How do I become ... a stable manager

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jul/23/how-do-i-become-a-stable-manager

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Glorious Goodwood, a beacon in the British flat racing calendar, brings Pimms, panamas and parasols for the visitors who crowd the Sussex racecourse each July. But for Allan Morris it means five sleepless nights. As stable manager of the estate, the 48-year-old is responsible for the welfare of the 500 prize racehorses who pass through during the four-day event and for the 1,000 accompanying trainers and staff.

Both four- and two-legged guests are liable to be highly strung and demanding and it’s Morris who, like a hotel manager, has to juggle whims with logistics. “The most common headache is that trainers turn up earlier than they’re supposed to when the stables are full,” he says. “I still not sure what I’m supposed to do about that, but there are big personalities among trainers and there is always a small minority who won’t see reason.”

Although the basis of a stable manager’s job is practical – they must make sure that the lodgings for humans and horses are clean, safe and suitable – patience and diplomacy are more vital than plumbing skills. “Some of these horses are worth tens of millions and stress levels can run high on race days,” he says. “The most valuable horse I ever had in my care was Frankel, then the world’s highest rated race horse, who was worth around £120m. So the stakes are high and it’s extremely daunting to be responsible for its wellbeing. When I was asked if I’d be able to look after a £1m car during Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, it was a cinch in comparison.”

Some of these horses are worth tens of millions and stress levels can run high on race days

During events, Morris stays at the stables and is in his office by 5am checking which horses will arrive when and drawing ever-evolving plans of where each will be accommodated. He tours the stables to ensure that everything is in order and liaises with racecourse staff for any change in conditions that will affect the running. At these times, his in-house staff swells from one stable hand to up to 10 as guests, human and animal, arrive and move into the 130 stalls vacated by previous racers. “Some trainers insist that their horses have a special stable, special straw and even special water and each one has their own preferred feed, but it’s up to them to provide food and bedding,” he says. “I have to make sure the horses are safe and the people happy.”

The horses’ attendants are housed in dormitories above the stables which presents a headache of a different kind. “The stables are reputed to be haunted and some of the trainers and stable hands are frightened to sleep there,” he says.

Morris, son of a jockey and breeder, grew up among horses, although an equine career had not occurred to him when he left school at 16. “It was my elder brother, a jockey, who persuaded me to join his racing stables as an apprentice jockey,” he says. “It wasn’t an easy ride, quite literally. You’re riding four racehorses a day to exercise them and doing all the hands-on work around the stables.” He spent the next few years serving apprenticeships in four different stables – “a lot of jockeys move yards trying to get a breakthrough,” he says – and became a professional jockey in his early 20s. It wasn’t, however, the career he had hoped for. “I wasn’t very successful and by my 30s the rides were drying up,” he says.

A series of injuries and a young family in need of support obliged him to look for a career with horses that excused him the saddle, and when in 2008 a vacancy at Goodwood came up his experience labouring in stables and managing the temperaments of both horses and trainers earned him the post. “My boss turned out to be the man whose garden backed on to the yard where I used to work,” he says. “Whenever we apprentices kicked a ball around we ended up climbing over his wall to retrieve it and he didn’t like that so I was worried he’d recognise me.”

Although long experience of stable life provides the skills needed for managing a yard, candidates are now obliged to hold a British Horse Society (BHS) Stage 4 Care and sometimes riding qualification and a BHS Stable Managers certificate will prove their credentials for training staff and apprentices. No exam can, however, produce the cool head, authority and charm required, along with decent DIY skills, to cope with race days. “My strongest piece of advice is always use a pencil,” says Morris. “When you sketch out the stables to show where each horse will go you can guarantee the plans will change 100 times. The only certainty in the racing season is that the day will never go as you expect it to.”