By Jordan Gerrans
At the moment, Hervey Bay trainer Simon Elix is looking after more surgeons than he is race horses.
The 47-year-old is one of the newest members of the Queensland training ranks after starting his first galloper in a race in the last few days of January this year.
While the horses are his passion, it is just a hobby at this stage, as Elix is regularly in surgeries operating on people for much of his days as an orthopaedist.
Dr Simon Elix is the founder and director of Nautilus Orthopaedics in his hometown of Darwin, which around seven years ago expanded their practice nationally with the establishment of a business in Hervey Bay.
Elix started his third horse in a race on Friday of last week and prepared for the assignment by being in surgery for the majority of Thursday.
Elix’s dual roles leads him to being one of the more unique participants in the Queensland racing industry.
“Where there is a passion, there is a way,” he said about how he juggles all his commitments.
“At the moment I am really loving it, I am passionate about the racing.
“I am getting so much out of it and I am looking forward to seeing how far we can go with it.”
Nautilus Orthopaedics consists of nine surgeons in Darwin, as well as a handful of other employees, with the business also having a number of staff in Hervey Bay.
In the infancy of his training career, Elix has a couple of gallopers in work as well as a recent Magic Millions purchase from champion stallion All Too Hard that is progressing.
He heads back to the Northern Territory every second month to check in on the business.
Elix completed his medical degree at Flinders University in Adelaide being taking on Advanced Orthopaedic training in Queensland.
He trained in Queensland’s major trauma and subspecialty centres between 2004 and 2008 and says he was fortunate to learn from the best surgeons in the country.
“You need to surround yourself with good people and that is how I have got to the point where I can train horses, because I have really good people supporting me in my work life,” he said.
Elix’s work focuses on diagnosing, treating, preventing and rehabilitating musculoskeletal injuries and diseases, which includes bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
While training a race horse and performing surgery on a person are wildly different practices, he believes his knowledge and studies as a doctor have aided his equine interests.
Elix, his partner Keira McLeod and his family also run Tradewinds Farm, which is a stud on the Fraser Coast.
“The medical experience has helped a lot, particularly understanding the science of it all,” he said about his burgeoning training career.
“But, horses are very different animals.
“I have learnt along the way that you need to ask the experts and to ask for help.
“I am not going to go into this thinking I know better and know everything, I have been lucky to have had guidance and advice from some very experienced people in racing, particularly Trevor Thomas.
“Trevor has been gold for us and it has been so beneficial to get his advice over the last six months.”