Trusted Partner won his last start at Eagle Farm by almost two lengths

Gold Coast trainer Simon Foster will pin his hopes on talented five-year-old gelding Trusted Partner when he saddles him up for the Group 3 W.J. Healy Stakes at Eagle Farm tomorrow.

Trusted Partner won his last start in the Listed Lightning Handicap at Eagle Farm by almost two lengths, and Foster feels that the horse is ready to step up to Group level for the first time in his career.

The horse began winning races in Townsville before his owners decided to give him a chance to perform in Melbourne.

“He’s part owned by a couple in Townsville that decided they’d like to see him run down there,” Foster said.

Trusted Partner had mixed success in Melbourne, something that Foster attributes to the alternate track direction.

“He never really handled that way of going,” Foster said.

“That’s probably why he mixed his form so much.”

Foster employs a specific training style with Trusted Partner.

“He does probably three days a week down the beach,” he said.

“(I’m) trying to get him fit without putting any extra stress on his joints.”

The trainer is hoping that Trusted Partner will only be the beginning of his stable’s future successes, after having little luck in Taiwan years ago.

“I’ve been on the gold coast for about eight years now,” Foster said.

“I worked overseas a bit of time in Taiwan…about 12 or 15 years ago.”

Foster said that Taiwan was never able to create a legitimate horse racing industry.

“They never got off the ground there,” he said.

“They had trouble legalising gambling so it never took off.”

Foster will be looking to further add to Trusted Partner’s impressive record that has seem win nine of his 16 starts, with the gelding conceding only four of his 12 runs in Queensland.