Jay Bellamy finds his way at Beaudesert

By Glenn Davis

Working on solar farms was never the right fit for Beaudesert trainer Jay Bellamy.

Bellamy had previously carved out a successful career in harness racing before he quit and worked his way from being a labourer to a mechanical supervisor on several country solar farms.

“I worked on five solar farms for several years, but I missed training horses, so I gave it away and started training again at the Gold Coast,” Bellamy said.

“I was missing the horses too much while on the solar farms and I wasn’t happy.”

After rolling the dice to train thoroughbreds, Bellamy believes he’s now landed on his feet.

He moved to Beaudesert six months ago to train for one of his owners, Reg Flannery, who runs a building company in Newcastle.

Flannery, who lives on the Gold Coast, bought and developed a large property two years ago, now known as Victoria Park.

“It’s a 178-acre property with 22 boxes, 30 paddocks, a swimming pool, treadmill, sand roll and water walker,” Bellamy said.

“There’s enough room for around 40 spellers as well and, while I train for Reg, I can still train for other clients.”

Bellamy is loving the new lifestyle.

In his harness racing career, Bellamy started driving at the age of 16 before turning his hand to training two years later.

He won over 500 races as well as driving in numerous Group 1s.

In the 2025-26 gallops season, Bellamy boasts a strike-rate of 11.7% with 11 wins from 95 starters.

The Beaudesert-based Bellamy will head to Kilcoy on Tuesday with just one runner, Grand Crusader, in the Benchmark 65 Handicap over 1200 metres.

Grand Crusader was aimed for the Battle of the Bush Final at Eagle Farm, but just failed to qualify after finishing third to Peshwa in a qualifier at Cunnamulla on June 6.

“He only needed to run second and he would have been my first runner in the Battle of the Bush,” Bellamy said.

“This will be his last run before he goes for a spell and I think he can go out a winner. 

"His last run was massive and if he leads, I think he’ll win.”