ADO McGuinness looking forward to the breeze-up sales next spring, having enjoyed great success with his purchases at those ready-to-run auctions in 2023.

“We bought five at the breeze-ups this year. Four of them won and the other was sold out of a barrier trial,” the North Co Dublin trainer reported.

McGuinness was recently crowned champion trainer for the Dundalk winter season with 20 winners and he is close to completing the construction of a new 40-box barn at his premises in Lusk.

“It has taken 18 months to build the new yard as I am doing it myself. It’s at the back of my house which is at the bottom of one gallop. We still have 40 in the old yard but they will all move to the new yard eventually.”

The trainer says he has close to a dozen two-year-olds for the new season and is on the lookout for more. “We will be shopping at the breeze-ups,” he said. “Tiger Belle, Rush Queen and Orderofthephoenix came from the breeze-ups this year and they all won.”

Bought for £70,000, Tiger Belle was arguably the stable star this year, winning her maiden and a listed race before landing a Group 3 at ParisLongchamp and taking her connections to the Breeders’ Cup. She has since been sold to stay in America.

McGuinness is best known for his ability to win premier handicaps with horses acquired from other yards. Saltonstall is perhaps the best example, bought for 44,000gns in 2018 and the winner of seven races since then, having run 61 times in the past five seasons.

The trainer said: “It was great that ‘Salty’ won a premier handicap at the Curragh in November – he deserved that after being raised in the handicap for finishing second in the Irish Lincolnshire back in March. We’ll aim him at the Lincoln again next year and he will try to win back his crown at Galway [he won the Colm Quinn BMW Mile in 2020], but he won’t run too often.”

McGuinness added: “It’s hard to replace a horse like that. You’d have to pay a lot more nowadays for that sort of horse, because of competition from the Middle Eastern buyers.”

Success

Although the yard has enjoyed success in Dubai and Qatar in recent years, they don’t expect to have runners there in early 2024. “Real Appeal is our only possible runner. He finished fourth in a valuable Group 2 in Qatar last February and we are pushing him to get back there. Our top horse Go Atheltico will stay at home.”

Chairman of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, McGuinness remains a huge fan of Dundalk Stadium and the opportunities it provides for smaller trainers.

“If Dundalk was not there I probably wouldn’t be training horses, and there are a whole lot more like me,” he said. “If you had to close your doors from November to March when the turf flat season ends you would struggle to keep staff and you wouldn’t be able to stay in business.

“Dundalk is a very important part of the industry. It’s a showcase for two-year-olds and three-year-olds who run in maidens, and it is so important for those owners and trainers with low-grade handicappers.”

McGuinness received a €1,500 prize as leading trainer at Dundalk this winter and he divided the money between Irish Injured Jockeys (€1,000) and the Graham Lee fund (€500). He said: “Watching jump racing in tough conditions this week, those jockeys don’t get paid enough.”