SPREYTON trainer Leon Wells is moving to Brighton to take over a team of horses for Tasmania’s leading owners Paul and Elizabeth Geard.
Wells will retain his Devonport stables but they will be run by his son Dean, with another son, Trent, to join the team from next season.
The Geards had to make a new appointment after their long-time trainer John Luttrell was recently disqualified for six months.
Most of the Luttrell-trained horses were transferred to the Geards’ other main trainer, Stuart Gandy, in the short-term.
However, Gandy also runs the family’s Gee Gee Horse Stud and was not in a position to keep the extra horses for an extended period.
Wells, who has trained a small number of horses for the Geards for the past three or four years, has accepted a permanent position.
‘‘It’s a good opportunity for me,’’ Wells said.
‘‘The Geards have been good to me already and now I get the chance to train full-time for biggest owners Tasmania has ever seen.
‘‘I’ve been training for about 30 years and this change will do me good.’’
Wells said that he would be taking over boxes at the Brighton training centre within the next two to three weeks.
‘‘I think there’s about 12 to 14 boxes – we might not have a full stable to start with but we will when the babies start coming in,’’ he said.
Wells said that with son Trent joining the team after a successful career as a jumps jockey in Victoria, it would give the family the chance to ‘‘swap around a bit’’ as circumstances warranted.
‘‘One of the boys might fill in at Brighton for a short time while (wife) Maree and I go home,’’ he said.
‘‘Family is very important to us and we don’t want to miss the grandkids too much.’’
Wells said he was still uncertain which of the Geard’s horses, headed by champion Geegees Blackflash, would be joining his stable.
By Greg Mansfield (The Examiner)