GREG McFARLANE – HOPING TO “RIDE” HOME HIS FIRST MAJOR AS A TRAINER

GREG McFarlane in his cycling days won the Melbourne Cup on Wheels in record time at Vodafone Arena in 2003.

Now he is hoping to ride home another “major” – this time as a trainer, and on an entirely different track.

Gosford-based McFarlane is chasing a Group 1 breakthrough with a lightly-raced colt on racing’s biggest stage.

He takes three-year-old Kosuke, who has won twice from nine starts, to Royal Randwick for Saturday’s $2m ATC Australian Derby (2400m) on the opening day of The Championships.

Kosuke is one of the bolters at $151 for the blue riband, and will be partnered by Newcastle’s Ash Morgan, now a Group 1 winning jockey after taking the $1m The Galaxy (1100m) on glamour colt Private Harry at Rosehill Gardens on March 22.

Morgan has ridden the colt once previously, and was successful on him first-up at the beginning of this preparation in a Benchmark 66 Handicap (1500m) at Port Macquarie on February 16.

Kosuke then stepped up in trip when a close second to Sunshine Law in a Benchmark 64 Handicap (1800m) at Hawkesbury on March 8, conceding the winner a tidy 3.5kg..

The colt’s first success was in a Class 1/Maiden Plate (1850m) at last September’s Newcastle Gold Cup carnival last September when, as an $18 chance, he came from well back and clearly outstayed his rivals.

McFarlane says it has been a long-range plan to contest the Derby with the colt after purchasing the son of five-times Group 1 winner The Autumn Sun (beaten only once in nine starts) at the 2023 Inglis Classic yearling sale.

“Kosuke was passed in at the sale (for $60,000), but I liked him and negotiated a deal afterwards to buy him,” McFarlane said today.

He then syndicated him amongst a group of clients, which include the ‘Berowra Battlers’.

“I always believed he could stay; he was never fast enough to be a sprinter,” McFarlane said.

Kosuke, who got his name from Japanese origin for Rising Sun, was McFarlane’s first Group 1 runner a fortnight ago when 10th to Broadsiding in the Rosehill Guineas (2000m).

“He was a touch disappointing as I expected him to do a bit better,” McFarlane said.

“But he has trained on well since, and it’s a different format altogether going to the 2400m at Randwick.

“It’s very hard to gauge his chances with three-year-olds coming from interstate and New Zealand.

“However, Kosuke can definitely stay.

“I want Ash to put him into the race, and see what he can do.

“It’s exciting to have a runner in such a big race as the Australian Derby.”

McFarlane is enjoying a successful season, with Sweet Bubbles at Port Macquarie on March 29 being his 15th winner since August 1, lifting his career tally to 189.

His first city winner was Anabaa gelding Baadi Blasted at a Saturday Rosehill meeting in December 2007.

Win, lose or draw on Saturday, McFarlane will be a long way from the hustle and bustle of The Championships crowd two days later when he takes a team of six north to much quieter surroundings at Kempsey’s TAB meeting.

As for McFarlane’s successful cycling career, that is definitely a distant past.

“I don’t even get on a bike these days; I think I’d fall off,” he quipped.

Story John Curtis, April 3, 2025 - Pics Bradley Photos