In The Smoke And The Silence, David Eustace Sets His Sights On The Season Ahead
After a successful first season in Hong Kong, David Eustace tells Idol Horse how culture, patience and global experience are shaping his future ambitions.
HEAD BOWED, joss sticks gripped in his hands, David Eustace stands in silence as smoke rises in slow, curling ribbons above three whole roasted pigs lying in front of him. Three deliberate bows beneath the shade of his two-tier stable at Sha Tin mark the start of a new season, the scent of earthy incense carrying with it the promise of good fortune and the weight of tradition.
It’s Friday afternoon and the bai sun ceremony is underway – a ritual performed to bring luck and prosperity to the stable for the upcoming season. Cash Lee, his assistant trainer, has orchestrated the celebration with meticulous precision, and Eustace follows each step while the murmur of nearly 100 voices – owners, prospective clients, riders, grooms and friends of the stable – hush around him.
The occasion is part blessing, part celebration, and Eustace plays host with the ease of a man comfortable in both roles. With a successful first season in Hong Kong under his belt, the trainer understands the importance of the event in the superstitious world of Hong Kong racing.
“You either embrace the culture or you don’t and I think it’s important to do that,” Eustace says as the four jockeys at his bai sun – Luke Ferraris, Lyle Hewitson, Andrea Atzeni and Karis Teetan – step up to the table for their blessing. “Not just for myself, but it’s important for the stable, the staff and the owners. It’s great to get behind it and hopefully it brings us a bit of luck.
“Cash is very good and he’s a big feng shui man and as a result, so am I. We’ll go to the temple before the season and hopefully we can get a bit of luck from that as well.”
Two days earlier, the same yard had been an altogether different place. No roasted hogs, no dragonfruit, no excited crowd of onlookers. Just the quiet before sunrise, the muted thud of hooves and Eustace pedalling his TREK pushbike between the stable and the trotting ring, a folded A4 sheet in hand detailing the morning’s work.
To reach Eustace’s stable from the main trotting ring, you pass the swimming pool, the walkers, John Size’s yard – “John always has it extra cold in there,” Eustace says in reference to the blast of air-conditioning that hits you while passing by – then David Hall’s domain, before ducking into Eustace’s corner of calm and order.
Inside his office, a whiteboard carries the week’s barrier trial schedule alongside a framed photograph of Hitotsu winning the Victoria Derby in 2021. Below it, a line of trophies from his six-year partnership with Ciaron Maher sit on a filing cabinet, slightly dulled by the constant churn of the air conditioning.
“I owe an enormous amount to Ciaron,” Eustace says of his former co-trainer in Australia, nodding at the photo before his final lot of the morning heads out. “He gave me an incredible opportunity and we’re still great friends.
“Of course, I always wanted to train and it was a wonderful period and partnership, but I have no regrets and I’m really enjoying training here in Hong Kong.”
It’s no wonder Eustace is feeling at home in the ultra-competitive jurisdiction. The 34-year-old collected 36 wins at a strike rate of 9.9 per cent – the fifth highest of the 21 handlers on the roster – and continued to consolidate the talent in his stable.
When asked how to best describe his training style, Eustace, whose family’s racing pedigree is full of black type, leans back in his chair and takes a moment to ponder.
His father, James, trained for more than 30 years at Park Lodge in Newmarket, while his uncle, David Oughton, famously triumphed in the G1 Golden Jubilee Stakes when he sent Cape Of Good Hope to a Royal Ascot which was staged at York racecourse.
“I suppose I like to think I’m pretty patient,” he says. “It’s a bit of an easy cliche line to roll out, but it’s just a case of getting them in the best possible shape. I developed that really well from Ciaron and there’s no doubt I learned more off of him than anyone else.
“The style of training in Hong Kong is very similar to Australia so the tools that I learned there are probably more useful here. But having said that, developing a young horse and helping a horse adapt to the environment is what you learn in the UK. You don’t have trials or necessarily the tools over there, so you really have to nurture those younger horses through.”
He continues to lean on his expansive global experience and network throughout the morning, whether utilising the data at his disposal, race planning or, crucially, sourcing his new recruits.
“You’d be foolish not to try and utilise it really,” he continues. “We’ve got a pretty good system in place and I have a couple of agents in both hemispheres who are always looking.
“I grew up in the UK and have been exposed to a lot of people there, so I can usually find out about most horses. Similarly, being in Australia for 10 years and meeting a lot of people, if a horse wins a race anywhere in Australia I’d like to think that I am able to get some intel into what the horse is like.
“The main thing, though, is finding out their temperament. When it comes to soundness, there is the strict Hong Kong vetting, and when it comes to performance, that’s there for all to see.”
One of Eustace’s trusted team, Albert, arrives at the office door to let him know the final lot of the morning is ready to head out to the trotting ring, prompting the trainer to remove the A4 paper which acts as a daily blueprint from his back pocket and make his way outside.
After giving his riders their respective instructions, Eustace hops back aboard his pushbike and follows them to the trotting ring.
This lot includes a handful of new private purchases (PPs) who have not long been based at Sha Tin. Among them, two three-year-olds that placed at Royal Ascot this year and have the four-year-old series in their sights: Glittering Legend, third in the G3 Hampton Court Stakes, and Seraph Gabriel, second in the Golden Gates Handicap.
“They’ve both settled in well, but they’re eight to 10 weeks from racing,” Eustace says as they take a turn next to the trotting ring. “We certainly won’t rush them and they’ve got the rating that if they win a race, then we can work back from their bigger targets.”
For Eustace, the arrival of Royal Ascot performers into his yard also carries a particular resonance. In June, he had been back in England, standing in the grand winners’ enclosure as his brother Harry saddled a momentous Group 1 double. Then came their father, James, who set David a challenge in front of the ITV cameras in the immediate afterglow of Time For Sandals’ Commonwealth Cup victory.
“It’s like magic, it’s like a dream,” Eustace snr said. “The two boys are competitive and David obviously did really well in Australia. He’s now got to emulate his uncle, who trained a Royal Ascot winner from Hong Kong, Cape Of Good Hope.”
Eustace smiles when reminded of the challenge. He has inherited the competitive streak and that desire for international success.
“That would be the dream, but we’ll just have to stay patient,” he continues. “We travelled a couple of horses with Ciaron which didn’t work out and it showed that it’s really hard to do.
“It’s got to be the right horse. Have we got the right horse in the stable at the moment? Probably not, but we’ll see.”
For now, though, the focus is Hong Kong, where his 71-strong team highlights the array of potential at his disposal: 14 unraced PPGs and 13 promising imports (PPs) that are yet to race in Hong Kong, Group 1 winner Victor The Winner and the 2024 Hong Kong Derby conqueror, Massive Sovereign.
Despite the strong numbers, however, Eustace remains measured.
“I think we’ll be reasonably quiet September time and sort of kick into gear from mid to late October onwards,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a nice team but it’s a young team which is still evolving. The lion’s share of our stable is either unraced or very lightly raced, so we’ve got to give them a chance to adapt to it all.
“This year, I think the biggest challenge is going to be placing horses and making sure there are plans in place to make sure not too many are clashing.”
The contrast with 12 months ago is striking. Back then, Eustace was hoping to simply grow his numbers from 28. Now, with more than 70 horses under his care at Sha Tin and the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s mainland training facility, Conghua, he has had the chance to relocate to a new, refurbished stable. After considering further, he decided against the move.
“We are in a great spot,” Eustace said while glancing out his office window towards the rest of the yard. “It’s tucked away, it’s quiet and I think it’s in good proximity to the pool, the new treadmills and the trot ring.
“While the new stables look fantastic and I’m sure it would’ve worked well there, I was looking around the barn and thinking, ‘why are we moving when we’re happy where we are?’”
It’s a feeling that extends beyond bricks, mortar and stable position. Away from the yard, Eustace has embraced the rhythms of Hong Kong life with the same openness he shows to its cultural traditions. The city’s intensity, its food, even its unforgiving summer humidity are all now part of a home he admits he has grown fond of.
“I love it,” Eustace says. “Coming from Australia and a big operation which involved a lot of travel to Hong Kong where everything is half an hour away has been a welcome change and I really enjoy that.
“I’ve had a huge amount of help from Jamie [Richards], Hayes and David Hall has been a fantastic person to lean on for any advice. It’s been a big help and hopefully I can use that and everything else to build on last season. The team we have here is absolutely fantastic and it’s not far away now.”
As the incense smoke drifts away and the crowd begins to disperse from his bai sun two days later, Eustace looks every inch a trainer at ease in his surroundings. His first season has laid the foundations, the next will test their strength – the rest, including the challenge laid down by his father, can wait. ∎
