Fahey extols white rose county as Ribchester continues to bloom

You don't have to sound like Michael Parkinson to speak up for Yorkshire - and Richard Fahey does it with the zeal of a convert.

Go Racing In Yorkshire has a summer festival to promote and charming general manager Emma White and TV star chairman John 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Sexton are ready to talk a good talk.

Yet as the media gather in a sunny corner of God's own county just off the A64 in Malton, they can remain happily silent as a formidable part of the region's Irish diaspora holds forth with a conviction that would makes Geoffrey Boycott sound unsure of himself.

"Yorkshire racing is the envy of the racing world," says Fahey, who's had enough runners in France, Dubai and even the south of England to know of what he speaks.

"They do a fantastic job up here. They promote it unbelievably well and all you have to do is go to any Yorkshire track and see how many people are there. I'm sure the southern tracks would envy the position that Yorkshire racing has got.

"Yorkshire racing has got one advantage – there are a lot of people up here who love racing and are very knowledgable about it. I wouldn't throw stones at other tracks but you don't tend to feel that at some tracks you go to but Yorkshire people are very racing orientated."

Putting runs on the board

He speaks from a position of strength as he surveys the set up at Musley Bank, 230 acres that have been transformed in the past two decades and now churn out centuries (of winners) as prolifically as 'Boycs' did in his prime, albeit with rather more panache and rather less propensity for running other trainers out.

Not that Fahey reckons the success he, Mark Johnston, Kevin Ryan, David O'Meara and many others have enjoyed have bridged the north-south divide.

"Most of the trainers in the north work very hard at it but when we go to the sales, we are the poor relation," he says. "Money doesn't guarantee it but it definitely helps to buy quality horses, there are plenty of horses that we've liked that we couldn't afford.

"Most of the big money is based in the Far East and we don't have any orders from any of the far eastern owners."

Which is probably their loss as Fahey 'made a good living' from buying and selling horses after he gave up life as a jump jockey, in the days when 'I didn't particularly want to be a trainer'.

And 2,000-plus winners later he says: "I do feel that's helped me, if you don't buy the right material it doesn't matter how good or bad a trainer you are if the horses don't go fast.

"We're always looking for value for money and when you are spending you own money you learn that."

Quite a bargain

The €105,000 that Ribchester cost three years ago has certainly turned out to be value, as the colt has already put £1.9 million in the bank and is odds-on to land a fourth Group 1 victory in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

He clearly thrives on the Yorkshire air and his lungs will still be full of it next year if the trainer has his way.

Fahey is happy to suggest to Godolphin that the Lockinge and Queen Anne winner will be even better at five and says: "I genuinely think he would be stronger with how he has matured in the last six months. If he does that during the winter he could be a serious horse - well he is a serious horse!"

That serious horse seemed in a remarkably happy mood as he posed serenely for photos earlier, while the trainer was in the background hosing down the yard and the horses.

Employing 75 staff but doing a job himself, and making sure it's done right? Perhaps Fahey is a Yorkshireman after all . . .

The Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival starts at Ripon on Saturday, July 22 and runs through to Pontefract on Sunday, July 30.

Ripon Saturday card

Redcar Sunday card