The story of Wayne Roser and Mystic Journey

The owners of Winx – the always affable Debbie Kepitis in particular, Peter Tighe and Richard Treweeke – have ridden the media wave alongside their global phenomenon to such an extent they themselves have become celebrities.

They sign autographed photos of their great mare and they are constantly on TV, radio etc.

They’re rock stars right now – and good for them. Owners have never before been given the recognition in this sport they deserve.

These guys are paradigm shifters. But when their GOAT sails off into the sunset, their fame will probably go with her.

No regrets though because they’ll have their $24 million she has earned them to keep them busy.

And if Saturday’s All Star Mile is any indication, the celebrity-hungry racing public of Australia will have an immediate replacement.

His name is Wayne Roser. And his horse in Mystic Journey.

We know that the emerging superstar 3YO filly Mystic Journey, who it must be pointed out has won far, far more in prizemoney and esteem than Winx did as a 3YO, cost just $11,000 as a yearling.

Right now, as you read this, she has earned $3,259,375 in stakes from her 10 wins, the last 6 in a row.

That’s a long way shy of the GOATS 31 straight picket fence, but both Roser and the filly’s trainer Adam Trinder do have ambitions that way.

For instance, Mystic Journey is to be aimed at the next Cox Plate, and if Winx is around, she will take her on. Presumably Winx will have retired by then handing the mantle of top Australian female racehorse over to Mystic Journey without a challenge.

And with it will go the owner spotlight too.

So who is this Wayne Roser?

Well, outside of racing he is rather revered in his own circle.

He is a bearded, robustly honest man, who smiles and laughs loudly…. a lot. He’s now a retired former barrister – enjoying the fruits of his labour and living a quiet existence in the tiny township of Sulphar Creek.

Sulphar Creek is in Tasmania and reaches its way to the ocean. Bass Straight is the best view you can get in Sulphar Creek, which is saying something because Sulphar Creek is loaded with great views. The place is impossible green, the Irish would love it, and it’s probably best described as God’s country. Location is, well, a few clicks shy of Burnie.

In fact it’s nearly right smack dab in the middle of Burnie and Devonport along the coast road.

Simply glorious.

You could spend hours on the beach or a park bench in Sulphar Creek, doing nothing more than looking north out across that expanse of blue water, toward the mainland. And when you do, it’s a natural progression to start dreaming of all sorts of things.

Winning horses races is now what Roser dreams about – and clearly he’s living his dreams on a daily basis. He has a stable full of horses that are creating the magic for him, all in the boxes of young trainer Trinder.

They are Rose’s because as a younger man he put himself through high school then law school. He had previously left high school at just 14 years of age, not finishing it at that stage, because he needed to help his mother in various ways.

But, 17 years later, when life had changed and he realised he needed to earn a living, he went to night high school.

That sort of dedication to his craft and will to succeed got him into law school, then when he excelled at that game, he became a barrister.

And as a barrister, he is the one who stood in opposition the day high-profiled Australian Judge, Marcus Einfeld went to court.

You may recall the case. It was headline media news for weeks when Einfeld an Australian judge who served on the Federal Court of Australia and was the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, decided he would break the law.

That was back in 2009, and to this day, Einfeld is the highest ranking judge ever to be prosecuted, a prosecution and conviction made possible by….Wayne Roser!

It was this man Roser who dealt the stunning blow, lowered the cudgel, made the presiding Judge see that Einfeld had lied over a paltry $77 traffic fine, which seems tedious now, but at the time carried far, far more weight in terms of judicial accuracy, correctness and image than any case before it.

Roser’s arguments were so compelling that Justice Bruce James, threw the book at Einfeld.

“Any lawyer, and especially a lawyer who has been a barrister and a judge, who commits such an offence is to be sentenced on the basis that he would have been fully aware of the gravity of his conduct,” James said.

Einfeld had pleaded guilty to perjury and making a false statement with intent to pervert the course of justice, to avoid embarrassment at the $77 speeding ticket he was handed in 2006.

A few years later, Roser retired from that arena.

He met up with, and became close friends with former jumps jockey Trinder and started buying horses for him to train. Two years ago, with Trinder at his side urging, cajoling him on, he raised his hand to nab Mystic Journey as a yearling for just $11k.

And when that very same Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling sale came around a year later, Trinder was adamant Roser should buy another one. Like Mystic Journey, this new one is a filly by the Encosta de Lago stallion called Needs Further, and is from the same female line.

By two years of age Mystic Journey had started showing Trinder that she was potentially a racehorse of extraordinary talents, so when this other filly came along by the same sire from a half-sister Mystic Journey, the family resemblance and lineage were just too much to ignore.

Roser duly obeyed the advice of his trainer and grabbed her for $28,000.

And she is now racing too. She is named Mystical Pursuit and she is Tasmania’s best juvenile.

From four starts to date she has won all four comfortably including two a stakes level and pocketed $202,450 in earnings.

But it’s now her residual value that has gone through the roof following the weekend exploits of her aunty, Mystic Journey.

Bloodstock experts argue that if placed on the open market, this 2YO filly would be worth around $1.2million.

And if Trinder is right, that the Cox Plate falls to Roser, he, and Mystic Journey – then her value and that of this 2YO will grow even more.

What a sport this is.