Glory for Newmarket stable and stud staff
Monday 1st March, 2010
Sir Michael Stoute with Stuart Messenger and Jimmy Scott, both of whom were winners at the Stable Staff Awards.
NEWMARKET’S superb stable and stud staff were to the fore once again at a prestigious and financially rewarding awards ceremony in London today.
Stuart Messenger, head man at trainer Sir Michael Stoute’s Bury Road yard, was named as the overall employee of the year at the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards, run by the British Horseracing Authority in conjunction with the Racing Post.
He received £15,000 for that success and another for £5,000 after earlier emerging as the winner of the High Achiever category.
Fellow Stoute employee Jimmy Scott was also victorious in his category, Dedication to Racing, and earned £5,000. Roy Gedge from Hascombe Stud at Cheveley, picked up the same sum for winning the award specifically designed for stud staff.
On a day where racing paid tribute to some of its unsung heroes and heroines, Messenger stood out as the classiest among a host of class acts.
For 32 years he has served Stoute, who was on hand to proudly enjoy his employee’s deserved moments in the limelight.
Messenger has been a lynchpin of the Stoute operation for so many years, turning the feeding process at Freemason Lodge into a science as well as being a supreme tutor of horses through the occasionally problematic stalls procedure.
He said: “It is an absolute dream to win an award like this and something that I never expected. There are so many deserving staff in the industry and I never once thought that I could be in with a chance of winning employee of the year.
“I absolutely love the job, I’m in a great place at which to work and the boss has helped me so much with advice along the way.”
Messenger, who addressed an audience of 150 at a Knightsbridge hotel, added: “I’ve fed 33 individual Group 1 winners. We start around 5am and to me that is the best time of the day.
“You are in the yard on your own with all those top-class athletes shouting for you and looking for you. Each has their own character - it is amazing.
“Which horses have meant the most to me? That is a hard question. I was around for Shergar, a lot of hard work went into North Light and Singspiel gave me a lot of pleasure. It is such a great life.”
Messenger's colleagues in Newmarket will also share in his triumph. The sum of £10,000 is also given to the successful yard, while each category winner also gains £5,000 for his or her fellow stable or stud workmates.
Of the 15 finalists, eight were from Newmarket. Along with Messenger, Scott and Gedge from the Home of Horseracing were Timothy Potts (Luca Cumani), Larry Wargen (Luca Cumani), Shane Featherstonhaugh (Henry Cecil) and Sam Davis (Rae Guest). They all receive £2,000 with their respective yards of employment collecting the same figure.
By Tony Rushmer