CONFIDENCE is a crucial element in any racehorse’s make up, something One Cool Poet proved beyond doubt last week.

Having arrived at Galway with just the one previous success to his name, he entered the history books in winning three times within the space of five days.

I am adamant that getting his head in front on the Tuesday night proved to be the catalyst for what was to follow for the remainder of the week.

Good fortune was certainly smiling on us from the outset, as we had initially intended to run the horse over hurdles on the Monday. However, after he was balloted out of that intended engagement, we altered our plans and rerouted the gelding to a flat handicap the following evening. Following that win, he was 17th on the ballot for a handicap on Saturday, so we decided to take a chance and run on the Thursday, just in case he failed to get in at the weekend.

As luck would have it, One Cool Poet won again on his second outing and just scraped into the Saturday race. By that stage, he was chasing a place in history, something that gave our small operation huge satisfaction.

Job done

To be honest, I was more nervous prior to that latter race than any of the others, as the publicity and hype he had generated was hard to get away from. Thankfully, he got the job done again, with the excellent Billy Lee once more timing his run to perfection.

My own interest in racing stems from my father, who has been a lifelong racegoer. Along with my uncles, he has had horses in training for a number of years.

Originally from Cavan, he had moved to Dublin by the time I was born. We moved down to Co Meath when I was in my early teens. However, dad still had a farm in Cavan, where the racehorses would go when they weren’t in training. It was there that I got my first introduction to horses. I learned how to ride and hunt when we moved to the Royal County.

After leaving school, I initially worked in the buildings for a number of years, before the recession hit and I was forced to find alternative employment.

I started working with John Carr, before moving on to spend periods with Robbie Hennessy and Michael Mulvaney. While with Robbie[Hennessy, we bought both Rawnaq and Gretsky, two horses who would later give me a great start to my own training career. I obtained a restricted licence while still employed by Michael, so worked mornings with him, then looked after my own string.

Gretzky provided me with my first winner as a trainer when successful at Dundalk. He later went on to add a further four wins to his tally, something many of our horses have become known for.

For whatever reason, our horses seem to improve with racing and I have had horses rack up multiple wins over the years.

On the map

Rawnaq, the horse that really put me on the map as a handler, won six times for me [including three in a row], while Warnaq, Winter Lion, Prince Garyantle, Bective Cave and Ronald Pump were all winners on more than one occasion.

At one point, I had believed that One Cool Poet could have been the best I ever trained but until last week he had left me rather frustrated. The horse impressed me in his initial work but then suffered a serious tendon injury and was off the track for almost two years.

When he did finally make it to the racecourse, he had a habit of finding at least one or two too good. So, when it all finally came together for the horse last Tuesday at Galway, I have little hesitation in saying it was the greatest satisfaction I have gotten from a winner. From then on, everything he achieved was a bonus, albeit a nice one!

I firmly believe that once he learned how to win, One Cool Poet was just able to go out and show what he was really capable of.

His handicap mark has risen to 91 after those exploits, so we have it in mind to step him up in class on Champions Weekend. He certainly deserves to take his chance at this stage. In the longer term, he has the option of going back over hurdles where he has quite an attractive mark.

As we are only a small operation, last week was quite a bit deal for us. To have a horse capable of entering the history books was a proud moment, while the publicity it brought just couldn’t be bought.

Like every yard, we need to be constantly adding new blood, as previous winners will eventually reach the the height of their abilities or be sold on. It is important that we keep build and expanding the business, moving forward in order to stay competitive.

We have 31 boxes in the yard right now, with 20 of those filled. So, we have plenty of room if anyone out there wants to send us a nice horse.