Fremantle AFL star turned horse trainer Hayden Ballantyne kicking goals on the racetrack

Fremantle Dockers star Hayden Ballantyne – now an accomplished horse trainer – says the only feeling that could top seeing one of his horses win is to see Fremantle win a premiership.

Former Fremantle Docker Hayden Ballantyne is now a successful horse trainer. Pictures: Facebook @haydenballantyneracing

Footy star-turned-horse trainer Hayden Ballantyne , who says riding horses help heal his banged-up body towards the end of his career, is looking to land racing’s equivalent of a premiership on the track.

The Perth trainer, who notched up 171 games and 254 goals as a goalsneak for Fremantle, is hooked on racing and says the only thing that would top the feeling of training a winner is playing in a premiership.

Ballantyne, whose father Graeme still trains in West Australia, said he was suffering badly from osteitis pubis in his groin at the end of his 11-year footy career but he believes riding horses fixed it.

“Towards the end of my career I was riding work because my body was packing it in,” Ballantyne said.

“I had osteitis pubis pretty bad and I thought it was going to end me, but I reckon riding horses fixed my OP.

Hayden Ballantyne now has some Fremantle players as owners in his horses. Picture: Paul Kane / Getty Images

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“I don’t claim it fixes everything, but I claim it fixed me because it is a constant groin workout, you are squeezing your legs.

“In the three or four months I started riding again, the OP went away, and I had no other treatment outside of the footy club or anything like that, it is the only thing I could think of.

“I love riding work, I get on the mad ones because I generally land on my feet.”

With 21 horses in his care, the Serpentine-based Ballantyne is a trainer on the rise. He says he has a young batch of horses with plenty of upside at the moment.

“We lease the property, we have the option of buying it after five years, so if I win a couple of (Group 1) Railways, I will probably end up buying it,” he laughed.

“It was a blessing and a curse at the same time with the first few horses I had, they were all guns.

“They all just won race after race, then the next batch that came through weren’t so good.

Footy star turned horse trainer Hayden Ballantyne inspects a yearling at the Magic Millions. Picture: Facebook @haydenballantyneracing

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“Now I’m back to the point where just about every horse I have now, maybe bar one, could win its next race.

“It is a bit like it was at the start now, it’s bloody exciting and it’s brilliant, I reckon over the next six to 12 months we could have a pretty handy team.”

With Fremantle now inside the top four on the AFL ladder, Ballantyne said the similarities between racing and footy were uncanny and is backing his former side to go all the way in 2024.

“It was a bit lonely being a Freo supporter lately, but it is good to finally see them doing well again,” he said.

When the Queen of racing asks you for a photo 🤪😉

Lovely morning down at the beach this morning and a great thrill to meet @GaiWaterhouse1 . Not only is she incredibly talented at her craft, she’s genuinely lovely to talk to. pic.twitter.com/0SMeFnYtcO

— Hayden Ballantyne Racing (@_HBRACING) November 24, 2023

“They can 100 per cent win the flag, Sydney are very, very good, but they have peaked too early for mine.

“You want to be peaking at the right time of the year and I think there is a chance they have peaked too early.

“Footy is similar in the sense you do all the hard work in pre-season to get yourself ready for round one.

“You have eight weeks of pre-season with a horse, you have a practice match, which is a trial, then you tick all the boxes going into game day with a good chance to win.

“The ultimate year for me would be them winning a flag and me winning a Group 1, obviously the Railway is the one over here we all want to win – it is our Cox Plate basically.”

Originally published as Fremantle AFL star turned horse trainer Hayden Ballantyne kicking goals on the racetrack