Two Specsavers staff eating their lunch at the front of Steve Liversidge and Jodie Christofferson’s Blue Pacific Fish and Chip business in Hare St were unsuspecting participants in a mid-afternoon horse racing celebration last week.
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Steve and Jodie, who have run the renowned fish and chippery for 17 years, had locked themselves away inside the shop and had fixed their attention to a television sitting on top of their Coca-Cola machine.
The action unfolding on the screen had the pair screaming out in support of the horse they bred from a foal and has become an extended part of their family — Outlaw Ned.
It was Outlaw Ned’s seventh race start, but first win. And it doubled as the first winner that the couple had bred from their Mary Ann Rd property, only a furlong or two from the Echuca racecourse.
They purchased Outlaw Ned’s grand dam (essentially his grandmother) from the Inglis Sales just a year after arriving in Echuca.
Through her – she raced under the name Duchess Kachia and still lives on the property as a 26-year-old — they bred Outlaw Ned’s dam (or mother) Princess Kachia
And in turn Outlaw Ned arrived on the scene, becoming the first fully bred pair by Steve and Jodie to salute at a race meeting.
The story of the day is almost as interesting as the pair’s history in breeding as they darkened the shop to ensure they were not disturbed, but also to ensure they could see the television properly.
“The race was at 10 past two. I told Jodie that I am not missing this.
“We shut the door and turned the lights off. There was a bit of yelling and screaming.
“A couple of girls from Specsavers were eating chips out the front and Jodie was that excited that she opened up the door to tell them ‘our horse just won’,” he said
By the time Steve had finished on the phone, talking with trainers Mick Cornish and Donna Gaskin, and fielding calls from friends the store did not open again until 2.40pm.
Outlaw Ned saluted in the third event at Ararat, an $11 shot in the $25,000 1600m maiden.
His owners have have never seen him race in the flesh before, but that will soon change as the four-year-old gelding appears to now be in stride — so to speak.
He finished second at Benalla 14 days earlier, but Friday is the fish and chip store’s busiest day and the pair cannot afford to be away leading into the weekend
“I would have gone any other day, but because it was a Friday we didn’t.
“He raced two weeks before that at Benalla, and came second as well, but that was another Friday.
“I did have a crack — jokingly — at Mick and Donna about racing any day, except for Friday.
“But he will win more races,” Steve said.
Apart from their obvious passion for thoroughbreds, through their own breeding program, they both share a history with horses.
“Jodie grew up with horses and I’ve always been into the races.
“Not that I saw him race, but my pop was a jockey. Ted Silver was his name.
“He was a country jockey,” Steve said.
“Jodie has always shown horses and all that stuff and she used to work at the Inglis sales.
“She had friends who used to do the leading and she started doing it.
“We had not long been here in Echuca when she rang me from the sales and said there was a brood mare for sale,” he said.
An owner with Leon Corstens’ stable was offloading his brood mares and Duchess Kachia, who was in foal at the time, was being offered up.
The mare also had a foal on the ground, who was later raced by the owner and trained by John Sadler.
“His name was Flat Chat, we didn’t own him. We bought the mother before Flat Chat started racing,” Steve said.
Steve, Jodie and an employee of Corstens’ paid $1000 each for Duchess Kachia, who was a city winner herself.
The partnership, as things do sometimes in racing circles, went awry and in order to clear debts Steve and Jodie sold the Duchess Kachia foal to settle debts associated with the raising of the horse.
“She had the foal about eight months later, but we sold it to pay its debt. We sold it at the sale for $13,000, which didn’t clear the full amount — but was better than the situation we were in,” he said.
After that experience the pair decided to enter the breeding game for themselves and they haven’t looked back. Happy horses grazing in the paddocks that back on to the Echuca racecourse is evidence of the successful breeding project.
Their second foal from Duchess Kachia was fittingly named Princess Kachia. She raced on four occasions before breaking down.
“She was going to be quite a nice horse before she did a suspensory ligament,” he said.
Princess Kachia’s second foal, by Wanted, was Outlaw Ned.
She is back in foal again, at the Echuca property, to Star Witness — winner of the Blue Diamond and Coolmore Stakes.
Steve explained away the pair’s involvement in horse racing as “their hobby”.
“We don’t have kids, so this is where most of our spare time goes,” he said.
The fish and chip shop owner is not a big punter. In fact, he had more on Outlaw Ned for a place than he did for a win.
“He was drawn badly at Benalla, when he ran second, so I had some money on him for a place.
“And the same happened at Ararat, when he started from barrier 12 (of 13). I had more on him to place than I did to win, but it was still a nice collect,” he said.
No doubt the pair would have made the three-hour drive on any other day than Friday. As it turns out, with Vobis incentives, they pocketed $13,000 in prizemoney for the win.
They have another foal at home, only five months old, by Squasmosa.
Steve described Outlaw Ned as “our first proper winner”, having had five and 10 per cent shares in syndicates that raced other winners earlier in his racing lifetime.
And the Outlaw Ned Ararat-winning portrait will take pride of place in the soon-to-be man cave at the property.
“I am in the process of building the bar. It will hang there and hopefully there are many more to come,” he said.
Steve paid tribute to trainers Cornish and Gaskin, saying Outlaw Ned had always shown ability, but after falling ill early in his career he returned to Echuca a shell of his former self.
“This is his second prep with them with Donna and Mick. They’ve had him for a year.
“He is only a baby and he will get over more ground, up to 2000m we think (interestingly enough, the distance of the W.S. Cox Plate),” Steve said.
Steve and Jodie’s property used to be owned by Echuca horse trainer Darryl Archard.
“We bought the property from a developer 12 years ago after Darryl had sold it.
“Jodie actually has what was probably his best horse, Produced, as her favourite horse at home.
“She shows horses, ponies, ex-thoroughbreds and things like that.
“There are 11 horses on the property, in total,” Steve said.
Produced won 12 races from 80 starts and finished with almost $300,000 in prize money. He is now living his best life as a 17-year-old with Steve and Jodie, at the property where he spent his racing life.
“It was years ago that Jodie asked Daryl if she could have him when he retired and when the time came he handed the horse over,” Steve said.
So, if regulars at the fish and chippery suddenly find the store unusually closed during the middle of the day, just log on quickly to the TAB form guide and check for the name Outlaw Ned – that’s where they will be.
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