Training Philosophy

I will have horses in training for eleven months of the year giving them one month of active rest. Their training programmes would vary greatly in this eleven month period but I am keen that horses keep their condition to help maintain a musculo-skeletal balance. All horses will have some degree of turn-out ‘free exercise’ at all times throughout the year

Training should stimulate the mental and physical aspects of the body and in parts should replicate the physical and mental demands of racing. Therefore, the horse’s exercise regimes will be multi-dimensional in order to extend cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, agility, speed endurance, a change of pace and mental resilience. If possible training should be mentally stimulating and enjoyable for horse and rider

Racing Philosophy

Horses have a limited amount of top performance in them per season, therefore races should be carefully selected and an outline of a racing plan developed at the beginning of their training programme

Given that there is only a narrow peak racing opportunity per horse during a season competing in lower grade races is not something I am attracted to

A small number of races per season per horse should be targeted and the horses entire training programme will be centred around reaching a peak for these races

I believe that racehorses need an adequate time of recovery after racing. In order to maximise racing performance I believe, as a guide, a minimum of twenty one days for jump races, ten days for longer flat races should be allowed between races. I am of the opinion that this will help to ensure performance is optimised and the chances of sustaining an overuse type injury is reduced

I would encourage shorter distance (2 mile) hurdle and fence horses to compete over the flat as part of their competitive season. I appreciate that races cannot be used for training purposes and these horses would compete on their own merit and be competitive

I would like my jockey’s to ride without using a whip for ‘encouraging’ a horse but solely for keeping a horse straight