Hobby strikes a winning formula on the race track

Lowe has run Northern Rivers horse racing syndication business Viva Racing for five years.

It was during the pandemic where the 42-year-old went all in on the business after starting the brand slowly with friends and family.

His passion for horse racing started as a kid when he would ride horses at his grandparents property in Old Bonalbo.

He became savvy on the betting side of the horse racing through his grandfather on the other side of the family who was a keen punter.

Lowe put those skills into practice as a teenager during his final years at Richmond River High School.

"When I was at school we set up a little syndicate with about 20 of us who threw in a bit of money each week," he said.

"When we got to $10,000 we bought our first horse and it went on to win three races.

"That's basically where the love of it came from.

"Whenever it was Lismore Cup day we would be out there ducking weaving trying to avoid the teachers."

Lowe has 50 horses in the business with a strong footprint among trainers and owners in south-east Queensland and Northern NSW.

They enjoyed success when five-year-old gelding Derry Grove won a feature race at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Carnival in January.

Tribeca Star won the $150,000 country qualifier at Grafton on February 17 and will run in the $1 million final at Randwick in April.

Lowe said Neil Jenkinson has done a big job with the bloodstock work and helping them pick the right horses.

"We've got horses and owners all over the country and the business is running really well," Lowe said.

"Not every horse is going to be a champion, but most of our horses win races and we try to give them every opportunity on the track.

"We're doing a lot of our own breeding now, so it's a pretty busy business right across the board now.

"I was always interested in sport and a number of different areas. Running a horse racing business is really an extension of what I was doing."

Lowe graduated from Southern Cross University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Sports Tourism Management.

After a stint in Brisbane working for Keith Prowse Sport and Entertainment Travel, he came home to work with REX Airlines and Lismore City Council.

He worked as tourism and events manager at council for just over 15 years.

Before COVID-19 disrupted his working life, he was part of bringing major sport events to Lismore including AFL, A-league, NRL, Super Rugby and international cricket.

There were also numerous state and national baseball events as well as a rare appearance from the Barbarians rugby union team in 2017 - that was "pretty special".

The International Cricket Council East-Asia Pacific Twenty20 Mens tournament was played in 2014.

Lowe said the council "was certainly a good grounding for me", highlighting bringing the A-League to town.

"We had relationships with the Melbourne Heart who became Melbourne City.

"When they were purchased by Manchester City they had three trial games that year. One was in Lisbon, one was in London and the other was in Lismore so those kinds of things were rewarding.

"Events that weren't being hosted in any other regional city in Australia were the ones that stood out."