Rejuvenation is the name of the game for Cambridge trainer Andrew Campbell.
The Group One-winning trainer has relished the five-week break enforced in New Zealand, care of the Covid-19 lockdown, and is raring to get back to training as soon as the Government gives the green light.
“It’s been great,” Campbell said. “I’ve loved it actually. On our property we’ve got plenty of things to do and it is probably the first decent break I have had in 28 years.
“Even when you go away for a holiday it is normally only 10 days and hard to switch off and you need a holiday when you go back it is that full on.
“I’ve got a lot of work done that you don’t normally get time to do and I am keen to get back into it now.”
Campbell relocated to Cambridge in 2017 after 23 years training at Opaki in the Central Districts.
“We’ve only got seven acres but I’ve been fixing things and tidying it all up,” he said. “We will have eight to come back in to work once we get the go ahead.”
Campbell is keen to stick to his knitting, which is training two and three-year-olds and trading horses offshore.
The boutique stable has recorded 11 wins this season from 53 starters, with long-time friend and owner Tommy Heptinstall the backbone of the operation.
Among those winners have been three-year-olds Peloton, Pimlico, Vladivostok and Aqueduct, while Tibetan remains a maiden but is multiple stakes-placed.
Three-time winner Pimlico has been sold to Hong Kong, while a number of Campbell’s three-year-olds will relocate to South Australia to continue their careers as older horses.
“Tibetan, Aqueduct and Peleton are going to Michael Hickmott’s in Adelaide once the airfreight is back up and running,” Campbell said. “Our focus is on two and three-year-olds.
“Michael has been a good friend for a long time. We stayed with him when we took Werther to Adelaide for the South Australian Derby (Gr.1, 2500m). They’re running for $40,000 to $60,000 every Saturday and if they’re up to it, it is only a float trip to Melbourne.”
Campbell had three runners in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) last month — Tibetan, Vladivostok and Peloton — and all endured torrid runs and finished in the back half of the field.
“It was just a disaster,” Campbell said. “Tibetan sat three-deep throughout but he came through it well and ran second at Avondale when carrying topweight against the older horses in late March.
“We were going to take him to Sydney, but that wasn’t possible once the flights stopped and the full-effect of the virus kicked in.
“He went straight out after that race at Avondale when he couldn’t get over.
“I think Tibetan and Aqueduct might be the best of them. Aqueduct was always going to be an autumn three-year-old. He was working up really well before the lockdown. He was just starting to get a bit of ringcraft about him.
“The break won’t have done him any harm.”
While the trio of late-season three-year-olds are on the move, Campbell is pleased with his next crop of youngsters.
“I’ve got a couple of nice two-year-olds, including Preakness who won on debut at Otaki. He was never a two-year-old, he just did it on ability.”
During lockdown, Campbell has also had an eye across the Tasman on his former Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) winner turned hurdler Gobstopper, who finished third at Pakenham last week for Eric Musgrove.
“I have a share in him and I follow him,” Campbell said. “It’s a bit of fun actually. He goes to Warrnambool in two weeks’ time for the Galleywood Hurdle (3200m).
“We did well leaving him in Aussie, with the restricted program of jumps racing here, it worked out in our favour. He is paying his way.”
Meanwhile, the death of proven Group One stallion Tavistock last year, a horse Campbell prepared to win at Group One level on two occasions, is likely to impact the future flow of stock to his yard.
“We were never really breeders but when we formed our syndicate who raced Tavistock we bought four shares in him as a stallion and were basically thrust into breeding,” Campbell said.
“We had a hell of a lot of luck with it, like breeding Werther, and ending up with Bagalollies, who is the dam of Werther, Gobstopper, Milseain and Toffee Tongue, who ran second in the Australian Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) the other day.
“But we’re getting out of the breeding game now that Tavistock has died.
“It is a bit different when you have to pay service fees and breeding is not our forte. We want to focus on racing horses and trade.
“We had up to six broodmares at one stage but we enjoy going to the sales and buying what we want instead of what you get. You have no choice when you breed.
“In saying all that, we bred a couple of beauties.
“I’ve got to be honest, I wouldn’t have bought Werther as a yearling as he wasn’t a great type.
“His racing name was sardine and he was an embarrassment to take anywhere because he was so weak and light, but God he had a heart. It is just one of those things you just can’t see in a horse.”
