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Weedons trainer Sharon Robertson looks after a lot of babies ? three of her own and several more of the horse variety at Kauri Stables. And she is having notable success raising the latter. Nick Tolerton reports

Look out for the blonde's bombshells as young Weedons racing trainer Sharon Robertson makes her name.

Robertson has pulled off two huge shocks in big races at Riccarton this season, with Delbrae's victories in the $100,000 Gold Cup last Saturday and the $250,000 Coupland's Mile in November.

Results like those have made racing take notice of the 37-year-old newcomer, who juggles bringing up three children aged 3, 5, and 7 with her other "babies" ? her horses at Kauri Stables.

Robertson has been given a great opportunity by Christchurch businessman Richard Steel, who put her in charge of the new stables, now one of Canterbury's biggest thoroughbred establishments.

They started from scratch on a historic racing property ? Leo Berkett's harness stables at Weedons, which produced the famous pacer Highland Fling.

"We've been out here a good two years," she said. "It was pretty run down ? it hadn't been used for some years."

The team has 28 horses there, nine of them racing but most of them "babies we're breaking in." They've also bought the next-door property and leased one across the road.

Delbrae is the stable star, but experienced observers have been quick to note Robertson's ability to peak a horse for a big event, although she says there's no secret.

The six-year-old has had four wins ? including the two majors ? for her and only been out of the money twice after being bought from the North Island last year.

Delbrae had a reputation as a problem horse ? "we didn't know that when we bought him" ? and Robertson has never been on his back.

He's been tamed by her assistant, former jumps jockey Alan Reeves.

"I've done all the groundwork and Alan's done all the riding for me. We've just taken our time, taken him right back to square one basically, got his confidence back. And with that he's settled in his races, which he wasn't doing before he came here."

Delbrae and her other top horses also get a lot of beach training at Spencer Park ? which is perhaps Robertson's secret.

"If you go into the track just for galloping they fizz up and expect to do it all the time, whereas if you take them down to the beach, some days you might walk and trot, other days you might gallop," she said.

"One day we went and walked through the bush over there just to give them a bit of variety. That's what works, variety."

Robertson's rather unconventional racing background probably contributes to her looking outside the square for ideas.

From when she was about 10 she rode in pony club events on the West Coast, and she got her start in racing when she was about 18, doing some trackwork riding while she worked at Mitre 10.

"I had a mare I used to event and she was a bit silly, so I put her in foal and got my first race horse out of her."

That horse, Chez Renez, had eight wins, the last six with Robertson training. Had this horse not done so well, she doubts she'd have carried on.

She then spent three years in Japan working in a stable pre-training and breaking in horses before coming home and having her family.

She was doing some trackwork riding at Riccarton and had a couple of horses of her own when she heard Steel was looking for someone to look after his four yearlings, "and it snowballed from there."

As well as Delbrae, there are a few other names to look out for from Kauri Stables.

Four-year-old mare Bewarned is her own favourite and had a second last Saturday, and they have "big wraps" on Klassic Pins.

Robertson probably understates the pace of her life when she says fitting in three kids and training can get "pretty full on."

The Kauri team races in the blue and white chequers Robertson used for Chez Renez.

They're colours you're likely to be seeing a lot more of at the gallops.