TRAINER Lawrie Mayfield-Smith, whose face might as well appear in the dictionary beside the word ‘laconic’, has a simple motto in life – where there are horses, there’s hope.

Mayfield-Smith, the brother of trainers Brian and Noel, has had plenty of success over the past 30 years with horses such as Post Elect, Sonata and Reputed Groom.

He won the Ipswich Cup twice, with Appleton Gold, ridden by Malcolm Fitzgerald, in 1991 and Fine Spy scored at big odds in 1996 with Gary Doughty in the saddle.

In recent years he has been doing it tough health-wise and his stable all but emptied but, true to form, his love of horses is helping get him back on track.

“When I got crook and that, I got down to two [horses],” Mayfield-Smith said.

“Two years ago I had cancer and that. I had bowel cancer and then thyroid and in my lymph nodes.

“I got down to two but now we’re steadily building the team up but I don’t rush horses so I’ve got 10 two-year-olds in the paddock that have been in and out but it’s just a long process, you know.

“These ones I’ve got in now, they’re the first lot of my three-year-olds that I’ve just started giving them time and now they’re starting to get serious about racing.

“So it’s been a battle but I’ve got horses so that’s all I need and some of them can gallop so that’s even better.”

Is he okay now?

“Yeah, yeah,” he drawled. “I went in Saturday and they said: ‘We don’t want to see you for a year’ so that’s always pretty good.”

Like a lot of old school trainers, patience is the key to Mayfield-Smith’s approach to racehorses and it’s a matter of doing whatever it takes to keep them happy.

“I’ve got another one there, he’s won five out of 10 - a horse called Luskin Hero and he goes real good,” he said.

“But he can’t handle the heat so I had to send him out to the paddock in mid-October and leave him there till the end of January.

“But if that’s the way they win races, that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The trainer’s spirits were boosted again on Friday at Ipswich racetrack when Celtic Princess, a filly by Kaphero from Erins Princess won the Maiden Plate (1100m).

Ridden by Taylor Marshall, Celtic Princess ($2.90) overhauled Kurosawa ($7) to win by half a length. Dundas ($5.50) was a length and a half further away in third.

“I thought she could win,” Mayfield-Smith said.

“She won a long jumpout the other day by about four lengths, running away very easy.

“If you put that horse of Heathcote’s that she just got beaten by - Rayjen, is a very smart horse - if you put it in the race it would have been long odds-on.”

He was impressed but not surprised by the way Celtic Princess really knuckled down in the last part of the race after drifting back in the field early on.

“I wasn’t terribly worried because I said to Taylor: ‘She could probably either be on the pace or back with the cap catchers but she’ll finish well,” he said.

“She should win a race in town, maybe more. She’s only little yet. Those Kapheros, they take a bit of time – physically.”