Bruce's immaculate grounding a key to hot Sydney start

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

At the start of this season, Jack Bruce took on the Warwick Farm-based role of Assistant Trainer to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, filling the shoes of Annabel Neasham.

With his two co-head trainers based in Melbourne, border restrictions have made it a tricky start to his time with Maher and Eustace, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the results on the rack with the stable striking at 33.3 per cent in New South Wales.

Hailing from rural New Zealand, Bruce’s journey in racing started with attending the major local race meetings as a child before he took his first opportunity in the industry at Windsor Park Stud.

“Like a lot of kids in New Zealand, my old man used to take me to the races,” Bruce told TDN AusNZ. “We went quite a lot, especially to those Boxing Day meetings at Ellerslie and New Year’s Day for the Auckland Cup, and obviously I developed a passion from there.

“It wasn’t until my later teenage years that I worked at Windsor Park Stud and got a taste of working with horses hands-on. I suppose the deal was sealed in that regard, once you start, you can’t stop.”

A flying start

Bruce also spent time in the local stables of Jim Campin before being accepted into the Godolphin Flying Start program and his progression through the racing industry went from there.

“One other thing I had done was help out a trainer at Cambridge, Jim Campin, around the same time,” he said.

“I did a few years there and finished my degree and I got on to the Godolphin Flying Start, and that’s when I got exposed to racing stables in a bit more in depth. I worked for Mike de Kock and I met Bjorn Baker on the Flying Start and that is how I came to be in Sydney.

“But I’ve always has good enthusiasm for racing and form. When I was at Windsor Park I used to look at pedigrees and always look at who the mares were and how they were related and what the families were producing.

“I would watch the races every Saturday and know the trainers and the form in New Zealand. We’d all get together and have beers and bets and pitch our punting skills together.

“So in terms of the racing enthusiasm, I’ve always loved watching racing for as long as I can remember.”

Foot in the door

Godolphin Flying Start, a two-year international management and leadership program for the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry, has launched the career of many young stars in racing and Bruce said it was pivotal in getting his foot in the door in Sydney.

“Flying Start was really pivotal for me and I think the program, in general, is for a lot of people. But on a personal level, I was born and raised in New Zealand, I was from rural New Zealand and Flying Start gave me that exposure,” he said.

“If anything it makes you realise and appreciate how much there is out there. You start to understand how much you don’t know about the global thoroughbred industry, and how much there is to learn.

“It fosters that passion, and it exposes you to all different things that help you find your niche in the world, that’s what Flying Start did for me.

“I got to meet people and see how things were done in different places and it fostered my passion for racing.”

Bruce’s time in Sydney began with fellow New Zealander and Warwick Farm-based trainer Bjorn Baker, and he said it was because of Flying Start that he was able to get that opportunity.

“I was in the bottom bar at Rosehill and I obviously knew of Murray being from Cambridge,” Bruce said.

“And so I went and had a beer with him (Murray) - he trained a double that day coincidently - and the next minute we’re laughing and joking and having a beer, six months later I was working for Bjorn.

“So that’s the opportunity Flying Start gave me, it put me in front of the right people to kick on with my career.”

Personal attributes

Bruce had to adjust from the quieter environment of New Zealand to working in the full-on Sydney racing industry, but he said it has helped him develop a range of personal attributes that will stick with him throughout his career.

“I suppose Sydney, in general, is a very fast-paced environment when you come from rural New Zealand and the racing is no different,” he said.

"It’s another level of horse but from the professionalism of the raceday, through to the trainers and the owners, there’s a lot of drive and determination to succeed in Sydney."

“And if you’re not fast, you’re last. If you take your foot off the throttle for a second, you’re out the back door.

“So in my experience with Bjorn, he showed me what work ethic is required to take it to another level in Sydney, and he showed me in general what was required in the way that you have to conduct yourself and operate, whether it’s your business or how you operate outside of your own business.

“I cut my teeth in Sydney working for Bjorn Baker and he’s certainly not only shaped the way I approach different situations, but he’s shaped the way I deal with things in general. My time with him was massively influential.”

Further adding to the grounding across his career, Bruce worked for champion trainer Chris Waller, which he describes as another invaluable experience.

“That was amazing for me and obviously I got my opportunity to work for him through my time with Bjorn,” he said. “Being the biggest and best in Australia, I jumped at the opportunity to work for him.

“I spent over a year there based at Rosehill and the insights I gained into how he, essentially the world-leading horse trainer, in my opinion, operates, was invaluable.

“He is another person who takes work ethic, and drive, and professionalism to the next level. He’s unbelievable in what he does.

“I had an outstanding year with him and we had a great run, but once this opportunity came up with Ciaron it was just too good to pass up and I found myself on the move again, through circumstance more than anything else.”

Maher and Eustace

Now just shy of six months working for Maher and Eustace, Bruce has had to take on the large responsibility of running their Sydney stable in an unprecedented time of state border closures and very little interstate travel.

While Maher did base himself in Sydney for a number of weeks at the start of Bruce’s tenure to help oversee the transition from Neasham to his new assistant, Bruce said his previous experiences with former employers have been vital in his new job.

“It’s been different,” he said. “One thing I will say is that I’ve been lucky with the people I’ve worked for.

“Be it Mike de Kock’s military precision, Bjorn’s firmness on the way he wants things done and obviously Chris Waller is Chris Waller, but my experiences with previous trainers gave me the skillset to be able to do this role.

“This role is different in that I take on a lot of responsibility here at Warwick Farm to get the job done but at the same time, I’ve got all the guidance and support that I need from Ciaron and David and the whole team really.

"Anyone within that squad, whether it’s Declan (Maher) who runs Ballarat, or Lucy (Yeomans) who runs Caulfield, you can ring them up and ask them about how things need to be done and everyone is open and honest, and shares their expertise.

“And that’s one thing about Ciaron and Dave’s stable is that everyone works together and it’s a big team effort.

“It has been different and like anything, it’s been a learning curve but it’s been a fantastic learning curve and obviously the results have been happening on the track which has been incredibly satisfying.”

The Sydney stable has hit the ground running this season with 14 winners from 42 runners in New South Wales, including G3 Gimcrack S. winner Enthaar (Written Tycoon) and recently R. Listed Inglis Nursery victor Acrobat (Fastnet Rock), but Bruce said it was a credit to the operation around the country for the impressive results so far.

“It’s satisfying but Sydney is a small part of the greater operation that Ciaron, has and a lot of the older horses that come up here are in terrific order,” he said. “You just have to liaise with the team down south and make sure they’re ship-shape before they run.

“Enthaar has spent her time mixed between the two places and Acrobat is a colt that has been in Sydney the whole time.

“So it’s nice that no matter where they come from within Ciaron Maher Racing, if they’ve been at Ballarat or Caulfield or the new property in Fingal, they come into the system in Sydney and you’ve got all the information you need, the routine doesn’t change and the horses are able to stay happy wherever they are.

“I think naturally the results come simply from that.”

With Acrobat having been a sole Sydney horse, his win on Saturday was particularly satisfying for Bruce. Not just because of the prizemoney associated with the race, or the manner in which he did it, but because of the love he has for the colt.

“Acrobat on a personal level has been incredibly satisfying,” he said. “He’s a horse that we’ve had a lot of time for and we identified early on as one of the Sydney crew who would be our before Christmas runner that could put the score on the board.

“It’s been a big team effort by all the staff at Warwick Farm, we’ve all worked together very hard to make it happen and I suppose it’s days like Saturday that make it all worthwhile.

“Every morning when that alarm goes off, I just want to get into the stable and see Acrobat’s head over the box door, these are the sort of horses that you live for.

“But it’s the same for everything else, we're going to Goulburn for a maiden on Friday and I think the whole team at Warwick Farm will get just as big of a kick if that horse happens to win.

“It’s the process of educating horses and getting them to fulfil their potential that really makes us tick I suppose.”