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Racing Post Tuesday, February 7, 2012 7JIM CULLOTYINTERVIEW

O NLOOKERS feared theworst for Jim Culloty whenhis respectable start totraining degeneratedsickeningly into a

winnerless nightmare. “Another topjockey turned bad trainer,” theysnarled as his fledgling operationnosedived. They were wrong, verywrong.

As he sits proud and content in hisoffice overlooking his immaculate,stone-built yard in Churchtown,County Cork, the relief that thisseason the critics have been provedwrong beyond doubt is almostpalpable.

With Sunday’s Deloitte NoviceHurdle hope Lord Windermere at theforefront, the three-time Gold Cup-winning jockey’s training careeris finally beginning to hit the heightsthat came so effortlessly as a jockey.

“I had two years of horses runningso inconsistently,” he says. “Theymight run okay on their first run andthen go backwards instead of forward,running worse on their second runand even worse on their third. I waspulling my hair out, totally confused.My confidence was shot to bits.

“I was constantly trying to get tothe bottom of it and changing thingsand nothing worked.

“I’ll never forget the day I found theproblem. I ran Zeroberto at Cork andafter he ran a mile and pulled up Iasked the vet to scope him. Nothingshowed up, but Liz Doyle was lookingat him walking around, heaving, andsaid ‘I bet you’ve got aspergillus in theyard’.”

Culloty had no idea what his fellowtrainer was suggesting, but when sherepeated the statement moredefinitely upon confirmation that hebedded his horses on paper he rangthe Irish Equine Centre in CountyKildare to send testers immediately.

“It’s a mould – and paper bedding isnotorious for breeding it because it

heats,” he explains. “There was heavygrowth everywhere. It came in a badbatch of hay and lived in the stables,releasing spores that the horsesbreathed in. The way it affects themin a race is that when they comeunder pressure it’s like an asthmaattack; they get no air.

“Looking from the outside in, you’dthink the horses weren’t fit becausethey would blow really hard aftertheir races and, of course, that mademe work the horses even harder whenI was already being hard on thembecause I was obsessed with fitness. Itwas a disaster.”

That was April 2009. By August the16-month wait for a winner was overand by October there were three onthe board, including Zeroberto, whohad been without a win for threeyears. But, while the aspergillus hadbeen exterminated, side-effectsremain.

Of the 16 horses in work, seven-year-old Regal D’Estruval is theoldest, with the others six or younger,and Culloty blames the aspergillusoutbreak. “Some of those who shouldbe older horses now got fed up withthe game because they were runningsick all the time,” he says.

“I’m on the case constantly abouthygiene now. I keep moving themaround and disinfecting. If you look atthe stables, they’re immaculate. If Isaw a bed that was dirty I’d have a fit.

“Now that the horses are healthy,touch wood, I have a very goodsystem and I’ve got my confidenceback because they are generallyrunning like I think they will.

“You’re going to get the odddisappointment, like Beeverstown theother day running too free andstopping like he was shot, but that’snot to do with their health and that’swhy I’m content.”

Back in his riding days, Culloty wascoolnesspersonified.RememberBest Mate’sthird GoldCup?Cruisingbehind theleader First Goldrounding the finalbend, hebecame boxedin when PaulCarberry edgedHarbour

Pilot closer. A dramatic scene thatwould have had many sweating lava.Not Culloty, though. As if planned, hetook a pull, switched him to theoutside, asked for a big one at thesecond-last and powered home to winby half a length.

Well, it’s a changed Culloty at theraces these days. The Kerryman’snot cool in the trainer era of his life.Sure, he’s level-headed, but he’s notlaid-back. Is he relaxed at the races?“Oh no, I’d be shaking like a leaf,” hesays. “I could hardly hold a pair ofbinoculars. I’m better now, but whenmy confidence was low and thehorses were running bad I was verynervous. I’ve stopped driving thehorses to the races because every timeI hear a noise from the back I worrywhether they’ve slipped a shoe orhurt themselves. It’s all the time andeffort you’ve seen go into them thatdoes that.”

With 38-year-old wife Susie at hisright hand, children Art, Hugh

and Eliza and just shy of400 acres to play with,

most of that effort is homegrown. Hemakes his own hay and built his owngallops – an uphill and an oval – andan impressive all-weather schoolingfacility, which every horse takes in atleast once a week. That set-up and acouple of fields suitable for gallopingmeans horses generally leave thegrounds only to go racing and the factthat horses have won first time outusing that system is something he’sparticularly proud of.

H E HAS another trick up hissleeve. A mile away arethe three fields VincentO’Brien used to call his‘Cheltenham gallop’ in the

early years of his career. Not toomany would pass up the chance touse that.

Culloty has a healthy crop of high-quality young stock growingtogether in a quiet yard. As well asthe horses, he has chickens, peacocksand pigs, with plans to installbeehives to extract honey to add tohis feeds – bringing a whole newmeaning to ‘keeping them sweet’.

The sweetest of them all is Sunday’scontender, Dr Ronan Lambe’s LordWindermere, who gave Culloty a firstListed win in a novice hurdle atPunchestown in December.

“He’s a laid-back horse, a slowlearner who wasn’t very quick in hiswork,” Culloty says, looking out at thesix-year-old. “I knew he had a highlevel of ability because we had nevergot anywhere near the bottom of himin any of the work I did with him, butI thought he might be more of thestaying type.

“The final month before he ran,doing shorter, sharper work with him,he suddenly developed speed. Thatsurprised me a little bit. That’s thebeauty of him – he has a laid-backway of going, but he’s got speed whenyou press the button and he’s gotheart.”

A good run in the Deloitte wouldput him on the boat to Cheltenhamand give Culloty, five times successfulat the March meeting as a jockey, hisfirst live chance of festival glory as atrainer. It’s as good a piece ofevidence as you’ll get that he’s oncourse to being as good a trainer ashe was a jockey.

“We’re not going to have 150 horsesin training, but the ones we have arenice quality, we have a nice systemand everything is going really well,”he says.

After the dark days of three yearsago, the future is bright.

Jessica Lamb meets the formerGold Cup hero with an excitingnovice hurdler on his hands

Windermerethe ultimatepick-me-upafter cleanbill of health

Jim Culloty: could have a live festival contender if Lord Windermere can land the Deloitte on Sunday

Lord Windermere:Culloty’s first Listed winner

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)