FEATURE
WALKING A NEW PATH BY SARAH MARINOS AND CEL IA PURDEY
He was the popular mudlark sprint star that struck a chord with the racing public and helped his trainer Mick Bell through some of his most difficult times. Now, Jungle Edge has retired and is on a new path helping others, finding a new home at Equine Pathways Australia, which aims to help those with a disability engage in equine sports and activities . Jockey Jade Darose struggles to recall exactly what trainer Mick Bell said to her after she rode racing stalwart, Jungle Edge, to victory in the Listed WJ Adams Stakes (1000m) on 1 February 2020. All she does remember is that emotions were running high when she passed the finishing post.
It was Darose’s first stakes success in a 20-year career, and it was also her first race on Jungle Edge.
Hundreds of kilometres away at his home in Lakes Entrance, Ian Dunkley was watching the race on TV with his wife. The managing owner of Jungle Edge hadn’t been able to attend Caulfield because he’d been part of a working bee clearing up after devastating bushfires swept through the area. As the boss of Buchan and Gelantipy Racing Club, Dunkley had been rallying the community to carry out urgent repairs to the fire-damaged track post the January 2020 fires, so that the annual Buchan Cup race day could go ahead in two weeks’ time. For Mick Bell, too, Jungle Edge’s Caulfield victory was bittersweet. It coincided with the third anniversary of the death of his beloved wife, Bev, to breast cancer. Only the night before the race Bell had spent the evening with their three sons and Bev’s mum, reflecting on how they’d managed to navigate their loss.
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