Trainer Stephen Massingham opens up on lifesaving weight loss as he eyes success in hometown Cairns Cup

Massingham weighed 125kg and shed a massive 45kg, but now the 53-year-old maintains his weight around the 90kg mark.

“I reckon it saved my life for sure,” said Massingham, who currently holds both the Cairns and Townsville trainers’ premiership crowns.

“At one stage I got down to 79kg and was probably a bit too light.

“I look at photos now and I can’t believe how big I was. I got the (gastric sleeve) operation and it saved my life.

“If you don’t do the right thing you can blow out again. I don’t have a plate of food now, I’ll just have a bowl.”

Massingham, whose nickname is “Boogie”, has plenty on his plate heading into Saturday’s Cairns Cup (2100m) at Cannon Park with three of the 14 runners – Mr Maestro, Smart Legend and Armour Force – in the $150,000 staying contest.

He rates Smart Legend as the best of his hopes after the six-year-old gelding finished third behind Quothquan and Sir Grace in this month’s Townsville Cup (2000m).

Smart Legend has had just three runs in Townsville under Massingham, who took over from Gold Coast trainer Peter Robl in June and, along with his brother Warren, is a part-owner of the horse.

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“He definitely hasn’t gone backwards since his last run,” Massingham said.

“I think he’s improved a little bit so we should be good. He’s our best chance, although the others will be competitive.

“Armour Force has got more ability than most of them. He’s a genuine horse but he seems to have a lot of bad luck. He’s actually been a very frustrating horse.

“One day he’s going to turn up and blow them away.”

Mr Maestro finished fourth in the 2022 Victoria Derby (2500m) under Kiwi trainer Andrew Forsman but the gelding hasn’t won a race in three years.

“He went into a couple of Group 1 races (Champions Stakes and Australian Guineas) after that and then he did his tendon,” Massingham said.

“Sometimes he goes through the motions a bit. He’s in a good headspace and we just have to try and get the best out of him.”

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The six-year-old son of Savabeel ran a decent race in the Townsville Cup (fifth) with Ryan Wiggins on board but has been struggling under some heavy weights in north Queensland.

Massingham has won the time-honoured Cairns Cup on two occasions, with Magnum Forty Four in 2011 and his superstar The Harrovian in 2019.

He trained “Big H” in 12 of his 17 wins before the gifted galloper was transferred to Victorian trainers Toby and Trent Edmonds, under whom he finished third in the 2021 Doomben 10,000 and then sixth in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.

“He was a freakish horse and he only got beaten twice when I had him,” Massingham said.

“He won over $1m in prizemoney and a lot of his races were up this way.”

Originally published as Trainer Stephen Massingham opens up on lifesaving weight loss as he eyes success in hometown Cairns Cup