'The horses have been so consistent and I'm optimistic about the future'

Growing up in his native Brazil, Ivan Furtado was always going to be involved in horses having spent much of his time riding them as a child while his grandfather owned a few racehorses. “It was always a passion of mine for as long as I could remember,” he recalls.

He left South America at the age of 23 for what he describes as “a bit of an adventure to London”, which eventually led him to five great years working and learning his trade with Jim Old. And he fell in love with the lifestyle saying: “I love horses and the way it is over here I knew that was what I wanted to do,” he says.

Along the way to becoming a trainer in his own right he spent time at Roger Charlton’s, where he rode work on Al Kazeem, which he recalls as “an unbelievable experience”, adding that “training had long been on my mind and when the right opportunity presented itself I took it”.

Furtado started in his own right in 2015 when he got off to a good start with 15 winners, and in 2018 enjoyed a personal best of 33 in one season. The Brazilian moved to Averham Park two years ago and this season Furtado is on course for his most successful campaign with 28 winners already in the bag, a good team being lined up for the all-weather this winter and a Group-winning filly, Just Beautiful, flying the flag for the stable.

“The all-weather season is a very important time for us and I think the team we have been assembling will be very competitive this time around,” he says. “The horses have been so consistent all year and I’m optimistic about the future, with the likes of Byford and Crazy Spin in particular for the winter months.”

Older horses

Atyaaf
6 b g Invincible Spirit – Eshaadeh
He has been very consistent all year with a win at Bath over 5½f in June and he has only missed out on a place in the first four on one of his last nine runs. Atyaaf is due a break soon before we bring him back for an all-weather campaign. He has run well on the surface at Newcastle and won at Chelmsford so we will be looking to those two courses, and if he can drop another couple of pounds he can win again soon.

Byford
4 b g Toronado – Verba
He won at Pornichet-La-Baule last year on his second of two starts and has carried on in great form this year with wins at Wolverhampton and Lingfield. His last outing was behind Bangkok on the Good Friday finals day, after which he had a setback that resulted in an enforced break. Thankfully he is back in training now and I could give him his first run on the turf at the backend before an all-weather campaign this winter. He is very versatile as he has won over a mile and 1m2f and I don’t think 1m4f will be beyond him. He is a nice progressive horse and will certainly win again as he seems in very good order and should give us plenty to look forward to in the coming months.

Byford (third left) is one to note over the winterCredit: Pool

Crazy Spin
5 b m Epaulette – George’s Gift
A five-time winner, two of which came this year over a mile at Southwell and Chelmsford. She has enjoyed a long summer break out in the field and will be back for a campaign on the all-weather. She is a lovely filly to have anything to do with and has won in each of her last three seasons. She is one of those fillies who has a level and now she is down to 54 can go for all the 0-55 handicaps, where she is usually very competitive. She did enjoy the Southwell Fibresand but that has gone this season but I think she will be fine on any of the English all-weather tracks.