Fortune favours the brave as Dion Luciani chases elusive Group 1 win

In the two decades since he began his racing life as a jockey shortly after his 15th birthday, Perth trainer Dion Luciani has never had a Group 1 winner.

Plenty of near misses, both as a rider and trainer, have only brought greater determination to strike at the highest level rather than frustration and disappointment.

But Luciani is more than hopeful that his stable star, Oscar’s Fortune, will be able to break his Group 1 duck at the weekend when he travels east to become the trainer’s first runner in South Australia.

Oscar’s Fortune, a three-year-old gelded son of Rich Enuff, will try to land the spoils in a hot edition of the $1 million Goodwood, SA’s only open Group 1 sprint.

Should he do so it would be the crowning moment for a developing career that began in the saddle until weight, the jockey’s eternal enemy, forced Luciani to quit.

”I grew up with horses, my old man was leading trainer in Perth for many years and I started riding in races a month after I turned 15. I rode for four years and got a little bit too heavy,” Luciani told The Straight.

But rather than walk away – hardly an option for a man with Luciani’s family background – he determined to find another pathway and opted to gain as much experience in other fields of the sport as he could before creating his own niche.

”I worked in racing media for about 12 months, then I just got as much horse experience as I could.

”I worked with the standardbreds, with Gary Hall Sr, the leading trainer over here, for about 18 months, then I worked for David Hayes in four different stints through the spring.

”I worked in Newmarket in England for a year, I was with Peter Chapple-Hyam (who trained both Dr Devious and then Authorized to land the English Derby) and then I came home. ”

It seemed a natural step to join forces with his legendary father Lou, a member of the WA Racing Hall of Fame, so that he could learn the ins and outs of the training game from a master.

”I partnered with my old man for two or three seasons and then went out on my own,” he says, recalling the start of his solo training career a decade ago.

”I started just with a training setup but it was slow and it was hard to break into the market here, so I started up a breaking operation and then I slowly built that up to be one of the main breakers in WA.

”I began doing breakers for a few of the stud farms here, then built relationships and some of the studs I was breaking horses in for kept horses with me. I started training for those people, they became clients who I train for now. The breaking was a way to get things going and it was a building block.”

Luciani now runs a team with about 130 in work: many are horses being broken in and educated, but as many as 50 per cent would be racing or in preparation.

Having seen life from both sides of racing’s great divide, Luciani knows that jockeys and trainers experience ups and downs.

”When you are a jockey you are running a small business, where you don’t have a lot of overheads and outgoings. As a trainer there’s a lot of money being turned over, so there’s a lot of pressure.” he said.

As a jockey, the personal risk is always greater, even if the rewards can be tremendous for those at the top.

”Jockeys get on a horse and risk life and limb every time they go out there, but it’s a very simple and straightforward business model,” he said.

“Running a training operation, there is a lot that goes into it. You are liable for the people and the horses in your care.

”Then the costs continue to go up. Workers’ compensation increases, wages grow, the price of diesel has kept going up, the price of grain has kept going up.

”Running a training operation is a very expensive organisation where you have to turn over a lot of money, so it’s high risk, but it comes with its rewards as we get to work with the animals that we love.”

Despite his relative youth and skill in the saddle, Luciani says it is difficult to find the time to ride work on his own gallopers.

”I am still very light and fit, and I would love to still be riding but it’s difficult because we run a reasonably large string so it’s hard to be on a horse and still be doing my job,” he said.

”In my role now, I am on the phone every two or three minutes, and every time you are on the phone you have another missed call so it’s difficult, it takes you away from doing your job when you are on a horse. But it is good to have the option to throw a leg over a horse if you want to.”

William Pike, who will partner Oscar’s Fortune on Saturday, has ridden Luciani’s stable star in all five of his race wins to date. Success together would cement a friendship that goes back to Luciani’s days as a rookie rider.

”William was a couple of years ahead of me and we rode together as apprentices. He became a senior jockey before me, but he stood out from the crowd very early on,” Luciani said.

“He developed a relationship with Bob Peters (long-time leading Perth owner/breeder) very early on, and from then on it’s just been amazing watching him grow, see him develop from the early days.

”Watching his transition as he has become one of the top jockeys in Australia has been great to see. William is a good mate of mine and I am very pleased to be able to utilise him as one of our main stable jockeys over here in Perth.

”He is a very, very patient rider, one of the most patient riders in Australia, probably the most patient in the country.”

If successful, Oscar’s Fortune will occupy a special place in the heart of a horseman who knows what a good thoroughbred feels like.

”I used to ride a horse called Guyno every morning (when with his father). He won a Perth Cup and a Derby, the Mornington Cup and a Lord Reims Stakes in Adelaide.

”When I was very very young, about 12 or 13 I used to ride Doriemus, the former Melbourne and Caulfield Cup winner, when he had retired. He was probably one of the best horses I ever sat on, even if it was in a pleasure and not a racing environment.

”But Oscar’s Fortune is definitely one of the best we have had here, and hopefully not the last one.”

The youngster, a winner of five of his nine starts, is strongly fancied in the pre-post market – not surprising given that his latest efforts include a third in WA’s $5 million The Quokka, a win at Group 3 level in the Roma Cup and a second-place finish in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes. But the task is far from easy.

”Running a training operation is a very expensive organisation where you have to turn over a lot of money, so it’s high risk, but it comes with its rewards as we get to work with the animals that we love” – Dion Luciani

According to the betting, his main rival is fellow star Perth galloper Amelia’s Jewel, who finished second last time in The Quokka after finishing behind Luciani’s candidate in the Roma Cup.

But also in the field are shock Group 1 Sangster Stakes winner Climbing Star, improving three-year-old Skybird and the high-class and consistent sprinting mare Benedetta, to name just four.

Nevertheless, Luciani has faith in his horse, and faith in his rider, perennial Perth champion Pike.

”He (Oscar’s Fortune) has definitely got solid credentials. Mentally he is still maturing and learning the game, but he is a very progressive horse that I feel will keep improving for some time,” Luciani said.

”He is still quite raw but he has definitely indicated that he is going to be a genuine Group 1 horse and I am sure at some stage that he is going to win a race like this one on Saturday.

”His 1200-metre runs have all been very good. The feature races he has performed in have all been over six furlongs, and he has always held himself in good stead against some of the best sprinters in the country.

”I think I have had a couple of placings in Group 1 races and when I was a jockey I think I had four seconds in Group 1s, but certainly it would be good to be front and centre rather than a bridesmaid at the weekend.”

Michael Lynch is a sports and racing writer based in Adelaide and Melbourne