2009 Trainee Views

Newmarket, 2009

In an attempt to explain to Vicky exactly what to expect in Newmarket – rush hour at 6am; separate pavement for horses and people; bumping into Frankie Dettori in the local supermarket and of course, “The Yard!” The reply was, “What, some kind of magical horse-racing paradise?” Well, in a word, yes! Arriving in Newmarket was absolutely fantastic, the town did not disappoint. At the crack of dawn on our first day the trainees were up and out on the gallops. Our faces were pictures of sheer delight as we watched Stoute’s, Cumani’s, Cecil’s, Gosden’s, Chapple-Hyam’s, Prescott’s and Jarvis’s and of course the odd sight of Godolphin’s strings trot past. What a sight.

Straight away we were thrown right in and lectures began in earnest. One of the first being the legendary pundit and Racing Post’s Chief Correspondent James Willoughby. The Europeans tried to keep our ‘cool’, as one of the sharpest racing minds walked into our classroom and launched into one of the most fascinating analyses of European and American racing. Constantly provoking us to think about what and how we could improve British racing he gave us a seriously insightful view of race tactics. We had a fantastic day with Rishi Persad who was drafted in, in a brave attemptto teach us media skills.

Rishi regaled us with tales from his career, from the infamous Pre–Arc interview with John Oxx, his proudest moment, to his cringe worthy Royal Ascot piece with Henry Cecil. We all learned so much from Rishi, particularly the sheer importance of the media to the sport and the role it has to play in keeping racing relevant to the general public within these tough times. We had a brilliant day doing solo pieces to camera and interviewing eachother. Veer and Bernard definitely have to take the prize for creativity – Bernard, as the new Chief Executive of Goffs Bloodstock Sales, breaking the exclusive news that Veer Vikram Singh Tomar, Darley Flying Start trainee, had been announced overnight as the new head trainer for a very prestigious racing stable!

In week we began our work rotations in the British Racing School, Darley Pre-Training and Dalham Hall office. It was so exciting to see the yearlings that we broke at Kildangan Stud, finally backed and ridden away at the impressive new Gainsborough stables and Darley’s custom built pre-training centre on Hamilton Hill. The trainees each spent time with the nominations team, stud, accounts, marketing and racing offices, learning about the sheer work that goes into the day to day running of Darley.

One of the highlight for all the trainees was the British Racing School. Although primarily for the purpose of completing our NVQ Level 3, we also rode out every morning or tried to anyway! Our backs ached, our legs burned and our fingers blistered as we got moulded into the perfect exercise riders. That was until we got let loose on the gallops and all our lessons were forgotten on 22 year old National Hunt geldings who knew every trick in the book! The best performance went to Will who literally went ‘that extra mile’ on the round canter and the best part of the whole experience was that we were all filmed throughout.

During weekends and after having witnessed the last meeting of the Flat season in Newmarket on our arrival, we had the opportunity to go racing at the Temple of National Hunt Racing: Cheltenham. It was a great delight for all the Europeans and National Hunt enthusiasts and a great discovery for the rest of the group who had not come across this kind of event before.

We had an even greater view of English racing when going to Kempton for an all-weather night meeting, and visiting both Newmarket racecourses which was probably one of the best visits of the month. On that occasion Michael Prosser enabled us to have a closer look on the mythical Rowley Mile and July Course. Being allowed to see the backstage and access behind the scenes was just fantastic.

Having been lectured by James Crowhurst and Geoff Lane on the vet work at the sales and Alex Scrope and Bill Openheim on the pedigree side, we were ready to go to try to pick a champion at the foal sales and the new Urban Sea at the mares’ equivalent. Each of us went around inspecting and indentifying possible future stars with bloodstock agents. Also, even if we did not have the budget to acquire one, we definitely learnt a lot from the professionals we have been around with. Some of the group lengthened their inspection week going to Deauville for the Arqana December sales. The up and coming bloodstock agents Chris Armstrong, Bernard Condren and Ludovic Cornuel went from Newmarket to Deauville like real pros and represented the group in France for the last sales of the year. Bernard and Ludovic assisted with bid spotting for Arqana.

All along our stay, the aspiring trainers in the group had a lot of food for thought while visiting the great training yards of David Lanigan’s Jeremy Noseda’s and the master Henry Cecil. Finally, the breeding side of the industry was also a centre piece of the stay with visits of some of the most prestigious and successful studs in England: Nunnery Stud, Cheveley Park, Juddmonte, the National Stud without forgetting “our headquarters” in Dalham Hall which we leave on 18 December. After Christmas break we will all fly or drive (for the locals) to Lexington, Kentucky.

Thanks to all of the people at Dalham Hall, especially Trisha McMurray, who made our stay so comfortable The next phase of the programme is almost upon us, time is really flying

Ludovic Cornuell and Jenny Barnett

Click here for a list of all 2009 trainee views

Aqlaam at Shadwell Stud