Twomey Breezes On With Classic Intentions

[Wandering Eyes]

The evolution of Paddy Twomey reached a new milestone this winter when he welcomed 32 juveniles to his Athassel House Stables outside Golden in County Tipperary. The one-time breeder, pinhooker and breeze-up consignor took out a training licence in 2012 and has forged an excellent record of maiden winners from limited numbers. To illustrate his success, he ran 10 horses in 2018: seven of those won and another finished second on both starts. To illustrate the calibre of those winners, two of them hold Classic entries.

As well as training maiden winners, Twomey has created a reputation for selling them, something which has sometimes reduced the stable’s ammunition, and which the Bandon native was keen to remedy. “I suppose I know plenty of people in the business and I let it be known that this year I wanted to train in a more public fashion,” reveals Twomey. “I think that maybe there was a misconception that I was training for myself only.”

Twomey asked and they answered. His 60 stables are now busier than ever before. Along with a bumper bunch of 2-year-olds, the yard has a strong hand for this year’s 3-year-old contests, including the Classics. Decrypt (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is a prime example of the precocious form of Twomey’s stable, having finished second on debut at The Curragh on Irish Guineas weekend, with the winner Indigo Balance (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) going on to win at listed level and finish fourth in the G1 Phoenix S. Successful on his next start in June, Decrypt had Lady Kaya (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) behind him in third. The latter subsequently won her maiden by 10 lengths before taking second in the G1 Moyglare Stud S.

Decrypt, unlike many of the stable’s maiden winners, subsequently remained in his trainer’s ownership but has been unseen since June. Twomey explains, “He’s a horse that I didn’t run back after that, because he was growing and developing. He’s in a good place at the moment and we’re very happy with him, and we’re hopeful of a good season ahead.”

The trainer, however, is not tempted to try to make up for lost time. He says, “He’s rated 96 now, but I’d rather not start him in a stakes race. We’ll maybe start him off in a conditions race and go from there. He has a Guineas entry, because we think he’s talented, but we’ll see what happens.”

In the past, Twomey has himself owned the vast majority of his horses, though this was by default, rather than design. He says, “The reason that they ran in my own colours was because I didn’t have any owners to start with, and it was going to be hard to promote myself as a trainer if I’d never trained before. I wasn’t afraid to back my own judgement and I was happy to buy horses to race myself.”

His first purchases were a little different to what he has become known for training, as he acknowledges. “When I decided to start training, I began by buying some inexpensive store horses with the view to running them in bumpers. We finished first and second at the Punchestown Festival with the first bunch and we enjoyed it, but I quickly changed focus to the Flat, because that’s where my interest lies.”

U.S. owner Martin Schwartz is no stranger to buying European maiden winners, and he showed faith in Paddy Twomey when keeping Foxtrot Liv (GB) (Foxwedge {Aus}) in his care after purchasing the chestnut following her maiden success. An impressive winner of a seven-furlong maiden at The Curragh, she went on to finish second at listed and Group 3 level on her next two starts, and looks open to further progression this season.

Schwartz shares Twomey’s ambitions, as the trainer explains, “Martin Schwartz has left her with me with the plan of running her in a Guineas Trial in the spring, as she has an Irish Guineas entry, as well as a German Guineas entry. I’d imagine Martin would like to go to Royal Ascot with her, if everything fell into place. I imagine that she’ll go to Chad Brown later in her career.”

And Twomey believes that we may not yet have seen the best of his 3-year-old string. “I have some nice unraced 3-year-olds, a few of which also have Guineas entries and we’re not in the habit of making those kind of entries for no reason. Two of those entries are for nice Kodiac (GB) fillies and I’d be hoping that they’d start off in maidens in April, if everything goes according to plan.”

The addition of an owner of Schwartz’s calibre is significant at Athassel, as Twomey relates, “Martin is a good man and he has been great to train for, and we’re delighted that he’s kept the filly with us.”

Twomey also relishes the opportunity to build on his horses’ maiden successes, something he hasn’t always been able to do in the past. “Selling is an important part of the business; I wouldn’t still be doing it if I hadn’t sold the horses I have,” he says. “It is bittersweet watching them run for someone else, however; I’d rather train them on in their careers. I’d like to take horses all the way through their career and watch them fulfill their potential.”

He continues, “I had to sell them in order to fund the operation and keep the show on the road, but starting off, I was also trying to show that I could train. They were the ‘shop window’, not only for themselves, but also for their trainer.”

They have demonstrated Twomey’s expert handling of young horses in particular, and so, it comes as no surprise that this is something he enjoys, as he admits, “I get a kick out of picking out a young horse, and I get a kick out of producing a young horse. I love training young horses; it’s a balancing act–you have to do enough, but not too much. I enjoy figuring out each individual.”

It is therefore unsurprising that pre-training helped Twomey to fund his Athassel operation in the early days, though he now has just one client: William Haggas. He says, “When I started out, William was very good to me and offered to send me a few horses a long time ago. At vital stages along the way, he’s had horses here and I’ll be ever grateful to him for that. He’s the only person I pre-train for. It’s not really something I’d like to do more of, but I’ll pre-train for William as long as he wants me to.”

Another previously important source of funds for the Athassel operation was consigning at breeze-up sales, though this was never a long-term plan, according to Twomey.

“I only started to breeze horses about 12 years ago because I bought this farm and I wanted to earn money. It wasn’t something I really wanted to do, but rather that I ended up doing, as a necessity. I enjoyed the horses riding out and to be honest, I missed them in the summer when they had gone. I didn’t get any great satisfaction from getting a horse to gallop two furlongs in a fast time.”

Whether it be buying to race or resell, Twomey has consistently shown he has a terrific eye for a horse, and he particularly appreciates the freedom that buying to race brings. He explains, “I’ve found that there’s a difference between buying to resell and buying to race, because when I was pinhooking, I had to be very sire-driven. The market wanted a fashionable stallion but in what I’m doing now, I have more freedom to buy horses that I like physically, from a female family that I like. I prefer solid, proven stallions, who have slipped off the radar a little bit, but who have shown that they can get some good horses.”

Horses to have passed through Twomey’s yard include 65,000gns yearling Catalyst (Ire) (Makfi {GB}), whom he trained to win her maiden and subsequently sold for 375,000gns. Last April, he trained Expected (Ire) (Intikhab) (since renamed King Print) to win his debut by 21 lengths, with the €34,000 yearling later sold to Hong Kong for a presumably sizeable profit.

Twomey was born to trade. He says, “My family have a commercial ethos; they’re traders, shopkeepers and whatnot. My Dad died in 2004 but he had been an auctioneer by profession, and kept horses as a hobby, as well as racing the odd one. My Dad was very interested in horses, and then I turned it into a career.”

Twomey’s first success in the horse world came in partnership with his late father, Sean, with whom he bred G1 Prix Morny victor Tagula (Ire) (Taufan). “I started buying cattle when I was eight and after selling a few, I bought Tagula’s mother when I was 13. I was a 13-year-old with a mare that I didn’t know what to do with but, luckily, Liam Cashman gave me a foal share for Taufan. I’ll always be very grateful to him for that.”

Twomey later bred dual Group 1 winner Serious Attitude (Ire) (Mtoto {GB}), whose son Stiffelio (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) gained his second Group 3 victory last weekend.

Twomey hasn’t taken the traditional path that many follow towards becoming a trainer, as he admits.

“I’ve actually never worked for a trainer in England or Ireland, but in 2002, I spent three weeks with Laura de Seroux. Alex Hassinger was her assistant at the time and while I was there, they had the likes of Astra (Theatrical {Ire}) and Azeri (Jade Hunter). They were based at San Luis Rey Downs and I rode the pony. I always thought I’d like to be a trainer and after enjoying those three weeks immensely, I was sure I wanted to train.”

California acted as a catalyst, and four years later Twomey bought his current base. The 100-acre farm has undergone a transformation since then, as the trainer reveals.

“We have about 60 stables here, along with a grass gallop, woodchip gallop and a sand canter. Even though I wasn’t training many horses, I was preparing the place for the day that I hopefully would end up training more. We started with a blank canvas.”

Some elements of the operation have remained the same, though.

“Most of the people working for me have been with me all the way through pre-training and yearlings in the past,” Twomey said. “I have eight or nine very good riders and I have three or four very good lads in the yard, so at the minute, I’m very lucky to have a very good team.”

It is very noticeable the emphasis Twomey puts on the word ‘we’ during our conversation, and he is keen to outline the importance of jockey Billy Lee. “Billy rode my first winner in 2012,” explains Twomey. “He comes in twice a week and is a big part of the operation; we’re on the same frequency. I have great respect for him, he’s a very good rider and I think if he was a foot shorter and a stone lighter, he’d be champion jockey.”

It would appear that Lee has as much faith in Twomey. The latter adds, “He’s been with me all the way through and when David Wachman finished training, Billy decided to start coming in here and I was taken aback, to be honest, as there wasn’t a lot going on here at the time; I didn’t think a man like him would come to me.”

As the saying goes, build it and they will come.

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