CRANBOURNE's David Chapman considers his racehorses as athletes. Every morning, all year round, the third-generation trainer begins work on the horses at Caulfield Racing Track before the crack of dawn, placing him in a class of his own.

Chapman is one of 22 trainers who work the 600 horses housed at Caulfield Racing Track.

He has developed many first-class winners, including Solchow, Cendrillon, Watney and Gossiper, but this year has the Melbourne Cup race in his sights.

"But competition is fierce. You have 180 horses entered to race on those Spring carnival days but only eight people leave the track happy.

"It's great to get a good horse, to train it to its full potential. That's the challenge in this business."

"You go where the horses can win the race. We travel country racing fixtures, but country racing is also competitive, where horses are classed and graded."

Chapman said the best part of the business was the horses.

"They are magnificent, intelligent and perceptive, all different personalities. We get them as two-year-olds and have them for three years, which is the average length of time for a racehorse, but they can race up to seven years old.

"I've trained temperamental horses, but never been hurt by one. You must be careful of all of them. They are a big, strong animal - 550kilograms of pure muscle, but they do respond to you, even when they don't want to do something.

"The thing is you've got to understand your horses. Sometimes a horse will surprise you. You can get a slow track worker who will spark up on a race. They are competitive and just do well trying to get in front. But horses need to be developed to give their best performance."

Chapman started training when he was 18, when he became foreman for his father, Kel Chapman, a trainer since 1955.

He said the major change in racing was the decline in attendances at Saturday races.

"They are running horses without an audience but the turnover in betting has increased while the tracks are ghost towns.