THERE can’t be many trainers in better form at the moment than Tim Doyle.

Based in Moyne near Thurles, Tim has had 11 winners on the flat this season and four under National Hunt rules, all from very few runners. Four of his first five runners in October won and tomorrow at Naas he runs stable star Simply Sideways in a listed race, the filly having risen in the handicap from 59 to 89 since the end of July.

We asked Tim to let us in on the secret of his success. “I can’t pinpoint any one thing,” he said. “We haven’t changed a whole lot. The horses are just healthier this year after a bad spell. They are taking their work much better.”

The Doyle yard is a family-run operation, Tim and his wife Claire assisted by daughters Niamh and Cora, while son David has ridden his first three winners recently. “David is only 17 and rides out before going to school,” reported Tim. “He’s doing the Leaving Certificate this year and the racing is proving a bit of a distraction.”

Most of the Doyle winners are homebred. “We got into breeding in a more serious way about 10 years ago and that is coming to fruition now. It’s half and half between flat and jumps, so we don’t need to go to the sales. We breed to race and everything is for sale. A lot are sold privately though we have entered a couple for some upcoming public auctions.”

Simply Sideways is a homebred and what an achievement it would be if she could get blacktype at Naas on Sunday. “If the rain comes in time she has a chance of getting placed,” Tim reckons. “She has just thrived this year, turned inside-out. We won a listed race many moons ago in Germany and we’ve had a few placed in group races but to win a listed race here would be great.”