Matt Damon‘s horse was nicely crushed within the Australian Derby at Royal Randwick on Saturday, with the Hollywood megastar opting to not be there trackside to look at the nag he part-owns with two native sport superstars.
Damon has a stake within the three-year-old gelding Are You Kidding together with former Take a look at cricket skipper Steve Smith and retired AFL nice Tom Hawkins.
Sadly for the star of The Odyssey and Oppenheimer, Are You Kidding was nicely crushed into eleventh place, ending greater than 19 lengths behind the winner, Inexperienced Areas.
Damon was entrance and centre for the Golden Slipper at Sydney‘s Rosehill Racecourse final month after Are You Kidding was scratched from the race.
The 55-year-old has quietly constructed a connection to Australian racing lately, and Aussie actor Daniel MacPherson can be a part of the possession group for the bay gelding, which is educated by Paul Messara and Leah Gavranich.
The Derby and Slipper aren’t the primary time the Hollywood star has skilled the highs and lows of racing in Australia.
A horse part-owned by Matt Damon (pictured on the Golden Slipper race in Sydney final month) completed third-last within the Australian Derby at Randwick on Saturday
Are You Kidding (circled, within the black and yellow strip) completed greater than 19 lengths behind the winner, Inexperienced Areas
Damon (pictured on the Slipper) has been constructing a connection to Aussie horse racing lately
Damon tasted success in January 2025 when his different horse, Dale, broke its maiden in Tamworth, giving the Oscar winner his first victory as an proprietor Down Underneath.
The three-year-old gelding, educated by Paul Messara and Gavranich, had beforehand positioned twice earlier than lastly saluting, incomes greater than $30,000 in prize cash.
The horse’s title carries a private story.
Coach Messara revealed the weird backstory behind the title throughout an interview, explaining how the concept originated from a late-night name from Los Angeles.
‘It is a bit of a protracted story actually,’ Messara stated.
‘It was a late night time over in LA and I get a cellphone name saying we have had this nice concept and we wish to purchase a horse, however the stipulation is it have to be known as Dale.’
‘The story goes that principally Matt and his daughter bonded throughout her teenage years watching the film Step Brothers, starring the 2 characters Dale and Brennan.’
Damon’s rising ties to Australian racing mirror his broader connection to the nation, the place he has spent prolonged intervals along with his household and fashioned shut friendships.
Damon part-owns Are You Kidding with cricketer Steve Smith and retired AFL nice Tom Hawkins (pictured with spouse Emma)
The Oppenheimer star (pictured on the Slipper) tasted success Down Underneath with one other horse, Dale, in January 2025
The actor commonly stays in Byron Bay, the place his long-time buddy Chris Hemsworth is predicated, and has been a well-recognized face at native occasions, from AFL matches to the Ekka in Brisbane.
His connection to Australia started throughout a deeply private interval following the dying of his father, Kent Damon, in 2017.
‘After my dad died, we moved down there for 4 months and simply went and camped in all places,’ Damon stated.
‘And simply … I believe as a result of possibly he had by no means been, and it simply felt like a spot to go to make recollections with my youngsters.’
The journeys have since turn into a yearly ritual for Damon, his spouse Luciana Barroso and their 4 daughters, with the household typically selecting to spend the American summer season in Australia.
‘Then yearly we might return, even again through the pandemic. We have been down there for about six months, and it is similar to a second dwelling to us,’ he stated.
‘We simply like it and we love the folks and all the things about it.’
‘We simply have so many buddies down there, truthfully. I imply 30, 40 folks. Household, buddies, simply so many individuals that we like to go see.’
