David Nicholson
My first job when I left school was working for David Nicholson the racehorse trainer as a stable lad. The date I started with him was September 10th 1984.
The first horses I looked after were Golden Raider, Lawnswood Miss and The Shiner
None of them did much good that season in their races for "The Duke". The yard was full of some sort of virus and we only had 17 winners. Quite a drop from the 64 winners the season before. There were many good horses in the yard at that time including Very Promising, Gambir, Goldspun, Voice of Progress, Charter Party, French Union and Connaught River. They were so out of sorts that season 1984/85 and it was quite a harsh Winter into the bargain. I remember the snow drifts used to fill the Cotswold lanes around the yard and we would just walk, trot and hack around the fields. Nicholson was a master at keeping his horses going in bad weather. They always seemed to come out as fit as anybody's horses after a hold-up due to the weather. I believe that in the Spring of 1985 Nicholson's horses probably ran as good as they had all season - Connaught River 2nd at the Cheltenham Festival and Goldspun 3rd in the Stayer Hurdle.
Still, it was a poor season and one or two horses left the yard. One of those horses was a horse that I looked after Golden Raider who went to Martin Pipe. Golden Raider after unplaced runs at Bangor, Doncaster and Huntingdon for us won for Pipe at Ludlow in 1985 and in the process became Pipe's 50th winner of the season. It was the first time that Pipe had trained fifty winners in a season and a unique fact about that first fifty for him was that they had all been over hurdles.
Actually, The Shiner another horse I looked after left half-way through the season and went to David Murray Smith and he won a couple of staying hurdles but I wasn't sad to see the back of him as I will never forget he bit me right in the middle of my back when I was mucking him out one morning and it didn't half make my eyes water.
The first horses I looked after were Golden Raider, Lawnswood Miss and The Shiner
None of them did much good that season in their races for "The Duke". The yard was full of some sort of virus and we only had 17 winners. Quite a drop from the 64 winners the season before. There were many good horses in the yard at that time including Very Promising, Gambir, Goldspun, Voice of Progress, Charter Party, French Union and Connaught River. They were so out of sorts that season 1984/85 and it was quite a harsh Winter into the bargain. I remember the snow drifts used to fill the Cotswold lanes around the yard and we would just walk, trot and hack around the fields. Nicholson was a master at keeping his horses going in bad weather. They always seemed to come out as fit as anybody's horses after a hold-up due to the weather. I believe that in the Spring of 1985 Nicholson's horses probably ran as good as they had all season - Connaught River 2nd at the Cheltenham Festival and Goldspun 3rd in the Stayer Hurdle.
Still, it was a poor season and one or two horses left the yard. One of those horses was a horse that I looked after Golden Raider who went to Martin Pipe. Golden Raider after unplaced runs at Bangor, Doncaster and Huntingdon for us won for Pipe at Ludlow in 1985 and in the process became Pipe's 50th winner of the season. It was the first time that Pipe had trained fifty winners in a season and a unique fact about that first fifty for him was that they had all been over hurdles.
Actually, The Shiner another horse I looked after left half-way through the season and went to David Murray Smith and he won a couple of staying hurdles but I wasn't sad to see the back of him as I will never forget he bit me right in the middle of my back when I was mucking him out one morning and it didn't half make my eyes water.
