From the moment Front Page walked nonchalantly onto Geoff Duryea’s three horse angle loader at Corowa last Thursday, the trainer wondered what could possibly go wrong this time. Two years ago he was just half an hour out of Corowa with the then four year old on the same trailer, when a freakish mishap robbed him of a Kosciuszko start. Geoff and his wife Maureen were suddenly conscious of uncharacteristic movement in the float and pulled up immediately to investigate. They were horrified to discover that Front Page had taken skin off a hind leg and above one eye. The latter wound was already starting to swell. “To this day we don’t know what happened. Something obviously spooked him causing him to go backwards onto a hind leg, and then forward which caused him to bang his head. “I knew instantly they wouldn’t let him start in the race,” recalled Geoff. “I got Marc Van Gestel on the phone and explained what had happened. When I described the injuries he told me to turn around and go home. It was one of the saddest days of my life.”
It was to be many months before Front Page would make it back to the races. After recovering from the legacy of the float episode, the chestnut was put back into work only to exhibit some front leg lameness. Scintigraphy revealed “hot spots” in both front fetlock joints. It was back to the paddock again. He resumed in August of 2021 with two unplaced city runs before improving sharply to run second to the smart Lombardo at Moonee Valley. Just when Geoff’s dream of a Kosciuszko start was gathering momentum, disaster struck again.
The trainer was shattered as he watched the gelding come off the track following his final gallop before the 2021 Kosciuszko. Front Page was unmistakably lame in a hind leg. Scintigraphy revealed another “hot spot” with a hamstring strain thrown in - the Kosciuszko curse had struck again. Yet another long spell gave mother nature time to do her job. Seven months later Front Page stretched out brilliantly to outclass the opposition in the Wagga Town Plate, a race Geoff had always wanted to win. Talented young jockey Tyler Schiller was on board for the first time.
Tyler and Geoff enjoy the moment together after Front Page's brilliant Kosciuszko win - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
A few weeks later he wasn’t disgraced when out of a place but only 2.8 lengths from Ocean Beyond in a stakes race at Flemington, before contesting the $150,000 Golden Topaz at Swan Hill. He led them up before finishing a close fourth behind the very smart Triple Missile. “We put him away after Swan Hill with a hard and fast plan to go into the Kosciuszko first up. At last our plan came off. He led pretty much under his own steam on Saturday and I knew he’d take some rounding up down the straight. I’ll admit I was pleased to see the post come up, but he was never really in danger. We were all delighted that local boy Tyler Schiller was able to celebrate his twenty fourth birthday on the horse we call “Gus”. Our congratulations also to the Queanbeyan slotholders led by John Hurley who put their faith in our horse.”
After two aborted attempts Front Page finally got his Kosciuszko - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
The Front Page story began when Geoff purchased his dam for $20,000 at the 2009 Inglis Weanling Sale. Named Stacey Lee, the daughter of Bel Esprit was raced by friends of the Duryea family and did well to win five races despite ongoing knee issues. “She could really let down in her races, and there was little doubt she should have gone to greater heights,” said Geoff. “When her owners decided not to breed with her I decided to buy her as a broodmare. A few friends got involved and the story is now well known.”
Stacey Lee’s first foal raced as News Girl winning five races including three at Caulfield and accumulating $339,000 in prize money. Her second offspring is News Girl’s full brother Front Page, whose prize money haul rocketed to $1.35 million after Saturday’s emphatic Kosciuszko win. Third foal is a Stryker filly named Page Three who developed leg issues and didn’t make it to the races. Stacey Lee’s three year old Dundeel filly was sold at the 2021 Inglis Easter sale and is now in work with Simon Wylde under the name of Deeling Aces.
Geoff is currently looking forward to testing Stacey Lee’s two year old Rubick filly who’ll race for the Duryea family as Group Chat. “She broke in as well as you’d expect and went straight to the paddock,” said Geoff. “She’s with the pre-trainer right now and will be back in the stable shortly. I’m looking forward to letting her slide along a bit this time, to see if she’s inherited any of the family ability.”
The Duryea family hope Group Chat can do something like this! Front Page was dominant in the Kosciuszko - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
The moment Front Page flashed past the post on Saturday the value of a certain filly foal at Corowa went through the roof. His full sister was born seamlessly on the Duryea property last month, and couldn’t be in better shape. She’s the sixth foal of fourteen year old Stacey Lee who’s emerging as a pretty handy broodmare.
To the victor go the spoils! Stacey Lee's boy was responsible for this handsome set of trophies at Randwick on Saturday - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Seventy year old Geoff Duryea has waited his turn to find the winner of a $2 million dollar race at Royal Randwick. His racing life began in the mid 1960’s when he began an apprenticeship with the legendary Berrigan trainer Bert Honeychurch, who mentored young jockeys almost as successfully as he trained his team of racehorses. He trained professionally from 1946 to 1983, winning over 2000 races and clinching 14 SDRA premierships. Bert died on Melbourne Cup day 2015 at the grand age of 94. Apart from Geoff he also guided the careers of top apprentices David Heywood, Brian MacDonald, Bill Cameron, Neil Shelton and Bob Beasley.
Here's Geoff Duryea winning on Maritana for his boss Bert Honeychurch.
“Mr. Honeychurch was a wonderful horseman and a good boss,” said Geoff. “He let me go to Melbourne whenever I got offers from city trainers, and put me on many good horses from his own stable. He helped me to win two apprentices premierships and to ride around 600 winners all up before weight got the better of me. I had a great run in country cup races in Victoria and NSW winning features at Wagga, Albury, Benalla, Kilmore, Wangaratta, Hay and the Marong Cup run at Bendigo.
Geoff on his favourite horse Red Hope at Berrigan in the early 70s. He rode Red Hope in the 1973 Melbourne Cup.
“One lovely horse I rode many times for the boss was Red Hope. I won a Wagga Cup on him and got to ride him in the 1973 Melbourne Cup won by Gala Supreme. He had developed a slight breathing issue by that stage and it came against him over the two miles. I followed the winner most of the way, but Red Hope struggled in the last bit. He still managed to beat several horses home and I’ve never forgotten the occasion. I owed it all to Bert Honeychurch.”
Geoff was only thirty one years old when the horrors of the sweat box brought his riding career to a halt. He applied for a trainer’s licence soon after and is now in his thirty ninth year in that capacity. He has never allowed his numbers to get out of hand - ten horses on occasions, eight most of the time, and currently only six. He operates from a twelve hectare property at Corowa which incorporates a 1000m sand track and swimming facilities. When his horses require a rousing gallop he has only a short trip to the Corowa racecourse where he has exclusive rights these days. “I’m the only trainer using Corowa racecourse at the moment,” says Geoff. “It was quite eerie on Tuesday morning of last week when we took Front Page in for his final Everest gallop. I asked my track rider Darrin Mathieson to work him 600m and hunt him up over the final 200m. I was the only one to watch his gallop. He wouldn’t have blown a candle out when he came back to the stalls. Darrin and I agreed he was ready to run the race of his life.”
Geoff and Maureen opted to fly to Sydney for their very special weekend - a weekend made even more special by the presence of their daughter Beth who travelled from Europe for the occasion. Beth, her brother Paul and his partner Rhiannon actually transported Front Page to Randwick in the very same float that was at the centre of the 2020 drama. The trio triumphantly returned him to Corowa on Sunday. Brother Marc who shares in Front Page’s ownership was a member of a very noisy cheer squad at Randwick.
This cheer squad was worth at least a length to Front Page on Saturday - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
The five Kosciuszko winners to date have hailed from widespread parts of NSW and the ACT. The inaugural winner Belflyer represented Grafton, Handle The Truth (Canberra), It’s Me (Scone), Art Cadeau (Shoalhaven Heads) and Front Page from the idyllic border town of Corowa. Geoff joins previous winning trainers John Shelton, Keith Dryden, Brett Cavanough and Terry Robinson in declaring their Kosciuszko wins as career highlights. Geoff has the good fortune of training the winner of the first $2 million dollar Kosciuszko. The same trainers can only dream of winning the race named after that other famous mountain. For now the Kosciuszko will have to do.
A magic moment for the former jockey turned trainer. Geoff with the coveted Kosciuszko trophy - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Another one from the Duryea scrapbook. Geoff wins on Smokedash (left of photo) at Sandown.
(Banner image - What a birthday present! Tyler Schiller celebrates his 24th with a Kosciuszko win on Front Page - courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.)