FAHEY PROFILE ISSUE 44_Jerkins feature.qxd 16/12/2013 12:58 Page 2
PETER FAHEY
PETER FAHEY Going the extra mile Balancing the care of owners with their horses could very well be the hardest part of a trainer’s routine, but it says a lot about Peter Fahey from the outset that this interview is conducted very late at night in racing terms, particularly with an earlier-than-usual start beckoning in the morning, as Peter and wife Ber head off to the sales in the UK and to oversee Sunday Serenade’s run at Cheltenham.
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HE late appointment has been thoughtfully planned so that both Peter and Ber can provide their undivided attention, although a quick interruption by the phone assures them that Sunday Serenade has arrived safely ahead of them and eaten up, necessitating a second call, this time to the promising mare’s enthusiastic owner, Michael Moloney. It’s clear that Peter Fahey has time for everyone except, quite possibly, himself, although sitting relaxed with his young family, even that tricky act of time juggling seems to have been successfully achieved. Ber is only just home from an evening as Scout Leader at the troop attended by six-year-old daughter Kate. Conor, aged two, is currently being tended by Aisling, the nanny who ensures long race day absences and trips to the sales by Peter and Ber pass almost unnoticed by the children. It’s a typical lifestyle for most trainers, and Roefield Stables in the heart of the ‘Thoroughbred County’ of Kildare is fairly typical, too. Modern facilities sit alongside a private circular sand and fibre gallop, with two traditional yards home to 50 horses at any one time, many in pre-training. The horses pull out at 7am and start with a little road work, passing by four other racing yards as they loop round back to Fahey’s own gallop. What isn’t quite so usual, particularly in a ‘one-horse town’ like Cloneygath village, is that the other yards are all home to a Fahey. Peter’s brothers Paul, Seamus and Jarlath are
WORDS: LISSA OLIVER PHOTOS: CAROLINE NORRIS
successful trainers in their own right, and nephew Mark has also inherited the family talent. Does this mean there’s a wealth of family expertise to call upon, or does sibling rivalry add an extra spike? “We all operate very separately,” Peter says. “We all have different ways of doing things, but there’s definitely no rivalry. We’re always really pleased for the others when one of us does well, and we’ve all been lucky enough to each have some good horses. We all do our own thing and no one begrudges anyone anything.”
“I never really wanted to go training, but pre-training got quiet. Training was never the intention” The nurturing of young talent is one of the family traits, and Peter’s training career appropriately began with breaking and pretraining young horses, but his history goes back very much further. “The family always had a big involvement with horses, all the way along,” he recalls. “The family had a huge interest in pony racing, with my mother as secretary and my father as chairman (of the Horse and Pony Racing Association) I was always going to compete. I rode in my first pony race when I was only six, recorded my
first winner a year later and went on to be champion pony rider on a few occasions. I rode as an amateur for nine or ten years, from 1996, and I rode almost 100 winners while working for Jessica Harrington.” Ber, meanwhile, had grown up at Jessica Harrington’s, where her father, Eamonn, is head lad and looked after the great Moscow Flyer. It could be regarded as a match made in heaven and very definitely a perfect partnership, and Ber is involved at every level with the daily running of the yard. They went to America for a year as work riders, but Peter ended up serving his time as an assistant trainer to Golden Shaheen winner Big Jag’s trainer Tim Pinfield, which provided him with the basics when he returned home. Given a blank canvas – nothing more than a piece of well-situated land – the couple spent their evenings drawing out plans, “working at the table with a pencil and ruler,” as Ber says, until Roefield Stables emerged. “We had the main yard built before the house. Peter wanted the second yard built, but I thought we should wait, but when I came home from work the foundations were already laid!” The breaking yard is nearby, a separate entity to the racing yard, and both not only enjoy superb private facilities but also a close proximity to the Curragh training grounds and all they have to offer, as well as the equine swimming pool and additional gallops locally at Monasterevin. “We are very lucky to have the Curragh on our doorstep; its facilities are second to none and I use it to do our last pieces of work before a run,” Peter says.
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