TOOMEY ON TUESDAY: My first blog ….

This is my first blog for Star Sports and I look forward to keeping you all updated with the yard’s runners and how I’m getting on in my first full season as a trainer writes BRIAN TOOMEY.

🔸 Bowstridge Farm

We’ve been up and running for five months or so and the yard is fantastic. Everyone who has come to see it has been very impressed, from our owners like Harry Redknapp, to jockeys like Oisin Murphy and James Reveley. It’s a beautiful yard in a great location and we hope the results will start to do the talking in the months to come so that more people will come to visit.

As a new trainer, it can be tough as it’s very full on. Your days are set and you answer to the elements. I haven’t been very lucky with the weather since I started, as it’s been a very wet few months. In a new place you’re always figuring out how things work and coming up with new ideas daily, so it’s a fact-finding mission for a while.

Sadly, a few of the winners I have had have been past people’s bedtimes, so they don’t feature in any of the next day’s papers, but people close to me know how hard we’ve worked and where I’ve come from in my personal journey in the sport. I’m still motivated, though, and I’m lucky to be training for the owners I am. The support has been amazing.

🔸 The Stable

🏇 Wake Up Harry was my first runner as well as my first winner as a trainer. He lost his way a bit with his last trainer but has had a decent run of form since joining us. He’s won twice and placed twice in the five runs I have had him. I hope there’s more to come, though, as these have all been on the all-weather, but he could prove well handicapped on the turf throughout the summer. We’re planning on getting a run into him on the 29th with Callum Shepherd on board if he’s available as those two get on very well with each other. Of course, this is one of Harry Redknapp’s horses, he’s been amazing to me. We’ve got a great relationship and so far he’s been very pleased with what I’ve done.

🏇 Valadero is a nice horse who we’re running at Yarmouth in the 3.10pm at Yarmouth on Tuesday ? . He’s got a nice pedigree and was second in the Brocklesby last year. He’s a big, tall and lean horse and I’d say his career probably got going a lot quicker than most and continued at a lot of speed for the size of horse he is – he’s still filling out his frame. I think there’s a lot of fun to be had with him when he’s bigger, although he already looks like he’s strengthening up all the time. We’re stepping him up in trip on Tuesday, so if we get that right, he could be a very fun horse for the future.

We bought 🏇 Classic Speed from Clive Cox and he looks to have a fantastic pedigree – his half-sister Was won the Epsom Oaks. He was an expensive yearling and I bought him at the Horses-in-Training sale for £6,000. Everyone thought he was a mile-and-a-half horse, and he’s been bred for that, but he won for me over a mile very impressively with Oisin Murphy on board. I think there’s a lot more to come from him. He’s taken a while to come to hand but we’re looking forward to seeing him improve in the future.

🏇 Flag Carrier ran very well for us at Newmarket last week, running a lot better than his finishing position suggests. Callum Shepherd was on board and said to me that he felt like the winner two to three furlongs out but just didn’t see out the trip, so we’re aiming to drop him back at some point. We know he’s got a big engine, so we’ve got to hope that we get the trip right.

🏇 Inanna has had some good form throughout her career and against her own sex, is very capable of winning off her current mark. She won on debut at Haydock under her previous trainer but we’ve only had her for one run so it’ll be a case of finding the right race for her.

We’ve also got 🏇 Last Crusader who has some good form, I just hope I can rejuvenate him. It’d be nice to get him back to winning ways and get a first in the formbook for his owners if possible. He’s a nice horse who still has plenty of enthusiasm, so we hope he’s still got the engine to match.

🔸 Stefano Cherchi

The news really hit me hard when I found out about Stefano. His girlfriend Brittany Fallon got in touch when he was in hospital over in Australia and my thoughts go out to her and all of his family and friends. He was a big character and was very talented at what he did, it is a huge loss for the sport.

My story has been told a lot over the past 10 years and it’s crazy to think about what I went through and what my family did as a result of my injuries. I managed to recover and I haven’t really looked back at how lucky I was. It’s probably gone over my head how close I was to what happened to poor Stefano.

BRIAN