10 minute read
A meeting of minds
Natalia Lupini and Craig Bryson enjoyed a first Listed winner this summer with Kitty Rose, and the pair have ambitious plans for their exciting training venture
Meet Natalia Lupini. The Italian psychologist turned racehorse trainer.
A young woman making waves in a profession still widely dominated by men. In December she will sit alongside the biggest names in Irish racing at the Horse Racing Ireland Awards via her nomination for the Flat Achievement Award after a brilliant 2023.
Meet Craig Bryson, Natalia’s partner. He spent 11 years in Ballydoyle learning from the best. He’s gone from working with a couple of point-to-pointers in his spare time to handling Flat horses in all of his time.
Two talented horse people; and the game changed for both Lupini and Bryson when they met a few years ago. They put their heads together and generated a business plan that revolves around sourcing quality stock, largely from breeze-up yards, before and after the sales, to join their base on Grovehill Road, just outside Banbridge, County Down. That plan is coming together more than nicely.
When Barnso stayed on stoutly to take a 7f maiden at Dundalk midway through October, it was win number 15 for the year. That was one better than last year and last year was a pretty good year – the break-out year for their operation. That is the tangible measure of progress that every trainer yearns for.
“Before I met Craig, I was working with my own horses and running a few horses for my friends,” Lupini explained. “We put our heads together and turned the operation more into a business to try and find some quality horses to run as two-year-olds, sales prospects of our own.
“We’ve been quite lucky with the horses we’ve sourced. We’ve picked up a few new owners, as well. That brings a bit more pressure, but you get more confidence when you see the results on the track, especially when you’re doing that in Ireland. It’s so competitive here, you’re competing against the best trainers and owners in the world, so there is a huge satisfaction there when it comes off.”
Meet Kitty Rose.
A daughter of Invincible Army, who was being prepped by Robson Aguiar for the Arqana May Breeze Up Sale when the Brazilian was approached by Lupini and Bryson. They did a deal and instead of heading for Arqana, this filly was put through her paces up the Old Vic at The Curragh. Billy Lee hopped off her and confirmed what her trainer was thinking, a very nice two-year-old.
A big, scopey filly, she was given plenty of time before making her debut at the end of August where she ran out an impressive winner of a Naas maiden from the well-regarded Dermot Weld-trained, Aga Khan-owned filly Tannola.
She went on to win the Listed Ingabelle Stakes at Leopardstown at the Irish Champions Festival and that was a breakthrough moment, a first Listed win and a win on one of the biggest weekends in the Flat racing world.
Yet another key indicator that what Lupini and Bryson were doing was working.
The latter explains: “We source a lot of our two-year-olds from the breeze-up yards before they go to the sales or even after the sales. We do that because you just have a wee bit more information about them.
“If we have owners and they want to buy nice two-year-olds, you know if you’re buying them in the spring you won’t have as long to wait and you have a better idea of where the horses are.
“If you’re buying them in the yearling sales, you’re probably not spending as much, but you’re waiting longer and then there is a greater uncertainty there.
“We go to people we trust and rely on and Robson has been very good to us – we’ve had success with horses he has recommended to us before. He thought this filly fitted the bill.
“Look, we’ve been lucky with her.
“We always said she’d be next year’s filly and this year is a bonus, but for her to go and win at the Irish Champions Festival is huge for us, the owners and everyone in the yard – that is where we want to be competing.”
Lupini grew up in Milan but she doesn’t come from a racing background. Indeed her first experience of anything that resembled racing came from family trips to Tuscany, where she saw the famous Palio di Siena, a fierce contest that takes place on the square of the Italian town of Siena.
She began working in racing yards in Miland and travelled to Ireland at the age of 19 to gain more experience. She went back home to complete a psychology degree, but travelled back to Ireland almost immediately after.
By then working with horses was the only thing she wanted to do.
Abstraction is probably the watershed moment for her career. She bought him for just €6,000 at Goresbridge, put him into training with Sarah Dawson and the horse took her to Dubai for the World Cup Carnival. Seeing first hand how it could be done, Lupini decided to take out her own licence, train for herself and for friends.
Her numbers were never big yet she was still able to get big results, more recently through the eight-time winner Blairmayne and Dunum, who cost €2,800. His wins have included this year's €100,000 Ahonoora Handicap at Galway.
"It was tough to get going,"recalls Lupini. "Some things at the start just didn't work out and the horses were sick for a while so it was a tough start. But I have always kept a positive attitude to training horses and that really got me through. Maybe the psychology studies helped!
“My family still all live in Italy. They had no real interest in horses until I started training. They come over and visit now, and enjoy going racing and seeing the set up.
“I just loved being in Ireland from when I first arrived. I look at Ireland, the facilities and everything is top class. I think it is one of the best places that anybody can train, and work with horses, and that was always the way I was thinking.”
Bryson served an extensive undergrad at Ballydoyle, and the experience he gained there, developing yearlings and two-yearolds first hand, has proved invaluable.
“The only way to do it in Ballydoyle is the right way,” he asserts. “I took plenty away from it. The importance of routine, consistency and just doing everything right. Horses thrive off routines so once you get them settled in, that is the way for them to develop.
“There are no shortcuts at Ballydoyle. That’s the big thing. Anybody can take horses out and canter them, but it’s the little things that catch you out. Anything small needs to be dealt with straight away.
“It’s that honesty with yourself really.”
While both Lupini and Bryson bring separate skills and horsemanship, it goes without saying that they work well together, and in turn with their team.
The results have helped, of course, with the yard transforming into a progressive outfit that aims to compete in the ultracompetitive scene of juvenile maidens –five of their 15 wins this year came with twoyear-olds.
“I think we both find training very enjoyable,” Lupini says. “For me it’s great to have someone to share it with now – the love of horses and training and also an ambition.
“We discuss the horses a lot and we’ve a great team now in the yard, very dedicated –it helps when you’re getting good results.
“We’ve got some really good owners who have supported us well. Maybe we will have more numbers [of horses] next year but at the same time, we want to concentrate on keeping the quality levels high, and improving those levels again."
Bryson picks up off that point: “The quality is what we’re after. I couldn’t see us getting to 100 horses. I think if we got to 50 and we were happy with the quality level, that would be ideal.
“Staffing is a huge part of it and seems to be an issue for nearly every trainer in Ireland. We have a very good team now, but if you were going to get more horses, you’d need the staff in place beforehand.
“If you have too many horses and not enough staff then you have to start cutting corners and that doesn’t work. You need good riders to do this job.
“Another big thing for us is involving owners as much as we can. Even if they are happy enough for you to kick on, we try to incorporate them in the plans for each horse, what training we’re doing, what race we are going for and why.
“We always want to keep them in the loop because that can improve their experience as well, add another dimension to it.”
LIKE MOST YARDS at this time of year, Lupini’s base now is going through transition with this year’s horses let off, and a section of next year’s horses ready to come in. They bought yearlings, but will once again use their contacts to source more ready-to-go juveniles in the spring.
Perhaps more significantly, they can look forward to Kitty Rose going into battle for them again, a plan which seemed quite unlikely only last month. The filly was just about to be sold to American owners when the deal fell through.
Her syndicate – Nigel O’Hare, Gary Devlin and the Kabin Racing Syndicate – then also considered entering her in the Champions Day Sale at Ascot, but have now decided to keep her.
After her Listed victory the filly lost her unbeaten record in October’s Group 3 Staffordstown Stakes, but Bryson was very pleased with that run, and the dream is very much alive.
“When the owners purchased her, they bought her as a nice horse to have running in nice races,” Bryson explains.
“They were getting offered plenty of money and they were going to sell her but they’re happy to keep her in the yard and run next year. She is still valuable at the end of the year then.
“We were happy with her at The Curragh. It was her first run over a mile and racing on very soft ground. She got left in front plenty early, got hassled all the way and did plenty. I think she did well to finish where she did. It was good to get another run into her and we’ve always thought she is one for next year.
“It’s great for Natalia and great for the yard that you have those few horses through the winter that you know can compete with the best of them.”
Lupini adds: “We always said along the way that she will fill into herself later in the year and will be a proper nice three-year-old. Everyone dreams of a Classic contender. She could be one!
“We’ll take it one day at a time, one step at a time. The goal is to improve the quality of horses and compete on the bigger stages.”
