Mark Tompkins: my generation had it better - but an all-weather track in Newmarket could make a big difference

Former trainer Mark Tompkins believes his generation had things much better than those who work in racing today, but says a new all-weather track in Newmarket could make a huge difference to staff in the town.

Tompkins was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday's newspaper to mark the 30th anniversary of his sole Classic victory with Bob's Return in the St Leger. The 72-year-old went on to complete 40 years as a trainer before his retirement in 2019, having continued "for a bit longer than I should have" according to his accountant.

Tompkins, convinced his generation enjoyed the best days of racing, pointed to a number of unwelcome changes modern-day trainers have to deal with as he considered Charlie Fellowes's recent complaints about his fellow Newmarket trainers' lack of support for this month's Henry Cecil Open Weekend – an event introduced by Tompkins himself.

"It was always going to happen," he said, "because when we started it, there was no Sunday racing, not so much evening racing, and it was a novelty for the lads. It's not a novelty anymore and people don't have the time."

Lack of time is a particular problem for staff, but thankfully Tompkins thinks the solution – for Newmarket at least – might be the all-weather course in the town being planned by the Jockey Club.

He said: "Staff have got to have time off, but it never stops, and the good ones do all the work and even they get fed up in the end, doing all that for nothing, really. You're in the 9.00 at Wolverhampton, the A14's closed on the way home and you don't get back until 2am and you're at it again at 6.00 the same morning.

"We need a lot more centralised racing because it's the travelling that kills people – every day, the jockeys, the trainers, the staff – and the roads are getting worse and worse and worse. That's why we've got to have that all-weather track. You could have the 10.00 at Newmarket and the staff would still be home by 10.30."

Read more from Mark Tompkins in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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