Ann Duffield
Website: www.annduffield.co.uk
Check out some of Ann's photos here:
Duffield's Diaries
Ann Duffield
Racehorse trainer Ann Duffield is married to former top Flat jockey George Duffield MBE, and they have spent the last 10 years creating one of the most impressive private racehorse training establishments in the country at Sun Hill Farm near Leyburn, in North Yorkshire. And it’s right in the heart of the Bedale hunt country with which they both hunt with a passion.
The new yard has been a huge financial investment: a newly re-surfaced all-weather six furlong gallop with a gradient climbing 250ft; 70 horse boxes in American style barns, all with rubber mat flooring; three horse walkers; practice starting stalls; an isolation unit; daily turn-out paddocks, with a further 50 acres of post and rail summer grazing: and it’s all dedicated to one objective - the training of racehorses to be ‘first past the post’.
While Ann began as a national hunt trainer, the emphasis is now firmly on Flat horses. Her annual buying focus produces some useful racehorses in the making, and there is an impressive welcome extended to new and existing owners alike at Sun Hill Stables.
Ann and George are both self-confessed hunting junkies, particularly George who would hunt eight days a week if he could, and says: “I just love my hunting - I don’t want to come home when I’m out, and only darkness ends the hunting day.”
Ann has kindly agreed to write a monthly diary for TMV where we will be privy to some of back-room highs and lows as the months roll by - of a successful racehorse training yard: “Where Horses Come first”.
Ann Duffield:
Loved watching Cheltenham 2009: first class racing. It’s a week George & I look forward to: bottle of fizz to share, and phones off the hook; (someone doing 'research’ always seems to call wanting “just 10 minutes’ of your time”.)
I did have a chuckle recently after reading about a family of high achievers who had collectively tipped the family weighbridge at an incredible 80 stone, despite their claim to eating hardly anything? Marvellous: they remind me of a filly we train called Venetian Lady for two smashing (and slim) owners. Our staff had a lot fun stable-naming the filly after a rather large TV personality; can’t say who, but you might enjoy trying to guess.
Venetian Lady arrived here carrying so much condition she looked like a show hunter, but with proper diet and training the weight slowly came off. Once she learned how to gallop properly, the blancmange disappeared from her middle, and she put up a good performance to be placed at Wolverhampton on her penultimate run last November.
She was immediately raised in the weights by Mr (official) Handicapper. But, notwithstanding the handicapper's apparent determination to put a stop to her chances of winning, Venetian Lady is on a roll and now looks (almost) as svelte, sexy and fit as any of our equine athletes. So much so, that she has her own page on Facebook with a following of over 20 new friends and fans.
Once when we were particularly short staffed I took on a man to help with the mucking out. He weighed 26 stone when he arrived, but less than twelve months later - his trousers now having to be held up with baler twine - he tipped our yard’s weighbridge at 16 stone. He left when I suggested sending him an invoice for his dramatic weight loss while at The Sun Hill Fat club! He left work and returned to the confines of his own kitchen, and I hear he now weighs 28 stone.
Rest of March
The Duffield horses at Southwell
Had email from a lady in the village complaining that one of my steeds has trodden on her grass verge. In 10 years this is the first occurrence of this kind, but she still pleads compensation all the same. Time for some humble pie: I email her a nice note back promising to send head gardener George D and his team to repair the damage if she so wished.
Insurance policy's due this month. Been shopping around for a bargain and found a fantastic deal with Lycetts Hamilton's, which has halved our premiums. So I recommend them highly to anyone with a business wanting to reduce overheads.
…George D still as fit as a fiddle at 62…
Horses look well, and are coming on nicely in their work. Took 14 older horses to Southwell racecourse for a bit of a workout. George D, Mickey Fenton, and Martin - one of our senior work-riders; along with our two apprentices, Andy Mullen and Sam Drury, all rode in all the gallops. Martin looked like dying - he’s clearly not fit, and needs to quit smoking, George D still as fit as a fiddle at 62. No wonder our owners keep asking him to make a comeback: if the recession hits us any harder, he might have to.
The Duffield horses working at Southwell
One three year old filly refused point blank to load into the lorry going to Southwell. She is a particularly stroppy young lady at the best of times, and wouldn’t budge until we brought her best friend Nutty the goat, and allowed them to travel together.
Ann, George, and Nutty the Goat - come to the rescue
March 31st Daily Mail headlines say: ‘Footballer Michael Owen needs to decide what he wants to do, play football or concentrate on training racehorses.’ Priceless: one will earn him a fortune, while the other will take it from him.
Sold a two-year-old by first season sire Firebreak. He’s a very nice two-year-old (Ann: do you have his racing name?) which has matured particularly well since last year. His breeder, Terry Holdcroft of Bearstone Stud (where Firebreak stands at stud) and myself, have kept a leg in this two-year-old, and we’ve have been joined by both a new, and one of our existing owners who have taken up the remaining shares.
Firebreak was well and truly off the mark as a sire when his son Hearts of Fire (trained by Pat Eddery) won this year’s Brocklesby at Doncaster (the Brocklesby is traditionally the first two-year-old race of every Flat racing season.)
Firebreak himself was a real improver. Owned and trained by the Godolphin team, he was one of a select band who raced internationally and won Group races at the ages of two, three, four and five. He won nine of his 22 starts, won seven Group races, and his total racecourse earnings were £1,566,073.0. Quite a racehorse.
Start of April
Our annual Stables Open Day on Good Friday (April 10th) was brilliant. We had a fantastic crowd and they loved the Bedale Foxhounds being with us on the day. Bedale MFH Andrew Osbourne was in his usual high spirits looking resplendent on his gorgeous giant hunter. Kennel-huntsman Richard Tabberer was with him and the pack of hounds they bought along delighted in creating havoc, much to the delight of the crowds.
Andrew spent most of the afternoon hoisting delighted kiddies up on to his horse while answering questions and regaling the fascinated crowds with amusing stories and anecdotes, although I am sure he toned some of his tales down a bit - at least I hope he did! Andrew is one of the most intelligent and amusing people to be around. Goffs Sales in Ireland have asked me to join in one of their sales promotions in which I have to name my favourite restaurant near Goffs in Kildare, and which five people I would invite to have dinner with me: Andrew would certainly be one of them!
…hog roast happily - cooking on the spit, until the hounds got a whiff of it…
Rich Roastings, who's huge hog roast was happily cooking on the spit when the hounds got a whiff and attempted to steal the lot. Richard tried hard to keep tabs on the hounds, while our own hunters Captain Jack and the famous Stripey were both ‘hot shod’ in front of a bemused audience, and both horses almost took off to join the hounds when Andrew sounded his horn.
We got some fantastic feedback, and sold a couple of shares in horses too. Not as good as previous years, but that was to be expected under the current economic climate. The raffle and book sales from our own authors: Jack Berry's 'One To Go', and George’s ‘Gentleman George’ and John Betteridge's 'Born to deal' : a book written by the man who at one time used to find all the hunt horses for the Meynell Hunt.
John, now retired from horse dealing, is still an avid follower of hunting and his daughter Sarah is a very keen and competent horsewoman who, although a practicing Doctor in Lincolnshire, drives up North twice a week to hunt with the Bedale. Our authors’ contributions went towards the grand total of almost £1,500 for charities: the Injured Jockeys fund have already received the royalties from Jack's books along with further donations from the book sales on the day.
The raffle prizes were particularly popular, especially the 10% share in the two-year-old Brave Companion. We donated a morning on the gallops and breakfast with George and me (cooked by the man of the house). Estha, one of our dear friends who's job it was to help sell the tickets, remarked that the lady who won the breakfast prize looked extremely ladylike and offered that she would be “in for a shock” sitting at our breakfast table! Luckily the lady in question happens to be the wife of one of our owners - so she is well used to us by now.
We’ve started running a few, a couple have already showed their hand and are not good enough to keep; they have already been re-homed.
Diamond Daisy is the first runner I expected to go well. She was just beaten half a length at Warwick by a horse rated 2lb lower. Mr Handicapper puts her up two pounds, forcing her out of 0-60 races.
I ring Mr Handicapper and he tells me he thinks she should come on for the run as it was first time out. That is not an assumption he should make; his job is not to handicap them on how much a horse MIGHT improve, but rather to handicap them on the evidence in front of him. Besides, I point out, she couldn’t be any fitter. But he didn’t listen to me, and I am not impressed. He suggests I should run her quickly this week before his new mark comes in to place. He must know her better than I do - in fact, he must train her.
Ann with Firebet
Firebet is next at Ripon in the Cock of the North Handicap - a warm affair. Michael Fenton rides; he is settled at the back, comes through with a storming run, gets stopped twice and dead heats for second place, when finishing strongly (he was 25/1 and will never be that price again).
On the same day Just Lille runs a stormer in the conditions race finishing third behind two highly rated horses.
A few more have had their third runs now and will soon be in handicap company. Sadly some look slow as two-year olds, and they will be slow as three-year-olds. The unfortunate thing is that because many of horses were ill last year, it wasn’t possible to get a handle on them, and understandably owners don’t want to replace horses that haven’t been tried yet.
…the dry ground is becoming a major problem…
Hopefully, we will find a race somewhere for them during the summer, as luckily they seem to act on firm ground which will help enormously when the races cut up on fast ground. The dry ground is becoming a major problem. Heavy rain for months, and then no rain at all. Our all-weather gallop is drying up; we need a bore hole and watering system installing, but it will have to wait; need to get 'le crunch' over with first.
Diamond Daisy runs for the second time this season at Wolverhampton. Daisey loved the surface, got the extra furlong well, but was beaten again to be a brave second despite having to knock her way out of a gap. The Barry Hills trained 13/8 fav has improved and won very well. My friend Mr Handicapper advises me he is increasing us again; we can’t win off 59 or 61 yet he thinks we can be competitive of 62. Great. At least the new Australian handicapper conceded I was right that my filly had indeed not improved for her first run at Warwick, as I had already told him. Oh, how I feel better now he has said that!
Other handicapping news: Firebet who was so gallant at Ripon finishing second has gone up 3lbs to 88, while Just Lille who ran so well to finish 3rd when 'wrong' at the weights has been dropped 2lbs. Good news presents itself in mysterious ways, but I (telepathically) thank the handicapper nonetheless. You won’t be surprised to know it wasn’t the Aussie who was responsible for her race.
With the horses looking and running very well I am confident of a good year, but also frustrated that we haven’t had a winner yet, several times we have been so close and yet so far.
Looking forward to running some two-year-olds. Won’t be long now... took Ghostwing to Ripon on Sunday April 26th for a bit of racecourse education; his second trip away from home to gallop and it did him the world of good. George rode him, taking a lead from What a Fella - a very fast and talented individual who does not put it in at the track: the ‘grey bomber’ (Ghostwing) did it well, and he looks the real deal. He is ready to go and will be our first two year old runner at Pontefract on Wednesday April 29th The only things that can beat him are - a seriously good competitor, or he miss-behaves and ruins his own chances; or heavy rain turns the fast ground to a quagmire. Think I might go to church.
…it arrives, but George can’t reach the pedals…
Our truck, which is on contract hire, is due to be returned very soon so a replacement four wheel drive is required. Terry Holdcroft, one of our owners, just happens to own several large dealerships in the Midlands (Holdcroft Motors) and has provided a fantastic deal on a Nissan something or other; big and black, four wheel drive, with every conceivable extra on it for a seriously good price. I am delighted. It arrives but George can’t reach the pedals. Never mind, with some radical seat adjusting, all will be well.
Ann Duffield