Todd Pollard launching his own training venture in February

Cover image courtesy of Racing Queensland

The best trainers are mentored by top trainers on their way up, and Todd Pollard has been mentored by several of those on either side of the Tasman. Experiences garnered across the stables of Graham Richardson, Stephen Marsh, Annabel Archibald, and two years with Godolphin Flying Start have set the Kiwi expat to take the next step and launch his own training operation.

Roses for Rosetti Bay

Pollard’s passion for racing was started young in his home town of Matamata.

“I was lucky to grow up in Matamata in New Zealand, a racing mad town,” he said. “My parents weren’t directly involved, they were involved in dairy farming and banking, and while I enjoyed it, I didn't originally envision it becoming my career.”

The initial seed was planted by Pollard’s aunt Elizabeth Pollard of Rosehill Stud, continuing a breeding dynasty begun by her father’s maternal uncle Bill Alexander in 1924.

“My aunty on my dad’s side was a breeder in Te Awamutu, and she had a handy mare called Rosetti Bay, so that definitely played a big part in getting me hooked,” said Pollard.

Rosetti Bay (NZ) (Pins) won eight races for Pollard’s aunt, including the G3 Evergreen Stakes, and then bore the filly Queens Rose (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), who also won eight races. Trainer Graham Richardson steered Queens Rose to her greatest victory in the Listed Tauranga Classic in 2015, and it was under Richardson’s wing that Pollard was able to cultivate that early enthusiasm.

“My interest eventually led to me doing a bit of work in the mornings to make a bit of money, and I actually worked for Graham Richardson right through high school, before school, after school, and on the weekends,” said Pollard, who knocked on Richardson’s door at the age of 12 and asked for a job.

“I think I spent more time there than at school!”

He would spend five years toiling away for Richardson, and the early starts did little to curb his growing passion.

“I think, overall, I got a great foundation in the game (in that time), I spent time doing the sales with yearlings and weanlings.”

Even when he headed to university, Pollard found himself back at the race track time and time again, and regularly made trips across to Australia during his holidays to bolster his resume further.

“I went down to Massey University in Palmerston North and did a business degree, but also spent time working for Lisa Latta,” he said. All of the hard work and completing the degree culminated in just what Pollard had been working towards in the beginning of 2016; entry into the Godolphin Flying Start.

Getting a flying start

“Godolphin Flying Start was always a program that I had my eye on from a young age,” said Pollard. “I knew that having a degree was one of the prerequisites, so that played as much part of my going to do a business degree as the degree itself.

“I made a calculated decision to really evolve my CV as much as possible, which included working for John O’Shea for a bit when he was Godolphin’s trainer. I was then lucky enough to get on the program, and it didn't disappoint.”

Pollard was part of the 2016 intake, and spent the next two years traversing the globe, learning just how big the world of horseracing was.

“It opens up your eyes to the industry as a whole,” Pollard said. “We kicked off in Ireland, and I soon realised how global the industry is and that New Zealand truly is so small.”

During his time in the United States, Pollard was placed with Phillip D’Amato in California in the year D’Amato’s charge Ransom The Moon (USA) (Malibu Moon {USA}) won the G1 Bing Crosby Stakes, and got to watch 2016 Champion 3YO Colt Arrogate (USA) in his morning work head of the colt’s G1 Dubai World Cup victory.

“I had so much to learn, and all the countries were so different, but it all intertwined,” Pollard said. “I think I went into the programme with my eyes already set on training, but the knowledge gained made those links, and when I had a placement with Bjorn Baker, I knew for sure that training was the path I wanted to go down.”

Pollard graduated in 2018 alongside the likes of Rosehill-based trainer Will Freedman, Whitsbury Manor Stud Head of Bloodstock & Sales Joe Callan, French trainer Tim Donworth, and Amplify Horse Racing co-founder Madison Scott. With a world of knowledge behind him, his home country called, and Pollard took up the position of racing manager for Stephen Marsh on his return.

An opportunity you couldn’t turn down

“When I came to the end of the Flying Start, I knew that being in Australia was the aim, and very much the final target, but the next step was to be working for Stephen Marsh at Cambridge,” Pollard said. “I knew it (the job) could be an opportunity I couldn't turn down even, though I had never met him before.”

Pollard worked for Marsh for two and a half years, and found the experience as eye-opening as his time on the Flying Start.

“I loved working there, Marshy is very relaxed and I learned a lot,” he said. “A great benefit (of the job) was how hands-on the role ended up being - I ended up taking charge of one of the barns.

“Spending that time in the office and training was massive for me, you think you know plenty, but I soon realised I had a lot more to learn. It was the hands-on learning that I needed.”

In 2021, a different opportunity arose across the Tasman, and Pollard leaped at the chance to apply his skills to the role of assistant trainer for the up and coming Annabel Archibald.

Time in the sun

“A job popped up with Annabel Neasham (now Archibald) as assistant trainer and I knew this could be that step towards Australia that I had always targeted, even though I loved my time at Marshy’s,” said Pollard.

After honing her own craft in the stables of Ciaron Maher, Archibald had been granted her own training license the year before and, when Pollard arrived, had just imported a gelding by Leroidesanimaux (Brz) from England, having purchased him for 150,000 gns ($331,000) at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale with Blandford Bloodstock. A four-time winner - three times at stakes level - before his import, the bay gelding with a thin white blaze soon had that autumn at his mercy.

“I was lucky enough to get the job and I started off in Sydney initially,” Pollard recalled. He was in the stable in time to see Zaaki trial and then claim three straight stakes races in Queensland, topped off by the G2 Q22.

Later in 2021, when COVID lockdowns continued to play havoc with racing, Pollard and regular trackwork rider Raphael Marchelli took the gelding south for a Victorian campaign, where he added the G2 Tramway Stakes, G1 Underwood Stakes, and G1 Mackinnon Stakes to his record.

“He was a special horse to me,” Pollard said. “He was a real ‘pinch yourself’ horse to work with. I was with him in Melbourne when we built towards the Cox Plate - being scratched the morning of the race due to a temperature was heartbreaking.”

Zaaki’s affinity for the southern state had him coming back again and again, winning the Mackinnon the following year over stablemate Mo’Unga (NZ).

“I was there for about a year and a half, and then when Michael Costa headed over to Dubai, we took over his stable at the Gold Coast and up there I went,” said Pollard.

While he still answered to Archibald, no longer being in proximity to her meant he had to start trusting his own judgement, particularly as the Sunshine State team grew. With two locations to care for, the pressure ramped up, with Pollard has come to relish.

“We then got some boxes at Eagle Farm,” he said. “We had a lot of success there and, most importantly, I have become confident and comfortable making decisions on the spot, there and then without anyone else there, and got to learn about working with staff and a whole team of around 40-50 horses.

“The stable was really bouncing around carnival time and with it came pressure, but I loved it.”

Spreading your wings

A decade after he began Flying Start and truly propelling his training dreams into motion, Pollard will kick off his own operation at the beginning of February. While the prospect of being out on his own is still daunting, Pollard has set himself up for success with a rock solid foundation on both sides of the Tasman.

“I'm looking forward to getting stuck in,” he said. “I’m under no illusions that it’s probably a hard time to be starting in Queensland, as the racing is very strong and, while we will all have eyes on carnival success, the carnival is as strong as it has ever been.

“After Melbourne, trainers are choosing a lighter autumn and targeting Queensland. Melbourne Cup winners are coming out of Caloundra Cups!”

Having spent over two years in the state, Pollard feels confident that he knows what works in the state.

“I have had a great grounding, and I will be looking to buy yearlings as well as tried horses, while focusing on getting winners and placing horses the right way,” he said. “I will be based at Eagle Farm - it’s an open book, and I have boxes to fill.”

“I know full well that at moments it will be tough, but I will be working hard and by nature I am a competitive person. There are plenty of big trainers in Queensland, but I want my name to be up there, and that will start with hard work.

“Results are paramount. There are always 1000 excuses to get beat, it’s all about minimising that and giving your horses every chance to win wherever that may be.”

If only 12-year-old Todd, mucking out boxes before school for Richardson, could see him now.

“It’s daunting, but exciting,” he said. “I can’t wait.”