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William Jarvis: 'I'd have liked to go on - but 38 years is no mean achievement'
Peter Thomas meets a trainer bringing down the curtain on a wonderful career and a Newmarket dynasty
William Jarvis is only half joking when he sums up his career in racing with a little rudimentary mathematics. "I'd say 98 per cent of the time I've loved it and the other two per cent I've forgotten," he calculates, taking stock of a 38-year stint as a trainer that has now drawn to a close.
He's enjoyed the highs, learned that the lows have to be navigated and endured, and that way the ledger of satisfaction has a good chance of ending up in the black.
The only problem is this: what becomes of a turf 'lifer' when the licence isn't renewed and the unceasing daily routine of early starts, long days and difficult horses finally does cease, leaving a yawning void to be filled by who knows what?
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Copy- 'You probably only get five proper darts at a big race each year, so you have to deliver - and I think I've got a massive chance'
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- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'You probably only get five proper darts at a big race each year, so you have to deliver - and I think I've got a massive chance'
- ‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’
- ‘I’ll be there to see the kids open their presents but then it’s a coffee, bang, out the door’ - life in a racing yard at Christmas
- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'