The science of horse racing

Everybody in racing is looking for an edge. With 7-4 the field, the punter is looking for a 2-1. The racecourse executive wonders which pop group will add 4,000 to the gate if booked for after-racing entertainment. The jockey on a confirmed front runner plans to slip the field out of the stalls. Trainers all seek an extra ingredient to help win them races consistently. At Sarsen Farm, a state-of-the-art new yard in Upper Lambourn built on the site of what was once a decrepit farmhouse then a Jockey Club tractor depot, Daniel and Claire Kubler are hoping that what a famous if ungrammatical advertisement for white goods used to call ‘the appliance of science’ is going to do the trick for them. Already experts have noted that they are building a reputation for having fewer injury problems than most and winning awards for team management at their yard.

The Kublers, both 39, were only the third pair – and the first married couple – to take out a joint training licence when regulations were changed to legalise joint operations. Only Paul and Oliver Cole and Simon and Ed Crisford got there before them and the Kublers have plenty of racing form. Claire grew up on the stud owned by her breeder parents Gary and Lesley Middlebrook. She worked for several years buying horses with the late Queen Elizabeth’s racing adviser John Warren and was assistant trainer to Jeremy Noseda. Daniel’s CV includes time working with worldwide top-notchers Roger Charlton, François Doumen and Gai Waterhouse. But their non-racing background is equally relevant: Claire has a Cambridge masters degree in physiology and worked for PWC after qualifying as a forensic accountant. Daniel, who studied equine and agricultural management, gives university lectures in genetics and exercise physiology.