3 minute read
Jack Laing refers to his new stable on the Sunshine Coast as a “little gourmet fruit shop”.
The son of multiple Group 1-winning trainer Robbie Laing, the newcomer to the Queensland training ranks will start his first horses in the Sunshine State this weekend – heading to Nanango on Saturday before returning to Corbould Park on Sunday.
Jack has been training in his own right since the 2019-20 season – preparing nine winners in that from his former Cranbourne base.
While his gallopers were often running well across Victoria – he also picked up more than 30 minor placings over the last few years – he was regularly running into expensive horses from massive stables.
The 26-year-old thought his gallopers were in good enough condition to be winning races but he kept just running into a few better.
That is where the move to Caloundra comes into the equation.
"I am a young trainer trying to make a name for myself – running fourth and fifth is not going to get it done – so I thought I better make a drastic move," Laing said.
"I am trying to escape Coles and Woolworths and I have opened up a little gourmet fruit shop.
"I am trying to get a bit of traction.
"You want to see yourself at the top of the ladder in an industry and when you do not have the stock, numbers or the budget – then you need to think outside the square a little bit and that is what I have done by moving to Queensland."
Laing always kept an eye on Queensland racing after picking up a few tried horses for his stable from the Sunshine State in the early days of his training career.
The Victorian travelled north around two months ago to inspect a number of facilities that might have been options for his new training base.
He visited Ballina, Deagon, Ipswich, Eagle Farm and Doomben over a few days before settling on Corbould Park.
"I was very happy with the facilities and liked the atmosphere up here," he said.
"I liked the track managers up here, found somewhere to live as well as some stables and it was all in place to move from there."
Laing prepares his team from comeback rider Nikita Beriman's property, which is just a short drive from the Sunshine Coast Turf Club.
"It is a bloody lovely training facility, the people are nice," he said.
"It is quiet and I am a real fan of it.
"I am very impressed with the place."
The emerging trainer came up with eight horses in work, which is likely to be increased to around 14 when his full team arrives.
Laing believes No Surrender – a winner of $328,600 in career stakes – could become a regular Saturday town grade horse in Brisbane.
He has four unraced two-year-old's that are working towards making their way to the races for the first time in the near future.
Laing also was active at the recent Magic Millions sales on the Gold Coast, out laying the most he ever has in his young career on a yearling.
He spent $100,000 on a promising Brazen Beau colt.
Laing gets his first taste of Queensland racing on the non-TAB circuit on Saturday at Nanango with two runners before he also has two from his team in at Caloundra on Sunday.
He is optimistic the two Sunday runners - Divine Charm (Beriman) and March As One (Ben Thompson) – will be competitive after booking in-form hoops.
"Divine Charm will be decent over a mile and a half," Laing said.
"She ran at Cranbourne last start and was about 20 lengths last as they were approaching the corner and she got beat seven lengths, she made up a stack of ground.
"March As One ran third at Cranbourne last start and I think he might be a bit soft for this run on Sunday.
"I think you can go to the races up here and go to the races with some confidence that if you place your horses correctly, you should be winning races if your horses are fit."
