CANBERRA: Nick Olive Racing Turns Three
Story By Alex Steedman
Saturday, 25 October 2008:  | | Nick Olive's Group 1 placed Zenarta |
Nick Olive currently boasts one of the larger stables in Canberra with over fifty horses on the books. To cater to the growing number of horses, the trainer has leased 15 additional boxes adjacent to his current stables at Thoroughbred Park and employs ten people.
“It's probably a good size now,” Olive said. “A good size which we can manage properly.”
These figures are a far cry from September 2005 when Olive and stable foreman Luke Pepper commenced training six horses.
One of the six foundation stablemates was Group 1 placed Zenarta who got the stable off to a flying start. As a three-year-old, Zenarta placed in the Group 1 Australasian Oaks and the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes.
“She helped to kick things along for us,” Olive said. “It gave us a bit of a profile interstate as well, people really got to know who we were.”
Zenarta was retired in 2006 and it has since been four-year-old Voice Commander who has represented the stable in Group company. He ran second in the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes (1550m) over the 2008 Sydney autumn carnival.
“To have two horses who can run in stakes races in such a short span, I've been pretty lucky,” Olive said. “It's all gone better than what I thought it would that's for sure.”
The crowning achievement of the stable to date according to Olive was winning the 2006/07 Canberra Racing Club Trainers Premiership.
“The Premiership was the biggest shock I suppose,” Olive said. “I thought there was no way in hell we could win a Premiership so early but things just happened to go our way and we won it.”
“Halfway through the season we were leading, we still didn't think we'd win it but when you're leading you're always going to think you've got half a chance. At the time we had 18 horses in work whereas other stables had 40 in work.”
Olive and Barbara Joseph have been quick to fill the top two positions in the 08/09 trainer's premiership race with five and seven wins respectively.
For this season and those to come, Nick Olive Racing will have the same goal as it did when it got underway.
“I just want to get the best out of each horse that comes through the stable,” Olive said. “It'll be the same every year.”
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