I love listening to Sir Mark. I'm in Cape Toen South Africa on a cold Sunday,been watching him all day. A great orator, and a legend of a trainer. I was at York years ago to see his filly win The Yorkshire Oaks.
If this man came to decorate your house, the ceiling would be like the sistene chapel. Artist is too weak a word. He must have the kindest hands on planet earth.
All time great 👍😊when he used to train for hamden al Maktoum had piles of winners but they stopped sending him horses 🐎 dont know why legend in his own lifetime 😊
Met him one day in the Curragh gave me a Dermot weld horse back it each way he said Leigh roach on board won at fourteen to one last race it was on derby day good 😊 few years ago sound fella and a brilliant present er 😅
You are my champion, my horse riding hero. We met, you and I at a hunt. Janet Grant introduced us. We drank champagne and Aldaniti loved the strawberries. You were such a gentleman I hoped you would ask me out. I'm sad you didn't.
I worked 35 years ago in a betting office in the village of Tallow in County Waterford and Jimmy would call in.What a gentleman he was and still is.Jane is also one of the finest commentators on TV.A great interview.
What a great interview( note, no interruptions) with a great lady. Articulate, intelligent, down to earth and with an encyclopedic memory.Smashing job!!👍
I trained two flappers, which is flat, we rode out every day, light canters, a trip to the beach once a week. Very relaxed, the horses were handicappers, so after three races they were fit, well handicapped, and both won creditably.
I was temporary head girl at a small NH yard, the horses were worked hard, though that was road work and grass field stuff, when trainer went away for a few days the staff refused to ride out in case of injury. The trainer came back, horses were groomed to a polish, looked super, and we won three races in the next two weeks!
Well that was brilliant listening to you I thoroughly enjoyed it,thank you for explaining everything you went through.I do hope you do more chats on here in the future.❤
I think keeping the stable small is a good plan for yourself, its much easier to keep everything in your head, and have tight control over finance plus staffing. Good staff will need accommodation, and the rest. When I worked at Jackdaws the owner was a businessman, and he had a totally realistic approach, employed a trainer, good staff accommodation, salaries, promotion, canteen etc. What a difference when i went to work at another traditional yard, it was next door to slavery, no holiday pay, no overtime. I discovered all the rest of the yard had twenty minutes for breakfast every day, not me. I didnt know cos I was out exercising the horses on roadwork! Then i was asked to come in early in the afternoon to he,p supervise new staff, so I only had 2 hours off during the day. Normal hours started at six o clock and finished at six o clock. Absolute scandal when I think about it. One week I worked seventy hours, thats ten hours per day!
If your buying horses at that sort of price, its much easier for an owner to take a punt with a horse, whereas if the horse costs £100K even wealthy owners will want to think about it, have it vetted, X rays, all the rest of it.
