As an apprentice boilermaker, Nathan Doyle didn’t have any sick days left because of his passion for racing.
It says a lot about the 34-year-old that he finished the apprenticeship before moving to training horses – rather unsuccessfully – in his early 20s.
Nathan Doyle-trained Dalaalaat wins a Midway Handicap at Kembla Grange last year.Credit:Getty
“I hated every minute of it. As soon as I finished the apprenticeship, it was back to the horses,” Doyle said. “I can weld and do a few things, but I didn’t have many sickies left because every time there was a race meeting I wanted to be there.
“Really it was all I ever want to do, and I have just chased.”
Doyle went out training horses at Muswellbrook in 2011 and, while he had a couple of winners here and there, it was a long way from the 17 per cent strikerate that has him as one of the emerging faces of the industry in 2022.
“What I thought I knew was really nothing – I really knew nothing back then,” Doyle admitted.
After five seasons and only nine winners, he stepped away from being his own boss to learn the trade properly, coming to Sydney to work under Peter and Paul Snowden. It wasn’t long before he caught the eye his boss.
“He was always there to rug up at night and to do those little one per cent things that don’t get a lot of credit,” Peter Snowden said. “He was just a good worker, which is what you need to be to be a trainer.”
Doyle knew it was the chance to become a trainer and wasn’t going to miss a minute in the Snowden stables before moving to Mark Newnham and running the Warwick Farm stable.
“I wanted to be successful and I had to learn off the best,” Doyle said. “Those better trainers are real horsemen and you only have to watch them to learn. They are training a lot of winners for a reason.
Nathan Doyle has learnt his craft from the Snowdens and Mark Newnham.Credit:Getty
“It was two very different styles of training and both were very effective. I learnt that different styles of training work for different horses.
“Mark gave me a bit of responsibility, and it really helped understand what you need to do as a trainer.”
After a couple of years, it was time to go back on his own at Scone in 2018, and every season since Doyle has moved through the grades and trained more winners every year.
He is approaching his 1000th runner for 167 winners. Doyle is based at Newcastle but still has simple goals that have held him in good stead.
While many young trainers are in a rush for the big success, Doyle, who had Norwegian Bliss as a group 3 runner-up at Caulfield last week, simply wants to be in Sydney every Saturday.
“I would love to be more competitive on the Sydney scene. Those other races will come if you can be in Sydney regularly,” Doyle said.
“If I think back 12 months ago, a lot of our winners were in the country and then we moved to having more provincial winners.
“But the majority of winners this season have been in the city and at the provincials, so we are going in the right direction. I just want to keep that going.”
But don’t expect Doyle to be making up the numbers when he comes to town.
It is about winning races for him, so as Revivalist and Dalaalaat come to Rosehill for Saturday’s Midway Handicap and Starboreta looks for a hat-trick this preparation, Doyle has struck to his mantra.
“You have got to know your horse’s ability. That is one thing you have to get right. You have to put them in the right races,” he said.
“I want to be going to the races thinking my horses are a chance to win. I want to know they are going to be competitive.”
Starboreta has earned her way into a benchmark 78, winning at Hawkesbury before being explosive late after being blocked for a run on Gong day at Kembla.
“Her two runs back have been enormous,” Doyle said. “I think her two wins since being back suggests she is well truly up to this grade and with 55 kilos I think she is right in it again.
“She has had six starts on good ground for four wins and two placings, so getting off the wet track is really to her advantage.
“She can just let down on those firmer tracks.”
He favours Dalaalaat over Revivalist in the Midway.
“He is another one that needs a dry track, being such a big horse,” Doyle said. “I thought his run the other day was all right and it really tightened him up fitness-wise.
“The way he worked on Tuesday was like he did before he won his Midway, so he just needs a little luck.”
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