While farmers on the western side of the Great Dividing Range are already nervous about the possibility of an impending dry spell, NSW coastal dwellers are wishing the rain would go away. Buladelah based horse trainer Joe Burges is one of them. Despite the satisfaction of a TAB Highway win at Gosford with McKeon, Joe was in sombre mood on Sunday morning as the sweeping mid north coast showers continued. Anxious to take a couple of horses to the beach, he was waiting for a break in the weather to load them onto the stable truck. “The rain hasn’t stopped here for weeks,” said the trainer. “Our property is absolutely sodden and there’s no sign of it going away just yet. There’s nothing I’d like more than to be able to send it out west for a while.”
To Joe Burges, Sunday is little different to any other day of the week. If a trip to the beach fits into the programmes of certain horses on his small team, he loads them onto the stable truck and undertakes a trip of more than 40 km to idyllic Hawks Nest beach where equine activities are encouraged by the Mid North Coast Council. Joe has a good knowledge of the local tidal pattern and is able to judge the best time to gallop horses alongside the Blue Pacific. He rides every horse himself and is able to warm them up at the trot along nearby bush trails after which he has the choice of several entry points to the beach. Joe then has the pick of three distances over which to gallop - 850m, 1250m or 1500m back towards the truck. A wade in the surf is regular procedure at the completion of the work.
Most of the Burges horses get to spend time at beautiful Hawks Nest beach.
Joe's view from the saddle as Mckeon prepares for a workout at Hawks Nest beach. They beat the sunrise on this occasion.
Mckeon had visited Hawks Nest beach a few times since her pleasing sixth to Ballinderry Sal in a Randwick TAB Highway on April 19th. Joe couldn’t have been happier with the mare going into Saturday’s Gosford assignment and was equally delighted to gain the services of in form Alysha Collett. The expat Kiwi jockey was having her first ride on Mckeon and her first for the Burges stable. Other than telling Alysha to keep the mare’s mind on the job and to give her galloping space from the 600m, Joe left it up to a young jockey who has 75 NSW winners on her CV for the current season.
Mckeon left the gates cleanly and settled one off the fence in the thirteen horse field. Collett started to ride the mare along from the 700m and had no hesitation in making her run three and four wide. The recent increase in the hometurn camber enabled Mckeon to continue making ground when pushed even wider on the corner. She set out after leaders Ritzsun and Bakhita at the 200m and always looked to have them covered. Responding to a trademark vigorous Collett ride, Mckeon claimed Ritzsun and Bakhita in the last few strides with Caribbean King getting home strongly into fourth spot.
Alysha Collett gets Mckeon home narrowly from Ritzsun (centre) and Bakhita in Saturday's TAB Highway - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
With a team rarely exceeding a dozen in number, Joe Burges doesn’t expect to have a TAB Highway runner every week. Testimony to his talents is the fact that Mckeon provided him with a fourth success in the series in just over four years as a professional trainer. Markwell Dreamer was the horse to get him on the board early in 2022, ridden coincidentally by Alysha Collett’s brother Jason. Seven months later the quirky Zaru gave Joe a second Highway success when Sam Clipperton got him home at Rosehill. The same horse was the trainer’s third Highway winner at Randwick in July of 2023 with a swag of placings in between.
Joe is one of an increasing number of owners and trainers who spend many hours sifting through catalogues for the bi-monthly Inglis Digital Sales. He spotted Mckeon among the entries for the May 2023 online edition and immediately noted that she’d been a $180,000 purchase for Peter Moody at the 2021 Magic Millions Sale. The best of her four runs for the Victorian trainer was a second placing in a Mornington maiden, and not long after she landed in the Tony Gollan stable in Brisbane. For whatever reason the premier Queensland trainer severed connections with the Hellbent mare after one unplaced barrier trial effort. A few months later she popped up in the Inglis Digital catalogue.
“The Hellbents were starting to emerge as serious horses, while Mckeon’s dam Darcibelle had raced only six times for two wins, a Kembla maiden and a Cl 2 at Gosford both by handy margins,” said Joe. The granddam Royal Season hadn’t won but she was by the top sire Royal Academy. I also noticed that she’d started at a pretty short quote in a two year old race at Caulfield. She finished well back, but the quote suggested she must have been showing Peter Moody something at the time. I was pretty chuffed to land her for $2250 and equally pleased when my great mate Russell Evans joined me in the ownership. I got an extra thrill when she finally arrived at my place because she’s an absolute cracker to look at. I did with Mckeon what I do with most of my online purchases. I put her straight in the paddock for an indefinite period before starting from scratch.”
Versatile horseman Joe Burges - equally at home on a campdrafter or tending to a horse's teeth - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
It was four months before Mckeon debuted for her new trainer. She’s now had seventeen starts in the Burges colours for four wins - a Newcastle maiden on the Beaumont track, a Cl 1 at Muswellbrook, a BM 64 at Newcastle and Saturday’s gutsy win at Gosford’s stand alone Saturday meeting. Her two second placings were also good performances. She was beaten under half a length by Golden Decade in a Randwick TAB Highway and ran Sumo Fish to a neck in the Country Championship Qualifier at Port Macquarie in February. She took her place in the rich Final at Randwick finishing officially tenth around seven lengths behind the talented Know Thyself. The five year old mare has won around $184,000 since entering the Burges stable, many times more than her modest online purchase price.
The weekly TAB Highways often throw up a good story, and four time winner Joe Burges is a classic example. The thirty nine year old was a master exponent of the campdrafting art before drifting into the training of thoroughbreds. He was successful at the top level from teen years, and on three occasions represented his country in World Championship Invitational events at the Sydney Royal. Nowadays his workload as a professional trainer greatly restricts his ability to compete as a campdrafter, but his wife Emma continues to be active at a high level in the sport as is his nine year old daughter Connie. “Our girl is absolutely crazy about horses and loves any kind of competition,” says Joe. “Our seven year old son Harry likes horses and rides well, but several other interests are starting to creep into his life.”
Here's Joe at work in the sand arena at his Markwell property.
Joe is totally resolved to keeping his team down to twelve horses. He tried managing a bigger team for a short time and actually rented a few boxes at Taree racecourse in order to increase his numbers. The experiment failed. “I hated it to be honest,” says the trainer. “I like to ride every one of my horses in trackwork and enjoy being around them all the time. With sixteen or seventeen horses I simply couldn’t do that. I needed to employ outside help and found I couldn’t keep track of every horse and its characteristics. I quickly got back to twelve horses which is my perfect number. They’re all at home and under my nose. I occasionally get a freelance rider to help out if I need to gallop two horses together.”
Joe and Emma live on a fifty hectare property at Markwell about ten kilometres from Buladelah. He has the use of several large paddocks with shelter sheds and a few stables if needed. Another ace up his sleeve is a roomy sand arena in which he’s able to give the thoroughbreds valuable conditioning work. A recently installed treadmill is proving to be a massively helpful tool. “I don’t know how I ever did without it,” says Joe. “It’s absolutely perfect for trot and canter work and can be used for much faster work if necessary. I prefer to restrict them to steady work on the treadmill and take them to Tuncurry racecourse for a searching gallop when necessary. It’s such a wonderful help in wet weather. Between the arena, the treadmill, Hawks Nest beach and the Tuncurry racecourse we’re able to get them how we want them come race day. In between times they spend a lot of time in the paddock. They’re pretty happy horses.”
Riding campdrafters and training thoroughbreds are not Joe’s only equine talents. He also happens to be one of the most skilled horse dentists in the district. There was a time a few years ago when his services were keenly sought by horse people of all denominations, some of them far afield of Markwell. “For a while before the gallopers came into my life, I was garnering a living training campdrafters and running a horse dentistry business,” Joe recalled. “I used to devote one or two days a week to the dentistry work all over the place. I had clients at Tamworth, Inverell and Goulburn. Sometimes I’d work so late I’d have to stay in a motel somewhere and get home the following day. I’m pleased to say those days are behind me. Nowadays I look after my own horses only and concentrate on finding more TAB Highway horses. I’ve got to say studying those Inglis Online catalogues is almost a full time job in itself.”
Joe really has no idea why Mckeon has found a new lease of life other than her obvious delight whenever the boss lets her go in a paddock full of fresh grass. The recent rainfall has delivered any amount of new grass on the Burges spread. “She’s a funny old girl,” says Burges. “Early on she would walk out of the barrier and had no interest in tacking onto the field. Month by month and race by race she gradually started to jump better and was happy to get up among other horses. Take Saturday at Gosford for example. She didn’t fly the gates but was away with them and was very responsive when Alysha Collett started to put her into the race midway through the 1200m race. She joined in on straightening and wanted to do nothing else but hit the line. She’s going very, very well and I have no idea where we go from here. She’s out of Highways so we’ll have to look at the right BM races in Sydney or Brisbane. In the meantime, I’ll get myself onto the Inglis Website and see if I can find another Mckeon or two. Surely there are one or two in every catalogue just pining for some country air and fresh grass up to their bellies.”
Alysha Collett chats with Joe as she unsaddles Mckeon at Gosford. The mare's strapper is part owner and Joe's great friend Russell Evans - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
(Banner image - Mckeon pricked the ears right on the line in Saturday's Gosford TAB Highway - courtesy Bradley Photographers.)