Freemason Lodge

James Horton has secured a lease on Beech Hurst Stables in Newmarket and will continue his training career there. It is the former base of the recently retired Sir Michael Stoute. Stoute, who trained star-crossed G1 Derby hero Shergar (GB) (Great Nephew {GB}) at Beech Hurst, later expanded to Freemason Lodge. The 37-year-old Horton, a former Stoute assistant for seven years, previously trained for John Dance, who subsequently came under investigation for fraud last spring. Horton announced he was relocating to Newmarket in September of 2023, and was based out...

Kia Joorabchian has submitted an offer to buy Freemason Lodge, the long-term base of retiring trainer Sir Michael Stoute, the Amo Racing founder told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Tuesday. Stoute brought a training career spanning more than five decades to an end when he saddled his final runner at Yarmouth last week and Joorabchian has now confirmed his ambition to purchase the yard in Newmarket from which Stoute sent out the majority of his 16 British Classic winners. Joorabchian, whose spending spree at Book 1 of the Tattersalls...

In the modern era, only Aidan O'Brien has trained more Derby winners than Sir Michael Stoute. The latter became almost instantly synonymous with the great race, and indeed woven into Derby folklore, when he first won it back in 1981. Few will need reminding that that was with Shergar (Ire), the horse whose infamy threatens to overshadow his brilliance, especially as the years wear on and the number of people who were there to witness Shergar's superiority first hand decreases. Forty-one years later, and with the not insignificant names of...