Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 11 months ago
In this episode of Breeders' Cup Breakthrough, we catch up with trainer Ger Lyons. After scoring in last year's GI Juvenile Turf Sprint with Magnum Force (Mehmas), the successful Meath-based trainer is hoping to get back to the same race this year with Lady Iman (Starman), who makes her next start in Friday's G2 Flying Childers Stakes.
Transcript
00:00I grew up beside a racing yard and just was mesmerized by the colors, the jockeys, the
00:27whole thing. I knew what I wanted to do from day one. I knew I could do it, but it's one
00:33thing knowing it and another thing doing it.
00:42I didn't want to stay in school. I wanted to leave school, but there was no way that was
00:45going to happen because my parents didn't understand this game. I didn't even collect
00:48my Leaving Cert. I know I got it, but I didn't even collect it. I just went straight into
00:53McCreary's and carried on from there. And because I had no family input or no lead horse,
01:00I sort of plotted my own route. When I got a trainer's license, I came out fighting.
01:05I just always felt I had to fight my way. The day I trained my first winner, I had one
01:09horse. Back in 1994, God, I can't wait to have 30 horses or I can't wait to have 50 horses
01:16or then I can't wait to have a hundred horses and thinking as you get up, it'll get easier.
01:20And I can quite honestly say it just gets harder. The Chibli Park goes to Lightning Pearl,
01:25another success. We've won the Chibli Park. We've won two classics over here. I'm guilty
01:30of taking a lot of shit for granted when I hear other trainers talking, but we've won
01:33probably every stakes race in Ireland. And I go, well, it's not what we're supposed to
01:37be doing. Do you know what I mean? But without being flippant, the highlight of the whole
01:43bar none British Cup, end of story. The minute we seen this horse on the far side of the water,
01:49we knew this horse had arrived that mentally that he's made for it. So let's just see what
01:53happens. And now he's tiny. And if we have a horse to go to war with the right horse here,
01:59because nothing's phasing him, you know, fast five around the bend. It was made for a horse
02:04like him. And they say then, if you missed a break in America, you're buggered. But not
02:08for him, because that was his forte. When they're stopping, he's just coming. And it
02:12just played into his hands.
02:14Arizona Blaise is coming to. And Big Mojo, here's the wire. Magnum Force has done it.
02:20Breeders' Cup means something. Like, probably didn't expect to win it, if that makes sense.
02:24You know, he just, like, my modus would always be run well. Win is a bonus. The thing about
02:31the Breeders' Cup is you're there for a week. And it's a very, very good experience. And if you're
02:36lucky enough to have a horse that's good enough, stroke invited to go, I would advise you to
02:41go.
02:46Lady Iman is a beautiful filly, and probably, I would have said, at this stage of her game,
02:51better than him, which is grand. She's special. She's proven to be special. Rock-solid temperament,
02:57made for it. Then you have the Flying Childers, Doncaster, and then onto the Breeders' Cup.
03:04If you gave me the golden key, it'd be just, I'd just love two-year-olds. Love two-year-olds,
03:10and blessed with the pedigrees we're getting in the last few years.
03:14You learn every day. You learn what you're doing wrong. Oh, I better not do that again.
03:20If you're of that mindset, you know, you surround yourself with the right people. This is what
03:25I aimed for. This is what I said I was going to do in my head. Saying it and doing it are two
03:29different things. But, like, if I retire tomorrow, I've done okay. Will I ever be satisfied?
03:34Probably not. I suppose that's success, isn't it?
03:36I suppose that's success, isn't it?
03:37I suppose that's success, isn't it?
03:38I suppose that's success, isn't it?
03:43Well, where let's go.
03:44Sorry trample.
03:45I suppose that's success, isn't good.
03:46It always makes me you answer your thoughts.
03:48You don't.
03:49You were doing something wrong with me until the end of 7 season,
03:50is that you are starting to take my crown.
03:51I suppose for you.
03:52I suppose for you to hold things wrong with me.
03:54Well, I suppose that the Denver conditions were useless,
03:55I suppose it will be as good as that quatre nations were slightlyetics-like.
Comments

Recommended