‘You can’t buy days like that’: Richard Kent, breeder of Docklands, joins TDN Conversations podcast

Wandering Eyes · 2025-07-08T16:00:23Z

A visit to Richard Kent at Mickley Stud is guaranteed to involve some lively conversation – and lots of it – spiced with opinion, tips on horsemanship, and often some scurrilous gossip.

We've edited the gossip for legal reasons but it is still very much worth tuning into our latest episode of the TDN Conversations podcast in which Richard talks us through daily life in Shropshire and reflects on some of the stars to have been through his hands.

Of the G1 Queen Anne Stakes victory of Docklands, by Mickey Stud sire Massaat, the breeder has tears in his eyes when he says, “It was the proudest day of my life. I actually didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to soak it all in. I was that proud, and I still get a bit emotional today talking about it.

“I almost wanted to go home and give the mare and the sire a pat, but that would have been a bit of a stupid job to do when you're down at Royal Ascot. But I just wanted to go away for a quiet hour and get my thoughts together…you can't buy days like that.”

The straight-talking Irishman is also in favour of encouraging the younger members of the bloodstock community to put down their iPads and learn instead from the horses in front of them and from those who have gone before.

“We've an awful lot to learn from people slightly older than us,” he says. “When we grew up on the farm there were always some really good old stockmen, cattlemen, and I learned a lot from listening to them.”

We too can learn a lot from listening to Richard Kent.