Racing: Aussie takes up Westbury reins

Russell Cameron says he is delighted to be back training horses in a natural environment.

And, it concerns him not at all that he is bucking the trend by being an Australian trainer coming to New Zealand to establish a base.

Generally we see New Zealand's best heading to Australia.

Cameron is less than two weeks into a new position, training for Westbury Stud, the plush Karaka establishment developed by former New Zealand-based businessman Eric Watson in partnership with Russell Warwick.

It was a major surprise to most in thoroughbred racing that Cameron came to New Zealand rather than Australia.

"It wasn't quite like that," said the South Australian-bred horseman.

"My family and I have spent two years in Macau and we were preparing ourselves for another year there when I got the call from Russell Warwick.

"I was offered the Westbury job, liked what I saw and thought, 'why not'."

Cameron is a highly respected horseman.

His father Ted terrorised South Australian bookmakers when he came out of the bush with a team of horses, raided their bookmakers' bags then headed bush again to prepare for the next town raid.

Russell Cameron began his training career in Adelaide then moved to Melbourne to work and became a member of the powerful Aquanita training conglomerate at Flemington.

Three years ago he had his most moving moment in horse racing when he won the Adelaide Cup with Apache Chief for Might And Power's owner Nick Moraitus.

The emotion stemmed from the victory occurring on the old stamping ground of his father.

"I'm not saying it was my biggest thrill in racing, but it was my most emotional."

The biggest thrill came when Toledo won the Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm, Cameron's first group one victory.

"He was a high class horse.

"He won two more group ones for me, the Newmarket Handicap and the Australia Stakes."

Those were also emotional wins because when Cameron senior laid eyes on Toledo for the first time he declared: "That horse looks like a group one winner to me."

The remarkable Bomber Bill, still racing as a 9-year-old, is another star Cameron thrived with.

John Sadler bought Bomber Bill from Western Australia and trained him for two years at Aquanita before he moved to Dubai.

Russell Cameron took him over for a further two years and he has been trained for the last two years in Melbourne by Robert Smerdon.

"The old fella has had three different trainers and he's never left his box.

"He's not as good as Toledo, but he's won two group ones and he's a remarkable old bloke."

Bomber Bill had his first start in Perth on December 20, 1997 and finished fifth under Shane Dye in the group one class at Randwick on March 30 this year.

Cameron did well in Macau, picking up eight winners in the first part of a season he trained there, 30 winners from the full season he was there and a further eight since the start of this season.

"It's a funny place - your numbers are up then they're down. Typically, I was offered 15 horses to train by one bloke the day I decided to take this New Zealand job.

"Get on the internet after each Macau race meeting and you'll see six to 10 horses change stable after they've raced.

"It's the nature of the game, but I actually love Macau racing even though horses are money machines to a lot of Asians."

Cameron says his family agreed with the decision to come to New Zealand.

"My youngest son Scott is right into racing, but at 13 he was not allowed to go racing in Macau - here, of course, he can. The two boys are at the stage where it is probably advisable to have them at school in either Australian or New Zealand.

"I'd have been happy with another year in Macau, but it's the right time to come back.

"I'm loving being back working with good facilities and in a natural environment."

The greatly upgraded track development at Pukekohe is just about finished and impresses Cameron. "It should be only four or five weeks before we can start training there. It's frustrating in the meantime, but we'll get there."

The hugely talented, but unsound Zafar is one of the few proven horses Cameron has to start working with.

"He looks good and his action at this early stages is fine so we'll head towards the Kelt Stakes in the spring."

Cameron has had approaches from a number of former Melbourne clients to send horses from Australia to be trained in Auckland.

"It's ideal for horses who can't quite get black type grading in Australia and on the other side of the coin, we're looking for horses to develop up here to take to Australia.

"It should work well."

Change at helm

* The former Melbourne trainer arrived 12 days ago from Macau to become the new trainer for Auckland's Westbury Stud.

* Although he loved Macau, he says he is delighted to be back training in a natural environment.

* Cameron won five group one races with Toledo and Bomber Bill.