“I'm passionate about helping horses with the equine therapy I do with them, and enjoy the passion involved with racing and also caring for them.”
What does your Fred profile say?
I'm passionate about helping horses with the equine therapy I do with them, and enjoy the passion involved with racing and also caring for them
Everyone has a story about getting into racehorse ownership - what's yours?
After a long and highly successful career in the fitness industry (over 30+ years), I decided I had reached the pinnacle and was looking to change in direction for various reasons. As a high level aerobic championship competitor, I knew that massage and physical therapy were paramount to successful performances and for muscle and body maintenance. I saw an advert for equine massage and thought, that’s what I’m going to do! Why wouldn’t racehorses need and benefit from that too!
I had zero experience with horse’s full stop so embarked on learning by going into a racing stable and doing the early mornings and learning horse handling, and then went off and did the course. It was over 400 hours to qualify and I did it all while still working full time in the fitness industry.
A few years later, I decided to buy into my first syndicate with Shelly Hancox and then moved into my first individual horse with Luke Oliver called Hamam. She won over $100,000 on the track and that was the beginning of my future steps into more horse ownership!
My current involvement in the racing industry as an equine bodyworker has been the greatest personal achievement of my life! Having come from no experience whatsoever with horses, and to be able to do what I do with them now and all that they have taught me is quite unimaginable.
Horses have given me a true understanding of real empathy and connection and they would have to be the most highly emotionally intelligent creatures on this planet. Their ‘knowing’ when you gain their trust is quite astounding.
What's been your most memorable experience as an owner so far?
Every winner as an owner, no matter what, is exhilarating, but I Am Vinnie winning at Randwick at 60-1 in the last stride in August 2019 would have to be one of the best! Especially being on track to experience that with over 20 of his owners. In another state for the first time with a horse I owned, it was ridiculously surreal and right up there! He has since won twice more up in Sydney, three starts for three wins.
Being there for that first one was unreal and knowing I’d been instrumental in helping him be at his physical best to get that win was also incredibly special for me. We have a really special and quite an amazing connection (as you can tell from our photo). Sometimes only horses and I really know what is achieved in one of my sessions as they can’t tell anyone!
If you could own any horse in the world (past or present) which one would it be?
So You Think. What an amazing horse, amazing athlete and what a looker and even now, what a sire! He encapsulates what could be described as a ‘super horse’ for me as I backed him in his first Cox Plate and I just knew he’d win. I knew the true faith Bart had in that horse and his achievements on the track here and abroad reflected that.
We know it’s impossible to stop at one, what's your ownership stable looking like now?
No you can’t stop at one, that’s right! My share involvement is not large but I’ve had a few horses over the past 10 years with friends in syndicates and a couple solo. My current stable consists of 8 horses, just small shares raced with friends for the fun shared experience (unfortunately not at the moment though!). They’re now mostly raced, and a couple unraced. A recent winner has been Vitesse Breeze who finally, after two close seconds recently, got his maiden win in style.
How do you decide which horses to get involved with?
Generally, I work on supporting those trainers who support me and my work and those who allow me to look after the ones I have ownership in. Most of them I have picked on type of what I like and look for in a horse and the feel I get for them.
Anything you didn’t know at the start of your ownership journey that you wished you knew?
My best advice is to ask lots of questions about the trainers you are looking to get involved with. Talk to other owners about their experiences with ownership rather than just jumping in. Ask about costs, care of the horses, stable numbers, ownership involvement experiences etc. There is a lot to learn and I have sure learnt an awful lot over the past 14 years with my involvement in the stables I work in and for, and it’s been helpful in making my horse ownership decisions
Do you want to be in our next owner spotlight? Email [email protected] to get involved.
