HAVING only spent a morning with trainer Anthony Honeyball at his yard at Potwell Farm, I could sense the burning desire in his mission to identify, work with, and plan out the path for his current top horses, as well as some potential stable superstars for the future.

I was lucky enough to witness the Dorset trainer put both his staff and horses through their paces, both on the famous Seaborough gallop and his own indoor school – top facilities that mirror the trainer’s passion.

The Mosterton handler has a real want for perfection in his yard, from the way his staff operate, to getting the most out of the top infrastructure on site.

Honeyball’s record speaks for itself this season – with 20 winners already at a strike rate at more than 18 per cent, owners of his charges must have real faith in his ability to maximise the potential on the four-legged investment they provide him with.

In Honeyball’s terms, like in any sport, he treats each and every one of his horses as highly tuned “athletes”.

“All day long we have 30 or 40 sets of athletes and sets of owners to look after,” he said.

“When you see it on the gallops and you see that some of those horses can mix it on Saturdays in some of the bigger races – that’s what you look forward to.

“We have a lot of young horses and we need them trained the best way they can be.

“That doesn’t mean they are going to run straight away but, when they do come to running, they are mature enough and will be well educated.

“With National Hunt it’s a little more unknown. They can come from very small beginnings to be very good horses and it’s brilliant to see that improvement.”

Honeyball’s yard may not be one of the handful of powerhouse establishments in British Racing today, but with wife Rachael Green by his side, who scooped point-to-point racing’s leading small trainer award for the 2014/15 season in her own right, the pair are determined to get the most out of what they have for their owners.

And if results do not come initially, Honeyball, who lives on the site just metres from his indoor school, insists hard work pays off in the end.

“When it is going well, life is great because whatever you do works,” he added.

“You get days where you work really hard and you get a first and a second and it really gives you that drive. You need that success really – if you aren’t having that success it’s such a tough job.

“You probably have to work doubly hard when things aren’t going right, because that’s when you are trying to fix things and get things going the way you want them.”

He added: “Some of the horses have eight owners and you are trying to do your best for them.

“That includes getting them in the right races, getting them on the right ground, making decisions that aren’t always popular decisions with when to run but, obviously, I want as many winners as possible and the best winners.

“Sometimes people get caught up in the numbers of winners. I do, I want lots of winners but it’s not always doing the best by your owner by just doing that, you want to be getting the most valuable winner.

“There is a lot of money spread among a lot of races over here, so you can pick your opportunities.

“For instance, with Royal Salute, I have won two £10,000 races in the last three-and-a-half weeks. I could easily have run him in £5,000 and £6,000 races and had a good result and still gone up the same in the weights – it’s a case of maximising what you have.”

He continued: “We are already up to 20 winners this season. We are still doing a good job under the radar and people know we can do a good job.

“It’s just a case of ploughing away and making sure we are shrewd in what we invest in. When we buy three-year-old untried horses, it’s just hitting the jackpot a few times and getting a few of those to be very good.

“We like to think we give them every chance to be the best they can – hopefully we will get a few superstars to bring through.”