{"id":628469,"date":"2026-10-12T17:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628469\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T17:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T17:00:24","slug":"olivia-thornley-notches-up-first-training-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628469\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Thornley notches up first training victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Love\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enchanted Star’s victory at Methven was a celebration for trainer-driver Olivia Thornley on a number of levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special, especially training, owning, breeding and driving it, and being involved with the family,” she says.<\/p>\n

The win in the Denario Breeding Trot was Thornley’s first training success in what was her 12th starter over three seasons.<\/p>\n

She had had three placings prior to winning, two of those with Enchanted Star who she bred and races with her mother Jackie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was Enchanted Star\u2019s third race day start with the three-year-old Creatine filly previously having two thirds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just happy to get through each race, doing everything right and learning was the main aim.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

In a faultless display, Enchanted Star secured the trail for the majority of the race before zipping up the passing lane to win by one-and-three-quarter-lengths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thornley has now driven 127 winners including 20 in 2026. Two more victories this season will see her gain a personal best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Immediate plans for Enchanted Star are yet to be decided.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never easy jumping out of maidens,\u201d explains Thornley.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can end up racing horses that have won more races than you\u2019ve had starts. But, with her great attitude she should always be thereabouts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thornley is employed by Hayden and Amanda Cullen, and trains Enchanted Star from their facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really good for educating them and working them in with other horses. I\u2019m pretty lucky.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Enchanted Star’s dam Starlight Express has to-date left four foals. Along with Enchanted Star, one qualified and was never raced, one was raced placed from a short career, and there is currently a Majestic Son yearling that has been broken in and almost ready for another short prep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other highlights at Methven was Tact Teva\u2019s win in the Cavalier Trotting Products Akaroa Cup. Proving too classy for the field, the Team Telfer-trained \u00a0four-year-old started off 35 metres and was made to work hard before getting home by more than a length, backing up his win in the Timaru Spring Cup two weeks ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mike Love\u00a0 Enchanted Star’s victory at Methven was a celebration for trainer-driver Olivia Thornley on a number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-628469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}