A hard man to please but easy to respect

My passion for daydreaming would make anyone's job as my mentor quite difficult and I don't suppose my vice went unnoticed by Luca, so he will be surprised to see I have chosen him.

It was my mother, who is Henry Candy's sister, who taught me hard work, horse sense and the fear of God, and I'd be nowhere as a trainer without her lessons. Nearly four years with Jonathan Pease in France was also useful to me but it was Luca who opened my eyes to organisational skills and troubleshooting.

I spent two years with Luca, taking over from Christophe Clement as assistant, which was a hard act to follow. I was there when Barathea won the Irish 2,000 Guineas but had left before he won the Breeders' Cup Mile as I went to Ed Dunlop for a couple of years after the death of Alex Scott.