Kristen Buchanan has no plans to swap training horses for breeding them, even if her first venture into the other side of the sport is proving to be fortuitous.
Buchanan is trainer, part-owner and breeder of Smashing Rosie, who lines up in the Schweppes Handicap (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday off the back of a significant midweek form boost.
A daughter of Brave Smash, Smashing Rosie was supposed to be a breed-and-sell proposition for Buchanan and stable clients the Newhouse family, who raced her moderately performed dam Sepplime.
But when she didn’t attract a high enough bid at the yearling sales, they decided to keep her.
“It’s not for the faint hearted, but it has been fun,” Buchanan said of the breeding experience.
“We used to race the mare together and we bred her as a little side venture.
“We were planning to sell her through the Magic Millions sale, which she went to but was passed in, so we brought her home, sold some shares and now we’re racing her with a great group of people.
“We still have the mare so it would be nice if she could win a few races in town and go on with it.”
After finishing third on debut at Tamworth, Smashing Rosie got her maiden win on the board with a neat effort on a heavy track at Gosford.
Runner-up was the Chris Waller-trained Declichy Boulevard, who franked the form with a Warwick Farm win on Wednesday.
That has given Buchanan a confidence boost heading to Randwick, especially given Smashing Rosie is difficult to get a read on at home.
“She is very laidback and unassuming. She just does what you ask her to do,” Buchanan said.
“She has been a pleasant surprise. She is developing with a lot more potential than I initially had her pegged with.”
Buchanan also accepted with stablemate Winning Proposal in the same race but she will be scratched after running at Wyong on Thursday.
