Faulkner adds Canterbury Gold Cup to her broad racing reach

As a 16-year-old a love of horses enticed popular Timaru horsewoman Stephanie Faulkner into the racing game. That was 37 years ago, and that love she says is what keeps her in it.
In that time Faulkner has been an accomplished apprentice, jumps jockey, clerk of the course, raceday starter and now a trainer.
“It’s the love of the horse and the great people that are involved in the industry down here that keeps me involved,” Faulkner told RaceForm following her success in the Gr. 3 CJC Coca Cola Canterbury Gold Cup with Green Luck.
“We are one big happy family here in Canterbury, we see each other every week and everyone looks out for everyone and enjoys their success.
“I have tried to retire several times, but I keep finding myself back in there again, and I have a nice team of horses around me at the moment, so I can’t think of doing anything else.”
Last season was Faulkner’s most successful with nine winners, however she could well surpass that this season as Green Luck’s win brought up her eighth to this point. It is certainly her biggest season stakemoney-wise.
Green Luck has now won 10 races. The son of Street Cry commenced racing in Queensland where he won three races before being sold to Hong Kong. There he won six races and ran seven placings before patriated to New Zealand in 2022.
“He was out for a long time last year but has come back this year. The win wasn’t a total surprise, he’s been building to it. It’s right up there though and it was a tough win.”
Fresh-up in January Green Luck ran fourth in the Listed Timaru Stakes (1400m), followed by a fourth at Ascot Park, then two minor placings ahead of his close seventh in the Southern Alps Challenge.
Last Saturday, in the hands of Kylie Williams Green Luck was soon in front in the 2000m Canterbury Gold Cup. He was headed in the straight but fought back to claim his first black type victory by half a neck.
Since starting out as a trackwork rider all those years ago, Faulkner has worn many hats in the racing industry. She grew up as Stephanie Clark in Timaru and although her parents enjoyed a little flutter on the horses they had no hands-on background.
“When most 13-year-olds were acquiring a 10-speed bike, I finally got my first pony,” she recalled. “At 16 I started riding trackwork for Graeme Jackson and a year later with Mum and Dad’s support, I took out my apprenticeship.”
Her career as a jockey spanned 15 years, winning 138 races on the flat and over fences, including eight at black type level, and her jockey career overlapped into a training career.
“The highlight of my riding career was winning the Homeby Steeplechase at Riccarton on Count Claudio for Graeme (Jackson),” she recalled. “At the time I was the first female to win a major steeplechase.
“That was in 1990 when I was still an apprentice. I had done all the schooling work on him but Angus Mavor was his regular rider, however he was injured before the Homeby and I got the ride.
“In late 1996 Graeme got very sick and took me on to help out. He had about a dozen horses in work; he was mad keen on his jumpers and had a few going at the time.
“We had one season together where we had six winners. He died in March 1997, and along with his wife Betty I took over the team, from Betty’s property.
“My first winner was The Doctor in a hurdle race at Gore. The trophy, a crystal whiskey decanter and glasses on a silver tray, still has pride of place on my table.”
Petrify was Faulkner’s first stakes winner, winning the Listed Timaru Stakes in October 1998 and going on to win a further three races and take his win total to 12 races. Green Luck provided Faulkner with her second black type success.
Following the birth of her son Ben in 1999, Faulkner maintained a trainer’s and jockey’s licence but only trained a handful of horses, however when second child Reilly came along five years later she had a change of career.
Her husband Pete took a job in Ashburton and she became the clerk of the course at Timaru and Waimate. Then in 2007 she became Australasia’s first female raceday starter, a position she held until 2013. But once again it was the birth of a child that prompted a career change.
“Our little surprise Stevie was born – it had got to the stage where I was too pregnant to climb the starter’s ladder!
“And two years later I decided to take out my trainer’s licence again, there is not much more for me to do in the industry.”