Sport
7 December, 2025
NOT FOR SALE - THE HORSE THAT’S ON A BIG ROLL
A PAIR of Loddon sporting legends are lapping the glory of the racetrack with a horse striding the tracks of success.
Not even overseas suitors have been able to snare the You’re Two Vain from the hands of Australian owners with a million dollar bid.
Jon Starr and Wade Roberts, part of the owner syndicate, have already seen the bay gelding claim four wins from four starts.
Starr says he was working servicing power poles at a Kilmore racehorse training facility when he fell into conversation with farm manager Clive MacPherson.
The Inglewood football legend and a racing enthusiast, told MacPherson that he and a mate, another Woodies’ notable in Wade Roberts, had enjoyed a share in a few horses over the years.
“Old Clive said ‘I’ve got a horse for you’,” Starr said.
“I hummed and arred, and when I got home there was an email about a horse we had with trainer Danny O’Brien saying that it was done. Finished.”
So, Starr and Roberts thought about the MacPherson offer, and ended up with five per cent each of one of Victoria’s most promising sprinters, trained by Clive’s daughter Alicia.
Four-year-old You’re Too Vain has now won four times from as many starts, including a commanding victory at Caulfield last outing, and has been the subject of international interest, with one bid from Hong Kong of more than a million HK dollars.
His stakes winnings are already just shy of $74,000 in only his second preparation.
You’re Two Vain will run at Ballarat on Saturday, with Roberts even giving up his treasured spot on Eaglehawk’s pennant bowls team to head to the track.
Both Starr and Roberts say You’re Two Vain may be the best horse of the 15 or so they have raced together.
“His times and the way he has been winning – he’s potentially the best,” Starr said.
The pair have had shares in some decent thoroughbreds, including a Tasmanian Derby winner, but this gelding, with bloodlines through 1960s superstar Vain on both the sire and the dam’s side, and even a touch of Black Caviar in the mix, is special.
“He’s very, very smart,” Roberts said. “He’s won two races by five lengths, and two by two lengths, hard held going over the line.
“There’s a lot of hype about him.”
And there’s a hint of the incomparable Black Caviar in the huge stride that You’re Two Vain shows on the turf.
“He’s a very big, strong horse, highly powerful and his stride is above average,” Roberts said.
You’re Two Vain is still raw and in its Caulfield win wobbled around the last turn with legs going in all directions, but once it settled in the straight it put lengths on its rivals.
Friendship got Starr and Roberts into racehorse ownership.
They’ve known each other since junior sport days and played cricket together as well as having lifelong connections with Inglewood football club.
Starr coached the seniors for three seasons from 2015, having played in a premiership and won a flag, while Roberts – a self-described reserves footballer – was club president for four years.
They have shares in another horse together, a three-year-old stayer who is “a work in progress” according to Roberts.
With You’re Two Vain already attracting foreign interest, it’s possible the exciting ride will end all too soon.
Hong Kong racing treasures sprinters, and this horse fits the bill perfectly. The MacPherson family has 51 per cent ownership and will make any decision on selling the gelding.
“We’d absolutely rather see it running here,” Starr said. “I told Clive, what’s the use of selling up when we’ve only just started, with all the friendship and fun we are having.”