By Duane Ranger. (Courtesy of Ross Fletcher Racing)
Parents always know best.
If the 2020 Queensland Young Drivers Champion had his way last Thursday’s Redcliffe winner, Willsintown, wouldn’t have even been racing in the purple and black, let alone win the 1,780m mobile event easily by 5.5m.
“Ask Zac (Chappenden) what he wanted to do with the horse two months ago,” his parents said (virtually) simultaneously. “His answer might surprise you,” they added.
Obviously proud as punch with the feats of their middle child on the racetrack, they weren’t afraid to give him a dig either.
“Zac wanted us to get rid of Willsintown. He said he was no good, but Melissa and I said be patient son. Zac does some amazing things on the racetrack and we have set his career up, but you have to remember he’s the one who gets all the glory out in the middle. We all work hard, especially his older sister, Kaylah, who does a lot of the work behind the scenes,” Chappenden said.
Chappenden and Kendall, who say they are married but just without the paper, work at the stables in the mornings but also work regular jobs five days a week, leaving their two eldest children to manage the 13-strong stable.
“I run a produce business and Melissa works at Princess Alexandra Hospital as a researcher for Metro South Health. She specialises in spinal injury and brain injury rehabilitation, so the stable is a real credit to all of the family – not just one or two of us.
“Three of us also drive, but obviously we grew our stable so Zac could have a driving career. We only let him drive our horses early on so he could learn what it’s all about.
“Then when he really started hitting his straps, we started getting more horses, mostly others’ rejects, before we let Zac loose on a freelance driving career. We are very proud of what he’s achieved so far,” Chappenden said.
Willsintown winning was a nice present for Chappenden Junior on his 18th birthday while the race before Michael’s Desire for trainer Bianca Hooper provided him with his 50th career win and 48th ($331,843) this season.
Zac drove his very first winner on July 10 last year aboard Aroona (a stable favourite) before leaving Tullawong State High School. On August 28 last year he drove his second winner when saluting with the Bianca Hooper trained Pass The Speights NZ at Redcliffe Paceway.
Chappenden Junior has had more than 600 drives since then and in May this year at Albion Park, he achieved his greatest milestone yet, when he won the 2020 BOTRA Queensland Young Drivers Champion
Chappenden’s six drives saw him finish the Championship with two firsts, two seconds, a fourth and a sixth place. His 41 points were by a whopping 20 ahead of Angus Garrard and Brendan Barnes.
“That was a great night because we have always believed in Zac’s ability. That’s why we increased our stable. Like all four of our kids, we are very proud of them,” Kendall said.
For the last six years Chappenden and Kendall have operated from their nine-acre farm at Toorbul. They have 19 horses on their property including some nice ones like Mister Hart, Willsintown, and Holdingno Currency.
“We used to travel from Deception Bay to Donnybrook twice a day (32km one way) before we came here. It’s quite ironic really because neither Phil nor I were born into racing families.
“My parents did own a pacer which never made it to the races,” Victoria-born Kendall (50) said.
“We got our first taste watching trotters on the Briz31 show years ago and then in the late 1990s a fellow who used to train a horse called Jerry Jet introduced me to training. Our first child (Kaylah) was born 23 years ago and we just started getting into the horses as a hobby soon after,” Strathpine-born Chappenden (46) said.
Chappenden has driven 31 winners since October 2003, and Kendall seven since March, 2014. The family all trains in Kendall’s name and had 22 winners this season ($136,441) and 33 since January 2014.
Chappenden said the best horse he had trained was Jaccka Limon, who won six of his nine starts with the stable, including the Group Three $30,000 MO Pacing Series Final at Albion Park on October 30, 2010. Chappenden was the trainer and driver.
“He was a lovely horse and I used to drive him. We’ve had some great times in the sport and hopefully there’s a lot more to come,” Chappenden said.
