Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
For Ballarat-based trainer and horse educator Tyler Donaldson-Aitken, the Listed Tontonan Stakes victory of Welcometotheshow at Flemington was a significant milestone and a quick entry to the stakes-winning training ranks, but hardly an overnight achievement.
The 36-year-old saddled up his first runner, Immortal One (I Am Immortal), roughly 18 months ago. Since then, his fledgling training career has taken another step forward with a horse he has known and worked with from the beginning.
Donaldson-Aitken’s path to obtaining his trainer’s licence was built around the education of horses, with breaking-in, pre-training, re-educating and preparing horses for Ready to Run sales forming the core of his business.
“I started off breaking and pre-training and doing that sort of line of work. I went over to England for a couple of years, worked in racing over there. I came back probably about eight years ago and just started breaking and pre-training for different clients and just that business in a growing environment," Donaldson-Aitken said.
“I always enjoyed working with younger horses and educating them.
“So that sort of then followed on to training a few horses and doing ready-to-run horses and when Welcometotheshow was a Ready-to-Run horse, he got passed in at the sales and then came back to me and it got into a situation where I got my trainer's licence to train him and progressed him on from there.”
Tyler Donaldson-Aitken | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Training was not necessarily the original destination.
“Training initially wasn't necessarily the goal of what I wanted to do, but as we sort of progressed more and started getting more into training and education of the horses, it sort of just followed on.
“So it's sort of progressing to that and sort of doing it there. It's another string to your bow, so to speak. You can break a horse, you can work on horses, pre-train them and then buy and sell horses and get to the point where you get good at it.”
That broader experience has also given Donaldson-Aitken an understanding of horses at several stages of their development, something that remains the foundation for that approach were central to the way he approaches his business.
A family immersed in horses
The foundations for that approach were laid long before Donaldson-Aitken entered the training ranks.
He was born into a family with a strong history in both racing and equestrian sport. His grandfather on his mother’s side, Milton Donaldson, was a top-level Australian showjumper, while his father, Stan Aitken, was a successful jockey who won major races including the 1973 G1 Cox Plate aboard Taj Rossi for Bart Cummings.
“My family were always involved with horses. When I was really young, my mum's side of the family, my grandfather Milton Donaldson, was a very good horse rider and showed up in his own right as a national level showjumper and my father was a successful jockey.”
“My family were always involved with horses... my grandfather Milton Donaldson, was a very good horse rider and showed up in his own right as a national level showjumper and my father was a successful jockey.” - Tyler Donaldson-Aitken
The family influence extended further through the generations.
Stan Aitken | Image courtesy of John Tapp Racing
“My first cousin Adrian Garraway was an accomplished jumps jockey and my second cousin was a Champion apprentice Timothy Bell who unfortunately lost his life over in Singapore in an accident.
“So, both sides of the family have had skilled horse people and it's rubbed off on me.”
Donaldson-Aitken’s own education was then broadened through experience with some prominent names in Australian racing, including the late Michael Moroney, Bill Cerchi and Nigel Blackiston.
A move to England provided another important chapter, with Donaldson-Aitken spending two years working in Newmarket and learning from trainers including Hugo Palmer. His work there involved breaking in thoroughbreds and Arabian racehorses for elite owners before he returned to Australia and established his business in Ballarat.
The emphasis remained firmly on education.
“I think it's a good way to start with all the early education across the sector and from a young age, I think learning how a horse learns is, I believe, should be the base of everything for a horse person.
“I think, obviously when breaking in and educating horses, and working with problem horses, your main focus is on their mind and how they learn, how they think and how you teach them properly.”
Hugo Palmer | Image courtesy of Avenue Bloodstock
That experience in educating horses has become an important part of Donaldson-Aitken’s work.
“Breaking in and pre-training the pre-training side of it, can have some unique benefits, sometimes you can get clients that are owners that don't have a trainer to go to yet. So it can work as a bit of a funnelling sort of tool to move horses into your stable.
“It's good to get them back in the door and work with them right through which I believe can be very beneficial in terms of knowing the horses and how they work.”
Welcometotheshow has been there from the start
Welcometotheshow (Showtime) represents the success of that approach perhaps more clearly than any other horse in Donaldson-Aitken’s young stable.
Donaldson-Aitken paid $24,000 for him in 2023 at the Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale and broke him in before preparing him for the Ready to Run Sale, where the son of Showtime was passed in.
“I broke him in, took him through the process and went to the Ready2Race Sale but he got passed in.”
The horse subsequently returned to Donaldson-Aitken, who at the time did not yet hold his trainer’s licence. Once that was obtained, Welcometotheshow became the first horse to win for the stable.
His first two starts came for Steven and Kylie Vella, when he placed third at Geelong and Moonee Valley, before returning to Donaldson-Aitken’s stable.
Now, after his seventh win from only 19 starts, Welcometotheshow has more than $470,000 in prizemoney and has added a Listed Flemington victory to his record.
The result carries an added significance for Donaldson-Aitken because he owns almost the entire horse.
“I sold five percent of him to friends from university and I own the other 95 per cent of him,” he said.
Welcometotheshow winning the Listed Tontonan Stakes | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Like every horse I've kept, I really liked him. So I wanted to keep a share in him and train him.”
His assessment of the horse has remained consistent throughout the journey.
“He's a fantastic horse and I can't speak highly enough of him.”
Donaldson-Aitken has also been impressed by Welcometotheshow’s temperament, particularly given the importance he places on a horse’s early education.
“He's an absolute gentleman of a horse.”
“With the pre-educating or pre-training of horses I’m usually pretty quick to advise people to get on their horses when they start to show a little bit of unruly behaviour as a result of feeling their own hormones as they start to progress and sort of grow into an older horse. But he never showed that.
“He’s beautiful to do anything with and having progressed through the system here he has had very good riders on him from the start and good handling right through the get-go.
“So he's always had good behaviour and my staff have done a really good job with him the whole way through. He’s by Showtime who didn’t have a lot of success in Australia but he is a third foal out of a Shamardal mare and I think that has had a big part in his success.”
“So he's (Welcometotheshow) always had good behaviour and my staff have done a really good job with him the whole way through.” - Tyler Donaldson-Aitken
On the track, the horse has continued to find something when required.
“He always digs deep and tries the absolute best for you.”
“He has always found the next gear and keeps on stepping up. I own the majority of the horse myself and have a couple of university mates in him also. It's been great to have a couple of good lads in. Just to enjoy the ride as well and sort of reward them.”
A team achievement
For all the personal significance of the result, Donaldson-Aitken is quick to spread the credit across the people working around him.
“Yeah it was great. It's testament to the team and everyone involved. So it's a really good team achievement with my name down as trainer, but a real team win.”
“So it's a really good team achievement with my name down as trainer, but a real team win.” - Tyler Donaldson-Aitken
That perspective reflects the less visible work that has gone into reaching this point.
Tyler Donaldson-Aitken and his team | Image supplied
“It’s always a long road which makes these wins so fulfilling, people don't seem to always acknowledge behind the scenes. Like with every trainer, there's a person who works with horses.
“If you want to work with horses, you have to work hard. So there's a lot of stuff that happens that people don't see. But it's a really good feeling to achieve something significant like a stakes win at Flemington, that the achievement is not lost on me.
“To get there this early in my training career, it's a good achievement. There's a lot of work before the licence was taken out to get to this point So, you know, I'm lucky to get there this early and have a horse like he is.”
The Flemington setting only heightened the occasion.
“It’s pretty cool to reflect, even on Saturday, standing at Flemington before the race, with a live chance, being at Flemington, with a horse with your colours on and then to do that and get that result, pretty bloody good.”
Looking for the next step
The stakes breakthrough also provides Donaldson-Aitken with an opportunity to test Welcometotheshow at a higher level, although he is conscious of allowing the horse’s next target to be dictated by his recovery and the timing of the races.
“I went through the races again this morning, having a bit of a look around. The Toorak Handicap is in four weeks time, a bit further out than I thought. For some reason I thought it was three weeks.
“But between his last run and the Toorak it’s four, which is a bit of an awkward time. Three weeks would be nice, but four means we would probably have to do something in between.”
Tyler Donaldson-Aitken with Welcometotheshow | Image courtesy of Inglis
A trip north to Syndey is also possibility.
“There are also is the Five Diamonds Prelude, Five Diamond, for 5-year-olds set weights and above, which is also appealing.
“So there's some options there now he's showing what he's shown today and we'll make another plan and see where the next step is.”
“So there's some options there now he's (Welcometotheshow) showing what he's shown today and we'll make another plan and see where the next step is.” - Tyler Donaldson-Aitken
For a trainer whose career has been built around developing horses before they reach the racetrack, the next stage represents a different sort of challenge.
“Good problems anyway, it’s nice looking up and not looking down in terms of quality.”
Welcometotheshow’s Listed victory has therefore become more than a first stakes success. It is a tangible result of the education, horsemanship and years of preparation that preceded Donaldson-Aitken’s first runner.
For someone who has spent much of his working life learning how horses learn, it is a significant first result - and potentially the beginning of a much bigger chapter.
