Presentation to the Darley Flying Start Conference at Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Ireland
October 25th 2006

Alex Elliott

Rising Stars: English and Irish Trainers

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to start my presentation today by expressing our appreciation of the fantastic audience that you are providing, and the way in which the Irish racing industry and general public have ‘kick’ started our Darley Flying Start trainee program here on the Emerald Isle. It has surpassed all expectations and I believe I speak for the whole team.

When given the topic Rising Stars: English and Irish trainers, I sat back, relaxed and thought easy, I’ve spent the last ten years of my life thinking about how I am to become one of these and now all I need to do is talk for fifteen minutes about some of these most talented individuals. How difficult can it be? Then when actually considering the title in further detail, I thought firstly I need decide who to talk about, given that competition in this sphere is so spirited, and then I need to follow ten other top class presentations; panic soon sets in.

The horse racing game, is a fickle game; success lives short in the memory. You are only as good as your last result, is a term often used. To appear on top of your game I believe that you need to have statistics to show those questioning your attributes. Sir Michael Stoute and Vincent O’Brien are two men who cannot be questioned. Their results speak volumes. I believe the same applies for the trainers I have selected as rising stars.

There are many ways to define a rising star, and the world of racing is no different. For the sake of this presentation I have selected individuals who have produced results akin to these people you see before you. Sir Michael Stoute, John Oxx, Dermot Weld, Noel Meade and the recently retired Martin Pipe, and those I believe can set the bar at a new level, and will do this in a relatively rapid time frame.

The two disciplines which form racing in the UK and Ireland are Flat and National Hunt. In the UK both are hard to access in terms of becoming a trainer. In Ireland the flat industry is nigh on impossible, unless millions are pumped into you to make an impact at an early stage in your career.  The point-to-pointing field means that the transition to fully fledged trainer is made ever so slightly easier. In Ireland the majority of people within this top of echelon are not rising. Their stars are firmly in the ascendancy. This is fantastic for our current generation of racing fans, but what can the Irish punters, owners and more importantly the history books have to look forward to?

Where is the next Vincent, the next Aiden, the next genius coming from? The cynics amongst us will say who does John Magnier want to be the next genius? And they may not be far from the mark.  The elitist world of Irish racing is fantastic for the present, but from where I stand the competition may not be what it is now is fifteen years. Perhaps the sand of Dundalk will give a genius, without a bank balance, the chance to prove their worth.

Flat

A) David Wachman is a trainer who many believe will be placed in Ballydoyle when the time is acknowledged for the current maestro to move on. The position if offered will be much deserved. The foundations have been laid for a spectacular career. The CV you see before you is second to none. This for me is the outstanding young trainer which I believe this country to be producing, and I repeat, not with their aid. This is the man that will put himself on the front pages of the Fields, the Posts and Weekenders of this world.  Paul Moloney a successful jockey in England worked with Wachman when in Michael Hourigans, a place not for the faint hearted, and as a boy of 15 going racing, Paul remembers Wachman being ridiculed by older members of staff. Head in clouds, what planet is he on. Paul then told me about speaking to Wachman on one to one basis, and the ambition shone through these clouds which he was supposedly spending his life floating on. Land had been bought, plans created and future decided. Pointers were the beginning, classics the future. He said he was above these clouds, in his mind stardom was on the agenda, and that is what he is in the process of achieving.

The United Kingdom

The UK offers a far greater chance than the island that sits to its west, and this is not shown just thorough trainers, but also jockeys. The best horsemen in the world are to my mind the Irish, but this is to the UK’s enormous benefit as seen by these two gentlemen.  The two men I believe will be the next Sir Michael Stoutes, John Gosdens, Michael Jarvis’s and Sir Mark Prescotts’s, are both Irish, and the good news, for us all, is that they do not train in Ireland. I may be wrong but my gut feeling tells me they would not be where they are today if they had stuck to their roots.

Eoghan O’Neill and Kevin Ryan

B) Eoghan O’Neil was born right here in Co. Kildare. He spent time during summer breaks away from The National University of Ireland studying economics and psychology, working for Robert ‘Last Tycoon’ Collet in Chantilly. His next step was the irrepressible Sir Mark Prescott . The next step was to move onto Stanley House and under the pupilage of John Gosden,  worked as assistant. In 1997 he was nominated for the Alex Scott Memorial and on being awarded the revered placement, travelled to the States and Australia.

When taking out a license to train in Newmarket the results were there for all to see. A Group 3 winner here next door at the Curragh was a highlight of this stage of the career. Eoghan then fell out with his employer and was evicted, enough for anybody to give in. However in the winter of 04-05 John Fretwell advertised in the Racing Post for an applicant to train from his new Averham Park base. Eoghan O’Neil was given the nod over 72 others, and when going back to the topic of chances, O’Neil took it like no other. Last season he ran 169 horses, 33 won and his strike rate of 20% put him in the league that is Saeed Bin Suroor and Sir Michael Stoute. 49 runners were placed and two group twos were also bagged.

This is where Eoghan’s drive, determination and quality were rewarded. The quotes you see in front off you tell their own story. To reach the heights of the trainers I have mentioned is still in the future, but his star is certainly rising.

C) Kevin Ryan is a phenomenon amongst the training ranks of today. Money to purchase horses was and surprisingly still is limited considering this ex-jockey from Tipperary. However his record that puts all competitors firmly in the dark. On retiring from riding Kevin worked for trainer Jack Berry for seven and a half years. This began as a lad within the yard and ended up with him being head man. No backers, no bankroll, and many thought no brain. He and his wife found a yard near Thirsk in the North of England, bought eight horses and in June 1998 saddled his first runner, a month later his first winner followed and the ball began to roll. In 1999, once gain next door, in much the same way as Eoghan, Kevin produced Eastern Purple to plunder the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes. This was one of 13 winners saddled in the first full season. A tally to be doubled in the year 2000. 2002 first half century when Halmahera won Portland. 2004 Halmahera wins Portland for third year in succession and 66 winners. In 2005 his meteoric rise continued and with 39 two-year-olds in the yard, none expensive compared to those competing against, he broke into Group 1 level when Amadeus Wolf won Middle Park;  not bad for a trainer who had begun only seven years earlier. Another Group 1 followed with the now Godolphin trained Palace Episode in the Racing Post Trophy, and a Group 2 in France with Balthazar’s Gift. Most recently he produced Desert Lord, rated 88 at start of first season with Ryan, to win the Group 1 Prix d’Labbaye. On a personal level, for all this achievement, Kevin Ryan is consistently modest, driven, and pays endless tribute to those around him. Genius is a term overused in racing, not in this mans case.

National Hunt

Jumping differs; stallions and broodmares are not the be all, and end of owners lives. The pure thrill of winning is the goal. In the majority of cases money therefore is dead as soon as spent. The majority don’t invest in the National Hunt to see a return. Prize money is a bonus. Agony and ecstasy go hand in hand, not in the same way a nomination fee goes up and down. The playing field is far removed from that of the flat. Not that this bothers the ambitions of these rising stars. The position of being number one is still the main focus. Paul Nicholls is someone, much the same as Aiden O’Brien who could easily have made this list, as 13 years ago he was recovering from a broken leg and turning his thoughts to training racehorse. Now he has dethroned M C Pipe, trains the best animals in the game and is 1-5 top retain his crown. Have no doubt that he will, for he doesn’t. Failing, as with the trainers within this presentation, does not exist in the Nicholls dictionary or vocabulary. Only a fear of the word is the closest they come to allowing it near them.

 

C) Colm Murphy has shot to stardom in an extremely short space of time. At thirty one he has achieved what the majority of trainers twice his age have not, by producing a horse to win to championship races at the Cheltenham Festival. Born in Wexford, Murphy, the son of a farmer, began a degree course, which he believed was to be ‘insurance for the future’. I doubt he will need it. The accountancy course proved invaluable when upon joining Aiden O’Brien at Piltown not only was he stable amateur, but secretary, accountant and book keeper, something known to be a critical aspect of training horses.

After a year at Ballydoyle when Aiden moved, he longed for a return to the National Hunt game and decided to spend a year with Charlie Swan to gain a second insight of the training of horses. When crunch time came, and a career was due to be carved, Murphy moved home to Wexford and the farm of his parents. Here he began to train pointers for local farmers, and as the phrase goes one thing led to another. Brave Inca was purchased for a mere €14,000 and Fethard Lady Ir£900.

The exploits of his now Champion Hurdler Brave Inca, but also the Accordion mare, Feathered Lady are what fairy tales are made of. At Christmas time last year Murphy, in the infancy that was his training career, had first and second favourites for the Champion Hurdle in the March. Only one arrived at the tapes on the opening day of the festival but there was only going to be one result, with Brave Inca winning under a power packed McCoy ride.

D) Paul Nolan last year finished fourth in the Irish National Hunt trainers list. Only ten years earlier he had been ruing what may have been when injury prevented him from becoming a top class sportsman. A move to Australia had been contemplated, only for finding the lure of hurling too great, and sticking to his native land.

Jim Bolger has made too many a racing personality to list. O’Brien and McCoy are the two present record breakers to stand out. With Nolan, Jim Bolger could easily have thought he had maybe his biggest task of all on his hands. Going to the renowned maker, and breaker of men, with no previous experience of the equine variety would to many be brave, many would say brain-dead, many would say downright kamikaze. But that is what Paul Nolan did, and this is what he believes makes him the success he is today. He has created a career for himself from nothing. When a dream is cruelly taken away from you, self pity is the easiest option, not for people like Nolan. Bouncing back to the success to which they are accustomed is the only thought on their mind.

E) Evan Williams, aka the Welsh wizard. A former top point to point rider and livestock farmer, whose way of life, not just career was, along with thousands of others, taken from him when foot and mouth hit the UK. Much in the same way as Nolan, Williams needed a new way to keep the wolf from the door. Training racehorses was, maybe ludicrously the way he felt this task could be best achieved and achieve he has.

Setting off on this perilous journey, Evan has rapidly become renowned for improving horses many other trainers struggled to win with. Not just ‘bad’ trainers I must add. Evan Williams now has his sights set on making a mark in the much more high-profile winter sphere, where the rewards are far greater and injuries, although still heartbreaking, not quite as regular. Last seasons tally of 56 winners, may well be doubled this year, as high profile owners such as Sir Robert Ogden and Philip Green pay for the services of this wizard. Two new stable barns signal the intent, and the ambitious young trainer’s momentum is being more than maintained.

F) Alan King was born 20 miles from the Scottish racecourse, Hamilton. Training racehorses was a childhood dream that he is now achieving in no uncertain terms. The son of a farmer with no family racing connection, King spent a year with John Wilson at Ayr and after travelled to the Cotswolds on a six-month secondment to David Nicholson. He stayed 15 years. Nicholson was to King, what Hern was to Tregoning.

When the ‘Duke’ retired King stayed at Jackdaws for a six month period before his enforced eviction. He moved with a depleted string to Barbury where he rented the yard. Foot and Mouth hit King hard, and if not for the support of the bed rock of owners that King had impressed so much when working with the ‘Duke’ an abdication could have been in the offing. Then disaster struck again and the landlord at Barbury put the estate on the market. King was on his uppers and without the help of his friend and financer Nigel Bunter would not have reached the heights that this year saw his clinch a Cheltenham Festival double, amongst a host of other top class success’s.

Paul Nicholls has tipped King as his heir apparent. However the introduction of a flat string at Barbury and recent, quality results with horses such as Levera and the Paul Nicholls owned Beverly Hill Billy who’s to say that National Hunt is where this multi-talented individual’s future lies?

Conclusion

Training racehorses is not the glamorous lifestyle many believe it to posses. A chance in racing is something which you mainly only get one sniff at. If it goes, the next one may or may not visit your way again. They need to be grabbed, used and never turned away.

The trainers I have chosen for this presentation are those who I believe set themselves apart from the rest by taking even the smallest of chances and then focus on rising above previous levels set. To better themselves, their horses and their impression on the minds of others is what they live for. Results are the be all and end all. The top is not what they dream of, but what they honestly, deep down know they will achieve. They all know they want the top, as they have seen what its like at the bottom. Talking the talk does not exist to these phenomenon’s, the results at the races are all that matter.

Their luck is made by their perfectionist attitude, which is clearly outlined in this quote from South African trainer, Mike de Kock, on the maestro you see in the backgrounds. “The way Aiden tacks up, the way instructs jockeys. Nothing is left to chance, to luck”.

Luck, I was once told, is the meeting of preparation and opportunity. I personally have spent the last ten years thinking about building, preparing and achieving. Opportunity is something I look forward to seizing with vengeance.

 

Click here for a complete list of Oct 2006 Keaden Hotel, Ireland assignments