Brett Cavanough

Brett Cavanough – Dynamic Trainer

Brett Cavanough (“Cav”), is a leading NSW country based trainer. From his long-time headquarters at Albury, Brett won 11 Southern Districts Trainers Premierships and was crowned leading NSW country trainer on 3 occasions.

His long-term goal was always to move to Scone and he realised that goal in 2017.

“Scone has the second biggest horse population in the world after Kentucky – all the horses are there.”

“It’s like going to Harlem (in America), if you want to play basketball, if you want to train horses you go to Scone – that’s my theory.”

Now Cav’s moved to Scone, as he says it “puts me everywhere”.

“I had been training winners and those premierships down there (Albury) and I had to keep shooting north to have a crack at everything,” he said.

When Cav opened his doors at Lot 1, Caulfield Lane, SCONE, a new complex that leads directly onto the Scone racetrack, Cav had 45 empty boxes.

Since then, in his first season from Scone, Cavanough Racing has achieved a winning strike rate of 17.8%, with 43.7% of his runners placing.

As at 30 June 2018, Cav is currently #2 to Kris Lees in the NSW Country Trainers' Premiership.

Career Starters: 4,754 Wins: 731 (15%), 1,072 Placings (23%)

2017/18 Season: 301 Starters: 53 Wins (17%), 75 Placings (25%), Earnings: $1,227,116

About CAV

Brett was born into the racing industry and commenced riding trackwork at the age of 12 for his grandfather Frank Cavanough before school. Frank also was a mentor for one of Victoria’s leading trainers of recent years, Peter Moody.

At 15, Brett left school to work for Queensland trainers Jim McCormack and Barry Baldwin and was also educated into the delicate craft of breaking-in horses.

At 18, Brett was keen to try his hand at training but thought he should explore different options.

So he left the racing industry and toiled at a number of different things before he was enticed into shearing at 24 – and a rare talent was uncovered.

In September 1997, Brett became the first Australian to hold an official World Shearing Record when he shore 427 in eight hours at Widgeiwa Station in the Riverina.

In 1998, Brett considered himself ready to return to racing.

Since then, he has won eleven Southern District Racing Association trainers’ premierships as well as most of the Southern District Racing Association Country Cups.

In the 2006/07 racing season, Brett Cavanough also won the first of three titles of New South Wales Leading Country Trainer defeating the big stables then of Paul Perry, Kris Lees and Barbara Joseph.

That season Brett also finished sixth in the NSW trainers title behind the likes of Gai Waterhouse, John Hawkes and Chris Waller, an amazing achievement for an Albury-based trainer.

In May 2008, Brett experienced what was then his biggest day at the track when Helideck brilliantly won the Gr2 Prime Ministers Cup at the Gold Coast while his stablemate Xaardante was narrowly beaten into second in the Gold Coast Guineas LR.

Apart from training Brett was passionate about breaking-in and for many years he was the breaker for his childhood mate Peter Moody. Most of Moody’s stakes winners including BLACK CAVIAR were broken-in by Cav. Over a 12 year association with Peter Moody, Cav broke-in and pre-trained over 800 horses for Moody.

However when Moody ceased training and closed his operation in 2016, that was the catalyst for CAV to realise his own dream to move to Scone.

Brett’s success is based on the simple principles of hard work and professionalism that come from growing up in outback Queensland before emerging as Australia’s leading sheep shearer.

Brett leaves nothing to chance, having a superb support staff and after serving a long apprenticeship, he is reaping the rewards of many years of hard work.

With his stable of smart horses now based at Scone, combined with an exciting crop of up and comers, the future looks bright for Brett and everyone associated with Brett Cavanough racing stables.

Training

Cav’s racehorse training service is second to none. Brett is a skilled and proven horseman who persists to achieve the best results from each of his horses.

Cav is a natural horseman and understands that providing the right environment and care is paramount to a horses' development.

The country environment suits horses who would otherwise not be at home in city stables.

A happy horse is the best kind and with the complex being centrally located, this gives our horses the opportunity to be placed perfectly, whether it be Randwick, Newcastle or Dubbo.

Facilities

The Scone complex offers A1 facilities including:-

Large walk-in, walk-out boxes

Swimming pool

Walking machine

Indoor treadmill

Large sand-rolls

Great turf and sand training tracks

Communication

Professional and personal approach to both horses and owners is the stables mission statement.

The team at CAVanough Racing make owning a race horse a pleasurable experience.

Honour Roll - Feature Wins

Prime Minister's Cup
3/05/2008 HELIDECK

BRC Sprint
17/05/2008 HELIDECK

National Sprint
10/03/2013 NIBLICK

Albury Gold Cup
22/03/2013 NIBLICK

Scone Guineas
16/05/2015 LOVED UP

Razor Sharp Hcp
17/12/2016 THE MONSTAR

June Stakes
10/06/2017 THE MONSTAR

Moreton Bay (QTC) Cup
2/06/2018 THE MONSTAR

Above: Loved Up & Niblick

Above: Helideck & The Monstar

Most Wins by a Stable Runner

STEAL THE THUNDER    13 Wins & 10 Placings / 43 Starts

THE MONSTAR    12 Wins & 13 Placings / 47 Starts

GOQUILLO    12 Wins & 9 Placings / 64 Starts

CLEAROUT    11 WIns & 5 Placings / 35 Starts

SPYSEPT    10 Wins & 10 Placings / 40 Starts

HELIDECK    10 Wins & 4 Placings / 32 Starts

< Back to List