ALLENDORF’S NOSTALGIC VISIT BACK TO KEMBLA GRANGE

GEOFF Allendorf wound back the clock at Kembla Grange last Saturday.

It was fitting that the now Wyong-based trainer should have his first local runner at a track where he rode many winners, including the 1985 Brambles 2YO Classic on then buddling topliner Myocard, who broke the 1200m track record, and subsequently won the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) at Royal Randwick.

Kembla Grange also was the scene of his last Australian ride as a jockey when he won a Class 2 Handicap on Baby Face on October 31, 1998.

Of course it would have been even more fitting had his first runner back training in Australia been a winner – but it wasn’t to be.

Nonetheless, Allendorf (pictured above in Macau) was ecstatic when The Pacific, the $51 outsider of the eight-horse field in the Class 1 Handicap (1000m), ran second to Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker’s All The Way Mae ($7).

“The Pacific is a five-year-old, and the oldest horse in my stable,” Allendorf said today.

“He hadn’t raced for nearly 10 months, and I didn’t expect him to win but felt he would run well just the same.

“I knew his condition would give out at the end, but he whacked away well to hold second.

“Before Saturday, I had only been back to Kembla once after riding my last winner in Australia there.”

A Queensland native from Cairns, Allendorf rode successfully in Sydney and later also had great success riding and then training at Macau.

“I was the first trainer in Macau to get Joao (“Magic Man”) Moreira to come over, and he rode a Gold Cup winner for me,” he said.

“Joao also rode my second Derby winner.

“I spent three decades in Macau, and would still be there except racing closed there two years ago when the Government stripped Macau Jockey Club of its licence.”

Allendorf bowed out on a winning note, training a double at the last meeting.

He said he returned to Australia and worked for Equine International Air Freight, helping ship horses to a number of overseas racing venues.

“To be honest, I never thought I would ever train in Australia,” he said.

“I was on my way to the Caulfield Cup for a social day last year when a call came to ask if I was interested in being the private trainer for YP Cheng’s new racing venture Mathland.

“My first priority was getting a new knee and once that was done in January, I started work at Wyong.

“YP Cheng said he would buy me some yearlings. I expected about 10, but he bought 30.

“As with all babies, we’re going through the process of having them broken in, then educating them.

“Whilst The Pacific is the only older horse I’ve got, we have seven two-year-olds currently in work.”

Onlookers at Kembla Grange last Saturday and Sky Racing TV viewers could have been excused for thinking The Pacific was racing for fellow Wyong trainer Nacim Dilmi because of the red and yellow colours of Domeland.

Explaining the situation, Allendorf said Domeland is managed by YP Cheng’s son King.

“The colours are very similar indeed,” he said.

“YP didn’t want to change his colours because they were carried to victory by his Australian Group 1 winner Northern Drake (1999 wfa Yalumba Stakes, 2000m at Caulfield).

“Northern Drake was runner-up to Might and Power in the Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley the previous year, and also ran second to Champagne in the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington a week later.”

STORY JOHN CURTIS, MAY 11, 2026 - PIC SUPPLIED