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Having been licensed as a thoroughbred trainer in the Sunshine State for the last five years, the Gold Coast’s Ashley Glencross has had an array of opportunities to start a galloper in a race.

A vendor in the breeding game as well as a mother of four young boys, the 35-year-old has kept her powder dry up until this week.

Glencross has waited for the perfect opportunity with that one special horse and she believes she has found him in stylish colt Rapid Ready.

Many trainers in Queensland dream of having a city starter for years before it eventually happens but Glencross will go straight to the top with her maiden runner in a race in town.

Glencross' son of Better Than Ready heads to the first event for the babies of the new season on Saturday at Doomben in the QTIS Two-Years-Old Plate over 1050 metres.

Originally just getting the colt ready for his first jump-outs and trials for owner Kathy Then, the idea was floated for Glencross to take on the galloper herself.

"I thought it would be good for me in general to have a runner in my own name or even a horse trial in my name," she said.

"I thought he would trial well and I asked if I could hang onto him, really. I just love the horse so much and he has so much ability.

"We have got a lot of two-year-olds at home and he is just one of the better ones. He is ready to go and the two-year-old race is there so I thought it might be the time.

"He is very capable and if there is a two-year-old who can get out of those gates and come around, it is him."

In his only public outing, Rapid Ready won his trial at Beaudesert in late August under the urgings of Paul Hammersley.

Purchased for $110,000 at the January sales, the brown colt will be ridden by apprentice hoop Melea Castle as he commences from the tricky alley of 11.

While Glencross has been around the racing industry for much of her life, training her own stable of racehorses was never really in her plans until recently. 

She rode plenty of trackwork alongside her sister and Queensland hoop Rikki Jamieson.

Instead of following Jamieson into the riding ranks, Glencross went into the work force as a registered nurse and focused her attention on showjumping.

A few years ago she returned to the industry with a couple of horses she was preparing for clients that had gone through the sales not long before.

Fast forward five years and she has 60 horses on her Biddaddaba property as her family operate Glen X Lodge.

Glencross is often referred to as an 'emerging vendor' in this area of the industry from her Gold Coast Hinterland base.

"I have been specialising in the ready to runs and prepping babies to be exported to Singapore, China and Malaysia and just for local trainers, as well," she said.

"Just doing all the early work for them.

"I have got a few nice two-year-olds, I buy horses myself and put them through the sales but I have got connections overseas now and I might hang on to those ones and trial them myself now and sell them that way."

Glen X Lodge focuses on breaking in, spelling, pre-training and preparing horses for jump outs before sending them off to their next destination.

They have a 1000 metre track at Biddaddaba – where they have been based for the last 18 months - and will head into Aquis Park on the Gold Coast when required.

Before Rapid Ready came along Glencross had resisted the urge to prepare her own barn of horses and was prioritising her work-life balance.

"I often have my clients ask or suggest to me why I don't race these horses myself over the years," she said.

"In all fairness, it is about lifestyle with my boys.

"Breaking and pre-training is a business hours job and then I am home every afternoon and weekend with my children.

"It is not to say that I won't race more horses in the future but I just do not want to be at the races all the time right now at this point in my life.

"There is potential to race more horses in the future but we are taking it one step at a time."

As of Thursday morning, Rapid Ready is rated a $19 chance with the bookmakers in the opening event from Doomben on Saturday.

Looking back on his one trial, Glencross says the colt was not completely wound up and thought he did not need to go hard to win the 900 metre dash.

The rookie racehorse trainer is not getting carried away with it all but admits she does have Magic Millions day in the middle of the first month of 2025 in the back of her mind when she looks ahead with her sole galloper in her stable.

"That would be the dream, wouldn't it?," she said.

"To go out there and race my first horse and bank up enough prize money that we are there for the Classic in January – that would be incredible.

"But, we will just take it one day at a time and get through Saturday first."

Glencross recalls inspecting Rapid Ready as a yearling with Jayven See (husband of Kathy Then) before the purchase was made.

"I loved him from the beginning and I love the Better Than Ready's, they are so easy to work with," she said.

"They are just natural born racehorses and that is why they make two-year-olds.

"They are athletic, love it and are balanced. If he goes out and runs a really nice race and is tidy, then I have done my job and I am happy.

"But, I am hopeful he can do better than that. He is genuinely ready to go, his work is there."