Browne Stable Sets Sights on Autumn Campaign

[Wandering Eyes]

David and Emma-Lee Browne are hoping to continue to make their presence felt on Australian shores during autumn, as exciting three-year-olds Scary(NZ) (Shocking) and Statuario look to build on their spring momentum.

The Browne stable has gone from strength to strength since relocating from New Zealand to Pakenham, with the husband-and-wife training team hoping that a run of second placings during the spring will graduate to winners in the coming months.

“(I’m) incredibly proud of how the team is going, we just obviously like being bridesmaid quite a lot!” said Emma-Lee Browne.

“But when you’re coming second during the carnival, for a very small team, we were super proud of them.”

Group 1 Victoria Derby runner-up Scary is back in work following a spell at home since the Flemington contest.

“We were incredibly proud of him. I think the whole family lost their voices!” she said.

“He’s a lovely horse. He’s got an amazing nature, as a colt.

“He was supposed to have about five or six weeks off, but probably like the lad he is, he went out and enjoyed his holiday immensely and we sort of looked at him one day and thought ‘Oh, you better come back in’!

“He’s a lovely horse to work with because he’s easy to deal with, he enjoys the job.”

Browne already has routes in mind for the son of Shocking.

“His rating has gone up very highly … you want to make the most of the three-year-old year in that respect, also with him being a colt,” she said.

“I think we’re sort of looking at probably starting him off in the C.S. Hayes, it’s probably going to be a bit sharp for him, first-up. But then we’re sort of going to have to go the three-year-old route and hopefully be up in Sydney.”

The stable will look to plot a different path for son of D’argento Statuario as he heads towards his three-year-old autumn campaign.

“It would be nice to split them up,” Browne said.

“I think the Autumn Stakes is a week before. He’s probably a little sharper (than Scary), so we’ll probably be able to keep him a little shorter.”

Like Scary, the grey gelding only made his racecourse debut in August, quickly building through the grades to a runner-up finish in the Listed Batman Stakes during the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

“We kept saying to the owner, ‘We don’t think he’s quite ready yet’ and then he kept stepping up,” she said.

“It’s been so nice watching him develop during the spell.

“He’s back in now and he’s grown up a lot, I think he’s got a big future.”

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