horse’, in his case another Opal Ridge.

“I'd love to run into another ‘Opal’ but look, we just keep working hard and hopefully one comes through the door, that’s all you can do,’’ Takeover Target’s trackwork rider said.

“At the moment, I am just happy working hard and getting winners.”

Pepper can add to his season total by two on Saturday should the stablemates Soul Taker (TAB Highway) and recent Highway winner Bengal perform accordingly.

“We have obviously got a big opinion of Bengal and we brought him back this time of year to see if he can step up and see if he can get himself a slot in the Kosciuszko so he’ll have to keep improving and put his profile out there to hopefully get a spot,’’ Pepper said.

• EXPERT TIPS: Clinton Payne’s race-by-race tips and analysis for Randwick on Saturday

Pepper’s weekend Highway runner is the well-bred Soul Taker who was scratched from a scheduled engagement at Moruya on Friday to participate in her first TAB Highway.

“She was very good first-up,’’ Pepper said.

“She had to go back from a bad barrier and they (the winners) were all on-speed the whole day at Moruya so it definitely wasn’t going to help her winning chances but it was a good, solid effort.

“The owners are keen to have a crack with her and obviously being a set-weights race she is probably not the best weighted in the race but she’s a tough little horse and she’ll run out the mile nice and strong.”

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BEST BET

Race 7 No.3 LULUMON won arguably one of the strongest ‘form races’ on the winter when she skittled Storm The Ramparts and Hi Dubai here at HQ on June 21. For the record, both of the beaten duo won at their respective next starts at Rosehill last weekend. That win was Lulumon’s first run at the Randwick 1000m and interestingly, her other win over the ‘five furlongs’ was art Gosford in May when she beat none other than the Storm The Ramparts.

• Shayno & Mitch’s Randwick preview, tips: $11 chance to ‘fire fresh’

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BEST VALUE

Race 9 No.7 RAZORS is a Godolphin gelding who resumed here in a very strong Benchmark 94 Handicap on June 21 off two solid trials. The market, as it so often does, told the story with Razors. He opened at $12 but drifted to start $18 but for all intents and purposes, he ran much more akin to a $12-shot than an $18-pop when a 2.35-length sixth behind Accredited. Worth noting that the only other time Razors has raced at the 1400m at HQ was when he was beaten a lip in the South Pacific at the Championships.

• Market Movers: $14 into $6 in quaddie closer

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EARLY QUADDIE
Race 3: 4,9,10
Race 4: 5,9,11
Race 5: 3,4
Race 6: 1,2,5,10

QUADDIE
Race 7: 3
Race 8: 4,5,11
Race 9: 3,7,10
Race 10: 1,2,3,5

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PRICE CHECK

Race 6 No.1 AGE OF KINGS was a handy horse back in his early days. He won a 1207m Maiden at the Curragh by four then ran in stakes races for his remaining five starts in Ireland, culminating in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes. Since he has been in Australia, he has contested a Golden Eagle. Linlithgow, Hall mark Stakes and Luskin Star Stakes. At the end of the day, you’d like (and need) to see him do something in a winter Benchmark 88 and he’s $23 for the gamble.

• ‘I’ve learnt a lot’: Sherry keen to build on breakthrough Group 1

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SECTIONAL STARS

Race 8 No.11 KING RATEL was two years, three months and 27 days between runs when he resumed, beating half the big field home here on June 7. The son of a Kentucky Derby winner and Coolmore Classic winning mum was just as good the next time finishing fifth behind It’s A Knockout and credited with two of the quickest 200m sectionals of the race.

Race 10 No.2 GENTLY ROLLED is a stablemate to King Ratel and like him, she too is possessed of a whirlwind finish. This daughter of Press Statement sends out every signal that she was near to her peak after two runs back, that last one a closing third behind Changing Colours at Rosehill Gardens where she clocked three of the fastest furlongs from the 600m home.

• Exciting things ahead for Highway contender So You Are

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TRIAL POINTERS

Race 9 No.3 SUPER HELPFUL will join the ranks of ‘millionaire galloper’ if he wins today. The Joseph/Jones trained gelding’s earnings presently stand at $940,735; a stunning ‘ROI’ on the ‘JJR’ $20,000 outlay at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. Super Helpful has a fascinating record at Randwick. He’s been there 11 times and came away with one third – but he did collect a whopping $300,000. Yep, it was The Big Dance. Looked the part in a Canberra trial last Friday.

Race 1 No.6 KOKATAHI is a son of the Golden Slipper winner Farnan. As good as he is going as a sire, the most likely reason for this horse’s hefty $425,000 price-tag at the Karaka Yearling Sale is that his third dam, Scandinavia, is the grandmother of Black Caviar. This Chris Waller-trained gelding has trialled in unhurried fashion since that most encouraging debut third to his star stablemate Central Coast at the midweeks.

• Waller juveniles to show true Colours at Randwick

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RUNNERS WITH BEST JOCKEY / TRAINER STRIKE RATES
• 47.8% – Race 4 No.4 BENGAL (Nick Heywood/Luke Pepper)
• 42% – Race 8 No.8 PUNTIN (Ashley Morgan/Bjorn Baker)
• 21% – Race 10 No.6 VERY SEWREEL (Josh Parr/Bjorn Baker)
• 19.7% – Race 5 No.9 HOVLAND (Andrew Adkins/John O’Shea-Tom Charlton)
• 19.6% – Race 9 No.6 TIME QUEST (Ashley Morgan/Matthew Smith)

JOCKEY WATCH
• JASON COLLETT: 9 rides, average price $4
• RACHEL KING: 10 rides, average price $6.55
• JOSH PARR: 6 rides, average price $8.75
• BEN OSMOND: 5 rides, average price $9
• BRAITH NOCK: 5 rides average price $10.10

RATINGS RULER (best three Racenet iQ ratings for the meeting)
• Race 6 No.10 PIPPIE BEACH ($3.40)
• Race 9 No.10 IT’S A KNOCKOUT ($3.00)
• Race 10 No.5 CHANGING COLOURS ($4.20)

SECTIONAL STARS (average last 600m)
• Race 4 No.11 CELERITY ($5.60) 34.28 seconds
• Race 4 No.9 FLAME OF HESTIA ($4.80) 34.62 seconds
• Race 10 No.10 SLINKY ($6.00) 33.91 seconds

Originally published as Randwick Inside Mail: Amazing stat will put Pep in your step

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/horse-racing/nsw-racing/randwick-inside-mail-key-stat-that-will-put-a-pep-in-your-step/news-story/686b4766e82feae438604bff951b5658