Chris Dwyer hoping Dark Side is a dream final runner at Chelmsford

Chris Dwyer will send out his final runner as a licenced trainer at Chelmsford on Thursday evening, with Dark Side Dream (5.45) bidding to end the 70-year-old's career on a high.

Dwyer, whose wife Shelley is the agent for three-time champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa, first began training in 1990, although a few years' gap then followed until he resumed in 1995.

Since then he has operated from many sites around Newmarket, and he is currently based at Brickfields Stud off Exning Road.

Sunnier climes await this winter, as Dwyer said on Wednesday: "I've given it a good go and I'm pleased to be calling it a day – I just want to have a break. We'll have three months in Spain and then Shelley will come back and get stuck in booking rides for Silvestre."

Chelmsford: the scene of Dwyer's last career runnerCredit: Alan Crowhurst

On whether Chelmsford regular Dark Side Dream can provide a fitting finale, the trainer added: "He won't be far away. He's in good form and always gives a good account of himself. We're going there hopeful."

Dwyer will still be involved in racing, managing horses for his existing owners, with his team to be dispersed primarily among Amy Murphy, Charlie Wallis and Nick Littmoden, who is taking over the yard next month.

Dwyer has had 26 winners this year, six short of his highest tally of 32 in 2016.

Reflecting on his career highlights, Dwyer singled out Mia's Boy and Cyrano's Lad, having trained and ridden the latter to victory at Newmarket in 1995.

"We've had some great days. We got Cyrano's Lad as a six-year-old and he'd started out in bumpers," Dwyer said. "They claimed that he wanted three miles on soft ground but he finished fourth in the Nunthorpe and won a Listed race for us. He was a very good horse."

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