NIGEL Blackiston is well versed in the art of being patient with his horses after being born and raised under the English system of training and spending time working with Australia's greatest horse trainer, Bart Cummings, reports The Age (www.theage.com.au)It says: Now a trainer in his own right, the Englishman will take the knowledge he has gained from the best of both worlds and use it in mentoring the lightly raced but highly gifted gelding Menados when he competes in the final of the $150,0
NIGEL Blackiston is well versed in the art of being patient with his horses after being born and raised under the English system of training and spending time working with Australia's greatest horse trainer, Bart Cummings, reports The Age (www.theage.com.au)
It says: Now a trainer in his own right, the Englishman will take the knowledge he has gained from the best of both worlds and use it in mentoring the lightly raced but highly gifted gelding Menados when he competes in the final of the $150,000 Winter Series final at Flemington on Saturday.
Menados is certain to be well in the market after his short but highly successful career, which was capped off at Flemington 10 days ago when the four-year-old impressively scored in the Provincial Plate.
''He's been a horse that's needed time and he only came to me as an unraced three-year-old so we have been patient with him,'' Blackiston said.
''But he's also met with a few setbacks that haven't helped.
''He chipped a bone in his leg and just after he got over that he managed to break his lower jaw. So his setbacks have meant that he's raced only a handful of times. But those problems we hope are very much in the past.''
Raced on lease, the horse will remain with Blackiston for the next three years and a further option of another year could also be activated if required.