Chris Heywood expanded his business when stables came up for lease at the Murrumbidgee Turf Club at the end of 2012 and has worked hard since to establish himself in Wagga. He has gone from 10-12 horses in work at one time to 18.

He was announced as the Best trainer at the Wagga Track last week as well as claiming 3rd place in the Southern District Racing Associations, Trainer for the Year.

On Wednesday the 23rd of July Chris took one of his horses to Canterbury in ‘Leucura’ who managed a 6th placing out of 10 starters. He said of Lecura “He definitely has potential as a metro horse and will be going for a spell before mounting his next campaign”. Leucura has 3 wins and 2 seconds from his last 6 starts.

Son Nick Heywood has also been in the winners circle claiming the Southern District Apprentice Jockey of the Year Award. He has also done very well against more experienced jockeys in claiming 2nd in the overall jockey stakes for the Wagga track in his first year as an apprentice.

He has the impressive statistics of 27 wins, 27 seconds and 24 third places from his 219 starts so far. Nick said his goal is to ride as many winners as possible.

Chris said of Nick “He deserves what he gets, he does a great job. He is the first one at the track at 4am and one of the last to leave each morning.”