3 months ago
5
By Craig Kerry
November 20, 2025 — 5.00pm
When trainer Mitch Beer was persuaded to travel to the Gold Coast to bid for Sunrise last year, his first impressions of the New Zealand filly were, to say the least, not great.
“I looked at her and said, ‘well, it’ll be cheap,’” Beer recalled.
“She came out of the box, and I said, ‘where’s the other half?’ There wasn’t much of her.”
Sunrise (right), with Anna Roper aboard, wins at Randwick on November 4.Credit: Getty Images
Fortunately, the Kembla Grange trainer backed his form expert Mick Gannon and bloodstock manager Steph Grentell, and bought Sunrise with local syndicators JJJ Racing for $45,000.
Beer and his team have guided Sunrise to three wins, including two in Sydney, from 11 starts and earning more than $160,000 in prizemoney. The four-year-old is now a chance to give the stable a first group success, on their home track, on Saturday in the $300,000 The Warra (1000m).
That prospect seemed remote for Beer when he bought Sunrise at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale 18 months ago.
“I went through the catalogue and sent 10 horses to Mick Gannon, and he rang me and said ‘you can’t buy any of those. They are no good’,” he said.
“He said, ‘what about this one?’. I said, ‘mate, it’s just running around in New Zealand’, but he said off its figures in New Zealand, it’s a proper Saturday horse here.
“Then Steph loved it. Next minute we flew up to the Gold Coast to buy her.
“I got into a bidding duel with a guy from China.”
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The daughter of Charm Spirit, which had one win in six New Zealand starts, went six runs without a victory in her first preparation with Beer, who went into a training partnership with George Carpenter two months ago.
Sunrise returned with a 1000m class 1 win at Kembla in track record time before a Midway Handicap victory at Randwick and a close fifth in the listed Denise’s Joy at Scone. Injury and illness delayed her return from a spell before a tough run at Rosehill when ninth. A virus changed plans again before she bounced back with victory at Randwick on November 4.
“She’s been a project, to say the least,” Beer said.
“She had a mind of her own when she came and it took us a very long time to get her to settle. She doesn’t look like she settles now, but she was pretty bad, even in trackwork. She would go hard early and stop just as hard.
“We had to just about sacrifice a whole preparation or two just to get her to where we wanted her, but we knew she had ability.
“Her run at Scone, I reckon it was as good as both her wins, if not better. She drew 18, led them up and wasn’t beaten very far, and that’s when I said to the guys, ‘let’s put her away, dodge the heavy tracks and aim for the Warra’.
“Her last run wasn’t on the radar, but it worked out terrific. We always planned to be third up into the Warra, so she actually hasn’t missed a run.”
Sunrise was a $5 hope with TAB on Thursday, behind Zealously ($2.20), in a field down to eight runners. Zac Lloyd rides from gate three.
“It’s a really open race and she’s got to step up again, but she’s a horse on the way up,” Beer said.
“There are other horses more proven, which have won more, but they are probably at their level now. She might not get to that level, but I think that’s she on a good trajectory.
“If she can lead them up and finish in the first three, it will be a huge result for us.”
Beer, the son of jockey Les Beer, was born into Victorian racing and worked for prominent owner Lloyd Williams before stints with trainers Russell Cameron, Jason Warren and Max Hinton. He started his own stable, then moved to Albury in 2018 and Kembla in 2023, to get closer to Sydney racing and secure room to grow. He and Carpenter now have 45 in work at Kembla and six at their beach stable.
The now-retired Mnementh gave Beer his only stakes-level victories, both in listed company. A win in the group 3 Warra would be a boost for Beer, who has already become popular with punters through his funny social media posts and entertaining interviews.
Mitchell Beer runs his eye over Mnementh after one of his 10 wins.Credit: Getty Images
He said the move to Kembla had been “fantastic”.
“Two years ago in Albury, a provincial winner would have been like a city winner to us,” he said.
“Now we’ve come here and transitioned from winning country races to consistently winning provincial races and now we’re making the transition to winning more metro races, albeit Midways, benchmark races and Friday nights, but it will come.”
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