Cork trainer Kevin Coleman is on an upward curve
Swiss Army Officer gave jockey Ben Kennedy his 1st winner pictured with trainer Kevin Coleman. Picture: Healy Racing.
Crossbarry native Kevin Coleman has quickly made a name for himself in the training ranks.
His horses are in a rich vein of form right now. Three winners in a seven-day period and a number of placed horses around the country paint a rosy picture for any trainer.
The former jockey has enjoyed a roller coaster ride in the cut-throat world of horse racing and has successfully navigated his way from the grassroots of the sport to competing against the best flat trainers in the world at the Curragh.
He is now based on a magnificent farm nestled underneath the mountains alongside Carrick-on-Suir and his eye-catching progress as a trainer has caught the eyes of many seasoned observers.
The young trainer has enjoyed steady progress and is very much on an upward curve right now. Like all professionals, Coleman traces his interest right back to his childhood in Innishannon parish.
“My parents were teachers, and my mother was from Limerick and grew up around horses so I suppose that was where the initial connection with horses began," Coleman said.
"Obviously, the two lads were big influences and Wayne has ridden winners all over the world for Ballydoyle and Aidan O’Brien. It was very much a racing neighbourhood, and we got involved in ponies which eventually led to the pony racing circuit.
"Our childhood riding horses around the hills of Upton was idyllic and brings back such happy memories. One morning I cycled up to John Murphy’s in Upton and started off for a little while at their yard.
"A friend called Neil Hurley introduced me to Eric Tyner who trained near Kinsale. So at every opportunity, we worked at Tyners. It was certainly old school up there and you worked hard but looking back it was a great grounding in the sport.
"It was the height of the pony racing where people travelled the length and breadth of the country.
"The pony racing was at its peak then and produced some of the greatest jockeys of modern times including Paul Townend, Rachael Blackmore my brother Aidan and many many more.
"There were so many horses and the events were organised so professionally.
"The Olympics of the sport was the Dingle races and I was crowned Champion Jockey in 2002 which was a great thrill.
” Following my leaving cert I went to JJ Walsh in north Cork for a year. On my second ride over fences, I beat Ruby Walsh in a photo finish on a horse called Conemara Mist for Tom Healy.
”I ended up riding for Francis Flood who was a big trainer at the time and we had plenty of winners. I suppose my biggest success in the saddle was winning the Galway Plate on Sir Frederick in 2007 for a great gang of people from West Cork.
"After that I rode a lot of winners for plenty of trainers including Noel Meade and Willie Mullins. I broke my leg badly the following year and broke my collarbone on three separate occasions which was tough going mentally."
The injuries were taking their toll and at 24 years of age, he walked away from racing.
"I had enough. I went back to college to study sport science as I was doing triathlons and probably had an idea of getting involved in high-performance coaching or sport management.
"But I bought a filly and bred a few foals, ended up breezing a few horses. So with a number of horses around the place again I became a trainer by default.”
In recent years we have seen the likes of Gordon Elliot target races in England and Kevin Coleman isn’t afraid to run his horses where an opportunity arises.
“When we bought the farm we got 35 stables ready and they are full right now. We race horses in England as the prize money and opportunities are very good and we have been lucky over there.
"We have some nice two-year-olds to come out yet so like every trainer we are looking for the next superstar. The horses are healthy and running well so that’s half the battle.”
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