Karen Owen and daughter Madeline provided one of NSW racing’s most touching moments of the year when they combined to win the $100,000 Stacks Law Firm Taree Gold Cup with Sound And Vision on November 19th. It was two on the trot for the NZ bred seven year old who’d won a BM 74 at Kempsey nine days earlier. Karen and Madeline were in the winner’s circle again at Taree last week when Seething Chuck led most of the way to win a BM 58.
Madeline’s cool and composed ride in the Taree Cup was lauded by experienced race watchers. She was unperturbed when Sound And Vision was last of the eight runners going down the back, buoyed by the fact that leaders Claptone and Made By Khan were flying in front. Madeline saved lengths by sticking to the fence on the corner before adroitly angling into the clear at the 200m. Sound And Vision grabbed the lead close to home and held off Rogue Bear and Aramayo to give mother and daughter their most important win to date. The slow motion camera captured Madeline’s elation as she went past the post on mum’s hometown Cup winner.
Mother and daughter enjoy the afterglow of a Taree Gold Cup win - courtesy Trackside Photography.
Karen Owen works her team of eight from a property at Wingham where most of their conditioning work is done. She floats them to Taree racecourse when a serious gallop is required. Karen’s husband Adrian is a respected local veterinarian and obviously keeps a close watch on the general well being of his wife’s thoroughbred team. Some years ago Adrian hobby-trained a small team of horses at Rosehill, and Karen actually rode them in their trackwork before hurrying off to her day job.
That day job was her passion for thirty three years. Karen was a respected member of the famous NSW Mounted Police Unit, the oldest mounted group of its kind in the world. During her time at the charming, old world Redfern stables she had constant contact with the many thoroughbreds to pass through the system. Away from work the ardent horse lover spent most of her spare time competing in the eventing pursuit. Soon after her retirement in 2016, Karen and Adrian relocated to Wingham on the NSW mid north coast. Nobody was surprised when the experienced horse woman turned her attention to the training of racehorses.
Karen and Madeline have vice like grips on the handsome Taree Cup trophies - courtesy Trackside Photography.
Karen races Sound And Vision in partnership with her good friend Ed Quigley who was a long time groom with the NSW Mounted Police Unit. With only a handful of horses in work Karen’s win rate in just six years of training has been very healthy. She was elated at the end of August to win her first city race with Fay’s Angels at Warwick Farm. To have daughter Madeline as her jockey, put the finishing touches on a perfect day for the Wingham trainer. Congratulations to Karen on some great work during November. Twelve complimentary bags of Pryde’s EasiPerformance will land in her feed room very shortly.
Sound And Vision switches around the heels of leader Claptone before going on to win the Cup - courtesy Trackside Photography.
