Robert Marshall has worked at Gooree for the past six years and for more than three years has been in charge of pre-training its team of thoroughbreds before they head to Gai Waterhouse at Tulloch Lodge for racing careers.

Marshall’s wife Hannah (the couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary recently) has been a trackwork rider at the stud.

The pair are moving to the Coffs Coast to set up a pre-training establishment.

Both said they had worked with some wonderful horses at the Mudgee stud and named Desert War and Northern Meteor as among the best.

“It was very satisfying seeing Desert War win two Epsoms after he had been pre-trained here and also Northern Meteor breaking those track records in his short racing career,” Robert said.

“There has been so many good horses, it is hard to remember them all, you could just keep naming them, but those two stood out to me.”

Marshall held a trainer’s licence for 12 years until eight years ago and he said he now had his licence back.

“Hannah and I are setting up a pre-training establishment at Coffs Harbour and I will probably train a couple of horses for myself,” he said.

“I’ll mainly concentrate on breaking in and pre-training and Hannah will ride trackwork.

“We still have a fair bit to do at the property, but since we purchased the property (20km north of Coffs Harbour) we have had stables built and I hope to be operational by December.

“I’ll be able to handle up to 20 horses eventually.

“(Coffs Harbour trainers) Brett Bellamy, Gordon Yorke and Trent Greentree have indicated they will give me horses to break or pretrain.

“Trent has been a big help and helped me find the property.”

Marshall said Gooree had some nice two-year-olds that should soon be racing, including an Encosta de Lago x Crowned Glory colt and a 2YO colt called Immortal Image by Encosta de Lago from a mare called Troubled Image.

Hannah said that while she agreed with Robert over the best horses she had ridden at Gooree, her favourite was Emotional Outburst.

Gooree’s Racing manager Andrew Baddock said he was sad to see the Marshalls leave.

“They have done a wonderful job with some of the best horses we have raced, Robert in getting the horses ready to send to Gai and Hannah riding them on our track,” he said.

“We wish them well for the future.”