'A good horse like him gets you a few quid - it gives you more mileage'
David Jennings finds the charismatic trainer of Chatham Street Lad in fine form
Kanturkese is a language that can be tricky to understand. Those who speak the north Cork dialect have their tongues on a treadmill and sentences sometimes finish before you realise they have even begun. Conversations are challenging, but it is a language you should learn because Mick Winters is worth listening to.
We are chatting about Chatham Street Lad, the hot favourite for the lucrative Dan & Joan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase (2.15) at Fairyhouse who routed his 16 rivals when last seen in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup, when Winters is asked to compare the new teacher's pet with his most famous past pupil.
The 63-year-old replies: "Rebel Fitz [his sole Grade 1 winner who also won a Galway Hurdle] was an awful lot easier to train, let me tell you. He didn't take much work. He would train himself. He was a beautiful horse to train."
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- 'It's tough financially and last year I said I might get a job driving a lorry instead - although to be fair I'd probably crash!'
- 'I'm not here to tell people how to train but if you hide something from me, I'm gone, I'm done - and you won't see me again'
- 'I had to fly back from Saudi on the day for the awards before flying back the following day but it really was a great evening'
- 'Other trainers say how difficult it is to get staff, but I can't say the same - when people come here, they seem to stay'
- 'People love having horses with Willy rather than a miserable git like me'
- 'It's tough financially and last year I said I might get a job driving a lorry instead - although to be fair I'd probably crash!'
- 'I'm not here to tell people how to train but if you hide something from me, I'm gone, I'm done - and you won't see me again'
- 'I had to fly back from Saudi on the day for the awards before flying back the following day but it really was a great evening'