Newmarket, Suffolk.

Sunrise at Warren Hill in Newmarket.

After an incredibly busy year working in Bordeaux and the south of France, it is wonderful to be back at our English base in Newmarket. This is a beautiful small town nestled in the Suffolk countryside. The town became famous since various Kings of England visited the town in order to enjoy the wonderful heath land surrounding the town for hunting, hawking, racing horses and general entertainment. James I, Charles I and Charles II were major visitors and there are still many historical links to their time in Newmarket and their houses, Palaces and Inns. In fact the Palace that James I built in 1606 is only a short walk from our house. And incidentally there is a house that Nell Gwynn lived in whilst she was the mistress to King Charles 2nd. Apparently there was a tunnel bewteen the Palace and Nell Gwynn's house.
Many of the Kings and Queens over the years have enjoyed the horse racing in Newmarket, as there are two magnificent racetracks. Queen Elizabeth II has had horses based in Newmarket for many years and frequently visits the town.
Nowadays Newmarket is the unparralleled centre of thoroughbred horseracing in the World. From my office I can hear the purr of the auctioneer at Tattersalls auction, which is on the outside of the town. Tattersalls are currently selling mares for breeding, but they have regular sales for Yearlings, Horses in Training, Breeze Ups and more. In fact Tattersalls is one of the biggest businesses in the town. I popped in to the auction last night to witness the Oaks Winner, Qualify, being sold to John Ferguson (acting for Sheikh Mohammed) for 1.6 million guineas.  But John Ferguson also bought another mare for 2.7 million guineas as well as a few more!
Horse racing is truly an international business and that is reflected in the town. There are many people from all corners of the World working in racing and being drawn to Newmarket, which adds to the dynamism and vibrancy.
The trainers based in and around the town have fantastic facilities, which are maintained by The Jockey Club. The gallops have been looked after for four hundred years, with specific focus for looking after the horses. The quality of the grass is sensational and is perfect for a delicate thoroughbred race horse.
Many of the top trainers such as Sir Michael Stoute, John Gosden, Luca Cumani, Ed Dunlop, William Haggas, Michael Bell, David Elsworth, Peter Chapple-Hyam, Charlie Appleby, James Fanshawe and Sir Mark Prescott are based in the town, whilst there are many older trainers such as William Jarvis, James Eustace and Mark Tompkins who continue to send out winners each year. But there are also many newer trainers who have appeared such as Marco Botti, Roger Varian, David Simcock, Ed Vaughan, Charlie Fellowes and Hugo Palmer. I am looking forward to visiting some of these racing yards over the coming weeks.
The yearlings will now be at the trainers yards and the trainers will be establishing the quality of their new stock, who will all be 2 years old on January 1st 2016. Serious two year olds will be lightly raced if they have potential to be Classic wineers when they are 3 years old. But if a horse has great precocious potential then the main target will be the Royal Ascot race meeting in June 2016.
A wonderful statistic that I saw recently is that there are 3000 racehorses in Newmarket and c 15000 people.
One day I would love to own a racehorse, but the costs are high. To buy a quality horse you can spend any money, but like most things the more you pay, the more opportunity there might be.
The costs of training a horse can vary between £12-18000 per year including racing silks, race days, vets bills, transport and entries etc.
I had better get back to work to see if I can fulfill my dream.

Newmarket, Horseracing,

I have a base in the beautiful town of Newmarket in Suffolk.
From here it is great to zoom about and visit clients north, south, east or west. Newmarket is close to Cambridge and is very accessible.

The main 'business' in Newmarket is horseracing. For many years I would get up early and walk my black labrador (Billy*) up on to Warren Hill to see the horses being exercised.
So it was great fun to re live some memories after an overnight drive from Bordeaux last weekend. My first visit was where the real action takes place on 'the Heath' Even though the temperatures were -5 degrees celsius the trainers were out supervising their teams. I said hello to Sir Henry Cecil, (who has swapped his Saab for a Jaguar!), whilst Luca Cumani's, Roger Varian's and Michael Bell's horses were all zooming past.


The Jockey Club owns and maintains all the gallops in and around Newmarket and they are (quite rightly) defensive of building plans and development. So the town has a great heart of horses and a buzz from the racing fraternity. In the summer months often the horses criss cross through the town to get to and from the stables. Some of the yards are still in the centre of town.


After warming up and doing some work, I popped in to one of the local pubs to catch a glimpse of the 6 Nations Rugby. It was quite amusing to be sitting there watching the rugby with a Derby winning trainer alongside me.

I caught up with a few characters and heard some of the latest gossip.
There have been quite a few changes in Newmarket over the years. Sheikh Mohamed from Dubai and his family are still big investors and employers in the town, whilst trainers with strong patronage from the middle East seem to be doing well. For some of the smaller trainers it is tough work to get established, especially with the low prize money available in UK racing.
One trainer who was strongly recommended to follow was Marco Botti. Marco is a young Italian, who started training in Newmarket in 2006. He has gradually improved his stock and his results and seems to be improving all the time. His horse Excelebration won his first 'Classic', the German 2000 Guineas. Marco has racing and horses 'in his genes', as his family are very well connected in the Italian training scene. In fact his father has been multiple champion trainer in Italy. The interesting thing about the owners that are sending horses to Marco Botti is that they are from all corners of the World. The Sheihks, the Irish, the landed gentry and all others want to see what this young talented man is doing. He certainly sounds like a trainer to follow.
*Billy the labrador is still going strong! He will be 16 years old next month.