A SECOND top Australian trainer is looking to Hongkong in a bid to continue his career as the recession bites hard into the Thoroughbred racing industry Down Under.
David Hayes stunned the Australian racing scene last week when he announced that he planned to apply for a trainer's licence in Hongkong next year.
And yesterday another top Australian trainer, Lee Freedman, indicated he will try and follow the same path.
Freedman, whose runners have captured the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper over the last 12 months, said he could not rule out shifting to Asia some time in the future.
''The trend line certainly shows that the growth, future investment and the big money in racing is in other countries in Southeast Asia,'' Freedman said.
''In real terms we have come to a period where we are not expanding as much as other countries.'' Both Hayes and Freedman are in unique positions as they head large family concerns, so their training operations can continue in Australia.
For others - like recent Singapore arrivals Don Baertschiger and David Balfour - the move is more definite with a total uprooting of their ties to their homeland.
