AFTER finishing last season on a high, Martin Dwyer is looking for a fresh start when the new Flat campaign begins tomorrow.

The Merseyside jockey had what he felt was a disappointing campaign when he only finished the year with 64 winners following on from the 58 he partnered the year before – both well below his average the previous six seasons.

He did land the prestigious November Handicap at Doncaster on David Arbutnot’s Tropical Strait, but in the main he felt his two-year stint as second jockey to Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum has stopped him from booting home as many winners as in the past.

The two-time Classic-winning jockey decided to go freelance and has been riding on the all-weather over the winter to keep sharp for the new season. While the traditional Flat curtain-raiser, the William Hill Lincoln, is at Doncaster, Dwyer will be at Kempton tomorrow.

But the 33-year-old Scouser is hoping it is the start of a big year. Speaking to the Daily Post yesterday, he said: “It is a big change from last year in that I am freelance. I will still ride for Marcus (Tregoning) as my main trainer and for my father-in-law Willie Muir – he has got 70 horses now.

“It is a challenge going out on my own, but I am really looking forward to it. It is in a way a case of reinventing yourself. Last year people looked at me like I was only riding the Sheikh Hamdan horses and it restricted me in many ways. Especially as by the time I found out where I was racing, where the horses were going and what Richard (Hills) was doing it was too late to pick up any other good rides.

“Trainers want a commitment as early as possible. But I was sat around waiting for things to happen. Whereas now I can do my own thing and make it happen.

“I think last year people got the wrong impression of me in that they may have thought I had got complacent and was just happy to ride for Sheikh Hamdam and not really want to do much else.

“But I am determined to ride as many winners and as many good horses as I can. I just want to work and be dedicated to doing the best I can.

“I am in control of my own destiny. That is a challenge, but my agent is working hard.”

Tomorrow is just what he would have wanted with rides in all seven races for six different trainers. That adaptability is something he hopes will help him. He added: “I have got a full book of rides on Saturday. It is not Doncaster, but it is good racing and good prize money. Hopefully that is the style of things to come this season.

“Ajhar is a decent horse and he is in good order. Marcus has only had one horse run so far and it was second. Ajhar worked well the other day and we will see how the race pans out, but we are hopeful.

“I also ride Sweet Lightning for Willie. He has got a few pounds to find with a couple of them but it is not completely out of his reach. He is a young improving horse with not many miles on the clock. He has run well at Kempton before and runs well fresh and he is not out of it.”

Another trainer with whom Dwyer has struck up a good partnership with in recent weeks is fellow Merseysider Mick Quinn.

The pair have teamed up to land four winners in the past couple of weeks.

Dwyer also thinks they could have more in the coming months. He said: “Mick has got his string in good order. We have got a good strike rate together.

“People like Micky are your bread and butter. He has got something like 30 horses. I have ridden quite a few winners for him on the all weather and you need these kind of stables.

“He is a mate as well as someone I work with. He is straightforward and we work well together.

“He has got a nice horse who I ride at Lingfield on Monday. A three-year-old he got from Aidan O’Brien’s yard called Hard Ball.

“He is really looking forward to that horse.

“They paid almost half a million for it and it is well above average for his stable. Whatever he does Monday he will improve for it and he is one for the future.”

Dwyer is also looking forward to a couple of Tregoning-trained animals, who showed up well last year in Finjaan and Askar Tau. He said: “Finjaan is Marcus’s main hope. He will run in one of the trials and go for the Guineas if he is good enough. But obviously Richard will have first choice on that. But anything could come from Marcus’s because he has got a lot of good horses coming through.

“I’m hoping Askar Tau can be a cup horse this year. He is a young horse and stayers do get better at five or six.

“He ran well in the Cesarewitch to finish fourth, but he didn’t have the experience for it.”

TODAY’S NAP: Cybora (4.05pm Ascot)