Cheltenham Festival 2017 – Our reporter experiences a day in the life of a stable lass at Fergal O’Brien’s!
We all know how hard stable staff work, so we sent one of our reporters to put in a day's shift at Fergal O'Brien's!
LIFE is far from being a piece of cake for stable staff — especially when Cheltenham looms.
But Fergal O’Brien has found a way to keep his team sweet as the Festival push takes hold.
The O’Brien Bake-Off has become the stuff of legend, so I made sure to pack a cake when I headed down to O’Brien’s Cotswold yard for a day at racing’s coalface.
There wasn’t a crumb left once the staff had satisfied their hunger pangs after a busy morning.
And boy, did they earn it!
I arrived at six o’clock as darkness still shrouded the yard — and it was already a hive of activity.
It is only after feeding, mucking out, riding out, washing down and putting them on the walker the staff can finally relax with a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Unless, of course, your horse is going racing.
For punters, the Festival is a week of betting, drinking and relaxing.
For stable staff it’s one of the busiest of the year. The amount of work put into every horse that runs is astonishing.
I should know. I managed a fraction of the workload and I was exhausted when six o’clock came round and it was time to knock off for the evening.
At least I didn’t have to come back and do it again the next day.
So, when you head to the Festival this week, raise a glass to all the staff who put their heart and soul into getting the horses to the races for your entertainment.