NOTHING BEYOND LIMITS FOR “JACK OF ALL TRADES” CAREY

IF Brian Carey didn’t believe in fairytales before, he does now.

The ex-Victorian, who turns 63 this year and operates a small horse transport business from his Kembla Grange base, has been involved with horses – principally standardbreds – since he was six years of age.

He has bred, owned, trained and driven pacers, but had never owned a thoroughbred until last September.

That’s when he purchased a Victorian five-year-old gelding City Limits online through Inglis with one bid of $1500.

Carey (pictured holding horse) was riding some trackwork for Kembla Grange trainer Diane Poidevin Laine and decided he best buy himself a horse to maintain his interest.

“They told me not to make a bid on the first day, and to wait until as late as possible,” he explained.

“I put in a bid of $1500 and got him.”

Not only does he ride the gelding slow work, but took him in his float to Canterbury last night and strapped him for the Benchmark 64 Handicap (1900m).

Guess what! With expat Frenchman Pierre Boudvillain aboard, City Limits came from a clear last in the back straight, and burst through between runners in the last 200m to snatch a nail-biting victory at $31 over $2.25 favorite Sting In The Tail, who almost lost his rider Nash Rawiller in an incident soon after the start.

“It was a fairytale for sure,” said Carey this evening, still over the moon nearly 24 hours after his remarkable result.

“This was City Limits’ first start in town and only his fourth for us after two placings in the country (at Goulburn and Nowra) and when I legged Pierre up to go out for the race, I told him I would be happy if the horse ran about sixth.

“But he said: “We’ll finish closer than that’.”

Ironically, runner-up Sting In The Tail is a member of the Chris Waller team, and Carey rode work for the all-conquering trainer for two years after the onset of COVID-19.

“I saw an ad for a trackwork rider, and Chris hired me,” he said. “After watching me ride work one morning, he told me I was a natural.”

Carey and his wife Carole subsequently moved to Kembla Grange, and said one of City Limits’ former owners rang Poidevin Laine after he had bought him to say the gelding never got used to the environment of being in a big stable (previously with nine-times Group 1 winning trainer Greg Eurell at Cranbourne), and might be better off in a show arena rather than the racetrack.

“I started riding work for Diane through a client who owned one of her former horses Jamberoo, whom I had transported,” he said.

Coincidentally, Jamberoo (now trained at Randwick by John O’Shea and Tom Charlton) was Poidevin Laine’s previous winner, at Kembla Grange on April 24 last year.

Adding to Carey’s fairytale result was that City Limits could easily have instead started at Queanbeyan last Tuesday.

“I noticed that Diane had accepted with him for a Benchmark 58 Handicap (2000m) along with nominating him for Canterbury,” he said.

“My four-horse angle float, which I have taken horses in all over NSW and to Queensland and Victoria and a couple of times to Adelaide, was being refurbished.

“I would have had to borrow a float, and asked Diane if she could wait for Canterbury.

“She was kind enough to do so, and I went and picked up my float on the night of the Queanbeyan race to take him to Sydney.

“I race him in the same colours (black, yellow H and quartered cap) as I did with my pacers.”

Carey was smitten with horses when as a six-year-old he stopped riding his bike and patted a standardbred over the fence at harness trainer Jack Moore’s property at Maryborough in Victoria.

“Jack finished up letting me ride (not drive) some of his pacers after he had given them their daily workouts,” he said.

“He won the 1969 Inter-Dominion Grand Final with Richmond Lass.

“As a 14-year-old I got exemption from school to work at the late great Ballarat horse trainer Noel Kelly’s stables. Wayne Treloar was apprenticed to him at the time.”

. HOOFNOTE: The versatile Carey has another string to his bow.

He has won awards for ballroom dancing and after moving to Sydney from Victoria in the Olympic year (2000), met his wife at Hornsby RSL Club one Tuesday night.

“After dancing with her for six brackets, I was cheeky enough to plant a kiss on her,” he said.

“We were married 12 months later.” Story John Curtis, February 23, 2025 - Pics Bradley Photos