MILLIONS MISSION
Costa thinks the grass is greener on the Coast
RISING young Sydney trainer Michael Costa has quit Warwick Farm and opted to move his New Breed Racing team to the Gold Coast in pursuit of Magic Millions success.
Costa yesterday revealed his decision to move to the Gold Coast after failing in a two-year fight to secure space at Rosehill or Randwick to train and base his horses.
With concerns about track access and the future of his Warwick Farm set-up under threat from land developers, Costa opted to pack up and head north. He has had a taste of Queensland success through a Gold Coast satellite stable which has recorded seven wins and seven placings from 16 starts.
But it is not so much success he is chasing, rather better training conditions so he can develop his horses.
He believes the Gold Coast is better suited to developing younger horses and still plans to have a presence in Sydney so he can send his best south for the bigger money races.
“I find that one of the major benefits of training horses at the Gold Coast is having constant access to grass gallops, providing a safe training surface on which to get horses fit,” Costa wrote in a letter to owners.
“At Warwick Farm, due to the facilities and the large number of horses trained at the course, we are only getting limited access to grass gallops. Approximately 80-90 per cent of gallops based at Warwick Farm can only be performed on the Pro-Ride surface.
“Whilst the Pro-Ride surface does provide an all-weather option I have found that it does have negative effects over time in training a racehorse.
“Due to working constantly on the Proride track, a large number of our horses have developed joint issues, forcing me to
back off in their training. Not being able to gallop our horses on a grass surface makes it a difficult task to educate young horses and get them up and running early.”
Costa believed the Godolphin operation was also looking to relocate off the Warwick Farm track while other prominent trainers also believe grass is superior to the all-weather surface for two-year-old horses.
The 28-yearold trainer celebrated a milestone in April when Va Va Veni won at Doomben and Viaductress did the same at Warwick Farm on the same day.
Costa believes the Gold Coast facilities will enable his team to produce better results for the future while lowering his costs to owners. He plans to take advantage of quick access to races in Brisbane at Eagle Farm and Doomben, plus northern NSW races following recent increases to NSW country meetings.
“The most important thing for any trainer is being able to develop young horses so as to get the best out of them and to ensure a long and viable racing career,” he said.
“Having access to safe grass training surfaces is a major factor in achieving these objectives.
“With a move to the Gold Coast I can also place a major focus on targeting Australia’s richest race day at the Magic Millions.”