Spotlight On: Ryan Tyrell

By Brodie Nickson

Gold Coast trainer Ryan Tyrell is a genuine horseman and a character you love to have a conversation with.

When you speak to Tyrell, he is a man who is passionate about his horses, owners, staff and supporters.

He is fiercely loyal to the team around him and it isn’t hard to hear the genuine passion he has for Fenwick Farm and racing.

Tyrell has had an in-depth racing education beginning when he was a teenager, learning from some of Sydney’s best trainers.

He has been around horses and trackwork as long as he could remember, working for the likes of Bart Cummings, John O’Shea and Anthony Cummings.

Tyrell even travelled overseas riding jumpers before returning to Australia.

Sydney born, Tyrell moved to Queensland around his 18^th birthday, citing a needed change away from the environment he had grown up in.

He began breaking in horses and continued to revolutionise his horsemanship through years of hard work.

Tyrell based himself at the Sunshine Coast and had a lot to do with a variety of good horses, including Natalie McCall’s 2014 Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap winner River Lad.

After years of working as a breaker and trackwork rider, it was a conversation with his longtime supporter and close friend, Harry Reed, which set the process of Tyrell’s official transfer towards training in motion.

Tyrell was in his early 30s when Reed persuaded him to take out his training license.

“Harry had lunch with me and was the person who encouraged me to take out my training license,” Tyrell said.

“He and his wife, Margaret, supported me. We had a lot of fun.

“Harry was a massive, massive influence on me and Margeret is a beautiful lady. Both could keep you grounded - he was the ‘boss’, but Margaret was the ‘big boss’.”

Reed passed away last year and was an extremely popular member of the Sunshine Coast racing community.

“Who Shot Maggie was a good horse for us and Eminent provided us with a big win,” Tyrell said.

“It was an average race [Eminent won] but Harry had a good punt.”

Following Reed and support from other prominent owners, Tyrell took out his training license and with his horsemanship to the fore, took a slightly different approach to training.

Tyrell relied heavily on his skills of educating horses to give his athletes every chance of success.

He especially had a major focus on racing and barrier manners.

“If a horse can’t walk in (the barriers) and walk out, they’re not going to jump. You can teach them to jump - it is easy to teach them to jump. But to teach them to have confidence to walk in there, be comfortable standing there and, then as the gates open, walk out, [then] they will always be confident because when the gates open that is when their job starts,” he said.

“My biggest thing with jockeys in the barriers is don’t try to make them jump, don’t try to make them stand. Where they are standing - let them stand. That’s them.”

This simple approach served Tyrell well as he helped unlock the best of a host of enigmatic types, especially Group 2-placed Jemeldi.

“Horses like Jemeldi, the more you did in the gates the more aggressive he got,” Tyrell said.

“It is all education. They have got to be comfortable in the gates and they have got to be tractable.

“There is no point having horses that if a jockey drives it out, it can’t bolt on them. It has to come back.”

Tyrell still keeps a close eye on each of his horses as he continues to ride work each day.

“When riding my own work with Rod my biggest thing is in the gallops they have to be tractable. They have to be able to take a spot,” he said.

Although Tyrell doesn’t break in each of his horses anymore, he sees the second step of a horse’s training process as just as important as the first.

“[Breaking in] is a craft, but you are only as good as the next person who takes over for you. You could do a great job with [a yearling] but young horses pick up bad habits quickly,” Tyrell said.

Tyrell recently relocated his stable to Canungra where he has thrived working out of Fenwick Farm.

The extensive training facility, owned by Sandy Bauman, boasts beautiful surroundings with almost everything a trainer could hope for.

“Training on the farm is beautiful. I am a big swimmer, water walking is good and in regards to training on the farm with the grass track, it has its massive positives,” Tyrell said.

Tyrell admits that he has had to slightly alter his training style for the relaxed surroundings away from the Sunshine Coast where he had trained before.

Although the Caloundra facilities are world class, the change in atmosphere allows Tyrell to try to rejuvenate new horses.

“Normally the first preparation at Fenwick Farm they are happy and, eventually [the facilities are so good] sometimes they almost become too comfortable and you need to step them up,” Tyrell said.

“We have got paddocks down the back along creek along a bush trail we can ride, which is good for them. There is a heap of pine trees and a paddock where we can also do dressage.

“Down the back there is a dam I like to ride them around. Horses like Kavak can thrive through different mental stimulation away from going around a track.”

Tyrell has a good group of young horses he has shown patience with and is looking forward to producing his well-educated talents in the coming months.