TRAINER TALK: FRANCESCA NIMMO & CHARLIE POSTE

Training partnership Fran and Charlie Poste (Fran trains under her maiden name of Nimmo but the couple married in summer 2019) are firmly established as one of the leading yards when it comes to scoring with – and selling on to race under rules – young horses, having had 14 winning four-year-olds alone in the past three seasons. Two of their success stories, Garry Clermont and Switch Hitter, have made six-figure sums at the sales and their youngsters don’t even have to win between the flags to make an impact in the professional game – witness the progress of the likes of Courtandbould (second in the Grade 2 Persian War Hurdle this month) and Third Time Lucki (fourth in the Grade 1 Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and a winner on his recent hurdles debut). I popped in to their Ettington yard in the lead-up to the new pointing season to cast my eye over their potential future stars and find out how their business has been affected by Covid-19 and lockdown.

“Life has carried on as normal,” answers Charlie to my first question, about how the young couple have spent the past few months. “We’ve been busy with the horses – they still need looking after! It was quiet in June and July, but we’ve been flat out since the sales – we’ve got more in than ever, over 60 including breakers. People continue to support our business, we’ve still got some of the four-year-olds from last season and we’ve got horses for owner-riders like Amy Cox, Gordon Hopkinson and Toby Steele. We’ll probably have between 25 and 30 pointers to run this season.”

“We still had at least another half dozen to run,” continues Charlie as we watch ten of their string gallop, including Amy Cox on Ange Des Malberaux (third to Virak and Southfield Theatre at Larkhill in January – “he gave me a great ride, hopefully we’ll start early at Kimble, and I just want to have fun with him”, explained Amy), Fran on Foxinthebox and former rider Katie Sunderland (readers may remember her partnering multiple winner Maid To Match) on Hooky Street.

The curtailed season still provided Fran and Charlie with eight winners, one of the highlights being Freezing Point. “He was the first January four-year-old winner in Britain or Ireland,” says a proud Charlie of the former. “We bought him for 15,000 Euros and sold him to Dan Skelton for £65,000 at the January sales.” We hoped he’d make more, but it was still a good profit and I think it’s inevitable that we will see prices slow down. We’ve reinvested again because, as it is a business, we need to keep looking ahead. It’s positive that our clients have continued to support us so strongly and, while people are always questioning the health of the sport of racing, it’s shown its resilience over time.”

“Our biggest concern would be a second wave and pointing shutting down for the season – a blank year would set us a long way back and put pressure on the sport. But Peter Wright and his team have done an outstanding job and are full of enthusiasm, showing forward thinking with the early season meetings and it’s important that we make a start, even behind closed doors or socially distanced,” adds Charlie. “Is interest waning?” he asks rhetorically. “It certainly wouldn’t help if we have a blank year and we can’t lose meetings hand over fist. But fewer meetings could be a positive thing, if it makes for more competitive racing.”

Fran agrees. “It’s been brilliant to see so many hunts keen to stage their meetings and we hope they’ll be the ones that get supported for years to come. There’s a big risk that, if there’s no pointing this year, horses and owners will go under rules… or go altogether. In the short term, if it helps, they should scrap prize money, not just for young horse maidens, and increase entry fees. While it’s nice to get a cheque through the post, the trophy – or the memento that you keep for ever – is more special.”

Unlike many pointing yards who combine training with other work (e.g. farmers like their landlord Fred Hutsby), Fran and Charlie run their operation as a stand-alone business, so I ask if Charlie is concerned about the effect of Covid-19. “Of course, but we strongly believe that quality horses will still be in demand and thankfully our graduates are performing on the track,” he admits, “And it’s about building trust with owners and trainers who know we have nice horses. Look at Courtandbould – we bought him for £18,000 but he didn’t win for us because he was a backward baby and only sold for £15,000. He’s won three this season for Fergal O’Brien and is now rated over 140.”

So do they want to join the likes of the above into the professional ranks, either solely as licensed trainers, or as a dual rules-pointing yard? “Our aim is to stay pointing and be the best at what we do,” confirms Fran. “We’ve got our client base for breakers and pre-trainers, which we’d lose if we turn professional. We want to become the best academy in Britain, both for horses and jockeys – we’ve got the likes of James King, Alice Stevens, Luke Scott and new novice rider Alex(andra) Ingram – it’s great to see them come through.”

Discussing the new guidelines for Maidens for the 2020/2021 season, Charlie is sanguine. “We want four-year-old only Maidens, but in the short term, they’re not viable as there just aren’t enough four-year-olds. The race (in November) at Chaddesley Corbett will be a good showcase but four-year-olds need to take on older horses with an allowance too – they’d get one under rules to compensate for their physical immaturity. Experience is so valuable – take Third Time Lucki as an example. He looks potentially top class and was only beaten on his debut due to inexperience.” Overall, Charlie is in favour of the way Maidens are now structured – lightly raced youngsters now have only one opportunity per meeting to run with an allowance. “I’d like the option to run over three miles as well, but I can see why the PPA have changed it and I don’t see how anyone who’s anti-young horses can complain now.”

As we talk of maidens, I raise the oft-repeated canard that trainers specialising in young horses avoid racing each other. “When we started as a small operation,” Charlie admits, “We tried to be clever, to maximise our investment – we weren’t running away, but we wanted to (win with and sell our horses to) make money for the next year. Horses can still sell well if they finish second, or win well next time out. We were beaten with Adjournment by one of Tom Lacey’s on the last day of the season. He’s still with us and we still think he is a very good horse. He’ll probably go back to Larkhill.”

“Would four-year-olds make more money if all Maidens were run off level weights?” asks Charlie again. “They should do, but whether they will… Sometimes they’re just better than the horses they beat (regardless of weight carried). Depth of competition and ex-pointers performing under rules is more important if prices are to get better. We’re ambitious. We want to produce a Grade One winner and the closest we’ve got is breaking in Thomas Darby, second in last year’s Supreme Novices Hurdle!”

Fran is adamant that British pointers cannot expect to fetch similar prices to the Irish, at least in the short term. Why not? “Because the Irish market is years ahead of ours. They have a history of producing Graded performers and they also market their pointing graduates brilliantly. We could be better over here at championing our own successes. Indeed, the sport could be marketed better overall. Once you get people to a point-to-point, they have a brilliant day – we could do more to promote it as a cheap, fantastic family day out.”

Talking of success, what do Fran and Charlie think is the key to theirs? “Patience,” states Charlie firmly. “We invest a lot of time and we buy the right type of horse, who needs to have athletic ability. We go to the sales as a team; Fran looks at the horses’ physical attributes and I’m good at putting my hand up to buy them! We fall out, we disagree and we’re opinionated… but we’re a team. We buy our horses on spec and sell 50% of each horse to like minded investors – we don’t have a buyer saying, ‘Here’s £200,000 – go and buy me some horses!’”

For all their triumphs, the couple have suffered setbacks too. Charlie is refreshingly honest about one. “I got Third Time Lucki beaten at Thorpe Lodge; he was too keen, jumped poorly and didn’t stay. Running him over three miles was my mistake – I wanted to win with a four-year-old in January and it was an example of me being pig-headed and putting personal ambition over patience. It would be lovely to say we’ve never made a bad decision, but we’ve made plenty!”

Before I depart, I ask Charlie (as Fran has left to go on a hen weekend with Gina Andrews among others!) why he loves pointing, coming as he does from the professional game and never having ridden between the flags. “There’s not a day when nothing gets me excited,” he enthuses. “It never feels like work, there’s a thrill when it all comes together. It’s embarrassing,” concludes Charlie, “But I get more of a kick when a young horse wins than I did riding winners under rules – as a jockey, you don’t have the same bond. There’s something special about being the first person to sit on an unbroken youngster, seeing them progress and being there every step of the way – an almost maternal feeling!”

Fran & Charlie’s Five to Follow

Dr Time

Owned by a syndicate and still a maiden, he came from Tom Symonds and has a similar profile to Summer Sounds, who Tom also trained and who’s been a real flag-bearer for us. Charlie’s brother (fellow jockey) Ben recommended him. He’s rated 95 under rules and has shown bits of form. He’ll start early and, if he can do half as well as Summer Sounds, we’ll be happy.

Foxinthebox

A four-year-old by Presenting x Forces of Destiny, who cost 36,000 Euros as a store and has shown us plenty at home. Fran rides him a lot and he’s a natural athlete. He’s a half-brother to Olly Murphy’s Fitzroy, who has shown ability in novice hurdles. We would hope he has the potential to fetch six figures at the sales, but who knows? May start at Larkhill.

Hooky Street

Another four-year-old, by Shirocco out of Academy Miss. Went unsold at the sales but we took him home after someone mentioned that we’d trained his half-sister, Marleen, who won for us at Dalton Park. Like her, his name comes from the TV show Only Fools & Horses! Getting him was a stroke of luck – you couldn’t give Shiroccos away when we bought him, but the sire is back in fashion now. Will hopefully run at Maisemore Park on Sunday.

Unnamed 4yo by Haafhd out of Freedom Song

We paid 34,000 Euros for him at the Land Rover sale from Peter Nolan, who we also bought Garry Clermont from. Has shown a lot of ability in his work and looks to have plenty of speed. He’ll make a lovely bumper horse under rules.

Unnamed 3yo by Jet Away out of Cherry Island

We bought him at the sales in May. The sire had his first four-year-olds last year and has had winners in Ireland, so seems to get a precocious type. We really like him – he’s big, balanced and athletic and he was also consigned by Peter Nolan.