Tregea to 'wind down' training

Twenty-four hours after preparing Incentivise’s half-brother Argyle Lane to win on debut, Steve Tregea has revealed he’s winding down as a trainer.

Argyle Lane was transferred on Monday into the care of Joshua King, who’s been Tregea’s foreman for the last three years and rode trackwork for him before then.

The renowned Toowoomba horseman explained that Argyle Lane was one of a number of horses that would be transferred over to King to train.

Despite the news, Tregea said that he would continue to be involved in racing as a breeder and owner and that he’ll still be keeping busy.

“There’s plenty of work to do on the farm, there’s plenty of tractor work and plenty of young horses to feed, worry about what’s got to be done with them, so I won’t be short of something to do,” Tregea said.

Tregea bred and was the initial owner and trainer of Incentivise, who won his last six starts in a row for him by a combined margin of 42 lengths on his road to superstardom last year.

The son of Shamus Award was then sold to his current connections, with Tregea retaining a share in him, and was transferred to Peter Moody at Pakenham.

Incentivise continued on his winning ways last spring, taking out the Makybe Diva Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and Caulfield Cup, while he also produced a gallant effort to finish second in the Melbourne Cup.

Tregea then sold out of the three-time group one winner earlier this year.

Tregea listed another of Incentivise’s siblings, dual stakes race winner Bergerac, and Group Two Victory Stakes winner Niccanova, as being other highlight horses from his training career.

As for Sunday’s winner Argyle Lane, his now former trainer explained that the Golden Archer gelding had had a leg issue that had delayed his debut until late in his four-year-old season.

“He’s always been a lovely looking horse,” Tregea said.

“I’ve said for years that if you could breed yearlings that looked like him, you’d sell them quite easily.

“He had a problem with his hind leg, he got an infection in the leg that needed long term antibiotic treatment, needed flushing regularly, which held him up for six months at a time, other than the fact that he’s a very big horse and we gave him a bit of time.

“We didn’t have any choice; we would have had him going a lot earlier if it wasn’t for that.”