Symons enjoys purple patch

CHRISTMAS came early at the end of 2025 for long-time Bendigo trainer Rod Symons.

From 25 November to 18 December, Symons made three trips to the racetrack – each of them produced a winner.

A purple patch of form started with Kamarooka’s 2200m maiden win at Ararat and ended with Makhanda’s stunning benchmark 62 victory at Seymour.

In between, the eight-year-old mare Kaniva capped a sound 54 start career by scoring her seventh win in her racing swansong at Wangaratta on December 6.

In winning, the daughter of Kuroshio and Lascelles ended her career the way she started it, having won her first race start at Kyneton in early 2021.

A bold and stirring front running performance on debut was impressive enough for Symons to send Kaniva straight to town, where she finished second 10 days later at Moonee Valley.

While a city win eluded her, Symons is optimistic that won’t be the case with the progressive four-year-old Makhanda.

The son of Turffontein’s imposing win at Seymour gave him two on the trot following his victory at Donald on 16 November.

A pleasing second preparation that had produced two wins and a second from five starts earned Makhanda his first crack at a midweek city race on Wednesday this week (as the Bendigo Times went to print).

While he has trained long enough – about 40 years – to know never to take anything for granted in racing, Symons is content to declare Makhanda one of the most promising horses he has trained in the past decade or so.

“He just keeps improving … and it’s nice to win a maiden and then improve a bit afterwards,” he said.

“It was lovely to see him switch on as his win at Donald, he had no hope of winning at one stage the way he was going.

“But he raced like a real racehorse at Seymour … put himself in a nice position and did a bit of work at the end like he had to.

“He was very strong at the end, but he bludges in the middle.

“It’s exciting to see him improve so much.

“We are optimistic with him, but won’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”

The win delivered the horse’s owners a pair of VOBIS bonuses – Gold and Platinum.

Ironically, Makhanda’s win brought an end to Symons’ winning streak, with Kamarooka unplaced in the same race.

The astute trainer could not recall whether he had previously trained the winners of three straight races his horses were entered in.

Retired following her Wangaratta win, Kaniva will see out her days on Symons’ farm where she will be ‘well looked after’.

 

“In fact, we are going to get her in foal this year,” he said.

“Proudly, Kaniva is part of a long line.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, we bought a mare called Greet Our Guest (who won six races, including two city victories) and she was a sister to Reeperbahn (Symons’ first Group race winner). She went on to produce Lascelles and quite a lot of other good horses that we raced over the years and were winners.

“It kept the line going, ending up with the likes of Kaniva, Kiata and Kalkee and a couple of good males.

“That whole family has been good to us and now Kaniva will continue that line.

“We did breed from Kaniva’s sister, Kiata, but she’s proven to be a difficult breeder.”

At 64 and with about six horses in work, Symons admits he is ‘scaling down’ operations.

“It’s getting a lot tougher,” he said.

“It’s all well and good if you can mix it with the big boys and win some big money, but when you are back in the ruck a bit, it’s getting harder.

“Because I am not breeding as much, I’m finding it harder, so I’m backing off a bit.

“I feel a bit for the young trainers coming through and are trying to own a few horses themselves. Will they make enough money from it?

“Years ago you could, but it’s getting tougher.”