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"I still love the game and love what I do. I love going out to feed the horses and seeing them mature and progress.
Monday, 16 February 2026
Denise Foster has long been one of Irish racing's most popular daughters so when Westandtogether swooped to land a handicap hurdle at Navan earlier this month, providing the trainer with her second winner of the season, needless to say there was a warmer reception than usual when Danny Gilligan returned to the winners' enclosure afterwards.
"I still love the game and love what I do. I love going out to feed the horses and seeing them mature and progress. I just love it all," said the women who almost everybody calls Sneezy - a nickname which stuck since childhood when her friends struggled with the pronunciation of her actual name.
It was fitting that Navan should provide Foster with her latest winner as the Enfield-based trainer has had most success at her two most local tracks. It was the 13th winner of her training career at the Proudstown venue - the highlight of which was with Lily's Rainbow in the Listed Heritage Stakes back in 2016 - while she has also celebrated 13 winners at Fairyhouse, too.
Explaining her love affair with Fairyhouse and Navan, Foster said: "It's probably no coincidence that Navan and Fairyhouse have been two of my lucky tracks, because if I was a horse those are the two places I would want to run. There are fantastic tracks and you have no excuses at either of them. They're proper racetracks."
Foster might not be up on podiums accepting trophies after races as much as the likes of Gordon Elliott or Willie Mullins, but she continues to hold her own in a game that is being dominated by the superpowers.
"I know some people might look at my record and think it's not great, but the way I look at it to remain sane is that last year we had three winners, two seconds as well as a third and a fourth and that is from just having six or seven horses in training so I don't think that's too bad."
It certainly not, Sneezy. She has no desire to get any bigger either.
"We never have any more than ten in training and that's the way I like it," she explained. "When you see the big trainers struggling to get staff, what hope have I got? You have to do a lot of it yourself."
Foster took over the licence from Elliott when he served a six-month suspension in 2021 and watched Tiger Roll, Black Tears and Mount Ida win at that year's Cheltenham Festival under her name.
"I really admire what Gordon has done," she said. "He started with absolutely nothing and has built himself up to be what he is today. That's incredibly really. I always think the big difference between Willie and Gordon is that Willie wears a trilby to the races and Gordon wears a woolly hat. That sums it up."
On her own success over the years, she added: "We've had some great days and Lily's Rainbow winning a Listed race at Navan was huge for a small stable like mine. Another horse I loved was Miles To Memphis, who came to us as a British reject, but ended up winning three times for us, which was magic."
Racing idol: Gordon Elliott
Favourite horse: Lily's Rainbow on the Flat and Miles To Memphis over jumps
First winner: Twisted Logic at Tattersalls Point-To-Point in 1998
Horse to watch out for: Westandtogether
"I still love the game and love what I do. I love going out to feed the horses and seeing them mature and progress. I just love it all," said the women who almost everybody calls Sneezy - a nickname which stuck since childhood when her friends struggled with the pronunciation of her actual name.
It was fitting that Navan should provide Foster with her latest winner as the Enfield-based trainer has had most success at her two most local tracks. It was the 13th winner of her training career at the Proudstown venue - the highlight of which was with Lily's Rainbow in the Listed Heritage Stakes back in 2016 - while she has also celebrated 13 winners at Fairyhouse, too.
Explaining her love affair with Fairyhouse and Navan, Foster said: "It's probably no coincidence that Navan and Fairyhouse have been two of my lucky tracks, because if I was a horse those are the two places I would want to run. There are fantastic tracks and you have no excuses at either of them. They're proper racetracks."
Foster might not be up on podiums accepting trophies after races as much as the likes of Gordon Elliott or Willie Mullins, but she continues to hold her own in a game that is being dominated by the superpowers.
"I know some people might look at my record and think it's not great, but the way I look at it to remain sane is that last year we had three winners, two seconds as well as a third and a fourth and that is from just having six or seven horses in training so I don't think that's too bad."
It certainly not, Sneezy. She has no desire to get any bigger either.
"We never have any more than ten in training and that's the way I like it," she explained. "When you see the big trainers struggling to get staff, what hope have I got? You have to do a lot of it yourself."
Foster took over the licence from Elliott when he served a six-month suspension in 2021 and watched Tiger Roll, Black Tears and Mount Ida win at that year's Cheltenham Festival under her name.
"I really admire what Gordon has done," she said. "He started with absolutely nothing and has built himself up to be what he is today. That's incredibly really. I always think the big difference between Willie and Gordon is that Willie wears a trilby to the races and Gordon wears a woolly hat. That sums it up."
On her own success over the years, she added: "We've had some great days and Lily's Rainbow winning a Listed race at Navan was huge for a small stable like mine. Another horse I loved was Miles To Memphis, who came to us as a British reject, but ended up winning three times for us, which was magic."
Racing idol: Gordon Elliott
Favourite horse: Lily's Rainbow on the Flat and Miles To Memphis over jumps
First winner: Twisted Logic at Tattersalls Point-To-Point in 1998
Horse to watch out for: Westandtogether