Brad Herne “One on One”

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Today we look into the life of another of the young trainers coming through the ranks and he is stamping himself as a serious player in Brisbane racing. Brad Herne has done very well lately, and after training under some very highly regarded trainers he is now out on his own. He is currently growing his business and without the numbers of the larger stables he has had some particularly good results so far. He will be a trainer of the future in our parts and well worth talking to if you are looking to race a horse with an up and coming trainer who is very hands on.

Gibbo: Where did you spend your time growing up? Queenslander?

Brad: No Gibbo, I’m not a Queenslander.  I grew up in Casino, on the Northern Rivers of NSW.  We spent about four years living in Brisbane when I was a kid until we moved back to NSW.  I always said I would like to live in Brisbane and moved here about six years ago.

Gibbo: How did you first get involved in racing?

Brad: My father was a jockey and then a trainer (and still is) so I have been going to the races since I can remember.

Gibbo: What is your background? Who have been your mentors in your career?

Brad: Well I wanted to follow in my fathers’ footsteps and knew I wanted to be a jockey from a very young age.  I was getting up at 4am as a school kid working in the stables with Dad.  When it was time Dad sent me to Max Lees’ to start my apprenticeship.  I was at Max’s for four years until weight started to get the better of me so I started taking more of an interest in the training side of racing.  I set out to get as much experience from as many leading trainers as I could and worked for Darren Smith, Ron Quinton and Tim Martin.  I then moved to Brisbane and worked with Liam Birchley before starting out on my own.

Gibbo: What is the best piece of advice you have been given?

Brad: My Dad gave me the best advice I’ve had.  When he dropped me off at Max’s when I was a kid he said son, say g’day to everyone because you never know who might end up with a good horse and it’s advice I carry out to this very day.

Gibbo: If you were not a trainer what would you be doing?

Brad: I’d love to be a chef, I really enjoy cooking

Gibbo: Is there a race you would love to win especially? Or any group 1 would be sweet?

Brad: Obviously any Group One would be nice but I think a Cox Plate would be the ultimate.

Gibbo: What is you favourite moment you have had in racing, either on your own or when you trained with someone?

Brad: I rode Storm Hill in all his work leading up to his Grafton Cup win and it was a really special moment because coming from the Northern Rivers it was like winning your home town Cup.  The win was made more memorable because mentor and good friend Tim Martin trained him.

Gibbo: Where are you based? How many boxes? How’s your set up/staff?

Brad: I train from Eagle Farm and we have 15 boxes at our house and stable complex which is approximately five minutes from the track.  We have a couple of full time staff including my wife Lauren a former jockey, stable foreman Dan Miller who is the son of Show Of Heart’s trainer Barry and apprentice jockey Ashley Butler has just joined us who was a top North Queensland apprentice and is now keen to make a go of it in the metropolitan area.

Gibbo: I take it all trainers would be on the lookout for new clients/owners? Should our followers be contacting you if they are looking to race a horse or if they are keen to buy their fist share in a horse?

Brad: Yes they are most welcome to.  We have several yearlings and unraced two year olds in the stable that have the odd share or two left available.  I will also be looking to buy some yearlings at the up coming QTIS 600 Sale.

Gibbo: Finally, if Brad Herne was down to his last $100, what would he do?

Brad: Throw it on the next favourite.

Thanks very much for taking time out to give brissyraces.com.au an insight to your background and setup. From all followers of the site, good luck and we will be following your endeavours and definitely hearing more of you on our site soon, Cheers mate.

Well brissyraces followers there is a look into what makes Brad tick and gives you an insight to his racing setup. I feel that we will be hearing more and more from Brad Herne as the years tick by, and I think with his background and what he has already achieved he can really make an impression on racing in South East Queensland. He is a very positive bloke who can really get every bit of potential out if his horses and would be a great guy to race horses with as he is very approachable and a good communicator.