Inside the yard

Chris Wald gives BV readers a peek behind the racetrack and into the early starts of a full-on, fast-moving life on a busy National Hunt yard

March was another successful month: we passed 60 winners for the season and also reached our target of £1million in prize money. We were blessed with some lovely spring weather for the Cheltenham Festival this year and it was great to share it with so many of our owners. As usual, starting every day with drinks at the back of Joe’s car in the car park which is a great way of getting everyone together before the days racing.
On the track, the highlight for us came on the Tuesday when The Changing Man and Rock My Way both finished fine seconds in their respective races. A second at the Cheltenham Festival is a great achievement and was celebrated as such!
The month ended with a double at Wincanton and a memorable day for one of the Amateur riders in the yard – Richard Upton rode his first winner on Off To A Flyer. That night we had our end of season staff party at Tamburinos in Sherborne, a well-earned chance for our hard-working team to let their hair down after a long season!

Life on the yard
We’re a busy racing yard, currently with around 90 horses in training, six broodmares and a growing number of homebred youngstock. As a predominantly National Hunt yard, our busiest period runs from October through to the end of April, when the season is in full swing. Come May and June, most of the horses are turned out to grass – it’s also when the team takes the bulk of their holidays.
The yard is led by me – I’m the Assistant Trainer – alongside barn managers Jemma Sargent and Hameer Singh. Together, we work closely with Joe to ensure the yard runs smoothly and the horses are doing the right work at the right time. We tend to arrive slightly earlier than the rest of the team so we can plan the day before everyone else gets in for the 7am start.
We have a 25-strong team, with some staff working purely on the yard and others riding five lots each morning. Mornings are always our busiest time – especially when there are owners visiting, the yard becomes a real hive of activity.
We finish at 1pm and then return from 3 to 5pm for evening stables, when the horses are skipped out, fed, watered and brushed.
During the season, we’ll be racing at at least one meeting on most days. Richie Young, our travelling head lad, has been doing the job for around 16 years – it’s fair to say he knows his way to almost every racecourse in the UK by now!
Reggie Eggleton has been our second travelling person for the past three seasons, and takes care of the rest of the driving.
For most of the team, going racing and watching the horses we work with every day perform on the track is a real highlight. It’s also a great way to meet new people – there’s a strong social side to it too.
Working in racing is full-on, especially through the winter months. It can be both physically and mentally demanding. But the rewards when things go well are huge – and the friendships and way of life it brings are like nothing else.