'It's a very cool place to gallop' - horses back at Towcester after local trainer prepares track

A local trainer and Cheltenham’s former head of groundstaff have teamed up to bring horses back to Towcester by working on using a section of the former hurdles track as a gallop.

Billy Aprahamian, a former assistant to Nicky Henderson, and Ben Hastie reaped the rewards of months of planning and work when the trainer, based nine miles away in Adstone, took two horses around the gallop last week.

The Northamptonshire course staged its final meeting in May 2018 and later that year went into administration. It is now solely used for greyhound racing, with the last horses on the track believed to be when filming took place for a bookmaker advert during lockdown.

Aprahamian said: “We have a carpet hill gallop and a woodchip round at home but you always want to have the best facilities possible and we have a racetrack just down the road that’s not being used, so I was sure we could do something and luckily we have.

“The course is an asset we need back in racing so we’ve been doing a fair bit of ground work and got to the point where I took two horses there last week as pathfinders to see how it rode.”

Sir Anthony McCoy rode his 4,000th winner on Mountain Tunes (right) at Towcester in 2013Credit: Shaun Botterill (Getty Images)

The gallop, unlike the racecourse in its former guise, goes left-handed for nine furlongs, starting at the road crossing near the end of the back straight and working round.

Aprahamian said: “It rides really well. When I walked the course in the summer it hadn’t been cut for hay, there was a dog pen on the track, long grass along the bottom and lots of cracks in the ground, so it’s taken plenty of work but it’s in good nick now and Ben's knowledge and expertise have been crucial. We’ve aerated, spiked, rolled and topped it and can now get a horse on it.

“It’s a bit weird riding round there. We parked the van next to the old pre-parade ring and it was eerie. The stables are full of dogs and when they start howling it’s quite odd! Strolling down the back straight of an old racecourse is an experience – it’s a very cool place to be able to gallop.”

The trainer, who spent three years as assistant to Henderson on leaving the army and won the Grand Military Gold Cup on Baden in 2018, took more horses to the track on Friday and hopes to open the facility up to others in the coming weeks.

He said: “I want to make sure the ground is one hundred per cent safe and then we’ll hopefully have more people use it for gallops.

“The fences are still there so we only have the hurdle course to work with, but in years to come I’d love to do other things and have a schooling strip down the back straight.”

Aprahamian saddled his first winner in October with 50-1 shot Conceal at Uttoxeter and has 14 horses in training. His owners include reigning darts world champion Michael Smith, who has a share in handicap hurdler Mutual Respect and Kapcorse, a recent £15,000 acquisition from Paul Nicholls, with the Hip Flask Racing syndicate.

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