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Juggling jobs, single parenthood… and his first winner

The stress of juggling four jobs and being a single parent were temporarily cast aside for Quorn trainer Shane Grivell this week.

Shane prepared his first ever winner – and did so at metropolitan level when Secret Charge scored at Oakbank’s Wednesday meeting.

“I was that excited that I don’t really remember anything for 15 minutes after the race,” Shane said.

“In the interview with Terry McAuliffe (Racing.com) afterwards my voice was going, because I was yelling down the straight, like I did last meeting at Lincoln, when he finished third.”

Shane is a busy man.

In addition to looking after his small team at Quorn, he works as a cook and barman at the local pub, plus has three other cleaning jobs around town. He is also a single parent to 13-year-old Javier.

“I’ve had my son since he was seven months old, just me and him at home,” Shane said.

“We do 70 to 80 hours a week and try to fit in the horses. I’ve currently got three in work.”

Shane has been training for just over two years, after a short career as a jockey, then spending time working for the stables of Darryl Carrison (Port Lincoln) and Trevor Montgomerie (Port Augusta).

“I’d always wanted to do it and thought ‘Instead of always helping people I’ll do it myself’,” he said.

“So I went and bought 20 acres just out of Quorn.”

In addition to being a special moment for his trainer, Secret Charge also staved off his own retirement with last week’s success.

“He was getting so low in the ratings and every meeting he was an emergency,” Shane explained.

“When he was an emergency at Lincoln twice and missed a run I thought ‘I’ve got to draw the line somewhere’ and I was on the verge of retiring him then.

“But I thought I’d give him one more run. Lucky I did.”

Since acquiring the horse free of charge from Darwin, Shane has worked hard to overcome the nine-year-old gelding’s stomach ulcers and has been rewarded with strong recent form.

Every trainer’s first career win is special, but for Shane, landing that success – after 20-plus attempts – at Oakbank added extra meaning to the occasion.

“Oakbank’s a bit of a special place to me,” he said.

“I used to do a lot of camping up there with my best mate, Jamie, when they had the big carnival. He actually passed away here at my block, helping me build my stables and everything.

“That made the win all the more special.”

Shane is now focused on knocking off win number two much more quickly, possibly in the next few days.

“Dexter Dutton is running on Monday at Clare,” he said.

“There’s only six in his race and I reckon he might be my second winner.”

IMAGE: Quorn trainer Shane Grivell (left) with his first career winner, Secret Charge, jockey Sophie Logan and strapper Clay Pace, at Oakbank this week.

 

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