Trainer Lindsey Smith leaves Warrnambool for Danny O’Brien’s property at Barwon Heads

A changing racing environment and a chance to train on a familiar surface contributed to trainer Lindsey Smith’s decision to move his team to Barwon Heads in a bid to get back to previous heights.

Trainer Lindsey Smith has moved his team to fellow trainer Danny O’Brien’s property at Barwon Heads. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

A desire to return to his roots was part of trainer Lindsey Smith’s decision to uproot his Warrnambool stable for sandier surrounds at 13th Beach.

Smith has left Warrnambool to move his team to boxes at Danny O’Brien’s 13th property at Barwon Heads near Geelong.

Smith said a new track at O’Brien’s property was one reason he decided to move his stable east.

He said his presence at Barwon Heads could also assist O’Brien with his operation.

“We’ve been here for about 10 days,” Smith said.

“He knew I was trying to get back to my roots with the heavy sand and he’s just finished putting in a heavy sand track.

“To keep the costs down, we decided to go into a little co-op type of thing.

“He’s a wonderful trainer and had great success so hopefully I can help him somewhere along the line and he can help me.

“The heavy sand is new to Danny and it’s what I know so we can feed off each other and both stables thrive.”

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Smith said the difficulty in attracting staff to his previous stable at Warrnambool was another contributing factor for his move.

He said the staff situation had contributed to him scaling back his numbers but Smith was keen to build his team back up to compete with the state’s bigger stables.

“I got down to 20 horses and I just found at Warrnambool, finding the staff was extremely difficult so I dropped back my numbers,” Smith said.

Impressive last start winner La Vie En can become trainer Lindsey Smith's first winner from his new Barwon Heads base at The Valley on Friday night. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

“I thought with only 20 horses, it was a bit tricky with the way the world is.

“I thought I was going to maybe ride off into the sunset and maybe vanish but I’m just trying to reinvent myself.

“We’ve always been very fortunate so if I can crank my numbers back up, it gives me more opportunities to find a good horse.

“I just worry about the bigger stables getting too far away from everybody so hopefully with this little co-op, we both get stronger and help each other out.”

Smith has a top chance to notch his first winner from the Barwon Heads base when La Vie En runs in the Hygain Tracktorque Handicap (1000m) at The Valley on Friday night.

The trainer joked he was yet to get to grips with electronic trackwork accessories at O’Brien’s property but his experience told him the last-start Warrnambool winner would be hard to beat.

“Danny’s also got a wonderful grass track here where she had a gallop and according to the data from the heart-rate monitors on them and the whiz-bang stuff, she worked at a high level,” Smith said.

“To me being the old dinosaur, she looked good to me by my eye.”

Originally published as Trainer Lindsey Smith leaves Warrnambool for Danny O’Brien’s property at Barwon Heads