From small beginnings in the mid-1980s, John Sargent 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).
Having trained more than 200 winners and finishing on 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, while he topped the trainers’ premiership in 2000, his third season there.
Since returning to New Zealand with his young family in 2002, John’s Ladbrook Park Stables has 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 underlined his skill as a trainer 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 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.
And in typical fashion he did so in style, with his tally of 111 setting a fresh record for New Zealand wins in a season, while the stable’s stake-earnings were the best of any in the same period.
The Ladbrook Park Stables headquarters is based at New Zealand’s most modern training complex located on the Matamata Racecourse in the heart of the famous Waikato region. Becoming part of the country’s most successful racing centre has enabled John Sargent to develop his career to yet another stage.
As a training environment Matamata is without peer in this part of the world. Grass, plough and all-weather training surfaces are complemented by a superb swimming pool, while there is also available a well appointed pre-training and agistment property on lush, rolling country just a short drive from the main stable. Matamata’s central location and comprehensive range of professional services are also an integral part of the massive success being enjoyed by horses trained there.
The decision to establish a South Island stable at Riccarton Racecourse has provided clients with a very worthwhile option, while off the back of his 2011-12 trainers’ premiership win, John is now forging ahead with his newest exciting development, a stable in the heart of the rich Sydney racing scene at Warwick Farm.
Like everything else he has set out to achieve over the past two decades in the highly competitive thoroughbred racing industry, John has made the move to a full-time transtasman operation with a desire to achieve the best possible results for his clients and their horses.
John Sargent invites you to join him on the Road to Success and is only too happy to make contact with you, either by telephone, email or in person.