'I almost gave myself a heart attack!' - trainer reveals raw emotion of first winner

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A County Waterford-based trainer has spoken about the raw emotion of sending out his first winner and how he almost gave himself a heart attack trying to keep up with the horse in question the whole way up the home straight at Wexford on Saturday. 

Paddy Kiely sent out 17-2 shot Dromana Mist to land the opening maiden hurdle under 7lb claimer Dylan Whelan. It might not have looked a life-changing race on paper, given it was confined to horses who had never finished in the first four, but it was a landmark moment for the 41-year-old Stradbally native who trained her. 

"It means the world to me, absolutely everything," said Kiely. "I left school after my inter-cert and started to work with Joe Crowley when I was only a teenager. Frances [trainer, daughter of Joe Crowley] was starting out that time. 

"I'm actually a qualified block-layer but my passion has always been horses. That's where I get my buzz and, by God, it was some buzz on Saturday. I'm not joking you, I nearly gave myself a heart attack. I galloped down alongside the horse up the straight from the weighing room the whole way to the winning post. I nearly collapsed!

"My mouth was stuck together when Johnny Ward interviewed me afterwards on Racing TV. I was absolutely knackered and I couldn't get the words to leave my mouth at all, I was in an awful state. People have no idea how much it means to me. It's my whole world."

Kiely really fancied Dromana Mist, and said: "I thought she was a good thing once the race didn't come too soon after her run at Cork.

"There were only six days between the two races but we had to run her at Cork to get her qualified for that race at Wexford. It was already on my mind when she ran at Cork and she ran well for a long way there. 

"We brought her away to Boulta for a gallop one day when she was very young and did things she shouldn't have been able to do. I knew she was a smart filly from very early on and hopefully she'll go on to win more races."

Kiely was a hugely talented Gaelic footballer and won umpteen county club championships where he played at midfield alongside the legendary Michael 'Brick' Walsh.

Paddy Kiely played alongside Irish hurler and Gaelic footballer Michael 'Brick' Walsh Credit: Sportsfile via Getty Images

"I played for Stradbally for a long time and we won so much. I played soccer for Stradbally, too, and won plenty but, I'll tell you something, nothing compares to the feeling I got last Saturday when that filly won at Wexford. Nothing even comes close. I've never had a buzz like it in my life."

Kiely took out his training licence last year. "My two kids are teenagers now, one of them is in first year and the other is doing the Leaving Cert, so I said it was the right time to give it a go. We've had a few point-to-point winners but we've always had to sell our better horses. 

"We sold a lovely horse to Aubrey McMahon called Dinner Dance [now with Gordon Elliott], who won a point for us in Aghabullogue. She's a lovely mare, while we had a horse called Lion Of The Desert who we sold and he has won two in a row for Grace Harris. 

"We'll be able to keep Dromana Mist though, as I know everyone who owns her wants to keep her so we should have good fun with her. 

"I absolutely love what I do and if we can make the whole thing work over the next few years that would be magic. We only started out with one horse, then we had two, then we started doing a bit of breaking and pre-training so the whole thing has taken off from there and long may it continue!"

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