Peter Nolan’s gig as a part-time thoroughbred racing trainer – still savouring his first metropolitan winner a few weeks ago – is threatening to expand quicker than the full-time firefighter can handle.
Hankstar saluted for Peter at Morphettville in November, roughly two years after he earned his trainer’s licence, and just lately his services are in demand.
“I’ve got four horses at the moment, but I could probably have 10 if I wasn’t a firie,” he said.
“I’ve got about 14 months to go until I retire, and when I turn 60 I’m going to mess around with a few more horses.
“But at the moment, I’m just getting inundated with people who want shares in horses.”
Not bad for a former triathlete who was brought up around the harness racing scene and only got serious about thoroughbreds less than 10 years ago.
“Dad trained harness races for many years, I drove trackwork, and from the day we were born we were involved in horses,” said Peter.
“But when Dad retired I never went back to harness racing.
“From about 2012 I just kept looking at the horses and I bought a few shares. At one stage I had 11 shares, and I just kept wanting a bit more and a bit more.
“I actually did triathlons for about 20 years – I did 11 iron man races – but I’d given up and I was a little bit lost; bored out of my brain to be honest.
“I wanted more of an involvement with horses. I told a few mates ‘I’m thinking about going for trainer’s licence at 55, what do you reckon?’.
“They said ‘go for it’.”
And that’s what he did, working as a stablehand for the Niki O’Shea/Ashton Downer stable, and briefly for Lloyd Kennewell.
He spotted a property for sale on the corner of Ellis Avenue and Austral Terrace and set up his first stable.
“So, I moved out of a beautiful house I’d built into this rat-infested dump,” he said.
“But the stables are good and that’s a priority for me: the horses.
“I love it, but the days are hard (being) a full-time firefighter.
“I get up about 3.30am, go and do the horses, do a 10-hour shift with the MFS, come home to do the horses, shower, eat and I’m in bed by about 7.30pm.”
Peter is inside the final furlong of his 35-year career with the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS), but said his MFS workmates continue to enjoy and embrace his second job.
“A lot of them are in (my) horses and they’re ringing me all the time,” he said.
“I get bombarded on a Saturday morning or whenever they’re running; they’re looking for some inside info. It’s hilarious.
“Some of the guys actually come into work early for me, so I can get home to have a gallop on the grass.
“I say to them, ‘What do you want boys? You want beer? You want me to pay it back? You want some money? Or do you want $25 on Hank?’
“They want the money on Hank.”
And why not, as the four-year-old gelding has to date racked up two wins and four placings from his 11-start career, including the last start victory over 1400m at Morphettville Parks, described by Peter as “a massive thrill and a proud day”.
The ‘rookie’ 58-year-old trainer is unafraid to apply some of his life experience to his training methods.
“I do things a bit differently – I use a bit of my background in coaching triathletes,” he said.
“(For example) I use the heart-rate monitor. I was laughed at a bit at first, but the heart can’t lie.
“The horses talk to me through that a little bit, and tell me if they’re sore or overtrained or whatever.”
Hankstar was named after a friend – to Peter and several owners – who passed away with cancer six weeks before the horse’s debut. Peter says the gelding “means a lot to a lot of us”.
If Hankstar can win again today, expect Peter’s band of potential owners to keep expanding.
IMAGE: Peter Nolan with Hankstar after the horse’s breakthrough metropolitan victory at Morphettville Parks last month. The horse is running in race nine at Morphettville today. PHOTO: AtkinsPhotography.com.au