Favourite: Franco Nepia will be strongly fancied to claim Saturday night's Listed $25,000 Seymour Rising Stars Final Photo by Dan Costello - Racing Wrap
Wes Komorowski is happy mixing business with pleasure.
Based in Sydney, Komorowski is an operations manager at Smithfield RSL in the western suburbs but when he’s not working his ‘normal’ job, you will find him at Menangle helping out alongside leading trainer Peter Walsh.
Harness racing is a passion for Komorowski and he thrives on the hands-on involvement with the horses; he even drives his runners in between his shifts.
And that was the case on Tuesday when Komorowski jetted into Brisbane to partner one of his three racehorses that he shares ownership of including Franco Nepia, who duly saluted at Albion Park in a heat of the Seymour Rising Stars Championship series.
The $25,000 final is scheduled for Saturday night.
And Komorowski will fly north again to take the drive.
Franco Nepia is prepared by local horseman Bart Cockburn while his other two performers (Crackaheiny & Lumos) are trained at Menangle by Walsh.
“It’s a deep passion of mine and I really enjoy it, when I’m not working, I’m always at the stables lending a hand to Pete and I wouldn’t want it any other way. We’re having some luck currently with the horses and hopefully that continues.” Komorowski said.
All of the horses raced by Komorowski and his partners have been New Zealand purchases including Floyd Mayweather who raced with distinction in Brisbane for Cockburn before being recently sold.
Crackaheiny has performed well in Sydney while Lumos is the latest addition to the stable and is yet to race.
But Franco Nepia has encountered his fair share of problems since arriving on Australian soil but has managed to win both starts to date.
The Mcardle gelding won first-up at Newcastle back in May before featuring in a stable switch and was sent north to Cockburn who produced him to win first-up on Tuesday.
“We enjoy sending our horses to Brisbane because the prizemoney for the lower class horses is very inviting; the $25,000 weekly series staged are a great opportunity to earn some good coin before they hit their metropolitan racing.
“We sent Floyd Mayweather to chase these series and he did a great job, he won many heats while running placing’s in several finals. In the end, we decided to move him on and then he’s won a few features but that’s racing, we got something for him while the new owner is also getting enjoyment.
“Bart has done a really good job with both horses that he has trained for us and he’s good operator, the horses look great when they race and they always perform at a high level. I can’t speak highly enough of him and Pete for that matter.”
Franco Nepia was the most impressive heat winner on Tuesday and rated the fastest time of the two heats staged; further improvement is expected following his long layoff.
The lightly raced gelding has drawn in gate five for the final, likely to start from four if the emergency doesn’t secure a start.
“He’s a talented horse and has always displayed very good potential but niggling injuries have prevented him from racing on a more consistent basis. He’s had his fair share of hoof problems but he’s good right now, Bart has a heavy sand track with a good swimming hole and that has been very beneficial to him.
“At the time of his purchase, we were looking at two horses from Spreydon Lodge in New Zealand, this horse and Franco Nelson. As it turns out, we made the wrong choice but hopefully this horse can make up for lost time.
“He felt very sharp winning the other day and natural improvement will come, he will remain in Brisbane with Bart and hopefully continue to race through his grades and picking up a few of these finals in the coming months.”
