Bulgarian owner-trainer Iana Stoyantcheva marks a first for British racing

Point-to-pointing gives people from all backgrounds an opportunity to take part, although Iana Stoyantcheva’s involvement is not without some firsts.

Born in Bulgaria, she moved to Britain eight years ago to study at Sheffield University, where she gained a degree in genetics and microbiology. Her father, a health-care worker at a hospital in Plymouth, headed north to join his daughter and is now employed at a Sheffield hospital, while her mother is an accountant at the Korean embassy in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.

That background does not add up to winter afternoons at point-to-points, but in her first season of involvement, Stoyantcheva has made a mark with ten-year-old Darius Des Sources, whom she owns and trains, and who in the last four weeks has won races at Mosshouses and Charm Park.