Jumping from barrier 14, Paternal sat just off the leaders, always travelling well. Over the final stages it was no contest as he drew away to record an easy 1.3 length victory over Prince Rubiton.

Favourite two weeks later in a Ballarat Class 1 he was again an impressive winner. From there it was straight to town, a ninth at Sandown followed by victories at

By Kristen Manning

Policewoman, horsebreaker, pre-trainer, vet nurse, racehorse trainer - the varied but intrinsically linked careers of the Gisborne based Kerry Edwards.

And it all started with cows!

The daughter of dairy farmers, Kerry was not from a horse family but it didn't take her parents long to realise where their daughter's interests lay.

"Every time a cow sat down I'd hop on its back," Kerry recalled, "and my dad said - 'I think we'd better get this girl a horse.'"

From pony club and showjumping it was on to the police force where Kerry spent eight years as a member of the Victorian mounted branch, enjoying the challenges of breaking in and training horses for the services.

Riding them was also a highlight but when her first police horse, a gelding by the name of Tontonan, was offered to her she did not realise just who he was.

"Everyone would say wow, Tontonan, he won the Golden Slipper. It meant nothing to me. The only horse race I'd heard of was the Melbourne Cup!"

Also the winner of the Doncaster Handicap, the All Aged Stakes, the Oakleigh Plate, the AJC Sires Produce Stakes, the Feehan Stakes and the Craiglee Stakes, Tontonan was a pretty good horse to introduce a person to the world of racing.

But racing did not grab Edwards straight away, the job of encouraging her going to Glenn Hancock, a fellow police officer who also just happened to be in possession of a training licence.

Along with her then husband, also a policeman, Kerry took a share in a horse Hancock had bred in return for her services as the horse's breaker and pre-trainer. Affectionately nicknamed "Trevor," the horse did not manage to win a race, suffering from heart damage after a virus.

"He nearly died," recalled Kerry, "but I ended up doing a bit of showjumping with him."

Leaving the police force, Kerry and her husband purchased a property at Romsey - a career as a breaker and pre-trainer foremost in her mind. To do this she had to obtain a trainer's licence and that is just what she did - some eleven years ago now.

Venturing to Sydney to purchase a horse, she ended up with an Imperial Baron colt whom she named Indigo Baron.

"He was a horrible horse," she joked - "an absolute obnoxious horse, a real hot-head." Despite this, Kerry learned a lot about racehorses and she managed to win a Terang maiden with the horse - a moment she will never forget - "I thought, how good's this?!"

Suffering from a degenerative heart condition, Indigo Baron was retired after just eight starts. A Favoured Bay gelding bred by a neighbour was the next horse to carry Kerry's black and orange silks but he was lightly raced, injuring himself in a paddock accident.

Concentrating on pre-training for a while, Kerry decided to get another horse in 1995 - studying those youngsters on offer at the Inglis Autumn Yearling Sale. A colt by Bicentenary caught her eye ("he just struck me") but as he was the son of the Listed winning mare Epillette, already a proven broodmare, Kerry assumed that his price tag would be beyond her $6000 budget. As it turned out, Kerry secured the colt – later to be named Biceps, for just $4000. At the time it worried her - "I thought, what is wrong with this horse?!"

But her judgement proved correct and Biceps went on to win four races and over ten times his purchase price. Known as "Ceppy" and now nine, he is enjoying a leisurely retirement in one of Kerry's Gisborne paddocks. Moving to Gisborne after separating from her husband, Kerry - now combining training with her job as a nurse at the local veterinary hospital, continued to enjoy the loyal support of a group of owners that included Peter Feehan and Graham Pitts. Both had been in Biceps and Graham in each of Kerry's previous horses.

With Biceps they, according to Kerry "had a ball," but the best was yet to come. Not without a blow to Kerry's private life first however.

Kerry's best friend from her school days, Lynette Balfour - "Metsy," had been ill with cancer. A positive outlook and treatment seemed to be in her favour but on one awful Sunday, just a day before Kerry was due to fly to Sydney for the Breeze Up Sales in search of another Biceps, Lynette passed away.

Kerry was shattered but Lynette's husband insisted that Kerry fly to Sydney regardless, saying that it is what her friend would have wanted her to do.

And so she went and, at the very same time that Metsy's funeral took place, Kerry bought a horse.

"I didn't realise it at the time," she said, "but when I found out it just seemed right."

And so Kerry's new horse, a rangy chestnut gelding by the imported Be My Guest stallion My Patriarch, was to be "Metsy's horse," and a fine tribute to her memory he turned out to be.

Although things were not so rosy at first. "During my first few rides on him it felt like I was on a camel," Kerry joked - "as a baby it felt like he was on stilts!"

Having been successful with a $16,000 bid on the colt, Kerry had been pleased. The horse had caught her eye during his breeze up - "most of the horses looked ready to race," she recalled, "there were some really smart types and then around the corner came this fellow - his head facing the grandstand, his legs everywhere - but then he let down well and ran a nice time."

Big and gangly, the colt - already named "Paternal," took a while to impress and at first Kerry worried about what she was going to tell her owners.

That was until Paternal worked with a partner for the first time.

With Kerry aboard Paternal and apprentice Kelly Girvan on the other horse, the pair did a few leisurely laps of the Kyneton track before warming up into a strong gallop.

"800m out I couldn't hold him," she said, "he just flew. Pulling up I looked behind and the other horse was five lengths away. I was elated!"

With growing confidence in her horse, Kerry took Paternal to Bendigo for a trial over 800m on July 10 2000. Girvan had the ride and during the early stages the 2Y0 looked all at sea.

"She let him balance up," Kerry said, "and when they came around the turn he motored up the inside and won clearly."

By 2.8 lengths in fact, and it was a similar story at his next trial, again over 800m - this time at Cranbourne, Sam Hyland aboard.

"He drew the outside gate," said Kerry "and when he saw the other horses it terrified him and he drifted right out. But they'd gone only 100m and he was going away from them - Sam got off and just said 'YES!' "

With Paternal's brand being just that - "YES," it was apt and Hyland added a few more words, ones that every trainer of a young horse loves to hear - "I think you've got a good horse here."

Without even getting to raceday, Paternal was a horse being talked about and Kerry's phone started to ring - "we were getting big offers for him," she said, "it was whole new ground for us!"

Making his debut in a maiden at Seymour on August 14, Paternal did his best to embarrass his trainer.

"He was obnoxious," she admitted, "a real mongrel! He spent most of his time on his hind legs."

Meanwhile, in a nearby stall stood another young horse by the name of Prince Rubiton. Having his second start (a neck second in town at debut), he was odds on favourite and his immaculate manners made Kerry almost ashamed of her horse's behaviour.

But it was not to last, Paternal a professional racehorse - "as soon as I started to saddle him he became a different horse," said Kerry. "He walked around the mounting yard like he'd been there a million times before."

Moonee Valley and Caulfield (the subsequent Queensland Derby winner De Gaulle Lane second).

Not quite measuring up in stakes company that spring, Paternal headed to the paddock - resuming with a third behind Oamaru Force in the Listed Schweppes 1100m down the Flemington straight. A 1.5 length Moonee Valley win ensued and then the Paternal camp headed to Sydney.

Viewing the trip as "a bit of a challenge," Kerry ran Paternal in the Listed South Pacific Stakes at Randwick.

Missing the start and racing greenly, he was doing his best work late and what a form race it turned out to be - Century Kid winning, Defier the runner up.

Two lacklustre runs in Melbourne and Adelaide followed, Kerry unable to get the best out of Paternal who was struggling with foot problems.

"He really slams his feet down when he runs," she said, adding that at different times that autumn Paternal suffered bruising to all four feet.

Back in work in preparation for the spring of 1991, Paternal was "working beautifully," and feeling "enormous" when injury suddenly struck - one of the horse's front fetlocks showing signs of inflammation after a track gallop.

In a day that Kerry describes as "the longest of my life," Paternal was taken to veterinary surgeon Brian Anderson at Ballarat - x-rays showing cartilage damage. Rest and medication was prescribed, as well as a regular wade through the waves at Altona Beach.

With time and patience, Paternal's condition improved and he was back in work by summer time, winning third up at Caulfield and then again two starts later at Moonee Valley.

After a break Paternal lost form for a while with more niggling problems but a freshen up saw him run a top race at Sandown on December 7 last year - the now 5Y0 ridden for the first time by Damien Oliver.

Second and unlucky not to win after being held up at a vital stage, Paternal soon made amends, heading back to his favourite track Moonee Valley and winning three in a row.

In doing so, he made winning look easy but behind the scenes he was again giving his trainer headaches - on Boxing Day morning Kerry finding one of his eyes closed, liquid pouring out.

Somehow Paternal had injured a cornea but luckily it quickly responded to treatment. Five days later though, the eye was again shut, Kerry dismayed that the injury was resurfacing. But it wasn't - Paternal had simply hurt another part of the same eye! And that is just the sort of horse Paternal is, big and a bit dopey, prone to stumbling over his own feet or even falling over in his stall, once slipping over whilst trying to urinate!

Then there are the trips to the races - "he bangs the float nearly all the way," Kerry said.

"He is like a walking disaster," she added, "simple things become hard with him!"

And the proof was in the pudding, Paternal on the day I visited standing in his yard with a bump here, a scratch there. And he couldn't let a moment pass without some trouble. Playing with Kerry's skirt, he was thoroughly entertained and then there it was - RIP, oh dear, Kerry needs a new skirt.

Kerry laughs, this is the personality that is Paternal. A horse, much loved by his trainer and owners, the winner of ten of his 29 starts - in Kerry's words - "a bit of a fairytale."