Grass greener on the other side as Smith builds career-best team

Trainer Matt Smith says he has never had a better collection of elite horses as the one spearheaded by his line-up this week.

And the Warwick Farm horseman, who had his first runner in 2003 after learning from racing royalty Aidan O’Brien and Bart Cummings, has no doubt his Luskin Park property and the help of “Dr Green” has made a difference.

At Randwick on Saturday in group 2 races, Smith has Headwall striving in The Shorts to cement a slot in the $20 million Everest, group 1-winner Idle Flyer aiming to bounce back in the 7 Stakes and Queen’s Gamble stepping up to the Tea Rose Stakes. On Friday, exciting stayer Aethelwulf rises to stakes grade in the group 3 Newcastle Cup (2300m) as the favourite.

“I’ve never had a group this strong,” said Smith, who sits equal second on the Sydney premiership with nine winners at 23.1 per cent.

“It’s a nice bunch of horses to have all going at the one time. It’s not like that very often.”

Smith’s stable collected a career-best $6.94 million in prizemoney last season, capping a rise in runners and success since 2020 when he and wife, Melissa, bought the 46-hectare Luskin Park, where champion Luskin Star was bred, in the Lower Hunter as a spelling and pre-training property. They are building a 25-box stable there and hope to increase their numbers and day-to-day training at the facility in a year.

“Mel and I had been looking for years for a place, we knew that’s what we wanted to do.

“I’d worked over in Ireland and I’d followed that way of training, having that ability to freshen horses mid-prep and give them a break mentally as well.

“A lot of horses can feel the strain mentally and they start to fall apart, so if you can get them up there and back to nature, you can’t underestimate the value of a horse just putting his head down in a paddock and having a pick of grass.

“It’s a bit like us doing something we like, going fishing or whatever. You are not thinking about anything except what’s in front of you. It’s the same thing for horse. Day in, day out galloping, galloping and racing, it just catches up with them.

“I read a book on [legendary trainer of Northern Dancer] Horatio Luro and he used to call grass Dr Green. He was always wanting his horses to be picking grass. It’s great to give them a time out. It rejuvenates them. They come back in from the farm and they want to go.”

Seven-year-old Headwall showed he was back with a bang in the Concorde Stakes after a year out because of a pastern injury, surging late to finish second to Tempted two weeks ago. An Everest slot beckons if Headwall ($3.30) can repeat the effort in The Shorts (1100m), where he has gate five.

“We haven’t got an Everest spot yet, but I think if he ran well, he will get one. If he can back up that first-up run. It will be bloody exciting if we can get one.

“We just need a bit of room, a split at the right time with him. He’s one of those horses that always gets back amongst them.”