HORSERACING may be about taking a gamble, but it is also about knowing a good thing when you see it – and that s certainly what local horse owner Phil McLaughlin did when he hired trainer protegee Amy Weaver. Phil, of Ardleigh Green Road, Hornchurch, empl

HORSERACING may be about taking a gamble, but it is also about knowing a good thing when you see it - and that's certainly what local horse owner Phil McLaughlin did when he hired trainer protegee Amy Weaver.

Phil, of Ardleigh Green Road, Hornchurch, employed Amy in May. By mid-June she had got her licence to train at Phil's Marlborough House stable in Newmarket and one month and only two races later, Amy had produced a winner - River Dee - at Yarmouth!

The speed of her success is a mean feat in itself, but made all the more impressive by the knowledge that Amy is just 26-years-old, making her the youngest ever female to have trained a winning horse.

Phil, 55, has owned horses for some time, but was immediately struck by the young trainer. He said: "I was impressed from the start. She had a good background and I thought she'd do great things for us."

Amy, who hails from equine Mecca Cheltenham, and who has been involved with horses for 13 years, the last three of them as assistant trainer for Derby-winner Michael Bell, said: "I think Phil was impressed by how young, keen and enthusiastic I was - how much I really wanted the job."

River Dee will run again next week at either Chester or Newbury, but Phil is already thinking bigger and better.

He said: "At the minute she's training five horses, but I want to get her 10 - and our sights are on the Epsom Derby. I think she can do it!