Racing
Kilcoy Tuesday Preview - 1st July 2025
It’s one step at a time for emerging trainer James Moore who continues to build on his dream to be a successful trainer on the Sunshine Coast.
James Moore is the son of champion international jockey and trainer Gary Moore and is the grandson of Australia's legendary jockey George Moore.He moved to Queensland from Macau two years ago to begin a new chapter in his life at Caloundra and has gradually built his stable numbers to 20 after starting off with a small team.
As Macau's youngest licensed trainer, Moore won 70 races earning more than $HK19 million in prizemoney.
His biggest win was the G1 Macau Guineas in 2016 with Kelowna Star.
"I was 23 when I got my trainer's licence in Macau and I spent five years there," Moore said.
"It feels like a life time ago.
"I then moved to Japan and trained there for two years where I was the private trainer for New World Racing."
Moore then came to Australia and began working as a foreman for Gold Coast trainer Gillian Heinrich before an opening arrived to move to Caloundra.
"I was with Gillian for about 10 months when (the late) Mick Mair's stables became available at Caloundra," he said.
"I just took the boxes and started with nothing before I got my first horse here, New World Tapestry, to train.
"He never set the world alight before he went south as he was a tricky horse to train."
Moore landed his first winner as a trainer at the Sunshine Coast when Silly Salmon won a Benchmark race at the Sunshine Coast in October 2023.
"He started at $61 and we backed him," Moore said.
Moore has a current strike rate for the season of only 6.4 per cent with eight wins from 125 starters while he has an eight per cent strike rate over the past 12 months with 11 wins from 138 starters.
However, the up-and-coming trainer hopes those statistics will improve when he heads to Kilcoy on Tuesday and is confident Best Coffee can complete a hat-trick of wins in the Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1500 metres.
The three-year-old went winless in his first 10 starts before breaking through for his maiden win at Kilcoy in April and franked the form by winning against at Gatton in late April.
Former South African jockey Brandon Lerena has been retained after winning both times on Best Coffee.
"You have to make him travel and Brandon has found the key to him and knows how to get him up on the bit travelling," Moore said.
"Best Coffee should go close as he won quite well at Kilcoy the last time he was there.
"Brandon is the flavour of the month up here so we're trying to keep him on as Chris Waller and Lee Freedman have been using him a lot," he said.
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