'Financially, I didn't have much choice' - Mick Quinn quits training ranks

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Former Premier League footballer Mick Quinn has called time on his 25-year career as a trainer to "come up for air" after his string was reduced to just two horses over Christmas.

The ex-striker-turned-trainer has given notice at the barn he rents at Rae Guest’s yard on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket, but is not ruling out a return to the training ranks in the future if things pick up.

The 59-year-old has held a licence since 1997 when he started out in Lambourn and has trained nearly 200 winners since, having his joint-best seasons in 2005 and 2008 when he recorded 15 wins.

He also won four Listed races with the prolific Angus Newz, with three of those Pattern successes coming in 2006.

Mick Quinn career details

More recently, Quinn and his main owner Kenny Bruce combined to win a Listed mares' novice hurdle at Newbury in November 2020 with Pink Sheets.

The former Portsmouth, Newcastle and Coventry striker is stepping down to concentrate on his media work, which includes pundit roles for Sky Sports and Talksport, and also hopes his after-dinner speaking work will pick up now Covid-19 restrictions have been relaxed.

Quinn said: "For the last two years we’d been down on numbers due to Covid mainly. We had six or seven last year but most of them were moved on at the end of the year and we were left with just my own two.

"Financially, that didn’t leave me with much choice than to step back from training, come up for air and try and earn some money doing something else."

Mick Quinn (centre) has enjoyed 42 years in professional sport and was a prolific strikerCredit: John Hoy

He added: "I was funding it myself for most of last year and my main man Kenny Bruce wanted to move his horses on, so I was left with no choice really."

Bruce made his money from the property site Purple Bricks and owns Larne FC, who play in the NIFL Premiership in Northern Ireland.

Quinn added: "Kenny may well come back in at some point and maybe I could train or manage them but that is a bit further down the line at the moment."

Quinn is looking forward to having a few months off, which he hopes to spend with his family in his home city of Liverpool.

He said: "I’ve been in professional sport since I left school 42 years ago. I love racing and I'm passionate about it, but I was left with no choice with just two horses.

"They’ve since been moved to the Northern Racing College where hopefully they can be of some use to the industry."

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