Rhino Buster | From Track to Barrels

Rhino Buster is a 2012 Danehill Express gelding bred by David Harrison, who also trained the gelding for the first year of his career. Rhino Buster had a superb career on the track, with seventy-three starts and an impressive place rate of 45%. He retired in August of 2022 with eleven wins, eleven seconds and eleven thirds, finishing on a win at Roebourne under trainer Aaron Pateman. Throughout his career Rhino Buster was in the stables of several trainers, including Shannon Roughan, Darryn Pateman, Rod Brown and Robert Brown, earning connections a career total of $208,514. In 2022, he also won the Kojonup Cup and in 2017, won the Horse of the Year award for the Country Racing Association of WA.

After retiring at the Roebourne races in August of 2022, Buster was taken home by Leah Tournay, a clerk of the course for North West Jockey Club. Leah said she had kept her eye on Buster throughout his career and worked alongside Aaron Pateman and his team throughout the 2022 season. Leah is grateful for the opportunity to take Buster home upon his retirement.

Leah and Buster have been working together to establish their partnership and thoroughly enjoy their time competing at local rodeos. Buster has traded in the racetrack for a life of fun around the barrels, using his massive canter stride to cover the arena quickly. Leah described Buster as a dream to ride and train.

“He loves the rides we do to our local pub and has no problem stealing chips off our plates,” Leah said of the personality-plus gelding.

Buster and Leah have already had success during their short partnership, winning champion novice horse at the 2022 South Hedland Owners and Trainers Association games in Port Hedland. They won almost all their games and placed second in a handful of relay events. Buster thoroughly enjoys his new rodeo life and proves his fantastic personality with how care-free and laid-back he has been towards the busy rodeo scenes. Leah and Buster are training hard and aim to run some barrels at bigger rodeos throughout the year, whilst also working toward building a strong connection together.

We are excited to hear how Buster progresses throughout his new career and wish Leah and Buster all the best in 2023 and onwards.

Credit to Western Racepix for the racing photos, and to Aussie Platinum Photography for the competition photos.