Tried and true – Takeover Target’s influence on the career of Luke Pepper

Luke Pepper is a trainer on the move this season, thanks in some way to the experience he gained as a figure in one of Australian racing’s best rags-to-riches stories.

From behind the scenes, Luke Pepper had one of the best front-row seats to a moment in racing that made a mockery of the impossible.

It’s a story of the Australian turf like no other. A part-time trainer struggling to make ends meet as a cab driver, Joe Janiak ended up about $6 million richer and mingled with royalty.

Jay Ford was catapulted from the middle-of-the-road riding ranks in Sydney to find his champion and a place on the greatest stages.

But it was Pepper who kept Takeover Target ticking over as his trackwork rider, charged with signing off on campaigns that established the sprinter as one of the great travellers of the racing world.

Singapore, Tokyo, and a controversial trip to Hong Kong. And, of course, the UK, where Takeover Target became a fixture during Royal Ascot week and where Janiak met the Queen.

Pepper didn’t travel with Takeover Target to England, but he was there for the Asian legs of the horse’s global tours.

In Royal Ascot week, which also coincides with the 10th anniversary of Takeover Target’s death following a paddock accident, Pepper is always reminded of his part in a story that should be made into a movie.

Choisir was the first Australian racehorse of the modern era to leave an imprint on Royal Ascot and Black Caviar later became the most significant and courageous.

Takeover Target was undoubtedly the least likely. 

Given up as a racing prospect, abandoned by a city stable and sold out of a mixed racehorse sale to Janiak for $1375, Takeover Target gave hope to all those trainers who trade in horses that the legendary TJ Smith once referred to as “penny dreadfuls”.

And while Pepper played a supporting role to the central characters, it was enough to instill an ambition to open a stable of his own.

“I got to see the best horses in the world,” Pepper told The Straight.

“It was an incredible experience. Riding Takeover Target, the only way I can explain – it was like being strapped to a jet.

“And just being able to see other parts of the world, how they train and see what they do. That’s helped me with my training career, that’s for sure.

“When I got back from those trips, that’s when I basically started training. 

“Obviously, that was the ultimate … being at the top and going around with Takeover Target and being at that level. It definitely made me want to be a trainer.”

A former picnic jockey, Pepper has made a decent fist of a training career that started on the NSW south coast, gained momentum in Canberra and unearthed his best horse so far during a move to Scone.

Opal Ridge, a stakes-winning mare, retired last year with seven victories while banking almost $1.3 million.

She gave Pepper a profile but not the extra horses he was looking for because Scone at the time offered little room for expansion to match his ambitions.

He returned to Canberra in October, doubled the size of his stable and hasn’t looked back with almost 50 winners in 2024/25 at a 26 per cent strike-rate that is the envy of most.

And emerging from his best season since taking out a licence in 2009, Pepper may have found a horse that has a familiar backstory.

There is a bit of Takeover Target about Bengal who will try to showcase his wares for something much better when he takes on city-class three-year-olds at Randwick on Saturday.

A well-related son of Zoustar, Bengal commanded $250,000 at the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale when sold to a Newgate Farm colts’ syndicate and placed in the stable with champion trainer Chris Waller.

Bengal was moved on, listed online after six starts for Waller. There were glimpses of what the pedigree page promised, but ultimately, he fell short of expectations.

Pepper did his due diligence and secured the winning bid for $42,500.

It’s not an insignificant sum, but in times of inflationary bloodstock, there is also nothing unremarkable about it.

But what has unfolded since makes Bengal look like one of racing’s latest gifts with four starts for Pepper returning three wins and more than $250,000.

Bengal pounces and wins at Randwick for Luke Pepper, welcome back to town Brodie Loy!@brodie_loy @aus_turf_club pic.twitter.com/LZyVaNfQtA

— 7HorseRacing (@7horseracing) June 7, 2025

Much of that windfall came from a maiden win at Moruya on the NSW south coast that carried a $100,000 bonus for Inglis sales graduates in a triumph for planning, placement and another reward for playing in the tried-horse market.

“I do a lot of investigation on the ones I buy and I make sure they’re what I’m looking for,” Pepper said.

“We’ve had really good success (that way) over the years. Bengal is a well-bred horse … he’s got an incredible pedigree.

“Obviously he wasn’t going to make the grade as a stallion prospect but he has come through Chris Waller’s system so he’s had the best upbringing his whole life and the best education.

“We’ve been the beneficiaries of that … he’s just been a real little star to us. It’s just about being patient and hopefully finding the right one.”