Training a champion
While schooling and caring for 10 syndicate horses may not sound too much of a problem for one of the country’s most decorated racing trainers, I should probably also mention that Paul has a further 118 horses at his yard to look after. “I usually meet with my team at the yard at 7am,” the champion trainer tells me. “Then we’ll work out who’s going to ride each horse and what they’ll be doing. It’s one of the most important tasks of the day.” Paul’s been training horses at the yard in Ditcheat since 1991. Renting the land from a dairy farmer and cheese maker, he’s quickly established a yard that has produced some of the most legendary names in racing history, including Denman, See More Business and Kauto Star. But he doesn’t do it alone. Along with his head lad Clifford and assistant trainer Harry, Paul has more than 40 full-time staff working on the yard around the clock to ensure every horse is cared for. He even has a person on hand who’s solely dedicated to clipping the horses before they go into a race. “There’s always something that needs doing,” explains Harry, as he picks out his horse’s feet. “Whether it’s riding, mucking out or clearing drains and shovelling sand on the gallops, we all muck in and do whatever’s needed.”
Off to the gallops
Each of the 128 horses at the yard is exercised every morning, going out in three lots of roughly 40 horses, with the first heading out at 8am. After a quick walk around Ditcheat village to warm up, the lads and lasses ride the horses to one of Paul’s four gallops. I catch up with them here, just as the sun is coming up and they’re starting their first trot around the track. “It depends on what the horses are up to,” says head lad Clifford as he watches the first lot move up into canter round the gallops. “But the horses will usually have time out on the gallops cantering and sprinting, mixed in with a bit of jump training in the school with our jockeys. Then they’ll go on the walker in the afternoon. They’re usually working for about an hour and a half each day.” The first lot sprint past us in a big bay blur. All the horses look identical to me, but I notice Clifford quickly naming each and every horse in the group as they go by. “A big part of the job is getting to know the horse,” he tells me. “I see most of them daily and you get to know what suits them. “We try to keep the same rider on the same horse, too. That way they get to know him and can tell me if something’s changed since the last time they rode.” As the last horse’s tail whips past us and heads off for a well-earned walk through the village, we hop in a car to meet the lads, lasses and their rides back at the yard. As each combination walk through the gate, the riders give Clifford feedback so that he can gauge each horse’s performance. “We can’t watch and know everything,” he explains. “So it’s important that the team tell me how their ride was and if there are any problems we should know about.” Stable lass Morgan Kerr agrees. “We all have about four or five horses to look after,” she says. “We muck out twice a day, groom, feed and ride the horses and you get to know them really well. They’re all such characters – one of them really loves a cuddle.”
We try to keep the same rider on the same horse, too. That way they get to know him and can tell if something’s changed since the last time they rode