The stud groom
Mark Slater on nurturing the next generation of racing superstars at Juddmonte’s Estcourt Estate in Gloucestershire — including Frankel’s foals
I oversee the care of 60 mares and foals that come to Estcourt in the spring to make the most of our vast quantity of grazing. The estate, which neighbours Prince Charles’ Highgrove in Gloucestershire, is 1,600 acres of rolling parkland punctuated by oak trees and a lake. It is beautiful and the perfect place for in-foal mares still with a foal at foot to come for the summer. As foals are weaned, they go off to our farms in Ireland, while the mares stay with us until six weeks before foaling when they return to Banstead Manor in Newmarket. We also have retired broodmares, including Clepsydra and Double Crossed, who are permanent residents.
Spring is my favourite time of year when the horsebox starts making the trip from Newmarket. I’m always excited to see the foals. As the ramp comes down, the anticipation is a bit like unwrapping a Christmas present. When Frankel’s first crop hit the ground, we had one paddock made up entirely of top-class mares with Frankel foals who went on to successful track careers carrying Prince Khalid Abdullah’s famous colours. In the six years I’ve been here, I’ve developed soft spots for some mares, especially the docile ones. A real favourite is African Rose. Her Frankel filly, Fair Eva, is a recently retired Group winner. I look forward to the day when she too returns to Estcourt and I can watch the progress of her offspring.
There are just 10 of us looking
after the horses, plus three tractor drivers and three gardeners. But we feel very much part of the wider Juddmonte team.
Last year, some of us from Estcourt went to Chantilly to watch Enable, who we’d had here as a foal, win the Arc.
That was very special.
The advances in science and veterinary support have been amazing in the 20 years I’ve been working, but there is still an important place for intuition and knowing your horses. The mares and foals come in three times a week so we can check them, pick out their feet and ensure the foals are comfortable with being handled. As foals become more independent, they become very playful. Watching them is a joy but a terrible distraction.
It’s very much a lifestyle as I’m on call 24 hours a day. Because of the size of the estate, I can clock up 13 miles in a single round of checks. A “normal” day can start at 5am and end at 9pm. I’ve missed no end of weddings and parties, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I grew up on a stud farm. My father had his own and then was stud groom at Britton House Stud in Somerset. I told everyone I wouldn’t follow the same path and was signed up to go to college after I left school. However, in the holidays I worked at Britton House and never looked back. I used to do “sitting up” with mares about to foal six nights a week. During my watch, Makybe Diva, who won the Melbourne Cup three times, was born. She was out of a Juddmonte-bred mare, so perhaps my career has had a certain inevitability.
Before Juddmonte, I did stints at the National Stud, Cheveley Park and Stetchworth Park studs. They involved a lot of foaling, which is exciting and stressful in equal measure. I also recall the buzz I got the first time I took a yearling around the saleroom and it passed the million-guinea mark. Throughout, my father has been a great mentor. He’s retired now but we still talk horses a lot. The most wonderful thing about this job is every crop of foals offers new promise and a potential Enable or Frankel. That’s incredibly exciting.
‘As foals become more independent, they become very playful.
Watching them is a joy but a terrible distraction’