AFTER serious injury cut his riding career short, Paul Kiely set up a breaking and pre-training yard outside Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

While breaking and pre-training are the operation’s bread and butter, Kiely also has a small number of horses in training and trained his first winner at Borris House back in 2014.

Inchiquin High was responsible for getting him off the mark as a trainer and, after winning another three point-to-points, landed a mares’ bumper in Wexford, in turn, winning an all-important Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies’ Bonus. That, and her later sale, was a notable victory for her small yard, who continue to focus on fillies with their track horses today.

Fast forward to June 2025, and Kiely’s latest winner was Nashville Notions, who also carried the colours of his father, Richard, an important cog in the wheel of the family business. The five-year-old daughter of Milan justified strong market support in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Sligo, which came as little surprise to her trainer.

“She was actually after showing a good bit of form,” Kiely reflected. “She was third in a really good point-to-point at Boulta one day and all around her won, but she kind of met an unlucky streak after that. So, we did fancy her, to be honest. Her homework was good.”

That’s not to say his confidence didn’t flounder during the race, though. “She didn’t get the most ideal start; she got pushed back and I thought, Jesus, another hard luck story again today. But no, she got a great ride from Liam [Quinlan] and it worked out, it was mighty.”

Securing another Weatherbys ITBA Bonus worth €7,500 really added to the victory, Kiely says: “It was massive. It’s like winning two races really, isn’t it? It’s the same money-wise. I think it’s a massive incentive.

Bonus in effect

“It’s obviously working, too. You can see yourself; the fillies’ races are after getting massively competitive, and there’s way bigger fields.”

Nashville Notions earned a two-week break after Sligo and is now back at work, with the aim of a mares’ handicap hurdle over the summer. Kiely hopes that, after adding to her CV, she might find a future in the paddocks.

“We are always looking for a nice filly, maybe with a nice pedigree that would maybe turn into a broodmare down the line,” he explains.

“She ticks a good few of those boxes; she’s by a decent sire, she has a decent pedigree herself and, maybe if she could notch up a couple of wins, we’d like to think that she would be valuable as a broodmare down the line.

“To be honest, we’re kind of a selling yard - we would have sold her if the point-to-points worked out. We always put the fillies into the scheme, even though we’re selling them, because I think it makes them more attractive to someone buying them.

“On the other side too, when it didn’t work out point-to-pointing, we had the option to go to the track. I just think if you have a filly in training, and you haven’t paid a couple of hundred quid to put her into the scheme, it’s kind of madness, really.”

Fillies make up the majority of Kiely’s training string at the moment, he adds. “To be honest, we don’t have the budget for those fancy three-year-old geldings, so we lean more towards a nicely-bred filly to sell on, that’s our main goal.

Changing times

“At one time, fillies were a lot harder work to sell, which obviously made it easier for me to buy them. Now, when a nice filly comes into the sales ring, by a good sire, with a decent pedigree, there are loads of lads there to buy them.

“When I started out, a lot of breeders wouldn’t even bring those fillies to the sales; they’d try selling at home. But now, they’re going to the sales and they’re making plenty.”

Kiely’s background gave him a good understanding of training fillies, who require an individual approach, he believes. “I spent a long time working for John Kiely, and I always thought he had a great one-liner about fillies; ‘You can tell a gelding, you’ve to ask a filly’.

“I always follow that. You can’t really force a filly into doing something, you kind of have to get inside their head a little bit. I think it’s just a little trickier to get the key to them, but when you do, you can get a great run out of them.”

Kiely installed a walker, two-furlong gallop, all-weather turnout paddock and sand arena, complete with a schooling hurdle and fence, at Hunters Lodge Stables, but also avails of the surrounding area for a bit of variety, he explains.

“In one way, we’re probably a little old fashioned. We do a little bit of road work with them before we start galloping them and such.

“I just think it’s better in the long run. I think you get more longevity out of them when you do that. I know it’s a bit slower, maybe get to the racetrack, but when you get them there, I think they last a bit longer, in my view.

“We are surrounded by forestry here, so we go up the woods, too, and go to the beach the odd day. We change it up a lot; I think it just keeps them level-headed, keeps them sweet and keeps them enjoying their job.”