Shawn has been involved with horses all his life, beginning his love of horses through his involvement in the Australian rodeo scene. As a ex-rodeo champion, Shawn’s innate connection with horses has grown, becoming a horse whispering of sorts. His uncanny ability to identify and nurture talent in horses when others did not see potential has seen him produce countless country and metropolitan winners.

The son of an animal trainer for films (Graham), Mathrick is in every way an old fashioned and hardened horseman. After his rodeo days, he ­became a breeder, and the first galloper he bred was Streetfighter, who won the 2009 Newcastle Gold Cup, trained by his elder brother Terry. Shawn took over as stable foreman and learnt the trade for three years.

Having been dealing with thoroughbreds for over 17 years at the same Cranbourne property – in 2010 he established his own stable. The stock was mostly tried horses, but he managed to win in town with Our Nkwazi and turned Pepin Hoaks from a maiden to a winner of seven races. More recently Gig has been the stables flag bearer winning at Flemington and placing at Stakes level.

His philosophy in racing is simple and is centered around preparing happy and healthy horses and presenting them in races which they can win. Calling the state-of-the-art Cranbourne Training Complex home Shawn is ideally located to achieve both of these outcomes with a variety of facilities and in close proximity to a large number of racecourses. This strategy has seen Shawn be recognised as one of the up and coming trainers in Victoria boasting a solid strike-rate.