The Racing Life of John Berry

Trainer John Berry’s two hundred-plus winners have occurred over both codes and at racecourses in all four corners of the UK. He’s a self-confessed ‘smaller’ trainer, based at Newmarket’s Beverley House Stables.

John shares many memories of good days on racecourse and not all of winners. In 2002, Diamond Joshua finished third in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. ‘He was the first British-trained horse home and it was the day of Best Mate’s first Gold Cup – that felt more special than most winners,’ he remembers. ‘If they run well at a big meeting, it feels like a big achievement. Jack Dawson finished third in a Listed handicap hurdle on Grand National day in 2004 – again it was great.’  Largess was an early flagbearer on the Flat and the first to win John a Listed race and was placed in Group races.

‘After he’d won his Listed race, I put one of his shoes on the gate but I soon realised if that was the qualifying criteria, by the time I died then there would be very few shoes on the gate. So, I changed to nailing shoes on after a ‘good day’ and I wish I’d kept a shoe from every time we’d had one because they were all special.’

        Once an amateur jockey, John has also dabbled in breeding, most notably of prolific-winner Roy Rocket and recipient of ROA Flat Special Achievement Award.

Originating from the Scottish Borders, boarding school stripped John of any accent but Hawick was ‘a great racing area to grow up in.’ There were many local successful racing yards of varying sizes as well as family outings to Kelso, Carlisle and Hexham.

For over thirty years, John has written a weekly column for the Australian weekly Winning Post and articles for the European Thoroughbred Daily News. ‘I write a lot of obituaries for the TDN,’ he says. ‘It’s a bit macabre to say I’m an obituary writer but, I think, you can help bereaved people by writing a good obituary.’ Giving back to the town that he loves, John was an independent town councillor and the Mayor of Newmarket in 2015-6.

John, 59, is married to Emma, and has a son Anthony, 22, from a previous marriage. ‘He’s into studwork, is honest and hardworking, and is gifted with horses,’ says John. Emma is the European and international editor of TDN and Bloodstock Notebook. She also gives a lot back to racing by sitting on the British Horseracing Association’s Flat Pattern Committee, is a trustee of British EBF and a British Horseracing Hall of Fame panellist.

There’s also Gus, a Dalmatian aged a gallant fourteen and John’s most loyal companion, and Emma’s Kerry Blue terrier, Blakeney and a lurcher-whippet type, Morston. Three cats masquerade as ‘softies’ but are ferocious mousers, controlling all vermin around the yard.

                ‘It hit me that – s**t! – I’ll be sixty next year. I don’t feel any different than when I was twenty-nine turning thirty. I don’t know where the time’s gone. The world keeps turning and time passes and then, you realise too much of it has passed.’ Time may have passed quickly but John has certainly made every moment count.

Family connections to racing: My parents had a permit and trained on the farm but I don't really remember as my father stopped training at the end of ‘69-70 season, when I was four. He had ridden as an amateur but, after a bad fall at Sedgefield, had to stop riding. Without being able to ride, training the horses at home wasn't the same. He sent a couple of jumpers to Gordon Richards so, when I was young, they always had a couple in training there.

What is your first racing memory? In the ‘70s, my mum had two very good horses and I can recall Gyleburn running in the 1972 Aintree Grand National. He started at 16-1 so he wasn't favourite but was one of the main chances. I remember the excitement in the house and my parents going off to Aintree in the morning. He fell at the 1st. And then I remember the disappointment. Another memory is Mum’s Crumble Road was one of the best novice chasers in the 1975-6 season. He won the Future Champions novices’ chase at Ayr on Scottish Grand National day.

Did you have a horsey childhood? I was really lucky as on the farm, we had ponies, went hunting and to Pony Club shows. Even though they’d stopped training, my parents always remained interested in racing. There were brood mares on the farm, the Sporting Life in the house and when racing was on the TV, we were always watching that. I liked riding my ponies, so it was very easy to become obsessed by racing.

John on Kryptos

Was it inevitable thatt you went into racing? I did my A-levels in ‘84 and I stayed on for the Christmas term to do the entrance exam for Oxford University. I got a place to read Theology but university didn't start until the October so I had ten months to fill. All I wanted was to be a jockey so I went to work for Ian Matthews. To my mother's disappointment, I never went to Oxford but I wouldn’t have been interested and it would’ve been wasted on me.

Were you a jockey? I spent a small number of years trying to be a jockey until the realisation that I wasn't good enough. To race ride, you have to be a quick learner, get going when you’re young and I think, despite riding as a child, I was a slow learner when it came to riding. It took me another ten years to become properly good enough but by that time, I totally missed the boat in terms of race riding. Plus, I’d never been very good at the jumping and seeing a stride –even as a child with cross country or show jumping, let alone a fence. I wasn't a bad rider but I had limitations as a jockey.

I rode my first winner in a steeplechase at Newton Abbot in the spring of 1987. Even by that stage, I was starting to realise I wasn't really good or brave enough. I then rode another winner twenty-five years later in the Newmarket Town Plate in 2011.

The race is an oddity in that it’s run on a racecourse (the July Course) on a race day but you don't need a licence to ride in it because it preceded Jockey Club rules. It used to be easy to take out a licence but everything has become surrounded by such red tape. People have to be assessed at the racing school and do tests so if you just want to ride in a race then it's a nightmare. Yet, for the Town Plate, you don't have to do any of that. I rode my first winner at the age of twenty and my second at the age of forty-five.

Trainers you worked for: When I was riding as an amateur, there was no Flat racing in the winter and no jumping in the summer, so jumping yards were very quiet towards the end of April to the start of July. After I'd been at Andy Turnell‘s for three seasons, I went to Newmarket to work for Ian Matthews for the summer. I really enjoyed it so I stayed and went to work for Luca Cumani between ‘87-90 as pupil assistant.

Has racing ever taken you abroad? In ’91, I went over to Australia for a year and worked for a few trainers. The better known one was Russell Cleland. Australian racing was then how British racing used to be before the Arabs took over on the Flat and how National Hunt racing used to be without as many big stables. Good horses ended up anywhere so Russell only trained about a dozen horses but did train a Group One Oaks winner at Caulfield in Melbourne.

Other roles in racing: I came back from Australia and didn't know what to do. I ended up getting a job at Woodditton Stud.

How did you start training? My mum owned a three-year-old on the Flat with Maurice Camacho, who wasn’t doing much on the track. At the stud, I didn’t start until 8:00 so I used to exercise her before work and go back in the afternoons when I’d finished. In the spring of ’94, she won a selling hurdle at Fontwell and that gave me confidence that I knew what I was doing as a trainer, which I didn’t. At the end of the year, I finished working at the stud and started training. I had seven horses that first year, so I started training in a small way and, after thirty-one years, I’m still training in a small way. Time passes – where has that thirty-one years gone?

Favourite racehorses: One favourite was Kadouchski, who came to me via Claude Charmain and I was his fourth trainer. He was an autumn four-year-old who’d had a lot of races without winning. For us, he won three on the Flat, three times over hurdles and the Town Plate with me riding him, which was so special. I always said he’d be my all-time favourite but since then, we’ve had Roy Rocket. He won nine races, which were all round Brighton, he was white, had a funny name and was a home bred. He’d always start at the back and just became such a charismatic, popular horse round Brighton. I rode Roy every day for several years and he was a real character. I always said I could’ve brought him in the house and he did have the run of the place. He’d walk into the feed room, help himself and walk back out again. 

Roy Rocket at Brighton and at home (photo credit: Alan Crowhurst) and Dereham

The horse who’s inherited Roy’s role is Dereham. He’s also a real character, spends most of the day with his stable door open, wandering about. He must be one of the slowest horses to ever have won at Newmarket, winning the only two-mile handicap at the July Course three times. Like Roy, he’s really popular and a low-grade racehorse who’s overachieved. This summer, when he won at Newmarket for the third time, my wife, who’d bred him, was in tears.

They aren’t the best horses I’ve trained but are the most special – and that’s in no mean disrespectful to those better horses. In fact, I do feel guilty about choosing because it’s akin to being asked what’s your favourite child! I’ve never trained so many horses that they’ve become facts and figures. Plus, I’m very hands on and I’m not sat in the office, working it all out from a computer. I’ve never actually wanted to be a bigger trainer even if I’d been in that position.

Favourite racecourses: There are very few racecourses that aren’t a pleasure to go to; whether our horse runs well or badly, we often have a very enjoyable afternoon.

I love Brighton. Obviously, Roy was popular there and we’ve had a lot of winners there over the years. It’s also the only racecourse that I’ve trained the winner of its biggest race: the Brighton Cup.

We’ve also trained many winners at Yarmouth – it’s local and we have lots of runners there. I also love going to Hexham, especially with bumper runners. It’s certainly the most scenic on a clear day. Kelso and Hexham both claim to be the friendliest racecourse and they’re both right. When you get there, another one that’s very friendly is Ffos Las. Fakenham is a lovely local course and I love Catterick. Going to the canteen at Catterick is like, when you were young, going to visit your grandparents for the day – you just get spoilt with everything on offer.

During the Beast From The East in March '18. John is on Roy Rocket next to Jana Trnakova on Hope Is High

Most memorable day racing so far: When Roy won his ninth race at Brighton, it had rained and rained and was stormy, resulting in conditions that he didn’t usually enjoy and he still got up on the line. The crowd cheered unbelievably loud. That was really really special.

Before the Town Plate on Kadouchski, I’d kept everything low-key. Normally the Town Plate is like the London Marathon and people begin training at the start of the year. We only entered him eight days before the race and I hadn’t ridden in a race for over twenty years but I thought if I wasn’t fit enough then it was too late to do something about it. I did nothing differently and certainly didn’t tell anyone I was doing it because I didn’t want anyone to watch. In my mind, I hadn’t allowed any buildup so it was only in the days that followed that I thought it was so special.

The lovely thing about training is that all winners are special and doesn’t matter how low grade the race. When we’re lying on our deathbed, it’ll be those days that we’ll remember.

Do you turn your horses out? Most of ours spend time outside during the day and the night inside. We’ve got a big field at the top, four turnout pens and a few roam round the yard.

Racing heroes: Jonjo O’Neill was a wonderful jockey and is a wonderful man; he’s the same kind, down-to-earth person as when he was a conditional with Gordon Richards in the 1970s. Jack Berry started training from absolutely nothing, he’s done huge amounts of charity work and is as kind as he’s ever been.

You must admire Martin Pipe – he’s been the best trainer in Great Britain in my lifetime. He did it from getting one horse for point-to-pointing and remained such a decent man.

What are the best aspects to training in Newmarket? It beats me how anyone who isn’t in a training centre can afford to train – I don’t have to own or rent lots of land. Putting in an all-weather, which almost everyone does nowadays, costs hundreds of thousands of pounds, then it has to be maintained. Plus, you have to own a tractor, which I don’t, and you have to be able to set aside a couple of hours every day to do the maintenance. I really don’t know how people do it.

Here, there’s three thousand acres of heath, different grass gallops and umpteenth all-weathers. Whether you’re training Frankel or Dereham, the horse has access to the same top-class facilities.

Farriers are around the town all the time and never more than fifteen minutes away. Elsewhere, the farrier wouldn’t be within a few minutes of your yard throughout the morning six mornings a week. It’s the same for vets. My vet, David Dugdale, had been my vet since I started training. He’s a senior partner in Newmarket Equine Hospital, is one of the best vets in the country and if we need him, he’ll be around as soon as he can.

Another big advantage is there’s always a pool of staff nearby. I’m very lucky in that I don’t need to employ many people and those with me now have been here a long time. The person who’s been with me that shortest time has been here nine years. If I need to hire someone once in a while then I don’t need to look too far.                                                    

Words of advice you've been given about trainging racehorses: If you are really clever, you would learn from other people's mistakes but in general, you have to make mistakes yourself. It's trial and error. When I first came to Newmarket, I worked with Chris Dwyer when he was still a jockey. We’ve been friends a long time and he’s been a great fount of knowledge. He said, though it’s not about racing, ‘If you can’t think of anything nice say about someone then don’t say anything.’

Through life, I always hear words of wisdom about training and one has stuck from when I was young at Andy Turnell‘s, the then-head lad said, ‘Once a horse is fit, it can’t get any fitter.’

That memorable day of the 341st Newmarket Town Plate in 2011 (Head-on photo credit: Steve Cargill)

Your own words of advice: Work hard, be honest, treat people well are all the obvious ones but specifically in racing, I advise to appreciate the horses as horses. Growing up, I always liked animals – dogs, cats, horses – but the older I've got, the more I've grown to love them. When you're younger and want to be successful as a jockey and a trainer, it's too easy to see horses as troubles. But never lose sight of how important it is to love horses and be kind to them. I've learnt the best situation is for the horses to want to do it. The easiest way of making them enjoy what they're doing is to love and respect them.

How secure if the future of racing? It’s a popular sport and it’ll limp along with all the political and financial turmoil. Animal welfare might be more of an issue. Every year, it’s a worry that we reach the Cheltenham Festival and we’re holding our breath, hoping that there’s not going to be any high-profile disasters. I don’t take anything for granted and do worry about the survival of the biggest National Hunt fixtures.

Best racing party: After Kadouchski won the Town Plate, some friends came round that evening and we ate the winning sausages, but didn’t celebrate as such. I do enjoy that internal feeling of satisfaction and relief, but I don’t feel the need to ostensibly show that something went right via a big celebration.

If you weren't a trainer, what would you be? I probably would’ve gone to Oxford but I’m not sure what reading Theology would’ve led to. Maybe, I would’ve been a full-time journalist because I enjoy reading and writing about racing.

John upsides Anthony (right) on the Cambridge Road All-Weather Gallop

Favourite meal: Steak and chips.

Favourite drink: Tea and herbal teas.

Favourite snack: I love chocolate.

Favourite racecourses:Casablanca.

Favourite TV program: Inspector Morse sets the standard for all the detective shows and Brideshead Revisited for the drama. My favourite comedy shows are Seifeld and Alan Partridge.

Favourite music: Anything from the ‘70s and ‘80s, but Leonard Cohen and Harry Chapin are my favourite singers.

Favourite book: My favourite novelist is Evelyn Waugh and Any Human Heart by William Boyd is a wonderful novel. I also love Bill Bryson’s travel books. Emma and I both love detective and crime fiction. I love Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher books and I’ve also read all the Inspector Rebus books by Ian Rankin. The author John Welcome wrote about racing and I’ve loved all of his books, both factual and fiction.

Favourite holiday destination: It’s a long time since I’ve been on holidays but I always loved going to Australia. If we go away for a couple of days, we go to Dartmoor – I do love Devon. Having stayed in Paris and Rome for short periods, I’d like to see more European cities.