3 minute read

Chris Wall has had a few moments to reflect on his 36-year career as a trainer now the time has come for him to hand in his licence.

While insisting he is too young to retire at 63, the well-respected Wall cited a drop in numbers at his yard for his premature exit from the training ranks.

The Newmarket handler is due to saddle his final runner, Spit Spot at Chelmsford on Thursday evening, should that meeting survive an inspection.

There are no plans to search for another suitable race for the filly so he may have already saddled his final runner.

"I don't think there's anything else for her so if it's off that might be it. Hopefully it will be on," said Wall.

"We haven't been above freezing here in Newmarket for two days now and we've even got freezing fog now which is horrible. It's the sort of weather which makes you think you are glad you are indoors!

"Of course, before the all-weather racing came along everything would have ground to a halt and we'd have been playing tiddlywinks for a fortnight. It's the one thing you can't do anything about, the weather.

"It's one of the many reasons racing staff are such a tight-knit group. There's no real option not to do it, you've just got to get on with it whatever the weather. It brings people together, that common purpose. It's not just the horses, there are a lot of other things to do to keep everything going.

"I've had 36 seasons with a licence and I was in racing before that. I've been involved since I left school at 18, I came to Newmarket in 1979 and we've been on the go ever since."

Wall has held his own in a cut-throat business without the firepower of many of his Newmarket peers, and he often punched above his weight, especially with horses like multiple Group Two winner Premio Loco.

Wall said: "He was a good old horse, Premio. He gave us some good days out all around Europe. He won some good races here, he won in Germany, he won in Sweden – he was a good horse and while we've had better I don't think we had many who gave us so many good days out.

"When he had conditions in his favour – he was a fast-ground horse, a summer horse, so you always knew if there was any juice in the ground his game was up. But he liked the all-weather as well and won the Winter Derby. He gave everyone connected with him a lot of fun.

"Probably the best I trained was a horse I had very early in my career, Candy Glen.

"He won two Group Ones in Italy, the Gran Criterium (1989) and their 2000 Guineas, the Premio Parioli, the next season.

"He was a good little horse and had a good turn of foot. He was very exciting to watch when he got it right.

"I didn't think I'd have one like him, but when I did I thought I'd have a few more. I soon found out horses like him don't grow on trees, they only come around very occasionally.

"While I'm stopping training I'm hopefully not retiring. I'll find something to keep going with because I'm not ready for the pipe and slippers just yet, it's down to circumstances that we don't think we can't do this anymore.

"I'd love to give a bit back to a sport I've taken a lot of pleasure from."