On a chilly night in June 2012, a 19-year-old just entering the world of horses sat up in her home town of Bunbury, Western Australia, to watch the latest chapter of a tale that had the nation spellbound. Before very long, Katherine Coleman would be a lot closer to the story than she could have ever imagined.
“I sat up to watch Black Caviar at Royal Ascot, like the rest of the country,” she said, of the unparalleled sprinter’s Diamond Jubilee success. “If you’d told me then that in 10 years’ time I’d be assistant trainer to her trainer … it would’ve been a pretty wild dream!”
That’s precisely how this particular racing tale has transpired. Coleman – a driven young woman who’s learnt fast from a not-particularly racing background – emerged as a face-about-town in the past few years, in a stable fast recovering the heights scaled in its first edition, before his four-year hiatus.
Now in partnership as co-trainer to Moody, Coleman has continued a steep trajectory for the latter, reflecting her enthusiasm to learn – and learn from some masters – and a sharp work ethic.
With friends, she’d dabbled with pony clubs as a youngster, riding a placid old mare named Zenna, but that was the extent of her equine connection.
“My dad had shares in a few very slow racehorses before I was born, but that was about it,” she said. “But he got into another one when I was about 16, and that sparked my interest in the industry. Then I started working with a friend of Dad’s who had some pacers.”
That was a touch of the understatement. The friend was Kim Prentice, who’d won an Interdominion a few years earlier in 2003 (with Baltic Eagle).
“He was great. He taught me to drive them, and gave me a good grounding in all the basics about horses,” Coleman said. “From there I got into gallopers, and I thought, ‘This is fun!’”
After school, Coleman aimed for a more regular career, as a physiotherapist, but “after six months of that I found I missed the horses and dropped out of uni. Mum and Dad weren’t that pleased, but they were supportive.”
Focusing on thoroughbreds, Coleman spent 18 months with boutique Bunbury trainer Graham Yuill, learning to ride trackwork, as well as breaking and pre-training gallopers.
In 2013, she sprung east, to Caulfield, “thinking I’d stay for a few months”. After years with Robert Smerdon, and then Chris Waller’s Flemington stable, she was approached by Moody when he resumed training in 2020.
