Cover image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
As the trainer of the great Tavistock (NZ), Campbell knows what it’s like to be amongst the headlines. But although he’ll admit to being reserved, his reason for not making a splash about beginning his new chapter has nothing to do with his personality.
Instead he’d rather concentrate on faithfully serving a handful of equally loyal clients before considering any growth to his new business.
“It’s pretty hard if you’re networking around the world, and I want to give the guys who’ve started off with me the first crack… I want to look after them,” Campbell told TDN AusNZ.
“I’ve got a few clients in Singapore, Hong Kong and now Australia. I’ve been at the sales this year and we’ve bought a few horses for Aussie buyers. I’ve been lucky, I’ve been able to pick some good horses out of the sales over the years so hopefully I can pick some more out for some other trainers.
“I’ve got a few clients in Singapore, Hong Kong and now Australia. I’ve been lucky, I’ve been able to pick some good horses out of the sales over the years so hopefully I can pick some more out for some other trainers.” - Andrew Campbell
“I’ve got Michael Hickmott and Trent Busuttin. In Singapore I’ve got Jason Ong and Stephen Gray, I’m looking out for them. I go to every trial in New Zealand and keep a look out for Douglas Whyte in Hong Kong, which has been great.”
Campbell was busy at Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last week, signing for a total of seven horses across Book 1. Whilst two were purchased under his own banner of Andrew Campbell Bloodstock, three were purchased in conjunction with trainer Michael Hickmott and two with Busuttin Racing.
It was with the latter that he signed for his most expensive purchase of last week, as he went to $310,000 for a daughter of Written Tycoon from the Arrowfield Stud draft, whose second dam is Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Alinghi (Encosta De Lago).
Lot 766 - Written Tycoon x Dame Pattie (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Purchasing such horses for Australian clients makes sense, Campbell says, as even though they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, the prizemoney returns in Australia makes the whole exercise more viable.
“It’s harder for people to buy horses now to race in New Zealand, there’s no incentive,” he said. “It costs a lot of money to buy a horse, plus the expenses, then you’re running around for NZ$10-12,000 on a race day - it’s just not good enough.
“I was lucky, I had the best owners in the world. I’ve always said that I’ve been the luckiest trainer in Australasia - I trained for one guy, Tommy Heptinstall and he’s a great mate and a great loser… He’s been good to me.”
“It’s harder for people to buy horses now to race in New Zealand, there’s no incentive. It costs a lot of money to buy a horse, plus the expenses, then you’re running around for NZ$10-12,000 on a race day - it’s just not good enough.” - Andrew Campbell
An obvious choice
The prizemoney incentive led Campbell to campaign horses in Australia increasingly often in his latter years of training, and he described how it eventually became clear to him that he’d either have to move there or try something different.
“I just got a bit sick of it,” he said. “I moved to Cambridge and it was great up there, but with the way New Zealand racing is going it was hard to keep ahead of things. We were sending a lot of horses to Australia to train, where the money is, and there’s just no money in New Zealand. It was either move to Australia or get out of the game, so I decided to get out.”
Having for a long time trained privately for one of Tavistock’s previous owners, a Tommy Heptinstall-led syndicate, Campbell said, “...It was hard to walk away from such a fantastic team” - and even harder telling them of his decision.
Tavistock (NZ)
“I’d trained for them for about 16 years,” he said. “It was hard at first, I missed the game. I had a lot of good times over there in New Zealand racing, we had a lot of success… It’s just that time, I’m getting older, and I wanted to start enjoying myself a bit more.
“I decided not to get out of the game entirely but just to start doing a bit of bloodstock work which has been great.
“I’ve sold a couple of horses overseas and my first one luckily enough was Pontedera, who’s with Michael Hickmott, and he’s won a couple so far and he looks pretty smart.”
A private purchase following a trial, Pontedera (NZ) (Our Vespa {NZ}) is an example how New Zealand-breds continue to shine across the Tasman according to Campbell, and he will continue to look for more when he heads to Karaka this month for the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.
A life-changing move
Having spent nearly a year 'settling down' after making such a big decision, Campbell now resides on the Kapiti Coast and is enjoying a change of pace, even if there’s one particular hangover from his last occupation which he can’t seem to shake.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “I’ve been getting up at 4.30am every morning for the last 28 years so the hardest part is trying to sleep in, which I (still) can’t do at the moment, even after a year.
“I’ve been getting up at 4.30am every morning for the last 28 years so the hardest part is trying to sleep in which I (still) can’t do at the moment, even after a year.” - Andrew Campbell
“It’s great, I’ve got a life now, you’re not committed to your horses in that same way anymore. We were sort of in an awkward place with our team because we were small but not so small you can go away. With 10 or 12 in work, you couldn’t really employ extra people so it was like a seven-day-a-week job.
“I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing now. Not that I didn’t enjoy training, it’s just a different step in my life so it’s good.”
