Bruce almighty

When people sea-change to sunny Queensland, it’s usually for the lifestyle and the weather, but for 32-year-old Sydneysider Jack Bruce, he’s hoping he’ll have time for neither.

This week, Bruce announced he was taking up a trainer’s ticket in Queensland, which will kick off with a small team on May 1. It comes after a decade of experience in the stables of Bjorn Baker, Chris Waller and, most recently, in the Maher-Eustace operation, and Bruce has every intention to be too busy to notice his surroundings.

“If I don’t get an opportunity to enjoy Queensland, that will be the least of my worries,” the new trainer said. “Of course I hope it’s something I can enjoy, but I imagine I won’t have the time to be enjoying anything like lifestyle, and it definitely won’t be my focus.”

Instead, that focus will be on moving in and filling boxes.

Bruce is still finalising his numbers, but initially he’ll begin with a small team that will grow substantially, all going to plan. He has opted to train from Deagon racecourse, which sits close to the coast north of Brisbane, and the racing precinct there has plenty of plans in its pipeline.

The track and surrounding suburb has had a masterplan in place since 2019 to accommodate 200-plus horses as well as veterinary services and classrooms. If it happens, it will inject a lifeline into Deagon as a significant satellite track for the Queensland capital.

Already, the racecourse is home to Racing Queensland’s State Training Centre, while it hosts 12 residents trainers and 52 on-site horses. The facility welcomes a further 30 visiting trainers who use the course proper and sand track weekly.

The sunshine state

Jack Bruce’s move to Queensland was widely welcomed this week, coming as it did a week after Michael Costa’s announcement that he was vacating the Gold Coast for Dubai.

Both are young men with ambitious futures, and Bruce had a wave of support in the wake of his news, which is just what he needed this early in the game.

“I’m a bit overwhelmed, if I’m honest,” he said. “It’s been very positive and I’ve had plenty of support. That’s nice to hear when you’re just starting out, and it makes me really look forward to getting started.”

For the last decade, as he plied his trade under some significant establishments, Bruce had the solo training gig in the back of his mind. So many do, but executing it was all about timing and location.

“It had been in the pipeline for a long time, and I really felt that Queensland was the place to be, in particular Brisbane,” Bruce said. “I’m glad that I’ve got this nice little setup with the Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) because that’s going to give me all the facilities and tools I need to get cracking.”

Like many, Bruce felt the pull of improved prizemoney in the Sunshine State, plus the energy behind its carnivals, was too good to refuse, and hence why he chose Queensland over options in Sydney or anywhere else.

“Queensland racing is going from strength to strength,” he said. “The BRC is putting a lot of money into its carnivals and its feature races, and there are prizemoney boosts across the board. Queensland is on an upward trajectory, and I think it’s a great place to race horses. It’s a perfect place for me to start my business.”

Highly qualified

Bruce’s first introduction to Queensland was years ago with Bjorn Baker, when he worked alongside the latter as a right-hand man in all aspects of the game from assistant training to bloodstock and sales.

Bruce travelled Baker’s horses to the January and winter carnivals, stakes-winning horses like Egyptian Symbol (Stratum) and Redouble (Redoute’s Choice), who provided the team with a unique Magic Millions double in 2019.

Gallery: Some of the horses Jack Bruce has travelled with, images courtesy of Bronwen Healy

“I’ve been lucky to have had good exposure to Queensland racing because of those years, and I certainly enjoyed my time up there,” Bruce said. “It was definitely one of the main attractions of moving there.”

Bruce spent a total of seven years in three of the best Sydney stables, first with Baker then Chris Waller, and then as assistant trainer to the Maher-Eustace yard, running its Warwick Farm barn.

In such places, he learned exquisite attention to detail and the exhaustive processes of handling large strings at the elite level.

He worked with horses like Winning Rupert, Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt), Samadoubt (Not A Single Doubt) and the smart juvenile Enthaar (Written Tycoon). More recently, he was with the even smarter 2-year-old, Coolangatta (Written Tycoon), at the Magic Millions Carnival.

“Training is always the thing that you want to get into,” Bruce said. “But when you’re young, you’re not equipped with the skills or experience to do so. Once I got set up in Sydney with Bjorn and I was enjoying every inch of it, I felt that it was something I could aim towards. With all the right experience from Sydney, I know I’m in a situation now where I can go out on my own account.”

For Bruce, he’s squeezed in a lot of life into his 32 years.

Before Sydney, he was in the Godolphin Flying Start program, graduating in 2015 from a class that included Amanda Prior, who is now with Great British Racing International (GBRI), and Miguel Clement of Christophe Clement Racing in America.

Bruce spent time working with Mike de Kock in Dubai during his Flying Start program, and also the New York Racing Association (NYRA). As almost everyone says of Flying Start, it was a priceless education for the very young Bruce.

He also worked at Windsor Park Stud in his native New Zealand as a teenager, slipping in and out of the property through school terms and university and, if all that wasn’t enough, Bruce also has two degrees behind him. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2012 with a B.Comm. (Accounting and Finance) and a B.A. in Economics.

The first yearlings

Bruce hasn’t relocated to Queensland just yet. He and his partner, Lauren Elvins, will move from their Penrith home in the next few months ahead of May 1.

Until then, the young trainer will be flying in and out of his new home, as he did this week for the Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale.

It was Bruce’s first Sale out on his own, and he went in for two horses. One of them was Lot 62 from Glenlogan Park, a filly by Rich Enuff from the same family as the G1 VRC Derby winner Hitotsu (Maurice {Jpn}).

Gallery: Jack Bruce's Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale purchases, images courtesy of Magic Millions

This filly has plenty of black type through Love Conquers All (Mossman) and Lean Mean Machine, and, in partnership with Cunningham Thoroughbreds and Clarke Bloodstock (FBAA), Bruce paid $80,000 for her.

His second purchase was Lot 145, a colt by Rothesay offered by Tullyard, and he paid $46,000 for him in the same partnership.

“They’re two really nice yearlings that I bought in partnership with Jim Clarke and Mitch Cunningham,” Bruce said. “It’s really good to have their support and expert eyes looking over the horses, but I really liked these two yearlings. They were the picks for me.

“The filly (Lot 62) is a lovely, early running 2-year-old type and the colt is by Rothesay, who’s one of Queensland’s good bread-and-butter stallions. He’s getting winners every day of the week, so this colt is the type of horse that will probably race at two, but I’d suggest he’s more of a horse that we’ll enjoy in later seasons.”

Bruce’s two yearlings will have an easy month off at Christmas Creek Thoroughbreds west of the Gold Coast, and from there they’ll go to Kolora Lodge for starting before heading to Bruce at Deagon. They’ve kicked off a significant presence for their new trainer in the yearling sales scene.

“It’s been great to be at the sales on my own account, and I’m really looking forward to the National Sale in June,” Bruce said. “That’s obviously the next big yearling sale for me, and I’ll also be picking up plenty of tried horses along the way.”