Darren Gauci pilots the ill-fated First Militia to one of his four metropolitan wins for Brian and Gayle Rowe. By Brad Kingsbury
THIS time last year the Pakenham husband-and-wife training team of Brian and Gayle Rowe were astutely fine-tuning their stable star First Militia for a tilt at their home track cup.
They hoped for a good barrier draw and luck in running on the day.
The upshot of the race was a close third for the then six-year-old gelding, proving beyond doubt that he was up to the challenge and a good chance to back the effort up and maybe go a place or two better in this year’s Cup.
However that expectation has quickly turned to despair for the popular couple, who will be just two more faces in the crowd as the 2009 Pakenham Cup field jumps on 1 March.
First Militia became the victim of a mystery illness after a successful spring campaign and Brian was forced to have him put down in early December, devastating the Rowes and ending their dream of keeping the trophy in Pakenham.
All involved in the racing game know it is full of ups and downs, but few outside those who work directly with the horses understand how cruel a blow like that can be.
“It was like losing one of the family that day. That’s how we took it,” said Brian with obvious emotion.
“We bred him, we bred his mum and he’s never been off our place from day one, except with us.”
“We don’t exactly know what happened at the moment. He was immune mediated, which means that his immune system turned on itself and started shutting down organs and made him a very sick horse.
“He had been at (the Werribee Equine Hospital) for three of four days and was really sick. We had no option to ask them to put him down,” he said.
An autopsy was performed afterwards, but there’s still no firm indication of what triggered the problem and Brian was still at a loss to explain it.
“He was a robust horse. He’d only had 30 starts in total so he wasn’t overtaxed in any way,” he said.
“He was a real brumby to start off with, but we developed a relationship with him and it’s been very hard for us.”
“Racing’s a great evener.”
First Militia was by far the Rowes most talented horse. It won four metropolitan races and finished fourth in last year’s Moonee Valley Cup.
The Rowes are now planning the racing career of First Militia’s half sister, Misstrice, and Brian is aiming to have her ready to race in March with hopes that she can mirror the results of her sibling.
