‘The key is not the will to win…everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”
Based in Lusk, County Dublin, racehorse trainer Adrian McGuinness has demonstrated a superb know-how in managing to keep his thoroughbreds running consistently well for long durations of time. It is not surprising for any of his horses to win a couples of races in quick succession.
McGuinness spent numerous successful years show-jumping before he took the vast gamble taking out his racehorse trainers license in early 2000; it is now safe to say that wager has now paid off for him– each year the superiority of horses coming through the Skylark House Stables is getting much better than the previous one. His existing amenities in Lusk are non-stop bettering, right now they include a 6-furlong sand gallop, horse walker, 20 acres of turn-out paddocks and an outstanding equine spa – What more could any equine athlete want to prosper?
McGuinness has had no shortage of successes on the Flat and over jumps with the likes of Victram, Beau Michael and Bubbly Bellini while other notable horses that he has been accountable for include Jacks Estate, Miracle Ridge, Toufan Express, Face Value, Pivot Bridge, Rainbow Rising, Beau Amadeus and Black Label – McGuinness’s incisive ability to placing his horses into winnable races has been a feature component of his training career.
It is no top-secret that since his relative, Stephen Thorne has been employed as assistant trainer in his yard - it has brought about a new lease of life to his unassuming yard; the amalgamation of Thorne and McGuinness is undoubtedly a game-changing portion of things, bouncing off each other with exhilarating ideas to push their prevailing boundaries much further than ever imagined, they are attracting new and exciting owners, everything is conspicuously progressing at the rate-of-knots. Existing owners in the yard are merging forces with others, as well, and their spending power at the sales is markedly much more – it is only a matter of time before the winning results are achieved in the classic trials and more premier handicaps races in the course of the summer.
How far can trainer Adrian McGuinness and his team at Skylark House Stables go?
I’m not ‘mystic meg’, I don’t have the answers to that question although if taking into consideration the last few seasons favourable results it strongly indicates they are in the process of taking Irish racing by storm - if keeping up that buoyant winning trend, which is almost a given. I’d sooner be punting my hard money on them, than against them, that’s one thing for certain. The sky is the threshold for Adrian McGuinness and his associates at Skylark House Stables – they make winning look easy.
