Former trainer Steve Gollings decided to take out a training licence in the 1992/93 National Hunt season after running a livery yard for over a decade. Of his livery business, he said, “It was satisfying to be associated with winners, but apart from the people immediately involved we got no credit for our work.”

Based at Highfield House in Scamblesby, near Louth, Lincolnshire, Gollings was never hugely prolific and never trained more than 16 winners, under either code, in a single season. Under National Hunt rules, he achieved that total twice, in 2010/11 and 2012/13, while on the Flat his highest seasonal tally was 14 winners, which he achieved back in 2003.

On March 17, 1998, Gollings enjoyed the highlight of his training career, so far, when he saddled In Truth, ridden by Seamus Durack, to win the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. Later in his career, he recorded further high-profile victories, courtesy of the likes of Royal Shakespeare, Ursis, Local Hero and Conquisto. Twice a Grade 2 winner for the yard, Royal Shakespeare came within a short-head of becoming a Grade 1 winner when just touched off by Brave Inca in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2004.

The last three-named were all, likewise, Grade 2 winners, Ursis in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick in 2007, Local Hero in the Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham in 2011 and Conquisto in Old Roan Chase at Aintree in 2013. Indeed, victory in the Old Roan Chase, worth £42,203 to the winner, provided Gollings with the biggest payday of his career.

 

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