Rockhampton Racing Review: Tuesday 17th February, 2026

Sunshine Coasters collect a trainer and jockey double

Sunshine Coast trainer Stuart Kendrick continues to have a good season at Callaghan Park and on Tuesday prepared a winning double.

His two winners, Retainer and King Spirit were both favourites and both were ridden by Stephanie Tierney, who is also building an impressive Rockhampton winning strike rate.

The heavily backed Retainer scored a comfortable win in the TAB BM65 Handicap (1400m).

Winning its second race at its fifteenth start, the Fastnet Rock mare didn’t put a foot wrong for apprentice Tierney and raced away over the concluding stages to win by two lengths. The $2.05 favourite defeated the front runner Grey Impact (Fiona Sandkuhl – $5) with Maikrow (Ryan Wiggins -$2.35) in third place. It was Retainer’s first victory in 18 months, with her previous win at Kembla Grange in 2024.

Tierney said the mare “just travelled”. “I just was hoping she would keep going,” she told stable representative Adrian Coome.

Retainer was originally trained by Ciaron Maher and was purchased online 12 months ago by Kendrick for $95,000. Since then, she had a few placings at the Sunshine Coast without winning.

King Spirit chimed in with a good run at the 200m mark to score its second Rockhampton win in as many starts. Going back-to-back King Spirit ($2.45 f) won the Masot Class 4 Plate (1200m). The Spirit Of Boom four-year-old won by 1-1/4 lengths from Henry’s Blade (Ron Stewart – $4.60) with Lease (Gabby Semmens -$26) in third place. “He was getting tired at the end,” Tierney said.

King Spirit was an $80,000 yearling at the 2023 Magic Millions Yearling Sale. He has proved a good money spinner for his big group of owners winning five times and running seven placings from his 16 race starts. His earnings currently sit at around $160,000.

 Electric Brae powers home to victory

Callaghan Park trained mare Electric Brae also found the winners’ circle again at its second start after a lengthy spell.

Electric Brae who scored its previous success for trainer John Wigginton in August last year got up in the last stride to win the Milner Constructions BM60 Handicap (1050m).

With apprentice jockey Tom Orr in the saddle, Electric Brae ($3.70) chased down a very game Cobbo (Raul Silvera-Olivera -$17) to win in a photo finish. The $1.45 favourite Determination (Warwick Satherley) could not pick up the leaders and was close in third place.

Wigginton purchased Electric Brae, a mare by Rothesay from Decali for $40,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions March Yearling Sale. She has raced 21 times for three wins and 7 placings earning just over $100,000 to date.

Bold Blaze goes back-to-back at Callaghan Park

The 1817m distance in the Great Northern BM60 Handicap was key to the success of Sunshine Coast 4YO Bold Blaze.

Trained on the Sunshine Coast by Garnie Taylor, Bold Blaze put together back-to-back Rockhampton wins, following up on a previous triumph last month over 1400m. “He is looking for the extra ground now,” Taylor said. “The track suited him and the distance was just right.”

Ridden by Ryan Wiggins, Bold Blaze, the $2.35 favourite, was too strong for runner-up Kayleens Profit (McKenzie Apel -$5) with General Wolffe (Amy Graham – $19) running home well to take third place almost four lengths from the winner.

Clear Decision for Hohn’s mare

Zoe Hohn’s four-year-old mare Badlifedecision has been promising to win a race for some time, and it was her day on Tuesday when she scored a long-priced victory in the Red Lion Hotel Maiden Handicap (1200m).

One of the outsiders in the field at $21, Badlifedecision came with a late run to win by two lengths. Jockey Warwick Satherley had to squeeze through an opening close to home and once the mare saw daylight she sped through the gap.

Having her 18^th race start, Badlifedecision (Heroic Valour – Ultrazonal) defeated the well-backed favourite Bold Change (Ryan Wiggins -$3) with debutante Autumn Gale (Raul Silvera Olivera – $3.60) a closing third.

“She has run some placings, and it was just a matter of time before she won one,” Heidi Butler, the trainer’s sister said. Both Bold Change and Autumn Gale had their chances to win. Both horses came from the back. Bold Change looked for inside runs while Autumn Gale came down the centre of the track.

Badlifedecision is a graduate of the 2023 Capricornia Yearling Sale. She comes from a good maternal family with her grandam Zonal related to Exceptionally, a VRC St Leger winner and the third-dam Valour produced the dual Derby winner Artist Man, and good two-year-olds Worth and Sudden. Golden Slipper winner Burst, Sires Produce winner Victory Prince and Doomben Cup winner Bush Padre are also from this family.

Last Saga closes out the program

Yeppoon trainer Allan Jenkinson prepared The Last Saga to win the final race on the Callaghan Park program, the ARC BM55 Handicap (1400m).

Ridden by Amy Graham, The Last Saga had friends in the betting starting at $3.40 and chimed in late to beat the well-supported favourite Our Heart Throb (Cody Collis -$2.50) with Victory’s Ghost (Warwick Satherley) spoiling his chances by pulling hard early, finishing in third place.

Racing again on Tuesday 24 February

Next week’s racing at Callaghan Park features the QTIS Jewel Qualifier 2YO Plate (1100m). The Plate has base prizemoney of $43,000 plus QTIS bonuses. The winner, if eligible, will be exempt from ballot for the $500,000 QTIS 2YO Jewel (1200m) at the Gold Coast on 14 March.

Nominations for all races on the program are due tomorrow, 18 February at 11.00am.

• David Aldred CEO RJC