Small-time stable – who mix training horses with farming – taking on the big boys at Newbury

10 months ago 60

SARAH HUMPHREY hopes to rock the big guns at Newbury on Friday.

She has found a gem in Nickle Back who has cruised to wins by 24 lengths and 19 lengths in two chasing starts under James Best.

His slick jumping and big engine has floored his rivals so far and Humphrey is itching to take on the higher powers in the John Francome Novices’ Chase.

Humphrey said: “Nickle Back is in great form. He’s a bit quirky and difficult to keep sound but, when it all comes together, he’s a serious animal.

“Letting him go from the front has been the making of him. But, with all respect to James, he wouldn’t be able to stop him charging away now! He gets into a groove and keeps going.”

Humphrey, who mixes training and farming at her Yen Hall base just outside Newmarket, is gunning for her first-ever Graded winner today.

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Her star takes on Hermes Allen, a Grade 1-winning hurdler last season for 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls.

Humphrey grinned: “I’m hoping the others think ‘she’s just a small trainer and probably doesn’t know what she’s doing’. Hopefully they will find out we do know we are doing!

“My horse deserves his place and I think he’s going with a big chance. It’s going to be interesting to see just how good he really is.

“This is the dream for a small team. We don’t have owners with deep pockets and you have to be very lucky to get a horse this good, so we’re savouring it.

“We’ve been enjoying an excellent couple of years and this really would be the icing on the cake for the entire yard, who work so incredibly hard.”

Nickle Back is owned by a syndicate called The Friday Lunch Club.

Humphrey added: “A few of us were sitting around my kitchen table on a Friday lunch time, trying to name the partnership.

“I said we should call it The Friday Lunch Club and it stuck. Ironically, we haven’t had lunch together on a Friday yet, but that’ll change at Newbury!

“All the owners will be there and we will savour every moment of the day, it’s just fantastic for all of us to be there.”