'He won at Cheltenham and I had a lot of friends there - you can't ask for more'

Pilot Barry Preece flies some of racing's biggest names overseas and competes with them on the track too, having developed a passion for ownership through a small team of horses based with Worcestershire trainer James Evans

As a teenager growing up in Cheltenham, I bunked off school with my mates one day and went to the racecourse. My interest in racing grew from there and, having been in a syndicate, I decided I'd like to have my own horse.

I wanted a local trainer and also to support a smaller stable, so I did my research and came across James Evans and I've been with him ever since. James and his wife Jane have a great set-up at Kinnersley Stables in Severn Stoke, Worcestershire. It's quite bizarre as I vividly remember the first time I watched the Grand National in 1977 at the age of seven, I picked a horse called Andy Pandy, who I've only recently found out was trained at Kinnersley by Fred Rimell.