ONCE again the exclusive ‘king’ Ben Dorries and the mainstream racing media have been out-scooped on arguably one of the biggest stories happening in Queensland racing.
Archie Butterfly on his subscriber only website, peterprofit.com, reports on a fall-out between Sunshine Coast trainer Billy Healey and his Racing Manager Ben Currie who have reportedly gone their own ways.
Much was made in the Murdoch Media when the Currie stable was closed recently and the majority of their horses transferred to Healey who announced a long-term but shortlived partnership with Ben Currie.
Healey this week sent a short message to his owners which read:
HEALEY’S MESSAGE:
Hi owner,
‘JUST a courtesy message to let you know that Ben Currie will no longer be working as our Racing Manager after Sunday 31st May.
It’s business as usual for us a Healey Racing.
As always we appreciate you on-going support.
Any questions or queries please give me a call.
Thanks Billy.
CURRIE RACING RESPONSE
CURRIE Racing responded with the following:
Hi Guys,
JUST an update on the recent announcement from Healey Racing.
Upon the retirement of Mark, we decided to enter into a relationship with Healey racing. The partnership was entered with the best intentions, with the shared goal of ensuring your horse received the highest standard of care possible, while maintaining the level of results previously achieved.
While every effort was made to continue the level of care and performance previously achieved, the outcomes have not progressed in the way we had hoped. As a result, we felt it was important to make a change the help realign the horses’ program and support the best possible path forward.
We haven’t shied away from making tough decisions, because we believe we have an obligation to act in out owners’ best interests and be proactive. With that in mind, every horse we brought into the relationship is one we intend taking forward with us.
We have developed an alternative plan and assembled a team we believe is best equipped to implement the processes and procedures that ran successfully in the past.
We will personally be in touch with specific details for all involved over the coming days. Please don’t hesitate to call or if you would wish to proceed with alternative arrangements.
Thank you for your on-going support and trust.
WHERE WILL BEN CURRIE – TALENT THAT CAN’T BE LOST – BOB UP NEXT?
As ‘The Butterfly’ writes on peterprofit.com:
Whilst the message doesn’t state it explicitly, the obvious inference is that Healey has sacked Currie from his managerial role at the racing operation, an unexpected move that will create an interesting dynamic in the absence of Currie, given that after Mark Currie’s retirement from training the owners of many horses now with Healey Racing were lured across on the promise that the successful management techniques put in place by Currie Jnr would continue with him taking up the Racing Manager role.
That’s now dead in the water, so what remains to be seen is how many of these owners who have become accustomed to their trainer (Mark Currie) winning races at strike rates north of 20% will elect to keep their horses in the care of Healey, who is only finding winners at a rate of about half that.
