Racing: Cup win turns trainer's focus to her children

Whatever happens next with her Wellington Cup winner Zabeat, Donna Logan is already certain about one thing.

She'll never put any horse - group one winner or a maiden - ahead of her two children Samantha, 13, and Robert, 8.

That's why wins such as Zabeat's on Saturday are so important for the Ruakaka trainer.

Logan hopes that her fourth group one victory will finally bury the tiresome tag of being the beach trainer who patches up broken down crocks.

Zabeat, and others she has in the wings like him, are the beginning of what Logan and her estranged husband and training partner Dean Logan hope will be a new-look boutique stable of potential transtasman stars.

The arrival of Chris Gibbs as stable foreman last April has also been a significant turning point for Donna Logan as she strives for the right balance between the home and stable.

Too many years of toiling from her Ruakaka beachfront base, often travelling solo hundreds of kilometres for peanuts, has come at cost that only wins like Saturday's milestone can begin to repay.

"I've missed so many of their most important years while I was grafting to be a trainer that my children paid the price," admits Logan, who has now slashed her numbers by more than half.

"I now owe it to the kids to be there for them and support them through the next stages of their lives into adulthood.

"I need horses now who are going to make me money - the days of the hobby horse are over.

"I'm 44 now and life is going past me very quickly and having lost my mum last year I realise how precious life is.

"Once your gone, you're gone and not a lot of people remember you."

As she celebrated Saturday's emotional win, drinking champagne from the Wellington Cup and being congratulated by Prime Minister Helen Clark, Logan recalled just how tough the road to the top had been.

Days like the ones in which she'd ride work at Ruakaka in the morning, make a 10-hour plus return trip to the Rotorua races and be ready to repeat the hellish workload the next morning.

It got so crazy that when Samantha was born two months premature and spent the first six weeks of her life in a Whangarei Hospital incubator, Logan would have to express feed from the stable.

"If it wasn't for the grafting and financial pressure of racing in those days, Dean and I would probably still be together and be a happily married couple.

"Luckily we still have respect for each other and have remained good friends. We're both in new relationships and work terrifically well together."

Donna Logan, however, has no intention of ever moving from Ruakaka, despite the extra travelling pressures.

If it wasn't for the unique and world-class facilities she has on her doorstep, Logan is adamant she would not have had a runner in the Wellington Cup on Saturday.

Logan said it was only hours of walking on the Ruakaka beach that saved Zabeat from being scratched after a hoof injury flared less than a week from the race.

She's not sure where the 5-year-old son of Rhythm will reappear next.

Even the Wellington Cup had been an after-thought for the horse she co-owns with long-time client, Auckland real estate agent Ashley Goodwin.

They'd been so confident of Peter Johnson kicking him home in the Auckland Cup that Logan didn't even nominate for Trentham.

But rain in the lead-up to the New Year's Day feature robbed Zabeat of his usual stayer's sprint, relegating him to third place and forcing Logan and Goodwin to pay the $3000 late entry to chase the nearest 3200m alternative.

"He'll go in the paddock now and I'll have a chat with Garry Cossey about where to go next," said Logan.

"He's a great form analyst and has been a very loyal friend over the years.

"He'll help me decide whether we go to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne next."

Brisbane was looking the most likely target though, with the Logans fully aware of the enormous difference between the Wellington and Melbourne Cups.

"There's a lot of big money on offer in Brisbane and the Melbourne Cup is a big ask," Dean Logan said.

"It's a hell of a big step from Wellington to Melbourne. The Melbourne Cup has become an international race.

"I also think this horse will be even better with another year on him."

Regardless of where Zabeat heads, the Logans won't have to look hard to find a jockey because Saturday's winning hoop Peter Johnson has been a Zabeat fan since the horse's run in the Dunstan Final last season.

"Both he and Royal Secret ran into trouble that day and Royal Secret went on to win the Hawkes Bay Cup," said Johnson after Saturday's win.

Johnson rode Zabeat in his two wins last term and told the Logans that he would stick with the horse this season.

"He's always shown ability," Johnson said.

"He will stay all day and is a good moving horse - very light on his feet.

"But he's still a bit green and the older he gets, the better he will be. He still hasn't learned to put it all together yet.

"He relaxed beautifully down the back but got to the front a bit soon and got stage fright when he saw the bare patch on the track where people had been coming across from the inside. But I always had Gorgeous George covered."

Even while celebrating Saturday's win Donna Logan was already looking forward to the National Yearling Sales at Karaka this week and filling orders for her loyal band of owners.

Logan is confident that Williams will be among those.

Logan said he had been a lucky owner since arriving with Blazing Away, a broken down horse she patched up to win a handful of races a few years back.

They have another pair in the wings and more in store if Logan has her way.

Donna's day

* Zabeat wins the Wellington Cup for trainer Donna Logan.

* He got up in a nailbiting finish under the urgings of astute jockey Peter Johnson.

* Logan has cut back the size of her Ruakaka-based stable.

* Zabeat will now head for a spell.