Rocky’s Kris Hansen scores career highlight in Townsville.

Rockhampton trainer Kris Hansen celebrated the biggest win of his brief career when Astra Star’s strode away with the $105,000 Great Northern Brewing Co. Northern Jewel at Cluden Park on Friday.

Hansen went into the race brim full of confidence and Astra Star showed his liking for the Cluden track with a powerful win under jockey Sean Cormack.

“That was my biggest win. I had a lot of confidence in the horse. He goes good the horse and it was a long-range target for us,” Hansen said.

“He’s been knocking on the door and getting beaten by some nice horses and it was always a big plus that he’d already won here.

“I’ll be back for the carnival with him and I might bring a little two-year-old we’ve got with him.”

Hansen started training a little over two years ago, following in the footsteps of his well-known father Kevin who has made a number of winning raids on Townsville over the years.

The 47-year-old completed a lengthy apprenticeship working for a number of leading stables in Queensland and overseas before deciding to take out a licence himself.

“I’ve been training for two years and it’s going good. I’m starting to get some nice horses now,” Hansen said.

“I’ve been in the horses all of my life. I’ve worked for John Hawkes, Gerald Ryan, Gillian Heinrich, Bryan Guy and did a stint in Singapore for a few years riding work.

“I was always down in the south-east and then overseas, but dad was close to semi-retiring so I thought I’d come back up to Rocky and give training a go.”

“Graeme Green shares in the ownership of Astra Star and he has been a big help to me, bringing owners and their horses over to me.”

Astra Star, when under Green’s care, claimed a feature two-year-old race over 1400m at Cluden during last year’s winter carnival.

The Cosmic Force gelding picked up where he left off when he ran out a strong half-length winner in the Northern Jewel from fellow Rocky galloper Lonhy’s Fabre with roughie Under The Shadow finishing third a further 31/2 lengths away.

“Going off how he won today with the big weight it looks like he probably gets the 1200m.

“Dropping back to 57kg is a huge advantage but the extra trip is the only doubt.

“I’m very happy with the position we’re in and it’s just a case of keeping him ticking over now.”

Excerpt is courtesy of: www.cludenpark.com.au