It’s far too late for race callers and form analysts to change the pronunciation of the name of the big mare who staged a “Winx like” finish to win on Saturday.
For commentators and listeners it shall remain as it appears - Nettoyer. For language teachers and students of the French language it should be “Net-twa-yay” - the verb for “to clean”. Part owner and trainer Wendy Roche gets all the credit for the name. “It wasn’t hard in view of the fact that her dam is Cleanup and her grand dam is Feather Duster,” says Wendy.
It’s possible this mare would have been cast aside long ago had she been in anybody else’s care. Apart from taking forever to grow into herself, she’s possessed of a foul temperament - one that would have exhausted the patience of most modern day trainers. Today’s owners don’t want the massive expense of slow maturing horses and few trainers want them in the stable.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Hugh Bowman was pleasantly surprised when Nettoyer came from last to win on Saturday.
Wendy was attracted to the Sebring - Cleanup filly when she scanned the pages of the 2014 Inglis Easter Sale catalogue. She’d been bred by Robrick Lodge and was being offered by Riversdale Farm. “I thought she’d exceed my meagre budget, and I had runners at a provincial meeting on the day she was being offered,” recalled Wendy. “It wasn’t until the next day that I realised the filly had been passed in. To cut a long story short, I made enquiries and secured her privately for $20,000.”
That purchase price looks like an absolute “steal” alongside her current bankroll of $573,450 but for Wendy Roche the journey has been one of valleys and peaks. First problem was the filly’s lack of maturity. “As a yearling she looked like a foal and she wore a pony bridle until she was three years old,” says Wendy. “She has started to bulk up only in the last twelve months. She now weighs 522kgs and stands 16.3 hands. She weighed 522 before Saturday’s race and was the same weight on Monday morning. She was unfazed by her last to first win.”
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Wendy and partner John Crowley clutch the Aspiration Quality Trophy after Nettoyer's spectacular win.
Wendy and her partner Dr John Crowley raced the mare themselves until a year ago when breeder Greg White bought a share.
Now to the temperament of a horse who wouldn’t have lasted five minutes in many modern day stables. Her bad habits are legion. From the earliest days of her breaking in regime, she could throw herself down and stay on the ground for interminable periods. She learned how to rear early in life and is still pretty adept at the art.
Wendy is the only work rider she’ll allow on her back at Warwick Farm track work sessions. That’s if they can get her onto the track. “She has to wear ear muffs and needs a handler on either side or she just refuses to budge,” says the trainer. “Even on Saturday she propped with Hugh Bowman just after leaving the enclosure. She didn’t move until I ran out onto the track and chased her up.”
Here’s another annoying habit. Nettoyer insists on being allowed to canter back from the training track and most of the way home. “If you try to make her walk or trot, you’re asking for trouble,” says her long suffering trainer.
And there’s her constant need to be biting people. “She bites like a stallion and means business every time,” says Wendy. “I’m always ready for her, and we issue warnings to any unsuspecting prey.”
Many have forgotten the serious training track injury Nettoyer suffered as a late three year old. She had just won a Randwick 3YO event (BM72) by an amazing ten lengths over 2000 metres on a Heavy 10 surface. “She may have been flattered by the heavy ground, but we aimed her immediately at the upcoming Queensland Oaks,” recalled Wendy.
Onlookers were aghast just a week later when the filly pulled up suddenly during a track gallop on the Pro-Ride track at Warwick Farm. “At the moment we learned she’d broken her pelvis, I thought her racing days were over after just three race starts,” said Wendy. “It’s hard to believe she’s still racing three years on and doing what she did on Saturday,”
The big mare has since won four races including three at Group 3 level, and has placed in five other Gr 3’s and one listed event - a massive tribute to a trainer of rare patience and inherent skill.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Wendy and Rachel King were all smiles after a win by Ardanza.
Wendy Roche was born and reared in the bustling little northern NSW town of Murwillumbah where she reached a high level in the eventing and show jumping pursuits.
The gifted horse girl later moved to Queensland where she and partner Barry Butler mixed horse training with barramundi farming. Time would eventually see Wendy back in Murwillumbah as a registered horse trainer. For the next four years she had a hands on involvement with her small team of horses and got to ride a power of trackwork.
Around twelve years ago Wendy made the move to the NSW Southern Highlands where her partner Dr John Crowley runs the respected Silver Pines Veterinary Clinic. John is a grandson of Sir Brian Crowley, grazier, owner, breeder and racing administrator who was Chairman of the AJC from 1962 to 1974.
Sir Brian’s knowledge of bloodlines was a significant factor in his selection of a yearling filly at the 1942 Inglis Sale. By Royal Step out of Lambent, the filly was knocked down to him for only 62 guineas. The aptly named Flight went on to win 24 races for 31,000 pounds, making her the highest stakes winning mare of her era. From one of her daughters (predictably known as Flight’s Daughter) he bred the full brothers Skyline (Golden Slipper and Victoria Derby) and Sky High (Golden Slipper and AJC Derby) - both by the celebrated Star Kingdom.
Veteran racing observers are reminded of the deeds of the great Crowley horses whenever they see runners jointly owned by Wendy Roche and John Crowley. John was able to retain his grandfather’s striking colours of dark blue, orange diamond, sleeves and cap. It could have been the ghost of Flight storming down the outside on Saturday, when Nettoyer unleashed her amazing burst.
Wendy and John live on a property at Mittagong where all of their horses are pre trained, but those racing are stabled at Warwick Farm - that team currently numbers ten. The hard working trainer leaves Mittagong at 3.30am most mornings to supervise proceedings at the Farm - especially when Nettoyer has to gallop.
The star boarder has an ambitious programme ahead. She’ll be nominated for both the Gr 3 Epona Stakes and Gr 1 Ranvet Stakes on March 21st, and the Gr 1 Coolmore Legacy Stakes on April 11th. “She also holds a nomination for the Star Doncaster but even if she gained a run, it wouldn’t be the ideal path,” says Wendy. “Regardless of what happens during the Sydney carnival, we’ll be looking at the Hollindale and Doomben Cups later in the year.”
Image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics - Wendy wondering what Nettoyer might get up to next.
A win by Nettoyer in any one of those autumn features would go a long way to squaring the account with her devoted trainer. In the meantime it’s business as usual. Constant biting, stops and starts at the training track and whatever unexpected prank the mischievous mare comes up with next.
But then again what would you expect of a horse who’s happy to eat chocolate, bananas, sandwiches, and schnitzel burgers and never knocks back a cold beer. They threw the mould away when they made Nettoyer.
(Banner image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Nettoyer hurtles down the outside to win at Randwick.)