Anthony began working with racehorses as a young lad in the Ballarat district, spending much of his teens strapping horses all over the state, in between studying his way into vet science at Melbourne University.
With this background it is no surprise that, after graduating with honours, Anthony was soon working in racetrack practice firstly in Victoria, then WA and finally in the UK.
He then leapt at the chance to become Assistant Trainer and Resident Vet at Mark Johnston Racing in North Yorkshire.
There he was integral to all areas of training in one of the most successful racing yards in Europe, including selecting yearlings at the world’s major sales in England, Ireland and Kentucky.
At the end of 2005 Anthony, his wife Beck and their children Grace, Darcy and Rohan (later joined by Freya) quit England to return to Australia and do the impossible: set up a new stable from scratch.
Luckily their property in Miner’s Rest became available at just the right time, providing an excellent base ideally situated adjacent to Ballarat’s Tier 1 training facilities.
Filling the stable with quality horses was naturally not quite as easy, but Anthony was grateful to be given a chance with reject horses that had previously been heavily tried elsewhere; in fact the stables’ first four inmates, all 4 year old maidens, had between them had 34 previous lifetime starts for one solitary placing, before joining the stable.
From these 4 horses alone Anthony conjured 6 wins and over 22 other placings as well as posting numerous wins with other horses that joined the stable along the way. Among them hurdler Gorge and steeplechaser Sea Town who were bought by Anthony on behalf of stable clients for just $4,000 each, and went on to between them win 8 races and over $100,000 prizemoney for the stable.
Other stable highlights include Golfyn’s win in the $50,000 Open Sprint on Ballarat Cup Day, and The Taurean’s storming hurdles win at the time-honoured Warrnambool Carnival.
Anthony’s love of jumps racing saw him mount a bold attempt to have the first ever Australian-trained runner at the Cheltenham Festival.
