Racehorse trainer
John McArdle’s career as a trainer shot to the top after a win with Hollow Bullet, writes Glenn Mitchell.
To be a horse trainer, John McArdle believes you have to be mad, going mad or an eternal optimist. McArdle says he fits into the third category, but only just.
Given how tough the racing game is, McArdle’s approach seems to be working because he has become one of the state’s top trainers in only his second season as a trainer.
But, he points out, he’s had a bit of luck in the form of Hollow Bullet, which won last year’s VRC Oaks. “You need a lot of luck in this game,” McArdle, 33, says. “Luck with what horses you have in your stable, luck with track conditions, luck with your background. You name it, luck plays a big part.”
McArdle says the road to becoming a horse trainer requires long hours, perseverance and an understanding of horses that can only be learnt through years of hard work.
“Each and every horse has its own personality and eccentricities, and you have to be able to work out how to keep the good parts and get rid of the bad ones.
“It takes a long time to understand horses, so there is no substitute for spending as much time around them as possible and watching how the best trainers treat them.” McArdle, as did most people in the racing game, grew up around horses.
His grandfather was a trainer and he himself was riding a pony at aged four. He was also mucking out stables and soaking up as much information as possible on the art of horse training.
McArdle rode track work when he was a boy and was cleaning his grandfather’s stable each day before school and at weekends.
His childhood dream of becoming a jockey was cut short in grade six when he was told by his teacher he may be a little tall.
“I was five foot eight (172cm) at the time and by the time I was 15 I was six foot (183cm). Now I’m six foot three (190cm) and 115kg, so the thoughts of becoming a jockey died pretty quickly,” McArdle says. Instead, he went overseas when he was 21 and worked for four years as a stallion handler at some of the top studs in Ireland and the US.
“I would recommend going overseas to anyone wanting to be a trainer because the training techniques are so different from ours and you get to understand blood lines and how to handle top-line horses.”
On his return, McArdle became the stable foreman in New Zealand for top Australian-NZ trainer Graeme Rogerson. He then became the travelling foreman for Tony Vasil before moving to Lee Freedman as his stable foreman.
“The best advice I can give to potential trainers is to get as much experience working with top trainers as you possibly can,” McArdle says.
“There are 100 different ways to skin a cat and by learning from the top trainers you pick up the experience of what is required to get the best out of horses.”
McArdle’s day starts before dawn, watching his stable of 45 horses work. He works an 18-hour day, seven days a week, and says this is standard for most trainers. “Like I said, you have to be mad, near mad or an eternal optimist to be a horse trainer,” he says.
He is constantly on the phone to owners and organising jockeys or at sales, checking horses in the spelling paddock, mapping out training programs and managing staff who run his complex near Mornington.
The paperwork and the books he leaves to his business manager.
However, trainers have to do their own reports to stewards, who require stringent records on each horse’s gear, work, feeding and treatments.
Then there’s the not inconsequential matter of training winners.
Within months, McArdle’s stable numbers swelled from 15 to 45. He started by leasing a small stable block on former boss Freedman’s St Ives property; he now leases the whole property. In his first full season, he trained eight group winners. Trainers get 10 per cent of the stake money each of their horses land.
“Horse training is not the glamorous job it appears to be at Spring Carnival time. It’s a lot of hard work on cold, wet, winter mornings. It’s a very anti-social job because of the hours required.
“Lee Freedman is at work before dawn every day and that’s the way you get to the top and stay there.”
JOB LOT
A permit to train racehorses requires a minimum five years’ full-time experience in a stable, which includes positions as an unsupervised foreman, assistant trainer or stable foreman.
Before that, people wishing to train must obtain a Diploma of Racing from a Racing Victoria-approved tertiary institution.
To obtain an owner-trainer licence, a minimum two years’
full-time work experience with a licensed trainer or part-time equivalent is required.
Applicants must also pass an exam on the rules of racing.
To become a fully licensed trainer, you must have held a permit to train for a minimum five years and achieved race success at Group or Listed level.
