Scott eyes Ascot glory with little and large show
Up and coming trainer can give big boys a run for their money with unlikely duo, writes Marcus Armytage
Young trainers have, as a rule of thumb, a five-year window in which to make their name. If they break slowly from the stalls it hinders their chances of getting all the way to the very top. The career of second-season Newmarket trainer George Scott already seems to be on a pretty steep upward trajectory; he saddled 12 winners in his first season and, barely in June in his second, he equalled that figure for 2017 on Friday. He is ticking along at a 26 per cent strike, a figure only bettered by William Haggas, Roger Varian and Godolphin’s trainers. But, the young man who was brought back from America to assist Lady Cecil, a partnership which meant Warren Place continued almost seamlessly for a further two years following the death of her husband, Sir Henry, knows a Royal Ascot winner would be another huge step forward for his fledgling career.
If Scott, 28, had wanted the quiet life he would be farming in Shropshire by now. “Farming’s a lovely way of life,” he explained. “But I was always drawn to the speed of life as a racehorse trainer. I love the energy of it. I love talking about racing to people, anyone.”
The moment he left school his education began and he joined Paul Nicholls as a lad for a season in 2008. He then had a stint with Mark Tompkins and his flight was booked to Australia when Michael Bell offered him the job as his assistant.
After three years he went to America where he spent a year with Eddie Kenneally, who put him in charge of a barn of horses at Keeneland. “I then joined Simon Callaghan at Santa Anita,” he recalled. “I remember one morning – it was pouring with rain – getting an email saying that Sir Henry Cecil had died. I never expected, two weeks later, to get a call from Jane asking if I’d be her assistant.”
Due principally to the exploits of Frankel’s brother, Noble Mission, the yard outperformed expectation. Between them the pair quickly found the key to Noble Mission – frontrunning in mud. It culminated with Noble Mission’s defeat of Al Kazeem in an epic Champion Stakes, which was just about the nearest thing to a repeat of Grundy versus Bustino in the famous King George of 1975 as you will ever get.
“It was a wonderful grounding,” said Scott. “I had access to training without the worry of the business side. I think Jane and I complemented each other because we were competent at two different things. I don’t think she ever got the credit she deserved but when she retired she gave me the opportunity to write to all the owners asking if they would support me.”
The Niarchos family came on board and the first two-year-old they sent Scott was Gilgamesh, who has now won his last four races and will probably start single figure odds for the Britannia Stakes. “Before he had even run last year Jamie Spencer told me he was the best horse I had in the yard,” reflected Scott. “He loves company so never wins by far and doesn’t do flashy. He’s been winning over seven furlongs so a stiff mile is the only negative but no one rides the straight track better than Spencer, who is going to have to produce him late. It will be very exciting watching him weaving in and out of horses.”
If Gilgamesh is a monster, weighing in at 85st, then Scott’s other big chance, the Norfolk Stakes-bound Another Batt, a runaway five-length winner at Ripon last week, is tiny by comparison, weighing in at a puny 62st. The chestnut gelding was offered to Scott after he had run twice in Ireland and he was bought by Southampton striker Charlie Austin’s racing syndicate, Excel Racing.
“He’s a funny little horse,” said Scott who will also run his father-in-lawto-be Bill Gredley’s James Garfield in the Windsor Castle. “He was an eye-catching fifth in an 18-runner maiden before finishing second in a Curragh maiden with three of Aidan O’Brien’s behind him. Then we bought him. He’s tiny but under tack he is a different proposition. At the sales you wouldn’t have given him a second look but he thinks he’s a hero. He’s a huge character.”
By the time Aidan O’Brien and racing’s other behemoths have helped themselves to the lion’s share of Ascot’s 24 prizes, there is rarely much left for the new boys. But Scott is hopeful that next week either ‘little’ or ‘large’ will establish a foothold on the mountain top for his flourishing yard.