To the Woods
Robin Oakley
It would have been worth going racing at Newbury on Dubai Duty Free day for no other reason than to see the twinkle in Barry Hills's eye after Tante Rose had accelerated nicely up the stand rail to win the Dubai Duty Free Stakes from the fancied Crystal Star. 'That was my 2,500th winner,' he beamed, 'including bumpers and jumpers.' Barry, who began training in 1969, backed his first winner, La Dolce Vita at Thirsk, and the twinkle suggested that Tante Rose had taken something out of the bookmakers' satchels too.
Tante Rose has earned herself a place in the 1,000 Guineas. But she may only be the stable second string. Barry's real fancy for the race is the King of Kings filly Geminiani. But she has not been so quick to come to hand this cold spring and he is not going to force the pace if she is not ready. That has never been the Hills way. How long will he keep on? At some stage, he admits, he will have to give son Charles a chance. But he insists that he is likely to retain a midfield role for a while, recalling the story of the football manager who went to Spurs towards the end of Dave Mackay's career seeking to purchase him in a transfer deal. 'You don't want to buy him now,' he was advised. He can hardly run any more.' That's not the point,' said Mackay's admirer. 'I've got nine young lads who can do the running around. What I need is a wise head to stand in the middle.'
I had been up on the glorious Lambourn gallops that morning with a man who may not train 2,500 winners in his career — he has started too late for that — but who I am willing to wager will accumulate a healthy tally over the years to come. Ian Wood, who began life near the Ayr racecourse and who has made a bit in consumer finance over the years, first had horses as an owner with Alan Jarvis and then with Lester and Susan Piggott. Versailles Road, whom Ian bought in France, won six races for the Piggotts and Frankie Dettori lost both his 5Ib and 3Ib claim on her.
When the Woods bought Neardown Stables on the top road in Upper Lambourn he and wife Joyce were 'looking for a place in the country with a few boxes'. They first installed Kevil Bell as their trainer before Ian took over himself. His first season he had eight winners, the second he had 26 from 25 horses. Last year when I met him mid-season after Johnny Ebeneezer had won the Gala Casinos Handicap at Windsor he told me the target for the season was 30. He went on to score 38 winners from a yard of around 40 horses. This year's target is 50, with five on the board already before they are really firing.
Some trainers are bullshitters who are better at training owners than horses. Some are instinctive horse-handlers who collapse financially because no one has taught them how to run a business. What strikes you about Ian Wood is the quiet bank-managerly assurance that he knows what he is doing and that it is working out according to plan. He started out by offering people three months free training if they would guarantee to keep the horse with him for another three. As he began to get results with horses which had been through other yards and achieved nothing, he attracted enough owners to start saying that he would only take horses above a certain handicap mark. There are dangers in becoming known as a man who does well with previous no-hopers.
Now Ian does the three months free deal only with yearlings. He does not have to go to the sales. The owners do that and come to him. The horses are broken in, largely under the charge of New Zealander Ray Petersen, Ian's assistant trainer, through October, November and December, then he cracks on from 1 January. The success of Ian Wood's methods is reflected not just in last year's winners total but in the fact that the number of stable inmates had increased this season from 40 to 80. Who else has doubled their business in six months?
There is nothing cocky about Ian Wood, a softly spoken resolutely un-flash figure as he stands on the grass circle in the whitegravelled yard giving orders to the circling riders, the horses neat in red and navy rugs. But the authority is there, the eye for detail obvious. I like to look at horses and design a programme for them. I try to sort out what they can cope with, physically and mentally. When we win a race with one I sit down and think what we did with him before he won the race and I try to replicate it when we get a similar horse in the yard.' Up on the gallops he points out two separate tracks: 'Particularly with the twoyear-olds the key is to get them settled. We use this one as a warm-up track, that one over there for fast work, so they know what to expect.' Johnny Ebeneezer should pay
his way again this year, with Ian hoping he'll improve enough for Listed races. The Royal Applause filly Riva Royale, who did not quite live up to expectations last year after getting jarred up, should do better at three, Ian hopes, and he is sweet also on the four-year-old Thesaurus, a Most Welcome gelding. I liked the look, too, of the five-year-old grey Pay The Silver, a ten-furlong type. So, too, it seems, do 'best turned out' judges. He frequently wins such prizes for his lass.
It has taken a while, says Ian Wood, for the racing world to take him seriously. But there are sure signs now that it does. Not only are owners bringing him horses. Jockeys are calling to inquire which mornings he does serious work and to ask if they can come to ride out. The grapevine is humming.
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