The Ballarat-based trainer made a leap of faith more than 12 months ago, when he decided to "go out on his own" and start training under his own name, after years tied to Darren Weir's racing stable.

Cross met Weir as a youngster in Stawell, became an apprentice and went on to be Weir's race-day stable representative.

Weir's arrest in January 2019 sent shock waves through the industry, when police raided his Ballarat and Warrnambool stables, charging him with animal cruelty offences. The disgraced Melbourne-Cup winning trainer's case is ongoing.

Regardless of the circumstances, Cross said he was ready to train under his own name after years spent learning under Weir and Terry Kelly.

"I started my career in the horse racing industry as a jockey, with Darren Weir at Stawell," he said.

"I moved across to Ballarat when he did. I was 15-years-old at the time."

Cross was one of the leading apprentice jockeys in the country in his first year of racing but retired after weight-related issues.

"I rode for Darren for about eight or nine years and rode over 500 winners," he said.

"I eventually just got too heavy to keep riding and I struggled to keep my weight down.

"That was near on ten years ago now so it's been a while since making the transition over to training."

Cross said he "learnt a lot" during three years under Terry Kelly, before returning to Weir's stable.

He worked in Weir's pre-training barn for about 12 months, before moving back to the main barn and working on the treadmills for two years.

"I learnt a lot about the treadmills and I believe they are a really good training aid," he said.

"I was appointed race-day foreman under Darren which was a really good job.

"Unfortunately, things happen."

Cross said Weir was someone he had looked up to for nearly his whole life.

"I was about six or seven years old when I first met Darren and started hanging around at the stables in Stawell," he said.

"Back in those days he was more known as a farrier and horse-breaker rather than a trainer.

"I remember every school holidays or day off school I got, I was straight down at the stables and on the road with him.

"Even when he made the transition into Australia's leading trainer to me, he was always still just Darren Weir, the same guy I grew up with and gave me a start in the industry."

Despite having his training licence for just over 12 months, Cross only had one or two horses in work.

"I was always going to make the transition at some stage," he said.

"I had some help at the start from Darren's owners who gave me a couple of pre-trainers to help me along.

"At the moment I have four or five in the stable. Sometimes I can get up to six or seven."

Cross said he does all the work himself on his horses, from track work to race day preparations.

"I ride them all, work them myself and do all the boxes," he said.

"It works well at the moment. For one, I don't have to pay any staff just yet but it does create a lot of work for me.

"It's seven days a week, two shifts a day."

In January, Cross got his first win as a trainer with his own colours at Stawell, his hometown racetrack.

In race three at the Halls Gap Cup meet, Cross' Lucy Mac ran first by a third of a length.

"It really came together really well," he said.

"To be honest I thought she would win the start before at Penshurst. She had been really consistent in her form.

"Going to Stawell I was more hopeful than confident. She had obviously had been running really well and was given a really good ride by Jarrod Fry on that day.

"It was a bit of a fairytale where it all came together. All my family was there and all of the kids - it was a really good day."

Lucy Mac is now resting in the paddock, Cross said she will come back in three weeks to start training once more.

"I've got one horse about a month or so away to going back to the races," he said.

"It's a little bit of a quiet time at the moment in terms of race days but it's just working on the preparation you have to do to get the horses ready to get to the races.

"From the time you get the into the paddock, to the time you get them to the races generally takes about three months."

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