Harry Derham makes flying start to training career – and now has a horse for golfers Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka

WHEN you’re still new to a job, making a good first impression counts for a lot.

Especially in the dog eat dog world of horse racing, where people can’t wait to form an opinion on you and your ability.

Rob Noyes

Trainer Harry Derham has made a flying start to his career[/caption]

Rob Noyes

Derham oversees his string at his yard in Boxford[/caption]

So it was pretty important Harry Derham, the newest face among the jumps training ranks, hit the ground running.

Mind you, when you’ve spent six years working side-by-side with 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls, the chances are you’ll pick up a thing or two.

And, for good measure, it also helps when you can call on Graeme McDowell to send you a horse after beating him on the golf course.

So it wasn’t the biggest shock in the world, then, when his first runner was a winner. Seelotmorebusiness earned his own little slice of history at Huntingdon on Boxing Day in 2022, in the colours of his mum and dad, no less.

“That was the best day of my life,” he says. “I saddled hundreds of winners for Paul, but you only have your first runner once.”

You only need to spend a few minutes in his company to realise he is cut from the very same cloth as his uncle and former boss.

The hunger for winners is already insatiable and there is an obsessive attention to detail — getting the little things right at home can make the difference on the track.

Derham said: “I want to be the sort of trainer where people will see my runners and respect them immediately.

“I have a very clear  idea of how I want to do things, but I’ve also got great staff who have a lot of experience so I would be stupid not to listen to them.

“The horses have been going great, we had an amazing day on New Year’s Day with our first treble. But before Christmas we had three close seconds in a row and I was bashing my head against a wall.”

There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence but old head on young shoulders Derham, 29 going on 49, toes it expertly.

PA

Derham was assistant to Paul Nicholls for six years[/caption]

And what was I saying about first impressions?

When you pull up at the brand-spanking yard in Boxford, about 20 minutes from Lambourn, you quickly realise you’re in racehorse heaven.

A six-furlong gallop winds up the side of a gentle hill, through a gap in the trees and past an observation tower — you’ll find Harry’s colourful dad Geoff here keeping the chill off by sipping a bottle of port.

Overseeing third lot is Oliver Sherwood, the Grand National winner who took a step back from training last summer to become Derham’s assistant.

Among the string ambling up the slope is Queen’s Gamble, Sherwood’s one-time stable star who will now head to the Cheltenham Festival with ‘H Derham’ next to her name – and three straight wins under her belt.

Meanwhile, Derham is busy harrowing the all-weather schooling ground from the back of a quad bike, readying the small arena for a jumping session.

As our photographer gets some snaps, his team of work riders, including his cousin Megan Nicholls, don’t miss the opportunity to make the boss blush.

“So that’s the reason you asked to borrow my make-up bag, Harry!”

Short break for a photoshoot aside, it’s a well-oiled machine and, bar the B4000, there is nothing but fields, hills and woods for miles around.

Derham said: “It really is the most beautiful spot to train.

“We were spoilt in Ditcheat at Paul’s, where you were the only yard in town and you didn’t have to worry about anyone else.

“When I went into my first yard in Lambourn, for a few weeks I was like a rabbit in headlights.  

“This place was a disused farm and we’ve built it from the ground up.  I knew if horses couldn’t settle in and enjoy being here, they couldn’t settle anywhere.

“It’s an amazing environment, but there is still a lot more we want to do with the place.”

That includes installing more boxes — he currently has 51 horses in training but Derham wants to triple that number in future.

He continued: “I’d say 150 would be the long-term aim, if things keep growing and going well, but I want to do things at my own pace. I don’t want to feel like things are running away with me.”

No guessing where he gets his motivation from. A couple of years ago Derham broke the news to Nicholls his intention to go it alone, and his uncle didn’t react well at first.

Derham said: “We get on really well now,  but  I suppose it was a bit awkward after I first told him I was leaving.

“I said to him on my last day, ‘you can’t stand next to you every morning for six years and not become ambitious’.

“If I rang him tomorrow and asked him for some advice, he would help me out. He was a bloody good boss and I hope he looks at me now and is proud of what we are doing.”

Not only are the winners flowing — 22 from 85 runners this year at a 26 per cent strike-rate — but there is plenty of quality in the yard, too.

Queen’s Gamble,  a 16-1 shot for the Mare’s Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham, is probably the star of the show.

But Derham is very keen on Givemefive, the horse owned by golfers McDowell and Brooks Koepka.

The link-up with McDowell came about after Derham won a bet at a Pro-Am event — and it appears they’ve hit a hole in one with the four-year-old.

Derham said: “Graeme loves racing and got Brooks involved which is very cool. I played  with Graeme and he said he’d buy a horse with me if I got closer to the pin than him —  I fluked it to within a few feet!

“I love the horse, he won despite doing a lot wrong at Market Rasen first time. He runs at Warwick on Monday.

“We couldn’t be happier with the start he’s made.”

Clearly, the horses are making just as good an impression as their young trainer — and this is just the start.

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