Natalia Lupini It is hard to put into words just how exciting it was to have a winner at the new Curragh Racecourse on Tattersalls 2000 Guineas day. This is a big day on the calendar and Blairmayne was so good in the Heritage Hotel & Spa Handicap. Every time you have a winner it makes all the hard work worthwhile. To do it on a classic day is amazing. I train at a little yard in a village outside Banbridge in County Down called Gilford, but I am originally from outside Milan in Italy and I suppose nobody would have guessed I would be living this life over here when I was little. My family is not a horsey family but I always had a love for horses. I am the only one but my family have always supported me even before I left for Ireland, and they always tried to keep me going in the right direction. That love for the horse started when I was five years old and on holidays with my family in Siena. That is where they have the Palio, the big race around the square and when I saw that I think that is where I got the bug. So my parents helped me in any way they could. They took me to pony club, where I learned to ride and handle horses. Then as I got older, I spent summers in some of the big training yards in Milan to work with racehorses. Even at 15 or 16, I knew I wanted to work in racing. But I wanted to finish my education too and got a degree in psychology. By then, I had already been to Ireland, when I was 19 to work in a yard in Armagh, looking after hunters. That was nearly nine years ago now but even as I went back home to finish my education, I knew that I would be back. And I was. I bought Abstraction at the Goresbridge Breeze-Ups in 2012 and he won twice and was second in a Listed race at Tipperary. He took us to Meydan for the Dubai Carnival, which was a fantastic experience and he is still going strong. I took out a licence to train myself in 2014 and rented a yard at Scarvagh House in County Armagh. We didn’t have a good start as the horses were sick so it was 2016 before we had our first winner with Alnahar. Blairmayne won twice that year too and they both added to their tallies in the next couple of seasons. Saturday’s win was Blairmayne’s fourth and it was great to have my mom Milena at the Curragh for that. My family are always coming over and they are happy that I am doing something I love. My dad, Hactor could not be there this time unfortunately as he was working but hopefully there will be more days to celebrate together.. Like Abstraction, I bought Blairmayne at Goresbridge. I gave him plenty of time and that patience has paid off. When I came to Ireland, I was very lucky that I fell in with the right people, who continued to support me. Blairmayne is owned by the Raintree Racing Partnership, which is a syndicate made up of some of the people I stayed with when I came over first. For them to have had such fun with Blairmayne is brilliant and it feels like I am paying them back a little bit for what they did for me. Killian Leonard gave him a brilliant ride on Saturday. We were hoping for a very good run and we were pretty confident as Blairmayne had run well but got no run on his first race. He loves it at the Curragh and has only been out of the first four twice from 10 runs there. The biggest aim for us would be to win a premier handicap there, that would be amazing and we'll look at the Scurry and Bold Lad Handicaps again for him. He was placed in both of those last year so we’ll keep trying and hopefully luck will be on our side on one of those days. There is a big handicap in him. He has proved he's competitive at that level. It’s great to have a horse like him in the yard. He always runs his best and always gives you a nice day out. He's just amazing. We have nine horses at the moment, a few young horses and a few two-year-olds that we're looking forward to running as they are shaping well. You always hope a day like we had in the Curragh might get the phone to ring a little more. That would be very welcome and is what we are working hard towards.
