Local racing sees new venture into breeding

Dan fletcher casting his eye over star galloper Russian Camelot. PHOTO: supplied

The Fletcher’s have purchased the neighbouring breeding operation Running Creek Stud from prominent businessman Gary Pemberton and his wife Marg.

Running Creek is 140-acres of prime land which has been developed to an extremely high level by its former owners.

Fletcher said the newly acquired Running Creek complex will complement their Telemon operation and the combination of Telemon and Running Creek together will give Queensland racing and breeding a world class facility.

Dan and Rae Fletcher, a well-known racing family in Emerald and throughout the Central West made the move to reside on Telemon in December 2019.

They stand Champion two-year-old Colt and Champion first Season Sire Sidestep and dual Group One winning sprinter Jungle Cat as well as Group Winning two-year-old Sun City.

Fletcher explained that their plans for Running Creek may, in time, include the development of a purpose-built stallion complex.

“We’ve got a good set up already which we partially renewed prior to the commencement of the last breeding season, so we’re in no rush” he said.

“In the long run, the ability to segregate our stallions and serving area and create a dedicated parade facility in a beautiful setting has a lot of appeal.

The acquisition of Running Creek is another significant milestone for Dan and Rae Fletcher who are bush people at heart and are in their element in rural surroundings.

“Purchasing Running Creek is all about our long-term goals,” Fletcher said.

“When we launched Telemon we spoke about helping progress the industry in Queensland.

“This is another foundational step and hopefully the market and our clients appreciate both our ambition and our long-term commitment.”

The Fletcher’s have plenty of excitement ahead in upcoming weeks with Russian Camelot kicking off his campaign en-route to the All Star Mile.

His other target will be The Championships where he will be aimed at the $4M Queen Elizabeth stakes.

Russian Camelot is a northern hemisphere colt that only turned four in early January, which means this preparation will be his first where he does not race at a weight for age disadvantage against his older Southern Hemisphere bred rivals.

Fletcher said Russian Camelot has muscled up and grown into a spectacular individual.

Russian Camelot has a big hole to fill as the Fletchers had previously been in the partnership that raced Multiple group one winner Sunlight, with the Champion mare last year sold for a record $4.2M at the Magic Millions broodmare sale.

Fletcher said Russian Camelot has not quite filled the hole yet but is on the way.

He assured me that he could never complain.

He is more than thankful to the racing gods for what he has had in his time in racing.

Many try for years and sometimes lightning just doesn’t strike for them at all let alone twice. Moranbah trained galloper Fabs Cowboy made it win 41 wins from 100 starts and over $300,000 in prizemoney for Bevan Johnson at Roma last Saturday.

The country iron horse racing first up took out the Bendemere cup over 1000 metres with Angela Jones in the saddle the nine-year-old came from a long way back in the field to dive through late.

Johnson made it a winning double when Geng again with Angela Jones in the Saddle took out the last race on the program.