Gary Moore joins Sun Racing as our new star columnist… and promises to flag up a few bankers this jumps season

Owen Goulding

Published: 19:16, 10 Nov 2023
Updated: 19:16, 10 Nov 2023

RACING’s a brutal game, especially over the jumps, but we love it, don’t we?

Yes you have to go through the lows to get to the highs — and it can be a rough ride — but, boy, there’s nothing I’d rather do than train horses.

Gary, middle, will take you on the rollerocaster ride that is National Hunt along with sons Jamie, left, and Josh, rightCredit: Jamie McPhilimey

Mind you, if things had turned out differently I could be selling cars!

You see my old man Charlie was a car dealer and, back in the 1950s, he used to buy and sell a few motors.

He wasn’t born with a silver spoon — far from it — but was a proper wheeler dealer and a real character to boot.

He got into racing totally by chance, though. Back in those days transport was not good and he and a mate had to go and deliver a car to Birmingham.

They went the night before to avoid the traffic and delivered it early, so had the next day to do whatever they wanted.

On the way back they ended up stopping off at an auction at Sandown.

Dad was scratching his head and the auctioneer was cheeky enough to tell him to stop, or else he would take it as a bid.

He was fiesty, my old man, so I am sure you can see where this is going . . . he took exception to it and said ‘well take it as a bid then.’

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The auctioneer did and dad now had a £300 horse — and no idea what to do with it.

Luckily, he knew a guy who had a stable near Brighton and gave him the horse to train.

But dad being dad, eventually thought he could do a better job and ended up training himself.

Little did he know scratching his head would lead to the Moore racing dynasty!

He ended up training on the Racehill in Brighton for many years and I was born into the game.

It basically forced me to become a very average jockey for around 20 years.

I started training in 1993 after being offered a job by the late Ken Higson. He rented a yard for me in Epsom and I trained there for four years.

After that, I ended up going back to Brighton and using a few boxes in my dad’s Ingleside Stables.

It was a ramshackle of a place and when he packed up, I took over. That was in 1997 and I stayed for 10 years before I bought a new yard in Horsham, Cisswood House Stables.

Charles Cyzer used to be there and we’ve done a lot of work putting in new boxes and all-weather gallops. We have over 100 horses and the boxes are full.

I couldn’t do it without the help of my boys Josh and Jamie.

Josh is doing really well training-wise and could be doing it himself now if he wanted to.

I’m waiting for the day he tells me he’s ready to take over. Then I can work for him instead! Josh was a better jockey than I was — and will probably be a better trainer than I am too.

As I said before though, racing can be a brutal game and for us, there was none more brutal day than April 16 last year when Josh was so badly injured in a fall at Haydock.

He suffered broken ribs, a broken leg, a punctured lung and damage to his lower back.

He was in intensive care due to complications which caused a life-threatening infection.

It was touch and go for a while and the way racing pulled together for him and the family was fantastic to see.

Taking him home from hospital is my happiest racing memory and certainly trumps any winner we’ve ever had.

He is not quite back to 100 per cent, which is why he is not in my favourite chair in my office yet, but as soon as he is and I have spoken to the owners, he will take over the reins.

He and Jamie work really well together and I could see them training together one day.

They need each other and would be a really good team.

I will be more than happy mucking out for the boys in the years to come!

I also get great support from my wife Jayne and advice from my daughter Hayley who is doing so well with Sky Sports. And, of course, my other son Ryan needs no introduction.

If anyone tells you he is not the best jockey in the world, they don’t know what they are talking about.

He proves it week in and week out, just look at what he did at the Breeders’ Cup.

Mind you, his fame and fortune does mean I cannot get him down to Brighton to ride for us in the Class 6 handicaps!

There is no racing family quite like the MooresCredit: Jamie McPhilimey

I’m lucky to have managed to get 161 winners out of him down the years — including the day he won the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot for us on Bergo. That was an amazing day.

Over the jumps, of course Josh and Jamie rode plenty of winners for us.

I’ll always cherish the day Jamie won the 2014 Champion Chase on Sire De Grugy. What a horse he was. The best.

He hated the track and the ground that day, but he still won by five lengths. Everyone came out of the weighing room to cheer Jamie in — it was an incredible day for the family.

As for this season we already have a Grade 2 win thanks to Botox Has at Haydock.

We have a lot of exciting youngsters to go to war with this time around and there are plenty of seasoned campaigners ready to do some damage too.

Yes, that includes Goshen, and I hope he can defend his Ascot Hurdle crown later this month. If you ask any trainer what their goal for the year is, they will tell you they want ‘as many winners as possible’. I’m no different but although Cheltenham isn’t the be-all-and-end-all I’d love a winner there this season.

Givega is one who could do it. He’s a great horse who is a bit quirky. He runs at Wincanton today as long as it doesn’t get heavier than soft. He has all the potential in the world.

We also send Hansard there too. He’s really talented and ran well in an Aintree Grade 1 when last seen. His form reads well and getting weight from Rubaud today will be a big help. I am excited to see what he can do.

And don’t give upon Spirit D’Aunou. Yes, he was a bit disappointing last Saturday at Cheltenham but — he is far better than that. He has won four of his six starts and I still believe he can go right to the top.

Watch out for In The Air too. He jumped well on his chasing debut and has the potential to rate much higher this season.