Thompson Covers The Bases For Tinkler

Trainer John Thompson has the bases well covered with the impressive autumn carnival team he is preparing for big spending owner Nathan Tinkler.

Tinkler's widespread racing team averages around 150 horses in work and has achieved some notable results over the last three years including five Group One victories.

Thompson, who took charge of the Patinack stable in 2010, has prepared two of those G1 winners for Tinkler. Jason Coyle also won two G1 events during his time as Tinkler's head trainer in 2009 while Anthony Cummings gave the owner his first major success during their short lived association in 2008.

Tinkler's G1 winners have been the Cummings-trained Casino Prince (2008 Chipping Norton Stakes); Linky Dink (2009 TJ Smith) and Onemorenomore (2009 Champagne Stakes) for Coyle; and Small Minds (2010 Schweppes Oaks) and Gathering (2010 Railway Stakes) for Thompson.

However it is only in the last 18 months under Thompson that the operation has really become the force Tinkler was obviously hoping for when he launched his multi-million dollar yearling sale spending sprees.

Thompson has won 26 black type races for Tinkler. Apart from the two G1 wins with Small Minds and Gathering he has won six G2 races, three at G3 level and 17 Listed races.

Overall Thompson has won more than 220 races for Tinkler with much of the success coming in Queensland and South Australia.

Last season Thompson won 58 races in Queensland including 33 metro events to finish second to Robert Heathcote on the Brisbane premiership. He had 38 wins in SA where he failed by just one win to beat Mark Kavanagh for the Adelaide premiership.

This season the stable has focused on Brisbane at the expense of Adelaide. Thompson has 42 wins already on the board in Queensland this season including 31 in Brisbane.

Results in NSW have not risen to those heights but the stable is well ahead of its 2010-11 tally of 12 wins in Sydney with 14 metro wins on the board half way through the current season.

The quality in the stable is now much deeper and recent trials point to Thompson having the fire power to give him his first Sydney Group winner during the autumn.

A short list of Thompson's big race contenders includes Trusting, Pane In The Glass, Gathering, Happy Hippy, No Evidence Needed, Isopach, Kneeling and the exciting two-year-old winners Hussousa and Real Stolle.

Robyn Hartney, Tinkler's racing manager, said the stable's leading contenders for the autumn will resume over the next three weeks.

"Most have already had one trial and will trial again next week before they resume," Hartney said.

"They are progressing well and obviously we are very pleased with the horses we have heading into the autumn."

Hartney said weight-for-age star Trusting will have his second trial next week before he and Railway Stakes winner Gathering resume in the $250,000 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on February 25.

The pair will then run in the $350,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm on March 10 before decisions are made on their autumn programs.

"Trusting has been set for the Ranvet Stakes and the BMW but Gathering is likely to go for the Doncaster," Hartney said.

Thompson is going into the autumn without a stable jockey but Hartney suggested Blake Shinn was well positioned to land the prize ride on Trusting after riding him at Randwick last Friday when he finished a closing third in an 855m trial.

Classy filly Pane In The Glass started her spring campaign with a first-up win in the G2 Silver Shadow Stakes at Warwick Farm in August and the stable will be hoping for a similar result when she resumes in the $175,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) at the same track on February 18.

The stakes winning mares No Evidence Needed and Happy Hippy performed impressively when they trialled at Randwick last Friday and have been set for the $600,000 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill on March 24.

They will trial again next week before resuming in the $100,000 Triscay Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on February 25.

Brilliant Gimcrack Stakes winner Hussousa was a standout among the two-year-olds that trialled at Randwick last Friday. Her trial win augers well for her return to racing in the $100,000 Widden Stakes (1100m) at Warwick Farm on February 18.

"We are very excited about Hussousa," Hartney said. "She will go to the Silver Slipper on March 3 after the Widden and probably have one more start in one of the fillies lead-ups before the Golden Slipper on April 7."

In Melbourne the $1 million Blue Diamond Stakes, sponsored by Patinack Farm, is an obvious major target for the stable with Flemington spring carnival winner Real Stolle and

Hartney said the stable also had high autumn hopes for Australian Derby entry Isopach and the filly Kneeling, winner of the Crockett Stakes at Moonee Valley last August.