Bimbadeen Park’s OTT stars

Over the years, the name Bimbadeen Park has become synonymous with successful off the track Thoroughbreds and for very good reason, writes AMANDA MAC.

Located at Werombi, 80kms to the south west of Sydney NSW, Bimbadeen Park is the breaking, pre-training and spelling facility owned by Shane and Niki Rose.

There’s really no need to introduce Shane, the three-time Olympic eventer who last year went from multiple broken bones and a stay in the ICU to, by dint of awe-inspiring determination, riding in the Paris Olympics a mere four months later, while Niki, an accomplished eventer who was on the National Elite Squad and represented Australia, has successfully campaigned any number of off the track Thoroughbreds, some to 4* level. The couple also organise the always well-attended Equestriad, a popular event held twice yearly, one a CCI competition and the other a CCN, in Camden NSW.

OTT horses have taken Shane to the Olympics and to World Championships, but as an 18-year-old at the start of his eventing career, his choice of breed was pragmatic. “Thoroughbreds were cheap and readily accessible,” he laughs, “and at the time I had no money.”

Now the Bimbadeen Park name, renowned for its excellent Thoroughbred and performance horse facilities and services, is also synonymous with some of Australia’s top OTT eventing horses including All Luck, Shane’s team silver Olympic ride, and his current 4* horses The Bandit, who recently took out Racing Victoria’s Best Performed Thoroughbred award, and Matrixx.

For Shane, Thoroughbreds tick all the right boxes. “They’re very trainable, they’re athletic and they want to win. They’re competitive animals so if you get a good one, they’re very good.”

It’s A Knockout, who came along in 1997, was one of the good ones. “He went to the World Championships in Rome in 1998. Then possibly a level above him was All Luck, who went to the Beijing Olympi

cs. He’s probably the most talented OTT I’ve had in all three phases, but unfortunately, he wasn’t quite as sound as you would like. Winning a silver medal was good, but he could have won individual medals if he had been a little sounder. He was a pretty special horse.”

It was Niki who bought All Luck off the track when he was quite young. She educated him and Shane took over the ride a little later. It’s A Knockout, on the other hand, was competing at 2* when Shane bought him, while The Bandit and Matrixx came almost straight off the track. “Matrixx had done a couple of Young Horse classes, but that was about it,” he says.

Matrixx has been with the Rose’s for five or six years now by Shane’s reckoning: “He’s won a 4*-Long and placed in 4*-Shorts. He’s a really nice horse, a genuine individual who really likes his job,” Shane tells me. “When we got The Bandit he’d been in a paddock and hadn’t done anything for a couple of years. We started working with him probably four or five years ago. Some of the youngsters who worked for me rode him to begin with, before I decided to take him on and do a bit more with him, and now he’s going pretty well.”

It’s a fact of life that in the equestrian world, finances sometimes come before keeping a horse, no matter how badly you’d like them to stay. And a few years ago, that was the case with Il Vici, another Bimbadeen protégé who was pre-trained for Gai Waterhouse. Ultimately, he wasn’t fast enough for the track, but Shane could see his potential as an eventer. “But I only had him for a short time. He’d just gone 4* when I was offered a lot of money for him by Phillip Dutton in America. He was a lovely horse; really great nature, moved well and a good jumper. But as I said, money talks!”

If you’re in the market for an OTT, Shane has some words of advice. “If you find a nice one, they’re really lovely horses. The one thing with Thoroughbreds is that the good ones race quite often, so making sure they’re strong and sound is important. If you’ve got that and they’ve got a good attitude, most of the other things you can train, although obviously the better they move, the better they’ll jump. Temperament is definitely massive because it’s the one thing you can’t really change a lot. So, if you can start off with a good temperament, then they’re very trainable and you can get them to do a lot of cool things for you.”

Niki is of the same opinion. “They’re amazing athletes,” she says. “If you get a good one that comes off the track sound and sane, you can’t really go past them. They’ve got natural stamina and a great work ethic, as well as a desire to work with you.”

Niki’s first OTT was her Pony Club ride Dreamtime Jess, followed by Double O Seven, who she took eventing. “He was an amazing horse. I was very lucky to start on him because he was a good mover with a very good brain. He was also a great jumper who rarely hit a rail. He went through to probably what is currently 3* and won both Lochinvar and Goondiwindi.”

Next in line was Lion King, the horse who won the Adelaide 4*-Long, and, Niki says, was probably the best she’s ever had. “He was incredible, too good for me at the time – I was only 17 when I got him. He was very careful and didn’t like to touch a fence, and I think I gave him a few frights. At the end of his career he wasn’t enjoying cross country and I sold him to Jocelyn Park my coach, who took him thought to FEI level dressage.”

More recently, there has been Dreamcatcher and Glenorchy South Park, both who went to 4* level, although Shane competed in the Adelaide 5* with Glenorchy South Park while Niki was pregnant. “He was just a lovely horse,” she says, “nice to work with and nice natured.”

But it was Dreamcatcher that Niki particularly loved. “He pre-trained with us, and I stalked him while he was at the track and managed to get hold of him when he finished racing. He won the Sydney 3*-Long, then I had to have back surgery and Shane rode him in a few 4* events. I was planning on riding him again, but Olivia Shaw came along and was looking for a horse, and they really suited each other so he was sold to her. She’s going great guns on him and just did the Sydney 4*. But the good thing about it is that because Olivia is based here, Dreamcatcher still lives with us so I see him all the time.”

Perhaps sometimes it is possible to have the best of both worlds.

Go to Bimbadeen Park to learn more about their services, or you can follow Shane Rose Eventing on Instagram and Facebook.