RICHARD FAHEY has no intention of taking his foot off the gas as he continues to develop his burgeoning empire in the pursuit of winners.

On a glorious spring morning at his impressive Musley Bank base near Malton, North Yorkshire, the trainer had a real spring in his step as he showed the gathered media around three plush new barns which will allow him to train the neck end of 200 thoroughbreds.

Having sent out over 160 winners during 2013, it is no surprise most of the boxes are already full and he plans to move more horses into his new state-of-the-art facilities in the coming weeks.

While plenty of trainers would be happy with their lot, the ambitious Fahey remains keen to strengthen in all areas as he aims to make his team not only the biggest in the north, but the biggest in the country.

Speaking on a William Hill-organised Flat season launch morning, the trainer said: ‘‘We’re in year three of a five-year plan now. We wanted to make this the best yard in the country and hopefully we’re getting there.

‘‘Three new barns have gone up, with a total of 42 boxes, and horses will be able to move into the first of those barns fairly soon.

‘‘We are always trying to improve. I never really set targets, but we had six Group-race winners last year and 15 Group-placed, so if we can do that again and maybe improve a touch we’ll be happy.

‘‘A Classic winner would obviously be great, that’s what every trainer wants – I think I’d be drunk for a week!

‘‘It’s all about the horses.

If we can do anything to make their lives more comfortable then we’ll do it.

‘‘I have been shocked with the progress we’ve made in the last few years, but it’s a huge team effort.

‘‘I’d like to think we’ve got the best staff in the north of England, and that’s not by chance, it’s because we’ve head-hunted the right people and done the job right.

‘‘You can never take it for granted. If the winners keep coming then the owners keep coming, so that’s what we need to do.’’ That Fahey is a 100-1 shot to be crowned champion trainer this year shows he still has a way to go before he can seriously compete with the powerhouse yards of Richard Hannon, John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien, but that is target.

‘‘The more horses we have the better, in my opinion,’’ he said.

‘‘I know some people think if you get too many horses you can’t give them all individual attention, but I don’t think that’s a problem.

‘‘I can’t do it all on my own, but if you have the right staff it works fine and I’d have no problem training over 200 horses.

‘‘I’d love a runner in every race and there are more than 200 races a week.’’ With the William Hill Lincoln bringing the curtain up on a brand new season this weekend, Fahey hopes to hit the ground running, just as he did in 2013.

He said: ‘‘We had a good winter, we’re quite happy with where we are and we don’t have any excuses.

‘‘The only thing I would say is that because we have such good facilities, we felt we were probably slightly ahead of some of the other yards at the start of last season and because this winter has been so mild, they might be on a par with us this time around.’’ Fahey appears strong in almost every department this term, with the likes of Parbold, Sandiva and Dutch Courage discussed as potential Classic contenders.

Heading the team of older horses is Garswood, who won the Free Handicap and the Lennox Stakes last year as a three-year-old and was last seen finishing third behind brilliant filly Moonlight Cloud in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp.

Fahey said: ‘‘He’ll probably go for the Sandown Mile and then on to the Lockinge – there really aren’t many races for him.

‘‘I’m delighted with him at the moment, he’s strengthened up since last season and we’re able to get plenty of work into him.

‘‘He needs to keep improving, but hopefully he can do that.

‘‘Ryan (Moore) was quite keen to try him over a mile again, so we’ll see what happens.’’ Discussing some of his other brighter lights, the trainer continued: ‘‘Glen’s Diamond is going for the Yorkshire Cup again after winning it last year.

‘‘I think I’ll finally have to admit a mile and six (furlongs) is as far as he wants to go.

‘‘I just had in my head he was a Melbourne Cup horse, but we’ll stick to a mile and three-quarters or shorter from now on as he’s not short of pace. If there was a prize for handicapper of the season then last year it should have been given to Heaven’s Guest, who started the season on 77 and finished on 104.

‘‘He’ll probably run in the Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday and we’ll be looking at some of the big sprint races this season.

‘‘Baccarat works like a Group horse, but I’m keen to try and win a big handicap with him.

‘‘Eastern Impact is a very fast horse and we’ll be looking at the top three-yearold sprint handicaps for him.’’ Fahey is particularly pleased with the strength of this year’s two-year-old crop, with well-related colt Heaven’s Secret his sole candidate for the William Hill Download The App Brocklesby Conditions Stakes at Doncaster on Saturday.

However, the trainer does not rate him the best of his juveniles at this stage.

He said: ‘‘It’s still very early days, but we like them as a bunch.

‘‘You’re always frightened to run your first one and I don’t think you’d want to be running your best ones first.

‘‘We have a few sharp ones and a few more that are stoutly bred, but we should have a good few ready to go fairly quickly.

‘‘The horse in the Brocklesby is a nice horse, but he wouldn’t be a superstar I don’t think.’’