Terry had a wonderful eye for a horse. He was a natural judge and I learned plenty from watching him look at prospective purchases. He always insisted that horses should have strong hindquarters and be athletic individuals. He liked to watch them move from their shoulders as well as from behind. He maintained that if horses were tight behind their elbows, they would not bring their forelegs forward with a good jumping technique. Movement is all-important, and a poor jumper will not win big races.
While we were training, most of our horses came to us from Ireland, with the exception of Edredon Bleu, Foly Pleasant and Impek, all of which were sent over to us from France. We did visit a few yards over there and enjoyed our French trips, but we were less successful with our own purchases from that country. This was mostly because we were way down the list of renowned bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley – and because we did not have enough money to spend. Anthony has done exceptionally well with the French horses he has found for trainers and our visits with him to Auteuil and Enghein racecourses were always fascinating, even if many of the horses we wanted were well out of our price range.
Occasionally we bought English horses, either owner-bred individuals or ex-flat racers from the Tattersalls October Horses in Training sales. It was at those Newmarket sales in 1991 that I first linked up with Sir Martin Broughton, who at that time was head of British American Tobacco. He later became chairman of the British Horseracing Board as well as chairman of British Airways. I remember telling him that it was important to buy an individual with a big, bold eye, and no white showing around the edge. I’m not a fan of horses whose eyes show a lot of white, as they are quite often ungenuine – but of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
That autumn we came home empty-handed from Newmarket, but Martin was still anxious to find a future steeplechaser. Three weeks later, a horse arrived at West Lockinge Farm from Mick Easterby’s yard in Yorkshire with a ‘For Sale’ label on it. I liked it straight away and it had run well in a novice hurdle at Wetherby with Richard Dunwoody. It was not ridiculously expensive and I advised Martin to buy this horse. The only downside was that the horse had two white eyes. When the Broughton family arrived at the farm to view their possible purchase, I did feel somewhat embarrassed, especially after the lecture I had given to Martin at the sales on horses’ eyes.
The horse in question was Easthorpe, and he turned out to be very lucky. He won fifteen steeplechases and over £100,000 in prize money in the Broughton colours – red with green sleeves and a green Cross of Lorraine. He became a yard favourite, and both Terry and I experienced a long, happy relationship with Martin and his wife, Jocelyn, as well as with Martin’s twin brother, Stephen, and some lovely partners. All in all, I trained fifty-four winners for them from 318 runners, which represents a high win-to-run ratio and, despite some health problems with a few of their horses in later years, I never remember a cross word between any of us.
My phobia about white eyes was not without foundation, however, because although he won numerous races, Easthorpe was a crafty horse and never exerted himself unless he wore a pair of blinkers to make him concentrate. He would, on many occasions, show signs of a quirky temperament. Nowadays, the Broughton family have a number of top-class horses in training with Jonjo O’Neill and Paul Nicholls. Tarquin de Seuil won at the Cheltenham Festival in 2014 and Dodging Bullets won the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown, plus the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in the 2014–15 season. I am proud to have been their first trainer and to have set them on the road to success.
*
From 1994 until the beginning of 2012, Terry and I managed to send out over 700 winners from West Lockinge Farm. But racing is a great leveller, and events did not always go right. We had plenty of disappointments, often linked with tragedies, but then we just had to get a grip on ourselves and keep positive. It was a big advantage for me to have Terry at my side. His advice was invaluable and his knowledge of racing priceless. We had daily discussions about the horses and the ways in which we were training them. They were all different. Certain individuals needed a lot of work, others did not. Some horses were hugely competitive at home, while others were laid-back and took longer to get motivated.
We found that the best horses on a racecourse were not necessarily the most exciting ones to watch work at home. In fact, Terry and I loved the relaxed, almost lazy individuals because they expended far less energy and did just enough on the gallops to keep fit. Races can easily be lost at home. Many horses sweat up and worry or try too hard in their work and overexert themselves when it is not necessary. Our star horses would have made many flat-race trainers tear their hair out. They would have despaired at the sight of them working on their gallops and at their inability to quicken and overtake their workmates.
We never did a great deal with our jumpers at the farm, we often travelled to away gallops for work; we liked to keep them fresh and enthusiastic. We tried hard to keep the condition on the horses we trained and maintain strong, muscular necks and backs with rounded hindquarters. I personally organised the feeding and I studied every horse as an individual. I always thought Fulke Walwyn was a master, with the training of his big, strong three-mile chasers. They always had fantastic back ends on them, and they almost looked like show horses. Terry said that Fred Rimell’s horses were the same. One only needs to look at how many top steeplechasers these two trainers produced – Cheltenham Gold Cups and Grand Nationals aplenty – to see what superb trainers they were.
Our horses were rarely tested on the gallops, and when we worked them, they mostly went in pairs, head to head. We never allowed one horse to finish in front of its companion for fear of disappointing the slower one. Terry used to say that the horses should never come off the bridle and should enjoy what they were doing. The work riders were not allowed to use whips, even though they often carried them, in order to keep their horses straight, or to threaten the exceptionally lazy ones.
The horses cantered every day, but often in fields and beside the woods. They would exercise in groups or pairs but never in a string. We liked them to steadily climb the hills, in order to build up muscle. They only worked hard once or twice a week. They say that you cannot get a horse fitter than fit, and it is absolutely true. It is all too easy to send a horse over the top.
I remember one year, as Cheltenham approached, we took our would-be runners to Peter Cundell’s gallops near Compton. They worked strongly for a mile and a half on the beautiful old downland turf, but blew hard afterwards. They had done too much, and when we raced them at the festival, they were flat. After that, we did all our serious work at least ten days before Cheltenham and other big meetings, then kept the horses fresh with short, sharp canters. I read Seb and Peter Coe’s book, Running for Fitness, where I learned that the top athletes do not overstress themselves close to big races. They conserve energy.
We never used half-tree saddles because we thought they gave the jumpers sore backs, and every horse had its own bridle plus a suitable bit. Terry used to say that I worried too much about the bitting and all horses should go in plain snaffle bridles, but I disagreed with him. Horses’ mouths come in different shapes and they need to be comfortable and happy in their work. I have a collection of over 200 different bits in my attic. I still buy new ones, especially at the big horse shows. Whenever I came back from a show with a new bit, Terry went mad. He hated me spending money on what he called unnecessary items, but buying new tack has always been one of my weaknesses. People often ask me for the loan of a special bit and I am more than happy to help them. When it came to racing, our horses mostly wore plain metal snaffles or rubber or plastic bits – it depended on the individual.
*
In the 1980s, whenever American three-day event world champion Bruce Davidson came to England, he kept his horses in Lockinge. He would get them fit on our gallops and up the surrounding hills. I used to think his horses looked fat, but in reality they were superbly fit and had strong, hard muscles for endurance
purposes. They were clear in their wind and seldom blew hard, even after several hours of work. I admired these horses and often thought about his training methods. Perhaps watching Bruce training is what persuaded me that our racehorses should do flat work in the arena or indoor school between their work days. It helped to develop extra muscle along their backs and necklines.
At the races, Terry and I prided ourselves on how our horses looked in the paddock. People used to call them typical Henrietta Knight horses. The way we trained them and the way we fed them certainly paid dividends. They may have looked big and round but they were fit and hard. Our horses won many races first time out in a season and kept their condition right through until April or May.
A. P. McCoy did blame me once for not having Edredon Bleu one hundred per cent fit when he was beaten at Sandown six weeks before he won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2000, but it was Cheltenham we were training him for, and we wanted to keep a bit left in the tank.
We fed plenty of good oats and the best possible hay. The horses enjoyed many hours turned out in the paddocks, so that they were happy and relaxed. We never weighed them but we did take blood tests to check for any muscle-enzyme problems. We also had their backs regularly looked at. In later years, Simon Thomas, the ex-Welsh Rugby player, did a great job with his muscle massages.
Mervyn Richings was our farrier during all the years that I trained. I have always believed that correct shoeing is essential and that unless horses’ feet are properly balanced they will be more susceptible to injury. After all, athletes have specific footwear for their sporting activities and their shoes are designed to help their muscles and ligaments work correctly when they run. If horses’ feet get too long, there is more strain on the back tendons, and these structures are especially vulnerable in jumpers when they land steeply over a fence. I often look at other peoples’ horses at the races when they walk around the paddock and am appalled by the degree of bad farriery and ill-shaped hooves. Mervyn’s wife, Angela, reminds me that, ‘Mervyn was farrier for Henrietta and her mother, Hester, for 50 years, and was usually in the yard most days. He was very much part of the West Lockinge team – a long service. He had followed Terry’s career in earlier years before he came to Lockinge. Terry always pulled up in the yard in his vehicle, arm resting on the door to have a chat. He told Mervyn how the horses were working or running and talked about certain individuals with problem feet. As well he loved talking about shooting and fishing, as both he and Mervyn had the same interests. Of course, the conversation would usually end up with a crude joke but that was Terry!’
Mervyn remembers that on one occasion Terry asked him to cut a hole in the roof of an old VW Golf so that he could go rabbit shooting at night, saying Hen would be his driver. He said it was ‘good fun!’ Mervyn recalls that in later years, when Terry needed to use a stick, he presented him with one he had made using an antler and a crab-apple wood shank. Terry treasured this stick and I still closely guard it in the house. It became part of Terry and everybody admired it.
*
Certain horses and races stick in my mind from our early training days. In the early nineties we had some memorable wins with Lackendara: the pint-sized pony by Monksfield who was barely 15 hands, but had the heart of a lion. He thrilled us with his two-mile steeplechase wins round the grade-one tracks at Ascot and Kempton. He had a special partnership with Jamie Osborne and always raced at great speed. Watching him was nerve-racking but he was both quick and accurate. Lackendara was owned by an extremely enthusiastic syndicate headed by Malcolm Kimmins, whom Terry had known for many years. Terry rode Zellaman for him, trained by Fulke Walwyn, to win at Kempton in 1974. Afterwards he suffered a severe bout of stomach cramp due to excessive dieting. Malcolm always remembers that day.
Other owners included Anne and Richard Lavelle – trainer Emma’s parents. I used to buy my white Labrador dogs from Anne; she is a noted breeder and has judged at Crufts. In his working days, Richard was a much sought-after Harley Street ENT specialist, but he would still lower himself to sort out Terry, who often went semi-deaf from too much time out shooting. On one occasion we visited the Lavelles’ house near Ascot and Richard syringed Terry’s ears into a large dog bowl – or it may have been a pudding basin – while I inspected a new litter of puppies in the stables. Terry adored Anne and teased her mercilessly. Fortunately, she gave back as good as she got.
Another special horse that we trained in our formative years was Edimbourg by Top Ville, which won nine races, having come to us as a sour flat horse, with just a handful of poor runs over hurdles. He had a very low handicap rating and we were able to take advantage of this, gradually working him up through the grades. He was a real character and had plenty of problems. It was a challenge first of all to keep the weight on him and secondly to keep him sweet. We hardly ever worked him at home. He needed humouring, not bullying. He had experienced plenty of tough times in his early years.
Edimbourg was owned by Iva Winton, an American lady who was married to Harold Winton, another loyal owner. Over the years, Harold had numerous horses with us, including shares in Stompin, Full of Oats, and Yes Man. (Another partner in Yes Man was Aziz, who owns the quality Indian restaurant of that name in Oxford.)
Harold was a great enthusiast but also a gambler. He invariably lost more money than he ever made. Terry had known him during his riding days and was surprised to meet him again one day at Hereford Races, when Edimbourg raced and won. Later, Harold sponsored several races at Exeter in the 1990s and on three occasions he asked the racecourse to put on the Henrietta Knight Birthday Handicap Hurdle in December. He loved his involvement and I always tried to find a horse to win this race. We had some excellent celebrations when our plans worked out, including one day at Exeter in 1994 when, after saddling three winners, I was presented with a huge surprise birthday cake.
Full of Oats was a good servant to the yard and won us five steeplechases, including a couple of big races at Warwick with Jim Culloty in 1995 and 1996. He was usually a good jumper and stayed extreme distances, even though he was painfully slow at home. He was a laid-back horse and, on occasion, had lapses in concentration. In the Grand National in 1997, he fell at the first fence. This was the year of the bomb scare, when the race was rerun on the Monday afterwards. Yet the horse redeemed himself in 1998 by finishing fourth in the Irish National. Terry had volunteered to fly over to saddle him at Fairyhouse, but I forgot that he never bothered with credit cards; when he arrived at the Avis desk to pick up his booked car, the firm would not allow him to take it. There were frantic telephone calls between the two of us while Terry remained at Dublin Airport, but not even his charm worked at the hire-car desk, as there were no girls to chat up. Eventually a good friend of ours drove to meet him and lent him extra money.
I’ll never know how an experienced and well-travelled ex-champion jockey could get himself into such trouble whenever he ventured away on his own from West Lockinge Farm. As always, he had refused to take his mobile phone with him. I used to tell him that he was hopelessly disorganised, but nothing ever bothered him and he went on pretending that nothing untoward had happened. He always treated his misadventures as jokes and enjoyed talking about them afterwards.
*
Before the Cheltenham Festival each March, Andrew Coonan, the respected Irish racing solicitor, would come and stay with us. He rode as an amateur in the nineties and had been recommended to me by Valerie Cooper – wife of the famous bloodstock agent Tom – as a suitable jockey for my brother-in-law Sam Vestey’s horse, which was running in the Kim Muir steeplechase for amateur riders. Andrew remembers the occasion all too clearly:
‘The first of my very many visits to Hen and Terry at West Lockinge was in 1995. It was the Monday evening before the Cheltenham Festival and I had been asked to ride Bishop’s Island in the Kim Muir Chase. In those days the race was run on the Tuesday.
‘I jumped the horse over a couple of fences the next morning, with Terry and Yogi Breisner watchin
g. This was an experience in itself! He was a horse with a history of poor jumping, but until he made a howler at the top of the hill, after which I pulled him up, he jumped surprisingly well at Cheltenham.
‘I was expecting to go home that night but Hen very kindly asked me if I would like to stay an extra day – an offer I keenly accepted, since the Monday night had proved most convivial, with just the three of us sitting around the kitchen table eating steaks and me in awe of “The Bear”, as I called Terry.
‘Despite the pressures of the festival, the Tuesday evening turned out to be even more fun and, as it progressed, with again just the three of us, I became ever more loquacious. Hen was as gracious as ever, filling up my glass with red wine and reminding me that I’d done a wonderful job on her brother-in-law’s horse, but I realised that I had told the story just one time too many, when The Bear looked at me and said, in that inimitable growling voice of his, “You’re some cunt. You’re the only fucker I have ever heard getting praised for giving a horse a cunt of a ride and pulling it up around Cheltenham. I am going to bed.” I loved The Bear for that. He always said what others were thinking and often the consequences were shocking or hilarious – usually both.’
*
Encouraged by our good start as joint trainers, and excited by the many new horses we had managed to buy for our owners, Terry and I continued to look forward to our future training years. Racing in the nineties was only the beginning. We had our sights set on greater achievements. More Cheltenham Festival wins were our prime goals, especially after Karshi had won the Stayers’ Hurdle in 1997. But it was Edredon Bleu and Best Mate that changed our lives out of all recognition, eventually turning even the most fanciful dreams into reality.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Holidays
After the wedding that never was, and our reception party in July 1995, Terry and I did not take any special holiday. We decided that a honeymoon would have been inappropriate but, over the years, we did enjoy many breaks abroad – mostly during the summer months when life at home was quieter and the horses that we trained were resting.
Not Enough Time Page 9
