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Below: Leon at the Beach. His hands on approach eclipses that of his rivals.
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Leon Corstens - Trainer Kevin Corstens - Assistant Trainer Troy Corstens - Racing Manager & Bloodstock Sales | |
Leon Corstens has been involved with horses for over 35 years. He started as an apprentice jockey to Graham "Blue" Heagney in his Adelaide stable. Leon was quite a successful jockey riding over 100 winners and leading the apprentice's table for two years running until tragedy | struck and an extremely bad fall put him out of racing for six months. In that time he grew too much and put on weight and got out of racing for about four years and opened a bakery with his father. | But the passion was reignited when visiting some friends down at Morphettville. It was one chilly morning in the centre of the Morphettville track when Bart Cummings approached Leon and asked him to be foreman for him. |
| During the 25 years that Leon was foreman for Bart, he shifted to Melbourne and had a hand in four of Bart's 11 Melbourne Cups. These great champions included Think Big, Hyperno, Kingston Rule and Lets Elope.
| Leon saddled and prepared over 150 group race winners and ran the Melbourne operation. In December 1994 Leon decided it was time to train for himself. It was less than six weeks before he trained his first city double! In May 1995 he trained Cherontessa to win his first Group 1, making him the fourth fastest trainer to prepare a Group 1 winner in Australia's history. | Leon now trains out of the historic Chicquita Lodge at Flemington.
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| Leon has won many Group races including the classic South Australian Oaks with Cherontessa and the VicHealth Cup at Caulfield with Lord Luskin and the Blue Diamond with Bardego in 2002. These Group wins are a tribute to Leon's training ability as few would have rated these horses as potential Group One horses on sheer ability. | Leon also involves the broader family. His wife Chris is a tower of strength and support. His son Kevin is foreman of the Melbourne stables and a highly skilled professional horseman. His other son Troy is Racing Manager for the stables. |
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 | Leon is unassuming in nature and down to earth. He has a straight forward approach and his personal integrity has forged many enduring relationships in the industry. |  |
