Please be advised the O’Dea-Hoysted Racing training partnership will be dissolved at the conclusion of the current racing season, ushering in a new era for rising trainer Matt Hoysted.
For the last six months, Steve O’Dea has gradually shifted away from the day-to-day demands of training to focus on his bloodstock interests. Breeding has long been a passion of Steve’s and he now wishes to pursue this career path in an official capacity.
Steve began training with only a handful of horses in Townsville before growing the business to become one of the leading metropolitan stables in Queensland.
“I’ve been training for 19 years and feel now is the right time for a change of lifestyle whilst still being involved in racing,” O’Dea said.
“I’m extremely proud of what Matt and I have been able to achieve together, with the obvious highlight being our first Group 1 when UNCOMMON JAMES won the Oakleigh Plate last year.
“We have a great team behind us that will ensure the stable has continued success.
“I would like to thank all our clients, staff, contractors and suppliers for their support during my training career.”
This ‘changing of the guard’ will see Matt Hoysted become head trainer of the stable under the re-branded banner of Matt Hoysted Racing.
Matt’s association with the stable goes back to 2016, during which time he served as assistant trainer for five years before being promoted to the role of co-trainer in 2020.
Matt and Steve’s working relationship will be maintained via yearling sales where Steve and the stable’s biggest client Proven Thoroughbreds remain committed to sourcing the next generation of equine athletes for Matt Hoysted Racing.
Proven Thoroughbreds director Jamie Walter continues:
“The Proven Team is totally supportive of this new structure. Matt is a talented, committed young guy and as hard a worker as you’ll find so it’s onwards and upwards in 24/25.
“But a word on Steve. He and I go back 15 years, to when he arrived unheralded in Brisbane with 4 or 5 horses and a lean bank balance.
“Sharing a desire to survive the relentless tide of red ink, our businesses have since grown together, bit by bit. Now, having known nothing but training racehorses in his adult life, Steve seeks new challenges in the breeding world.
“He leaves with a great legacy. A thriving metropolitan stable would never have evolved without Steve’s acute equine perception, sharp intellect, an unfailing loyalty and most important of all, his genuine decency.
“Proven Thoroughbreds was a pipedream without Guy Walter and in recent years especially, has much to owe Joe Pride, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without Steve O’Dea.
“Whilst we’ll miss him on the racetrack, am looking forward to trudging around yearling sales with Steve, in the perpetual search for more winners.”