Wednesday 24rd June 2015
Coolamon locals Peter and Wendy Dennis have been involved in harness racing for longer than they care to remember. Peter is a fourth generation harness trainer while Wendy was brought up in pony club but the love for horses is something they both have in common.
They have experienced the thrill of owning a winner previously but they enjoyed the biggest highlight of their careers on Saturday night when Peter trained and drove his first winner. Lookbutdontouch, a seven year old mare scored a narrow but important victory at Young and it is something they will both never forget.
“Peter got his licence in 1974, we took a break from it when we had the children because we couldn’t afford it but harness racing was always something we were going to get involved with again,” Wendy Dennis said.
“We work as a team, Peter does all of the fast work with the horses and I look after the jogging, it works well because we both work fulltime and it is hard to juggle the horses and our jobs especially if we have to race midweek.”
Lookbutdontouch was formerly owned by well known Wagga harness racing identity Paul Kahlefeldt.
“Peter and I do a lot of work for the Coolamon Harness Racing Club and Paul is a regular at the Sunday trials.
“I run the canteen at the trials and cook the egg and bacon rolls but because I know Paul is very health conscious I always try and cook him something special if I know he is going to be there, he is a great supporter of the club and regularly spends $20 on a trial day to feed himself and his workers.
“Paul has been a great supporter of the Coolamon club and sponsors the Cup but one day he was over for the trials and I asked him if he had a horse that would suit us because we needed something to work with our other horse Pacific Alice.”
Kahlefeldt had the perfect horse for Peter and Wendy, Lookbutdonttouch.
“That is how we got her, we will probably breed with her and Pacific Alice now so we will have to be on the lookout for another horse.
“They are such different horses, Pacific Alice stands 17 hands whereas Lookbutdonttouch is just over 14 hands but we love them both and they are very special to us.”
It has only been recently that Peter has decided to get back into the sulky in races.
“Peter has always liked to give young drivers an opportunity, when Kerryann Turner lived in the Riverina she drove our horses, we have used Liam Armstrong as well but in the past year Peter has been doing most of the driving.
“It makes Peter sound like he is only an average trainer because it is his first winner after such a long time but he hasn’t had a lot of starters because we would send our horses to other trainers.
“Ronnie Serhan trained for us, Greg Forrest and Ray Turner have too, it is just a matter of us being able to juggle our jobs with the horses.”
Peter works fulltime for the Coolamon Council while Wendy is a geography, history and Aboriginal studies secondary teacher in Wagga.
Wendy admitted she had placed a small $5 wager on Lookbutdonttouch and while happy with the return of nearly $60 she was lamenting what may have been.
“Lookbutdonttouch was only about $11 when she won, I think she was 80/1 the start before and 120/1 two starts ago.”
The couple returned to Young on Tuesday night with their two horses and unfortunately ‘lightning didn’t strike twice’. Pacific Alice finished last in her event while Lookbutdonttouch beat one runner home in the Battler Stakes.
“We own 110 acres next to the Coolamon track, so who knows maybe one day we will both retire, put a shed on the property to live in, build some stables and enjoy the rest of our lives.”
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) is the controlling body for harness racing in New South Wales with responsibility for commercial and regulatory management of the industry including 31 racing clubs across the State. HRNSW is headed by an industry-appointed Board of Directors and is independent of Government.