A new name but the same old quality for Trinity Park Stud

A change in name and hierarchy has not altered the sense of continuity at Trinity Park Stud. Roodle, the dam of last year’s Queen Anne winner Accidental Agent, numbers among the well-bred mothers and foals grazing in each neatly fenced paddock, much as would have been the case under Lord Howard de Walden’s stewardship when the likes of Derby winner Slip Anchor and the great hurdler Lanzarote passed through.

It is the sort of land that money can’t buy – unless you happen to own H&M and regularly number among the world’s richest 20 people. What was known as the late owner-breeder's Templeton Stud from the 1950s has now been absorbed into the Ramsbury Estate, a vast swathe of Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire belonging to Swedish business mogul Stefan Persson.

Yet before Becky Marsh and husband Robert Tincknell arrived just over seven years ago, its future as a racing nursery hung in the balance. Marsh, who gained her experience working for Ted Voute and Shack Parrish at Indian Creek Farm in Kentucky, was looking for the chance to set up her own business, and Persson, who is generally regarded as a benign, patrician influence in the area, allowed her to rent the 116-acre site.

"It came up at the right time, I think quite a lot of people from other horsey disciplines were looking but we got quite lucky as we were the only ones thinking thoroughbred," she explains. "I believe they were thinking that if they didn’t find anyone to rent it they were going to turn it into arable land, which would have made me very upset!

"It’s the only stud they have and [Persson] is very much into using the land for local produce, he has his distillery and a smokery. Hopefully they like what we’re doing here."

Mares and foals have a tranquil environment at Trinity Park Stud

Without even a single horse to lead out to the paddocks on their return from America, the couple were taking on a particularly ambitious project. Marsh, who upholds the practical side while Tincknell concentrates on business interests, went to the Tattersalls December Sales and spent 14,500gns on the Daylami mare Amarullah. She has produced a handful of useful runners including Get In The Queue, the unbeaten bumper performer who was Noel Fehily’s valedictory winner, and clients began to follow.

"I was young and a little bit naive, I guess I thought, 'We’ll figure it out'," Marsh says. "I had some connections anyway but people were just saying, 'Send it to Becky', they were happy and they’d send us another one. Fiona Marner, who was at Kingwood Stud, and Highclere were very good early on, Stephen Hillen too. So much in this industry is word of mouth, and I owe so much to people just recommending me.

"We foaled down five in the first year, all on my own, just to get it going. Before you know it, we were flying along. We’ve got 60-odd on the place, we foal down between 30 to 40 mares and have five full-time staff. It’s gone from quite small to quite big in a relatively short space of time."

Although the apricot Howard de Walden silks are a rare sight on the racecourse these days, other local connections have led to the stud playing a part in big-race success once again. Marsh prepped Galileo Gold for the foal sales, watching with pride when he took the 2,000 Guineas in 2016, and a close relationship with nearby Denford Stud led to her helping raise the now Group 1 winner Coronet. The William Haggas-trained Skardu has been a rising star this year.

Get In The Queue was bred from the first mare Becky Marsh bought for the studCredit: Mark Cranham

Wherever she might end up - and Marsh, her young family and a menagerie of springer spaniels aren’t planning to head elsewhere any time soon - they are not taking their pristine environment for granted.

"A lot of the owners mention how peaceful it is," she says. "You walk out at six o’clock at night and it’s so quiet, we’ve even had owners say their horses were never as relaxed in their previous place.

"The stables are original and there are a lot of lovely old trees which are such amazing shelter for the horses - some even have preservation orders on them. The horses do well here. It just needed a bit of love and care when we turned up, which we’ve given it, and we’re trying to get it back to how it was."

Skardu starring for Bahrain breeder

A prominent figure in motor racing in his native Bahrain, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Isa Al-Khalifa has also invested in the original horse power and is the breeder of Derby-winning stallion Camelot.

His best runner of late is Skardu, the Craven Stakes scorer who made the frame in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, and St James's Palace Stakes.

"The sheikh is one of our bigger owners, who has five mares and foals," says Marsh. "A lot of them he raced himself and Skardu’s dam Diala came over from Bahrain three years ago with a filly at foot.

Skardu has already achieved Guineas placings for owner-breeder Sheikh AbdullaCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"He bred her to Shamardal and Skardu was the outcome. She has a Farhh colt at foot and went back to Ireland this year to No Nay Never but unfortunately isn’t in foal.

"Skardu was always nice, but I didn’t think he’d be an absolute superstar. He was very laid-back and I’ve noticed that a lot of the good ones we’ve had here are like that, maybe they just put all of their effort into their races. They’re clever, and he was too. He never had a sick day or an issue."

Despite being one of the leading family members in the Gulf island state, Marsh says Sheikh Abdulla is a surprisingly hands-on breeder.

"He has people he speaks to, but he’ll ask me what I think and sometimes asks which horses he should send back to Bahrain," she says. "He generally picks the breeding himself, and is very involved, which is nice.

"He likes to know everything, he comes over once or twice a year, and his son does too. He doesn’t like the horses being in and me showing them, he likes to walk out amongst them in the paddocks. He’s very big on the pedigrees - I might mention a mare in foal to so-and-so, he’ll remember it and say, 'That's that Daylami mare'. I do wonder how he remembers it all."

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