News
You gotta love the horse New
Date: 10-Jul-2026
FROM pony rides in New Zealand to trackwork in Brisbane and Hong Kong, and now to her own barn at the Sunshine Coast, Renita Beaton has created her place in racing.
At 18, Renita left home after emailing Rob Heathcote and securing a job in his Eagle Farm stable where the trainer was preparing Group 1 stars including Buffering, Woorim and Solzhenitsyn.
Renita spent six years with Rob, then Brisbane’s premier trainer, before landing a job riding trackwork in Hong Kong in 2016.
After returning in 2022, she took out her Queensland trainer’s licence and prepared her first winner at Lismore that November.
Her small stable has since produced 60 winners, backed by vital support from fiancé Troy Schmetzer, apprentice Amelia Heinrich and track rider Megan Davies.
A recent move from Fenwick Farm, 70km south-east of Ipswich, to the Sunshine Coast has given Renita the training barn she has long wanted.
For more about Renita Beaton's story, read the Ipswich Tribune Today or click here.
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