'Life moves on' - Sir Michael Stoute looks forward after his most painful year
Peter Thomas talks to the trainer about love, loss and Royal Ascot winners
Sir Michael Stoute isn't one for dwelling on the old days. He has 81 Royal Ascot winners under his belt already, more than any other trainer in history, but his specialist subject on Mastermind would be his 82nd rather than any of those already inked into the record books. There's nothing he can do to improve on a winner that's already won, after all, and plenty of little things that could, just maybe, make another one happen.
For the 75-year-old veteran, today isn't about the past, nor is it about the future. "Let's talk about the present," he insists, as the conversation drifts lazily in the direction of Aidan O'Brien and his position in Stoute's wing mirrors, just seven adrift of the great man's total and seemingly poised to overtake.
"Just seven?" queries the master of Freemason Lodge. "I've no idea what the numbers are but I thought he was closer than that. Are you sure I've got 81? I didn't think it was that many."
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Published on 12 June 2021inInterviews
Last updated 18:18, 26 June 2021
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- 'All of us who ply our trade training horses are dreamers - to put so much into it you must have a dream'
- 'There was a moment of rage - but he's a magnificent horse and it suits me that he's passed under the radar'
- When Patrick Mullins met Jack Kennedy: 'You could say I've been lucky - they're just broken bones and they heal'
- Richard Hannon: 'When you're dead and buried the only things you're remembered by are your Classic winners'
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