Jess Breaks Her Duck As A Trainer
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday January 14, 2009
JESS Rutledge has been around horses all her life but all she wanted to do is train race horses and, more importantly, winners.
The 25-year-old got her trainers' licence late last year after spending time learning under Bede Murray and Kerry Parker, and her second runner, Kar Ketch Me, became her first winner in a maiden at Nowra on Monday."He had a run at Moruya and we thought he would win but he blew the start and lost all chance," Rutledge said yesterday."It was a bit hard to be confident after that but he went to Nowra and did what we expected him to do at Moruya."He is a nice horse and I think we might be able to win one at Kembla (Grange) with him."Kar Ketch Me was the horse which began Rutledge's training career after she took him over from Parker after four starts for four placings in her first preparation.Rutledge's team has grown to five horses since and she has set up on a property at Kanahooka, floating her horses to Kembla for work. She is aiming to build her team and will eventually look for stables at Kembla."I just got tired of being a stablehand and trackwork rider and wanted to give it a go by myself," Rutledge said."I started with a couple of boxes at Kembla but they were a bit expensive because I couldn't fill the whole block."This property came up and we just have to float the horses to the track, so it works well."I have a couple in work and a couple more on their way, so hopefully there are more winners to come."
© 2009 Illawarra Mercury
