Tom Dabernig has been on a learning curve since breaking away from Lindsay Park and setting up on his own at Warrnambool.
It was an ambition of his to train at the beach having had long conversations with his grand-father Colin Hayes who started his training career on the beach at Semaphore in Adelaide.
Hayes went on to develop the famous Lindsay Park in the Barossa Valley in South Australia while his son David, with Dabernig’s input, developed the new Lindsay Park outside of Euroa in northern Victoria.
Dabernig’s time with horses has been developed with both his grandfather (Colin) and uncle (David) and has been on country properties and away from a beach setting.
Since moving to Warrnambool last month, Dabernig has been a sponge learning from local trainers.
As he awaits his on-course stable to be finalised, Dabernig has horses stable with Matthew Williams and he has tagged along to western districts tracks that he has never been.
“Out this side of town we didn’t have a lot of runners before and so I’ve been getting to Coleraine, Casterton, Stawell, those sort of places for gallops,” Dabernig said.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been to them.
“They’re all lovely little tracks. Casterton and Coleraine seem to drain well and they’re quite good during the winter months and I would imagine in summer there’s so many options.
“So, I have been clocking up a few more miles than normal.”
Prior to his move from Euroa to the coast, Dabernig had not really considered the weather.
But one thing he has discovered is the night-time temperatures.
“The night-time temperatures are definitely not as cold as being inland,” Dabernig said.
“Being by the ocean, and I’ve been studying the weather map and comparing, the nights are a bit warmer while the day-time temperatures are pretty similar which comes down to the wind factor.
“The locals have been saying it is a wetter than normal winter and you notice the rain, but the nights are not as cold.
“I think the horses do well with that because it’s not such a big variance in temperature.”
