There’s an old adage, something about ’only a stupid man believes he cannot continue learning’ – well, it goes something like that!

Working on that proviso, Lee Curtis is far from being a stupid man!

Although he has been in the racehorse training caper for more than two decades, Lee is wise enough to know that he still isn’t smart enough.

He is always seeking information - listening, watching, learning – forever striving to sniff out the ‘good oil’ which he believes can make him into an even better trainer.

An even better trainer? Lee is adamant there is still ample room for improvement in his skills-base despite the remarkable achievements he has already forged since taking out his trainer’s licence in 1994.

Over the past dozen years he has been fortunate enough to put the polish on two champions – Mistegic and Private Steer – train over 100 winners and his charges amass nearly $2.5 million in prizemoney.

Mistegic really put Lee Curtis on the training map during an illustrious career in which he raced 32 times for 6 wins and 15 placings at the highest level and amassed $1.68 million in prizemoney.

He won the Group One AJC The Galaxy and notched other victories in the San Domenico Stakes, Schillacci Stakes and Schweppes Stakes while he was placed in races such as the VRC Lightning Stakes, Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap.

Prince Of Play was a topclass racehorse which had the misfortune to come up against two absolute topliners in Lohnro and Viscount, finishing second behind both superstars – his performances kept the Curtis name in the limelight.

Volcanic Mist, owned in the Curtis family interests, was runner-up in a Widden Stakes and won once in just five outings before being retired to stud, where she has met with outstanding success.

She is the dam of Mistegic and Rightson, a highly promising sprinter just beginning to make his name with the stable.

Roadworthy kick-started Lee’s training career in spectacular fashion back in ’94.

Only 12 days after being issued with his licence, Roadworthy, one of only two horses in his Canterbury stables, was first to greet the judge at Kembla.

“We snapped up as much as 33/1 and then I backed him up a few weeks later on his home track and he got the bikkies after they bet 15/1,” Lee said.

“I thought, ‘how easy’s this’ but of course it couldn’t last and over the next few years I learned that racing definitely has it’s up and downs.”

A definite ‘down time’ for Lee was when, just as his embryonic career was beginning to blossom, the Sydney Turf Club, in 1997, decided to close Canterbury Racetrack as a training facility, forcing all oncourse trainers to relocate – some simply gave the game away.

Lee was forced to stable his small team at his home and float them to Rosehill for track gallops.

During that period -1997 until 2000 when he was eventually able to move into his state-of-the-art stables at the Rosehill Racecourse Training Complex - his training career ‘marked time’.

“I suppose you could call them the ‘lost years’ – it was really impossible to train that way and my career virtually stagnated until we moved here,” Lee said.

Lee quickly got into his stride after the relocation to Rosehill and the winners and successes began to flow.

He worked in a variety of jobs for various lesser-known trainers, always learning and increasing his knowledge as he moved from stablehand to strapper to foreman.

“It would have been nice to have worked with the likes of (Bart) Cummings and (Tommy) Smith and progressed up the ladder in a highly successful stable – and that’s not in no way to denigrate those from whom I learned my trade,” Lee said.

“But I learnt what I could but I was also developing my own ideas about training and just couldn’t wait until I thought I was ready to go out on my own.

He was ready to graduate in 1997 but for Lee Curtis, racing school is never out – he wakes every morning and fully believes that sometime in the day ahead, he will learn something which will be of benefit to himself, his owners and their horses.