Stable favourite Olympic Korchnoi will run in Cairns Amateur Cup for trainers Trevor and Peter Rowe
The Brazil-born galloper looks majestic, with his striking black coat and his playful manners making him a stable favourite for the Cairns father-and-son trainers and their staff.
Olympic Korchnoi will be hunting his third victory from his past four races when he runs in the $40,000 Cairns Amateur Cup (1900m) at Cannon Park on Saturday.
'He's one of the favourites of our stable, everyone loves him. He's beautiful to look at,' Peter Rowe said about the eight-year-old with six wins from 46 races.
'He's pitch-black, there's not a speck of white on him. When he's in the yard and he looks his best, he's very eye-catching and draws a lot of attention.
'If the kid's character Black Beauty was put into a real-life horse then that's what he is.'
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Rowe said the gelding also had 'plenty of character' and had endeared himself to the stable's staff with his friendly nature.
'You walk into the barn and he'll lay his ears back and look like a bit of a dragon,' the trainer said.
'He's just playful. You know he's not going to bite you or do anything like that, he just likes to put on a show for everyone.'
The ownership group for Olympic Korchnoi consists of Peter Rowe, his partner Adrian, mum Helen and Cliff Little, who became an overnight millionaire in 2019 when he won the entire $40m Powerball jackpot.
'It's his 70th birthday at the end of the month so we're hoping to get a big win for him,' Rowe said about Little.
There's one other reason why Olympic Korchnoi is special to the Rowes - his win in the 2023 Gordonvale Cup ticked off a lifetime dream for Trevor.
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'Dad had wanted to win that race since he was a kid so it was a special moment,' Peter said.
Olympic Korchnoi has a fascinating history, starting his career in South America where he finished runner-up in the Group 1 Brazil Derby in 2021.
He then went to Hong Kong but never made it to the races before finding a home at Cranbourne trainer Phillip Stokes' stables for a brief period in 2023.
The black beauty was then transferred to Sunshine Coast trainer James Moore but only had the one race before the Rowes picked him up for just $1500.
Mature-age apprentice jockey Lauren Guernier will ride Olympic Korchnoi in the Cairns Amateur Cup after being onboard for his past two wins in Cairns and Mareeba.
'He's a funny old horse and he has to be ridden a certain way,' Rowe said.
'His best form is when he's up on-speed which can be tricky if he's slow out of the gates.
'If you try to ride a pretty race on him or take the sit then he just loses interest.
'The best thing about him is that when he's in front he's tough so we can put the pedal down a fair way out and he'll keep grinding away. He doesn't really have a sprint.
'When he's in front and you can gradually increase the tempo on him, that's when he races best.'
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