Genetic advantage

What makes a successful racehorse trainer? Patience and an eye for detail. Man management and a flair for publicity. But the right genes help, too, and there Nick Gifford, the handler of the first-class hurdling prospect Straw Bear, does have an advantage. Son of the former trainer and ex-champion jockey Josh Gifford and of an international show-jumper mother, Nick didn’t so much learn training skills as absorb them through the pores. There was no need, in his case, to seek experience in other stables, although he did show his independence by running his own point-to-point yard for three years.

You soon see why a preparatory career as a jockey wasn’t an option for Nick. When I arrived at Downs House, Findon, and was directed to the box where the boss was working, only a fashionable tangle of long hair under a baseball cap was visible as he ministered to Wee Robbie’s legs.