Ghostly grey’s a Stanzout

By Peter Sweeney
HORSEMAN Colin Davies has a self-confessed addiction to Tattslotto tickets and collecting music memorabilia.
We can only believe what he says of the former; but records, photographs and the sort from the likes of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson – whom he met and worked with – confirm his love of the latter.
But there’s something he loves a lot more… Stanzout, a nine-year-old grey gelding.
Simply put, Stanzout will always be the standout in Davies’ eyes.
He has named his recently purchased 50-hectare property – on Kooweerup-Longwarry Road – Stanzout Lodge. It’s little wonder Davies, 58, has so much affection for the grey.
Stanzout has overcome plenty, and more, to still be racing, let alone winning. As of today, he has had 56 starts for nine wins, 16 placings and $805,107 in stakes. He has won at Group 2 and Listed level and been placed three times in Group 1 races.
Come Sunday afternoon and Davies is banking on the wins hitting double figures – and the stakemoney getting much closer to the magical million dollar mark.
Stanzout will jump in the $100,000 Apache Cat Classic over 1000 metres – the main support race to the Cranbourne Cup. And it’s a win which would mean the world to Davies.
“Cranbourne’s my home track and I always love winning there,” he said.
However, there’s more.
Stanzout, third in the Apache Cat last year, ran third and second to Apache Cat in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes and Australian Stakes of 2008.
“We nearly got him (Apache Cat) a couple of times at the highest level … and I’d love to get the Apache Cat Stakes,” Davies said.
A knockabout bloke, Davies has been knocking about with horses since he accompanied his dad on a milk round with a horse and cart.
“I’d call the Melbourne Cup as dad trotted the horse along the road,” said Davies, whose CV says he has done nearly as many jobs as the number of horses he has worked with, including being a DJ and working on movies.
“I love this bloke, he gives you everything,” Davies said of Stanzout. “Before his second race, he broke a wither and had joint issues for a long time. Then he tore a muscle off his hip at a barrier trial, then he had a severe reaction to an injection for EI (Equine Influenza), then he had a lung/breathing problem and then….
“I reckon this bloke is even better than what has shown.”
But that was then and now is now.
“This season, touch wood, we’ve been lucky,” Davies said.
The horse is as honest in races as a daylight saving day; so much so, that Stanzout has his own website.
“It’s very popular, people love reading about him and seeing his stories and photographs,” Davies said. “I think it’s because he is grey and because he’s so consistent.”
Come next week, and Davies hopes there’s much more on www.stanzout.com for fans to chew over.