Spotlight On: Jimmy Downes

Images: Horse Racing Only/Michael McInally

By Brodie Nickson 

Beaudesert trainer Jimmy Downes has grown up around horses his entire life and is the latest in a long line of family members to breed and race them.

The 32-year-old mixes his main job of running the spelling farm Christmas Creek Thoroughbreds, owned by his parents, Mark and Sandy, with training, after he recently started his own small stable at Beaudesert.

He grew up across the New South Wales border in the small country town Boomi, where he ‘rode a horse before he could walk’.

His whole family, right back to his great-grandparents, have owned and bred horses.

“I don’t think there were any trainers in there, but we have all grown up around it,” Downes said.

Campdrafting was especially prominent in his junior years before going to boarding school at Marist College Ashgrove, Brisbane.

In Year 10, he and a mate made their first steps towards working in the racing industry, sending a letter to Brisbane trainer Rob Heathcote, asking if he had any work going on weekends.

“I didn’t think much of it. It was a bit of a longshot and [we thought we] probably won’t hear back from him. Rob was pretty well established by then; he literally rang us as soon as he got it and he asked if we could come work on weekends or whenever we wanted,” Downes said.

“We said weekends suited us the best and he actually used to pick us up at 4am on a Sunday. It is a pretty good effort in hindsight, especially if he had a big day on a Saturday.

“We stayed there right through until we finished Year 12. Mum and Dad were pushing me to get a trade or something behind me because I would have stayed on there if I had it my way.”

Downes completed a carpentry apprenticeship and upon finishing that, immediately called Heathcote explaining the trade wasn’t for him before returning to the Brisbane stables for another seven or eight years.

In 2020 Downes got an opportunity to go out on his own, in sorts, after his parents purchased their spelling farm at Christmas Creek, located 25 minutes south of Beaudesert.

“They said, ‘if we bought something like this would you be interested in running it?’” Downes said.

“I agreed and thought I may as well have a go.”

A few years after Downes had been running the farm, he made the next step and took out his training licence.

“At the start we literally bred one or two ourselves and raced them as a family,” Downes said.

“It was funny. At the start a few people were kind to get a horse for me and I was a bit hesitant because I wanted to get going first. I just wanted to get a good system in place before I started playing with other people’s money.

“Now I have everything pretty much like a well-oiled machine and it’s all word of mouth. Friends come in and their friends come in. When you have a bit of luck and things are going alright then people ring up and enquire.”

Downes currently has nine horses in work and trains out of the Beaudesert Race Club.

“Obviously it has its challenges [being at] a country track and trying to find work riders all the time. It’s the same riders doing everyone’s horses, so it is a juggling act and you need to work with everyone. We have a pretty good system now and whatever we take in gets work,” he said.

“We also have the treadmill, so it is the best of both worlds.

“It is a great spot. You are close to everywhere, and even just over the border you have got all those Northern River places such as Murwillumbah, Grafton, Ballina and all those options.

“It is a good place to train out of, that’s for sure.”

He has a very simple approach to training and a patience which has produced rewards with his tried horses.

“[I] don’t push them at all and don’t have a set plan for every horse. When one tells me it’s ready to step up and do something I will, if one tells me it’s had enough I pull the pin straight away,” Downes said.

“Especially with the younger ones, I let them find their feet and let them tell me when they are ready.

“I don’t target any sort of distances or train them to sit on speed. I let them find what they are naturally good at and let them naturally progress.”

Downes celebrated his first metropolitan winner earlier this year with the former Chris Waller-trained and $400,000 yearling Influential.

The Arrowfield purchase showed enough ability to start $4.40 in the 2023 Carbine Club Stakes at Flemington during their carnival, but issues held him back.

Connections paid just $25,000 online for the four-year-old when he went up for sale last year.

“He has obviously come with a few issues. It’s well-documented he had a little bleed at his last run in New South Wales, he has a throat-op and comes with a bit of baggage,” Downes said.

“That is probably why they got him a bit cheap. He is a nice animal - well-bred and obviously has got the good form down south.

“He has taken to the environment. He is that typical horse where he has come from that big stable with horses everywhere and it is obviously a lot quieter here. He goes into a biggish sort of paddock during the day and just comes in at night.

“He has really taken to it, which is good.”

Whether they had heard of the small trainer from Beaudesert or not, punters were happy to pile into Influential as he firmed from $3 to start $2 at jump time in a 1350m No Metro Wins at Doomben.

“He looked a bit sticky there for a while but he got a 10/10 from Andrew Mallyon and he did the rest when he got into clear air,” Downes said.

It capped off a strong month for the stable after speedster State In Texas also continued to fly.

Unlike the massive physical presence Influential boasts, $600 purchase State In Texas is tiny.

“Rob Heathcote had a big owner and was just getting out of it. He rang me and said, ‘mate this is a perfect horse for you. We haven’t done much with him, I can’t say he is a star, but he has done everything right and is at the point where you can go on with it now’,” Downes said.

“[I] actually got a call from Hong Kong after his second trial, but as he is a small horse they knew he wasn’t much chance of going overseas.”

State In Texas broke his Maiden at his second start over 800m at Kilcoy and has subsequently won two more races over the short trip.

“Obviously 800m are hard to find, but we have had a bit of luck with them this prep with a few on at the right time,” Downes said.

“Even watching him at the last start when he missed the start and was held up - he did give the indication he could get there, even if he didn’t have to jump and lead.

“He has done a lot better this time in. He has travelled a lot better and has more at the end of his races compared to his first prep where by the end of the 800m he is all out.

“I am hoping once we tip him out again, he can come back as a four-year-old and at least run out the trip.”

A humble horseman who is happy with his small stable, Downes says he is grateful to be able to learn off so many people along the way.

In addition to Heathcote, he says fellow Brisbane trainer, Barry Lockwood, has been a massive assistance.

“Barry Lockwood has helped me a lot. We spell a lot of horses for him out here [Christmas Creek] and I think he is one of the best horsemen here in South East Queensland,” Downes said.

“He has got a wealth of knowledge and if you need a hand or ask anything, he is happy to lend any advice.”

Downes is busy between the farm and training and aims to continue to punch above his weight.