Ashley's at Home with her Horses

Tony Kneebone - Winning Post - writes:

She's the travelling attendant who didn't make it back home ...

Ashley Handley arrived in Australia on a very important assignment in
February. An employee of New Zealand's hugely successful Te Akau Racing
operation, her role was to care for three headline horses in Sydney — Te Akau
Shark, Melody Belle and Probabeel.

Handley, 22, is one of Te Akau's trusted work riders and strappers and
the carnival got off to a dream start when both Te Akau Shark and Probabeel won
Group 1s  on the same program at Randwick
(Chipping Norton and Surround Stakes).

A short time later, COVID-19 hit Australia and while the racing
continued, urgent re-planning had to be undertaken.

New Zealand announced it would be shutting down (racing included) and
Te Akau made the decision that their superstar horses would remain in Australia
after the autumn.

Trainer Jamie Richards asked Handley if she would be prepared to stay
in Oz with the champs, and she happily accepted.

Covid came and went in NZ without Handley experiencing any of those
lows and highs. She became part of the Australian fight against the disease,
adhering to the strict protocols designed to keep racing ticking over.

“It's been an interesting experience,” she said this week, adding that
she has no idea when she'll be return to New Zealand.

The three horses in her care raced well through the autumn and two of them are deep into their build-ups for the spring carnival (Te Akau Shark suffered an eye injury and is most unlikely to race again in Australia this year).

Handley explained the communication between Sydney and “headquarters”
was comprehensive.

“Jamie rings me all the time to tell me what work to give the horses
... he'll get a report from me on how they're feeling, then he'll check the
weather and the condition of the tracks and from there the plan is set,” she
said.

“It works well, I think.”

She said that while the ongoing Covid situation in Australia was
annoying, it didn't cause too much interruption to her daily routine.

“I'm not surrounded by a lot of people in my job ... a typical day for
me is track (or beach) work early in the morning, then I'll give the horses
their breakfast before going home for a rest. In the afternoon I'll go back to
the horses (they're stabled with John Thompson's team at Randwick), take them
out of their boxes for a nice stroll, give them a brush and organise their
dinner.”

Handley revealed she had only been with Te Akau Racing for a little
more than 12 months and she appreciated the faith they had placed in her to look
after such valuable mares.

She said she had “naturally” formed a close attachment to both horses.

“I love being around them.”

Asked if a training career appealed to her once she gained more experience, Handley replied, “Oh, I'm not sure about that — I just like doing what I'm doing now.”

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