Red hot: McCain flying high with five straight winners after difficult year

Donald McCain expressed delight at his thriving yard's upturn in fortunes after the trainer enjoyed a fifth straight winner in a 24-hour period.

Takingitallin and Ink Master prevailed at Newton Abbot on Wednesday following a Bangor treble on Tuesday, taking McCain's tally to six winners from ten runners in June and already providing his highest yield since December – just five days into the month.

"It's just grand," said McCain. "It's especially nice to have winners at Bangor. We didn't arrive with great expectations but we thought we had a few each-way chances and it was good to get the winners on the board."

McCain's Bankhouse Stables hit the headlines on February 7 when positive equine flu tests for three of the yard's horses proved the catalyst for a six-day racing shutdown.

McCain, who only sent out five runners in February, has gradually built things back up and was praised by the BHA for the rapidity in which he reported those findings.

The trainer's team seems to have grown stronger as a consequence of the outbreak and reflecting on those events, he said: "It was clearly a big situation, but we've had bigger, and that probably helped us. We had a handful of horses who weren't 100 per cent but it was manageable.

"We just had to get out the other side and with great support from those associated with the yard and the industry we've come away stronger.

"The winter was tough but it was tough on everyone with the ground being quite dry for the time of year. All you can do is keep going. We have some grand horses and a good team who are pulling in the right direction. We continue to have a great bunch of owners, so hopefully that's a sign of things to come."

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