Wayne Graham has brave mission for gelding

By Jordan Gerrans

Terry Flynn and Wayne Graham never got to test Treacherous Act on the racetrack, but the long-time harness team are hopeful a son of hers will make his mark through the 2025 Queensland Constellations.

Owner Flynn purchased a yearling that would be named Treacherous Act but after a few issues in the early stages, she did not even make it to the breaking in process.

Birnam-based trainer Graham cut his teeth in the industry breaking in pacers. 

While they were disappointed Treacherous Act could not go on with it, the combination quickly turned their mind to the breeding barn with the mare when she ticked over to three years of age. 

Treacherous Act’s son Braventreacherous is only in the early stages of his racing career, but the 70-year-old Graham feels he is on his way to making the grade.

Braventreacherous put in a career-best effort at Albion Park earlier this month when he finished second behind impressive Kiwi Rubira.

Rubira will headline the Group 3 Redcliffe Derby field on Saturday evening before turning his attention to The Rising Sun after accepting an invite.

Flynn and Graham were hopeful of testing Braventreacherous against Rubira again in the Redcliffe Derby, but they were forced to settle for a slot in the consolation race, instead of the main prize.

Veteran horseman Graham says owner and breeder Flynn was over the moon with his gelding’s most recent run against Rubira who hails from the powerful Purdon barn.

“He was stoked,” Graham said of Flynn’s reaction.

“He got more excited about it than winning a race, he was really happy.”

Experienced trainer Graham was full of hope about Braventreacherous during his two-year-old campaign where he won twice as well as finishing fourth in the Group 1 QBRED Triad against his own gender.

He returned for three runs earlier in 2025 where he ran well below his best.

The conditioner quickly tipped out the three-year-old for a spell.

Braventreacherous hasn’t run outside of the top four in his four efforts back this time in, headlined by his strong effort behind Rubira at his last start.

Graham believes he finally has his gelding back near his peak, which should see him improve throughout the carnival.

“We were really pleased,” he said of the recent run. 

“We thought that if we got within 10 metres of those two then we would have been really happy. He went a lot better than we thought he would and he had every chance.

“There was a couple of very classy horses in that race (Fate Awaits and Rubira) and they have already been invited into those bigger races.

“It was his best run by far and he chased all the way to the line.

“He was never going to beat the other horse, but we were more than happy. He is starting to show the talent we thought he had as a two-year-old.”

The Redcliffe Derby consolation race will be Braventreacherous' task on Saturday night with Graham’s son Shane booked to do the steering.

The stable is keen to get their gelding into the South East and Queensland Derbys later in the carnival following a positive effort around ‘The Triangle’. 

Following the Constellations, Braventreacherous will target the upcoming QBRED Triad events for his three-year-old term.

Thetorque Majority is another in Graham’s team he thinks could be competitive in Derby races in the coming weeks.

Thetorque Majority is a three-year-old that has displayed plenty of ability thus far in his career.

The gelding led throughout for a fifth career victory from just 16 starts recently.

Big-time owner Ian Corazzol bred the gelding from his Group 1-winning mare Torque In Motion, who has also produced Queensland Oaks champion Torque Like Motion.

Flynn and Graham have known each other for the best part of half-a-century and have had horses together for more than 15 years.

Graham has prepared several handy types for Flynn during that time.

They enjoyed great success together with Sheer Artistry in recent times as the mare won eight races and was placed on 13 other occasions before she was sold to North America.  

“I first got a horse that Terry owned by chance and did ok with him,” Graham said.

“Since then, Terry has always had two or three with me. Terry has been around for a long, long time.”

The four-time Group 1-winning mentor has a stable full of young stock at the moment following Sheer Artistry’s move and Torque Like Motion’s retirement.

The majority of Graham’s black-type victories across his tenure in the sport have come in juvenile feature races.

“I have had a lifetime of breaking in horses, as in the early days I didn’t train many,” he said.

“We spent 40 odd years just mainly breaking in. When Shane started to drive, we focused more on getting a few to the races but I enjoy the young ones.

“It is a challenge and you have to go through a lot to get a handy one. If you get one, that is pretty satisfying.”

Torque Like Motion is the most recent of Graham’s four victories at the highest level after claiming the Queensland Oaks in 2023. 

“She always had joint troubles and it finally caught up with her,” he said.

“The breeding barn was always there for her and we will now look toward her young ones.”