'We lived in a mobile home for 20 years and you'd dread walking into the yard - but luckily our owners bought into the dream'
Jim Boyle tells Lewis Porteous about Royal Ascot plans and big ambitions at his redeveloped yard in Epsom
For years Jim Boyle was embarrassed to show prospective owners around his historic South Hatch Stables in Epsom, such was its state of disrepair.
After a 20-year battle with town planners that took his business to the brink of oblivion, he is now the custodian of a training centre to be proud of.
Gone are the rot-infested wooden stables and leaking roofs that once played havoc with his horses' health. In their place is a collection of light, airy brick-built barns standing proudly on a site from where champion trainer Walter Nightingall sent out Straight Deal to win Newmarket's wartime Derby in 1943.
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Published on inThe Big Read
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