FOLLOWING on from an initial learning period in the early months of the year, I have been really pleased with how my first full season as a licensed trainer has gone. To date I have sent out six winners, including a double at Hamilton at the end of last month. Hopefully we can build from here and continue to develop over the coming years.

My background is in sport horses; my dad was a vet and always had horses at home. He rode for my uncle Seamus, whose daughter Marion (Hughes) went on to compete internationally for Ireland. I learned how to ride at home, as it was all home schooled in those days.

I competed throughout my teenage years, right up until the age of 18. Although it was mainly in national competitions, I enjoyed some success and made plenty of good friends along the way. After leaving school, I went to Coolmore, spending a couple of years between their operations in Ireland and the US.

I worked with broodmares throughout my time in Coolmore. Working at Longfields (USA) was a fantastic experience as it is a wonderful facility. David Wachman spent some time training out of there before he started up back home in Ireland.

Manager

My next role after Coolmore, was as manager of Ballylinch Stud, a position I held for 17 years. I was under the general manager, John O’Connor, reporting directly to him. At the outset I worked in many different areas but was eventually given the responsibility of looking after the yearlings. Latterly I also managed the day to day running of the operation, under the watchful eye of John (O’Connor).

When the time came for me to branch out on my own, luck would have it that Jimmy Long was doing likewise at the same time. He moved all his own stock over to his farm and employed me to look after his bloodstock interests.

Broodmares

Jimmy (Long) has his own broodmares here at the farm and breeds his own stock. At one time, he had horses with a number of different trainers but latterly decided to employ a private handler. Pat Shanahan, who had been doing the pre-training before I started, was tasked with the job of training the horses. Pat (Shanahan) spent five or six years in that role until moving on to work at Ballylinch in late 2018.

During those years, I looked after the mares and foals, as well as the pre-training of the racehorses. It had always been Jimmy’s intention for me to step into the training role once Pat (Shanahan) vacated but firstly I had to acquire my licence. Robbie Osborne came on board for a season, training the string while I shadowed him in preparation for taking over. Then, in late 2018, I was granted a licence and had two runners towards the very end of the year.

Learning

By my own admission, 2019 was slow to get going, as I was still very much on a learning curve when it came to training. Thankfully, by mid season things began to pick up and we have had six winners in the latter half of the campaign. With another 17/18 horses having placed during that time, I am satisfied with how everything is progressing.

By design, we run most of our horses in Scotland, as Jimmy (Long) is a Glaswegian who likes to see his horses race. He is based in Dubai for the winter but comes home every summer, so we tend to plan our campaign around that time. Rather than him having to fly back and forth to Ireland all the time, it just makes more sense for us to come to him.

At the present time, we have eight two-year-olds and six older horses in full training. We have run four of the juveniles this season and might get another couple out before the end of the year. As a private training operation, we try to keep the numbers down, as the aim is to concentrate on quality over quantity. Ideally, we would love to have no more than 10-12 horses in training each season. Jimmy (Long) oversees everything at Thistle Bloodstock and is an excellent judge of pedigrees and form. It is all “in house” here, as we breed, foal and race all our own stock.

Andrew Hughes was in conversation with John O’Riordan.