Newland and Insole Take Witness Stand to Elevate Stable’s International Profile

[Wandering Eyes]

On his way home from the races last week, Jamie Insole reflected on a good day for his stable following a 13-length win for Tommy The Tank (Ire) over hurdles and two promising runs for three-year-old fillies at Southwell. This is the nature of the training partnership he shares with Dr Richard Newland: jumps here, Flat there, and all the while a growing number of horses at their Urloxhey Stables in Worcestershire.

From that rural idyll on Sunday left Witness Stand (GB) (Expert Eye {Ire}), a new recruit to their team from last year's Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale who will become the duo's first international runner when lining up for the G2 1351 Turf Sprint on Saturday's Saudi Cup card. 

“He's the highest-rated British horse going into the race but I think he definitely he needs to improve,” Insole says. “Annaf won it last year stepping up from six, and Space Blues some years ago, and he was a sort of seven-furlong/miler type. They call it a sprint, but it's actually a seven-furlong race. Last year they went extremely hard early on and Annaf came from off the pace, so I think it'll be very tactical, but he seems to have good gate speed and finishes off his races very well. He won at Goodwood on good to firm ground, so Kieran [Shoemark] thinks he's pretty versatile in terms of what ground he likes.”

The four-year-old Witness Stand, now owned by Scott and Debbie Turner, was previously trained by Tom Clover. He was bought from the Bronte Collection for 100,000gns after winning the Listed Dubai Duty Free Cup at Newbury last September with Shoemark aboard and he retains the ride in Riyadh.

Insole adds, “We're under no illusion, he definitely needs to improve to run a big race and, for us, just being on the international stage and learning about bringing horses abroad is going to be a great experience for all of us and for our owners.

“The staff are excited. It's our traveling head girl Lucy Hammond's first time going abroad, and for Lloyd Applegate as well, who's trying to get his apprentice licence and is taking the horse out there.”

It was only 18 months ago that the 30-year-old Insole, a former assistant trainer to Alan King and Charlie Hills, was added to the joint-licence with Newland, who has been predominantly associated with jump racing and won the 2014 Grand National with Pineau De Re (Fr). Insole brings a dual-purpose background to the operation and is from a family steeped in racing – his grandfather Vivian Kennedy trained on the Curragh and his uncles Vivian and William Kennedy were both jump jockeys. Indeed, he rode over jumps himself in a short spell as an amateur and a conditional, but his focus is very much on the Flat side of the stable, which has almost trebled in size since the pair got together in August 2023.

“We've got about 65, 70 Flat horses, which is exciting, and lots of two-year-olds and nice three-year-olds this year as well,” he says. “Last year we bought a few handicappers from the horses-in-training sale to get us going, and we had one or two of them this winter, but most of them are maidens and horses that didn't get out last year, having their first or second run. We've had two Flat wins and two jump wins already this year and hopefully we'll get busy now in the next five weeks.”

 

Witness Stand on the gallops at Urloxhey Stables

 

Insole has ample experience of racing in the Middle East, having spent five seasons in Dubai with the Hills-trained Equilateral (GB) and Khaadem (Ire). It is just one of the ways in which his experience complements that of Newland, a former GP who founded CHS Healthcare in 1995.

“It has been a big help to me that, not only has Richard been very successful at training racehorses, but he's also been a really successful businessman as well,” Insole says. “So, in terms of running the business side of it, obviously he's had a lot of experience, and I think that's where some people might struggle with when they start training.”

He adds, “Richard's also excited to have his name involved in one of the richest race days in the world. I don't think when he was winning the National in 2014 that he thought he'd be having a runner in Saudi Arabia in 2025.”

There won't be many trainers who will be engaged in both the Saudi Cup meeting followed by the Cheltenham Festival a few weeks later – though Willie Mullins has previously managed that feat – and it will be back to more familiar territory for Newland with La Renommee (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}), recent winner of the Listed Silver Vase Mares' Chase at Doncaster, who is entered for the G2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase on Gold Cup day.

“There's also a Listed race at Exeter next weekend which we might look at running her in, but she's done extremely well for Richard. I think she was the most expensive National Hunt horse he's ever bought and she is certainly repaying him,” Insole says.

Looking ahead to the Flat turf season, he is excited about the prospects of Chess Dad (GB), a Niarchos-bred son of Study Of Man (Ire) who made an eye-catching winning debut at Newcastle in January.

“He's come out of that very well, and I think it switched him on a little bit as well. He was still very green and raw. Hollie [Doyle] said she just had to get him rolling from a little way out, but she said all he did was respond and when she went through the line she couldn't pull him up,” he says. “He definitely has woken up after that race, and I think the mile will be his minimum trip. We might go back to Newcastle in March for a novice again, and if he was to win maybe go to something like the Feilden [Stakes]. He's definitely one to look forward to.”

In the same colours is a three-year-old named Dividend (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who comes in for similarly high praise. The two horses are part of a five-horse syndicate known as Commercium. 

“Dividend won twice last year,” Insole says. “We did try him at Listed level at Ascot, and he just went through a weak stage at that point in July and then he basically pulled up at York in a big handicap. He wasn't right, and we gave him bit of time, freshened him up, and then he went back to Kempton and won under a penalty very convincingly, and we just put him away then.

“He looks the most exciting horse for this year. I think he's extremely well handicapped. We might actually aim him at that conditions race in two weeks at Kempton, which Notable Speech won last year.

“There are 10 people involved in the Commercium syndicate, so they each have a 10th share of five horses. Everything is paid up front for two years and the idea is to sell the horses at the end of that.”

Insole has become a regular on the sales beat working in tandem with bloodstock agent Matthew Houldsworth. 

 

Jamie Insole at Tattersalls | Laura Green

 

“I think we bought 20 or 21 last year and we saw thousands. You've got to do the groundwork,” he notes. “We don't have massive budgets, but we're trying to buy horses that we really like, and we're sticklers for good pedigrees, and trying to find those that we can afford is obviously tough. But we enjoy it, and Matt's a really good help and he's done very well.”

With an expanding business and a wealth of untapped equine talent for the season ahead, Insole plainly has much to look forward to as he embarks on his second full year as co-licence holder. 

“Training racehorses is what I always wanted to do,” he says. “We've just built another 15 boxes at the main yard, so we've opened up a new barn of 10 boxes just for fillies with this new lighting system that helps with them in the winter. We're going to be up to 87 boxes on the main yard, so it's a really good number and we've got nearly a hundred acres of turnout on the main yards. In the summer we'll be turning out 60, 65 horses that are in training every day. We love to get them out.”

With the investment in the facilities, Insole and Newland are now hoping to see a new level of investment from owners, and they have already attracted Yuesheng Zhang's powerful Yulong operation to the stable. 

“If we can get the results this year, we will hopefully start seeing some bigger owners, and it would actually be quite good to get some syndicates in,” Insole says. “This year Yulong sent us a horse, which is really exciting, so that will be one of our biggest new owners. We just need the results now.”

A big run from Witness Stand on Saturday would certainly help to put the stable in the international spotlight. 

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