Albert enjoying his long fling in the sport

When it comes to enthusiasm, energy and emotion for harness racing, you would have to go a long way to find anyone to top Melbourne trainer-driver Albert Cefai.

Albert's passionate about anything to do with horses-and admits he's even taken a few away with him on holidays!

"I just love having horses. I enjoy every minute I'm doing something with them, and I'd be lost without them," Cefai said.

"Each horse is different, and you certainly learn something new quite often. I spend hours and hours with them," he said.

Cefai lives in the outer north west suburb of St Albans and has been a trainer for over 35 years.

But he had every reason to cherish the success of one member of his small team this week.

Four-year-old gelding Fling It Rainbow (Fling It USA-Rainbow Reflection (Monarchy USA) grabbed a narrow but deserved win in the $7000 TAB Long May We Play Maiden Trot at Tabcorp Park, Melton on Wednesday night.

Watch the replay here.

Handled by one of Victoria's most successful drivers in Lance Justice, the square gaiter downed the Ann-Maree Conroy trained and driven Whirily Rolls by a short half head.

"He's got some ability and it was a terrific win, but we've had more than our share of bad luck with him," Cefai said.

"We actually came awfully close to losing him about 14 weeks ago when he picked up a virus. I saw that he was losing weight and developed a terrible color," he said.

"I got onto a vet pretty quickly and he was able to get him back right for us. When he was younger, he got caught in a fence and cut his leg badly and then after that he got kicked by a mare."

Cefai said he was hopeful Fling It Rainbow had now turned the corner.

"He raced in behind the leader, but I was pleased the way he went. He can go a bit and will improve with more racing – that was only his fourth start.

"My wife Margaret and our grown-up children all follow the horses. Margaret can't attend meetings at the moment because of the racetrack lockdowns with coronavirus, but she would have been doing all the jumping around in the lounge room. The kids don't miss it and watch it on the TV."

Cefai said while he now preferred the trotters, in the past he enjoyed a lot of success with Buffalo Bill, a 14 times winner for $85,000, and then Alberts Pride, 10 wins and 13 placings for $36,000-both pacers.

"I'm a boilermaker by trade and when I got any holidays, I'd go to Portarlington with a couple of my pacers and a fishing rod. I become friends with Gary Bailey, who is out of them now, but he trained many good trotters and while they can be a headache, I just fell in love with them," he said.

"Fishing is my next passion so after we'd do the horses in the morning, I'd be off somewhere trying to catch a nice fish."

Cefai said while growing up his dad always had an interest in the horses, but purely enjoying the occasional punt.

"I've sort of taught myself a lot along the way as well as listened to others. While I drive now and again, I much prefer the breaking-in and training side," he said.

"There's four in work now and I've just finished breaking-in three yearlings. We also own a few broodmares and there's some weanlings, so I've always got plenty to do."

Come rain,hail or shine, it's a safe bet to say that you will find Cefai up and going at the stables at 6am each day.

"It's sometimes earlier if I'm racing horses that afternoon!" he said.

 

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura