Newmarket trainer and stud manager John Waugh dies at the age of 91

John Waugh, the fourth generation of trainers in his family, has died in Newmarket at the age of 91.

Waugh's great-grandfather James came down from Scotland to begin training in Newmarket in 1886, and both his grandfather and father trained for Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II before the first world war.

Waugh's own career took in spells as assistant to his father, Alec – trainer of the 1950 Cambridgeshire winner Kelling – as well as George Colling and later Reg Day. But it was his association with Sir Robin McAlpine that became the most prominent aspect of his career; first as private trainer at Fitzroy House and later as manager of Wyck Hall Stud.

McAlpine's bloodstock fortunes had taken a dip from the heights provided in the 1950s by the likes of Infatuation, Ratification and Marsolve by the time Waugh was appointed, though he did send out Pardoner to win the 1962 Newbury Spring Cup.

McAlpine sent most of his stock to be trained in France in 1970, but Waugh made an even bigger contribution at Wyck Hall, most notably at Royal Ascot in 1993 when half-brothers Beneficial and Jeune won the King Edward VII Stakes and the Hardwicke Stakes respectively.

The 1984 Oaks winner Circus Plume was bought as a foal to carry McAlpine's tartan silks, but her dam Golden Fez had been bred at Wyck Hall before being sold, and traced her family back to their 1952 1,000 Guineas winner Zabara.

By the time of McAlpine's death in 1993 – less than four months before that famous Ascot double – Waugh had added the stewardship of three other notable studs in addition to Wyck Hall: Sommeries Stud and Lord Derby's nurseries, Stanley House and Woodlands Stud. Waugh retired the following year.

Waugh was predeceased by wife Sue and he is survived by their three children, Harry, Sally and Alec, a longtime racing manager to the Wildenstein family who has managed his own Jedburgh Stud in Normandy for more than 25 years.

John Waugh's funeral will take place at 12pm on Tuesday, February 21 at St Mary's Church in Newmarket.