Brown grabs first-up treble to open new Esperance campaign in style

Three winners last Saturday to open the season was just what the doctor ordered, but trainer Josh Brown insists that any success at the Esperance Bay Turf Club in 2024-25 will strictly be a team effort. Based on the south coast since 2014, Brown wasted no time making his mark on the new campaign when Royal Accolade ($2.80 favourite) won race two over 1100m. Brown then went first and second in the next race, when Boozeroo ($4.40) held off stablemate Mungo Jerry ($2.60 favourite) in the $22,000 Thelma Jones Memorial Handicap (1100m). His treble was chalked up in race five, when Elite Fighter ($5.50) stormed home from 11th at the turn to edge out the Nick Thomas-trained favourite Floba ($3.40). It capped off a big day for Brown, who earned his trainer’s licence seven years ago — following in the footsteps of his well-known horseman father, Rod. Between them, they currently have about 20 horses in work. “It was good to start the season on a winning note and to get the monkey off the back straight away,” Brown said. “I work closely with Dad and we’ve maybe had bigger numbers in the past, but the difference now is that more of them are in my name. “We’d essentially always split the team in half, but Dad is starting to wind down a bit and downgrade, whereas I’ve picked up my numbers.” But with a big team, Brown said there was genuine pressure to get results. “There’s a lot of pressure because when you’re running seasonal racing like this, all of the outlay is with no income,” he said. “A lot of these horses have been in the paddock and spelled, and then had to come into work for three or four months. “It is nerve-racking, especially with the thought process sometimes of, ‘OK we’ve done all this work and haven’t had any reward for getting out of bed early and working late afternoons. “And I don’t strictly mean money, but just satisfaction-wise. “It can be tough working horses when they’re not even going to start for another few months.” Brown said much time and effort was put in by a long line of others to help prepare his horses. “It’s not just me, but also my partner Chelsi (Forder), who rides trackwork,” he said. “And we have great staff who help out in so many other ways, so it’s a big team effort. “I get a little bit embarrassed sometimes when success comes along because it’s not me — it’s a team (effort) and a lot of things go on behind the scenes by a lot of people to get us to where we are. “Chelsi and I work full-time as well and in saying that, we rely heavily on staff. “We’re up early, but we try and have our work done in the first three hours so we can get to our day jobs, and then back we go again. “But a lot of them (staffers) have days jobs as well . “It goes so far down the line, among all the hard-working people who essentially make me look good.” Neil Dellar, Nick Thomas and Gary Burger trained a winner apiece at Esperance on Saturday, and Austin Galati’s big day in the saddle produced three victories.