David Eustace

A patient, process-driven trainer from a storied British racing family, David Eustace rose to Group 1 success in Australia with Ciaron Maher before bringing his globally influenced, detail-oriented approach to Hong Kong.

Who Is Horse Trainer David Eustace?

A rising force in the Hong Kong training ranks, David Eustace arrived at Sha Tin in 2024 backed by a powerful and international CV. After co-training more than 1,000 winners with Ciaron Maher – a tenure that included a Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate and an Australian Trainers’ Championship – Eustace is now forging a new path under his own name.

What distinguishes Eustace is his data-driven approach, patient training style and his global mindset. He blends British horsemanship and Australian systems in his stable to adapt to the demanding environment that is Hong Kong racing. In his first season in Hong Kong, he returned 36 wins at a strike rate of 9.9%.

What Is David Eustace’s Origin Story?

Eustace’s roots are deeply embedded in racing. His father, James, trained in Newmarket for three decades. His uncle, David Oughton, was a trainer in Hong Kong and was most famous for his outstanding success with Cape Of Good Hope at Royal Ascot. His brother, Harry, is now among the most promising young handlers in the UK. Even his grandfather was a jockey who rode in the Grand National.

Eustace himself was in the saddle early – famously breaking his collarbone at age six after a fall from the family pony, Sparky, but riding on, unaware of his injury until a family member tried to pick him up a few days later.

After growing up at Park Lodge Stables and observing his father, his formal education in racing began with Roger Varian, where he travelled horses internationally and absorbed the high-end thoroughbreds under the trainer’s care. 

After moving to Australia, he sharpened his skills with Peter Moody and Peter & Paul Snowden, before joining Maher’s operation and being promoted to co-trainer in 2018.

What followed was a period of extraordinary success. Together, Maher and Eustace managed one of the largest and most dynamic stables in the world, delivering success in the Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate, as well as being crowned champion trainer in 2022-23.Their premiership-winning 2022-23 season yielded 347 winners, a testament to the planning, process and management on an elite scale.

David Eustace’s Move To Hong Kong

Eustace’s move to Hong Kong was confirmed at the end of 2023 and he began for the 2024-25 season. By that point, he had already travelled horses to Sha Tin on several occasions, and with family ties to Hong Kong via his uncle, David Oughton, the decision held personal resonance as well.

His first season as a licensed trainer was impressive, with 36 wins at a strike rate of 9.9% – ranking him fifth among 21 active trainers. He began his first season with less than 30 horses but quickly reached a capacity of 70 within a year.

He has not only immersed himself in the city’s cutthroat racing jurisdiction, but has embraced everything Hong Kong has to offer. “You either embrace the culture or you don’t,” he told Idol Horse. “It’s important – not just for myself, but for the staff and the owners.”

What Is Dave Eustace’s Approach To Training

Ask Eustace to describe his training philosophy and he lands on one word: patience.

But patience, in his case, is not passive. It’s strategic. It’s about structure, timing and placement with a 70-strong stable, which is minuscule in comparison to his previous operation with Maher.

This philosophy largely comes from his British background, where horses are slowly developed through longer preps – but it’s refined by Australian systems and his data-led approach he picked up Down Under. It’s why his mornings are a mix of fine-detail planning – filled whiteboards with trial schedules, an A4 sheet with a detailed list of the morning’s work – and big-picture management – slow work for new recruits, long-term targets pencilled in for his stable stars.

He also takes a global approach to sourcing and selecting horses. With a trusted agent in both hemispheres, Eustace puts an enormous emphasis on the temperament of his new recruits.

“When it comes to soundness, the vetting takes care of that,” he said. “Performance is public. But temperament – that’s the variable that matters most.”

Who Is David Eustace’s Best Horse?

The headline act of David Eustace’s training career remains Gold Trip, who won the 2022 Melbourne Cup in emphatic fashion. 

But, he was also involved with Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet after the galloper made his way from Aidan O’Brien. The partnership had Pride Of Jenni too, who was his only Horse of the Year, but it could be argued she achieved her best three months after he gave up the partnership. Top-class sprinter Bella Nipotina hit her heights just after Eustace made his way to Hong Kong, while Hitotsu was a history-making three-year-old who won three Group 1s over a season. Eustace remembers him with a big framed picture of his Victorian Derby win in his office at Sha Tin.

What is David Eustace’s Greatest Achievement

With Eustace at the age of 34 and only one year into his Hong Kong career, it’s entirely possible his greatest achievements are yet to come. But up to this point, it would be tempting to lean towards Gold Trip’s Melbourne Cup, while his 347-win season with Maher probably just edges that. 

The pair, managing six training centres, around 400 horses at any one time scattered right throughout Australia’s two biggest horse racing states, New South Wales and Victoria, and roughly 200 staff, knocked off Chris Waller in the 2022-23 season.

The Maher-Eustace stable was a juggernaut because of how well it operated, not just what it won. Now in Hong Kong, Eustace is applying the same thinking – with a sharper focus, smaller team and greater personal control.

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Best Quote About David Eustace

“Two things are for sure: one is that his work ethic is something to behold, the other is that it all just comes very naturally to him. When I brought over Docklands to Hong Kong, he was a great help and he was also actually offering lots of opinions on how to train the horse,” his brother, Harry, laughed.