Noel Kelly with jockey Sorcha Woods© Photo Healy Racing
I used to be a farmer and would have kept trotting horses. My father would have been in horses at the time and would have had a broodmare. He brought foals to the sales for years. I always looked after the foals because nobody else was really interested in it and I went racing with him as well. I was always too heavy to be a jockey, so I started breaking a few horses in. My dad passed away and I took out the licence about 18 years ago. I have always trained on my family land in Draperstown, Co Derry. At that stage, I only had a small gallop and two horses that belonged to my dad. I bought a wee horse off Noel McParlan called Native Guide, and he came out and won three point-to-points (in 2005). That was probably the worst thing I ever did as it got me going!
The first four or five years I would have gone point-to-pointing with the odd runner on the track. I didn't train for anybody else for the first three or four years - I wanted to get into the swing of it myself. I had no more than three horses for maybe the first seven or eight years. I then had four horses one year and Mighty Whitey was among eight winners that I had that year. After that, people started to send me horses. I decided that I wanted to go for it and I changed the yard so that I just had horses. I also got local help riding out a few. I have been building it up gradually over the years. I now have a six-furlong gallop up a hill and a circle at the top off it, it is Wexford Sand. I have a schooling strip with three hurdles and three fences because you need to school a horse at least once a week and it is too expensive to take them away to do it. I put that in about four or five years ago and it is a good job. I have about 40 boxes and I keep 20 horses, I don't want to get too big. Do it small and do it proper is my motto. I am open to more owners, I have never turned anyone away.
I'd say the day Mighty Whitey won the bumper at Sligo (in May 2010) under Derek Fox was a memorable day. He had been riding out for me at that time and it was great to give him his first bumper winner as he has gone on to land two Aintree Grand Nationals. He was a good lad to have riding out and helped me to get going. I also had great input from Noel McParlan who rode for me in point-to-points in my earlier days and gave me good feedback on whether the horses could have a career. I always took advice from jockeys. I always say 'good jockeys make good trainers'. They kept me right and you learned a lot from them as I was just learning myself.
I enjoy regularly taking runners across the water to Britain. We all land over - my wife, my family and the owners. They are very good to us in places like Cartmel, we could have seven or eight horses over for a two-day meeting. Everybody gets a few pound out of a winner and a bit of craic! You have to target races over there because some of the horses I take over would be small, low-graded horses. If you get them right on the day, they could pick up a wee race over there. They wouldn't be superstars. I get enough prize money to cover the boats, the diesel and the expenses. The owners are happy as they like going over. I have good owners who have been with me for years. We can chat about the horse and the race and if the horse needs a break, they let me give it a break. I don't keep the horse in training if I don't think I can get a winner. Some horses can come back twice the horse after a break. My owners are very understanding.
Ellaat winning for Noel at Fairyhouse in 2021© Photo Healy Racing
You are always looking for your next winner. If we get a winner in Listowel, we drive back up the same day and are back to work in the morning looking for the next winner. It is just about getting winners. One day you would like to get big owners in, I always leave room in the stables if one did come in! I always have three-year-olds getting prepared for point-to-points, so I'll never panic. We ran four horses in the point-to-point fields last year and we had three winners first time out, I was lucky enough last year. That's the first year that I sold them from their point-to-points - we got okay money for them, not big money, but they weren't expensive purchases. If they are not going to sell, I think it is best to go straight to the track and get a mark for them. If there is ability there, you will always get a race for them.
Cave Court has completely turned around this season. We couldn't get him right for a long time and we turned him out into the field. He is improving all the time since that, he is flying now. He is a lovely horse and a very straightforward and honest horse. He ran well on Boxing Day (in second at Down Royal) and the ground got that bad that we had to take him in after that. He just wasn't the same horse for a month or two after it. He has won four in a row including at Clonmel yesterday, but he doesn't want heavy ground. He is going the right way in winning two hurdles and two chases (since August). I think a bit of Wrecking Ballbilly who won a Downpatrick bumper this month. At the moment he is not sold, he is still in my yard. I never went looking to get him sold. Since Downpatrick, he is 100 per cent sound and he'll be out in a couple of weeks' time. He shows a lot of class and would have no problem winning a winners' bumper. We might go for a winners' bumper or a novice hurdle. Hopefully the ground dries up a wee bit.
Oran McGill who was on Cave Court in Clonmel and Wrecking Ballbilly at Downpatrick is a good, honest, hard-working lad who has been with me since he was 15. He is one of the best up-and-coming jockeys in the north and everybody is using him at the point-to-points. I don't want to lose him!
Noel Kelly was in conversation with Michael Graham
