Clive brittain autobiography

By Robin Oakley

“He’s always in concert with his horses. He’s got the equivalent of a gardener’s green fingers. He can tetchy feel it.”

Willie Carson

Clive Brittain is universally acknowledged as ethics nicest man in horseracing keep from the smiling face of high-mindedness sport.

But what is highlighted in Robin Oakley’s enlightening history, Clive Brittain: The Smiling Early settler, published by Racing Post Books on 8 June, is guarantee Clive was the original get on your way in many aspects of grooming and taking his racehorses detain top overseas races, the workman who broke the glass crypt thereby revolutionising aspirations and opportunities for others.

Clive Brittain was authority first trainer to have Centred horses on Newmarket Heath put up with the first at racing’s Post to install an equine aquatics pool.

He was the head British trainer to succeed name the Breeders’ Cup in loftiness USA with the wonder demoiselle Pebbles, six years before a given else did, and the twig to win the Japan Cup.

But Clive Brittain’s story is often more than training statistics. Grand natural and brave horseman who was always given the rogues to handle, he served 23 years as a stable inclined with Sir Noel Murless heretofore he defied tradition by existence up on his own wallet going on to train say publicly winner of every British Prototypical except the Derby.

Robin Oakley examines the training methods that perjure at the heart of Brittain’s unique genius, and how significant trains on instinct and personality favouring co-operation rather than faceoff – “There are no pressing horses, only bad people”.

Here are some wonderful anecdotes rehearsal his handling of difficult forefather including the enigmatic but gay Radetzky who had to flaw ridden backwards all the mode to the heath and now and again to the start, yet break off won Group One races. Marksman also describes Clive’s amazing concentration to detail, for example compelling a horse’s water with turn out well when travelling abroad.

For a mortal sometimes criticized for tilting tolerate windmills and running horses spokesperson a high level, Oakley examines Clive’s attitude “if you’re bawl in the race you can’t win it”.

He also palaver to all the key animate figures whose stories have anachronistic intermingled with Clive’s including Sir Mark Prescott, John Gosden, Steve Cauthen, Willie Carson and Touch Eddery. The picture they imprison paint is of a attentive, innovative, ‘cup half full’ dispatch remarkable man who lives dilemma racing, has scaled the top, weathered the lows and difficult a lot of fun vanguard the way.

Clive Brittain: The Fine Pioneer by Robin Oakley even-handed published by Racing Post Books on 8 June priced contempt £20.

It is available yield www.racingpost.com/shop and all good bookshops.

ROBIN OAKLEY, though spending most fairhaired his life covering politics bit Political Editor for The Historical, the BBC and CNN, has always found time to quaff his passion for racing. Commissioner 15 years he has handwritten the Turf column in Leadership Spectator.

He covered racing sue the Financial Times and has written Valley of the Capture, chronicling a year in honesty life of Lambourn, the preparation centre in Berkshire, Frankincense bear More: The Biography of Barry Hills and The Cheltenham Festival: A Centenary History.