OUR EXPERTS
Leonard Russo
Bloodstock Agent
Leonard (Lenny) Russo at Bluegrass Bloodstock is Toward Reward’s Bloodstock Agent. He helps us select our horses so that we have the best chance of success on the racetrack.
Leonard is an exceptional judge of thoroughbreds with extensive experience. He has worked all over the world for organisations including Ashwell Stud, Coolmore Stud, Cambridge Stud, Roger James Racing, John Hawkes Racing, and Tattersalls UK. Throughout his career, he has touched every part of the industry. He is one of Australia’s most successful bloodstock agents.
Leonard is a member of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia Limited (FBAA) and adheres to the organisation’s strict code of ethics. You can read more about him here.
Symon Wilde
Trainer
Symon Wilde is a Trainer for Toward Reward horses. He and the team at Wilde Racing care for and train our horses, ensuring their wellbeing and giving them the skills they need to win on the racetrack. He ensures our horses have the best accommodation and training environment.
Symon has gained invaluable experience in the UK, the USA, and Australia. In the UK he worked with the Queen’s trainer, Lord Huntingdon, and champion national hunt trainer, Nicky Henderson. In the USA he worked with Laura De Seroux. He has also worked at Lindsay Park Stables in the Barossa Valley, under the tutelage of Peter Hayes and Tony McEvoy, and alongside his father, Bill Wilde, as Joint Trainer before becoming Head Trainer at Wilde Racing in 2014.
Symon has enjoyed unprecedented success in winning group races, including multiple wins in nearly all the South West country cups. In 2018, Symon achieved a lifelong ambition of training the winner of the Brierly and Grand Annual double. The same horse was runner up in both races the following year and won the Grand Annual again in a thrilling finish in 2021.
Wilde Racing boasts training facilities in Warrnambool and Ballarat. The Warrnambool stable has beach access – beneficial for the mental and physical health and recovery of horses – and the Ballarat stable is close to Melbourne’s most prestigious racecourses. Wilde Racing has consistently been in the top 20 Victorian Trainers Premiership for the last twelve years, and in the top ten for the past four. You can read more about Symon and Wilde Racing here.
Patrick Kearney
Trainer
Patrick (Pat) Kearney is a Trainer for Toward Reward horses and a young, up-and-coming trainer to have on your radar.
Pat started riding trackwork at 14 and gained his amateur jockey’s license at 16. Once he finished school, he relocated to Caulfield to work for Mick Price as his travelling foreman, where he worked and rode Group 1 winners, including Seabrook, Hiyaam and Grunt. His determination to learn as much as possible took him to Newmarket in the UK, where Pat worked as Hugo Palmer’s pupil assistant. His time in the UK was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but upon his return to Australia, he formed Patrick Kearney Racing and became a trainer.
Pat concluded his first season with a strike rate of 14% winners to runners and 46% place-getters. He has trained winners in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, including his current stable star Ashy Boy, who ran a gallant 2nd in the listed Tasmanian Derby.
Patrick Kearney Racing’s stables are located on-course at Ballarat and include access to the world-class Ballarat Training Complexes facilities all-weather uphill training track, grass training tracks, sand track, synthetic track, and swimming pool. You can learn more about Patrick Kearney Racing through their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter profiles.
TOWARD REWARD THOROUGHBREDS PTY LTD (Authorised Representative No 001292019)
Being an Authorised Representative of Stable Connect Ltd (AFS Licence No. 336964)
Stable Connect is the Promotor and Offeror of all horses managed by Toward Reward Thoroughbreds
Toward Reward Thoroughbreds is proudly an Approved Promoter of Racing Victoria