Mornings Still Bright At Kingsclere

Readers of a certain age may recall the 1970s cinematic tribute to Mill Reef named 'Something To Brighten The Morning'. It's more than 45 years since Paul Mellon's outstanding colt lit up the ancient gallops at Kingsclere, following in illustrious hoofprints of a host of top-class winners to have graced the Hampshire turf. Little has changed up on Watership Down but from its vantage point overlooking Park House Stables, the view of the yard looks significantly different to how it appeared during the tenure of its founder, John Porter, during the second half of the 19^th Century.

A series of aerial photographs on display at Park House demonstrate its sprawl, from Porter's original hand-drawn plans for the red-brick yards named in honour of Triple Crown winners Ormonde (GB) and his grandson Flying Fox (GB). The Mill Reef yard was added during Ian Balding's 39 years at the helm, while a series of more modern American barns have increased the capacity since Andrew Balding, born in the year of Mill Reef's retirement, took on the licence from his father 15 years ago. The most recent addition to the stabling facilities is currently under construction, as is a new circular Polytrack gallop to augment the revered turf and the existing all-weather facilities.

On the morning of TDN's visit, Storm Eleanor has much of England in her fiercely wayward clutches but such an unsettled start to the new year has done little to dent Balding's optimism on the back of his best-ever season and significant support from a major new investor in British racing, meaning that he has a formidable team heading into 2018.

“Every penny the business has made since I've started training has been reinvested in trying to improve the facilities and the capacity. I wouldn't want to get any bigger now we have room for 180 horses but I would like to continue to try to make this one of the best training establishments in the country,” he says.

“With the just-turned 2-year-olds we have a really exciting bunch of horses. We're about 10 horses up on last year in terms of numbers but my feeling is that, from a quality perspective, it's the strongest team we've had.”

That team has been enhanced by 20 juveniles from King Power Racing, in addition to 14 older horses already in the stable for the owners. The star of the latter group is the consistent Beat The Bank (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}), who added the G2 Shadwell Joel S. and G2 Bonham's Thoroughbred S. to a Newmarket Listed victory to finish the season with five wins to his name (one for his previous trainer Darren Bunyan) from seven starts.

Beat The Bank's Exceed And Excel (Aus) half-sister subsequently became the most expensive filly, at 500,000gns, sold during Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and, as yet unnamed, she has joined her elder brother at the Balding yard. One young filly who is named, and who brought the hammer down at 2.5 million gns, is the Frankel (GB) half-sister to Oaks winner Talent (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), who has plenty to live up to having been handed the moniker King Power (GB).

The two fillies were part of a major spending spree in 2017 by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, which began, publicly at least, during the Goffs London Sale, at which he was the leading buyer with more than £2 million spent, and kept agent Alastair Donald busy throughout the yearling sales. Balding is not the only beneficiary of the largesse of Srivaddhanaprabha, whose King Power International Group owns Leicester City Football Club, of which he is chairman. Balding's friends and fellow trainers Ralph Beckett and Richard Hannon have also received a number of 2-year-olds.

He explains, “King Power Racing were just dipping their toe in the water last year. We had a bit of success for them and they thoroughly enjoyed it. They are real enthusiasts and this is an exciting venture.

“Jon Rudkin, who is the director of football at Leicester and is a good friend of the owners, was given the job of trying to find a suitable trainer to have some horses with and happily we had some associations that made Kingsclere the obvious choice. The statement of intent at the yearling sales last year was very exciting. They haven't all come here. I felt it was important–as they did–to spread the risk a bit, so Richard has 10 yearlings, as has Ralph. Al Donald is a very good judge and, judging by what I'm seeing on the gallops, they're a really nice bunch.”

Balding continues, “King Power Racing are ambitious but at the same time they have a genuine affection for horses and for the sport, which is great. You want owners who are enthusiastic and interested and I'm very lucky to have a large number of those. There are people who have been at Kingsclere for many years, like Jeff Smith and George Strawbridge, and the Mariscottis, the Hays and Barbara Keller.”

As Balding illustrates, the list of owners at Park House Stables is very much a blend of some of the more established names of the turf, along with major, newer international investors. Atop them all, of course, is Her Majesty The Queen, who has assigned 3-year-old Natural History (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and 2-year-old Compass (GB) (Henrythenavigator) to Balding.

“The Queen visits in the spring and has been doing that without fail ever since she had horses here, which goes back to my grandfather's day soon after her Coronation, so she's certainly our longest-standing owner and it's a huge privilege to train for her,” says the trainer, who confesses that he never had any desire but to follow in the family business, however daunting an example his forebears may have etched in the history books. His great grandfather Aubrey Hastings trained three Grand National winners and even rode the first of them, Ascetic's Silver, to victory at Aintree in 1906. Grandfathers Peter Hastings-Bass and Gerald Balding were also successful trainers, as of course was his father Ian, and uncles Toby Balding and Lord Huntingdon, who trained for the Queen at West Ilsley between 1988 and 1998.

“From the age of about seven or eight this was all I wanted to do,” says Balding, who has two sons, Jonno and Toby, and a daughter Flora with his accomplished wife Anna Lisa, who is a vital cog in the well-oiled Kingsclere machine and often deputises for her husband at the races.

He continues, “It's quite interesting watching my kids as they are already keen on it. It's a huge advantage to have an interest in racing from a young age as you just absorb the knowledge and it's a difficult thing to go and learn when you are 25.”

As well as the natural osmosis from early years spent observing life in his father's stable, which is situated next door to Kingsclere Stud, run by his mother Emma, Balding served the now-obligatory apprenticeship with a variety of trainers, flat and jumps, at home and abroad. This included time with Nigel Twiston Davies, Toby Balding and Lynda Ramsden, as well as stints in California and Australia.

“I had two years with Lynda and Jack Ramsden in Yorkshire and that was a fantastic help to me–they were the best two years I could have spent. It was a totally different set-up and the Ramsdens had a very fresh approach, both to training and placing horses,” he recalls.

Returning to Kingsclere to assist his father on Ramsden's retirement, Balding was handed the baton four years later, in January 2003, and just five months after that was already a Classic-winning trainer when Will Farish's Casual Look (Red Ransom) won the Oaks at Epsom.

“When I started training, happily I was young enough that I didn't even think about what had gone before,” Balding says. “I was probably blinded by ambition and thinking that everything was going to work out fine, and Casual Look was a big help. We may have taken it to another level in regard to the number of horses trained here, but dad trained 40 Group 1 winners and we're still some way behind that.”

However, he has become noted for his international success, winning major races in Australia, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong and Turkey with such campaigners as Side Glance (GB) (Passing Glance {GB}) and Phoenix Reach (Ire) (Alhaarth {Ire}). While the former was bred at Kingsclere from a homebred stallion, the latter provided another important homebred winner for Kingsclere Stud and the syndicate of owners involved in Kingsclere Racing Club in G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Elm Park (GB). Both Side Glance and Elm Park passed from the club's ownership to that of Sheikh Fahad following private sales and forged another important link with a big international owner. Sheikh Fahad's Qatar Racing now has 10 horses in training at Park House Stables, either solely or in partnership.

Balding, who is currently preparing David Taylor's admirable homebred Elbereth (GB) (Mount Nelson {GB}) for a trip to Qatar in February ahead of her retirement to the paddocks, says, “The opportunities abroad in terms of the prize-money available are fantastic. I'm lucky I have a very good travelling team and we've had a lot of success travelling horses, which gives us the confidence to keep doing it. We've been fortunate enough to win Group 1 races in Dubai, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. It's been very satisfying and having an international profile has been a help to my career as well.”

The stable's two major victories in 2017 came via Jim and Fitri Hay's Here Comes When (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) in a soggy G1 Qatar Sussex S., and Barbara Keller's globetrotting mare Blond Me (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) in the GI EP Taylor S. at Woodbine. Blond Me has been retired and is set for a date with Dubawi (Ire) but Here Comes When, now eight, remains at the head of a solid team of older horses and could be aimed at Sydney's The Championships in April, along with King Power Racing's Donjuan Triumphant (Ire) (Dream Ahead), known in the yard by his nickname Donald Trump. There's little doubt, however, that it's another King Power colour-bearer who is exciting the trainer the most.

“I think Beat The Bank is a very good horse,” says Balding of the 4-year-old. “He had a lot of racing last year and when he came to Ascot [for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S.] he wasn't drawn right and was a bit keen–classic signs of being over the top and I think you can put a line through that run. But his three previous starts were impressive and to be a five-length winner in a Group 2 he must be a seriously good horse. I'm looking forward to him this year.”

Despite having, on paper, a mouthwatering array of 2-year-olds, Balding is particularly proud of the older horses in his stable, which includes the 7-year-old G2 Lonsdale Cup winner Montaly (GB) (Yeats {Ire}) and Elm Park's 5-year-old half-brother Brorocco (GB) (Shirocco {Ire}).

He says, “It's not a coincidence that our Group 1 races last year were won by a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old. Horses tend to improve with age and the more we can hang on to them the better, though they have to be of a calibre worth persevering with. Our 4-year-olds this year are very strong.”

While Balding may be able to enjoy the freedom of conducting his business on a private estate rather than a major training centre, his stable is far from an isolated concern when it comes to the residents of Kingsclere, which has been a racing village since 1867.

“This is very much the heart of the village. Kingsclere has expanded enormously in my lifetime and it now has quite a large population for a village but it is amazing–you go down the pub or to the butcher's or the hairdresser's and everyone knows if we've had a winner,” says Balding, the village's major employer.

“Staffing is one of the big issues in racing at the moment–the difficulty in finding good quality staff–and that's happily one of the things that has helped with our success over the years, being able to get quality staff because this is a nice place to live and to work. Being able to accommodate staff is a huge advantage as well, and that's something I'm very grateful for.”

While the relaxed and informal Balding is known to his staff either as “Boss” or simply “Andrew”, the longer-serving members of the team reserve the title “Guv'nor” for Ian Balding, who turns 80 this year and still patrols the gallops on his hack.

“He still very much loves to be involved and gets a lot of enjoyment out of watching the runners and being a part of the place,” says the trainer of his father.

“Dad had the foresight to buy the place when he did and during his training career he continued to invest in it. Yes, it's a huge commitment but it's a very satisfying one. That will be my aim, to try to elevate the property to be one of the best in the country.”

For the foreseeable future, the matchless sight of racehorses in full flight across the Downs will continue to brighten a Kingsclere morning.