![Daniel and Jasmine Springfield [Photo courtesy of Inglis]](https://betsy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Besty-Generic-Thumbnail-Template-778-x-510-px-9.png)
Winning Powerball can change your life – and for Hawkesbury trainer Mitchell Kearney and his mate Daniel Springfield, it sparked a million-dollar plunge into racehorse ownership that will debut on one of Sydney’s biggest stages this weekend.
Kearney went to Inglis before the Classic Sale in February and politely asked for some hospitality for him and his mate Daniel Springfield.
The pair had known each other since their footy days at St Clair in the Penrith area, west of Sydney, and were about to start a racing dream.
Kearney and his wife Desiree, who train in partnership, and Springfield and his partner Jasmine Banks went to the Classic Sale and started bidding from outside.
“I rang Inglis and said I had a bloke who wanted to buy some yearlings and asked if we could get on a table,” Kearney said.
“They said no, which was understandable because I think the most I had paid for a horse was about $15,000.”
“The first one we bought was a Capitalist filly for $60,000, which was lot 4, that was nerve-wracking.”
It was followed by a Lonhro colt for $80,000 and an I Am Invincible colt at $270,000, all signed for by Kearney and Springfield, and when the trainer was knocked down on a Trapeze Artist yearling for just $17,000, things had changed.
“I think the Inglis accountant was a bit worried, but someone from Inglis came and found us and we had lunch at a table that day and they have been invited to a couple of things since,” Kearney remembered.
“It was a stressful day because we hadn’t done it before.”
Banks and Springfield had shared in a Powerball win a few months earlier and were determined to buy a couple of horses. The plan was only hatched a couple of weeks before the sale.
“I had had a couple of horses with a couple of mates, but just 2 1/2 percent in them. When Jasmine won Powerball I said we should get some horses and give them to a small trainer,” Springfield said.
“We wanted to enjoy buying some horses, so because I knew Mitch, I went to him.”
“I rang him and went to Wyong races and talked about what we wanted to do, and we might have got a bit carried away at that first sale.”
By the end of the Classic sale, Kearney and Springfield had signed for 10 yearlings totalling $1.345 million to be the second leading buyer at the Classic behind Tony McEvoy and Belmont Bloodstock.
They added another four at the Inglis Easter Sale, but indications are positive they have found the right type of horses.
Four of them made it to the official two-year-old barrier trials, and Iambubb, the I Am Invincible colt, and Oh Yes She Did, a $240,000 Classic purchase, have made it to Saturday’s Breeders Plate and Gimcrack Stakes, respectively.
“After the trials I was so happy I felt like I had won lotto because they came out and performed,” Kearney said. “There’s a bit of pressure there when someone has that faith in you.”
“I don’t know how I’ll feel on Saturday, but I know there is not much between and they will be competitive.”
Springfield, who is a painter by trade, and Banks had spent Wednesday morning waiting for the barrier draws to come out, Iambubb got gate three in the Breeders while Oh Yes She Did will start from nine in the fillies’ Group 3.
They will debut their racing colours on Saturday, which pay homage to Banks’ indigenous roots being black with yellow stars and red sleeves.
“We want to have yellow sun but we weren’t allowed. It will be good to see them go around on Saturday,” Springfield said.
“We were waiting for all morning to see the draws, that was exciting.”
“It will be great to go to the races on the weekend with a couple of runners and we have a few more better ones to come.”
