Tony Vasil once considered giving away his trainer's licence, after the administrative hassles involved with running a racing stable began interfering with his ability to train his horses.

Fortunately for all concerned Tony adopted an alternate route which was to involve himself with the Aquanita Racing Group- a company that provides management support services to a select group of trainers (or as one of the trainers has described it: "the time and the freedom to devote our time to what we do best - training winners, free from the distractions that running an integrated business can often create.")

Tony's decision was vindicated in the company's sterling results for the 2003/4 racing season and again today when star colt Elvstroem (Danehill/Circles of Gold) scored his third Group One win in a heart stopping half neck victory over Makybe Diva in one of Australia's premier staying events - the 2004 Carlton Draught Caulfield Cup, in front of the largest crowd since 1974.

From a branding perspective the horse's win supports all the trainers under the Aquanita banner - John Sadler, Robert Smerdon, Dan O'Sullivan, Liam Birchley, Richard Jolly and Tony Vasil.

As Peter Oliver Chief Executive of Aquanita Racing said in a recent press release: "Part of Aquanita's success is that we operate as a team with everyone supporting their colleagues."

Giving you some idea of how many people are involved behind the scenes just check out their management/staff page.

It also demonstrates how the Aquanita approach (which, interestingly, mirrors the Hong Kong Jockey Club's policy of allowing trainers to train - and the Jockey Club to manage general admin and finances) can be immensely beneficial for all concerned.

(As a [relatively unrelated] aside - Elvstroem's full sister Hvegar placed in the $75,500 SKYY BLUE PLATE at Caulfield on the same day as her older brother. Quite a day for the pedigree page!)