Writen by
Sport 24h
11:08
-
0
Comments
Takeover Target’s Rags To Riches Story From ‘Broken Down
Dud’ To Champion Racehorse
Proud Takeover Target owner and trainer
Joe Janiak understandably gets emotional when he reflects on champion Takeover
Target’s fairy tale rags to riches story.
It’s a story firmly entrenched in racing folklore with the
former taxi driver turning a $1,250 purchase into an international racing
sensation which accumulated more than $6 million in prizemoney.
Takeover Target was tragically put down in June 2015 after
injuring himself in a paddock accident, aged 15.
Owned and trained by Janiak, the champion sprinter finished
his career with a phenomenal 21-6-4 record from 41 races.
Originally told that he had bought a “broken down dud”, Janiak
threw caution into the wind and bought the yearling for just $1,250 and as
history would dictate, it was the beginning of a famous racing rags to riches
story.
“If I had known the story behind him, I would have never
put my hand up to buy him,’’ Janiak told Unibet racing expert Craig Moore.
“But 99 percent of the people who were there at the sales,
they knew the story behind him, they knew he had ability but he couldn’t just
produce it.
“And even when I sort of lined up to pay for him, the bloke
in front of me, he said ‘mate you’ve bought yourself a dud, that horse had just
broken down’ and I said ‘oh well, I’m stuck with him now’.”
As fate would dictate, Takeover Target’s maiden win was by
7 lengths in Janiak’s hometown of Queanbeyan and it was the first of seven
straight wins as a legend was born.
Takeover Target went on to win eight Group 1 races and he
won in every Australian capital city, becoming the first horse to achieve that
feat since Dark Ksar more than 30 years ago.
The champion sprinter also raced around the world and won
major races against the world’s leading sprinters in marquee sprints in
England, Singapore and Japan.
Despite his success and widespread popularity overseas,
especially in the UK where a bar in Ascot is named after the horse, Janiak
fondly recalls his Salinger Stakes win at Flemington in 2004 as Takeover
Target’s most memorable race win.
“To me personally when he won the Salinger, it’s an
achievement for me to win a group race which I never thought I’d be able to
do,’’ Janiak said.
“Probably the horse’s personal best would be winning in
Japan where he beat the best sprinters in the world and then in his final year,
when he won the TJ Smith.
“That was just a phenomenal win and he just beat the best
sprinters in Australia that day.”
Injuries though, threatened to derail the champion
sprinters’ racing career and he was never a healthy horse from the get-go.
Janiak nursed him to peak fitness by looking after him,
spacing his runs and keeping the weight off his back.
“The horse always had the ability, but he wasn’t suited to
the Sydney way of training,” Janiak explained.
“He needed space, and he needed a different approach to him
which I was lucky enough to be able to give it to him and it worked.”
In addition to the Salinger, Janiak and Takeover Target
joined forces to collect wins in the Lightning Stakes (2006), Newmarket
Handicap (2006), King’s Stand Stakes (2006), Sprinters Stakes (2006), Doomben
10,000 (2007), KrisFlyer International Sprint (2008), TJ Smith Stakes (2009)
and The Goodwood (2009).
All of those wins were piloted by champion jockey Jay Ford
(pictured below) with Nash Rawiller jumping in the saddle for the TJ Smith
Stakes.
Janiak’s owner and training relationship with Takeover
Target extended beyond the champion sprinter’s whirlwind achievements on the
racetrack.
After a rocky start to their partnership where Janiak
sustained a hefty blow to the head from the horse which saw the trainer receive
30 stitches, their relationship quickly grew into an impregnable bond.
“He was a nasty horse from the day go, probably because of
all the pain he was going through from his younger days and being stabled all
the time,’’ Janiak said.
“The first six months, had a lot of problems with him, he
reared up and struck me and put 30 stitches in my head, but I eventually got
around to him.
“I found out what he liked and found out he liked the same
things I do, which was to drink beer or bourbon!”
So, what’s next for Janiak?
The former taxi driver is still involved in the racing
industry and while he hasn’t trained for the last couple of years, he still
maintains an interest in breeding at his stable at Coffs Harbour on the NSW
North Coast.
There’s also the possibility of a movie about Takeover
Target, and while a projected movie hasn’t come to fruition just yet, Janiak is
hopeful a documentary or movie is made about the champion racehorse one day.
“It’s a good story and it keeps people interested in racing
for sure and that’s what everyone dreams about,’’ he said.
Social Buttons