Racehorse trainer Andrew Balding’s stables resonate with Derby history. He explains to Kate Green why the race is still the ultimate prize and reveals his tips for the meeting.
THAT every trainer of Flat racehorses in the land wants to win the Epsom Derby is a statement of the obvious, but, for Andrew Balding, whose Kingsclere yard on the north Hampshire Downs sent out eight winners between 1868 and 1971, the quest is perhaps more personal. The last of the octet, Mill Reef, was trained by his father, Ian, in the year before he was born.
‘My father was a hugely successful sportsman and trainer, for whom the Derby was the pinnacle of his career and the major chapter of his life. I grew up very aware of that,’ says Mr Balding. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by history and I love the fact that the Derby has been the ultimate test of a racehorse for 239 years. Once your name’s etched on that board, no one can rub it off.
‘The atmosphere is like no other. It’s the clash of cultures: top hats and tails on one side of the course and lucky-heather sellers and bare-knuckle fighters on the other. And from a personal point of view, my yard, my house and my gallops [on Watership Down] were built by a man who trained six Derby winners.’
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 29, 2019-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 29, 2019-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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