Ballantyne's potential life after footy

1 year ago

Fremantle forward Hayden Ballantyne may well be looking to follow in his father's footsteps once he decides to hang up his boots.

Ballantyne's father Graeme is a well-established thoroughbred trainer in Western Australia, with the highlight of his career occurring in 2013 when he won the Group 2 Perth Cup with outsider Talent Show, which was part-owned by Hayden and then-teammate Nick Suban.

On Monday, 168-game veteran Hayden sent his first runner, Starza Lola, to the trials (at Lark Hill).

Four-year-old mare Starza Lola finished second in the 950-metre trial, beaten less than two lengths.

"She started her career with us and she's still stabled with us while he finishes his football," Graeme Ballantyne told SEN.com.au.

"Hayden didn’t actually come to the trials because he had footy training, so we took her.

"She went pretty good, it was only a maiden.

"One of Hayden's mates owns the horse, so he's going to have a go with her."

Graeme said he thinks his son will be keen to turn his hand to training when he retires, but on a small scale.

"I don't think he will have as many horses as we have, I reckon he may just have a few horses to start with. I don’t think he's going to go into it full-on," Graeme said.

According to Graeme, Hayden toyed with the idea of pursuing a career as a jockey.

"He used to ride work for me before he went to school and before he went to work," he added.

"When Fremantle picked him up, the first thing they said was 'no more riding, it's too dangerous'."

On potentially forging a career as a jockey, Graeme said Hayden was "probably always going to become a little bit too heavy, so I talked him out of it".

Hayden was taken by the Dockers with pick 21 in the 2008 National Draft and made his debut against Collingwood in Round 13, 2009.

The 31-year-old has kicked 253 goals and was All-Australian in 2014.

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