Jeff grew up in Townsville near Cluden Park Racecourse. His father was a Harness Trainer in a street full of Racehorses. At the age of 10 started working his father’s pacers the current bush training facility known to the locals as Pig Hill. Surrounded by racehorses and jockeys Jeff soon caught the racing bug and wanted to try his hand at being a jockey. At the age of 13 he started riding trackwork at Cluden as well as driving his father pacers. He soon grew too heavy to be a jockey and continued his craft of a harness driver. At the age of 16 he was granted his reinsman license and won a number of junior driver premierships in NQ and established himself harness reinsmen in an era when Townsville was a hub of top harness racing outside of Brisbane.

In 1990 Jeff was granted a dual license for both harness and thoroughbred and soon after trained his first gallops winner “Old Jack” at Ewan in 1990. Due to work commitments as a civil designer Jeff relocated to Cairns where he trained a number of winners throughout FNQ notably double at Cairns Amateurs, Innisfail Cup, Mareeba Bracelet etc. In 2002 he decides it was time to have a go at the Big Smoke and moved to Brisbane where he purchased stables behind Doomben racecourse.

For the next decade Jeff established himself within the metro training ranks with winners from Rosehill in Sydney to Eagle Farm in Brisbane culminating with his first group winner Falino in the G3 Fred Best in 2011.

In 2016 it was time to do the full circle and move back to Townsville due to lucrative job opportunity as a civil designer and soon started training at Cluden where it all began. In 2021 came one of his most gratifying experiences with Fortification winner the Townsville Cup.

Even though Jeff likes training winners anywhere in NQ he mostly targets the Northern Winter Carnivals and focuses horse purchases on selected races such as Cleveland Bay, Townsville Gunieas and Cups.

With his partner Stacey Rowe and No.1 work rider they offer a hands on approach combined with his newly established 60-acre property near Cluden horse are able to have the best of both worlds with the quiet bush surrounds and the course proper gallops.