Kieran Fallon led the tributes to Sir Michael Stoute© Photo Healy Racing
With Sir Michael Stoute looking to have saddled the final runner of his long and illustrious career, we look back at what some of those who know him best have had to say about him:
Kieren Fallon, former stable jockey
“I don’t like comparing trainers, but he was my favourite and he was the trainer I always wanted to ride for. I don’t know if it comes from Shergar or what, because of where I am from in the west of Ireland you could never have dreamed of being in his yard.
“He was firm but fair and if you got anything wrong, he would let you think about it for a while and wouldn’t say an awful lot.
“I was with him quite a while and there was only one little blip in all the years and all the rides.”
Sir Mark Prescott, fellow Newmarket trainer
“I think he is probably the most focused trainer of my time. When he got a good horse, he absolutely focused on it.
“He is a tremendous jockey mentor as well. If he could see genius in a jockey, if he could see flair, he would go to tremendous lengths to nurture that and get the best out of his jockeys.
“I think the combination of that laser focus on his good horses and the mentoring of the men that rode them made him a very hard, hard trainer for the finest in the world to beat.”
Chris Richardson, managing director of Cheveley Park Stud
“He’s an iconic trainer and a very talented and amazing horseman really.
“It’s the end of an era and I still haven’t worked out his secret for watching a gallop. He always used to amaze me, he could see more than I ever could understand. If it had gone well, there would usually be a ‘bum diddy bum’ and he’d whistle Don’t Cry For Me Argentina as he walked off the gallop.”
John Warren, racing manager for the late Queen Elizabeth II
“We all had so many happy times working together over some 30 years. As a trainer, Michael was always spot-on knowing when to press the ‘go button’ and his patience paid off in spades.
“I know he gave the late Queen immense pleasure and joy on numerous occasions – winning the Ascot Gold Cup with Estimate was a day we will never forget. I can’t thank him enough for so many happy and great fun memories during his training career.”
John Gosden, fellow Newmarket trainer
“A true champion trainer with a phenomenal feel for the horses in his stable.
“At the height of their powers, Henry Cecil and he were formidable adversaries and lit up the British racing season year on year.”
Gary Stevens, Hall of Fame jockey and former Stoute number one
“It was the best job in the world and the best job any jockey could ever want. He’s a genius and one of my great friends right to this day, he is like family to me. It was the best time in my career and if I have any regrets about my career, it was not staying over in the UK longer.”
Bruce Raymond, former jockey and racing manager to Saeed Suhail, for whom Stoute won the Derby twice
“I rode for him as second jockey to Walter Swinburn at one time for Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum and rode quite a few winners.
“When my owners talk about telling Sir Michael to do something, I say ‘listen, Sir Michael Stoute has trained every winner in the world twice, I’m not going to tell him anything’ – and he quite rightly probably wouldn’t take any notice anyway!
“Who is anyone to tell Sir Michael what to do? There might be someone in the world as good, but there is no one better.”
