Horse Trainers: The Changing of the Guard

Nothing stands still.

As a follower of two-year-old horse racing, I have the enjoyable and demanding job of updating all my horse trainer information each on a regular basis.

I wonder if you have any idea how many horse trainers there are in Britain?

It is well in excess of 500. Due to the fast changing nature of sport it would be tricky to tell you the exact number at any given time. The number will include a lot of smaller stables, often farmers-come-trainers. Those handlers who do it for the love of the sport rather than pounds, shillings and pence.

Unless you follow horse racing you may not have noticed the changing of the guard. By that I mean over time horse trainers come and horse trainers go. Some retire. Others disappear for financial reasons. And every year you find a few new trainers following their dreams into the competitive world which is horse racing. These new trainers vary in stable size from the handler who basically does everything including being the owner, trainer and jockey. To those who have hefty financial backing who have a string of horses.

There is one thing all of them need and that is winners.

And there’s one thing all would tell you: ‘Winners don’t come easy!’

It is always sad to hear an established horse trainer has retired. Some have been training for decades and it must be a wrench to announce the day has come when the stable door shuts for the last time. One trainer who sticks in mind is Chris Wall who held a trainer’s licence for 36 years training 785 winners. His first winner dating back to Roman Prince who won at Haydock in 1987. He enjoyed a great career at his Newmarket stables especially with globe-trotter Primio Loco who won eight Group races. His best season came in 2014 with 37 winners.

I have seen Chris Wall many times at Great Yarmouth racecourse a track he always had a fine record. He wasn’t renowned for training two-year-old horses but he had winners and I remember a few decent bets. One horse sticks in the mind, Rafiqa (2008) winning on debut at Great Yarmouth at odds of 25/1, ridden by Stephen Carson in the familiar silks of The Equema Partnership.

As Wall said: ‘I am stopping training rather than retiring. I’m hoping I can find something to keep the wolf from the door. Our numbers have just dwindled to a point where it didn’t make sense any more to carry on.’

I read his following words with sadness: ‘There are plenty of good, young lads out there and they are the people who everyone seems to want to train with these days.’

‘Racing is alright. It will carry on. Like all old buffers, we can stand on the sidelines and say: ‘Things weren’t like that in our day.’

‘You have to have a passion for it. It is all-consuming. You don’t have a lot of time to do other things.’

‘We only have one son and he wasn’t going to do this. He grew up largely without me realising it. Now he has had a child and I’m a grandfather, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.’

Wise and loving words from a trainer well respected.

The changing of the guard.

Four months after ceasing training Wall was appointed Racing Manager for KHK Racing, a Bahrain operation.