Ger Lyons looking forward to new flat season

Meath Chronicle sports editor spoke to top flat trainer Ger Lyons in this week's edition ahead of the start of the 2018 flat season which gets underway at Naas on Sunday.

See also the excellent video produced by Jack Lyons (Ger's son) JACK LYONS MEDIA

It's about 20 miles, or 32 kilometres in new currency, from Clane to Kiltale, but for Ger Lyons the journey was a little bit longer as it took him via the USA and the UK.

Growing up in Clane close to the legendary trainer Peter McCreery, it was always likely that horses would feature on the radar.

A stint in the USA was followed by a successful spell in the UK as a jump jockey until injury intervened almost 30 years ago.

He married wife Lynne in 1992 and set up base in Kiltale where, some 25 years later, he provided the ammunition for the flat racing story of the year in 2017.

That was a story that was almost unnoticed outside of the tight-knit racing community, but it was an epic. 

Lyons provided the ammunition for young Trim jockey Colin Keane to win the Irish Flat title for the first time.

That was a significant achievement for both trainer and jockey and the target now for 2018 is to find some improvement.

Nevertheless, last year was a mixture of highs and lows for the straight-talking Lyons who took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to the Meath Chronicle ahead of the start of the new flat season at Naas this weekend.

“It was a funny year, one of my best pals was John Shortt and he passed away in 2017 following a battle with cancer,” he explained.

“My wife Lynne was also diagnosed with cancer last year, thankfully 12 months on from that she is now clear.

“It was a shock for me and for our children Kerri and Jack, when she told me, but she also told me to make sure I train plenty of winners and keep busy while she dealt with the cancer.

“That was a plan, as far as I was concerned, and if I have a plan I'm in a good place, otherwise I would be struggling.

“We are 26 years married this month, we both pulled up our sleeves and worked on what we had to do, what we had to achieve.

“Myself and Lynne have been here in Kiltale since 1992 and still regarded as blow ins, but this place is heaven to me, you can't get me out of here sometimes

“When we arrived, we had just purchased 60 acres, what do we need all that land for we wondererd, now I could use another 60 acres along with it.

“It suits me that I'm in a place like Kiltale, away from the more traditional flat racing hubs like the Curragh.

“I said to Lynne when we were ready to start that whatever we do it has to be perfect although I would never have claimed to be a perfectionist.

“Things have to be done a certain way, the right way, I wouldn't be able to settle for anything less,” he explained.

However, the transition from national hunt jockey in the UK to top Irish flat trainer is not the norm, but after a short time talking to Ger Lyons it is evident that something like that, what is or is not the norm, is not a major obstacle.

“I was a jump jockey and when I gave that up the natural progression was into training, that's what you do in those circumstances,” he said.

“I had to give it up when I was only 26, it was shocking, it was horrible, I'd safely say it took me 10 years to get over it, that might sound strange now.

“I was always regarded as an English jockey, I was never regarded as Irish.

“Many people in racing actually thought I was English.

“I totally understand what professional athletes go through when they have to give up the game, when it's taken away from you it's a shock, it's an amputation, as I said, it actually took me years to get over it.

“I got a few national hunt horses to start with and took it from there, but when I handed in my jockey's licence I was lost because all I ever wanted to do was be a jockey.

“My attitude towards the new training venture was probably a bit more regimented as I was coming from an English perspective.

“By that I mean that I was less prepared to adopt the 'it'll be grand' type of attitude.

“My gallops had to be the best, my horsewalker had to be the best, my attitude was along the lines of when I get the yard completed to my satisfaction the Sheiks' are going to come into it - and they have.

“That was my attitude starting out as a new trainer a quarter of a century ago.

“I wanted things done properly, that's just my way and it works for me, then Juddmonte arrived this year,” he added.

COLIN KEANE

There was an early realisation last year that an opportunity was there for his retained jockey, Colin Keane, to make a serious bid for the title.

“Early last year I saw that we had an opportunity to help Colin win the title, I totally focused on that and while Colin won the title, by the end of the year I was completely drained by the effort that went into it,” he said.

“For Colin to win the title was a huge achievement. 

“I can't emphasise that enough, the reception in Naas on the last day of the season was tremendous.

“Colin came to me about five years ago, he works very hard, he will be in here first in the morning and he goes to his dad's (Gerry) when he is finished here and helps out, he is a hard worker 

“I also realise that we got the bounce of the ball last year, we were lucky that Pat Smullen wasn't firing on all cylinders and yet, even with that, Pat ran Colin to the last week of the season for the title.

“If Pat is firing properly this year then it will be difficult for us to beat him, I can accept that, but we will give it a good go.

“Colin's success last year, that was a fantastic achievement for Colin and for me as well, but one thing that irked me was when the question was posed regularly - where will he go now?

“Without being crude, but where the f... do you think he is going to go?

“There is only one job in Ireland for him that's bigger than what he has at the moment and that's Ballydoyle (Aidan O'Brien).

“If Colin is offered that I'll drive him down there myself.”

LOOKING FORWARD

After all the highs and lows, on and off the track, in 2017, Lyons is looking forward to the new season and is totally focused on the challenges that will have to be tackled.

There is a designated wall in the main office at Glenburnie where a photograph of each winner is displayed and at the moment it is blank.

“That wall is blank at the moment, there is a reason for that, it's where all our winners go, on the 31st December last there was over 80 winners there, photographs from Pat Healy Racing,” he stated.

“The longer that remains blank once we start again, that will be a reminder for me that I'm failing, that's the drive for me, to get that wall covered again.

“March is the time when I ask questions of myself, just to make sure that I won't get complacent, it's all about the next winner, that's what drives me on.

“For me to play at the level I'm playing at, competing with top men like Aidan (O'Brien), Jim (Bolger), Dermot (Weld), I have to swim 10 times harder and faster just to stay in the game.

“At the moment I'm just coming to the end of the time-out zone, that period from the end of November to mid-March when the flat has ended, with the exception of Dundalk.

“My immediate target, that’s easy, I have to get into the zone again.

“Last year we had one of the best ratios of winners-to-runners, but Aidan O'Brien is the best in world at what he does and the rest of us have to raise our game.

“When I gave up training jumpers I was told by many top national hunt men that I couldn't do it (compete against the top flat men) but I was determined to get away from training jumpers for a number of reasons.

“There was the injuries, there was the time element as well, like give me a national hunt horse and maybe after waiting for four or five years he'll be ready to go. 

“Or, I'll be ringing the owner to tell him his horse has a leg or a wind issue or just needs a bit more time, I couldn't deal with that.

“If I buy a batch of yearlings, say last year, well, I'll have a fair idea about them this year, they'll be having a run and by the end of next year the next crop will coming along.

“Compare that to your national hunt horse bought last year, he mightn't even be broken (riding) by next year, that doesn't sit well with me.

“Look at it this way, if I'm still not regarded as up there with the best, just imagine where I was when I made that decision to concentrate on the flat back in 2002.

“This job can be quite demanding, lots of highs, they're obvious, but lots of lows and that's what I find difficult, it's hard to deal with that, but I can get through it.

“One of the biggest problems facing the racing industry is staff, not enough staff, then there is this directive about working time and off time for staff.

“We have to deal with it, but the solution has to be balanced for the employee and the employer, it can't favour one over the other, that won't work.

“There are a lot of staff working in racing, I have 30 staff, I could do with more, but they're not out there, quality wise, and this job is hard work.

“I don't buy into this concept that it's all about the staff, they are part of the picture, but no one is forced to work in this industry, the employer has to be considered as well.

“There is a generation after growing up and a lot of them feel they are entitled to this or entitled to that, that annoys me, it irritates me no end.

“I have good staff, I want to say that forcefully, I can delegate and that's important, but it's only possible if you have good people working for you and I have very good people working for me.

“In the office, in the yard, people I can rely on and all that is very important.

“I can cater for up to 90 horses and I could take more, but I didn't start with that number, I had to work at it for the last 25 years to get it to this level.

“But this is a tough game, it will kick you when you're down, Juddmonte have found us this year, but it took them 25 years to find Glenburnie, I'm an overnight success after 25 years.

“I made a conscious decision that if I'm getting up to feed these horses every morning, then I'm only going to feed the ones I like and the other ones will be moved on, out, I don't want a yard full of 0-65 (handicap ratings) horses.

“Some owners don't like to hear the truth, but you have to tell them the facts, if a horse is not up to it, they need to know. 

“Our profile benefited when Colin won the title, more horses were offered, but which one is any good and which one isn't, it's a numbers game and it’s a balancing act.

“I learned a lot about myself last year, I learned that if I put my head down and set targets, that I can achieve them.

“Why can't I do that every year? “That's a question I will have to answer this year,” he concluded.

VIDEO BY JACK LYONS MEDIA