Andrew Balding hoping See The Fire can lead his stable to Classic glory at the start of a huge season

WITH each passing year, the expectations at Andrew Balding’s yard get ramped up even more.

And it’s no different heading into the 2024 Flat season, even after last season’s campaign in which he fired in 145 winners and near-record prize-money.

Richard Pelham / The Sun

Like every top trainer, he sets the highest possible standards for himself and is his own harshest critic.

When you’re responsible for a string of 250 impeccably-bred – and in some cases multi-million pound — horses owned by the super-rich, the pressure is always on.

Mind you, there are worse workplaces in the world to carry out such a demanding job.

The historic Park House Stables, with all of its original Victorian stables still in use, is a hive of activity from the crack of dawn onwards.

There are five lots of 50 horses to exercise, wash down and feed before racing begins in the afternoon, but the small army of 85 permanent staff, who mostly live on site in Kingsclere, keep the operation moving like clockwork.

Of course, when you are working with half-ton, skittish animals, the occasional spanner might be thrown in the works.

In the covered ride, where the horses trot round to loosen up before heading onto the gallops, the odd fresh one might buck off their rider which spices things up a bit.

You might have an image in your head of what a powerhouse Flat stable like Balding’s looks and feels like, but you really have to see it to believe it.

It’s an equine Disneyland if you like your racing, but it’s also a family home.

Balding makes his declarations at the breakfast bar with assistant and former jumps jock Lucy Alexander alongside as his boy Johnno pops down in his pjs to make fried eggs.

He recently returned from playing rugby for England under-18s in Italy — and Balding and his wife Anna-Lisa made a flying visit to Parma to watch Johnno and the boys stuff Scotland.

His younger bro Toby is enjoying a lay-in, though Anna-Lisa tells Johnno to get him out of bed as he’s exams to revise for, before Balding makes plans with his daughter, Flora, about going to watch that night’s Southampton game at home to Coventry.

He’s had a season ticket at St Mary’s near the away-end for several years, but he insists he doesn’t give it large to the travelling fans. We’ll have to take his word for it.

Just as we are heading out onto the gallops the heavens open.

“I’ve spent the whole winter standing out in the rain getting soaked,” he says.

They come up the all-weather gallop in ones and twos, and the trainer knows everything about each horse. From their breeding to their quirks to their inside hoof measurement.

“Andrew never remembers to do something useful, like putting the bins out, but he remembers every single tiny detail about every one of the horses,” says Anna-Lisa.

Richard Pelham / The Sun

Steve Davies

These are mainly unraced two and three-year-old’s, so we don’t see any established stars being put through their paces.

Of course, last season’s big gun Chaldean is now off at stud, earning £25,000 a pop for his owners.

The colt got off to a nightmare start last season, dumping Frankie Dettori on his backside coming out of the stalls in the Greenham. But horse and jockey made amends in the 2,000 Guineas a fortnight later.

Balding said: “To be totally honest the overwhelming emotion on the day was pure relief.

“We loved the horse and we thought we had him a great nick going there. You only get one shot at a Guineas.

“Looking back now I can enjoy it more and I just wish I’d managed to take it all in a bit better on the day.

“It was a special one, with Frankie on board as well in what we thought was his retirement year! In 50 or 100 years time, people will still be looking back at the winners of the Classics so it’s huge for the yard to have a winner of a race with that sort of history.”

Then the self-criticism kicks in, as is often the case with all top trainers or jockeys.

Good is not enough. The need to do better is always there, even when the room for improvement is tiny.

He said: “After a great start we just dropped off a bit in the second half of the year, and I’m not really sure why.

“The horses all seemed happy and healthy but a few of them just lost their form. We didn’t have a winner at Royal Ascot and, while it was a good year, it ended up not being what we were hoping for.

“We think we have the horses in a great place now and we’ve started the season well.

“We are getting a nosebleed at the top of the championship at the minute but it’s very early days.

“I definitely want to improve on last season for a start. You can never take your foot off your gas in this game because people will overtake you before you know it. We can’t let that happen.”

Balding might not have a horse to follow in Chaldean’s footsteps in today’s big race. But he is heading back to Newmarket with a proper contender for tomorrow’s 1,000 Guineas.

He can’t hide his enthusiasm for See The Fire, who arguably should have won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile when we last saw her.

She was picked off close home by Ylang Ylang and Shuwari having kicked for home a long way out, with a yawning gap back to the fourth home.

Balding said: “I really couldn’t be happier with her. There is always a slight worry with fillies whether they’ll show the zest on the gallops when they return after a winter off, but she has shown us plenty.

“Oisin would probably tell you himself if he was to ride the Fillies’ Mile again he’d do things a little differently and wait a little longer to make his challenge. She was out in front on her own for a long time and just got a bit lonely and was run down late, but it was a huge run.

“If you look at her pedigree she  should improve with age. Her mum got further than a mile and so did her dad, but I think a mile is probably her best trip.

“You need a bit of luck in a Guineas, with the draw and the ground and a clear run, but, fingers crossed, I am very hopeful of a big run.”

And his hopes for Classic glory this season don’t end with See The Fire. He is also purring about the prospects of Anzac Day, who won by a street at Newmarket in October.

Balding said: “He is a beautiful horse, one we have very high hopes for this year.

“If I was to have a Derby horse this year I think it would be him. But he just had a little setback earlier in the spring which may make it difficult to get him to Epsom.

“It will be a shame if we can’t get him there but he has class and stays. I can see him ending up in a St Leger later in the year.”

If all else fails, he always has old faithful Coltrane to fall back on. The fan favourite returned to winning ways at Ascot this week and will be trained with the Gold Cup in mind once again.

Balding said: “After the way things went at the end of last season I was really worried the fire might have gone out with him so it was really very special to see him win again in the Sagaro Stakes.

“He is such a fighter and everyone in the yard loves him. Whenever he retires, he will have a home here for life.

“Hopefully we can win a few more big ones before then, starting with the Gold Cup next month.”

When you’ve got so many horses and such a depth of talent to call upon, you can understand why Balding has set his bar so high.

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