Charlie Fellowes Talks Racing, Golf And Cooking

Based at Bedford House Stables Newmarket, Charlie Fellowes has come a long way in a short space of time. I imagine if you had been a horse trainer all your life and managed to have runners at the Breeders Cup (Wet Sail), Woodbine (Kasseopia) and Prince Of Arran in Dubai you would retire a happy man, not to forget Endless Acres finishing second at Royal Ascot. The list goes on but for a man who only started training in 2014, this is nothing short of incredible. 

Charlie, have you always been involved in horse racing?

No, I haven’t. I grew up on a farm near Huntingdon and only really came into contact with horseracing when my mum became a member of a syndicate when I was about 7. I used to watch channel 4 racing religiously and went to Newmarket with my mum. I quickly fell in love with it and decided that it was something I wanted to do forever. Amazingly I stuck to it and here I am today! 

You have trained plenty of classy horses over the years including Thanks Be, Hajaam and Prince Of Arran. How do you manage to keep on top of your game? 

Attention to detail and sticking to your principles. I have always said that I believe the mental aspect of training horses is just as important has getting them fit. I will never change my mind on that and it will always mould how I approach training horses. You also have to have a good team around you who think the same way you do. 

If you weren't a trainer what would you have done? 

I love sports so probably something to do with sport. Maybe golf? I love playing golf and my uncle works for the European tour so I might have followed him that way. 

If you could train any horse in history who would it be? 

Frankel. The best I have ever seen and probably will ever see. 

What do you like to do in your spare time if you get any? 

I love playing golf. I really enjoy cooking too. And I guess seeing friends from home. I didn’t grow up in racing so a lot of my closest friends don’t live near me and work in London. I love going to see them. 

I imagine Wet Sail running in the Breeders Cup Juvenile race in 2014 is your career highlight so far, What was that like? 

Mmm. It was a special trip but I definitely wouldn’t say it was my career highlight. I probably didn’t realise how lucky I was to have a runner in the Breeders' Cup aged 27 but a winner at Royal Ascot, a winner on Derby day in Australia and a 3rd in the Melbourne cup all come above that experience. 

How is Chiefofchiefs and will he run at the Champions Meetings on the 19th? 

He is great. The plan is to run next week either at Kempton or York. If he were to win there he could head to Ascot where the soft ground would definitely play to his strengths. 

Do you have any dark horses who will run towards the end of the season or any to look forward to next season? 

I have a couple of 2yr olds who haven’t run yet that I like a lot. Riviera Belle has been working nicely at home and could make her debut in the next couple of weeks. A couple for next year are Byron Hill and Immortal Beloved. 

A big thank you to Charlie Fellowes for making time to answer questions for my blog and good luck for the rest of the season.

Visit Charlie Fellowes website here.