| Training in Qld | Returning to Training |
| The Sydney Years | The Outsider - the book |
| Africa |
Training
in Qld
Brian's interest in horses was developed during his days as a stockman
on remote cattle stations in Far North Queensland and the Norther Territory.
He started working as a strapper in 1967 in Brisbane, then in 1968 he had
a short stint working with Jack Denham as a strapper in Sydney
Brian was granted his training licence in 1971 and was based at Cairns, he trained his first winner in April that year, Gay Meld who won by 10 lengths at Mareeba. The filly was also his first starter.
He then moved to Townsville in late 1972, training from a caravan under a tree on the home turn, not long after arriving, he trained his first winner in Townsville, again his first starter since moving base.
In 1974 Brian relocated to Doomben, again training a winner with his first starter from his new base. It was in Doomben that Brian started to train his first 'star' horse, Tiger Town, he won several good races for Brian in Brisbane and was the horse who brought Brian to Sydney.
The
Sydney Years
Brian made the move to Sydney in 1976, again his first runner was
a winner. In his first couple of starters in Sydney Brian trained Tiger Town
to run a nose second in the 1976 Epsom and later also running second in the
Stradbroke.
In 1978 Brian was approached by Mrs Millie Fox to take over the training of her horses at Nebo Lodge at Rosehill, where he went from training 9 horses to over 100 overnight. Brian trained for Mrs Fox for 6 years and during that time trained more than 300 metro winners, and over 300 provincial winners. In 1980 Brian trained his first Group 1 winner, Brindisi who won the Metropolitan
In 1984, Robert Sangster and Bob Lapointe took over the ownership of Nebo Lodge, and appointed Brian as their trainer, mainly due to Brian's outstanding training strikerate. Brian also continued to train horses for Mrs Fox and outside clients, the number of horses in training during this time was around 100.
In 1985/86 Brian won the Sydney Trainers Premiership, ending TJ Smith's 33 year reign on the title, in that season Brian trained 99 winners from 654 starters and major races won included the Sydney Cup, AJC Sires Produce and Rawson Stakes.
In the following years Brian won the premiership another two times, and along the way won some of the best races in Australian racing, for more information on horses Brian has trained go to our 'Horses' link on the front page.
Africa
In 1987 Brian and Maree took their first trip to Africa, a trip
which changed their lives. Following 8 trips to Africa over the next 9 years,
Brian announced to a stunned industry in March 1995 that he was giving away
training to move to Africa and commence a career as a fulltime wildlife conservationist.
Over the next 11 months they travelled over 40,000kms through Africa investigating options for setting up there permanently.
In 1996, Brian and Maree came to the disapointing realisation that they could not have the sort of impact on wildlife conservation they wanted to and decided to return to Australia.
Returning
to Training
In 1997 Brian returned to training, based at Flemington, with the
main aim being raising funds for wildlife conservation through training racehorses.
Starting with 6 horses in May of 1997 Brian trained his first winner from his new Flemington base, Wry Hero who won at headquarters, and who following Brians training history, was his first runner from his new stables.
In late 1997 the stable grew to 15 boxes and in early 1999 another 9 boxes were added bringing the numbers to 24 boxes. In the past 4 years, hardly a day has gone by with a vacant box, Brian's training services have been in high demand since returning.
In April 2001 another 2 yards were added to the stables bringing the numbers to 26, which Brian indicates will be the end of his stable expansion, he doesn't see the need to return to the Nebo Lodge/Marauding Lodge days of 100 horses in work, his strikerate with his smaller team speaks for itself.
Which leaves us here in 2001, where Brian is once again established as a leading trainer of thoroughbreds in Australia.
The
Outsider
Brian released
his biography titled 'The Outsider' in November 2000, which documents his
life, including his early days in Cairns, his training success in Sydney,
his passion for wildlife, his decision to retire from training in 1995 to
move to Africa and his eventual return to training at Flemington in 1997,
if you haven't already read it we hope you do, all moneys from the book are
donated to wildlife conservation. Brian is more than happy to sign any books,
contact us for details.
