Linebacker delivers Ron Finemore his Group 1 dream after 50 years of trying
Written by Kit Gow of The Thoroughbred Report 28.03.2025
After many near misses at the top level, that first Group 1 win comes all the sweeter for industry magnate Ron Finemore, who part-owns Gr.1 Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker. It’s the culmination of decades of industry commitment, as many highs as he has had lows, and almost 20 years of partnership with trainer John O’Shea.
It’s the goal of every owner and breeder to have that Group 1 winner on the racetrack, and for Ron Finemore, it has taken 50 years of investment in the racing industry to reach those heights. The transport magnate has come close on many occasions, but it wasn’t until the victory of Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth) in the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas in early March that he finally struck gold.
Finemore first saw the now 3-year-old gelding as a yearling mid-preparation, when touring New Zealand’s stud farms in December of 2022 with John O’Shea, and he was an immediate standout.
Never out of mind
“He was striking when I saw him at Haunui (Farm),” Finemore told The Thoroughbred Report. “When he first walked out, I loved him. And then all the time at the sale, he was still very striking, very beautiful.
“He was like a pretty girl – he never disappeared from your mind.”
Finemore couldn’t leave without a piece of him – and O’Shea’s young co-trainer Tom Charlton stayed back after others had left to bid on the horse. It was pretty likely that, in the back of Charlton’s mind, Finemore’s passion for the then-colt might have kept him putting his hand up.
“He (Charlton) knew that without a doubt,” Finemore said.
It was a shame for Finemore, who has previously enjoyed stallion success with Not A Single Doubt, that ultimately the colt had to be gelded, even after he ran a devastating second on the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes to Champion 2YO Colt Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot {GB}) and proved himself capable of performing at the highest level. But some things are not meant to be.
“I follow breeding with the Tesio rating system and he (Linebacker) came up pretty good in that area. You’re always keen to keep them as a stallion if they suit. He had the page to be one, but he was too interested in other things.”
The loss of a stallion prospect doesn’t stop Finemore from being excited about the future. Still relishing his first Group 1 winner, he looks forward to Linebacker’s return to the track this weekend, having won a trial since his Guineas win.
“John and Tom have got him right on song, and we head to the Doncaster hoping we can continue the winning run.”
The gelding lines up in the Gr.1 Doncaster Mile next Saturday, where he meets many of Sydney’s best horses extremely well in the weights; Linebacker has been assigned 49kg, whereas Broadsiding will carry 55kg after his Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas victory last week.
Brushes with victory
Linebacker will have no stud career after he finishes racing, but Finemore has been involved in plenty of stallions over the years; he bred and raced Husson Lightning, an electric son of Hussonet (USA) trained by David Hayes who was second on debut in the Listed Breeders’ Plate and followed that up with a trip south to claim the Gr.3 Maribyrnong Plate from Deferential (Royal Academy {USA}). His achingly close – by 0.2l – second in the A$1 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic to Mimi Lebrock (Show A Heart) is still vivid in Finemore’s mind.
Husson Lightning was the sire of three stakes performers in his time at stud in Western Australia, the best of which was nine-time winner Swift Sis who was third in the Listed Sheila Gwynne Classic.
But, of course, the horse that best comes to mind in association with Finemore is the late Not A Single Doubt, the dual Listed winner rose from a modest first season fee of A$13,750 (inc GST) to stand for six figures by the time he retired. The sire of 84 stakes winners as his last crop of foals are rising five, his legacy has been continued by his seven sons currently at stud – most profoundly by Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice.
“He’s been very successful,” Finemore said. “If you look at the Golden Slipper this year, the number of runners that have come from his family was unreal.”
Indeed, seven members of the main field of 16 in the 2025 G1 Golden Slipper Stakes have Not A Single Doubt on one side of their pedigree; four runners for his sire sons Extreme Choice and Farnan, and three where he appears as either damsire or second damsire. His presence in the field is perhaps only rivalled by Danehill (USA) himself.
Unbeaten in his first three runs as a juvenile, including the Listed Canonbury Stakes, before a second placing in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, Not A Single Doubt had precocity in spades. Finemore treasures that second placing, and his subsequent fourth in the Gr.2 Todman Stakes behind Charge Forward, but it’s clear in how he recalls the late stallion that he believes the Slipper was within his reach. But it was not meant to be.
“Unfortunately, Graeme (Rogerson) decided to give him a track gallop a week before the Slipper and he pushed him that hard that he got injured and didn’t get to run in the Slipper. That was disappointing.”
Juveniles are tough, Finemore knows that. Not A Single Doubt retired a dual Listed winner – after victory in the Listed Zeditave Stakes and missing out by 1.6l in the Gr.1 CF Orr Stakes – and found himself a home at Arrowfield Stud.
“I think Sam Fairgray talked John Messara into standing him at stud,” Finemore recalled. “He got very average mares at first, of course, but over time they got better and better, and his outcomes became better and better.
“He was unbelievably successful in the end.”
The loss of Not A Single Doubt is still felt keenly across the industry. It is never easy to lose your champion.
The near misses
While Linebacker is his first Group 1 winner – a significant achievement – Finemore has come nail-bitingly close to top-flight victory on numerous occasions before. He counts seven placings at the highest level, and two near misses in the Magic Millions, courtesy of his two stallions.
One that sticks out to Finemore was Gypsy Diamond (Not A Single Doubt), who Finemore bred in partnership with Planette Thoroughbreds. The G2 Moonee Valley Classic winner was successful on three occasions at stakes level, but couldn’t quite clinch the Group 1; she finished fourth in the G1 VRC Oaks and just missed out in her first tilt at the G1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes. In that run, she loomed up the rail when Diamond Drille (Al Maher) started to attack, and ultimately missed by just 0.2l.
It was not just another placing – it was also the end of an era.
“She was the last runner we had with John (O’Shea) before he went to Godolphin,” Finemore said. Not that they would part forever. “When he returned to training for himself, I gave all my horses back to him.”
Finemore can remember each near miss vividly – Zou Tiger (Zoustar) running third in the Gr.1 Golden Rose to Jacquinot, and then again the following autumn in the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas, this time to Communist (Russian Revolution). Stroke Of Luck (Fastnet Rock) going down third in the Gr.1 Queensland Derby. Linebacker’s exceptional performances as a juvenile, and Cafe Millenium (Not A Single Doubt) landing third again in the Randwick Guineas last year.
“He (Cafe Millenium) won his first 2-year-old race in spectacular fashion at Randwick,” Finemore said. “But he’s a big horse and he’s had some trouble getting used to it all, so we’ve given him a chance to do something different now, and we’ll see how he goes in the future.”
The 4-year-old has just headed south to the Lindsay Park team.
“We’re hoping different surroundings and a different training environment might help him. It’s nothing that John or Tom (Charlton) have done – we just felt that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing (with the horse) over and over, and expecting a different result.”
A long relationship
Finemore has had the majority of his horses with John O’Shea for a “very, very long time”. He can pinpoint the first horses he took to O’Shea, though; one of which was Gypsy Tucker (Zabeel {NZ}), dam of Gypsy Diamond, whom he purchased for A$550,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2006. She was one of two expensive Zabeel (NZ) yearlings that Finemore bought at the sale, and he needed someone he could trust his purchases with.
Luckily, O’Shea was already on his radar, and Finemore had been impressed with what he saw, so he approached him; “I said I wanted him to train these two yearlings that I’d just paid half a million for each, and he didn’t say no.”
It’s been a fruitful relationship. Finemore enjoys the proximity of O’Shea’s stables at Randwick – living just a stone’s throw from the track, he finds it easy to stop by for a visit.
“I enjoy (having my horses) with him, he communicates well,” he said. “We have a good relationship.”
Finemore wasn’t actually present for Linebacker’s big win – he was in the Northern Territory with a friend on a fishing trip – but he watched it live and O’Shea called him immediately after the race to congratulate him. Finemore praised the great training effort from O’Shea’s team.
“The choice was between going fishing in the Northern Territory for a few days or going to the races, and I’ve had so many disappointments previously when I was hoping to win one, that I decided on this occasion I’d take away any chance that it gets beaten by not being there,” Finemore joked. “I’m definitely going to the Doncaster though.”
Finemore also has a lot of respect for Charlton, who joined O’Shea in partnership last year.
“He’s (Charlton) fantastic,” Finemore said. “I really talked hard to get John to have him as a partner. I reckon it was good for both of them, and great for the owners. I was very much in favour of it happening.”
It’s a relief to get that first Group 1 after so many close ones – and particularly with a son of Super Seth, who Finemore admires so much that he owns five of his progeny.
“I’m pleased for Waikato Stud,” he said. “We’ve been going there for a long time. They’re good friends.”
How did he get introduced? O’Shea of course.
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