An Interview with Owner Ben Hughes

There is no one more emersed in the countryside as gamekeeper, entrepreneur and fledgling racehorse owner Ben Hughes.

Ben and Noonetellsmenothin at Ludlow Racecourse, where he finished 3rd

‘I was born and bred in the Cotswold village of Temple Guiting and went to the primary school here. Then I headed to Cotswolds School. I had the option of going to Cheltenham but I didn’t fancy Saturday school!’

Ben cuts an innovative and inspirational figure, running game shoots, farming, being proprietor of Bruern Game Supplies and, alongside former Love Island-contestant younger brother Chris, highlighting male fertility in the BBC documentary Me, My Brother and Our Balls. He encourages local children and teenagers to learn country ways and raises money for several charities. After recently watching his racing colours win for the very first time, Ben’s way of celebrating was to buy a drink for every client in a Yorkshire pub. Though reasonably new to sole racehorse ownership, he has a deeply ingrained love of racing and its people.

Last September, on a sunny morning, Ben, 34, purposed to long-time girlfriend Olivia (Libby) Round at the top of the gallops, before the champagne corks were popped in celebration. Libby, 30, is passionate about her job as a trained Norland nanny. ‘And looks after me fantastically,’ enthuses Ben. They relish their busy lives, and have an enthusiasm that is as catching as wildfire. ‘To add in the mix, we have five dogs, a lot of game birds,’ he chuckles. ‘And one racehorse.’

Did you have a horsey childhood? Growing up here, we were around so many National Hunt yards and our friends in school were Sammy and Willie Twiston-Davies, Jonj and AJ O’Neill, and the Bellamy brothers (Tom and Archie) so it was hard not to have a somewhat a horsey childhood. Another of our school friends, Matthew Houldsworth, is now in bloodstock. Those guys truly had a passion for horses.

As a boy, I refused to ride. I didn’t feel like I was in full control of a horse, whereas my younger brother, Chris, rode at Pony Club and still rides a horse up the gallops every now and again. (Not sure he would do the weight anymore! I definitely wouldn’t!)

Most of our childhood weekends, we would be under the watchful eye of Wendy, who was Sam and Willie’s nanny. In our primary school years, we were frequently whisked off racing with those guys. It was the absolute best upbringing you could wish for!

Did you always want to be a gamekeeper? Back in my school days, all I wanted was to become a gamekeeper, giving up so much with sport to follow this dream. At fourteen-years-old, I sold my first day. At seventeen, I left college and walked straight into my one and only gamekeeping job. At twenty-one, I took voluntary redundancy, came home to the family farm, where I ran a small-scale shoot.

Photo Credit: GunsOnPegs

Describe your present role: My business is within countryside; I run two estates for game shooting. I have my family farm here near Temple Guiting as well as several land owners near Birdlip, which all in all consists of around 2500 acres.

Now, we rear 250 000 game birds for resale and for our own estate. We host over a hundred and twenty shooting teams a year, many of which are American, Arab or other foreign clients. All this brings in huge amounts of money for our local economy, supporting all our local pubs, hotels, restaurants and much more.

I have an extremely hard-working team behind me, who I couldn’t succeed in this business without.

Describe your charity fundraising: I’ve just started doing fun clay shoots at the front of my house, which are charity shoots to raise money for the local church. Throughout the shoot season, we support the Injured Jockeys Fund and the OddBalls Foundation.

I also hold a day’s shooting in the winter for youngsters aged ten to fifteen, free of charge, to introduce them to our way of life, especially for those who aren’t so fortunate to be able to afford it.

Photo Credit: Barney Beckett-Newhook

How do you encourage the next generation to become involved in country pursuits? I’d tell any young person wanting to get into country pursuits to find their local gamekeeper and approach them. They’re always happy to help, as well as always happy to have the help! Even if it’s somebody just opening the gate on their feed rounds.

Have you always gone racing as a day out? I hardly missed a Cheltenham race meet until the last few years due to the work overload. I actually, ironically, met Olivia at Cheltenham Racecourse at the 2018 November meet on my birthday!

How much of a racing fan are you? I absolutely love racing. For me, it’s my getaway from work. I can completely switch off. I absolutely love going to new tracks and now owning a horse, it takes me to tracks I’ve never been to before.

Favourite Cheltenham Gold Cup winner: Synchronised.

Favourite jockey: I can’t give you a favourite jockey, that might upset too many of my friends.

Ben and Libby at Cheltenham Races, where they met at the 2018 November meeting

Favourite racecourse: Cheltenham.

Racing hero: Even though I wasn’t wanting to be a race rider growing up, AP McCoy was a massive inspiration for every lad wanting to be a jockey. Also, he rode one of my favourite horses, Synchronised, to Gold Cup success in 2012. It felt like I did ten laps around the course myself when he crossed the line in front!

Which racehorse would you like to own? A racehorse I would have absolutely loved to have owned… It would be very easy to say Frankel; however, Sprinter Sacre has a place in my heart. He was an absolute machine! The horse was a warrior, and popped fences like they were nothing. It gives me tingles when replays are shown!

Racehorses owned: I am in Lantic Bay at Martin Keighley’s. A family friend, Marcella Bayliss, bred the horse and asked if I would like to go in with her. He’s had a couple of runs with no success, but we are hoping he puts us into the winner’s enclosure soon.

My first sole ownership is in a horse at Jackdaws Castle, trained by Jonjo and AJ O’Neill.

How did you become a racehorse owner? It’s quite a funny story. I wanted a horse of my own for a good few years now and Jonjo would never ever let me waste my money until he was convinced that he’d found me a fun horse. Fast forward five years, it might be a coincidence but as soon as AJ comes into the equation – bingo!! They found an unnamed Youmzain gelding, so we came up with the name Noonetellsmenothin.

At this moment in time, he’s currently had three runs. He came second at Worcester, third at Ludlow and then we took him to Catterick, where he put his nose in front and gave us our first winner!

How did you name Noonetellsmenothin? His name comes from my favourite film Hot Fuzz, which is an absolute classic!

How did you get the inspiration behind your design of colours? I started playing on the internet, designing a few that I popped on the family WhatsApp group. The ones I have were the most liked.

How did you celebrate? After leaving Catterick Racecourse, we headed to meet friends for a day's shooting in North Yorkshire. I ended up buying a drink for everyone in the Pipe And Glass because I was so excited to have my first winner. At 11-1 on the course, I don’t think the bookies were expecting to pay out so much on a Tuesday afternoon.

Hopes and dreams as an owner: To have a Cheltenham runner at the Festival has always been the dream. I think, it’s everyone’s dream, is it not?

Noonetellsmenothin winning at Catterick

Photo Credit: Catterick Racecourse

Favourite meal: Spaghetti bolognaise.

Favourite drink: Yorkshire Tea.

Favourite snack: Chocolate Hobnobs:

Favourite holiday destination: Maldives.

Favourite music: Zach Bryan.

Favourite film: Hot Fuzz.

Favourite book: A picture book, because I can’t read!

Other hobbies/interests: I competition shoot all over the world. I also play the odd game of cricket, including a couple of times in the IJF cricket match at Wormsley.

A family day out at Kempton with Dad Paul, Mum Val and youngest brother Chris, Paul

and Ben on a shoot and with jockey Richie McLernon at Worcester Racecourse on the day

Ben had his very first runner in his colours