Racing
Capital Boss for Christmas Cup
It’s been a week of quiet reflection for Gold Coast trainer Jay Bellamy who heads to Kilcoy on Friday with a small team of two starters.
It was in December of 2023 when Bellamy watched the Tony Gollan-trained Skirt The Law edge out the first two-year-old he had trained - Five Star Vixen - in an official barrier trial at the Gold Coast.
While the trial was the last hit out for Skirt The Law before she went on to win the Magic Millions Classic, her narrow trial win cost Five Star Vixen a start in the $500,000 Magic Millions The Debut at the Gold Coast that year.
For Bellamy it was a case of "if only" Five Star Vixen had beaten Skirt The Law.
"She was a very good filly but she missed the kick in the trial against Skirt The Law and only just got beaten which cost her a spot in The Debut," Bellamy said.
"I thought she'd race well if she had run in The Debut.
"Unfortunately, Five Star Vixen is no longer with us as she had a bone chip operation and snapped her leg coming out of surgery a year ago."
Five Star Vixen was a four-times winner including a picket fence of wins on the Gold Coast synthetic track for Bellamy.
The Magic Millions The Debut returns this week to the Gold Coast twilight meeting on Friday, the same day Bellamy will be at Kilcoy.
Bellamy, who was a former harness trainer before turning to thoroughbreds five years ago, has 18 horses on his books with 15 currently in work at the Gold Coast.
In his harness career, Bellamy started driving at the age of 16 before turning his hand to training two years later.
He won over 500 races including consecutive Queensland Junior Drivers Championships as well as driving in numerous Group 1's.
He later quit harness training to work on a solar farm making his way from a labourer to a mechanical supervisor within one year.
However, a job in the real world didn't last long before Bellamy got the bug to train thoroughbreds.
"I got out of training harness horses and gave it away for a while," Bellamy said.
"I sort of fell out of love with horses in general, so I tried working a few jobs including one on a solar farm.
"But I had always wanted to train thoroughbreds so I quit my day job to train thoroughbreds even though I was on good pay as a fly-in fly-out worker," he said.
At Kilcoy, Bellamy nominated Capital Boss for two races but elected to start him in the Christmas Cup while stablemate Grand Crusader tackles the male's division of the Ratings 0-58 over 1200 metres.
A son of Capitalist, Capital Boss is coming off a last start third to the Jack Bruce-trained Luconi in a 1540-metre Benchmark race on the Gold Coast synthetic track last month.
Capital Boss had a winless seven start career for Sydney trainer Ron Quinton before he came north.
The five-year-old has won three times since Bellamy took charge but all have been on the Gold Coast synthetic track.
"He's a synthetic track specialist but I thought the Class Three Christmas Cup at Kilcoy suited him better," Bellamy said.
"He has raced well on the grass before and he's been unlucky a few times so I'm expecting him to be really competitive.
"Grand Crusader has been racing well and he trialled super in an unofficial trial at Beaudesert recently.
"He's first-up but he'll run a big race too."
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