Baillies Bad boy | There’s Nothing Bad about Bruno

West Australian gelding, Baillies Bad Boy is thriving in his life after racing, participating in a variety of disciplines. Named presumably to honour owner, R S Baillie, Baillies Bad Boy retired from racing in 2021. After 15 starts under Michael Callegari’s training, ‘Bruno’ was rehomed to Rachael Mead in the hopes that she could retrain and find him a loving home.

Before his introduction to Rachael, Bruno nannied yearlings and enjoyed several years of rest after his short racing career. Though Rachael had every intention of rehoming him, he turned out be more than she’d originally bargained for.

“He has for the most part been an absolute pleasure to retrain. He is definitely the spiciest Standardbred I have ever met though!”

Having not been broken to saddle during his racing career, Rachael and Bruno started from scratch: including re-mouthing, lunging and backing before they could begin their ridden journey.

Since starting with Rachael, Bruno has truly bloomed into a wonderful horse. While he did take time to retrain, Rachael and Bruno have certainly established a partnership between themselves that helps with their competition pursuits. Bruno has won several Champions in the Show Horse arena, and was the winning Standardbred at Bunbury’s Show Jumping Series in 2024. Rachael hopes to get back into jumping with Bruno and even plans to venture towards eventing.

There’s nothing a good Standardbred can’t do with guidance and support from their riders. Bruno is just one wonderful example of this, with versatility in dressage, show jumping, show horse and eventually, eventing!

Thank you Rachael for sharing Bruno’s story with us. We look forward to following along with his off the track career.