3 minute read

Every day when Aaron Lau arrives at Warwick Farm for work he sees proof that a young, driven, person who is passionate about racing can be a successful trainer.

Aaron Lau is assistant trainer to Annabel Neasham and it's just where he needs to be to make the leap out on his own. One day.

Lau's ambition to be a trainer is about a decade old. That ambition goes against the best advice of his father, Macau trainer Joe Lau, but every day it seems more realistic.

At 27, Lau is just a couple of years younger than Neasham was when she trained her first winner back in 2020 – now she's one of the nation's biggest names so there's nobody better to springboard off.

"I don't think we've seen anyone have the rise she's had,'' Lau said.

"We have a lot of horses spread across two states, from a lot of young home-grown talent to imported horses.

"There's a lot of quality amongst the large group of horses under Annabel's care and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it all.

"It makes it seem achievable. You can see why she's been able to achieve it after being here a few months. I'm very lucky to be working this closely with her.

"Annabel is on top of every horse, she works incredibly hard to ensure nothing gets missed. She has a great eye for detail and is obviously a top horsewoman and trainer too."

Lau was born in Hong Kong and lived in Macau until he was sent to boarding school in England at the age of 14.

He was never going to be a jockey but growing up around his father's stables planted the seed that he could be a part of a sport he loved and turn it into a career.

"I was always too heavy to be a jockey, I was into other sports like rugby and football,'' he said.

"It never crossed my mind, I wanted to be a trainer rather than a jockey.

"I'd always be talking about it and every time I'd go back to Macau for a holiday I'd be in the stables with dad. We'd speak every day about his horses, you could see all their trackwork online.

"A lot of times he told me not to be a trainer but once I got to 18 or 19 and was going to university I decided this is what I want to do I think he sort of accepted it.

"He says I don't want to end up bald like him. It's a very stressful job."

As part of his university placement, where he studied Equine Science and Thoroughbred Management at Oxford Brookes University, Lau spent a year in Australia with Chris Waller and learned early horse education and pre-training at Limitless Lodge but it was a chance meeting with Mark Newnham that set him in this direction.

They crossed paths at the sales and Newnham, who closed his Randwick stable earlier this year to make the move to Hong Kong, said once he graduated Lau could come and work for him.

He'd start at the bottom, riding a bit of work, and progressed through to travelling horses and being a foreman.

"Mark is a brilliant trainer and I'm sure he will do extremely well in Hong Kong,'' he said.

"He is a great horseman, knows his horses and places them where they can win. I learnt so much from him by just being around him and trying to absorb everything that he did. I was very fortunate to spend five years working for him.

"There probably wasn't any more job progression for me at Mark's in terms of my role within his business.

"Mark was on top of everything and was able to do most of the jobs himself as it was achievable with the numbers that he had, and it worked for him.

"I, therefore, thought it was best for my career that I try and move forward to gain more experience.

"There are a lot of different aspects to the current role that I'm in now with Annabel, which I've had to adapt to. Aspects to the job which are both new, challenging and rewarding."

There's no set date for branching out on his own. It's not going to be any time soon, though, as Lau said there's still so much to learn.

And why would you not want to be part of a stable that is producing Group 1 horses, turning imported gallopers into topliners and starting to make a mark in the two-year-old ranks.

The future is so bright. But where he will train one day is not in question, that's going to be right here.

"It's a great product, I love Australia and it's a place where it is achievable for someone my age,'' he said.

"I guess the natural progression from an assistant trainer is to become a trainer.

"At the moment I'm focused on my job at Annabel's and I haven't thought too far ahead about when that will be. However, I can see myself staying for a good while as there's still plenty to learn and achieve working under Annabel."

Lau says when the time is right it's something he'll just know. He'll feel as confident as he can be in all aspects of being a trainer because it's as much a business as it is about the training of a horse.

But the prospect is exciting. He had a small taste of it in the Newnham machine but it's a step up to be an assistant to one of the most dynamic trainers in Australia.

"I love everything about it, I love sport and this is a sport where you can have a business,'' he said.

"I get goosebumps every time there are big races on and I just want to be a part of it. Those big carnival days with the big crowds, seeing all the work that has gone into it.

"It's a special feeling of which one day I hope I get the chance to experience as a trainer."