Yeah.

Separation.

Had two very young kids, had quite a decent bill, uh, post-tax bill for child support and, and maintenance, and, um, I was on a pretty good wicket as a sales manager for the company I was working for, but, um, uh, facing, uh, starting again, um, it just looked like I was just never gonna get ahead, so I had to...

I always wanted to start, have my own business, but a sort of a push-pull scenario where I just thought, "Now's the time." 'Cause I went to my boss and said, "Hey, what's the chances of a pay rise?" And he's like, "Not, not right now." Um, so, um, I could have gone somewhere else.

Um, the company wanted me overseas in Australia.

I didn't wanna leave the kids, so that was the time to start my own business, take a bigger risk, and, um, yeah, I could have earned nothing, but it turned out, um, I, I did okay.

So...

There's, there's some dangers around that.

What are the sort of targets for this spring for him?

Yeah look we've got plenty of options both here in Victoria and in New South Wales.

haven't tied anything down yet we just want to get through today and see how he performs and uh we've just probably learned that he's a horse that likes his his races space he's better when he's fresh so um in the past you know he's run big performances first up and we run him you know two weeks later and he quite hasn't um performed to his best so we're going to space his runs a little bit more this time around hence why we're up nice and early but um Yeah, look, we've got a few options we'll get through today first, but you've obviously got the obvious races like a Rupert Clark and the Tourac, or you can head up to Sydney for the Seven Stakes.

There's plenty of options for him.

In terms of where you'd like to see him today in the run with Billy first up, where do you think he'll be, Dom?

Yeah, look, I'd say we'll probably be hopefully midfield somewhere or just in behind the speed.

But ultimately, we'll just watch the first few races and see how the track's playing.

He is first up and we have left a bit of condition on him.

What are the sort of targets for this spring for him?

Yeah look we've got plenty of options both here in Victoria and in New South Wales.

haven't tied anything down yet we just want to get through today and see how he performs and we've just probably learned that he's a horse that likes his his races space he's better when he's fresh so um in the past you know he's run big performances first up and we run him you know two weeks later and he quite hasn't um performed to his best so we're going to space his runs a little bit more this time around hence why we're up nice and early but um Yeah, look, we've got a few options we'll get through today first, but you've obviously got the obvious races like a Rupert Clark and the Tourac, or you can head up to Sydney for the Severed Stakes.

There's plenty of options for him.

In terms of where you'd like to see him today in the run with Billy first up, where do you think he'll be, Dom?

Yeah, look, I'd say we'll probably be hopefully midfield somewhere or just in behind the speed.

But ultimately, we'll just watch the first few races and see how the track's playing.

He is first up and we have left a bit of condition on him.

What are you thinking first up Saturday on a wet track?

Well, I think, I th- I think I got an update this morning saying that we're into the soft seven range this morning, so I'm not sure.

I'll have to double-check that.

But, um, look, that is a big question mark.

He is a horse that likes to be on top of the ground, um, so it is something I'm gonna have to just watch over the next twenty-four hours, um, to see what condition the track is.

Um, he's a horse that does like a good surface, so that would be a question mark.

Obviously, there's a couple of horses in the field that have got a run under their belt, so they're gonna have the fitness edge.

What would be his second start target?

Have you had an early look at the, the race shape and how it may play out for her?

Yeah, look, I've been through and I've watched probably the last five or six, uh, replays of the Derby.

It, it can be quite a messy race, uh, especially with a lot of mid-race moves from horses out the back and, uh, tempo related.

One thing that we do know with her is that she's gonna run out the trip, no problem.

She's an out and out stayer.

So that's something that we just want to keep in our minds that, uh, what we decide to do on the day, um, look, we haven't made a plan as of yet, and I probably won't make a plan until race day once we see what the track's doing, if this rain comes.

Um, but one thing we do know is that she'll run the trip out, not a problem.

So if you get even luck on Saturday, are you pretty confident?