Great sorrow and Group 1 success will be the lasting memories at Kembla Grange this year.
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It's difficult to quantify the legacy of Gwenda Markwell, a winner of 19 premierships and more than 1000 races, including 517 at the Illawarra Turf Club.
A hugely hard-working, can-do trainer, Markwell is renowned for developing young and inexperienced stablehands and track riders into valuable horse people.
Yet she rarely celebrated her successes or took time for post-race interviews.
A wry grin would let connections and jockeys know how pleased she was.
"We have lost a beautiful person. Gwenda was one of racing's great characters, she loved a chat and always gave everyone she met the time of day!" champion jockey Tommy Berry posted on Twitter when she passed away in October after a battle with cancer, aged 61.
Markwell was the trainer of 2004 BMW Stakes (2400m) winner Grand Zulu, who beat Mummify and legendary three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva.
Grand Zulu had four wins - from 1200m to 2400m in distance - and eight placings from 37 career starts.
More recently Markwell trained 2019 Group 1 ATC Derby and Group 2 Tulloch winner Angel Of Truth, who also ran third to Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant and star international stayer Addeybb in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2400m) in 2021.
Racing manager Ross McConville has taken over the trainer's licence, with assistant trainer Nigil Mohanan leading the Markwell team into a new era.
There was more devastation for Robert and Luke Price, when 2021 The Gong winner and Golden Eagle runner-up Count De Rupee collapsed and died during trackwork at Kembla Grange in August.
Luke Price had coveted everything from The Everest to the Doncaster Mile with the star gelding, who had delivered more than $2.5 million in prize money with seven wins from 21 starts, including the Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m).
Theresa Bateup's fairytale mare Monegal retired to the breeding barn. A $3000 purchase, Monegal finished with 10 career wins and another 10 placings for more than $670,000 in stakes, capturing the Group 3 Epona Stakes and the Canberra Mile along the way.
Just around the corner at Kerry Parker's stable, it was a bittersweet year, with Think It Over suffering a career-threatening ligament injury, after winning the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick in April.
Nash Rawiller produced a ride for the ages, coming off the turn to the grandstand rail and overwhelming Cox Plate fourth-place getter Zaaki.
As we awaited long-anticipated track upgrades at Kembla Grange, after numerous abandoned meetings due to wet weather, the $1 million The Gong again delivered with style in November.
Parker's Hope In Your Heart, who was fourth in the Golden Eagle after winning back-to-back Group 3s, fought gamely to finish second within a length of the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott winner Riodini.
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