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By Ray Hickson

There’s something special about guiding a young thoroughbred into the world of horse racing and that’s where Daniel Robinson has found his passion.

Hong Kong born, UK bred Robinson is also a “hobby trainer” but it’s under the banner of his DPR Breaking business he aims to make a big difference in a horse’s early life and set them up for a long and successful career on the track.

Around 140 horses a year go through their education under Robinson’s watchful eye.

While the 31-year-old has become highly respected in the industry in a short time it wouldn’t be common knowledge outside the bubble that his philosophy has been used in the education, or re-education, of Group 1 winners like All Too Hard, She Will Reign, Comin’ Through and Lion’s Roar.

“We try to build the horse’s trust and confidence about being around others,’’ Robinson said.

“Once they are trusting us it’s about teaching them the boundaries, taking direction and cues.

“You’re working on their mindset and trying to make them braver and more willing than their partner.

“Something I’d like to bring into the thoroughbred world, helping educate horses for other people, is to try to make it nicer for the horses when they start their learning - having a relationship with the yearlings rather than just working with them.”

Daniel and Alexandra Robinson with Karmazone (Pic: Bradley Photos)

That’s something he picked up from working for Ian Francis, one of the world’s foremost horsemen, whom he says “opened my mind” about the education of horses.

“We generally take about four weeks per horse, we take up to 24 breakers at a time,’’ he said.

“Any more and I’d find it quite hard to give them the time they need.”

Every horse that comes through Robinson’s system is an unknown quantity and he takes great pride in seeing them excel on the track, regardless of the level they reach.

She Will Reign came to him while being trained by Michael Costa, she had a habit of flipping over in the barriers and needed some work to get her mindset in the gates right. Of course the filly won the 2017 Golden Slipper for Gary Portelli.

Chris Waller sent Comin’ Through to Robinson as a young horse to iron out some issues and more recently he broke in and educated this year’s Group 1 Randwick Guineas winner Lion’s Roar.

“It’s obviously a little more special when they go on and win big races but it’s nice just seeing them win,’’ he said.

“I quite like watching country racing and seeing horses we break in winning at Goulburn or Nowra.

“We’re lucky to get some real quality horses coming through the stables. It’s nice working with any horse but when they are naturally athletic and have a bit of class about them it’s very special.”

Like a lot of young Englishmen who make their way down under Robinson has worked with some of the biggest names in horse racing - the likes of David Hayes, John Thompson and Chris Waller to name a few.

While born in Hong Kong, where his father Philip was a champion jockey, Robinson did most of his growing up around Newmarket and started working in racing stables at around the age of 10, most significantly for Michael Jarvis as an early teen. But weight would eventually get in the way of him being a jockey.

“Like every kid that wants to be a jockey who gets too big the next best thing was to be a trainer,’’ he said.

“My old man asked David Hayes if I could come out and do some work experience and I just wanted to stay. I’m pretty happy with the decision now.”

After nine months, six with Hayes split between Lindsay Park in South Australia and Flemington and three with Neville Parnham in Perth, Robinson started breaking in horses and that led him to Francis and to Patinack Farm where he broke in superstar All Too Hard among other horses.

Along the way he met his now wife Alexandra and by 2015 they established DPR Breaking, which coincided with a stint riding work for Chris Waller.

“I was itching to get residency so I could start my own breaking in and pre-training business,’’ he said.

“I have a passion about working with a horse’s mentality. I started my business pretty much the day I started at Chris’s.

“I worked for Chris in the morning then worked my butt off for myself. The business got pretty good so we decided we wanted to train a few as a hobby.”

One such horse is Karmazone, a passion project of Daniel and Alexandra’s after they purchased the horse for $27,000 in Adelaide in 2017 and the now six-year-old has the place of headline act at their Hawkesbury stable.

Karmazone wins at Hawkesbury in June. (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Robinson said he’ll never train a large number of racehorses but admits to getting an extra thrill when they win.

“He’s been brilliant for us. He tries every time, it can get a bit annoying because he gets back and you have a lot of unlucky stories with horses that get back,’’ he said.

“It’s just a hobby, it’s not a lifetime ambition. My passion long term will always be breaking in horses but it’s exciting when you’re standing at the winning post and your horse comes home in front of the others.”

You can’t talk about Daniel Robinson without covering ‘The Way Of The Horse’ and it perhaps explains why he’s gained such a strong name.

It’s an exclusive competition that puts horsemen and women under a blowtorch as they are given just a few hours split over three days to show their wares with a raw horse.

It’s intense and Robinson was the youngest winner when he took the crown in 2016.

“It’s probably the highlight of my career,’’ he said.

“They pick three people to compete and they run three unhandled horses into a round pen. You get an hour and a half a day for three days and you have to take a 20 minute break.

“On the fourth day you do a 15 minute freestyle to showcase how far the horse has come.

“It’s scary because you get an hour and 20 minutes to work with them and it took an hour and 10 for me to catch mine on the first day. I was lucky enough to be good enough, and have a horse good enough, to win it.

“It was a proud moment. It’s not an easy thing to get invited to so to win it was pretty incredible.

“It was in front of about 8000 people and it has a massive effect on your reputation. It’s the kind of thing most horseman want to go in and try to win. I want them to invite me to do it again because I’d love to win it again.”

*This article originally appeared in the August 2021 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

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