I grew up in South Molton, a farming town in Devon. It is a part of the country where hunting, point-to-pointing and National Hunt racing is very popular. Nick Williams and Victor Dartnall trained relatively close to my home but Martin Pipe, who was based some 40 minutes away, had the biggest yard in the area. Both my parents enjoyed riding, particularly hunting, so I learned how to ride when I was no more than three years old. Horses were a huge part of all our lives when I was a child - family weekends consisting of going to the stables and point-to-point meetings.

From about the age of 10, I started hunting and joined the pony club. The head of the pony club, Janet Cumings, ran a small point-to-point yard with her husband, Keith, which I did work experience in when I was 13. I enjoyed that so much that I continued on with it as a weekend/summer job for the following three years.

At 16, I went to the British Racing School in Newmarket, from where I was sent out to trainer Philip Hobbs. During the season I spent there, I got to ride out and go racing with the horses. After that, I went back to Keith and Janet Cumings’ point-to-point yard for a further 12 months; learning to break young horses and help qualify them for their points.

In 2009, I moved to Paul Nicholls’ yard in Ditcheat, Somerset. It was a golden era for the trainer at that time, with horses of the calibre of Kauto Star, Denman, Big Bucks and Master Minded all in their prime. I was incredibly lucky to be involved; getting to ride out and go racing regularly. I looked after some good horses including Gwanako and Sanctuaire. A personal highlight during those years was leading up the latter when he won the Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr.

After sustaining a serious shoulder injury, I was advised to reduce the amount of time I rode out. Therefore, I had to leave Paul Nicholls’ yard and return to the smaller point-to-point operation. In time, I reached a level where I got to realise a long-held ambition in riding in point-to-point races but unfortunately the shoulder injury returned, forcing me to cut that dream short.

Having dislocated my shoulder seven times in a 10-year period, I was left with no option but to pack in the riding. I returned to education to study Business and Administration, before going on to spend five years working in an estate agents. During that time, I bought my own point-to-pointer, which I trained myself to race between the flags. As I missed the day-to-day involvement with racing, I was constantly on the look out for an avenue back into the sport. Having spotted an advert for maternity cover for a secretary in Gordon Elliott’s yard, I applied for that position.

Relocate

Although my application was unsuccessful, it awoke in me the desire to return to racing. Having taken the decision to relocate to Ireland, I applied for a similar role with trainer Joseph O’Brien. While that too failed to result in employment, a couple of weeks after I received a phone call from Gordon Elliott’s office. Fortunately for me, the person who initially got the job I went for didn’t work out, so I was offered the position.

At the start, I was employed as maternity cover as racing secretary while Zoe Winston was out. When she returned, she only came back on a part-time basis, essentially doing the PA work for Gordon, while I continued in the office. After a few months, Zoe made the decision to return to the UK, which resulted in me being taken on full-time as both PA and racing secretary.

I have a very varied role which includes doing all the entries and declarations. With such a large operation, we regularly have runners in the UK, America and further afield, so it can get quite busy. I will also speak to agents at declaration time, helping to organise jockeys for the yard runners.

Liaising with existing and potential new owners is also an important task. The paperwork involved in registering as a first-time owner can be quite daunting, so I am always on hand to help in that regard. As PA, I also organise Gordon’s engagements, so he knows where he needs to be throughout the day/week. With so many runners abroad, I also book the flights and accommodation for Gordon.

Our annual open morning, which has proved very successful in recent years, is a huge undertaking which I am particularly proud of. With planning commencing some two months in advance, I have to organise the brochure, liaise with advertisers, sponsors, make sure the list of horses in training are up to date et cetera.

This year, we had over 2,000 people attend on the day, so it is only getting bigger and better. I was on duty at the gate on the day, welcoming the visitors. Amongst that large number, only a few might go on to become potential new owners in the yard but it is important to treat everyone well as you never know what the future may bring.

Although I don’t ride out in the yard, when Gordon brings horses to Mornington Beach for a change of scenery, I will ride one. I also love to go racing when time allows, although those opportunities aren’t as frequent as I would like.

Since I started with Gordon, I have looked after Run Wild Fred, so I always travel with that particular horse wherever he runs. One of the highlights of my time in racing was leading him up when he won the Troytown Chase at Navan in 2021. I also led Run Wild Fred up when he was second in both an Irish Grand National and National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham.

Hardline, another horse I look after at home, gave me a day to remember when winning the open novice riders’ race at Castletown Geoghegan last year. He was the first horse to carry my own colours to victory, so that was particularly special. He was subsequently sold to Janet Williamson, but I also led him up when her son, Josh, rode him to success at Borris House in December.

Like everyone involved in Gordon’s, I got a huge thrill from watching Tiger Roll win his two Grand Nationals. As I do all the admin work involved with our overseas runners, the American Grand National win of Jury Duty and Meydan success of Coachello were two other races that were memorable for me.

Alex Hutter was in conversation with John O’Riordan