8 Thursday, December 13, 2012 racingpost.com INTERVIEW KIM BAILEY Older, wiser and confident the good times will roll again

“Oliver Sherwood and I are going virus finally prompted a move from the wife Clare and then-infant son Archie, through the same thing,” says Bailey, goldfish bowl to a brave recalibrating their life at his stunning who is now 58. “We’ve been mates for new world at Preston Capes in new Cotswolds base Thorndale Farm, a long time – I had a winner at Northamptonshire, 20 minutes from a rented stable in Andoversford, within Newbury the other day and mentioned where his father used to train. shouting distance of . That the name Master , he had a However, that new dawn faded put him perilously close to great mate winner two days later and mentioned almost as soon as it had come up. “We Nigel Twiston-Davies, with whom he Large Action. We’re lucky to have been had a very good season the first year used to live when they were both through those times and it’s great after I moved but in the end it was a bright young things (perish the when you find yourself having horses disaster,” he explains. “I had an thought) starting out under the good enough to talk about those all-weather gallop that got washed tutelage of Fred Rimell at Kinnersley in Nicholas Godfrey speaks to horses again.” away so I couldn’t train. The gallop the glory days of , the one-time leading jumps Bailey is level-headed in his disappeared and got turned into a Rag Trade and Royal Frolic. trainer who is aiming for ambitions these days. “I shall never get ploughed field. I had nowhere to “We sold where we were in big-race success after several back to the scale I did before because I train.” Northamptonshire and it took a year to honestly don’t want to train that many sort out and get the operation going years in the doldrums horses again, and in any event I don’t AILEY’S horsepower fell again,” says Bailey, who speaks highly think I’ve got the time to do it,” he from about 90 to less than of his new staff headed by Mat says. “It’s too late in life and it’s all half that figure. He was Nicholls. “It all quietly gelled together PEAK to Kim Bailey and it changed; there are new kids on the forced to use other people’s and started to make a bit of sense. We soon becomes clear he doesn’t block. I was one of those once and the training facilities as a got rid of all the dross horses we had at care for the word ‘resurgent’. old boys looked at me in horror but Bstopgap, only for the foot-and-mouth the time and went and bought some on Having reached his lowest time moves on. crisis to render that unworkable. spec. It is hard to keep smiling when ebb a few years ago when his “But we’re aiming for the same “Frankly, at the end it was like opening things are going wrong but terribly Straining career was virtually end product: don’t get me wrong, I’d a can of worms, putting a hole in the important that you do, to give the submerged beneath a flooded like nothing more than to be standing back of a bucket,” he says. impression that you are doing things all-weather gallop in in the Gold Cup winner’s enclosure “Owners disappeared; horses went the same as when you were doing Kim Bailey: “I’ve always tried to Northamptonshire, Bailey has been again.” too. It was terribly hard to get back well.” be a great communicator” labelled ‘resurgent’ for a couple of The last time he did that was in from, and I had to admit that what I The winners duly started to flow seasons as he steadily rebuilds after a 1995 when completed an had sunk an awful lot of money into again, with a seasonal tally of 38 in period during which he hit rock unforgettable Cheltenham double for – what I believed was going be an 2010-11 his best for 12 years, and bottom. Bailey and stable jockey Norman all-conquering place to train there’s a potential star in the yard in a patient approach with the “Resurgent is rather an unfortunate Williamson after ’s victory racehorses from – actually wasn’t the shape of chaser Harry five-year-old, who carries the colours word but I feel things are on the way in the two days going to work. Probably that was my Topper, who caught the attention with of long-term patron Tony Solomons in up,” suggests the in-form trainer. “I previously. In that context, his lowest point.” his recent success in a Grade 2 at partnership with David Keyte. hadn’t disappeared completely.” No? subsequent fall from high estate was Forced to admit defeat, a victim of Newbury. “He is the most exciting “I’ve been to Cheltenham and I’m Well, almost. At his professional nadir both sudden and not far off circumstance as much as anything horse I’ve had for a while,” says the not tempted to go rushing back there in 2007-08, Bailey saddled a total of unthinkable. A prolonged bout of the else, Bailey upped sticks again with his trainer, who is determined to adopt and luckily my owners are backing me three winners, having produced just 21 in the three previous seasons combined. “Okay, I disappeared off the Three Bailey stars of the past – and one for the future winners’ scale but we moved to Gloucestershire five or six years ago Mr Frisk tried and tried. He used to stand was unique – he was a colt and at very similar. Master Oats didn’t and since we’ve been there it has 1990 winner there at the end of a race with his evening stables he would almost have a huge amount of ability but he suddenly got better again. But I’d I bought him at the sales, brought head on the ground, absolutely savage the person going in to feed had guts like you’ve never come rather say rejuvenated than resurgent.” him home and he was completely knackered because he’d given him but my seven- and eight-year- across and this horse is exactly the Still, while there is significant tonto – and he wasn’t very fast or everything. A lot of work went on old children could go in there and same. He’s very much a challenge improvement, a fiercely competitive very good. Jimmy FitzGerald was behind the scenes with him, such as he’d leave them alone. I was for us as he’s quite difficult – he’s a nature means Bailey is painfully aware staying with me and watched him Yogi Breisner teaching him to jump. disappointed not to win a second box-walker, a crib-biter – and I hope that his status is far removed from his work with two or three other horses We even schooled him over poles Champion Hurdle with him. he’ll be a far better horse next year 1990s heyday. That, though, was the and he finished about 100 yards the morning of the Gold Cup and he Harry Topper (right) when he’s filled his frame. past, a foreign country where they did behind them. I told Jimmy he was still made a horrendous mistake in He’s only a five-year-old, is 17 things differently and Bailey – running at Exeter soon and he said the race. He was an extraordinary hands and very, very weak, but eminently clubbable, blessed with don’t embarrass yourself by running horse. top-drawer PR skills – was a leading he’s the most exciting horse I’ve him. He won by 20 lengths! History Alderbrook had for a while. I mentioned member of the ‘Lambourn mafia’ and a relates he turned out to be what he fixture on the major stages. Lest it be 1995 Champion Hurdle winner Master Oats after was but he was never a good horse I can’t believe I’ll get another one he won at forgotten, until at home – never a good horse at all won at Aintree last season for Paul like that – he was a freak one for Newbury and unless there was fast ground. Nicholls, Bailey was the only active me. The first time we schooled him it’s obvious trainer to have saddled winners in the Master Oats I’ve never seen a horse go over the two Grand National, hurdles so fast. It was a competition horses are and Champion Hurdle, via that winner between me and Brian Delaney, who wonderful trio Mr Frisk, Master Oats I remember when he won at was watching, about who could get and Alderbrook. Southwell and Marcus [Armytage] to the bookies the quickest. Now, after two changes of yard, he is said: “That was your greatest Obviously he was electric but he was a middle-ranking trainer grateful training performance, winning with also an unbelievably tough horse. simply for a horse good enough just to that horse, he’s no good.” He was Of all the horses I trained he is a be thinking about running in those brain dead but he just tried and special memory for me because he types of races. Racing Post Thursday, December 13, 2012 9

STEVE DENNIS

EGINNINGS are the best part, endings never as much fun. That applies across a wide spectrum – love affairs, Retirement holidays, life – and, as we Bsaw yesterday, to the careers of racing heroes. As far as the individual case goes, I should be wouldn’t go anywhere near it with a 20-foot bargepole with the UN peacekeeping force on the end of it, only the suffice to say a horse belongs to his owner and that owner is within his rights to do anything he wishes with his possession. end of the But the situation yet again turns the spotlight on the best thing to do with racehorses once they stop being racehorses. There is life after racing, it beginning is generally of a greater duration than the brief span centring on the racecourse, and the decision regarding feasibly be done is to try several things what to do with a horse when his and see which seems to suit best. career is over is arguably the most They can’t talk, can they, so we important decision of all. frequently feel the need to talk for The future is almost always more them. It’s called anthropomorphism, important than the past, even a which is an ugly word for what can be thoroughly illustrious past. Retirement an endearing habit but can also be a doesn’t have to mean inertia stumbling block laid squarely in the – although it can – and these days path of the future. retirement is more often the term used Someone might think dear old for a change of career. It was not ex-racehorse Lucky Jim should spend always so, of course. the rest of his life turned out in a The great kept his old field, because he’s been such a good soldiers such as Hill House and Persian boy and deserves a long rest. On one Lancer in a field at home, and by all hand, this might be exactly what accounts they were very happy. Racing Lucky Jim has been yearning for. writer Sean Magee tells a tale of On the other, the enforced inactivity discovering Cheltenham Gold Cup might bore him into viciousness or an winner Fort Leney in a muddy field early grave. Stone walls do not a with a companion, rugged warmly prison make, but maybe four green against the weather and contentedly hedges and a locked gate do. seeing out his dotage. From the sublime to the frequently ridiculous ERHAPS Lucky Jim is with this one,” says Bailey. “That’s Bailey’s blog, humorous and doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. – our old racehorse Breton Banquet perfectly suited to being an most probably the difference in me informative, is always well worth a “I’m a much more relaxed person spent three-quarters of his life eventer, and after a period of now compared to ten years ago. I’ve visit, featuring regular mentions of than I used to be and I like to think I’m standing benignly in a field, rejecting adaptation could enjoy got ‘Saturday’ horses coming through Twiston-Davies, ‘the Fat Farmer from a better person,” he says. “Because I every attempt to provide him with a several years of activity and now but there are a lot of nice young Naunton’ (TFFFN). Bailey is a regular don’t live on site now, you can have a more active existence and sticking to Pusefulness before – at a certain age – horses, and while I always had a fair tweeter too. “The first time I went on life, which wasn’t the case in what he did best: eating. being pensioned off to a peaceful amount of patience I’ve probably got to tweeting two years ago, within 48 Lambourn. My whole attitude has Nowadays, of course, the choice for paddock. more now. hours I had a Russian girl proposing changed – my son Archie is seven and ex-racers is far wider, thanks in the Because the outdated idea of “How tempting would it be to run marriage to me which my wife saw, so it means I can see him.” main to the Retraining of Racehorses retirement is ‘relaxation’, people Harry Topper at Cheltenham? People my Twitter account was cancelled,” he Bailey has two grown-up children initiative – ‘trained to run, retrained can talk of cruelty, as if allowing an say there’s only one Cheltenham but recalls. “I got a new one about 18 from his first marriage. “I didn’t really for fun’ – backed by the BHA, which ageing horse to be healthy and it’s wrong to think there are only four months ago.” A new account that is, see them enough because I was provides a ‘jobseeker’s charter’ for the active is somehow cruel. That is days in the whole calendar. It’s the not a new Russian wife. working, working, working,” he says. laid-off racehorse and enables him to anthropomorphism gone mad. best place to have winners but you For all his jovial outlook, there are “There are so many things I regret. I turn his hand to every equine Cruelty is denying a horse food, can’t ruin a horse’s career just to go aspects of the past that remain never used to go on holiday skiing with discipline imaginable. water, warmth, security. That there. Now I look upon them as determinedly off-limits, and just them because I was too busy. The is not by scenario is unfortunately far more long-term prospects – not today’s occasionally it is tempting to see in “That word ‘busy’ is a terrible thing definition a racehorse – look at the likely if Lucky Jim is tossed into horse, tomorrow’s horse, but hopefully Bailey the wedding guest who awakes to have and I won’t let it happen again. famous example of Snaafi Dancer, a field, out of sight and soon out of next year’s horse.” as ‘a sadder and a wiser man’ the If there’s a panic then of course I’m at bred to be one, trained to be one, yet mind, than if he is reinvented for What hasn’t changed are Bailey’s ‘morrow morn’ in Coleridge’s Rime of the yard, but there’s more outside no more a racehorse than one of another discipline. people skills, manifesting themselves the Ancient Mariner. Then again, he racing. I have a family and I want to be Thelwell’s ponies. can At bottom, a racehorse is just an in his embrace of social media. “Look, could also pass for a living with that family. I’m an old dad – when have a career in eventing, animal, after all the fog of glory I’m in the entertainment business,” he embodiment of the cliche that ‘what I go to school they ask if I’m the showjumping, dressage, horseball, with which we surround him is explains. “People are spending an grandfather! I think the father-and-son polo, showing, the Household Cavalry, stripped away. Hierarchies belong awful lot of money to have horses in race is off.” the police force – the whole gamut on the racecourse; when racecourse training and I’ve always tried to be a ‘People say Cricket remains a passion, and a few from A to Z aside from the niche days are done the 55-rated plodder great communicator, even back in the days’ salmon fishing is close to heaven occupation of racing from A to B. The stands equal with the champion as Lambourn days. there’s only one in the Bailey world. But before anyone mercifully short-lived pastime of the next phase of their lives beckon. “If you invest a lot of money in starts thinking the competitive juices banded racing ably demonstrated that It’s up to us, the humans, to make stocks and shares you want your don’t flow quite as strong, recollections some racehorses should never have that next phase as enjoyable and as stockbroker to ring you up – if you’re Cheltenham but of an attempt at a ‘proper’ holiday in been racehorses in the first place. rewarding for the horse as the previous spending 20 grand a year on Thailand should be enough to The only question is deciding what’s phase has been. In so doing, our needs something you don’t want to be you can’t ruin a convince otherwise. best for an ex-racehorse, at which must perforce be subordinate to his. ignored. I might not want to sit in the “It was a complete disaster,” he says. point human intervention can cause Endings don’t have to be sad; if we pub with them all night long by any horse’s career just “I spent my whole time phoning up the more problems than it solves. To be see them as opportunities for new means but I like to give them a bit of a yard to find out why something hadn’t precise, no human can know what’s beginnings they become full of exciting laugh. Hopefully the website gives an won. I hate not being able to see my best for a particular horse. All that can possibilities. impression of what we’re about. We’ll to go there. I look horses run. I want to have those good try to have winners and make it fun for winners again, and they will happen.” you as well. upon my horses Having been once round the racing “I write the blog at 6am every fair, Bailey feels he is ready for another ‘The plodder stands equal with the morning – it doesn’t take too long, it’s as long-term ride on the carousel. Rest assured, he light-hearted and we get a number of will appreciate it more the second time champion in the next phase of life’ hits.” prospects’ around.