An Interview with Top Trainer Martin Keighley

There’s no one who loves the racing life more than trainer Martin Keighley. Originally from Ossett, West Yorkshire, he came down to Gloucestershire and laid solid foundations through the trainers he worked for. Staying put, he became a part of the racing scenery in Gloucestershire, now training not far from Condicote. ‘I have a few nicknames from my different jobs. ‘Smarts’ is the most used one but my mates from the Duke’s called me Keetch and Swerve!’ 

A special day in October 2025 at Cheltenham for Martin Keighley and family when De Temps En Temps won

Since starting training, Martin, 51, has been associated with top horses Any Currency, Back On The Lash, Creepy, Champion Court, Mr Mafia and Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase winner Annacotty. He especially loves a winner round his local track of Cheltenham – yet, any winner counts and he’s trained nearly four hundred so far with the help of a dedicated team.

Married to Belinda, an ex-amateur jockey and enthusiastic, vivacious constant, they have sons Freddie, a conditional jockey, and football-loving Harry. Shiny black labrador Willow competes with Belinda to who is Martin’s most loyal companion with Willow nosing in front – just!

Did you have a horsey childhood? My dad always followed horseracing but I didn’t ride until I stayed with my cousins, where my aunty had horses. I was hooked and spent lots of school holidays there. When I was a teenager, my dad got me an ex-racehorse called Flyer and I did hunter trials on him. We were very new to horse ownership but we managed somehow! 

How did you get into racing? I started riding out for Steve Norton when I was about fourteen and then decided I wanted to be a jockey.  My school work experience was then spent with David Nicholson in Condicote and he offered me a job when I’d finished my GCSEs and that was that!

What are your best memories of being a jockey? Winning the Champion Bumper at Aintree on Kings Road for Nigel Twiston-Davies, on the day the yard also won the Grand National with Earth Summit in 1998. We have kept in touch with Marcella Bayliss, who did everything with Earth Summit and led him up that day and she is now an owner here with her homebred. 

Describe what it was like to work for David ‘the Duke’ Nicholson: I learnt so much working for The Duke. He was a hard taskmaster but everything was done properly and if you wanted to learn then he had time for you. Yes, we did get bollockings, but usually it was probably justified and now I train, it is easier to see why he probably got so stressed with us all! 

The huge amount of people that went through his ‘academy’ who are still in successful roles in racing is a testament to him. From when I was there, this list is literally endless, including Trainers, Head Lads, Travelling Head Lads, Racecourse Security, Jockey Agents, Bloodstock Agents – once, we did tried to list them all and easily got to in excess of fifty. I was there for the last years at Condicote and the first couple at Jackdaws, and both were special times. We worked hard and played hard! The head lad at the time was Clifford Baker who then moved to Paul Nicholls, where he has been ever since so, he’s now Freddie’s Head Lad!

What roles have you had within racing yards? A Stable lad and Conditional Jockey for The Duke before joining the Twiston-Davies team as Conditional. 

What roles have you had out of racing yards? I was a Groundsman at Cheltenham Racecourse for about three years under Clerk of the Course Simon Claisse and Head Groundsman John Nicholson. I learnt how to build fences and hurdles and a huge amount about keeping the grass in top shape, which has certainly helped with my own schooling ground and grass gallops. Latterly, I went part time when I started training point-to-pointers and eventually left to get my professional trainer’s licence out.

How did you become a trainer? I’d always thought I’d like to train and our first horse was Bosuns Mate. Belinda had ridden a few point-to-point winners for Dolly Maude and the opportunity arose to buy Bosuns Mate out of the Twiston yard so we decided to get one of our own. Belinda’s parents went halves with us and that was the start of it.  He won on his third start for us, my first Hunter Chase runner at Sandown Park where Belinda was the only female jockey in the race and beat Christian Williams riding Irbee at 8-11 for Paul Nicholls! A brilliant day and definitely made us want to try to get more horses. 

We slowly built the numbers up, starting with friends. Our first outside owner was a lovely man called Jo Stainer who organised a lot of sponsorship at Cheltenham Racecourse with Jewson and many others. He was the most wonderful man who died a couple of years ago and whom we miss a lot. 

Bosuns Mate's win at Sandown - which started it all!

Favourite racecourses: No-one will be surprised that Cheltenham is my favourite track! It’s so special being our local track, both of us worked there before I started training and we have so much support from the locals there, especially when we have a winner. We are proud that we’ve had twenty-five winners so far and we make sure we properly celebrate each and every one! I get a bit of stick that I run so many horses there but sometimes being brave pays off. Bobble Emerald (33-1) and Pinnacle Peak (28-1) both won at big prices and Hung Jury’s two wins (20-1 & 22-1) gave our Racing Club, which is full of amazingly loyal supporters – many who have been with us since the start, two days they’ll never forget too. We’ve also had a double there three times too.  

Also, I love having a runner at the London tracks – Sandown, Kempton and Ascot as they look after owners really well and we’ve had plenty of luck around there too. 

So far, what have been your best day as a trainer? Not unsurprisingly the day Freddie won for us at Cheltenham on De Temps En Temps is a day that will be hard to beat! Freddie has literally grown up at Cheltenham Racecourse, having attended the 2008 Festival aged eleven days old, attended Pony Club camps there and even ridden a pony race winner there a few years ago too. 

Therefore, for him to ride his first Cheltenham winner for us aged just seventeen was unbelievable. He had to survive a bad mistake at the second last hurdle and somehow managed to hold off the Champion Jockey, Sean Bowen, in a driving finish too! As if it couldn’t get any better, younger brother Harry was allowed to lead him up – his first ever Cheltenham lead up and Belinda owns a share in De Temps En Temps too so a massive family affair and a day we’ll never forget. 

A first Cheltenham success with Benbane Head in October 2009

What does racing mean to you? It’s my life and I can’t imagine doing anything else and I’m not trained to do anything else either! I’ve met some incredible people throughout my life in racing.  Obviously, there are always those you don’t hit it off with but there are far more lovely and genuine people who not only help pick you up when times are tough but they celebrate with you, and are pleased for you when you do well. 

Describe the importance of writing your regular blog: A New Year’s resolution was to do our blog a little more regularly as sometimes it gets pushed to the bottom of the list when we have been particularly busy! A lot of people tell us they really enjoy it and it gives a daily snapshot of what we get up to in the yard. It’s not a blog that you could follow for tips as we never push any of our runners but I enjoy doing it. 

Best party/celebration: We’ve had plenty of brilliant parties after winners, especially at Cheltenham and they used to be fabulous in Cheltenham’s 21 Club that was owned by Richard Davies who was an owner here and is a good friend. In 2000, Belinda and I were invited to the Decade Birthdays at Windsor Castle celebrating HM The Queen Mother’s 100^th, Princess Margaret’s 70^th, Princess Anne’s 50^th and Prince Andrew’s 40^th, which was an incredible evening and one we’ll never forget. 

Favourite meal: T-bone steak with a peppercorn sauce followed with a sticky toffee pudding!

Favourite drink: A good Malbec.

Favourite movie: Shawshank Redemption.

Favourite TV program: I mostly watch racing, football and F1 but I also enjoy Would I Lie to You, which Belinda absolutely hates!

Favourite music: Plenty of different styles of music. Harry, my fifteen-year-old son, helps me with the music to the videos that I share on Instagram of the horses schooling and doing fast work as he thinks my choices are too old fashioned!

Other hobbies/interests: I love following the F1 and I enjoy watching tennis too.  Belinda and I are going to Wimbledon for the first time this year and I can’t wait.  When time allows, I enjoy watching Harry play football. Also, we try to go skiing as a family every year, which completely clears my mind as I have to fully concentrate on staying upright!