Mark Fahey and jockey Ricky Doyle © Photo Healy Racing
I'm from Cloneygath in Monasterevin, Co Kildare, and my family have been involved in racing the whole way through. We always had ponies at home and my dad is a farrier. We all live together along the road here. I took out my amateur licence at 16 and I stayed an amateur. I rode 50 odd winners as an amateur including two bumpers on Jezki (in 2012) for Jessica Harrington. I was lucky as an amateur. I got a great kick out of winning the Goffs Land Rover Bumper on Some Article at Punchestown (in April 2012). it was actually my uncle Paul who was a farrier in Tom Mullins' that rang me. He rang to see if I could the light weight and I said I could. It was a last-minute job how I got the ride. I was placed in the Land Rover Bumper a few times and it was great to get a good winner like that at a festival. I loved riding. When we were kids you were always busy with the football and the athletics as well too. My dad and mam were dragging me around the country doing all the football and the athletics. I never went down the pony racing route, just kicked on with ponies at home.
We then were getting on well with selling all the youngsters and the point-to-pointers. There were a few that we couldn't sell on and the next thing to do was to take out the training licence in 2013 to see how it would go from there. I've always trained on my dad's land in Monasterevin and it has been going well so far. My first winner with Point The Toes at Downpatrick in 2013 was great. My grandmother, who has passed now, owned Point The Toes. My brother Brendan and sister Niamh rode their first winners on Point The Toes and I actually won a race on her too. Brendan and I won on her when she was trained by my uncle Paul (in 2011) and Niamh won on her when I trained her (in 2014). Jealika won twice down in Listowel festival for owner Jean Bird (in 2015 and 2016) and she also won twice in Limerick in the same years. She was a great mare that loved soft ground. We really got a good kick out of her. Well Set Up gave me my best days in racing. She won two Graded hurdles in Cork and Limerick (in 2019 and 2020) and a Listed race in Cork for us (in 2019) She was owned by a brilliant woman in Jean Corrigan who has sadly passed and we were all very fond of Jean. On the Flat, Edification won the Ragusa at the Curragh in 2020 and he was unlucky not to win on Irish Champions Weekend as well (fourth in the Petingo at Leopardstown in 2019).
I'm a nephew of Jarlath, Paul, Seamus and Peter, and James is my cousin. To have all those connections helps in my training career. We all get on well and it is great that we all have each other. There is good craic among ourselves. There can be the odd argument, but we all get on great! This summer I put up a new barn with 24 stables in it and we have done a bit of work around the place too. We do all our strong work over in the Curragh and we have our own sand gallop down here where we do our routine work. We have all-weather paddocks here too. We are open to more horses, we have a few stables free and we are always open for new owners and would always welcome them in. We have about 20 in now at the minute - we have horses for Dundalk, point-to-pointers and National Hunt horses too. A goal would be to get better horses, but we also try and sell on those good horses. We have been very lucky with the horses we have sold. The horse that is the flagbearer at the minute is Drinmore runner-up Found A Fifty who won his point-to-point for us (in Boulta 2021) and Gordon (Elliott) purchased him then. Once they show potential, they are on the market. If they aren't sold, we have facilities to keep them in training too.
From the start of the year in January all the way up through to where we are now, we have had plenty of winners on the Flat, point-to-point winners and National Hunt winners. It is a great year that we have had and I'd like to think it would continue to get better and better. Working in both codes there's no break during the year, but we do enjoy it. We are on the go all year round, but I have great family help at home here too between my dad and all my brothers and sisters - Niamh, Keith and Brendan They are a great help as is my wife Nicola, she is heavily involved in the yard. I have two jockeys riding out for me - Dillon Butler who rode his first winner for me on Thornleigh Frank at Kilbeggan over the summer, and I also have Orla McKenna who rode her first winner for me on Bambeano at Gowran Park during the summer. She has gone over to Australia as a workrider for the winter for more experience. I have to mention my staff, my staff are brilliant. Darren, Katie, Emma and Sally are very, very good in the yard.
Mark winning aboard Some Article at Punchestown in 2012© Photo Healy Racing
It is very hard to get started in racing - I was very lucky that all my facilities were already here. It is 24/7, every day of the week and there's no let up. You must be willing to do these things. It is probably not for everyone - you have to be in it to see the hard work and dedication it takes, but it is very rewarding. The year we have had is very rewarding, but you have more bad days than you have good days. The good days outweigh the bad days, though. I really love going to the Galway Festival and we have had a winner at the Galway Festival in recent years and we would really like to have a winner there again if we could. Not that I have the specific horses to target for it, but if we have something that we think is going to be competitive there, it will go. I have very good owners who support me well and I'm lucky to have them.
Mark was in conversation with Michael Graham.
