Hidden Star (Mollie Fitzgerald) gets her maiden done and dusted at Newcastle 19/05/2026- courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Consecutive Newcastle wins recently by Hidden Star have triggered waves of deja vu for part owner and trainer Mark Minervini. The lightly raced filly was bred in South Australia by Paul Crawford, his wife Ossie and mother Corry who now race the filly with Minervini Racing. She was despatched to Mark’s Newcastle stables in the middle of last year and made her first appearance at the trials in October winning an 800m dash on the Beaumont track. A good second in a Wyong trial followed and Mark made the call to start her off in a Muswellbrook maiden. She finished third and did enough to warrant another run on the Beaumont track two weeks later. “This time she disappointed and lacked the spark she’d been showing,” said Mark. “She’d been up a fair while and had simply come to the end of it. We got her straight into the paddock.”

Hidden Star benefited enormously from a good spell and returned to work with a spring in her step. She was sharp in winning a Wyong trial and perhaps unlucky not to win a Super Maiden on the same track thirteen days later. She went back to last from a wide gate and was forced very wide when she got going at the 500m. She was clearly inconvenienced by a Godolphin runner at the 200m before storming home to grab third, only half a length from winner Gamp. Hidden Star proved the worth of the form with an emphatic maiden win over 1300m at Newcastle on May 19th. Regular rider Mollie Fitzgerald gave her a perfect run in fifth spot one off the fence, before easing into clear space at the top of the straight. Hidden Star let down stylishly and had the race in her keeping at the 200m. The filly actually pricked her ears as she coasted to the line.

It was only a maiden but Hidden Star went through her gears impressively to score with ease - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Suited by an eighteen day gap Hidden Star looked well placed in Saturday’s 1200m Cl 1 on her hometrack. Mark gave punters a “leg up” in a Daily Telegraph article on Saturday morning declaring that she’d done extremely well since her previous win, and was probably a good thing beaten when third at Wyong at her first run back. With Mollie Fitzgerald committed to three rides at the Randwick meeting, Mark was more than happy to replace her with the very capable Rory Hutchings who rode the filly quietly as Mollie had in her maiden win. One out and one back to the turn, Hidden Star set out after leaders Divo and Emalyn on straightening and again showed a sparkling turn of foot to put them away in a few strides. Interestingly Call Me Sassy who got up to run second had been backed into favouritism, but Hidden Star wasn’t impressed and treated the Warwick Farm mare with scant regard.

Two on the bounce! Hidden Star's turn of foot was again evident when she beat Cl 1 opposition with ease on Saturday. Rory Hutchings filled in for Mollie who had commitments at Randwick - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Back to the deja vu part of the story. We’ve already established that Hidden Star was bred by Paul Crawford on his hobby broodmare farm near Meadows, a quaint village in the Adelaide Hills. “Paul breeds half a dozen foals a year and does the job very professionally,” said Mark. “His father, the late Alan Crawford was not only my very first client when I started training, but he also provided my very first winner in 1993. The horse was called Malibu Lights who won a three year old fillies race at Morphettville with Peter Shepherd in the saddle. I had a wonderful association with Alan and I’m so thrilled it continues to this day through his son Paul. Some may have wondered why Hidden Star doesn’t race in my yellow and black stable colours. When Paul asked if we could race in his father’s old colours I was very chuffed. The green and royal blue quarters, white sleeves and cap were the colours worn by my first winner Malibu Lights for Alan Crawford thirty three years ago.”

Mark with one of his best online purchases before leaving Adelaide. The $20,000 acquisition Mica Lil earned $100,000 in prize money before realising $220,000 at a subsequent broodmare sale.

Seven years have passed since Mark Minervini and wife Michelle made the courageous decision to wind down the Adelaide training operation and move to the famous Newcastle training precinct. The move was motivated by South Australia’s prize money deficiency. Despite subsequent injections of funds, prize money levels in the state continue to discourage potential owners from investing in bloodstock. The trainer was understandably nervous about informing owners of his plans. “I expected a sizeable defection but that wasn’t the case,” he recalled. “Many of my owners didn’t come to the track anyway, preferring to stay home and watch the action on Sky. It made little difference where their horses were racing. Most said they’d rather be racing for bigger prize money in NSW.”

The Newcastle Jockey Club made the major transition much easier for the South Australian horseman. He was given twelve boxes to start with and later crept up to twenty four horses. “I wasn’t happy with that number,” said Mark. “I simply couldn’t devote the time to individual horses which had been my custom since kicking off in Adelaide. I gradually worked my way back to sixteen horses which suits me down to the ground. There’s very little I don’t know about every horse in the stable. I can’t imagine how trainers like Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher keep track of hundreds of horses. Every member of staff must have eyes in the backs of their heads.”

Mark got away to a dream start at Newcastle when he won with his very first starter Calipari - courtesy Bradley Photographers.

Mark has always enjoyed training fillies and mares and believes his small number of horses enables him to answer to their every whim. His all time favourite Vormista was a daughter of Testa Rossa and proved a wonderful ambassador for the stable. From seventeen starts Vormista posted four wins and six placings for a very tidy $468,000. She won a 1410m Gr 2 at Flemington in 2007, but is best remembered for second placings in high class Gr 1 races like the BTC Cup, the Manikato Stakes and the Australia Stakes which was still at Gr 1 level when she ran second to Apache Cat in 2009.

Another of Mark’s favourite mares was a product of the newly innovated Inglis Digital Sale in 2018. Perhaps the attraction was the fact that Mica Lil was also by Testa Rossa. In any event he acquired the Kalgoorlie mare for just $20,000 on behalf of a big ownership group who were in for one hell of a ride. One win at Morphettville and a Gr 1 placing in the Robert Sangster saw her accumulate $100,000. The best was yet to come. She later brought $220,000 at a broodmare sale

Mark has established a loyal clientele since arriving in Newcastle and provides them with outstanding communication.

The trainer continues to enjoy the task of training the girls and believes he has a small team of pretty smart three year old fillies on the books currently, in addition to Hidden Star. The first is Anders filly Elska who’s been just behind the placegetters in two recent maidens and is getting close to a win according to her trainer. “I race her with Eddie Boas who owned Stony Bay in the mid 90’s,” he said. “He won two Gr 1’s and ran in several other top grade races. This filly actually races in Stony Bay’s colours and Eddie would get a big kick to see these silks in the winner’s circle again.

“Another filly I like is the well named Busy Bee who’s by Calyx out of a mare called Sticky Beak. She had two runs in April for seconds at Taree and Port Macquarie and raced well both times. She’s had a little break and can only improve. I’m looking forward to Busy Bee’s return. Another one is a Maurice filly called Golden Princess who ran fifth at Wyong at her only start in April before going for a break. She’s one to watch in the lower grades when she returns.”

Mark doesn’t have a single regret about his move to the famous Newcastle training precinct. He’s maintained a steady strike rate despite having to draw on a very small team. The stable has garnered a very loyal owner base, and easy access to several regional tracks has given the trainer a wide range of options.

Apart from his impressive record in identifying likely prospects on the Inglis Digital Online Sales, Mark Minervini is a thoroughly professional trainer whose attention to detail and unshakeable patience are his chief attributes. It’s unlikely that any other commercial operation is more thorough in the field of owner communication than the Minervini stable. Top class racehorses are hard to come by. Should a genuine black type performer walk into Mark’s yard some time down the track, there wouldn’t be a person in the industry not pleased to see it.

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