John Manzelmann beat the odds in life, so it wasn’t much of a surprise for him when he won the Cairns Cup with the Driller at $61 last month.
It will be even less of a surprise if he is to back it up in the $150,000 Cairns Amateurs on Saturday as the hunter becomes the hunted.
The Mackay-based trainer was so sick with terminal leukaemia, he was paid out his life insurance policy when he was told he had three months to live in 2007.
Now back at full health, Manzelmann is one of the biggest country trainers in Queensland and will take a three-vehicle travelling road show to Cairns for the two-day carnival, where he will saddle up 11 runners.
The Driller heads up his Cairns Amateurs charge on Saturday as he looks to win his fourth edition of the race.
While Namazu was a hot favourite heading into the Cairns Cup, the Amateurs takes a different look, with the North Queensland freak headed to the Toowoomba Cup instead.
“I thought it’d be really hard to beat the favourite (Namazu), but I thought he was a really good place chance,” Manzelmann said.
“He went terrific, he was on the right part of the track which helped.
“He definitely wasn’t a 60-1 pop on his previous runs, I didn’t have a cent on him but, I don’t bet.
“It was my fourth Cairns Cup, I have three Amateurs.”
A Sea The Stars blue blood, out of Group 1-winning mare Shamal Wind, The Driller began his career at Godolphin before making his way to Queensland under Gold Coast trainer Gillian Heinrich and then to Manzelmann for $20,000, making the last-start $87,000 winner’s cheque seem a small fortune.
The Driller has spent time with Manzelmann’s son Lachie in Brisbane but has found his niche in the northern Cups.
Manzelmann racks up more kilometres in a month than most would in a year but said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“There’s about 40 horses at the moment,” he said.
“I like to be at the races when I have horses, I can’t be in two places at once so I will send staff to Thangool on Saturday, but I will go from Cairns to Rockhampton on Tuesday and then Bowen after that.
“We put plenty of kilometres on the car, there’s three vehicles with 11 horses heading up to Cairns.”
Originally published as John Manzelmann out to beat the odds again with Cairns Cup winner The Driller in Cairns Amateurs
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