AS a trainer, I feel a key element is to place your horses where they have the best chance of winning.

Over the last two seasons, I have done particularly well with my runners at Wolverhampton, where I have had three wins with just two horses. Carvelas became my latest winner, when justifying favouritism at Dunstall Park last Saturday evening.

My first involvement in racing was as an owner, so I am very conscious of doing the best I can for the man or woman who pays the bills. I come from a background in sports horses; my father bred and sold showjumpers and eventers. I was heavily involved in breaking and pre-training young horses in my youth, while I also did a lot of hunting and some show jumping.

After finishing school, I did an Agricultural Science degree in Aberdeen University, specialising in Animal Science. As part of this course I studied breeding/genetics, nutrition, grassland management and animal physiology and animal feed chemistry - all relevant to my current work.

My brother and I decided to buy a mare to race, with a view to breeding from her. We settled on a Night Shift two-year-old named On Duty. Unfortunately the mare showed more at home than she did on the track.

We retired her to the paddocks, with the initial offspring being named Wholelotofrosie. We sold shares in the filly and formed the Backkitchen Syndicate. I broke and pre-trained the horse before sending her to be trained on the Curragh. However, the wide open spaces and bigger training establishment didn’t suit so we brought her home.

At the time I was riding out for Dick Donohoe, so we sent the filly down to him. In fairness to Dick, he allowed me do most of the work with Wholelotofrosie. After finishing second on her first start for Dick she went on to win her maiden at Galway, before just getting beat in a nursery at Listowel.

FIRST WINNER

That winter, the lads in the syndicate and some others asked me to take out a license, so after completing the trainers course, I trained Wholelotofrosie as a three-year-old. Her best run came when she got her ground at Listowel in 2013, when just beaten a neck. I trained my first winner, Wagadoogoochoochoo, at Gowran Park later that year. The win was extra special as she was owned by a group of local lads including farrier John Comerford. I actually missed my first winner, as I was away on my honeymoon at the time!

After a lean spell without a winner, Brian Mullen, who had been a member of the Backkitchen Syndicate, sent me Fairy Foxglove. That mare was placed six times from nine starts at Dundalk in 2014/15.

Having finished second twice within a week in July 2015, I was faced with another potentially frustrating winter hitting the crossbar at Dundalk.

Following discussions with Brian we decided to send her over to Wolverhampton just before Christmas as we felt it presented her with the best chance of a win. Fairy Foxglove had already won over €20,000 in placed prizemoney prior to her first victory but that elusive first success is what every owner craves.

Following a repeat win under leading amateur Simon Walker at Wolverhampton in February 2016, Fairy Foxglove finished third on her next run, after an untypically slow start. She later went on to add further wins at Naas and Dundalk, before being retired to the breeding sheds.

Nannys Well, a homebred, owned by the Murmur Partnership (my wife Diane and our friend Ray Murray), won in Listowel last year. She had been very hard on herself as a three-year-old but after changing her diet and training routine, we really saw an improvement.

Nannys Well had finished third in Killarney on her previous start and while there I got chatting to a potential client who was looking for a fun horse.

In the meantime, I heard that Carvelas was for sale, having been off 18 months with an injury. As luck would have it, I met that same man at Listowel after Nannys Well had won and we agreed to buy Carvelas.We ran at Dundalk and on his second and third starts he finished third and fourth in two solid handicaps, before disappointing on his next start. I think we probably made too much use of him on that latter occasion. We picked out a race for him at Wolverhampton last week and booked leading young apprentice Lewis Edmunds. On the night everything went to plan and Carvelas won comfortably.

STRIKE RATE

From Christmas 2015 to Christmas 2016, I had five winners and eight places from just four runners on the flat. I credit a great deal of this improvement to our new five furlong woodchip uphill gallop which was installed in 2015. My father, James, spent many long hours working on the gallops and deserves plenty credit.

I take in a few breezers each year to help pay the bills and the new gallop has been a big help in that respect. I am also very fortunate to have Paddy Dempsey involved in the yard. He comes with a wealth of experience from his time with Ted Curtin, Mick Halford and his father in law, Frank Ennis.

Local Castlecomer jockey, Andrew Ring, comes in to ride out whenever possible and his thoughts are always welcome.

All going well this year, hopefully I can increase numbers and quality of runners, resulting in more winners and an even better strike rate.

Pat Murphy was in conversation with John o’Riordan