Feroce wins the Australian Guineas at Flemington

March 21, 2024 will be a date that Dominic Sutton will never forget. Feroce saluted in a Pakenham maiden to become the first winner of his career. Less than a year later, the same horse won Sutton’s first Group One.

The sport of horse racing in England produces some serious talent. It has often proved to be the case, however, that the talent that is there find their way to the top blocked. Like Rachel King before him, Dominic Sutton came to Australia looking for better opportunities and he has found them.

Dominic Sutton started in National Hunt Racing

Sutton is from a family of horse racing enthusiasts. Growing up not far from Cheltenham and with his dad Nick a rider over jumps in England, there was no shock that Dominic followed in his stirrups to make his own way on horseback.

He would ride one winner under rules, starting his tutelage with Kim Bailey and Warren Greatrex. Bailey has trained more than 1,400 winners in his career including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National. His was a perfect place for Sutton to start learning about the sport.

The Sutton colours are still prevalent in UK racing with Dominic’s younger brother Ben a successful amateur jockey. Ben has been a point to point (amateur jump racing) novice champion jockey in the past.

Those same colours are those worn by Feroce in his Group 1 success in the Australian Guineas and will now start to become as well known on the tracks in Australia as they already are in the United Kingdom.

Sutton made the move to Australia aged 19

A decade ago, Sutton decided that if he was to make a proper go of things in the sport then it would need to be outside of England. For his parents to let him head to the other side of the world at such a tender age shows a huge degree of trust in their son’s ability and temperament.

A stint with Andrew Balding in England produced a deeper interest in flat racing. Sutton would start out with Chris Waller, starting right at the top end of the sport. A move to the team of Leon and Troy Corstens gave him the experience over a span of more than six years to want to strike out on his own.

Sutton would meet his partner Raquel whilst with Waller and as the old saying goes, behind every successful man is a woman and this is very much the case with Sutton. She has a huge amount of experience in the sport around the world which makes her invaluable to the team.

Pakenham base could be the start of something special

There are a lot of trainers who have not hit the top level because they do not have the ammunition to fire. It is not an easy task trying to find the right horses to make an impression but that is something that Sutton has done almost immediately.

It was apt that the first winner for Sutton came at Pakenham and even then the horse racing bookmakers made Feroce just a $3.80 chance. The horse would win on his second start as well before he was forced up in grade.

Sutton could easily have had his first Group 1 winner earlier than he did. Feroce was beaten 0.15l in the Caulfield Guineas in October, just failing to run down Private Life who had the run of the race from the front. There is little doubt that the Australian Guineas will not be the last Group 1 that Sutton wins.

A lot of racehorse trainers will never know what it is like to win a Group 1 race. For Dominic Sutton to get that winner on the board less than a year after training his first winner is a remarkable achievement.