KYNETON trainer Mick Sell is preparing to call Bendigo home.
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The astute horseman will transfer his team of horses to Bendigo next week, using the stable facility previously occupied by Gus Philpot.
Sell, who is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career, said the move was borne out of necessity following the sale of the property he had been leasing at the Kyneton racecourse.
“The new owner is putting someone else in (the property) and there was nowhere else in Kyneton for me to go,” he said.
“But the stable is looking ahead.
“You’ve got Bendigo and you’ve got Sale, they’re definitely the best two racing tracks in Victoria, so from a training standpoint the move is exciting.”
A period of change for Sell will see apprentice jockey Jess Philpot join the stable after her recent stint in New South Wales, where she was based in Canberra.
The Group 3-winning trainer said Philpot had made regular trips to Kyneton in the past two weeks to ride track work and he was impressed with her attitude and riding ability.
Sell admitted it would be hard to farewell Kyneton.
“I’ve got my kids back here, who are still at school and they will stay here for now,” he said.
“I’m not so much happy to be leaving, but you do what you’ve got to do.
“There’s been a lot of good times in Kyneton, but you can’t train horses off the side of the road.”
He insisted a relatively modest-sized Kyneton training fraternity definitely ‘punched above its weight’ when it came to producing winners.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are good trainers everywhere, but we do get a lot of winners out of Kyneton,” he said.
“I don’t know why, or if it’s because it’s so much colder here – I’d look to know the reason.
“I do know this has been the stable’s best year so far – we’ve trained 18 winners.”
Sell, whose last 15 starters have produced two wins and four minor placegetters, will begin operating at Bendigo on July 18.
“I was supposed to be out (of Kyneton) by Friday the 13th (of July), but I didn’t think that was a good date to be moving,” he quipped.
Sell-trained horses have amassed 108 career wins and more than $2.1 million in prizemoney since he took up his training licence about 10 years ago.
His biggest success was with the mare Enchanting Waters in the 2012 Group 3 SAJC Lord Reims Stakes (2600m).
He expects to saddle up four-year-old gelding Mamtricol this Friday at Geelong, with the son of champion five-time Group 1 winner Elvstroem and Mummacass chasing his second win in three starts, all at that track.