I was lucky I had my family to talk to... others have no one
Harry Dunlop’s mental health mission for trainers
WHEN Harry Dunlop floated the idea of a mental health support network for racehorse trainers last year, he braced himself for ‘the p*** being taken out of me’.
After all, in an ultra-competitive sport, who wants to admit to anything that might be interpreted as a sign of weakness?
What Dunlop did not quite expect were expressions of gratitude, but that has been what the former trainer has received from some in a profession simply grateful to finally have an ear to bend about issues in their lives which can turn from molehills to mountains when they bounce around a brain without an exit route.
Dunlop is reluctant to draw comparisons between training and farming, a profession which has an alarmingly high suicide rate compared to the national average, but concedes many of the issues trainers face are the same — long hours, poor work-life balance, financial and family pressures and fearing the stigma of failure.
There are around 600 licensed trainers in Britain, although the list of those exiting the sport grew again this week with David Griffiths and Henry Spiller confirming they were quitting.
In the final six months of last year, the Dunlop initiative — which has been provisionally called the Trainers Support Network — had 50 approaches, with 23 of them requiring a more in-depth follow-up. As word gets out, the calls have become a steady stream.
Dunlop comes from a family ingrained in racing. His late father, John, trained more than 3,000 winners and was champion Flat trainer in 1995. His brother, Ed, has won Group One races around the world and continues to operate successfully in Newmarket.
But in 2022, the economic reality of training a small string of horses in Lambourn prompted Harry to bring to an end a 16-year training career. It was an experience that gave him an insight into the problems a trainer has to grapple with, but surprisingly this was not his motivation to launch the support network.
Dunlop said: ‘ There is a slight personal side to it — it is a tough industry. One year you are doing fantastically and the next you’re not.
‘When things are not going well, there are sometimes not many friends. I am very lucky. I have my brother and had my father to talk to. This all came about from talking to a trainer who sadly had a complete wobble and is no longer training.
‘Thankfully, he is doing well now but I was inspired by this poor guy who basically hadn’t got much welfare support and needed someone to talk to. That inspired me to put the energy into wanting to make it happen.’
Trainers who have already reached out range from across the success spectrum.
Dunlop added: ‘If a trainer has one good horse and it goes wrong and the rest of them are ordinary — and that has happened to me — it is a big blow.
‘ If things are not going very well I don’t think you train very well. When things are going smoothly the confidence is high and you make better decisions. But there are some big trainers we are talking to — it’s not just the little man down the roads. This is a relentless sport. It is 24/7. We have racing on a Sunday night now!’ With support from the National Trainers Federation (NTF) and their benevolent fund, a network of people to turn to has started to be put in place. It includes former trainers Chris Wall and David Arbuthnot and Yorkshire-based trainer Jo Foster.
Dunlop has also recruited renowned sports psychologist Michael Caulfield, who is currently associated with Brentford FC and Hampshire CC and has in the past worked alongside Gareth Southgate when he was manager at Middlesbrough, Steve Bruce and Sussex CC. Caulfield, also a former CEO of the Professional Jockeys Association, says the issues he deals with are common to all sports and that it is not counselling some trainers seek but simply someone to listen. Caulfield said: ‘Jurgen Klopp shocked the world when he announced he was stepping down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season. His key line was, “I am running out of energy”. ‘Whether you are training 20, 120 or 320 horses it is very easy to not have someone to talk to and be completely immersed in a good or bad season and you can run out of energy.
‘As humans we were not designed to live like this. We don’t relax and switch off and if you do you are seen as the weak one.
‘I have had calls from trainers, one or two I have never met in my life. You can tell in a nanosecond it is someone who is really nervous to make that call but two hours later you are still talking.
‘They want to talk to someone independent with complete detachment. I am not someone’s brother, agent, or manager. I am not their coach — I can’t drop them or not pick them. I have no vested interest in racing so I don’t want one trainer to do better than another.
‘It is still early days but as with everything in life, people want someone to go to and say, “I need to work a few things out”.
‘The public often only see the champagne end, the golden moments, because most of the interviews are done with the winners and it looks fabulous. That looks a brilliant life to the person sitting on the 7.44 to Victoria every morning but it is what is beneath the surface.
‘You try telling a trainer to switch off and relax a bit. It is pointless. They can’t.
‘They might go to the Lake District, Blackpool or the south of France for a week but deep down they are thinking, “I’ve got one running in the 4.20”. By 4.25 it has finished tailed off last and you are explaining to a disappointed owner what has happened.
‘Staffing issues are huge and the finances are brutal. People can feel trapped because they have invested so much, including emotional energy. They feel the walls closing in, asking, “What can I do?”’
Social media — something which trainers positively use to promote their business — for some has also become a source of abuse and anxiety.
The NTF have turned to ex- policeman Sean Memory, who has been helping to track down trolls, and Dunlop is seeking funding to extend his work.
Caulfield added: ‘ I work in football a lot and the stuff you see is barbaric and evil. You wonder why a human wants to say that about a fellow human because a penalty wasn’t given.
‘We all hear what is being said about us — it is impossible not to. If you say it doesn’t effect you that’s not true.’
Dunlop’s initiative was originally a pilot scheme. It has flown. In the coming weeks he is hoping to recruit a couple more to ensure the support network geographically covers the whole country.
The aim is for a small but tight team that will be there when someone needs it.