Latest news with #JokersGrin
Herald Sun
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
Jokers Grin has last laugh with victory in The Quokka
Jokers Grin became the first West Australian galloper to win the state's biggest race – the $5m Quokka (1200m) at Ascot on Saturday. The victory was by the biggest win of 70-year-old trainer Bernie Miller's career while it was redemption for winning rider Pat Carbery, who was aboard Amelia's Jewel when beaten a nose in the inaugural running of The Quokka in 2023. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'It's absolutely brilliant, how can you put that into words,' Miller told the 'I'll wake up tomorrow and still won't be able to talk about it. 'A dream come true. 'A lot of belief from a lot of people that have backed me and helped me out throughout the years, your vets, your staff at home, my farrier. 'It's just fantastic, a big dream.' The only previous Quokka winner Overpass was sent out a commanding favourite to make it three straight wins in the race and after being made to work early, he crossed the field and took up the running but this year, his winning kick wasn't there and it was left to the swoopers. Headwall emerged at the 200m and looked the winner but tagging him was Jokers Grin and late in the piece he got the better of the Sydneysider to score with another local Generosity in third while Overpass weakened into fifth. 'It was about the 150 when I saw him fan out and I thought 'we'll just use the old camber and we'll be right',' Miller said. 'I stood where I've never watched him before and the trill of watching him go past, it was tremendous.' The win also provided Carbery with the biggest victory in the career of the five-time Group 1-winning veteran. He and Miller are best mates, and the victory was a dream come true on a personal level for the pair of racing stalwarts. Joker's Grin (white cap) proves too strong for Headwall (pink cap) and Generosity (orange cap). Picture: Western Racepix 'I don't have to talk about Bernie, everyone knows what I think of him, we're best mate,' Carbery said. 'Not because we've had success together, we're just best mates. 'I'm really lucky. A lot of people don't get to work with someone that is really close to you and I'm just blessed for one, to ride for Bernie but to also be his best mate. 'This is just the pinnacle of my career.' The winning slot-holder was the Ladbrokes Racing Club which on Thursday night also won greyhound racing's version of The Quokka, The Sandgroper with Deadly Avenger. Originally published as Jokers Grin delivers for the locals in The Quokka at Ascot
News.com.au
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Jokers Grin wins The Quokka for the locals
Jokers Grin became the first Western Australian galloper to win the state's biggest race – the $5 million Quokka (1200m) at Ascot on Saturday. The victory was by the biggest win of 70-year-old trainer Bernie Miller's career while it was redemption for winning rider Pat Carbery, who was aboard Amelia's Jewel when beaten a nose in the inaugural running of The Quokka in 2023. 'It's absolutely brilliant, how can you put that into words,' Miller told the 'I'll wake up tomorrow and still won't be able to talk about it. 'A dream come true. 'A lot of belief from a lot of people that have backed me and helped me out throughout the years, your vets, your staff at home, my farrier. 'It's just fantastic, a big dream.' The only previous Quokka winner Overpass was sent out a commanding favourite to make it three straight wins in the race and after being made to work early, he crossed the field and took up the running but this year, his winning kick wasn't there and it was left to the swoopers. At the 200m, Sydneysider Headwall emerged and looked the winner but tagging him was Jokers Grin and late in the piece he got the better of Headwall to score with another local, Generosity in third while Overpass weakened into fifth. SOMETHING TO GRIN ABOUT! 😊 Jokers Grin has won the 2025 edition of The Quokka for 70-year-old trainer Bernie Miller. — 7HorseRacing ðŸ�Ž (@7horseracing) April 26, 2025 'It was about the 150 when I saw him fan out and I thought 'we'll just use the old camber and we'll be right',' Miller said. 'I stood where I've never watched him before and the trill of watching him go past, it was tremendous.' The win was also provided Carbery with the biggest victory in the career of the five-time Group 1-winning veteran. He and Miller are best mates, and the victory was a dream come true on a personal level for the pair of racing stalwarts. 'I don't have to talk about Bernie, everyone knows what I think of him, we're best mate,' Carbery said. 'Not because we've had success together, we're just best mates. 'I'm really lucky. A lot of people don't get to work with someone that is really close to you and I'm just blessed for one, to ride for Bernie but to also be his best mate. 'This is just the pinnacle of my career.' The winning slot holder was the Ladbrokes Racing Club which on Thursday night also won greyhound racing's version of The Quokka, The Sandgroper with Deadly Avenger.
New Paper
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Miller plays his Joker for $4.2m
Former power lineman Bernie Miller knows all about working off the ground, but could be scaling heights he probably would not want to come down from should Jokers Grin win Perth's richest race on April 26, The Quokka (1,200m). The 70-year-old has been an off-and-on hobby trainer for four decades, relying on his day job at an electrical company to pay the bills. Fatter cheques did, however, come his way with, amazingly, five "black type" winners among his haul of 67 winners all-up. It is no coincidence those highlights occurred after he turned to training full-time in 2007, albeit still on a boutique scale. The stable star had all along been Cup Night, who won the 2021 Group 3 Northam Stakes and two Listed races in 2019 and 2020. Such is the romance of racing that Cup Night's full brother has now become Miller's "horse of a lifetime" - and is now in the hunt for the thicker end of a A$5 million (S$4.2 million) bounty. Fourth on debut at Belmont, the son of Maschino out of Walk In Beauty then struck a purple patch of five wins in a row. After he found one better in his last 2024 race, he would have been unbeaten in two Ascot starts in his 2025 campaign, if not for a successful protest from his joint winner The Boss Lady in the Group 3 Roma Cup (1,100m) on April 12. Miller and his dream horse will now be thrust against not only leading home teams like Grant & Alana Williams (Western Empire) and Simon Miller (Generosity and West Star), but also big guns from Sydney, including three-time Quokka bidder Overpass, and a dual Kiwi Group 1 winner, Crocetti. Regardless of state or country, everybody loves to root for the underdog, a mantle which Miller seems to relish. "I'm a small trainer and, for a small trainer to be involved in a five million-dollar race in your home state, it's something very very special," said Miller to TV. "To win The Quokka will be bloody tough. But can he win it? Why can't he? "I think Jokers Grin is going to be better than Cup Night. He's got a beautiful long stride on him, he's got a tank on him. I think he's got all the attributes of a true athlete. "I kept a lid on him for quite a while. We didn't know how good he was, but Paddy knows that because he's steering him." "Paddy" is Jokers Grin's exclusive partner and also Miller's go-to jockey, Patrick Carbery. From Perth, he often drives 50km down south to work Jokers Grin at Miller's yard in Hopeland. Like Miller, the lightweight veteran jockey is undaunted by the task ahead, even after drawing the widest in 13. The close to 1,800-race winner nearly beat Overpass at the inaugural The Quokka by steering then Perth darling Amelia's Jewel from the outermost alley in 14. "It's not the preferred barrier, but that's the way it is, and we'll work it out," said Carbery to Racing WA. "You don't have control over what barriers you get; they're the cards you're dealt and I'm not deflated at all. "Whatever happens, I'll work it out and luck always plays a part in bigger races. I just know the horse is going good and that's the main part of it. "He's going really well, going exceptional, Bernie's happy with him, I'm happy with him. "His work on Saturday was good and he's not in the race just for fun, put it that way." Surely there are five million reasons, but Carbery himself seems to be riding only for one cause. "To win The Quokka for Bernie would be outstanding. No-one deserves it more than him," he said. Win, lose or draw, it will still spark up the former lineman's life for some time to come. "Jokers Grin is by far the best horse I've ever had and I believe I'll ever have," said Miller. "He means a lot to me and brings out the tingles and the feelings within. It's once in a lifetime to have a horse like him." manyan@
News.com.au
23-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Weekend at Bernie's: 70yo trainer set to steal show in The Quokka
If you had told Bernie Miller a few months ago that he'd have a runner in a $5 million race, he'd have said you were an idiot. But on Saturday, the 70-year-old larrikin trainer can provide the fairytale story of The Quokka. Some trainers might party for a week if they won a $5m race, but not 70-year-old larrikin Bernie Miller. Miller, who worked for an electrical company fixing power lines for more than two decades, might be a colourful character but he knows the value of hard work. He can provide the fairytale story of Saturday's $5m The Quokka at Ascot but says even if Jokers Grin scores the rich slot race, there will be work to be done at his small stable an hour from Perth. 'If you told me last year that I would have a horse in a $5m race, I would have said you were an idiot,' Miller told Racenet. 'I'm quite dedicated with everything I do with my horses. 'After the race on Saturday I've got to drive the truck back to my stables and Perth drivers are the worst in the world. 'I would rather get home, get my horse safe and do the things I need to do for the other horses who are just as important. 'I won't finish until after 9pm that night. 'I might have a sneaky light beer, but that will be it.' Jokers Grin remains unbeaten over 1000m after winning the $100,000 Rock Magic Stakes. Check out the exciting return by the rising star of WA. @7horseracing @PerthRacing — Racing WA Thoroughbred (@RacingWA_Tbreds) March 29, 2025 Miller first started training in the early 1980s but has never been a big-time player. His main source of income for 23 years was working as a linesman for an electrical company. 'We used to work on the power lines when they were live, so we used to have a lot of accidents,' Miller chuckled. 'Basically, I was just a young kid who loved horses. 'We were lucky that I had a family friend who had some good trotters. 'As a young bloke, I couldn't wait until I was 16 so I could go to the trots. 'One fella knew I loved the horses and got me an ex-racehorse that was retired and my love of thoroughbreds started from there.' • 'Gone to another level': Quokka first before Everest shot Miller, who returned to training in 2007, purchased the mother of Jokers Grin as a weanling and that was the origin of the remarkable tale of the unexpected Quokka contender. The four-year-old gelding has won six from nine and could be the giant killer in The Quokka, looking to take down the likes of two-time winner Overpass and other high calibre eastern states contenders such as Headwall and Front Page. Miller says he currently has five horses in work, up from the solitary horse he trained when he returned to training in 2007. But he says his horse numbers fluctuate. One thing he feels sure of is that Jokers Grin, an $11 chance, will make his presence felt in the $5m slot race on Saturday. Thrilling finish to the Group 3 PKF Roma Cup over 1100m at Ascot with the judges unable to split The Boss Lady and Jokers Grin before stewards ultimately upheld a protest in The Boss Lady's favour. Resuming after 3 straight at Ascot, this was the second stakes victory for The… — Aushorse (@Aushorse_TBA) April 12, 2025 'This week I'm training five horses, but next week Jokers Grin will have a spell so I will be down to four,' Miller said. 'The week after that, I don't know. 'I'm very confident that my horse will be extremely competitive. 'His work last Saturday was a personal best. 'I can't get him any better at this stage of his life to complete against the best sprinters. 'Patty Carbery is one of the kindest and nicest jockeys going around and he is like family to me, it would mean a lot to both of us if we could win.' "We are actually the best mates, 100%." Bernie Miller, Patty Carbery & Jokers Grin make an all-star Quokka team 🤗 — Ladbrokes Australia (@ladbrokescomau) April 20, 2025 Jokers Grin will race in the Ladbrokes slot. A spokesman said: 'We are proud to be supporting a local horse in their richest race this year. 'We believe Jokers Grin can go on to bigger and better things and we are backing in Bernie Miller and Patrick Carbery to get him there.'
