Dundalk could yield even more winners

Last Monday was a career highlight for me, and a good day at the office for my whole team here at Glenburnie. We went to the extra meeting at Dundalk and had a fantastic four-timer, the first at the same track of my career. Things have been going well for me at the Louth track since it opened for business last August (2007) and with the weather we have endured this year, I can honestly say that if it was not for the polytrack, then I would be out of business as I just would not be able to run my horses. Anyway, I must say, I literally floated home on Monday night, as I could scarcely believe what had just happened. Achak winning the two-year-old maiden under a strong Johnny Murtagh drive and getting up on the line by a shot-head kicked-off the night. Running around a lot and very green up the straight this lad has next year written all over him, but when these close finishes go your way you know your luck is in. Turk and Kinetic Quest added to their recent successes. Emmet McNamara"s victory on Kinetic Quest kept him in touch in the race for the apprentice title, which is hotting up into a great contest. Ashka winning her maiden by an easy four lengths was particularly pleasing as her owner has been a great sport all year. Ashka is his first horse and he has taken defeat over the season very well and deserved this overdue success. I believe Ashka will get better with age as she is well related and I hope she will win again this term. People are asking questions as to why my horses are winning so regularly at Dundalk and I believe it is very straightforward - I have horses that suit the races. If a race doesn"t suit my horse then I can"t win it - can I? So as long as the races suit my horses I will run them and hopefully have success. It is as simple as that. Last Friday and Saturday are typical examples of that as I tried (in vain) to manufacture horses for certain races just to have runners, rather like trying to fit square pegs into round holes! Success brings its own problems and coming home without a winner left a hollow empty feeling, not one I enjoy. It is very easy to get down and agitated when things don"t go your way, but as a wise old pal said to me - 'If we need winners to keep us happy there will be lots of bad days, keep smiling!' That just puts it all into perspective for me and while I will never change from being so competitive, it is very important to be grateful for the good days as there are plenty more bad days. Recently I told you to follow the stable of John Oxx as I knew he had a very good team to run. True to form he had a good weekend with three winners and he is introducing some nice two-year-olds just now. The filly Dabeina which won the seven furlong median auction maiden on Saturday is potentially very smart and when you see John run nice maidens like this at Dundalk you know the track is going in the right direction. The two-year-old colt and geldings race on Friday evening won by Aidan O"Brien"s Age Of Aquarius is another example of a potentially top class maiden. I ran a very smart sort here (Initiation) as did a couple of other guys and I think loads of winners will come out of this race. The moving of the flat races from Listowel proved a very popular move within the industry and by all accounts the all jumps cards down at the Kerry track was a huge success. I read during the week that one of our most respected journalists felt this may not be a good idea in the future but I couldn"t disagree with him more! We are in a different era now and the sooner people realise it the better and stop thinking that what worked 50 years ago works now, it doesn"t and cant. It is blatantly obvious to any one that National Hunt racing is the first love of the majority of Irish race goers and no matter how you dress up a flat card it will never compete with a jumping card. The 27,000 that showed up last week at the Kerry National meeting are testament to that. Most professionals (if not all) will tell you that the time has come for race cards to be dedicated to one code or the other on any given day and that the day for mixed meetings is gone. Racecourses will tell you that they need jump racing to enhance a flat card to attract people through the turnstiles, that view, in my opinion is redundant and an old argument that needs putting to bed. People will get used to separate cards just like they have done in Britain and the money the racetracks are getting from television should be enough to open their gates regardless of what is on. From a professional point of view, unless the track has two separate tracks (one for jumping and one for flat racing), which most do not, then they cannot cater for both codes at once, it just cannot be done. From the point of view of jockeys, instead of going racing for three races they could go for a full card and make the day much more economically viable. The same could be said for trainers as in my case I would have more of a chance of filling my box for a flat card than sending the box away for just one or two races thus making it a more cost-effective day on the owner. The authorities need to keep moving with the times and help the professionals to run their business in as viable a way as possible, if they do that the whole industry will benefit and not just a small section who are guaranteed a wage regardless. Tattersalls yearling sales are on this week, which is always a very busy week and also a very important week for next season as this is where it all begins. If I buy right this week and over the whole sales season, then the next couple of seasons will be successful, if I don"t then it wont, so no pressure!! Racing is quiet enough for me this week until the weekend. We will have some runners at Dundalk on Friday evening with Fiery Lad due to continue his successful season. He will hopefully run in the Diamond Stakes (listed race) over his favourite course and distance, but it is a big step up in class as he started the season off a mark of 64 and he is now rated 107! Classic winning trainer Rafe Beckett has told me that he intends sending one over for this so it promises to be a competitive affair. I may run Dohasa and Elletelle next weekend at Ascot (depending on the ground) in the John Guest Diadem stakes (Group 2) or at Great Leighs for a valuable conditions race. Hopefully, Dundalk will start to cater for the higher-grade horse in the future as there are very few races for them just now and the fast ground horse like Summit Surge (109) has nowhere to go which is a shame. As the last few summers have demonstrated, our climate is changing and it is important to have races for fast ground horses on the polytrack as they are struggling to get their conditions on the turf. I think I have covered a range of things this week and I hope I have given you some food for thought? There is more to being a trainer than just looking good! Don"t you think? Visit the Ger Lyons website: www.gerlyons.ie