For Ken Barron watching a group of great owners get success in a decent race was worth as much, if not more, satisfaction that knowing he will reach his first 50 plus win season at some point in the next few weeks.
Change Time took his season tally to 49 with victory in the London Legend Rangiora Winter Cup on Sunday – spurting along the passing lane to win in the hands of Barron’s right-hand man, Blair Orange and while the reality of reaching a personal milestone in his career is nice, Barron said seeing the Spriggs Bar Burnside No 1 Syndicate get success was the icing on the cake.
“They are a truly great group of people who enjoy their racing,’’ Barron said.
“They go to the races to enjoy the experience but have been lucky enough to have a bit of success over the years too which has been great, this wee mare has served them pretty well too.’’
Raced on lease from Thompson Bloodstock, Change Time has taken the syndicate to some exciting places this season including a trip to the Harness Jewels, but her days as a race horse are now numbered with the daughter of Christian Cullen destined for the broodmare paddock come the end of the season.
“She will probably races three maybe four more times before she’s retired.
“They syndicate have had a great run with her but realise too that everything has to move on at some point so they are happy to move onto their next horse.’’
That next one is Changeover filly, Livadia who ran a strong race to finish third on Sunday as well and looks set to break the maiden status in the coming weeks.
Barron was in good form on Sunday with Livura also winning and the West Melton horseman is confident he can knock off the one required win to reach the 50 mark pretty quickly.
“We’ve got a very good team of horses at the moment so we shouldn’t have too many problems getting the one win we need.’’
A lot of the success this season Barron can attribute to the driving prowess of Orange who is closing in on 100 driving wins.
“It probably sounds funny, but Blair is getting better recognised this season than what he was when he was with the All Stars.
“People can’t just look at him and say he’s driving all the best horses all the time anymore and that’s why he is successful.
“I would argue he’s driving better now than he ever has, his tactical decisions out there are excellent.’’
After years of qualifying and selling horses, Barron is enjoying getting to see more of the fruits of his labour this season as he has retained the majority of his stock for racing purposes.
“We used to qualify them and then sell them and get onto the next one, but I asked my owners at the start of the season to support me in backing Blair out there on the track and it’s worked incredibly well.
“We’ve still sold the odd horse, The Boys GNP was pretty talented and we’ve just moved on Mighty Major and Bracken Ridge but I think we will have an even better team next year.
“Horses like Bettor Scoot and McArdle Star are going to come back strong four-year-olds and there are some nice young ones coming through as well.’’
Add to that mix the likes of BD Love, Mister XJ, Anna Kareem among others and it’s not hard to see why Barron is excited.
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