Racing: New adventure lures back old master

Patrick Campbell is about to attempt the impossible.

Starting a new stable from scratch has always been tough.

Starting a new stable from scratch, with no horses and after an absence from New Zealand racing of seven years re-defines the word tough.

And it's getting tougher.

But that will not stop Felix Patrick Campbell setting up a stable at Hastings.

After all, 2004 in Malaysia was the bleakest year Campbell has experienced in a lifetime of training thoroughbreds.

"It can only get better," said the 55-year-old, who is about to apply for his New Zealand licence.

Campbell will succeed because his talent base includes that rare indispensable quality - outstanding horsemanship.

Campbell was born and reared in Hawkes Bay and began his training there before relocating to Awapuni in 1987.

A decade later, after nearly 20 years of astute preparation of some fine racehorses, he was looking abroad.

He put his name down to train on the then fiercely competitive Malaysian circuit, and after nearly a year based in Queensland he was accepted.

Few, if any, training arenas in the world are as volatile as Malaysia, on all levels.

Punting is notorious and that always leads to problems. Security of your job because of the movement of horses from stable to stable is almost non-existent.

Two of the years in Malaysia - the second and third - were rewarding. Last year he was eating the wallpaper to survive.

Campbell laughs at the experience.

"The lowest grade of horse in Malaysia is Class 5. My small team included 10 in Class 5 and the oldest, an 8-year-old, was in division 5, the lowest division of Class 5.

"That gives you an idea of how I was going nowhere."

Campbell said the once-thriving Malaysian circuit of Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur had gone downhill.

Until a few years ago, the trio of racetracks created a circuit with Singapore, but Singapore has broken away and done much better.

"In January this year two or three of the local trainers and three or four of the ex-pat trainers did not bother to renew their licences - that is unheard of.

"It used to be damn near impossible to get a licence."

Unsure what to do with his life, Campbell returned to New Zealand in January.

"I've got a business interest on the land at the back of Havelock North. It's been great lately because I've been doing a bit of farming and it's allowed me to go fishing and go to the football on Saturdays for a change."

But the pull of the horse has got Campbell, as it has many before him.

He has "one or two horses" and no established clients to start with, but is looking forward to significantly adding to the "bit more than 500 winners" his scorecard shows.

Campbell would love another Burletta, the champion filly of her year (1983-84), who he rates as the best he prepared.

"She was outstanding because the quality of horse she was racing against at the time was very strong."

Giant grey Avedon is the second-best Campbell trained. "The horses he raced against were not quite as good as Burletta competed against."