WINNING a race with a horse owned by your mentor was wonderful but knowing the methods that man taught you were behind the win, well, that was something very special.
Ipswich trainer Bradley Smith paid tribute to former trainer Peter Bell after Hidden Spring won the Base Metal Fabrication Handicap (800m) last Thursday at Ipswich racetrack.
Bell, who gave Hidden Spring to the young trainer to prepare, was trackside for the race and was one of the first to congratulate Smith after the win.
Ridden by Michael Cahill, Hidden Spring ($21) led most of the way and held off favourite Never Paid ($1.40) to win by a half-head with third-placed A Good Chance ($81) a long neck away.
“I started training at Peter’s property at Caboolture when I first started,” Smith said.
“I trained at Deagon for a long time and I was good friends with his son Darren.
“Peter helped me out a lot; taught me a lot. The hardest worker you’ve ever come across. Probably him and Darren would be a tie. You won’t find anyone that works harder.”
Bell’s training methods and his attitude to horses had a lasting impact on Smith.
“He was unbelievable. He sort of taught me the value of hard work and how to get a horse fit by more than just putting saddle on it and working it,” he said.
“Peter used to swim, lunge, a lot of alternative stuff to keep their minds fresh and things like that.
“And that was really valuable to learn early. Because stereotypically, a couple of the trainers I worked for were big operations and it used to be put a saddle on, work, walk in the afternoon and that was six days a week and that was it.
“So it taught me the value of keeping them fresh in the mind and well in the body.
“Without him, probably half the knowledge I have, I wouldn’t have.
“A lot of it is pretty commonsense, I find it pretty relatable to people. Like, if we’ve got a pain in the guts we don’t really feel like going to work. So it’s about keeping them happy, keeping them well, keeping them wanting to do what they’re doing, wanting to do their job properly.”
Smith said Hidden Spring was quite a slow-maturing horse with only six races under his belt but the five-year-old was finally starting to reveal his potential.
“He was probably a little bit weak in his last couple of preparations. I gave him a good spell after last time; he had a couple of months off and he’s really strengthened up this time,” he said.
“I jumped him out here about a month ago and he went really nicely and then I backed off him and we sort of kept this race out today and thankfully we drew a good gate with the rail out and we just used his natural speed.”
Smith said he moved to Ipswich in 2018, originally to train for Bill Naoum, and he loved the peaceful, friendly atmosphere.
“It’s a fantastic place to train if you can put up with the sort of cooler winter, warmer summer,” he said.
“But I like it because it’s nice and quiet, it’s got a good community feel about it. Everybody sort of gets along pretty well here.
“There would only be 40-odd horses here in the mornings so it’s a bit like your own private training track a lot of the time.
“We’ve had a lot of luck with horses that are probably a bit fizzy and don’t really cope with the bigger environments like Eagle Farm.
“The club’s great, it’s not expensive to train here, they’re very receptive to anything you want to do. Like if you want to use a grass track on an off day, all you’ve got to do is ask. They really look after you.
“The new CEO [Tim Dunn] is making good strides. I think he’s going to be good for the place.”
A small team of horses is important to the trainer because it suits his need to treat each horse individually.
“I’ve got six at the moment but eight’s about my number,” he said.
“I had about 25 at Deagon but I’m one of those people that likes to be hands-on. It sort of does my head in because I’m a bit of a details man.
“If you have that many you can’t be around every single one of them.
“I like to have seven or eight and take my time to get to know them properly.”