Robin Oakley

A day with the West Ilsley trainer Denis Coakley

'I always worked for trainers who had good horses, Group One horses'

(Photo: www.deniscoakley.com)

Through a stormy July weekend our task was to prevent four feisty grandchildren from murdering or mutilating each other before being returned to their parents, so we gave them £3 each to spend at the local car-boot sale. After two hours, the three girls returned with two teddy bears (one the size of a sheep), a folding chair, a catapult, an electric hair curler and an Osmonds LP. Our grandson, clearly a future City wheeler-dealer, employed his wistful ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t got that much’ routine to such effect that he came back with an Xbox, a crossbow (fortunately for his sisters’ health with no arrows), two battery-powered staplers (don’t ask) and a pristine chess set. Mrs Oakley, too, asked for funds and for her £2 she returned triumphantly with two elegantly expensive crystal glasses. It is all about having an eye for quality.

West Ilsley trainer Denis Coakley has that, too. ‘I always worked for trainers who had good horses, Group One horses,’ he told me as we watched the second lot turn out from Keeper’s Stables to exercise up on the Berkshire Downs.

Having started pony racing in Ireland, Denis rode for Cumbrian jumps trainer Gordon Richards and in America for the classy Janet Elliot. There followed ten years as assistant trainer to Lord Huntingdon, just up the road from where Denis operates now, with quality horses like Drum Taps spending time in his 20-box yard, which then served mostly for isolation.

Like many, though, who make the jump from assisting a big battalion trainer to setting up on their own, which he did when Lord Huntingdon quit in 1998, he hasn’t enjoyed quite the same quality of livestock. All the more credit then that Denis has produced Group winners like Steppe Dancer and has caught the eye this year by taking the Victoria Cup with Gabriel’s Lad, a 17,000 guineas purchase, and winning a Derby Day handicap at Epsom with the impressive Miss Marjurie.

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