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Two-time Grand National winning trainer Lucinda Russell will commence a joint training license with Michael Scudamore in the summer.
Two-time Grand National winning trainer Lucinda Russell will commence a joint training license with Michael Scudamore in the summer.
Michael Scudamore, son of Russell's partner Peter Scudamore, is currently based in Herefordshire and will move the majority of his horses to Russell's yard in Kinross, Scotland. The Herefordshire yard will become a pre-training and satellite stable, run by Michael's brother, recently retired jump jockey Tom Scudamore.
Once the changes are implemented, the training operation will be a true family affair. Peter Scudamore explained the logistics of the move, "We'll have Michael and Thomas, and the people already within the yard, like Blair Campbell, who is an ex-jockey, Cameron Wadge and Jamie Duff who are our assistants, who have been quite brilliant. But they need to continue their roles.
"So we have thought about it and Michael will join us in Scotland. We'll use Arlary and Kilduff as the main yards, while adding the facility of a satellite yard at Eccleswall Court near Ross-on-Wye, as a pre-training yard.
"Michael can go racing and do a lot of the travelling, and I find the advantage of racing in the north is that the ground is softer in the early season and we can get our horses out and running. Then we can take some things down south after that. That's what we intend to do.
"Therefore Thomas can look after the satellite. It needs upgrading. The gallops and stuff are very good, but some of the boxes need upgrading and we need some investment into the yard. We will get that sorted out.
"I'm pleased for the boys. I'm not getting any younger and they will have to buck themselves up. We have to sort out the licence now and that is what we are pushing forward to do. We hope to have that in place by June."
Retiring from race-riding in February, Tom Scudamore was yet to confirm a new role within racing.
"We're all really looking forward to it," he said. "We've all done our own thing and we've all had our own success and I'm excited about doing it all together.
"The success that Dad and Lucinda have had over the last year and also the success that Michael's had, I just think they will balance each other. It is really exciting for all parties involved and I think it just shows you the desire and the ambition of us all that we want to build on what we have achieved and become even more successful.
"We will still have room for local owners and people who don't want to send their horses to Scotland. It just acts as a base for it, but the Hub of the operation will be in Kinross and it just means we can take on the world.
"They have the horses to come down south now. They had winners from all over the country last year and now they have the horses to take everywhere.
"It is not a case of bringing them down and stabling them at racecourses overnight – they can come down, have a week freshening up or whatever, because they have the horses to run at the major southern tracks and take everybody on. It just ticks all the boxes and makes perfect sense."