Just over 18 months ago, Michael Kent Jnr joined Mick Price as his co-trainer and on Saturday, the 30-year-old scored his first Group 1 win when Odeum took out the G1 Thousand Guineas at their home track of Caulfield.
Kent Jnr is no stranger to elite-level winners with his father, Michael Kent Snr, a three-time Group 1-winning trainer himself but he said it was a huge thrill to land the milestone win, albeit with no crowd at the track.
“It was absolutely unbelievable,” Kent Jnr told TDN AusNZ. “While there was no crowd there at all, the raw emotion still flowed through me. I actually went to hug the two strappers and Kelly Price stopped me.
"It was a great race to do it in because it’s a classic but it’s also a race I’ve been involved with through my dad. He’s always had a good filly every year and he’s gone very close to winning it, but for her to win it so easy was most exciting.”
Odeum
Despite Melbourne being stuck in significant COVID-19 lockdown, Kent Jnr still found a way to have a quiet celebration at home with his partner.
“I went back to my partner’s place with the trophy and had a couple of glasses of champagne for sure,” he said. “Too often racing is full of disappointment so I’m a big believer that you’ve got to cherish the good moments and there was none bigger than winning the Thousand Guineas on Saturday.”
Leading into the race, jockey Michael Walker was bullish about Odeum’s chances and when asked how he felt ahead of Saturday, Kent Jnr and Price were both quietly confident in her chances.
“I wasn’t outlandish and declaring her, but Mick and I were very confident that the timing was perfect for her,” Kent Jnr said.
“I wasn’t outlandish and declaring her, but Mick and I were very confident that the timing was perfect for her." - Michael Kent Jnr
“With the way she won the Jim Moloney and her coat wasn’t quite through yet but she just improved.
“She looked a million dollars going there on Saturday and even Jayne Ivil agreed, she was the pick of the yard, she just blossomed.
“She’s very unassuming at trackwork and doesn’t win her gallops but we were confident that with the way she won her lead-up race and improved, as long as things could work in her favour, she’d be thereabouts.
“But we never could have imagined that she would win by two and a quarter with her ears pricked.”
The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne always heats up heading into the spring carnival with many believes the NSW horses have got the wood over their Sydney counterparts.
With two high-class fillies in Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}) and Vangelic (Vancouver) making the trip down to Victoria for the Thousand Guineas off the back of placing in the G1 Flight S., Kent Jnr said he was proud to represent his home state in the winner’s stall.
“It was special, there’s always a little rivalry there,” he said.
“I would guess that those two fillies didn’t run to their best, they had to run on a hard track at Randwick and there was a very fast tempo in that race and to then travel down here to Melbourne.
"But you would have to say that she (Odeum) is very untapped. I think the way she won, she’s still doing a lot of things wrong and she’s no doubt open to more improvement.”
Untapped
As for Odeum’s future plans, Kent Jnr said she came through her Thousand Guineas win with flying colours, leaving the door open for her to target some more spring riches over the next month.
“We’re just keeping her in this week to have a look at her,” the co-trainer said. “She’s taken no harm at all from the run, she looks brilliant, she’s very bright and has amazing body condition.
“I think she is still on the way up but we’ll know for sure by the end of the week.
“The thought is to possibly give her one more run, that would either be in the G2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic on Cox Plate Day or run her against the mares in the G1 Empire Rose S. on Derby Day where she’d get in on a very light weight which is certainly very appealing.
“Fillies like Shoals and I Am A Star both ran second in the Guineas and came out and won that race so they do get in very well at the weights.
“Just the way she’s come through it, she’s very, very bright and well so it’s very exciting.”
Michael Walker gives Odeum a pat after winning the G1 Thousand Guineas
A dream come true
Reflecting on the past 18 months since joining Price on the ticket, Kent Jnr said it has been a dream come true and believes himself and his senior co-trainer have built a formidable relationship which has helped along the way.
“It’s been unbelievable,” he said. “If you had asked me a few years ago what I’d be doing, I never would have imagined that I’d be training alongside champion trainer Mick Price and training a Group 1 winner at Caulfield. It’s blown my mind.
“If you had asked me a few years ago what I’d be doing, I never would have imagined that I’d be training alongside champion trainer Mick Price and training a Group 1 winner at Caulfield. It’s blown my mind." - Michael Kent Jnr
“While it’s a huge job, it’s something I find very natural. I’ve had an amazing grounding and I’m very thankful to my father who always pushed me to learn as much as I can and travel around the world.
“Being alongside Mick is a perfect fit. We get along so well, we never disagree, we really complement each other I think.
“It’s very much still he’s the master and I’m the apprentice and I’m learning off him, but I’m a second set of eyes and I think we’ve got an amazing team here.”
Quality yearlings
Kent Jnr also credited the stable’s loyal clients and Price’s aptitude for picking out quality yearlings for their rich vein of success to start the new season.
“It’s so important to get a fantastic database of clients and we have access to some great yearlings,” he said. “We don’t get given all the top lots from the big breeders either, we go and source our young horses and I think no one does that better than Mick Price.
“What a sale he had at Magic Millions last year, he got Our Playboy, picked up Odeum and Night Raid, so the majority of horses he buys himself and syndicates down to his owners.
“What you buy at the sales is what turns into success the following year, so I definitely would say that Mick Price is one of the best at buying yearlings, that’s for sure.”
Night Raid was another 2019 Magic Millions purchase
The 2020 spring carnival is Kent Jnr’s second as a trainer and the main difference for him since his first carnival has been the quality of horses they have had in the stable.
“Everyone always told me that Mick always has a good Caulfield carnival, but last year it was very quiet but we had an average crop of 3-year-olds,” he said.
“Funnily enough, we had a very small team but managed to get three wins during the Cup week at Flemington. This year, the difference is our crop of 3-year-olds for sure.
“I remember when I first got to Mick’s, I was jumping on and having a feel of the babies as they were coming through and kept saying ‘gee, this one feels fantastic, this one has got a beautiful action,’ and we ended up having a quiet 2-year-old season and I was surprised, but there were a lot of talented horses there but they weren’t mature enough.
“We gave them the time they needed and hence you’ve seen a lot of 3-year-olds this spring that have gone and won their maiden and have gone straight into a stakes race and won again.
“We’ve just looked after them and it’s really paying dividends this spring.
“We’ve just looked after them and it’s really paying dividends this spring." - Michael Kent Jnr
"I’m not sure how much ammunition we’ve got left to fire. Hopefully, we can get one or two into the Derby or the Oaks and we’ve got Oceanex who is going to be a chance to run in the top 10 in Melbourne Cup all being well.
“But we’ve got a lot already that are still going to need a bit of time and we’ll see them in the autumn so we’ll see how we go there.”
The first major goal for any young trainer is generally to win a Group 1 race and now that he has done that, Kent Jnr said his goals now are to just keep winning them.
“The feeling is addictive,” he said. “It’s what you strive for and I can’t say Odeum won’t win another one.
“The thing with that filly is, the one defeat she had she was hampered severely at Moonee Valley, but her three wins have all been by a big margin with her ears pricked, so you just wonder how much she’s got left that hasn’t been tested yet.
“I’m certain she’ll win another Group 1 and I suppose the ambition for me is simply just to train more Group 1 winners.
“I’m loving the role and we’re not a stable big enough to win a premiership but we’re thereabouts and for us, it’s just all about training good horses for good people.”
