Dermot Weld standing in any winner's enclosure is one of the most familiar sights in racing. But when he stands at the number one spot in Galway, even the thousands ignorant of what's going on out on the track can't fail to be impressed with the ease of his presence there.
The tall figure exudes a slightly patrician air that is at odds with some of the boozefuelled yahooery going on around and yet seems entirely apt considering how dependent the mob are on Weld for giving them any chance of beating the bookies.
He's been giving them the ammunition to do just that since 1972. In that first year as a trainer Weld both trained and rode the winner of the first-day feature. Spanner was just hinting at what was to come.
Since then Weld (52) has become a world-acknowledged master of his profession. Melbourne, Belmont, Epsom, Happy Valley and so many other renowned tracks have hosted his vindication but it also seems apt that it will be at Galway this year that Weld could definitively enter the record books.
Put simply, Weld is just 10 winners short of becoming the most successful trainer Ireland has ever known. In a 51-year career that ended in 1947, Senator JJ Parkinson trained 2,577 winners in this country. The first one came in 1896 at the long defunct Carlow track. In the 21st century it's about to be broken, and by someone who personifies the essence of training in the modern age.
Not for Weld the bandy-legged caricature of the cute hoor who 'tells `um nathin.' Or the worried who fear what others think of them and admit to little more than 's'awright.' Weld is much too self-confident for that.
'This record is important to me. It will be a completion of a life's work, a milestone achievement. I will be very proud of it,' he says. And then he helps to put what he has done in context.
A record total of £15 million in prizemoney, more than Vincent O'Brien he volunteers. Just over 100 winners overseas, on four continents, something that even Godolphin with all their financial muscle haven't achieved yet. Oh and there's a helluva nice link with Senator Parkinson as his grandson Jim Parkinson has a share in the horse Umpaqua Eagle who won at Galway last year and is going there again next week.
Harmless stuff and of course Weld volunteers only what he wants to volunteer yet he understands the value of self-promotion. If he doesn't advertise himself, who the hell will, and it's why media hacks around the world fall to the ground in thanks when Weld wins. Good copy guaranteed.
'If there's one thing my parents have given me, it is tremendous confidence and belief,' Weld says before reflecting on 28 years of total concentration and commitment.
'My consistency has been the keynote and, yes, I am a very focused person. I have to be. It's one thing getting to the top but it's another to stay there,' he says. And finally the effort of staying at the top may not be worth it. Weld's mind has been wandering. With the record under his belt it may wander further.
Weld graduated from UCD as a vet at the unusually young age of 21 and his thoughts are returning to the world of lectures and tutorials. Last year he looked into the possibility of doing a Masters degree part-time.
'The hours demanded were too much,' he says but now he is considering a 'serious cutback' in the size of the string he trains. Even for the innovator, the modern way isn't always the most attractive.
'I'm working harder and longer now than I was 10 years ago and I'm getting older,' Weld says. 'I still enjoy this life but I would enjoy it more with fewer horses. Stress levels have increased dramatically with modern communications. I always seem to be on a mobile phone and there are other things in life that interest me.
'A cutback in the size of the string, which I've talked to my major owners about, would allow me do that Masters at UCD. And I enjoy writing. I believe I can write and there's been a lot of interest, particularly from Australia, about doing a biography. For instance, if anyone wants to pick up a book and find out how to train a racehorse they can't find one. It might be interesting to do that.'
The interest from Australia is hardly surprising. Vintage Crop's 1993 Melbourne Cup victory struck at the very heart of Aussie self-confidence. If nothing else they want to find out how to cope with future marauders, but curiously Weld doesn't automatically plump for the great gelding when pressed about the highlights and the best he has trained.
'I suppose at the time I thought Blue Wind winning the Epsom Oaks (1981) was the highlight of all highlights. My father had just died and I was at a pretty low ebb. He was my best friend,' he remembers. 'But as to who was the best, so much depends on things like distance. Blue Wind was the best 12-furlong filly, Zagreb the best 12-furlong colt but then Committed was a brilliant sprinter and Vintage Crop was great over two miles.'
And Galway features prominently in some of the other stars. The Belmont Stakes winner Go And Go won at Ballybrit, so did the Irish Oaks winner Dance Design and so did Ticonderoga who was Weld's first winner as a jockey on his 16th birthday in 1964.
'Having ridden there I know the kind of horse that suits Galway. It's no big mystery, just common sense, but particularly at Galway, if you pick the right horse and use the right tactics it means you have more than an even chance,' he says. 'They have to be able to handle undulations but really it's about courage. There's no point taking a horse with stacks of ability there if it doesn't have courage.'
And in the last 20 years the belief has grown that punters can forget about beating the books if Weld's horses don't hit form at the festival. Considering he has won one race, the two-year-old maiden, 14 times it's an understandable view but one that adds to the pressure.
'I'm expected to deliver at Galway so there is stress. It's seven days of work,' he acknowledges. And will he break the record at Galway?
'If it happens, it happens,' he grins. 'But look at how long this record has stood. For a century nobody has been able to break it. All records are broken in time but if I can break this one, you never know, it may take some time for someone else to break mine.'
Said with all the practice of one used to breaking the mould.
