Brett Crawford’s passion is to unlock the secret to every horse he has and right now Hong Kong’s newest trainer is revelling in the relatively small stable numbers that will allow him to do just that.
Crawford’s horse-focused style took him to the top of South African racing and when he left his operation in Cape Town he had 180 horses in his care. So as he took time out to speak to Idol Horse at his pre-season bai-sun ceremony last week it was little wonder the trainer was relaxed ahead of his first Hong Kong runner this Sunday.
“The beauty of starting out like this is that we’ve come from a lot of horses and right now we have 25 horses,” he said. “That means I can give that attention-to-detail to each horse because I have the time to do it. That’s what has been quite refreshing for me here and really quite cool.”
The trainer had more than 50 owners and a large media contingent in attendance at the traditional ceremony, which each stable hosts during the two weeks leading up to the season start.
Crawford has taken over boxes in the Olympics Stables vacated by Jamie Richards, who has opted to move to the main stable complex after dipping to 22 wins in his third season.
The Olympic Stables had been criticised by some former trainers including departed handlers Sean Woods and Andreas Schutz, who both failed to meet minimum benchmark criteria from the base.
But since then Mark Newnham, Douglas Whyte, along with long-term tenant Michael Chang, have given the stables – which feature larger boxes and more space – a new lease of life.
Crawford jumped at the chance to take over from Richards and has requested a change to the windows in his stables to allow horses a clear outlook and better ventilation. He also plans to make the longer walk to the track entrance a plus, not a negative.
“I like the boxes and I like that there is a lot more space and a lot more light in the stables here,” he said. “And regarding the longer walk to trackwork, I quite enjoy the walk and trot down there to be honest. I know some people say it’s a bit far, but I think it’s a good thing for the horses to warm up and loosen up before they go to work. And if you look at training centers around the world, very few people are training right on the track.
“I also think the change we are making to the windows here will be a big plus, it will give the horses the ability to look outside and will be good from a ventilation point of view as well.”
There was a strong South African contingent of jockeys at Crawford’s bai-sun, including Keagan De Melo and Lyle Hewitson, plus Mauritian Karis Teetan.
Teetan was a top rider in South Africa before moving to Sha Tin in 2013 and rode Crawford’s champion Jackson to two Group 1 wins.
“He is a guy that likes to listen to the horse,” Teetan said. “He likes to work with a horse’s recovery and identify what is best for each one.
“He has a great assistant trainer, Roy Cheung and that will help him a lot. I’ve been on a few of his horses in the morning and they are feeling great.”
One of those horses Teetan has ridden in trackwork and an impressive trial is last start winner Speedy Smartie, transferred from retired trainer Benno Yung and slated to be Crawford’s first runner at Sunday’s season opener.
“He is rated 33 and I feel like he has some room to move off that mark, he is in good form,” said Crawford, who stated he will not set a goal for how many wins he wants in his first season.
“For me it’s about delivering on each individual horse – if a horse is only good enough to be in Class 5, then let’s make him competitive in Class 5,” he said.
“That’s the key for me and I think if we do that, the winners will come. We won’t put a mark on winners, but obviously the more the better.
“It’s just about getting the best performance out of each horse every time they start.” ∎
