NEWS AND RESULTS FOR OCTOBER 2009

SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2009

BASLE WINS AT WOLVERHAMPTON

Part owner of Hawaana, Paul, Frankie and Gay

29TH OCTOBER 2009 - GAY KELLEWAY NOMINATED FOR AWARD AT THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS AT LINGFIELD

COURTESY OF THE RACING POST - HOWARD WRIGHT TALKS TO THREE KEY PARTICIPANTS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES OF ALL WEATHER RACING

BY HOWARD WRIGHT

Gay Kelleway, the Trainer
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One season in Dubai was enough to convince Gay Kelleway that her wanderlust days as a trainer were over. Returning to Newmarket for the 2002 term, she set out her stall to make her mark on the all-weather, and the decision paid off, notably with Vortex, whose 13 wins - two on the sand in Sweden, the rest on artificial surfaces of Lingfield and Wolverhampton - enabled him to double his turf earnings for a career total of £334,168.
"The all-weather re-invented my career after Dubai. It helped me come back form the dead," she says.
"It means I can operate the yard as a 12-month operation, and run it like any other small business.
"It's been great for me. I wouldn't be training now without the all-weather racing., because I can plan through the winter and give an owner a reason for keeping a horse with me.
"In the old days we would trot and walk the horses for three months or more. Can you imagine what would happen now? Owners would take horses away, looking for a cheap deal.
"My father Paul was from the old school, and he'd only use all-weather occasionally, to give a maiden a run, for instance, but look at the big trainers who have runners on the allweather nowadays.
"It's definitely got harder, but I can't imagine life without all-weather racing."

LOVERS OF THE SAND - ALSO COURTESY OF THE RACING POST

by KEVIN MORLEY

Gay Kelleway
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While the debate would be endless on who is the actual "kinf of the all-weather" there can be no doubt who the queen is.

Kelleway beings a touch of girl power to the sand's training ranks and has been sending out dirt winners regularly for about the last 15 years. The older handicappers make up for the majority of her success, but they have been fairly spread across all five tracks.

Most of her winning has been done at Wolverhampton but her runners seem equally effective on the Fibresand and Polytrack as well as Lingfield's old equitrack.
Her most successful season came in 2003/2004 where she managed to top the all-weather prize-money list; a significant achievement considering it was during period when Nick Littmoden was a dominant force.
Vortex, probably, the best animal she ever trainer, played a big part in that whereas he rattled up a five-timer, culminating in a victory in the Lincoln Trial at Wolverhampton.
Although the horse probably enjoyed his greatest moments of turf, he accumulated more prize money on dirt, which also included success abroad.

Kelleway proved with other horses that she knew where to place them in order to run up sequences. The likes of Fajr and Lygeton Lad started their careers as lowly rated handicappers before progressing their marks up to Listed Class.

In recent seasons, it's been worth noting her runners ridden by George Baker who has a good strike rate for the yard (8 from 22/36%/+9.73pt)

DUBAI MEYDAN WINS AT KEMPTON - OCTOBER 27TH 2009

Gay with owner Pratibha and Kieran Fallon at Kempton