Q&A With Charlie Fellowes

[Wandering Eyes]

The TDN‘s Gary King sat down with Newmarket trainer and TDN columnist Charlie Fellowes for a Q&A session. Fellowes has a burgeoning team at his St Gatien Cottage Stables and has Prince Of Arran entered for this Friday’s Chester Cup

GK: What’s the best thing about living and training in Newmarket?

CF: The facilities are second to none and the gallops are absolutely incredible. We have a fantastic team of groundsmen who look after everything impeccably and that takes a huge amount of stress out of the trainer’s life. This winter has been one of the worst and yet my horses never missed a day’s training. I also get on with a lot of the trainers in town so socially it is good. That said, there is a small part of me that craves to have my own space and turn-out paddocks, and there are only a few select yards that have that luxury.

GK: If you could train anywhere else, where would it be?

CF: If I could have any yard in the world I would chose Pegasus Stables, the home of James Fanshawe. I worked there for five years and it is the most beautiful yard around. The Fanshawes have the best of both worlds because it is right on the edge of Newmarket and has plenty of paddock space, while it also has the benefits of all the facilities Newmarket has to offer. I spent a summer working in Chantilly when I was much younger and I loved it there. I was light enough to ride out–who would have thought it!–and there was a heatwave while I was over there. The gallops were pretty special.

GK: Who is your favourite racehorse of all time, and why?

CF: There will be a recurring theme here, I’m afraid. Society Rock (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) is my favourite racehorse. He was the toughest colt I have ever come across. He had his issues but he was one of those horses that put 120% into every race and when things fell right, he was very, very good. This might upset a few Aussies but I am adamant that if he hadn’t have reared up when the stalls opened in the Golden Jubilee at Ascot, he would have beaten Black Caviar. He also had bundles of personality and you couldn’t help but love him. I must also give a special mention to a horse I trained called Wet Sail (Henrythenavigator). He was the first decent horse I had and ran at the Breeders’ Cup in 2014. He was nowhere near the level of Society Rock but to my career he was huge. He was another of those horses that had a personality that grabbed you and I adored him. He also provided me with the worst day of my career when one December morning he broke his leg galloping and I had to watch him being put down. It took me a while to get over that.

GK: Which race would you like to win above all others?

CF: This is a hard question because I find it very hard to differentiate between all the top races globally. As a racehorse trainer I crave to be competing at the top level and whether that is a Guineas, Derby, Arc, Melbourne Cup, Breeders’ Cup, etc., I’m not fussy. They are all incredibly special races, with phenomenal atmospheres and occasions that we all want to be part of. I do have a special place in my heart for Royal Ascot as I think it epitomises everything that is great about British racing. I would take a win at Royal Ascot any day of the week.

GK: Do you set specific goals and targets each year? Number of winners, win percentage, etc.?

CF: My only goal is to better the year before. That will become more and more difficult but at the moment we have achieved that with both our winners and prize-money tallies.

GK: This is a very cliche question, but which three people would you most like to sit down to dinner with (inside racing)?

CF: Aidan O’Brien, Sir Michael Stoute and Willie Mullins. Three masters of a trade I hope to be good at!

GK: And outside racing?

CF: We have a programme in England called ‘Would I Lie To You’ that always makes me laugh. The three comedians that are on it every week are Lee Mach, Rob Brydon and David Mitchell. I think they would make very amusing dinner party guests.

GK: What are you most looking forward to for the season ahead?

CF: Personally, I am hopeful that my yard has got a big-race winner in it this year. I couldn’t tell you where or when but we have some lovely horses and I am sure it is just around the corner. In a broader sense, at some point this year Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) are hopefully going to take each other on, and when that does happen it will be one of the biggest match-ups I have seen as they are two special horses.

View the full article