About
John Sargent
Beginning in
New Zealand
Beginning in the mid-1980s, John has built an international reputation as a trainer who gets results with horses he has either selected from the auction ring or sourced through stable clients.
Starting out from his original lower North Island base, John took out the ‘Newcomer to Training’ award in the 1992-93 season and finished second on the New Zealand Strike-Rate table in 1994-95. Notable successes through that period included the country’s richest two-year-old race, the Magic Millions Classic, with Vedodara, the Gr. 1 Captain Cook Stakes and the Gr. 2 Wanganui Stakes and Taranaki Stakes with Super Crest, the Gr. 2 Queensland St Leger (Filament), the Gr. 3 Canterbury Gold Cup (Whey To Go) and the Gr. 3 White Robe Lodge Stakes (The Big Bopper).
The move to
Malaysia
Having trained more than 200 winners and finishing in the top 10 of the Trainers’ Premiership in his final two New Zealand seasons, in 1998 John took up the challenge to relocate to Malaysia, where he quickly adapted to the new environment and recorded a number of major wins to establish himself in the trainers’ ranks.
Major wins included Malaysia’s richest race, the Penang Gold Cup, as well as the Perak Cup and the Selangor Gold Cup. In the year 2000, his third season there, John topped the trainers’ premiership.
Back to
New Zealand
Returning to New Zealand with his young family in 2002, John’s Ladbrook Park Stables made an even greater impact, initially with victory in the $500,000 Mercedes Super Bonus Classique with Successor, a horse John had purchased a year earlier from the National Yearling Sales for just $21,000.
Other horses that highlighted his training skills, were the stakes-winning pair Shastri and Bhandara – both of them produced from his earlier big winner Vedodara – and major New Zealand and Brisbane winner Tickle.
Through the first decade of the new millennium the Sargent stable further consolidated its position with a string of winners that have put John in the top bracket. Headline acts have been 2006 Avondale Gold Cup winner Sharvasti, 2007 New Zealand Cup winner Everswindell, and Wellington Cup winner Young Centaur and Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Il Quello Veloce in 2008.
That trend has continued into this decade, with 2010 Diamond Stakes winner Banchee, 2011 Darci Brahma International Stakes winner Red Ruler and this year, a Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes quinella with Choice Bro and Magic Shaft.
JOHN'S TALLY OF 111 WINS SET A NEW RECORD FOR NEW ZEALAND WINS IN A SEASON, AND THE STABLE’S STAKE-EARNINGS TOPPED ANY OVER THE SAME PERIOD.
John broke new ground in mid-2012 when he claimed his first Group One success in Australia with Quintessential in the Queensland Oaks. Then to cap off a memorable season, he became the first New Zealander to win premierships in two jurisdictions when he added the New Zealand trainers’ premiership to his Malaysian title.
Taking on
Sydney
Now focusing his operations on Sydney’s premier horse training centre, Randwick, joining the ranks of Sydney’s top horse trainers, John Sargent is having success Australia wide. From winning the Group One Australian Oaks with Gust of Wind to conquering his third Wakeful Stakes with promising filly Luvaluva.
John Sargent invites you to join him on the road to success and is happy to have you contact John Sargent Racing by phone, email or in person.
