In 1984, Mike Breslin sacrificed a promising soccer career and a steady job as a grain and seed sales rep to become a stablehand.
Plenty of people were quick to tell him he was crazy, and fiery All Whites coach at the time Kevin Fallon made a blunter assessment.
For three seasons Fallon had been impressed by Breslin's uncompromising attitude in the middle of the park for national league club Manawatu. He eventually offered him a berth in his North Shore United side and hinted at a look-in at the All Whites.
Soccer was on a high after the 1982 World Cup campaign, so it seemed a pretty straight-forward decision for a 24-year-old.
Breslin did sign - but not with North Shore. Instead, he swapped his soccer boots for gumboots and went down the road a few kilometres to Paddy Busuttin's Foxton racing stable.
"Apparently, I was a good bet for the World Cup squad, but I'd made up my mind to go the other way," Breslin said. "The move surprised a few people, particularly my ex-wife - a lot struggled to understand why I was giving away soccer and a reasonable job to earn $150 less a week."
The move to Busuttin's stable came when the trainer's team was large and continued to produce a regular stream of winners ranging from precocious two-year-olds to tough stayers.
By the time Busuttin took up a training position in Singapore last year, his former foreman was well established in his own right.
Breslin has now been training on his own accord for eight seasons, with the current season at his Awapuni stable being his most successful, in terms of winners. However, it is his impressive strike-rate that sets him apart from the training bunch.
Of his 98 runners to the track this season, 20 have won, for a strike-rate of 4.90. Only the legendary Colin Jillings, who trains in partnership with Richard Yuill at Takanini, has a superior runners to winners ratio.
Breslin finished third in the strike-rate category last season and knows it would be a feather in his cap if he could improve a few places.
"It would be nice because I think people are taking more notice of strike-rates," he said. "They were published in a paper the other day and it may be a coincidence, but I got six new horses that day, three from one guy."
Breslin is pinning his strike-rate hopes on Midday Son, who races at Otaki on Saturday, and Prevailing Wind, who was a close second to Chum at Awapuni last Saturday.
Both are adept on bad ground, while Flying Surf, Fleeting Fame and Honor Rush are also handy types.
Breslin has removed the blinkers from Flying Surf in the hope he races more kindly on Saturday.
While Breslin only has half-a-dozen horses in racing trim at the moment, he has 75 on his books, including 20 yearlings.
Up until this point, most of his runners have been promising youngsters and intermediate horses.
But next season he could have five in open class ranks if Prevailing Wind and Kanga can join Pherozity, Dancing Daze and Midday Son.
"I feel it's starting to come right. They say it takes 10 years to train - I've been going eight," he said.
"Training is so frustrating when you are trying to iron out a problem. That is why I respect Colin Jillings, Noel Eales and Jim Gibbs so much - they detect them in an instant."
If he is without a runner on a Saturday, Breslin laces up the boots alongside some of his old mates in the Red Sox club's third soccer team.
"It is a great release from racing because it gets so intense," he said. "I treat racing like a sport, that is the way I've always approached it."
- NZPA
Racing: These gumboots were made for walking
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.