ON Saturday, May 13 Paul Swaby became the first trainer — among the 39 who graduated from the 2023 Jamaica Racing Commission’s (JRC) Trainers’ Training programme on May 12 — to win a race, saddling Katalina in the day’s fifth event.

Swaby’s success came in a native-bred five-year-old and upwards (non-winners of four) and imported five-year-olds and upwards (non-winners of three) travelling 7 ½ furlongs (1,500m).

Katalina, ridden by claiming apprentice Calvin Bailey, won the event by 4 1/2 lengths over JJThestriker (Anthony Allen) and Fault Line (Reyan Lewis) in 1:36.4.

Swaby, who was surrounded by his classmates as he became the first of the newcomers to win a race, expressed satisfaction with his maiden triumph.

“Well, it felt great to know that my first entrant is a winner. We’ve been doing this training course for a year and, thanks to Dr St Aubyn Bartlett and Dr Sophia Ramlal, I’ve learned a lot.

“It was most inspiring because they always kept us focused, and Dr Simone Johnally was also there to help, so it was a nice win,” Swaby said when he entered the winners circle for the first time.

Swaby stated that now that the monkey is off his back, his objective is to maintain his momentum.

“When I was growing up I used to hear about Kenneth Mattis, Philip Feanny, and Allan “Billy” Williams because they trained a lot of good horses, and as a kid I used to say that one day I’d like to be in one of their positions — but those are some big shoes to fill.”

“I hope that, like how I just started, I can continue the trend and see how far I can take it. Right now I have five horses at the stables under my care, and I’m hoping to get some more in the future; I also have some babies coming. We have a farm (Solid Golden Farm) and we’ve bred a couple of horses so hopefully I’ll have two or three of them coming in later in the year,” he explained.