“He was always a really good worker but did a lot wrong. “He won his first start with me, then he won a midweek race and then again on a Saturday. “(River Lad) won a couple of starts including the Rocky Sales Race (Capricornia Yearling Sale) before he came to me,” McCall said. The youngest trainer (34 at the time) to win a Stradbroke Handicap, McCall’s sole Group 1 victory came in the 2014 edition of “Queensland’s great race” when champion jockey Damien Oliver produced a beautiful ride to boot home race outsider River Lad. “I started off with some hand-me-down horses, as you do at the start of your career, and built from there,” McCall said.Īs we celebrate yet another sensational Stradbroke Handicap and Winter Carnival, this time of year always brings back some sensational memories for McCall. “I went to Brisbane and rode freelance work before going to work for the Hawkes full-time.”Īrmed with an impressive resume and a long tutelage under her father’s eye, McCall opted to take the leap and attained her own training licence in 2007. “Dad was a very good trainer, but I just wanted to learn different angles and different ways. “I was with Dad for years before I decided I wanted to learn off as many people as I could. “(Training partnerships) wasn’t really a thing back then and (Dad and I) fought too much to train together,” McCall joked. The gelding had 82 starts for 12 wins, including winning the Group 2 QTC Cup (now known as the Moreton Cup) before contesting the 2006 Stradbroke Handicap.ĭespite the temptation of building a long-term partnership with her father, McCall opted to expand her horizons and pick the brains of leading South East Queensland stables.

The chestnut filly was Grand Shower, who turned out to be a sensational purchase for the McCall family-a metropolitan winner and one of the few horses they opted to retain as a broodmare.ĭespite being “mongrel-bred”, Grand Shower saved her best work for the breeding barn, producing nine foals to race for nine winners, including Group 2 winner Messiaen. “I picked this little chestnut filly who we paid $1000 for.” When I was about 10 I had two ponies die within a month of each other, so when we went to these sales where he said ‘pick one out and if it is cheap I will buy it for you’. I started out with him, obviously, and he was a good horseman with some good success,” McCall said. McCall takes pride in her hands-on approach to training that has been so effective with her boutique stable.ĭriven by her immense passion for the animal, McCall has enjoyed a profound tutelage from a young age. The Sunshine Coast trainer only has a small team in work, but that is just the way she likes it. The daughter of successful trainer Ray McCall, Natalie McCall, has always been surrounded by thoroughbreds-and she can’t picture that changing anytime soon.

For Natalie McCall, there was no possible career choice other than working with horses.

Need for speed most wanted v2 trainer