James Andrew Fahey

The last twelve months have produced 5 winners from 84 runners, which works out at roughly 1 in every 17 races. That is a modest return by any measure, and Fahey will know it. But the numbers alone don't capture the full picture. Training winners is hard — most runners don't win, and the fact that Fahey is placing horses consistently enough to send out 84 runners in a season suggests a yard that is active and ambitious rather than cautious.

His most important relationship is with Dancing Jeremy, a horse that has given him 3 wins from 17 races together. That kind of sustained partnership matters in a small yard — when you find a horse that trusts you and you understand it, you ride that for as long as it lasts. Three wins from 17 might not sound explosive, but in a sport where most horses win fewer than 1 in every 5 races they enter, it represents a genuine working understanding between trainer and horse.

In the saddle, Kevin Sexton has been Fahey's most regular ally, with 2 wins from 22 rides together — roughly 1 in every 11. Again, not a figure that jumps off the page, but continuity matters. A jockey who knows a yard's horses, their quirks and how they like to be ridden, is worth more than the raw numbers suggest.

One detail worth noting: Fahey's horses tend to perform better when there is a little cut in the ground — what you'd call slightly soft underfoot. In those conditions, his team has won 2 from 22 (about 1 in 11), which is noticeably better than his overall average. It is a small sample, but it hints that Fahey is learning what suits his horses, and that is exactly the kind of edge a young trainer needs to develop. At four years in, he is still writing the first chapters.