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By Greg Prichard

Racing has got another “Molong Marvel”! But this time it’s not a horse like the enormously popular Tullmax who emerged from the central-western town more than 40 years ago. It’s local butcher Mark Thomas, who has experienced tremendous results buying small shares in racehorses.

He’s hoping to share in what would be his third win in a Newhaven Park Hunter and North West Country Championship at Tamworth on Sunday, with his interests in the Cody Morgan-trained gallopers Edit and Macleay.

There’s a strong family tie between Thomas and Tullmax as well, but we’ll come back to that.

Thomas is an unassuming family man who will be a bit embarrassed by this coverage, but he was keen to sing the praises of Morgan as a trainer and Australian Bloodstock as a racehorse syndicator.

He didn’t really expect to start off in ownership at the time that he did, but when you see how it has worked out since it seems like it was meant to be.

“I’m a butcher with a wife and three kids and five or six years ago I was looking at bloodstock auctions online and I put in a bid of four grand for a horse,” Thomas explained.

“It was well bred by I Am Invincible and I thought ‘I’ll never get this horse’, but I was sitting at home that night and I got pinged on the phone and the message said I’d been successful in buying it. I thought I’d have no chance and that it would go for about $20,000.

Mark Thomas (left) with wife Donna and family members at Randwick.

“My daughter was getting ready to go to college in Canberra and we were working out how to pay for that and I said to my wife, ‘bloody hell, I’ve accidentally bought this horse’.

“I did a bit of homework and asked for opinions and a lot of people suggested Cody Morgan as a trainer. I gave him a ring and said, ‘I’ve bought this horse, can you help me out?’

“He took the horse on. It was an Australian Bloodstock horse named Early Opener and I got a winner out of it and Cody then said, ‘let’s move it on for sale’ and I made a good profit. Bought it for $4000, quickly won about $15,000 and then sold it for $8000.

“I got another one with him which didn’t do well, but then Unbiased won the Gunnedah Cup and Cody rang me and said, ‘Thommo, do you want to go in this horse?’. I said, ‘no mate, it’s OK, it’s your dad’s horse’, but he wanted me in so I agreed.

“Unbiased went on to win the Country Championship at Tamworth and I rolled that money over from my share in the horse and ended up buying a few more. Just five or 10 per cent shares. I put my wife into the ownership and currently I’m a part-owner of seven horses with Cody.

“Ligulate is one of them. He won the Country Championship at Tamworth as well. We’re really looking forward to Sunday’s race. I like the chances of Edit, and also Macleay at odds, but most importantly Cody and Australian Bloodstock are very positive about them as well.”

Thomas said he loved travelling to watch the horses he part-owns race, whether it’s at country venues or all the way to Sydney.

“There will be a heap of us – family at friends – at Tamworth on Sunday,” he said. “Molong is a bit over four hours from there, so we’ll leave on Saturday and stay at Tamworth overnight. It should be a great day.”

Thomas said he was very careful to do plenty of research before deciding which horses he wanted to take shares in. They all come through Australian Bloodstock, which has established a successful partnership with Morgan as their Tamworth trainer.

“Luke Murrell and Jamie Lovett from Australian Bloodstock are great,” he said. “They cherry-pick the horses they want to be involved with and then I cherry-pick from the list they send me. I only want Cody to train them. The communication from Cody and Australian Bloodstock is fantastic.

“It’s no different to being a butcher in that respect. You find the best meat to sell to people and they keep coming back and I think that’s why Australian Bloodstock has been so successful, they cherry pick and find the most suitable horses.

“I took five per cent in Unbiased and five per cent in Ligulate, which has won well over half-a-million dollars in prizemoney for the syndicate. I’ve got 2.5 per cent of Edit and 2.5 of Macleay. I’ll keep buying shares of 2.5, five or 10 per cent, depending on the cost.

“I work for a butcher at the IGA supermarket at Molong. I start work at 1.30am. I’m not rich or anything. I’m just careful. Financially I’m in front over time – clearly in front.”

Thomas says he is evidence that anyone can get involved in racehorse ownership.

Mark and Donna Thomas (second and third from left) celebrate Unbiased's Country Championships win. (Pic: Bradley Photos).

“People say, ‘Australian Bloodstock buy these horses, how are country people supposed to compete?’, he said. “But every time I go to the races - and we’ve won Sydney races - I’ve met bakers from Tamworth, farmers from Inverell, all people like this who are involved in the ownership.

“They might be ex-Godolphin horses or whatever, but they’ve been sent to the country to find their place in racing. The owners are mostly country people like me who just want to race a horse and this is the way to do it, through five per cent shares.

“Whether you’ve got one per cent or 100 per cent of a horse, the thrill is the same.

“I love going to the races and meeting the other owners. It’s a wonderful part of the overall experience. Hopefully we can get another horse in this year’s Country Championships Final at Randwick and maybe win it this time.”

The link with Tullmax, the Molong galloper who didn’t race until he was six and went on to win the Group One George Main Stakes, the Tramway Handicap and finish fourth in an Epsom, came through Mark’s father Les Thomas, a noted horseman of the time.

Tullmax had a bad scouring problem and no-one could find a solution until Thomas, using his vast experience, tried a remedy of clay and apples mixed into the horse’s feed and it did the trick.

Another Molong local, Trevor Doulman, then trained Tullmax to become a racetrack success with a huge cult following.

Who knows? If Edit or Macleay can get through to the $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final at Randwick on April 2, maybe Mark Thomas can add a fabulous new chapter to the great Molong racing story.

All the entries, form and replays for Sunday’s Country Championships meeting at Tamworth