Bennett’s Big Move
Karen Bennett’s first WA Winner, Malabar Spur NZ. Photo Credit: Jodie Hallows/Hallows Photography
Karen Bennett and her husband Frank landed in WA on January 28 running, and with just their third start in the state have tasted victory with their trotter, Malabar Spur NZ.
The Bennett team made the move to WA from Queensland, settling on 15 acres in Wandering. Karen joked that it is apparently one of the coldest towns in Perth, which she is looking forward to after leaving New Zealand almost 12 years ago. The pair retired when they moved to QLD but later decided to make the permanent move to WA to be closer to their boys.
“My sons are involved in ownership, non-paying ownerships. They’ve both been involved with different horses over the years, so I guess we will be buying another soon.” – She joked.
They currently have three trotters in work; Malabar Spur NZ, Lansbury and Hedge Your Bet NZ, but are on the lookout to expand their team.
“I keep my eye on New Zealand horses, but sometimes you just can’t get them. I will probably try to get some more out of Melbourne shortly. We are mainly into trotters, we have had pacers in the past, but I just like trotters better, but we probably will get another pacer one day, maybe.”
“We had nothing when we moved over. It was just a house, there was no shed just a couple of stables, so we are battling a little bit. We have everything in a shipping container, and we are just waiting for a permit for the shed, so that will make training a little bit easier. We have put our own track in, so we do all the work on them here.” She said.
Originally from New Zealand, Frank was a harness trainer and Karen was a thoroughbred trainer, having metropolitan success at the New Zealand’s main track, Riccarton. They both continued to train in their respective codes when they moved to Queensland, with Karen gaining her harness trainers licence in 2017/2018.
“We retired to Queensland 11.5 years ago and we weren’t sure what to do with ourselves. We brought our horses with us, so we just did that. We aren’t into golf, so this is our hobby.” She said.
Karen’s involvement in harness racing is deep rooted, with her great grandmother, May Haslett owning Ladyship who produced Lordship, who won two New Zealand Trotting Cups in 1962 and 1966. Haslett also owned Emulous who won the 1948 Inter Dominion final.
Whilst the move to WA is new, Karen mentioned that it is a permanent one. Their start to WA was a bit rough with their shipping containers being delayed due to the WA fires, and spending a few days in quarantine with no furniture, but the struggles made that first win so much sweeter.
“People are very friendly in WA, obviously I won a race on Monday and so many came over to congratulate me.” She said.
The Bennett’s moved to WA with minimal contacts; with Lauren Jones being the only WA Harness racing person they knew; Jones used to drive Its Three By Two NZ and Sun Lad NZ in Queensland for Bennett back in 2013.
Ashleigh Paikos