Peter Moody counting down the tasks before he can get down to the business of training racehorses
When you're a four-time premier Melbourne trainer you know you have the training aspect under control, so why is Peter Moody still on edge out just weeks from his return?
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It’s head down and ticking off the thousand tasks which need to be completed for Peter Moody as he counts down to his return to training after four years out of the game.
Moody has circled May 1 as the day he’ll become a trainer again but before that he’s got to prepare his stables for his return.
Moody walked away from training in March 2016 after he was suspended by Racing Victoria stewards for six months for unintentionally administering cobalt to Lidari.
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The four times Premier Melbourne trainer and the man who put the polish on the undefeated super sprinter Black Caviar to win 25 races from 25 starts announced in January this year that he planned to make a comeback.
Moody has taken possession of his stables at Pakenham where he has 40 boxes and he said he’s got a lot of work to get them in the order he wants.
“People and the horses are the last bits of the puzzle and they’ll be the last to enter the stables,” Moody said.
“I’m still proceeding for a first week of May kick-off and May 1 is the day I’m looking at.”
“Until then I’ve got to get the stable ready. I’ve got to get the feed room right, get saw dust bedding in to the barns. I’ve got to get to the feed bins in and set them up plus all the horse riding and leading equipment.”
“The last thing to enter the stables will be the people and the horses. I’m very mindful too of the safety protocols and getting the work done while obeying them.”
“I only paid for my trainer’s licence last week and I haven’t even thought about putting in stable returns yet for the horses.”
Moody predicted he wouldn’t have a runner under his name until possibly mid-May.
Two horses running at Geelong on Wednesday — Shepherd and Cernan, who he owns but are trained by David Brideoake will return to his stable and could be his first runners.
Moody isn’t expecting to make a big splash when he returns.
“It will be mainly young horses I’ll get in. I won’t be hitting the ground running.”
Moody has been busy purchasing yearlings over summer. He said he bought eight yearlings in New Zealand and six last week in Sydney.
“Also I’ve got a few I’ve bred and a few I’m in partnership with so I’m going to have around 30 yearlings and I’ll pick up a few more so they’ll be the majority of my horses.”
Moody said he would have 100 horses on his books initially and would have less than half in work at any one time.
He said he would also use his property at South Belgrave to train 10 horses and they would be mostly horses in pre-training.
“My wife Sarah, will run the business and my daughters will also be helping me.”
“I’m looking forward to getting out of the house and getting back into it. The scale I’ve set up will be a manageable one.”
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