Trainer on the Up issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:29 Page 2
England in 1963, a feat he repeated in 1964 and 1965. This is a truly brilliant achievement for someone who started out with very little.
What piece of training equipment could you not live without? My mobile phone and Wi-Fi are invaluable and owners are kept up to date regardless of whether I have to tell them good or bad news.
What is the main quality in a horse you look for when buying? The main qualities I like to see in a horse are scope and strength. You need a good physical constitution to work with.
Looking at genetic traits and temperament, who is your most reliable stallion at the moment? It is hardly original, but the obvious answer is fill your yard full of Galileo’s. Galileo is one of the highest ranked sires to date not only for winning three Gr1’s himself but having the likes of Frankel winning all of his 14 starts including 10 Gr1 races, who could refuse a yard full of his progeny!
What is your favourite racecourse? That would have to be The Curragh, it is right on my doorstep and probably the best track in the world.
What is your proudest training achievement? I trained Coral Wave to win both a group and a listed race at the Curragh
as a two-year-old. She was due to run in The Moyglare that season however the ground turned up too fast for her, so I persuaded her owner that we shouldn’t run and subsequently that call proved to be right. She needed a dig in the ground and I felt she wouldn’t have let herself down that day had she ran. She developed into a high-class filly later that year which was a very satisfying result and within a month, she had won her two stakes races. Sugar Boy’s win in a very competitive Gr3 Derby trial at Sandown last year was also hugely satisfying.
Does technology feature in your training regime? Yes, very much so. You never stop learning in this game so you have to keep up with everything that will give you an edge over your peers. When I took over the yard I invested in a weighing scales and a walker. We do our own blood tests and we also use heart monitors. Of course, we have the internet so no matter what part of the world my clients are in, I can keep in contact with them.
What do you do to go that extra mile with regards to your horses’ wellbeing? I have a small yard and my father and I both live here, so between the two of us there is a 24-hour presence each day. I can detect a cough and a sneeze and I know if they are carrying a bug before the vet gets here. I also use a very good product called Transvite that I get here locally from TRI on the Curragh. I find it a terrific help with my horses digestive system. n
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