Albury preview: Trainer Rob Wellington is confident Drumcondra is ready to show his true ability on home turf

Local trainer Rob Wellington is warning punters against being too quick to dismiss his lightly-raced well-bred two-year-old Drumcondra who steps out at Albury.

Trainer Rob Wellington expects strong performances from his two runners at Albury. Picture: Getty Images

Albury trainer Rob Wellington is expecting a much improved performance from his exquisitely bred, almost entirely French colt, Drumcondra, when he steps out for just the second time.

Wellington’s two-year-old was backed off the map when he made his debut at Wodonga on June 28, opening at $6.50 to start $3.50, but fading to finish with just one other behind him in the 10 horse field.

And, while Wodonga is more or less the twin city of Albury, in racing terms it is a world away from Wellington’s home ground as the trainer himself explained.

“It was probably my own fault,” Wellington said.

“We’re getting renovations done on the Albury track and we’ve only got the one way of going which is New South Wales. We used to always get a day a week for the Victorian way of going.

Lachlan King will ride Drumcondra at Albury. Picture: Getty Images

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“He just got completely lost at Wodonga.

“He jumped and just missed it a bit and he just didn’t pick the bridle up. He didn’t handle that way of going and it was a Heavy track that particular day too and he never got through it.

“That’s a mark (against him) how he will go at Albury being a Heavy track but he’s drawn well, the horse is well, and he really needs to race now and just get that bit of education.

“He is ready to run and I look forward to seeing how he goes.”

Drumcondra’s pedigree would have those in France bewildered as to his relatively meagre $10,000 purchase price at the Gold Coast in 2024.

The colt is a son of the Todman Stakes winner Alymerton who is himself a son of one of France’s most prized stallions, Siyouni.

On top of that, Drumcondra’s grandam was placed in two stakes races in France and finished fourth in that country’s Oaks.

“He is a nice horse,” says Wellington.

“He is very mature, he knows his trade, but how he gets through the going and how he handles this one, we are all looking forward to seeing.”

Wellington will saddle-up a second runner of great interest and intrigue, namely Machete who makes her stable debut in the Plus Fitness Thurgoona Maiden Plate (900m).

Marble Point finishes with a rattling sprint, overhauling her opposition in the concluding stages 💫

This filly is from the same family as Puissance De Lune & the current 2000 Guineas favourite, Field Of Gold 😱 pic.twitter.com/uLvVERzZE5

— Racing.com (@Racing) April 21, 2025

“She’s had the one trial and we’re still learning a bit about her,” Wellington says.

“She’s a nice filly that is coming along; 900m might not be here go because she gets back a bit but it is definitely going to help with her first-up run.”

Machete was originally trained in Victoria by Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman.

She was beaten a respectable margin at Sandown-Lakeside on debut before her ‘even’ sixth at Cranbourne on May 9.

“They had a bit of an opinion of her I believe and we picked her up online (for $15,000),” Wellington said.

“She’s been a great acquisition to the stable but I’m not jumping up and down thinking she is a first-up opportunity.

“I think we’ll have some fun with her but it might just take a little bit of time.”

Machete boasts considerable residual value far beyond what Wellington paid for the young filly bred by the man who designed Black Caviar, All Too Hard, Jameka, Ole Kirk et al, namely Gilgai Farm principal, Rick Jamieson.

Machete is by the William Red Stakes winner and Group 1 sire Hellbent out of the Savabeel mare My Emotion.

Her three wins included the 2010 MVRC Moonee Valley Classic and the VRC Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at the same track where Machete’s 10th dam, Rainbird, won the 1945 Melbourne Cup.

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Mark Mason-trained gelding Who Goes There’s perfect record over 1000m at Tamworth goes on the line in another hotly-contested country sprint to finalise the meeting.

Born on Armistice Day in 2019, Mason’s warhorse Who Goes There has won every one of his four battles at the track and trip including his all-the-way victory there on July 4.

“We haven’t really had the opportunity to take him away too much, I know he has been to Sydney, but the races have presented themselves at home so that’s where we’ve stayed,” Mason said.

“I’d say probably the topweight is the one to beat this time, the horse of Jacob Perrett’s (Mystery Lad).

“I think they have met a couple of times and Jacob’s has beaten him and he’s beaten Jac’s horse.”

While not quite in the realm of faultless like his stablemate, Mason galloper Deebo’s own preference for his home track should stand him in good stead when he leads them out in the Kel Penfold Finance Handicap (1200m).

The last at @_TJC goes to the promising Who Goes There - and that's three winners for @reith_christian! pic.twitter.com/BdLaRqATpH

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 30, 2024

The great grandson of 1995 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Royal Tiara has two wins and three placings from his five Tamworth appearances.

And with a similarly compelling set of numbers at the distance and first-up, it is easy to see why Mason chose this race to open his winter campaign.

“Probably the worst part about him is the weight,” Mason says.

“Hopefully he can be in the first five or six and finish it off.’

When it comes to which trainer has the two best bred horses in action, Mason wins hands down, albeit in a dead heat between former John Singleton-bred gallopers, Ma And Pa and Geo.

Ma And Pa is a son of Redoute’s Choice and the VRC Oaks winner, Dear Demi, while Geo is out of Kris Lees-trained Samantha Miss.

Ma And Pa, a multiple city winner and once runner-up to Huetor, has won a trial since his below-standard run at Tamworth on June 27.

“He went that hard early, he just couldn’t finish off,” Mason reported.

“We have taken the blinkers off him and put Grant Buckley on him; just an older head on him to see if he can get him to settle.

“It is probably a bit short for Geo but being the rating they are, it is to find the races for them.

“We’d thought we’d put in this because it’s at home and not a bad race to kick off in.”