A reconnection between two friends led to a new racehorse training facility in Cambridge.

Josh King and Maija Vance had a transtasman long distance relationship, resulting in Josh moving to New Zealand to be with Maija in January 2024. The couple then followed their dreams and set up Josh King Maija Vance Racing.

Josh comes from a horse training family in Australia. His mum, Norma King, and step-dad, Michael Hicks, were racehorse trainers. He started trials as a jockey at the age of 14 and racing at 15.

“I struggled with my weight when I was 19 and worked in the mines for a while before returning to riding for a couple of years and finally giving up when I was 25,” Josh says.

“I worked as a foreman for a trainer on a stud in Toowoomba and in 2022 one of our horses won the Caufield Cup, and another was placed second in the Melbourne Cup.

Josh says he became a private trainer and had a few winners in Brisbane and other areas.

“I was getting known as a trainer over there,” he says.

The property has 32 stables with outdoor areas. Photo / Catherine Fry

Maija’s dad, Bob Vance, was a leading jockey in New Zealand, and her mum, Jenny Moller, was a leading jockey in Sweden. The pair met in Macau and lived there until Maija was 5, when the family returned New Zealand to train race horses.

“I decided I wanted to be a jockey when I was 14. My parents tried to stop me as it’s quite a brutal job for girls, it’s dangerous and the dieting is a huge issue,” Maija says.

“I flat raced for 13 years, doing well in Australia for five of them. I was struggling with my weight and came back to Cambridge and moved to hurdles as the weight allowances are higher.”

The day everything changed

On September 16, 2018, Maija’s ride misjudged the take off at a hurdle and somersaulted on landing, falling on Maija. Her ride survived unscathed, but Maija had eight spinal fractures, 13 rib fractures, both lungs punctured and other serious injuries, including a T8 spinal cord injury which left her paralysed and facing the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

“It was three months before I could even sit comfortably in a wheelchair. I spent hours in physio each day and doing extra exercises until one day I was able to move my toe. This gave me hope and I put my whole focus on moving.”

Maija feels fortunate that her brain is able to send messages to her lower body to move. This has allowed her to regain enough control to live independently and walk and ride again.

Before she was even out of the wheelchair, Maija was back in the saddle riding Panda, her quiet, gentle palomino paint horse. He was an important part of her recovery.

After a serious racing accident 2018, Maija Vance has fought her way back to follow her dreams. Photo / Catherine Fry

Around the same time, Maija started Tik Tok and Instagram accounts. Throughout Covid-19 and the lockdowns, she entertained the world with the antics of Panda and his brother Slim Shady, horse-themed memes and comedy horse skits, amassing 1.1 million followers across social media.

A joint venture

When Josh joined Maija in January 2024, he intended to take 12 months off to do some trackwork.

“Then an owner who knew my past work asked me to train their horse. Maija and I leased paddocks and stables from Sally House in Cambridge, who Maija had ridden for previously,” says Josh.

Sally’s property was on the market, and Maija says it got to the stage when she and Josh had 10 horses and if the property had sold it would have been hard to move, so they decided to buy the property themselves.

The hard-working and driven couple now own 22 large paddocks, 32 stables and a four-bedroom house on a flat, well-fenced 6-ha block.

“We manage 10 client horses and our own racehorse between us, including trackwork and race days,” says Maija.

Other income streams include a flatmate, renting out stables and paddocks, Josh doing trackwork for trainer Stephen Marsh and Maija’s income from social media.

“Our future plans include a swimming pool for horses, a large arena and a new horse walker. These would all make the property more attractive to people to have their horses with us.”

Social media plays a part in their joint venture and Josh says he’s embraced the concept. The racehorse owners get to see footage from a helmet cam, their horses playing in the paddocks, snippets of their horse’s day to day life and behind-the-scenes videos.

Josh and Maija with Panda and Slim Shady. Photo / Catherine Fry

“We found the owners really enjoy following their horses on a daily basis,” says Maija. “Our horses are turned out in the paddocks all day.”

Josh and Maija are very grateful to Kelvin and Michelle Daly who helped them with setting up the business side of their venture.