'I've had some wonderful trips - I've been to America, Canada, Dubai and I could drive to Italy with my eyes closed'

Having spent almost 50 years at the coalface of British racing, it is hard to imagine a more deserving winner of the dedication category at the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards than Claire Ricks, who lifted the trophy in February.

Since 1974 she has worked in racing stables from Lambourn to Lancashire and, despite getting ready to celebrate her 70th birthday, she is still going strong as an integral part of Marco Botti's yard in Newmarket.

Ricks actually played a hand in the Grand National success of Rag Trade, who defeated Red Rum at Aintree in 1976. She looked after the strapping chaser in his formative days as a point-to-pointer before he joined the professional ranks.

"I had Rag Trade to hunt and qualify for point-to-pointing when I worked in a point-to-point yard," she remembers. "He was very large and very strong. My boss hunted him the first time and was knocked off him. I was probably a lot braver and sillier then, so she bought me a gag [bit] to ride him in and I took over."

As Rag Trade graduated to Fred Rimell's famous Kinnersley yard, Ricks joined Pat Haslam in Lambourn for her first taste of life in a professional racing stable before going further north to Nottingham-based Jack Hardy and then to Jack Berry in Lancashire. She later spent 15 years with Robert Williams in Newmarket before taking up the role as second travelling groom at Luca Cumani's, where she first met Botti and his future wife Lucie during nine seasons at Bedford House Stables.

"We had some good horses at Luca's," she recalls. "Endless Hall would have been one of my favourites. We did many trips to Italy with him and he won a Group 1 out there. Funnily enough, Marco's wife took the same horse to Singapore when he won."

Before joining Botti at Prestige Place on the Snailwell Road, Ricks was working for a horse transport company in Newmarket, which had ties with both the Cumani and Botti yards. When that business ended, Botti bought one of the lorries and Ricks jokes that she came as part of the deal.

"He's had to put up with me ever since," she says. "It's a really nice yard and I've known both Marco and Lucie for a long time, which makes it special."

Claire Ricks (third left) with the other winners at the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in FebruaryCredit: Dan Abraham

Travelling horses in Britain and abroad has played a huge part in her career in racing and Ricks thinks the potential to see the world is one aspect of the job that is perhaps undersold.

"I've had some wonderful trips," she says. "I've been to America four times, Canada twice and Dubai. I could drive to Italy with my eyes closed, so I've had a good time out of it and seen a lot of the world."

Typical of British racing's workforce, she is not one for fanfare but being acknowledged at the employee awards, and the fact her colleagues at Botti's yard went out of their way to nominate her in the first place, clearly meant a lot.

"When you've worked in the industry as long as I have, it's nice to be recognised but the nomination Conor Norris [Botti's former assistant] put together was in some ways better than the award itself," she says. "He included the whole yard in the nomination and everyone had their little say, so it felt like they were all behind me."

The judges were impressed with the time Ricks puts in with new employees and she continues to help the next generation of stable staff when they arrive at Botti's yard.

"Nobody has an awful lot of time to help them but I have a little bit more and, when they first come to the yard from the racing school, it's a very different environment," she says. "Some of them need a bit of chivvying along but they do listen and it's nice to see them do well."

The Godolphin-backed Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards have grown in stature since first launching as the Stud & Stable Staff Awards 19 years ago and the awards ceremony at York racecourse in February was by all accounts the social event of the year so far.

"The whole concept and process has improved so much since it started," says Ricks, who won £5,000 for herself and a further £5,000 for her colleagues at Botti's yard. "The day we had up in York was great. It was lovely and you had a chance to meet all the other nominees, who come from all walks of racing and not just Flat racing in Newmarket."

While there can only be a handful of winners each year, Ricks would like to see employees from every yard in the reckoning and urges all trainers to find time to engage with the awards.

"It's very important for the stable staff to be recognised and the prize-money is fantastic," she says. "A lot of people would never see that kind of money in their bank account.

"Marco has always supported them and, when I worked for Luca Cumani, he was the same. It's a concept to get behind. There are a lot of things wrong with British racing but these awards are a bright star among it all."

Nominations are open until November 7 for the 20th running of the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards. The awards are an opportunity for employees from across the industry in Britain, such as training yards, studs or administrative roles, to be celebrated for their hard work and dedication. Find out more here.

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