IT was refreshing to be at Conor O’Dwyer’s yard on the Curragh on Monday morning, and find a man enthused and invigorated, ready to pivot as necessary but anxious most of all to let the world know that he is open for business.

The man who won two Gold Cups and two Champion Hurdles as a jockey, turns 60 next year, and he nodded with a smile when a member of the press pack noted that as most of his best years in the saddle came in the latter period, so perhaps the same can apply as a licensed trainer.

O’Dwyer is certainly going about it the right way, having installed a two-furlong round gallop with deep Wexford sand – what else, for a proud son of the Model County – so that he can take in horses to pre-train without having to charge for the use of the Curragh training facilities, if necessary.

It is a clever move, as there are few pre-trainers around here, with the Curragh fees an impediment. Having a gallop of your own, as well as the dozen or so paddocks to turn horses out on, is a considerable advantage.

This is not the type of investment one makes when winding down or devoid of hope or appetite. Or when the expectation that past glories will keep the lights on. O’Dwyer has no truck with the notion that he is owed anything, or that his struggles are anybody’s fault. You have to find your space within the firmament.

Hence this is a calculated gamble, in the desire to fill Rossmore with racehorses in the next 12 months but if not, to offer proven capacity and magnificent facilities to help in the breaking and pre-training of young stock.

As has ever been the case, his wife Audrey is there to support, and having their son Charlie – currently sporting a moonboot after breaking his ankle in a fall in Limerick – as stable jockey, and a passionate and round-the-clock contributor to the cause, only adds to the motivation.

Resilience

They have certainly proven their resilience and not just in surviving the slings and arrows of the business, economic uncertainty and the loss of star horses such as Battle It Out to a rare blood cancer among them.

Four years ago next month, Audrey suffered a brain aneurysm and after seven months in hospital, has made gradual, at times painstaking progress. And now, in the stables before work and in the kitchen after, she is hale and hearty, cracking jokes and telling yarns. Apart from the odd memory lapse that frustrates her, she is ready to put her shoulder to the wheel once again too, having been the key cog in dealing with owners, setting up syndicates and anything else that happens away from the gallops.

“The new gallop is brilliant for pre-training and since we put it in we’ve had winners off it too, including Solsbury Hill,” O’Dwyer said over a coffee and some delicious fresh scones.

“Getting horses in to train became harder and harder and we couldn’t take in pre-trainers previously because of the Curragh fees so we said we’d have to bite the bullet and put in a gallop.

“I’d prefer to fill the barn with horses to train but the way things have gone we have to do something to try and keep everything afloat. It’s about getting horses’ heads over doors and see what we can make of it.

“Most people want to be with the Willies, the Henry de Bromheads or Gavins. That’s just the way life is, and you just have to change with it and try and do something to make it work. They weren’t handed it either, they’ve made their way and you have to make your own way.”

Boutique operation

There is an attraction to running a boutique operation as one of his owners in attendance, Hugo Kane happily attested to. Kane and his wife, Anne are around a lot.

“I feel a lot of owners just end up going to the races to see their horse,” O’Dwyer commented. “It shouldn’t be what it’s about. They should be coming and enjoying the horse here. It’s a dear commodity, they should be getting the most out of it type of thing.

“And we love people coming. And Audrey’s kind of back in the game now, and she’s brilliant at the social end.

“I don’t want 50 horses. I really don’t. We like to be personal with horses. And then that applies to owners as well. The chances are that you’ll always have the time for them if they drop down.”

So the message is clear. If people thought with Audrey being ill, Conor O’Dwyer had drifted away, nothing could be further from the truth.

“We’re not going to lie down anyway. It was a lot of money and it is a gamble putting in the gallop but hopefully it’s one that will pay off.

“There is no such things as retirement in this game. Kevin Prendergast was 90-odd and was still first man on the Curragh every morning. You are always pushing on to keep going.”