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| Staff Writer |
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Spirit Dancer’s success is the culmination of a long process. The key to allowing the son of Frankel to be ready to compete in an event like the Saudi Cup this season was a training regimen that allowed the horse to develop at his own pace.
For a 7YO Gelding, Spirit Dancer doesn’t have a lot of tread on his tyres. Due to minor injuries and immaturity issues, he has only run 23 races. Trainer Richard Fahey felt fortunate not to have too much pressure to rush Spirit Dancer along.
“Early in his training career, he did have a few minor injuries to his knees and issues with his immaturity,” Fahey said. “They gave us time with him, and we always felt he was a nice horse. As he got older and strengthened up, he took his training better, but he’s a very laid-back character, and nothing bothers him. He’s an easy horse to train. Um, when I say early on, we just had to be very patient with him, and the team was patient with him, and they’re reaping the benefit now.
Spirit Dancer had a strong 2023, picking up four victories. Frankel’s offspring was impressed by winning the Gr.2 Bahrain International and the US$1 million race. But that is only the beginning of what the gelding’s team hopes is on the horizon. Spirit Dancer placed fourth in the Gr.1 Jebel Hatta 1,800m turf race at Meydan. The gelding’s win in Bahrain earned him a spot in the Gr.2 Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Fahey plans to have Spirit Dancer run in the Saudi Cup next. The plan will be to leave the gelding in Dubai before moving on to the next event, as Fahey also plans to run him in the Dubai World Cup.
“I will leave him in Dubai,” Fahey said. “And then he’ll go from Dubai to Saudi and back to Dubai, hopefully for World Cup night. So, it gives him plenty of time; we’ll run them off the plane, which I like to do.”
“After his Friday run, he’ll have his sort of four or five weeks from now to the Saudi Cup or the Neon to acclimatise and to get into his Middle East mode, if that makes sense. And then, the plan, if everything went well there, would be to go
back to Dubai and run on World Cup night in Dubai. We find running off the plane for the European horses is easier, but to acclimatise, I think they do need four or five weeks to actually acclimatise.”
Fahey felt lucky to know and work with Manchester United legend, Sir Alex Ferguson regarding horse racing. As an Arsenal supporter, Fahey eventually felt like he had to stop accepting Ferguson’s invitations to attend matches. Manchester United opened the 2011-12 Premier League season by pasting Arsenal 8-2 with Fahey in attendance and Ferguson on the sidelines.
It was Arsenal’s worst league defeat since 1927. “I think he thoroughly enjoyed me going there because I never actually witnessed Arsenal beat United at Old Trafford,” Fahey said.
“The last game I went to, I think they beat us 8-2. I haven’t been back since.”
While Fahey may have never seen his football club topple Ferguson on the pitch, Fahey helped produce perhaps Ferguson’s best moment as a horse owner. Ferguson’s homebred gelding Spirit Dancer surprised a strong field to win the Gr.2 Bahrain International Trophy. Ferguson, who won 36 trophies during his time as Manchester United manager, said after the race that it was his best-ever moment in racing.
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Fahey met Ferguson through a mutual friend, Jack Hansen. While Hansen has since passed away, Ferguson and Fahey have maintained a strong working relationship.
“To be fair to Sir Alex, he’s a gentleman and a pretty easy character to get on with,” Fahey said. “And we struck it off quiet, quite well.”
When Ferguson contacted Fahey about training Spirit Dancer, Fahey was excited to learn that he was from the sire Frankel.
“He didn’t realise I couldn’t afford to buy them,” Fahey said. “So, I was delighted to get my hands on a Frankel. It was this horse that I was hugely impressed with and always felt he’d make a good sire. It was shown I was correct, but it was, he was, the first Frankel yearling that we’d actually trained.”
Fahey has about 65 people directly involved with riding horses. Add in blacksmiths, veterinarians, and the transport team, and that fills out a roster full of essential people to help with the entire training
process.
What has helped Fahey to turn out strong horses consistently is avoiding a high amount of turnover. “A lot of them have been here, more or less since I started, 27 or 28 years ago,” Fahey said. “It’s a little bit like launching a ship. Everybody knows what they do, and we launch it every morning. The job gets done.”
Fahey acknowledged having that kind of support isn’t something he takes for granted.
“I’m extremely lucky and very privileged to have the staff I have,” Fahey said. “And I’m afraid we’re in a very high work-intensive industry. And if you don’t have the staff, you are finished. I’m afraid we’re only the name on the ticket. It’s the staff that do all the work. Well, I’m not afraid, I’m delighted. You know, it’s like a big family.”
Fahey initially started in horse racing as a jockey but developed as a trainer after retiring as a jockey at the age of 26 and has an old-fashioned approach to training horses.
“When I say old fashioned, we don’t do the short, sharp gallops,” Fahey said. “We train up a hill, quite a stiff hill. It’s a mile-long gallop. And, you know, we aren’t too technical.” Fahey wouldn’t call himself a technical trainer. He prefers to describe himself as a horseman or stockman.
“Each horse is an individual,” Fahey said. “They’re like humans. They’ve got different traits, and we find that what suits one horse may not suit another.”
What Fahey likes about Spirit Dancer is his demeanour.
“He’s pretty straightforward,” Fahey said. “He’s a true professional. He never offers to do anything wrong and just gets on with his job and does what I asked him to do. So, he’s quite simple to train. As I said, he was just a little bit immature and needed a bit of time to catch up in strength.”
Having an owner of Ferguson’s status will draw attention worldwide. Fahey believes that Ferguson plans to attend the Saudi Cup as well.
“I think he got extremely well looked after in Bahrain and loved the trip,” Fahey said. “I mean, I know it was great when he won; that probably helped, but he was enjoying the trip even before the horse had won, and he has shown a big interest and wants to go. So, he’s got it in his diary. Just hopefully, something doesn’t come up where he can’t go, but the lads are all keen to get themselves there.”
There isn’t much known about Spirit Dancer’s travel plans after the Saudi event.
“Well, like everything else, we’ll see, see what happens this weekend,” Fahey said. “But he’ll definitely go to Saudi. We’ll just see how he is after Saudi, and we’ll make the decision whether he flies back home or flies to Dubai. In an ideal world, I would love everything to go well in Saudi, and, and just fly back to Dubai for a World Cup night in Dubai, you know, so that would be the plan.”
However, with how Fahey has helped turn Spirit Dancer into a winning horse, Ferguson may be willing to make a few more trips. Unlike when Fahey made his trips to Old Trafford, he and Ferguson share the same interests in horse racing.
Both men want to see their horse win.
By Dean McHugh