Former Group 1-winning jockey Darryll Holland has taken out a training license and will operation from Harraton Court Stables in Newmarket with former champion jockey Kieren Fallon as his assistant.
“The process has being going on a long while,” Holland said. “We were actually going to announce everything on Tuesday, but news travels fast in Newmarket.”
Holland, whose star mounts included multiple Group 1 winner Falbrav (Ire) and top stayer Double Trigger (Ire) (Ela-Mana-Mou {Ire}), and who already owns Harraton Court, has been taking his training modules over the last several years.
“I've always had it in the back of my mind, but then I went out to Canada,” Holland said. “I just thought the timing was right now and it's a perfect transition. I own the stables, I have done since 2007 but I was leasing it out. I've taken it back on. If I didn't own it, starting out the premises could have been a bit of a burden, but we won't have that. It will be good fun, we can get some nice people in, owners and things like that–it will be enjoyable for everyone.
“We're looking to start off with about 20 horses, but we have plenty of orders coming in so we'll go to the sales. I think we'll get full pretty quickly. It will be different working with Kieren for a change, we were rivals in the saddle but we've become good mates. We've got a wealth of knowledge that you can't buy–70 years between us. The pair of us have been around the world twice, ridden in most countries and if we can't get a winner between us there's something wrong.”
Holland said that Fallon's son, Group 1-winning rider Cieren Fallon–second retained rider to Qatar Racing–will also be part of the team.
“Young Cieren [Fallon] will ride, but his first priority is Qatar Racing. When available he'll get the leg up. So will Frankie [Dettori]; we'll put him on a quick one. He actually sent me a good luck message the other day. We'll have a big launch on Tuesday, but we've got a website up and running with a bit more info on for everybody at harratoncourtstables.co.uk .”
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