Trackwork with Famous Seamus trainer

Noel Mayfield-smith with Group 1 winner 'Famous Seamus', at the Steve O'Dea stables at Eagle Farm, Brisbane. Picture: Anthony Weate Source: Anthony Weate / News Corp Australia

THE sun is only just coming up, there is a crispness in the air and the still early-morning quiet is punctuated by the cacophony of thundering hoofs and heaving lungs.

Trackwork might seem like organised chaos to the casual observer but this is an exact science where quality is measured by the stopwatch and a learned eye.

For most racehorse trainers, this is their favourite time of the day. Just ask Noel Mayfield-Smith.

"Everyone gets a buzz out of being around horses,'' Mayfield-Smith said.

"Mine is getting up early in the morning and being out there when they are working.

"A lot of trainers will tell you there is no money in this game but they are in it for the horses.''

It is early-morning trackwork where the turf stars of tomorrow are first discovered and developed.

It is here where trainers like Mayfield-Smith try to nurture the talent they recognise in their racehorses.

It is here where Mayfield-Smith first noticed that Famous Seamus was a cut above the ordinary.

The trainer said Famous Seamus shared the one necessary attribute found in all topliners — acceleration.

"Quite simply a turn of foot — that's what all the top horses have,'' Mayfield-Smith said.

"A lot of them have a little bit of intelligence, too, but they must have a turn of foot.

"These good horses, when you first test them on the track, they usually do it on their ear, they don't really need anyone to teach them.

"The track rider who rode Famous Seamus in his first (fast) gallop came back in and said this is a Group horse.''

Mayfield-Smith spoke to The Daily Telegraph from Brisbane trackwork earlier this week, just moments after his stable star Famous Seamus produced a typically brilliant gallop in preparation for the Group 1 $650,000 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) tomorrow.

Race jockey Ryan Wiggins rode Famous Seamus in the workout and said the sprinter had improved since his impressive BTC Cup win over Spirit Of Boom and Buffering two weeks ago.

"The horse hasn't gone backwards and if anything he has improved, certainly Ryan feels that is the case,'' Mayfield-Smith continued. "I couldn't want for anything better with this horse going into the race (tomorrow).''

Wiggins scored his first Group 1 win on Famous Seamus last start — a reward for hard work and loyalty.

The association between jockey and trainer began 12 months ago when Wiggins made himself available to ride Famous Seamus in trackwork.

The BTC cup day at Doomben racecourse. Winner race 7, number 6 Famous Seamus, Jockey Ryan Wiggins. Trainer Noel Mayfield-Smith. Pic Jono Searle. Source: News Corp Australia

"Ryan was riding Famous Seamus trackwork for us last year even though he didn't expect anything,'' the trainer said.

"Then when Glen Colless could not ride Famous Seamus in the Stradbroke, I booked Ryan.

"Tim Clark was going to ride the horse this year but we went to Brisbane early and Tim was committed to Sydney.

"Ryan got on him with the understanding it would be only for the one ride (fifth behind Temple Of Boom in the Victory Stakes).

"Tim then got suspended and Ryan rode the horse again in the BTC Cup. We had to make a decision what we were going to do after that race.

"It was a pretty hard decision, we couldn't really win either way. It didn't seem fair to even have a flick of the coin so we pulled it apart and decided to do what was best for the horse.

"Ryan could ride him trackwork and give good feedback so we went that way.''

The Mayfield-Smith name is synonymous with success in Australian racing. Noel's older brothers Brian and Lawrie are both successful trainers with all three renowned for their horsemanship and understanding of the thoroughbred.

When you consider the thousands of young men and women who try to make the grade as racehorse trainers, it's an exceptional feat for three boys from one family out of Cairns in far north Queensland to all make their mark in major racing centres.

Noel, the youngest of the brothers, began his working life in the ANZ Bank, spent three years as a public servant in the transport department in Brisbane, before moving to Sydney where he was the stable foreman for Brian at Rosehill in the late 1980s.

He then took out a trainer's licence in 1991, set up a stable base at Newcastle before eventually moving to Hawkesbury in 1996.

For a trainer who doesn't have the numbers or profile of some of his peers, Mayfield-Smith always seems to have a good horse in his stable.

From outstanding filly Angst, who made a clean sweep of the Princess Series, to the dual Group 1 winners Landsighting and In Top Swing, and now Famous Seamus, Mayfield-Smith has a knack of finding big-race winners.

"We do struggle at Hawkesbury with numbers — whether it is the provincial stigma, I don't know,'' Mayfield-Smith said.

"With some owners, I tell them what I charge and they say it is too dear. Then they go to town and pay an extra $20 (daily) on top of that to a trainer who may never have trained a black-type winner. It's all very strange.

"But we enjoy Hawkesbury, it is a very progressive club.''

Mayfield-Smith's wife Emma is also a licensed trainer — she saddles up Happy One at Bathurst today — and is an integral part of the stable's success.

She has been holding the fort at Hawkesbury while Mayfield-Smith prepares Famous Seamus for the Brisbane winter carnival.

"Emma is a huge asset for the stable because she knows exactly what is going on with our horses,'' Mayfield-Smith said.

Famous Seamus — who is poised to join Apache Cat (2008) and Sea Siren (2012) as the only winners of the BTC Cup-Doomben 10,000 Group 1 double — also ended up in Mayfield-Smith's stables through circumstance.

Long-time stable client Jim Simpson wanted to buy a horse for a Ready to Run Sale before onselling to Hong Kong and purchased Famous Seamus, a half-brother to Dooley Jones, a three-time winner prepared by Mayfield-Smith.

However, Famous Seamus was a handful as a young horse, leaving no option but to have him gelded, and Simpson decided to leave the horse with Mayfield-Smith.

"He has settled down a lot,'' Mayfield-Smith said. "The horse is comfortable in his own surrounds and with people he knows. He's very good like that, he likes routine.

"We knew early on he was going to be a good horse and he won his first three starts.''

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