Satisfaction guaranteed. That’s the aim at Musley Bank. And it’s what was again achieved in 2011. Third in the numerical list of races won in Britain, and sixth in the overall championship, Richard Fahey’s 160 winners, plus more than 250 seconds and thirds contributed to a prize money haul, which totalled a staggering £1.67m.

By any standards, it was another highly successful year, further highlighted by stable jockey Paul Hanagan winning his second successive championship and becoming the first northern rider to achieve such a colossal feat.

To delve into statistics, Richard sent out 105 individual horses to win races during the campaign, which included 37 different two-year-olds, who, between them, won 52 races.

Hopes had been high that Wootton Bassett would fly the flag again, just as he did the previous year, when he was unbeaten in five outings and memorably provided Fahey and Hanagan with their first-ever Group 1 triumph, courtesy of his all-the-way victory at Longchamp on Arc day in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere.

Alas, the hugely-popular ‘Wootton’ was unable to rediscover that brilliance, despite running creditably in two Group 1 contests. But the good news was that, come the autumn, he found a wonderful new home in France, standing as a stallion at the famous Haras d’Etrehem in Normandy. “He’ll get every chance in France, where he enjoyed his most important win, and I am looking forward to training his progeny,” said Richard.

Looking forward and not back is typical of Fahey, a driven man, who enjoys the moment, but who seldom reflects on the past and is constantly planning for the future. It has paid dividends.

Remarkably, in the space of less than 20 years, Richard has gone from being yet another enthusiastic recruit, starting out with just a handful of horses, to becoming one of the country’s major players with more than 150 horses on his books.

By any standards, it’s been a massive ascent, from the ground floor to the heady heights of Royal Ascot glory and Pattern race achievement in England, Scotland, Ireland and France, a record of continued success, which speaks volumes for the ambitious nature, the hunger for winners, and the instinctive training talents of the man who has made it happen.

Richard Fahey has built his training career on the back of a successful stint as a jockey. Although refreshingly self-deprecating about his riding abilities, he chalked-up just over 100 winners, under both codes, in ten years in the saddle, the highlight of which was sharing the conditional jockeys’ title.

“I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t enjoying it and couldn’t see a future in it, so I gave it up before it gave me up,” is Fahey’s succinct reflection of his days as a jockey.

For a while afterwards, he concentrated on buying and selling a few horses and running a livery yard before he was encouraged by friends to give the training game a whirl. It’s a decision he has never had cause to regret.

From starting out, in the summer of 1993, from Manor Farm, Butterwick, near Malton, with a modest string, which barely reached double-figures, Fahey has never looked back.

Seven years in, and he got his name on the Royal Ascot roll of honour, courtesy of the horse, who did most to get his trainer noticed; the wonderful Superior Premium – a colt he’d bought as a yearling for only 2,800gns - who clinched a 20-1 triumph in the Cork And Orrery Stakes under Johnny Murtagh.

It was the start of something big. Having quickly elevated himself into the top 20 trainers in the country, Fahey has since progressed further up the ladder, thanks to consistent success, coupled with a natural aptitude and insatiable appetite for training horses that few can better.

In 2002, he won more than £500,000 for the first time in a Flat season. The following year, he did it again, while in 2004, his runners, which included 77 winners, raked-in a sizeable £740,000, and in 2005 – his first full year in his new yard at Musley Bank, Malton - the goalposts were raised again when Richard saddled 79 winners in Britain and accumulated just over £800,000 in prizes for his lucky patrons.

The progressive trend has continued. In 2006, he went through the £1m prize money barrier for the first time. More significantly, he has not only, never dipped below that sizeable figure since, but has continued to increase his stable’s earnings.

In 2008, when he saddled more than 100 winners for the first time, his prize money was up to £1.2m, the following year it was upped to £1.6m, combined with an incredible 165 winners and, in 2010, he reaped an extraordinary £2m-plus, 181 winners in Britain, and Wootton Bassett’s Group 1 romp in France, a campaign which enabled him, and his owners, to scale even headier heights.

“Owners are the lifeblood of this game,” he says. “Training decent horses for people, who are as enthusiastic and passionate as I am about racing, is what racing is all about, as far as I’m concerned. Nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing owners have winners, which is why I do everything in my power to make that happen.”

Among the stables’ best-known horses of recent seasons was Anna Pavlova, who developed into one of the most versatile mares in the country. Her mighty achievements ranged from ten furlongs to one and three-quarter miles, and her impressive roll of honour included nine wins from 18 starts, four Listed-race successes and a Group 2 triumph in October 2007 at Longchamp when, ridden by Frankie Dettori, she provided Richard with his first winner in France.

Fonthill Road, described as “a legend” by Fahey, won a whole host of valuable handicaps, including the 2006 Ayr Gold Cup, while Greenwich Meantime landed the Chester Cup in 2007.  His highspots at his local York track – the “Ascot of the North’ – where he has been leading trainer for the last five years, have been considerable.

Three times he has won the John Smith’s Cup, including an unforgettable 1-2 with Charlie Tokyo and Flying Clarets in 2007. Fittingly, Flying Clarets, after her close call, went on to win it the following year.

In 2009, Utmost Respect, the apple of Fahey’s eye, enjoyed a momentous triumph at York when winning the Group 2 Duke Of York Stakes. Who could have imagined that in a matter of only a few months, this ace sprinter, the star of the stable, would have succumbed to serious illness and been forced to pay the ultimate price. “Losing ‘Utmost’ hit me hard – it hit everyone here hard,” Fahey recalled. “You don’t like to lose any horse, and horses like him don’t come around too often.”

While Wootton Bassett was the undoubted star of the show in 2010, the latest season saw Rose Blossom continue to underline her ferocious prowess in high-class sprints, Sir Reginald win a major prize at Newmarket, Glen's Diamond snatch Group 3 honours, the tough-as-teak Barefoot Lady deservedly earn ‘black type’ and go from strength to strength and Richard becoming leading trainer at York for a sixth year in succession.

We all know that nothing in life, succeeds like success, and Richard Fahey is living proof that the same applies in racing. Quite how far he can go, nobody knows for sure. But those owners who, alongside him, have already ridden this exciting roller-coaster, have experienced far more ups than downs. Little wonder, then, that many of them believe that it’s onwards and upwards – with only the sky as the limit for the Richard Fahey stable in seasons to come… 

by Tom O’Ryan (updated Dec 2011)