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Myers continuing family dynasty
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • June 19th, 2025 11:05 am
Caley Myers' promising jumper Duke Of Plumpton. | Photo: Peter Rubery/Race Images Palmerston North
The Myers name is synonymous with Central Districts racing, and Palmerston North-based trainer Caley Myers is continuing to add to her family’s legacy in the industry.
The daughter of renowned Wanganui horseman Kevin “Dummy” Myers, Caley has been involved in the sport from an early age and gained a solid grounding from her family.
She enjoyed working for her father for several years, which included campaigning horses around the country, but decided last season it was time to step out on her own and carve her own path.
Myers scored two victories in her debut season, and at the start of this term elected to purchase a property on the outskirts of Palmerston North to set-up her own operation, which follows a similar business model to her father’s – running a small farm alongside her stable.
“I have been doing it (working in racing) for a fair while now, going around the country with Dad’s horses, and this property came up for sale last year and I thought ‘why not give it a crack?’,” Myers said.
“I have been in Palmerston North since last August and I am setting up my own operation. The property is just under 100 acres, and I am mostly doing pre-trainers, with a few two-year-olds and a couple of older horses.
“I am also doing spellers as well as running a few cattle.”
Myers is enjoying running her own barn but still utilises the family set-up on a weekly basis.
“I am enjoying training, it is good fun,” she said. “I work at home, and I take my gallops out to Mum and Dad’s.”
While mostly focussing on younger stock and pre-trainers at the infancy of her training career, Myers has a couple of exciting racehorses in her barn, including promising maidener Autumn Beauty.
Myers acquired the chestnut gelding off her father and races him in partnership with her brothers Jason and Luke, who had major roles to play in his early education.
“He has always been a nice horse,” Myers said. “Jason and Luke have done quite a bit with him and they really liked him, so we are all hopeful that he’s going to show something.”
The four-year-old son of The Autumn Sun has already shown plenty of promise on the track, finishing runner-up in two of his four starts to date, including at New Plymouth last week where he was strong late.
Myers was pleased with that effort and is hoping he can be ridden handier at Otaki on Friday, where he will be vying for a breakthrough win in the Otaki Tyre Repairs Maiden (2100m), with Myers’ cousin Kelly Myers in the saddle.
“He has been going well,” Myers said. “He got just a little bit too far back last time, but that happens, and he ran home well. Hopefully he will be a bit handier on Friday.”
Another exciting prospect in Myers’ barn is nine-year-old gelding Duke Of Plumpton.
Raced by her father and close family friend Patrick Payne, Duke Of Plumpton has campaigned on both sides of the Tasman for the respective trainers and joined Myers’ stable last year.
The son of Bachelor Duke has won seven races on the flat, and has shown an affinity for jumping, winning one and placing in two of his three hurdle starts to date.
His future lies over fences, cementing that path with a pleasing trial at Cambridge on Monday.
Myers has plenty of time for the promising hurdler and is dreaming of a trip south in six weeks for Riccarton’s Grand National Festival of Racing, a carnival she has frequented regularly on behalf of her father.
“He is a nice horse and a handy horse to have around,” Myers said. “I had a patch where I didn’t have many of my own horses and Dad said I could train him.
“He went well in his trial on Monday and Corey (Wiles, jockey) was happy with him.
“Hopefully he will look to go to Christchurch. I have been doing that trip for many years now and it’s always a good trip away.”
While racing is Myers’ first love, she is also passionate about a second career for her horses and recently took part in New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s (NZTR) Know Your Thoroughbred Clinic in Manawatu, hosted by local thoroughbred retraining and rehoming organisation JumpStart.
With jumping being a staple in the Myers stable, rehoming their retired racehorses is a relatively easy exercise given their versatility and early education over fences. However, Myers said several of their former runners have been graduates of the JumpStart programme.
One of those graduates is seven-year-old gelding Escalade, who won a race apiece on the flat and over hurdles before his subsequent retirement to JumpStart.
“He had a little bit of an injury and Dad owned him and thought he might as well retire him while he is still sound and find a nice home for him because he is a beautiful horse,” Myers said.
Myers recently reunited with the gelding at the Know Your Thoroughbred Clinic, jumping in the saddle aboard the son of Roc de Cambes to showcase is talent in the show jumping arena.
“Dana Sutton, who runs JumpStart, got injured a couple of days before the clinic, so she asked me if I could come and ride Escalade,” Myers said.
“It had been a very long time since I had jumped a show jump, but it was lucky it was on a horse that I did know, and I had jumped before.”
Myers said Escalade is a lovely-natured horse that is thriving in the JumpStart environment.
“Dana does a fantastic job with them, and she loves Escalade,” Myers said. “I believe she is keeping him.”
