ONE of South Australia's leading harness racing trainers has established a satellite stable in the Bendigo region.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Young gun Aaron Bain has set up operations at the property owned by trainer Kate Hargreaves and partner Alex Ashwood at Shelbourne.
Ashwood will serve as Bain's stable foreman.
The first two horses to make the trip east, stable star Ideal World and Melody's Daughter, will arrive at Shelbourne today (Wednesday).
Bain, who is based at Gawler, just over 40 kilometres north of Adelaide, and was third in the South Australian trainers premiership last season, will visit the satellite stable to monitor his horses every second or third weekend.
The talented young horseman credited his friendship with reinsman Ashwood and the ability to target stronger and more lucrative races for his horses as the key factors behind the move east.
"We are working 30 to 35 (horses) in Adelaide and have a lot of owners and as part of our growth we need to look to expand our operation and make the most of the racing in Victoria," Bain said.
"There is more opportunity over there for some of our better horses.
"We go to Mildura a bit and I'm off to Swan Hill myself today (Wednesday), but that is coming from our Adelaide base.
"We'll have one in at Cobram on Sunday, which is with Laura Crossland and Dave Moran (Shepparton) at the moment.
"He'll have one start and head back (to South Australia) for a series race and will then he will head back to Alex and Kate's place to finish out of the season in some stronger races.
"I'll probably head their myself every second or week. We are only starting out with two, but we will dip our toes in the water and see where it leads.
"It's paramount to our business that if we want to grow that we have a presence in Melbourne."
Bain has been training solo since the end of 2017 following a successful three-year partnership with Jake Webster, which yielded nearly 130 winners across three seasons.
Their most successful season was in 2016-17, when the pair finished runners-up in the premiership race with 53 winners and 84 minor placings.
Of the initial two horses to bet sent to Shelbourne comes the undoubted star of the Bain stable in Ideal World, a winner of 14 of his 44 career starts, most recently in the Kadina Pacing Cup at Port Pirie on March 10.
That win followed success at Mildura on February 27 and a third in the Mount Gambier Gold Cup in January on the back of a heat win.
After a string of three-consecutive wins at Adelaide's Globe Derby Park, the now six-year-old gelding headed north last winter and finished second behind Colt Thirty One in the Group 3 Premiers Cup at Albion Park.
"He will have a trial in Bendigo in a few weeks and then target a few free-for-all races, which is his grade," Bain said.
"The other one is Melody's Daughter, who won on Monday at Kapunda. She added another string to her bow and showed some pretty good gate speed to lead.
"She be straight in and start at Bendigo on Tuesday night (May 28)."
It's paramount to our business that if we want to grow that we have a presence in Melbourne.
- Aaron Bain
Bain has Bay Louie, For The Corz and Just Seduce Me engaged at Swan Hill tonight, with all three runners to be driven Ashwood.
The talented young driver finds himself in the midst of a hot streak following a treble at Mildura last Friday and a win at Shepparton on Monday aboard the Hargreaves-trained Dynamite Dozer.
READ MORE:
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.
