By Brad Kingsbury
WENDY Kelly smiles and laughs a lot these days, and so she should.
The trailblazing Cranbourne trainer is at the top of her game after stunning recent successes, and that was acknowledged by the Victorian Wakeful Club last week when she was presented with the 2007 Lady of Racing award.
The award was a continuation of a magnificent period of success for Kelly which saw she and stable jockey Vlad Duric combine to boot home their first Group 1 winner two weeks ago when Bon Hoffa won the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.
“You don’t think of yourself as a trailblazer, but I suppose it was a lot harder as a woman to get a foot in the door when I first started in the industry (15 years ago),” she said.
“So many more women are involved in all the different aspects of racing now with stewards and club chief executives, and that’s a credit to the industry.
“It has progressed from the old ‘boys club’ to grow and embrace women as equals, and that is a wonderful endorsement of racing.”
Kelly was one of four nominees for the Lady of Racing award, joining fellow trainer Fran Houlahan, Gai Gauci and Penny Reeve, who is chief executive of the Seymour Racing Club.
Although Kelly will not have a starter on Cranbourne Cup day on Sunday, Saturday promises to be a big day when she saddles Bon Hoffa in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap and her flying mare Tango Amigos in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes. Both horses will be ridden by Duric.
Kelly said the success of her two stable stars was like a fairytale, and the racing industry was one of very few that saw competitors genuinely happy for others who succeeded.
“The racing fraternity is made up of a fabulous group of people and I love being involved,” she said.
“It’s one of the very few industries that you get a genuine pat on the back when things go well, and then if not, people are there to help you.”
