Jason Clifford closed Hobart’s card last Sunday with smart winner Milochello (Matsqui) giving the Seven Mile Beach conditioner a confidence booster in advance of the new season.

Clifford, 36, was employed as a glazier in the Huon Valley before he took the plunge and took up training full-time in 2004.  In only his second season, the rookie hit the headlines when his stayer Our Dashing Dane (Ladoni) won the 2005 Hobart Cup.

Since then, Clifford’s stables have housed prolific winners like Forbidden Quest (West Quest) and Matinello (Matsqui) as well as promising sprinter Loaded Owners.

Loaded Owners (3g Lucky Owners – Loaded Lady by Last Tycoon) will be Clifford’s flag-bearer next season after an unbeaten autumn campaign.  He completed a winning hat-trick in Hobart by a combined total of 11 lengths in March, April and May.

Loaded Owners was a $90,000 buy from the Symphony Lodge draft at the 2007 Magic Million HIT Sale on the Gold Coast.

He is by Widden Stud’s Hong Kong Mile (G1) winner Lucky Owners and is a younger half-brother to NZ stakes winner Loaded Command (Commands).  Their dam Loaded Lady is a half-sister to Brisbane stakes performers Foreign Minister (Hula Chief) and Endorsement (Bellotto).  Third dam Black Satin (Linacre) was a G1 winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas.

“Loaded Owners did everything we expected of him last time and has come back looking magnificent,” Clifford said.  “He will run first-up here in September before going to Melbourne.”