A REAL DUAL PURPOSE TRAINER!

Simon Nott speaks to Nigel Hawke who can train your horse and even arrange your wedding!

- Simon Nott

Nigel Hawke's Thorne Farm yard is located a few miles from Tiverton, Devon, in countryside you'd be hard pressed to beat for either beauty or training horses. The testing uphill gallop and all-weather facilities utilise the natural layout of the land perfectly for getting horses fit all year round. Nigel has over 40 years of experience in the industry firstly as a Grand National winning jockey and now successful trainer. He is renowned for having a very good eye for bloodstock, most famously spotting Tiger Roll in the sales ring snapping him up for £10,000 before going onto Grand National heroics and legendary status.

The Thorne Farm operation is a real family affair, Nigel's wife Katherine runs Hawke Barn, the yard's intimate wedding facility and luxury holiday accommodation. Name another yard where you can get married and holiday at!

Nigel is the most genial of men, even if you have never had the pleasure of meeting him before, you are immediately put at ease. He talks to you as if you are old mates, something not as common as it should be in the world of racehorse trainers, a real pleasure to be in the company of. Here's what he had to say about a selection of Thorne Farm inmates to look out for this season.

"We finished last season with 22 winners, which was our second-best season ever, we had a marvellous spring. As always, the hardest thing is that every season you want to improve on the previous one. We've got more horses in now than we've ever had but we've an awful lot of young horses. Our best time of the season is after Christmas, up until then we have a lot of young horses whom we are teaching their job, it's easier to pick their races after Christmas, it'll certainly going to be no different this season. We had a huge spending spree during the summer buying three-year-olds.