Where's a winner

FROM Canberra to Ipswich, punters are calling "Where's Palmwoods?" but they’re not calling for directions – they’re cheering the town’s newest race horse.

The Palmwoods Punters Club, led confidently to the totes by manager John Bishop, said the 3-year-old shows plenty of promise.

"Our syndicate has leased the horse for three years and we’re all pretty happy with the results so far," he said.

The young gelding has taken two places from five starts with a win at Ispwich earlier this month comfortably coming home by three and three quarter lengths.

"He's a big strong horse who loves to gallop and from what we’ve seen in the short time we’ve had him, I’m confident Palmwoods is backing a winner, John said.

The 17 hands gelding is a very dark brown and John didn’t mind the comparison to Australia’s leading race horse Might and Power.

"He's a well bred horse from Kington Seattle by Argon," he said.

Here at home, Where’s Palmwoods is creating plenty of local interest.

"There's been plenty of people stop and ask me when Teddy’s running and how he’s going."

Nicknamed Teddy after another sporting champion, AFL’s Teddy Witton, the Palmwoods Punters Club certainly hopes its horse follows a champion’s trail.

They came up with the horse's name after tossing around a few ideas using the name of their home base. When someone in the group asked "But where's Palmwoods?" they knew they had what they wanted.

After a five month spell at the end of last year, John said Teddy is now firing on all cylinders.

Our sights are set on the Caloundra Guiness Carnival in July. We're hoping Teddy will put in a strong run and from there who knows where the horse will lead us."

The 12 syndicate members are Max Layton (owner), John Bishop, Peter Carter, Andrew Collie, Mark Lang, Jan McDougall, Peter McInerny, Michael Harris, Tony Sheahan, Moss Tremaine, Mark Westcott and of course their respective families.

Many aren’t new to horseracing with members having owned and trained racehorses in the past.

"Tony Sheahan heard on the grapevine that we could lease a horse and it didn't take much convincing to get the gang to chip in."

The horse, owned by Max Layton and trained by Trevor Thomas, is under a three year lease.

"It's a great family affair," John said. If Teddy’s racing we’ll hire a bus and set off for a great day at the races."

While the Melbourne Cup is tossed around in the conversation, John’s outlook is clear: "We're all in this for fun but if we happen to win a million dollars along the way, all the better."

The Palmwoods Punters Club meet at the Bowls Club and John keeps all the locals informed of when Where’s Palmwoods is running each month.

For those who would like to see the local hero in action, the next race is set for 9 June at Corbould Park, Caloundra.