Dual Gold Cup-winning jockey turned trainer on why life is more difficult than ever for small Irish yards

A shrill alarm interrupted dual Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey turned trainer Conor O’Dwyer as he spoke to a huddle of journalists at his compact Curragh training base.

“Don’t mind that, it’s the alarm for entries – and I have nothing to enter,” O’Dwyer said with a smile.

O'Dwyer, whose highlights in the saddle included success in the Champion Hurdle on Hardy Eustace (twice), and the Gold Cup on Imperial Call and War Of Attrition, was speaking about Irish racing's increasingly difficult landscape for smaller jumps trainers, as owners continue to gravitate toward big-name handlers such as Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott.

He has just 12 or 13 horses for the season, a number the 59-year-old says is simply unsustainable.

“We’re down in numbers and getting horses in to train has got harder," he said. "You need a minimum of 20 to make it pay. 

“Most people want to be with Willie Mullins, the Gavin Cromwells, the Henry de Bromheads, it's just the way life is. They weren’t handed it, they made their own way, so you just have to find your own way of doing things.”

Conor O'Dwyer with War Of Attrition following his 2006 Gold Cup winCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

When O’Dwyer started training in 2007, things looked very different.

“I had 34 here and another ten at Christy Roche’s at one stage,” he recalled. “Then, all of a sudden, after the recession and foot and mouth, the syndicates were gone and it never really got back to the way it was.”

Every trainer needs a good horse to put them in the spotlight, and O’Dwyer was sure he found one in the JP McManus-owned Battle It Out. The seven-year-old bolted up by 13 lengths in a handicap chase at Naas in February last year under O’Dwyer’s son Charlie, and signed off last season with victory at Fairyhouse. However, devastating news was waiting on the other end of the phone after the horse was sent to the vet for what was thought to be pneumonia. Tests revealed he had cancer.

“We were just absolutely floored, we really were,” said O’Dwyer. “For every reason. I need a good horse, Charlie needs a good one. You want them to propel you a little bit. You spend so much time with them as well. He'd been here since he was a four-year-old – you get attached to them. It was like being hit by a bus.”

Conor O'Dwyer with Teenage Kiss at his Friarstown baseCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The Wexford-born man stresses the importance of his wife, Audrey, to the operation. A shocking bolt from the blue came four years ago when she fell seriously ill, but she is now back in good health and O’Dwyer said her recovery has given him the drive to reinvest in their yard.

They have recently installed a new two-furlong gallop, allowing them to pre-train horses and fill more of their stables, something many Curragh trainers cannot do as the cost of using the public gallops makes it economically unviable. Still, O’Dwyer insists that training winners remains his true ambition.

“It’s always been the two of us,” he said. “Audrey is brilliant at the social aspect of things like getting in owners and putting syndicates together. Things were gradually slipping away. Eventually, we sat down and said, 'Something needs to be done, or it’s going to be gone.'

“We’re getting a second chance now. We’re not going to lie down. We put in the gallop to attract pre-trainers but we don’t want to go down that route; I’d far prefer to fill the barn with horses to train. 

"Still, with the way things have gone, we have to do something to keep everything afloat. You never know, when you get horses in, you might hold on to a few of them. I'm optimistic, and hopefully this can give us the boost we need."

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