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JUNGLE EDGE heartwarming tale of thoroughbred racehorse & horseracing’s new favourite: For Winx fans

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Australian racehorse trainer Mick Bell has been taken on the ride of a lifetime with his sprinter, thoroughbred Jungle Edge. “He’s the horse of a lifetime, you can be a small trainer and go 10 lifetimes without getting a horse like this.”

JUNGLE EDGE (Dubawi / Jungle Girl)
1st Sir John Monash Stakes (Caulfield) 2020 Jockey: Jade Darose
1st W.J. Adams Stakes (Caulfield) 2020 Jockey: Jade Darose
1st Kevin Heffernan Stakes (Sandown) 2017 Jockey: Kevin Forrester
1st BRC Sprint (Doomben) 2017 Jockey: Kevin Forrester
1st Star Kingdom Stakes (Rosehill) 2017 Jockey: Kevin Forrester

“It’s been a real adventure and a real ride and hopefully it’s not over yet. History says it won’t go for too much longer but who knows.”
In recent years, those racetrack thrills have boosted more than Mick’s bank balance and lifted his spirits during a period of enormous grief after losing his wife of 33 years, Bev, to breast cancer.
“Just when things were really shocking he won a couple of races at Sandown when my wife was still alive. For the first nine months, we thought she might beat it but she went downhill very quickly and only lasted 15 months after diagnosis.”
“Three weeks after she died I took him to Sydney and he ran a close third in the Group 1 Galaxy (1200m) and he won after that a week later. He was a big distraction and made you get on with living your life.”
It’s no fluke that Mick, who toiled away for decades as a racehorse farrier, found this life-changing horse. Having trained Jungle Edge's older half-sister, Youiz Jane with moderate success, he followed the son of Godolphin and Darley’s super stallion Dubawi’s progress closely, and, soon after his career got off to a winning start, he made an offer but it was knocked back.
Mick refused to give up and soon after Jungle Edge won his fifth race, Mick called up his trainer Chris Strickland again and presented a deal that, this time, he couldn’t refuse.
“I offered them $20,000 and the tipping point was that they could retain a 10 % share in him. I threw in the sweetener that I would never send them a training bill. I know it’s a pittance to many but because I made money the hard way I don’t talk telephone numbers. It’s not a lot of money in the scheme of things but it was a lot to us at the time.”
Jungle Edge might not be wonder mare four-time Cox Plate winner Winx but he’s certainly a champion in Mick’s eyes, and, like most above average racehorses, he possesses his fair share of unique character traits.

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Category
Horse Racing
Tags
racehorse, horse racing, whr
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