JOHN BARY RACING

Mike Sanders

 

Who would have thought that meeting an ex-professional polo player on the Hastings Golf Course twenty one years ago would turn into the ride it has become.

 

From buying three horses at the Karaka Yearling Sales in 2007 with John and Johns long-time friend and mentor Ivan Grieve, to working as Business Development Manager at Hawke’s Bay Racing and now as Racing Manager for John.

 

Those three horses turned out to be Neversaynever (6 wins including the Listed Anzac 1600m), Miss Faberge (4 wins) and Ante Up (1 win).... with Neversaynever becoming John’s first winner as a public trainer at Gisborne on the 9th of November 2008.

 

Mike said that win had him just as hooked on racing as he was as a four-year-old sitting on his father’s knee listening to the races around the kitchen table.

 

Fast forward to 2023 and it’s now either being at the races or glued to Trackside on a Saturday afternoon watching the stables horses.

 

With “his amateur cameraman skills” Mike takes the videos of the horses training on the track, looks after stable communication, newsletter editing, emails and a multitude of other sins on a day-to-day basis.

 

As he puts it “It’s been a heck of a ride…..and it’s not finished yet”.