On the 17th June, the Square Mile Thoroughbreds team snuck away from their Bloomberg screens for the day to visit an up and coming trainer who we were thinking of sending one of the syndicate horses to. William Knight’s Angmering Park yard is located in the stunning Sussex Downs, just over an hours drive out of London. Famous horses to have called this place home include Celtic Swing and Sherriff’s Star.
On arrival at Lower Coombe Stables, James and William met for what they thought was the first time. However, it soon dawned on them that they had indeed met before many moons ago when William was head lad for John Hills, a trainer based in Lambourn. James was spending a summer holiday with John Hills, working on the yard exercising horses as a 15 year old school boy and on one particular morning, William was charged with turfing James out of bed following his first serious encounter with previous evening with beer, vodka, rum and whiskey.
William is developing a reputation as one of British racing’s most promising young trainers, hence our interest in meeting him. He has learnt the trade from some of the best in the industry including John Hills and Ed Dunlop and has been building a successful operation down in West Sussex since 2006. His string of horses is improving year on year following his on-track success and his 2011 2-year-olds are the nicest bunch he has had to date.
The horses at Lower Coombe Park are treated to a serious workout thanks to a testing up hill gallop. The facilities here are set in beautiful surroundings that we could not help but feel would be ideal for young horses. They are away from the hustle and bustle of the big training centres like Newmarket and Lambourn and will receive all the attention and time they need to develop into the potential that we hope our horses will show.
With Group 2 and 3 race wins already notched up, we feel William is very well suited to looking after a SMT syndicate horse and a trainer that we would very much like to support. We look forward to introducing share owners to him in the not-too-distant future.