Ben’s first decade training has flown by. The facilities Ben and his wife Sophie built at Naunton Downs are second to none and designed to his own specification. The 2022-23 season was his first full season training out of his new set-up, where he is pictured and he and his team celebrated achieving 80 winners, very nearly double their previous best. The current season has been frustrating working around water-logged or frozen tracks but when they have managed to get to the racecourse, the horses have been in fine fettle rewarding Ben and their owners for their patience.

Ben trained 167 winners in his first six seasons, including several Graded and Listed race winners such as Barters Hill, Willoughby Court, Delire D’Estruval, and Le Breuil. These stable stars have more recently been joined by the likes of Shakem’Up Arry, Twig, Diva Luna, Handstands and Personal Ambition. Talking with us as he gives us a tour of the facilities, his passion, enthusiasm and love for this sport is abundantly clear. He puts his success down to the incredible team he has managed to build around him and his exceptionally supportive owners. Where possible, Ben will always try and build a horse from the bottom up, so they have the education they need in their early careers to excel as they progress. In his own words, he believes Naunton Downs is currently “home to the nicest bunch of horses I’ve had the pleasure of training, a lot of them being bought as stores and are in the early stages of becoming the stars of the future we hope”.