Stephen McLean putting all the pieces together

By Jordan Gerrans

Bundaberg product Stephen McLean looks at his vast learning journey in the racing industry as if he is putting a puzzle together.

The finished picture will eventually be him as a successful trainer once he has placed all the pieces in the right place.

The 32-year-old McLean has recently gone into a training partnership with leading Gold Coast conditioner Toby Edmonds.

McLean cut his teeth in the ‘Rum City’ in Central Queensland dreaming of eventually preparing gallopers for a day job.

The sport has taken the enthusiastic horseman across the globe as he has tried to pick up as much knowledge and tricks of the trade from as many top trainers as possible. 

After growing up in Bundaberg, McLean went across the ditch to New Zealand, over to the United Kingdom, on to the USA, as well as working in several states of Australia.

“In the old days they would call it the 'art of training',” McLean says of his decade travelling the world to better his craft as a horseman.

“It is up to me to grab the pieces of the puzzle and put the puzzle together to make the perfect picture.”

McLean is aiming for his maiden city victory as a co-trainer this Saturday when metropolitan racing rolls down the highway to the Gold Coast for the annual Pink Ribbon Cup race day.

The training team present with the first-up Burning Bell in the $105,000 feature on the program for the fillies and mares.

McLean has worked under the tutelage of well-known trainers such as Archie Alexander, Bjorn Baker, Matt Dunn, Michael Freedman and Mick Kent in Australia as well as international conditioners Chris Wall and Tom Morley.

As a teenager, McLean spent time working with Mark and Denny Baker at Hallmark Stud in New Zealand during school holidays before taking up a full-time role for three years there after completing his schooling.

But, it was the relatively little-known Tony Hess who put the idea of preparing a team of horses of his own in McLean’s mind.

The veteran Bundaberg trainer welcomed a young McLean into his barn during his school days.

“I ditched school a couple of times to go to the races and trials with him,” McLean recalls.

“The passion and love for it all grew from there. There was races every second or third Saturday at Bundaberg and I would play soccer in the morning then go to the races in the afternoon with my dad.

“That was where I found the passion and love for it. All my learning experiences have been incredible.”

Hess has not had a starter since the 2022-23 season but was prominent in CQ for a couple of decades training his small team as well as travelling gallopers to the city on several occasions.

The now Gold Coast-based McLean aims to get back to Bundaberg once a year and still has plenty of family in the region including his grandparents and his father.

“It is always good to get home and get back to the grass roots,” he said.

“It just reminds you of where you have come from.”

The McLean and Edmonds team is the second partnership for Toby Edmonds who co-trained with his son Trent for a few years before he branched out on his own in Victoria. 

'Team Edmonds' shared in many successes including a Stradbroke Handicap win in 2020 with Tyzone.

McLean and Edmonds grabbed their first victory as a partnership on their home deck when Mean Approach got the cash earlier this month.

The barn finished one-two in the race as stable mate Lunar Eight ran into second.

The rookie co-trainer still gets emotional when talking about his first winner officially listed as a trainer.

They quickly claimed their second win as a team when Don Quixote scored on the Northern Rivers of NSW.

McLean has only been working at the Edmonds stable for a few months but says he is soaking in every ounce of knowledge from his more senior training partner.

“Having your name in the race book, it is a bit like ‘wow’,” McLean says.

“Everything that I have worked at from a young age to this point and thinking about all the people that have helped me over the years, it has all sort of finally come to fruition.

“Linking up with Toby has been great, he is a great mentor and he is more than happy to sit down and discuss things and share my experiences with him.

“He and I both want to achieve the same goals and it is working well now and I think it will work even better going forward.

“Everything Toby does is with a purpose and Toby is a great horseman, just observing what he is doing along the way is going to hold me in great stead for the future and for the benefit of both of us.”

As city racing heads to the grass of the Glitter Strip this Saturday, the McLean and Edmonds team have a big team of acceptors across the program.

Burning Bell – with James Orman in the saddle – will carry the stable’s hopes in the feature Pink Ribbon Cup, which will be run as a Benchmark 85 Handicap over 1200 metres.

The lightly-raced six-year-old mare has trialled twice before her first-up assignment.

After having her first taste of racing at black-type level in the Gai Waterhouse at Ipswich during the winter, the stable hope she can rise to that area again.

“She is super,” McLean said of Burning Bell.

“She is fighting fit; her trials have been very impressive and I cannot fault her in the stables. She is doing everything right.

“Like any mare at this level, you are always striving for that black-type success to boost their broodmare value and prospects.

“With a bit of luck, we will place her accordingly and get the job done for the owners.”

Burning Bell is raced by prominent Queensland syndicator Grant Morgan and his big team of owners.

“It’s great to be back on the grass and it seems to have come back in good order and I'm happy with what I'm seeing," Morgan told Racenet.

“Burning Bell has been an above average horse from day one. She had a few injury issues that put a big gap in her career, but patience is now bearing fruit and paying dividends.

“She is a mature and strong mare racing at the top of her form.

“Her trainers picked this race out on the calendar to get her back out of the spelling paddock, after she won at Grafton it looked like a nice race to head towards. She is going very well based on two trials where she has trialled like a bomb both times.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Burning Bell is a $6 chance with the bookmakers. 

McLean is also looking forward to seeing Barassi back at the races on Saturday, with the powerful entire having been off the racing scene since April.

The six-year-old was a striking winner of the lucrative Magic Millions Maiden Plate earlier this year.

Barassi is accepted for two races at the GC on Saturday.