Off The Track: Rebounded

This article is from the July 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

The Telesto (NZ) gelding, Rebounded would have gone down in history as a good racehorse. He won 12 of his 74 starts and had 18 placings for $394,400 in prizemoney. What makes his story special is his relationship with the rider of eight of those wins and current owner, multi award-winning jockey, Mandy Radecker-Stanley.

Foaled in October 2003 ‘Reeby’ is out of, She Is A Lady, a granddaughter of Danzig on her sire line and of 1977 UK and Ireland Race Horse of the Year, The Minstrel on her dam line. The dam line is heavily influenced by Northern Dancer and Telesto by Biscay via Bletchingly on his dam line. Reeby was perhaps not a Champion, but all connected were happy with him and he certainly paid his way.

Mandy’s connection with him began early. “I was apprenticed to the trainer, Pat Duff at Deagon Racecourse in Queensland” begins Mandy, the first female to take out Queensland Metropolitan Apprentice Of The Year. Reeby came into the stables as a two-year-old and I did a lot of his trackwork. He had the reputation of being very strong with the jockeys on race day and Pat said to me; you get along well with him in trackwork, do you want to ride him race day? I’ll give it a go, I said and I became his regular jockey. I rode him for eight of his 12 wins and 17 of his 18 placings. Reeby was a horse that did not want to be dominated; he would rather have a partner. He is the same off the track as well. He is as loyal and generous as the day is long, as long as you treat him as an equal. Riding, whatever you do is not about force and pure strength, you have to find a way to work with them.

“We were not worried about him coming 12th of 15 in what turned out to be his last race in April 2011. He was always a horse that preferred a softer track. He was nominated for a race the following week and at track work one morning, he was not his usual enthusiastic self. He feels a bit flat, I said to Pat when I brought him back. Pat rang me that night after checking him out and said; you can find a paddock for that horse if you want. He’s more than paid for himself his whole career and the owners are happy for you to take him if you want him.

“I sent him to a friends property at Cooroy whilst I found accommodation for him in Brisbane. I found somewhere ten minutes from my house. However, 12 months after, I had to have an operation and I took him back to Michael Lakey’s stables. He was looked after well there and during that time he buddied up with a lot of the young, nervous horses. So he was offered a job and stayed at the stables and became the new lead pony/buddy. He has his own job, and continues to pay his way. The work also keeps him fit; leading horses, down at the beach and keeping the others calm on trial mornings and he is still doing that, although I am trying to slow him down.

“Meanwhile we did a couple of seasons eventing and went as far as CNC Two Star. I love dressage, but early on I became aware that he was getting a bit bored just doing flatwork. I started to introduce some poles and cavaletti and he took to it all like a duck to water and I could tell he wanted to do more. I started doing some combined training competitions (dressage and showjumping) and he thrived at that. So the next step was eventing. I took care of the dressage and he took care of the jumping; 1.25m showjumping and 1.10m cross country. That was big enough for me; he loved eventing and he was much braver with the jumping side of things than me.

“Adults can belong to pony club in Queensland and I belong to Zone 26. Pony club was trying to restart the Pony Club Masters for the older riders and they organised a three-day Championship at Oakey, their first for years. I agreed to go and do the combined training on one of the days. A friend persuaded me to go for the three days and enter the campdrafting. I had to laugh at the idea of Reeby drafting. Come out to dad’s place and we will introduce him to cattle, she said; O righto! Neither Reeby nor I knew what we were doing, but he figured it out enough to go to the competition and not be embarrassing. He has a very calm demeanour and he seemed to communicate with the cows and actually got them out of the camp. On our first run, we got around the first peg and on the second, got around both pegs and just missed the finishing gate.

“That was the extent of his campdrafting, but it was so like him. He is just so beautiful and will have a go at anything I ask him to do. Just five weeks off the track, I took him to have a sidesaddle lesson. He was so funny, as every time I nearly wobbled off the other side, he just stopped and looked at me with a, what on earth are you doing look on his face, are you alright?

“Reeby still has his job at the racing stables and we are both employed by the Brisbane Racing Club to do the official trials at the Deagon racecourse. We have also used him for the learner jockeys and some of the international students from Japan and Korea to learn to ride track work. This is both good and bad, as some of the instructors say, he makes these kids look as if they can ride, and we know they can’t. Some apprentice jockeys have had some experience jumping out of the gates on him and even now he will give them the right feel as he doesn’t just walk out, he really jumps as if starting a race.

“My real love is dressage and he won the OTT Section of the Gala Equine Summer Series held by Caboolture Dressage Group last year and he is training novice/elementary. He was injured by a young horse last year and has not done much jumping since and now the competitions have been cancelled. However, he keeps fit with his work.

“Reeby is just so kind, he has a go at anything, I love him.”

Article: Anna Sharpley. Photos: OzShotz.

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