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Brett Lazzarini – Training Looks Lovelier The Second Time Around
By John Curtis
DOGGONE it!
After six years steering The Gardens Greyhound Club at Newcastle back on track, everything old has become new again for BRETT LAZZARINI.
He switched codes, went back to the thoroughbreds – and can thank his stepson Wyatt and fellow Kembla Grange trainer Tyrone Coyle for being responsible in resurrecting his training career after a two and a half decade hiatus.
Lazzarini set up shop at Kembla Grange in March, 2020; a mighty long way in both time and distance from a family tragedy in 1994 which, understandably, resulted in eventually ending his first successful stint putting the polish on racehorses.
Trainer Brett Lazzarini (Source – BM Lazzarini Racing).
“I can never forget the date. It was November 1, the day Jeune won the Melbourne Cup,” he said.
“My son Paul and Jason Birney (son of former jockey Graeme and his wife Sue) were both killed in a motor cycle accident.
“Paul had his life ahead of him; he was only 17.”
Lazzarini put the cue in the rack, giving racing away after starting only three horses in the 1996-97 season.
“I pretty well lost the plot,” he admitted.
“I went back to Sydney and for a few years travelled back and forth overseas.”
Lazzarini also did building work, having learned the trade with the help of a mate on the Northern Rivers, somehow managing to fit it in during his first training venture when based at Ballina.
“Tyrone Coyle needed some assistance at Kembla a couple of years ago whilst I was still involved with the greyhounds at The Gardens,” he said.
“I was vice-chairman at Wentworth Park and was asked by Greyhound Racing NSW if I would run the Newcastle club for a while as things weren’t going great there.
“We had no money when I took over as chairman, and the club had $600,000 when I left.
“But it got to the stage where I couldn’t stretch myself any further doing both jobs.
“After helping Tyrone, my stepson Wyatt suggested I should go back to training.
“He always had an interest in horses though never owning one.”
When Kembla Grange trainer Mick Tubman called it quits in 2020, Lazzarini renewed his licence and took over his small team.
There is surely some irony in the fact that one of the horses he took over has put his name up in lights in town.
That is the Canterbury specialist Wild Chap; the six-year-old gelding being unbeaten from four starts on the tight circuit.
All have been at the 1550m trip, though his latest victory on August 3 was over a slightly longer 1580m when the rail was eight metres out.
RacingNSW stewards investigated a cobalt irregularity detected after Wild Chap had “won” a 1200m Wagga Maiden in January, 2020.
By the time the inquiry was finally resolved some 12 months later and both the horse was scrubbed as the winner and Tubman handed a lengthy disqualification, he had already called time on his career, ill health also playing a major part in his decision.
Lazzarini’s first winner back was Nindamos at Kembla Grange at a Tuesday meeting in May, 2020 – only a couple of months after getting his licence back.
The former Godolphin gelding, a son of Exceed and Excel, had Winona Costin aboard and carried 61.5kg when successful in a Conditional Benchmark 70 Handicap (1200m) at his first start for his new trainer.
Lazzarini has prepared 22 winners so far the second time around – the latest being Fiorzana, a daughter of Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente, at Taree on August 26 – with Wild Chap his most recent city winner.
He took Wild Chap back 16 days after his Canterbury triumph to his old Northern Rivers area to tackle the $70,000 Murwillumbah Cup at that pet 1550m distance, hoping to finish in the first two to make him eligible for the inaugural $2m The Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick on November 1.
Unfortunately, nothing went right on the day.
Kody Nestor had been booked for Wild Chap, but had transport difficulties getting to the track and Danny Peisley was a late replacement.
Then in the race itself, the gelding was unable to improve his position between the 600m and 400m when held up on heels, as the stewards’ report indicated.
For all that, he was beaten only one and a half lengths when a close fourth to multiple city winner Impasse.
Wild Chap then went back to town and almost gave his trainer a Randwick breakthrough when beaten narrowly by Kiss the Bride in a Benchmark 94 Handicap (1600m); the closer at last Saturday’s meeting.
The gelding’s performance has Lazzarini thinking seriously about giving him another chance to become eligible for The Big Dance by tackling the Bathurst Cup (1800m) on September 25.
“If not, we will look ahead to the $1m The Gong (1600m) on our home track in November, where he is capable of running very well with a light weight,” Lazzarini said.
Born in Sydney, Lazzarini recalls attending pony club events as a youngster in the Bankstown district when as many as 300 kids were involved.
Interesting caricature (Brett is hanging on to the horse’s tail). (Courtesy: Dylan Ahearn-Ramos).
“I was keen on the horses, and the pony clubs were extremely popular back then,” he said.
However, his dreams of becoming a jockey were dashed as, quite simply, he was around at the wrong time.
“I was young and fit, and attended the Apprentices’ School,” he said.
“But I was 51kg, and was told that I was wasting my time as the limit weight then was 47kg.”
Lazzarini began breaking in horses when only 12 years of age, and rode trackwork for trainer Theo Jacobsen at Rosehill after leaving school at 14 years and three months.
“I worked with Theo for a while and still keep in contact, even though the late Tony Wildman pinched me off him,” he said.
“Tony offered me a flat when I was 15 or 16 years, and worked for him for a few years before joining Geoff Chapman at Rosehill and became his foreman.
“The 1978 Epsom Handicap winner Leonitis had just retired, but ‘Doc’ still had some good horses such as Motorman, Kaiserman and Time To Fly, during my time with him.”
When Lazzarini at 26 decided it was time to branch out on his own, he set up shop at Ballina.
Even though he didn’t realise his ambition to become an apprentice, he gained notoriety on the Northern Rivers and Queensland indirectly as a result of knowing the late Randwick trainer Theo Green, the renowned master of apprentices.
“I had met Theo through David Campbell, a friend of mine who supplied him with the grey pony he used to ride out into the centre at Randwick to direct his boys riding work,” Lazzarini explained.
“Theo arranged for me to buy a horse he had trained, which had been raced by the Ingham brothers.
“That horse was Lost Valley, and what a wonderful horse he turned out to be for us.
“Lost Valley was a seven-year-old when we got him, and he raced until he was 13 and had something like 120 starts.
“We won 10 country cups with him, including a Townsville Cup and Rockhampton Amateurs Cup.
“He was a marvel; an old freak.”
HOOFNOTE: This being a second chance for Lazzarini at the training caper, he is leaving no stone unturned to give himself every opportunity to make a real success of the journey.
So much so that he is looking to open a satellite stable on the Central Coast in the near future.
“This is something I will need to discuss with stewards, but the plan is to open the second stable at my major owner John O’Connor’s property at Somersby, where the late John McNair trained the great sprinter Hay List,” Lazzarini explained.
“The opportunity is there as Grant Allard (fellow trainer) has moved to Queensland.
“But I will keep my main stable at Kembla Grange to service the many owners, including the Pulse Racing syndicate, we have built there.”
