Trainer Donna Logan (left) has been joined by jockey Alysha Collett in Singapore. Photo / NZME
Trainer Donna Logan (left) has been joined by jockey Alysha Collett in Singapore. Photo / NZME
Donna Logan would have arrived in Singapore in late February on a broomstick so keen was she to get into her new training operation.
But she couldn't fit her clothes, three cups and a set of cutlery she brought with her from New Zealand.
Logan is an achiever. Perhaps in the Chris Waller sense a quiet achiever, but an achiever nonetheless.
In four months — a blink in terms of setting up internationally — she has greatly impressed some high flying Singaporean horse trainers.
The three winners she has produced is much more remarkable than it sounds when you take into account practically all her team — meagre in terms of numbers until last week — came from New Zealand and had to acclimatise. Some still are.
Logan says she has to blink and pinch herself at times.
"There we were minding our own business in Ruakaka and we're dropped straight into a gigantic dog-eat-dog environment where money is God and sentiment runs a distant second."
Singapore has one of the racing world's most extensive and quality range of tracks to prepare horses on. The gently rising hill tracks are remarkable, offering a range rarely seen.
"There are so many options it took the first month to work out on which horse would be suited to which track." She had ex-pat Kiwi Craig Grylls to help and now also has another from home in Alysha Collett.
The staff are fantastic, they love the animals with such passion, way and beyond anything I've seen.
The extreme heat and humidity is a factor. It is a massive help if horses are free sweaters.
"In New Zealand you see a horse in a muck lather in the birdcage and it puts you off. If you see that here, it's a major plus."
Horses that rarely sweat are at a disadvantage.
The track atmosphere is extremely relaxed like the rest of Singapore, but dangers lurk. Big money attracts big schemers.
"I was worried the other day when an owner offered me five horses from a rival stable. I confided in a Singapore veteran and he said: 'Take them, if you don't someone else will'."
Logan retains ownership of her Ruakaka stable operation, run by former training partner Chris Gibbs, who in the new season will be joined in another partnership by longtime employee Michelle Bradley.
There is no dole in Singapore. The commonly-heard phrase "if you don't work you die" leads to willing stable staff, by regulations made up of four Singaporeans to one Malaysian.
"The staff are fantastic, they love the animals with such passion, way and beyond anything I've seen. And they respect each other, which leads to a happy stable environment. That's a huge help."
Only one New Zealander refused to pen a supporting letter for Logan's Singapore application, but ironically that was more supportive than all the rest.
"Sir Patrick Hogan wouldn't sign one because he said he didn't want me to leave New Zealand."
The camp, including support trainer Graeme Forbes, have settled into a five-bedroom, five-bathroom, three-storey house in the Singapore suburbs, a 10-minute drive from Kranji racetrack.
Logan says she has one hindrance apart from the heat — her fanatical attention to detail. "Some days are extremely busy with owners, family and friends to look after."
To emphasise that point, on Tuesday afternoon 15 stable members had to be walked — around 500m — to the vet clinic on the massive track for a range of checks and treatments.
Until two weeks ago the stable numbers were 12.
They are now 30 and the signs of growth are there.
