At 16 years of age Tony Moore lived his dream.

The young horseman got a plane bound for the United States and headed to Kentucky where he spent eight months.

“It was an incredible experience,” Tony says.

“I paid for the whole trip and travelled on my own, quite amazing when I look back.”

“I spent eight months in Kentucky living the horse dream and getting to see great stallions like Nijinsky, Secretariat, Sir Ivor, Blushing Groom, Alydar among others in the flesh,” he says.

These days Moore has returned to his old stamping ground of working for the Fell family. He is assisting William Fell at Goodwood Stud with the 2013 yearling preparation for the Karaka sales.

“I’ve come full circle as I worked for Will’s grand-father Arthur when I was at school. I used to be at Fairdale Stud as much as I could during school holidays,” he said.

After his Kentucky experience Tony worked in the Hunter Valley as well as in England where he worked for the Arabs for a year.

The farms he worked at in Australia included Tudor Park Stud and Durham Lodge in Western Australia.

He also had a year-long stint as a stud groom at Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge  from February, 1996.

As he approached 30 years of age he got a bit stale with horses and did a sports science degree which resulted in him becoming a personal trainer and then had a role as store manager at Liquorland for four years at Awapuni, Palmerston North.

He is happy to be back involved with horses at Goodwood Stud and say the farm has a very nice draft of horses across all three sales.

With 13 years of stud experience to senior management level, Tony has a very high level of international experience in all aspects of equine reproduction, weaning, yearling preparation and stallion management.

He is well versed in thoroughbred pedigrees, record keeping and comprehension of breeding contracts.

Tony’s philosophy on horses is that keeping them relaxed and stress-free at all times is critical.

“I believe in fitting my day around horses not managing horses around me. Consistency in handling and feeding is extremely important. I believe that horses teach us so it is vital we are paying attention to how they behave.

“I enjoy learning about horses from everyone and like to always keep an open mind and always be asking questions,” he says.