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By Ray Hickson

When he was a young boy Johann Gerard-Dubord’s father instilled in him the importance of knowledge, that you should never stop wanting to learn about horses and racing.

What you quickly learn about the 36-year-old Frenchman, the Sydney assistant trainer to Ciaron Maher & David Eustace, is that he’s all about the horse and is a lot more comfortable behind the scenes.

“My dad is a very good horseman and he worked in racing for over 40 years and he always said you learn every day,’’ he said.

“Travelling proves that. You go from one country where things are done a certain way to another which can be the complete opposite.

“You learn because you look at a new way of doing things, it’s always evolving.

Johann Gerard-Dubord is relishing his role with Ciaron Maher & David Eustace. (Pic: Bradley Photos).

“Ciaron is the perfect example, he is always looking at improving things and is always changing the way he does things for the better.

“Even though we are the biggest stable in Australia he’ll be trying to keep getting better.”

Philippe Gerard-Dubord was a jumps jockey in France, he retired from riding in 1994 when Johann was just seven. The family hails from Pau in the south west of France, a town well known for its jumps festival in the winter months.

Horses and racing is all he knew in his youth, spending his weekends and school holidays at the family stud, and while being a jockey was never on the cards it’s no surprise that he sought out work in the family ‘business’.

That took him to England, where he not only improved his English but started a journey that would take in America and eventually lead him to Australia. It was a short stint with John O’Shea about a decade ago that was the catalyst for a move to Sydney in 2014.

And it was O’Shea that, a few years later, ultimately recommended him for a position at the growing Maher and Eustace stable at Warwick Farm which at the time was being run by Annabel Neasham.

“When John O’Shea got a job at Godolphin he said if I was interested in coming back there was a job at Godolphin and I spent three and a half years there,’’ Gerard-Dubord said.

“Annabel was looking for someone to help her at Ciaron’s and John mentioned my name so I started as racing manager.

“Then Jack Bruce was in the job (when Neasham moved on to train), and when he left I wasn’t really interested in stepping up but I was kind of encouraged to do it.

“We only had 50 horses, since then we have an extra barn at Warwick Farm so it went to 80 and Bong Bong has been added as well as increased numbers at Bobs Farm.

“It’s probably one of the biggest jobs in racing because of the amount of numbers we are looking after. Further to that, Ciaron is not a micro-manager. He makes you think for yourself whilst also trying to encourage you to think the way he does about horses and situations.”

It’s because he’s all about the horse that he may sound a little reluctant to be in the limelight, or it could come across as lacking confidence.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

He might not seem a natural when he fronts for interviews pre or post race but that’s another aspect of working with horses that he’s learning.

You need to have considerable belief in your ability to oversee around 160 horses in the Maher/Eustace team at three venues across NSW – the Warwick Farm stable, Bong Bong Farm and at Bobs Farm near Newcastle – and handle the pressure that comes with it.

“It comes with the job. I don’t know if you get used to it,’’ he said.

“I was always happy to have someone there in front of me, someone who is happy to take a bit of the light. I enjoy being around horses, more than the glory of it.

“I don’t enjoy it, the interviews. Some people are just natural. When Ciaron first pushed me into doing it that was one of the things I said I wasn’t comfortable doing.

“He said when he first started he was the same, he said he was awkward and didn’t enjoy doing it but you get used to it and now it’s natural.

“If you are confident in what you are doing it takes a lot of pressure away. If you’re guessing things there’s more pressure. The way Ciaron trains is very individualised and based on the way the horse looks in condition and handles the work.

“We have very good trackwork riders, and feedback from them is important.

“Our training includes a lot of data. When horses gallop they have a tracker on them, and when they do a piece of work on the treadmill they have a heart monitor. All that gets analysed by a team of data analysts, led by Katrina Anderson, and that will guide the work we will do with them next.

“Nothing should be missed, if a horse is not doing as well as it should, or if its action changes, everything should be picked up quickly.”

Warwick Farm is Joh’s base but each Thursday he’ll head to Bong Bong to check on the youngsters and those horses getting ready to head back to the main stables.

He says with such a big team, even without considering the horses the Maher/Eustace team has interstate, communication is very important and that’s one of the secrets to their success.

Co-trainer David Eustace and Johann Gerard-Dubord taking in a race at Rosehill. (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Each Monday morning Gerard-Dubord will have a meeting with Ciaron, NSW racing managers and his senior team at Warwick Farm to discuss every horse, their work for the week, and the races coming up.

In the afternoon he’ll speak with Ash Fortune, a Group 1 winning South African trainer who oversees Bong Bong, to run through what’s happening with the horses down there and he’ll also speak with James Harding who has up to 39 horses based at Bobs Farm near Newcastle.

Then there’s the daily chats with racing managers in two states, plus Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, to work out who’s running and who isn’t on that day.

“Some days it is a lot,’’ he says of the role.

“But we have the right people around to make everything easier. Racing managers in Sydney and in Melbourne, as always the people working around you make a big difference.

“Communicating is very important. When I was working with John O’Shea, he liked to be on top of everything and likes to know exactly what’s going on. Ciaron delegates a lot, there is room to grow.

“It is a lot of work but it can be very enjoyable and rewarding because we have good people working with us and the quality of horses we have. You get to know them so well and you spend so much time thinking about their training and their programming, so it is very satisfying when they perform and plans come to fruition.”

Given his predecessors, Annabel Neasham and Jack Bruce, have established themselves as trainers since leaving the Maher/Eustace operation you’d imagine that’s Gerard-Dubord’s plan one day.

But not so. At least, it’s not something he’s invested any time in and staying somewhat in the background is more than satisfying enough.

“I’m not planning on training in my own right at the moment, obviously you never know what’s going to happen, however, I’m not doing it as a step to my own thing,’’ he said.

“Most people in this job would be but I’m happy doing what I’m doing for now.”

*This article originally appeared in the December 2023 edition of the Racing NSW magazine

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