"TROTSKY: THE TALENTED TAILSWISHER"

So now you've decided to own a racehorse, what happens next?..Well what you'll need is someone well respected in the industry to break them in and then someone who knows the time of day (and night hopefully), to train them. Thankfully for the Horsplay Syndicate we stumbled on both from the very start! You 'met' Dessie Hughes on the previous page and the photo above of Trotsky was taken at the pre-training yard of Susan Trainor (pictured too), who looked after Trotsky and Leon Og on their 'holidays'. In addition to playing board games and wearing flip flops, both horses always loved their time at Auntie Susan's and so did their adorable bunch of owners when they came to visit them! Indeed Susan's time and effort with our horses always paid dividend when they returned to Dessie's and her homemade wheaten bread always kept us coming back for more! We were learning very quicky that patience is one of the most important words in horse racing, for owner and trainer alike and so guided by Susan and Dessie we proceeded with caution! As for Trotsky, it's fair to say he was his own horse in the early years and was happy to do as asked, but usually only when he felt the time was suitable for himself!

So off went Trotsky to Big School at Dessie's and we soon had our first runner in a 'proper' race at Down Royal Racecourse in May 2003.

A solid 8th place set the tone for 2 traits that would stay part of Trotsky's career for the rest of his racing life. 

Firstly, when given a few taps with the whip by his jockey in the closing stages, our hero decided that he wasn't too inclined to go any quicker as a result and secondly, without any fences in his way, he'd consent to taking part, but as for heading his fellow competitors, it really wasn't going to be his bag. A number of placed efforts in hurdle races would follow but that would all change when the boy went steeplechasing, as he certainly liked to jump and was a total natural over a fence! A horse described by Des as 'not the quickest animal he'd ever trained but very agile', clearly had talent but was quite a puzzle for those jocks who had the joy of riding him. Barry Gerraghty, Ruby Walsh and even the great AP McCoy all climbed on board, with the latter 2 finding the key to the puzzle on occassion!

It's fair to say that Trotsky's owners were learning just as much about the game as he was as we ventured to the bigger obstacles! 

And so we arrive at the fun part when Trotsky and Chasing were introduced to one another. After a couple of near misses to start his chasing career, the great Ruby Walsh rode him to victory at Cork! (Ruby confessed our boy ended up chasing home a loose horse after the last, rather than quickening from the front, which may have explained things), but a win is a win and the Horsplay Syndicate was on the board!

Trotsky then took the honours in the Irish Midlands National at the tasty odds of 16/1. The turning nature of Kilbeggan Racecourse convinced Trotsky there may be a fence rather than a dull old winning post around the last corner and by the time he discovered his mistake, he was in the winners' enclosure under Paddy Flood!

A horse who clearly had to be played late, but jumped for fun, was best shown when he found himself 'accidentally' leading a Listed Chase at Galway yet with nothing left to jump, decided to let 3 horses pass him enroute to the Jamstick! A total enigma but a horse who we will always remember with great fondness and affection, Trotsky was a wonderful horse to begin the Horsplay Syndicate's ownership odyssey!