Jeremy Gask closed his successful Adelaide stable in 2007 to head to England with his family and, for the next 10 years, Royal Ascot was to play a major role in his training career.
Gask was a constant there and, after initial uncertainty of the occasion, was quickly won over and revelled in the pomp and ceremony and the top-class thoroughbreds attracted year on year.
“I have the best memories from there on a racing front. It is my favourite race meeting in the world without any shadow of doubt,” he said.
“When I first went there I certainly thought it was a bit of hoo-hah, but once you embrace it you get caught up in the moment - such great racing on such a great track.
“It’s the whole event from the morning breakfast and champagne in the car park, through special days of racing and it is a hell of a week.”
“It’s the whole event from the morning breakfast and champagne in the car park, through special days of racing and it is a hell of a week.” – Jeremy Gask
Gask regularly hosted visitors from home and all too were caught up and mesmerised by the week.
“We often had Australians come out and showed them what it was all about. I think any Australian trainer that has been to Royal Ascot has been captivated by it,” he said.
“The Melbourne Cup may be seen in a similar vein, but Royal Ascot is something else. I was there when Black Caviar won and often Australian horses brought the international flavour with the Japanese horses and the Americans.”
The horse that was to see Gask don top hat and tails for the festival seven times in eight years was the remarkable Medicean Man (GB) (Medicean {GB}). He was unplaced in the 2010 Wokingham H. and then from 2012 contested six straight editions of the G1 King’s Stand S.
He finished fourth in his first crack and again in 2014 and the following year ran second and agonisingly beaten in the tightest of finishes by Goldream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).
“Medicean Man loved it there and also provided us with a bittersweet memory when he was beaten a nose,” Gask said.
“It was probably a race that would have changed our family’s lives in many ways, who knows what might have been and where we would have been if he had won. He was very durable and he did have a certain racing style and Ascot suited him.”
Medicean Man won 13 of his 78 starts and £630,476 (AU$1.15 million) and was also a multiple winner in Dubai, remarkably his last success there was as an 11-year-old in 2017.
Sprinter a slow burner
It was a wonderful career, but not one that Gask could have predicted when he first started putting Medicean Man through his early paces as a juvenile.
“It’s a funny story really and he was possibly the slowest and latest-maturing horse that I’ve ever trained. He was embarrassingly slow as a 2-year-old,” he said.
“He was one of those great examples of a horse who gained weight every year. He got bigger and stronger year in and year out.
“The maturity between him as a 4-year-old at Ascot to his last one was amazing, he was half the size when he first went there. It was fascinating to see him as a sprinter to develop like he did and his longevity.
“He had ordinary feet, but he never had a day he wasn’t sound and he was never treated for anything. He was a lovely horse.”
Gask was a promising Aussie rules footballer before injury curtailed his career and he then pursued his other dream vocation as a trainer and did so extremely successfully, sending out 200 winners before deciding it was time for a change.
“I was a little bit disillusioned with things in Adelaide, the stable was going well but I wasn’t getting out of it what I felt I needed to,” he said.
“I was a little bit disillusioned with things in Adelaide, the stable was going well but I wasn’t getting out of it what I felt I needed to.” – Jeremy Gask
“That was on a personal basis and not financially, I just thought I was getting stale and lacking motivation. When you got a good horse you had to travel regularly to Melbourne and if you didn’t, it was hard to justify keeping them in Adelaide.”
A chance conversation was then the catalyst for Gask’s English venture.
“I lacked a bit of motivation and where it was all going to lead to in 10 years’ time. I then stumbled across a guy called Eamonn Willmott, who wanted to do things a bit differently to the norm and that pricked my ears up,” he said.
Englishman Willmott is a passionate racing fan and had placed an advert for a trainer in the Racing Post, which was brought to Gask’s attention.
“Someone alerted me to it and said you might want to have a look at this, it looks right up your street. I spoke with him and within 48 hours of talking to him was on a plane,” he said.
“He had bought a farm and was developing it and putting stables in and wanted to try things differently. I was in the right place at the right time.
“It was pretty exciting and when I look back, had I had not taken a step back, that opportunity would never have come about. It totally changed my passion and drive for training, it’s funny how things can happen.”
Australia calls
After a decade in England and circumstances changing, Gask and his family decided to return home in 2017.
“It was a combination of things and Eamonn was getting pretty busy with other things. He ended up on the board of the British Racing Authority and founded Total Performance Data, which does all the sectional times in Europe and America so it was a big company,” he said.
“It’s pretty tough in England to keep the ball rolling without five or so good horses at the time. My daughter also had a passion for the horses and wanted to be involved and we felt Australia offered more opportunities.”
Gask had enjoyed a good relationship with owner Michael Abdullah during his time in Adelaide and jumped at the opportunity to continue that close association.
“Michael was a long-time client, friend and mentor in many ways and he had a lot of horses. He was looking to do a similar thing and buy a property, but on a smaller scale,” he said.
“It was the better lifestyle and wanting to enjoy things a bit more that brought us home. We’ve got a farm where we look after his young stock from weanlings and then race them. I don’t have an interest in doing things like we did 20 years ago and like new challenges.
“It was the better lifestyle and wanting to enjoy things a bit more that brought us home.” – Jeremy Gask
“The big stables are just getting bigger and bigger, I think it’s very hard to start out on your own without the backing, it can be a tough game.”
A member of the Abdullah team is Orbital Express (Zoustar), who was an impressive last-start winner for Gask at Newcastle and the filly is part of another tale with a Royal Ascot twist.
“I bought her grandmother as a yearling and Michael raced Avoid Lightning, who is the mother of Orbital Express,” he said.
“She was a terrific mare in Sydney and probably unlucky not to have won one. When she was five or six Michael suggested he might send her over to me in England for a crack at Royal Ascot.
“I stupidly talked him out of the idea and said she was too old and the best may be behind her. She then went on to run second in a Group 1 and would probably have been perfect for Royal Ascot.
“I would love to take a horse over there, that is definitely on my bucket list. Royal Ascot and Dubai would be my two favourite places to get back to.”
