Lucinda Russell

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. For rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:41

My castaway this week is the racehorse trainer Lucinda Russell. She has sent out almost 900 winners from her stables in Kinross, including not one, but two Grand National champions. She's considered royalty in the so called Sport of Kings, one of only two Scottish trainers and four women to win at Aintree in the fixture's one hundred and eighty four year history. In twenty seventeen she clocked up her first victory there with one for Arthur, owned by two self described golf widows who bought him as a weekend hobby. This year she did it again with Coric Rambler, bought for a modest sum and owned by a syndicate including a widower, an expat Scott in Australia and a twenty one year old student.

Presenter1:23

She's been fascinated by horses since childhood. When she hit her teens, her family relocated to the rural town of Milner Thornt. Her love of the area where her stables are still located and of the animals she trains has never wavered. She says, I didn't spend my whole life wanting to train racehorses. I spent my whole life wanting to be with horses and then found out that I had the time to train them. Lucinda Russell, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you very much. It's an absolute honour to be here. Well, we're delighted to have dragged you away from the fresh air and your animals into the studio. But is that what still motivates you, the idea of spending time with horses? Oh, absolutely. I just love ponies, just always loved horses, always want to be with them. And so many of them now. You've gone from training around a dozen to about a hundred. Do you still know all of their individual personalities and quirks? Oh, definitely. It's very important to me. It's quite funny in a way because I always said to mum and dad, please can I have a pony? I used to write them little notes and I'd put tap water on it to look like tears and really try everything, all the emotional blackmail, please can I have a pony? It wasn't until I was 10 that I actually got my first pony and I always said, you know, if you just let me have one earlier, I might have got over the face. But now I look at it and they're part of my life and yeah, I just adore them. You never got it out of your system. And it takes a big team to train a racehorse, Lucinda. How many of you are there and what's your role day to day? It's certainly getting bigger. I'd say we've probably got 60 people that help us within the team, but I like to be hands-on, so I'm there every day. I feed in the morning and ride out with everyone and it just means that you're sort of part of it. Now you said you ride out every day. I heard that you're always at the front. Always at the front. What is that? Well it's likely anyone that knows Scottish weather knows that there's a lot of mud about and I don't like getting the mud kicked in my face. So I like to be at the front, like to set the pace, like to have that intensity and that's what makes the training for me what makes it so exciting and I think it seems to be working for the horses. Lucinda, we're about to hear your first music choice. Tell us about this track. Why are you taking it to the island with you today?

Speaker 13:05

What is that?

Presenter3:30

So this year especially we had quite a siege mentality. You know, as you get bigger it's a bit like having an army behind you and there's a super line in this song, Some Nights, This is It Boys, This Is War, This Is What We're Waiting For. And when we go out to race our horses we prepare them and we do all the work at home, but at the end of the day it is war and it is a competition and you have to go out and do the best that you can.

Lucinda Russell3:52

This is it boys, this is war. What are we waiting for? Why don't we break the rules already?

Lucinda Russell4:01

I was never one to believe the pipe See that for the black and white Tried twice as hard in a map is life Well here they come again with the jack my style

Lucinda Russell4:12

That's alright.

Lucinda Russell4:14

I found a mortar in my bed tonight Stops my bones from wondering just why, why, why, it

Presenter4:22

Some Nights by Fun, interpolating Nenna's 99 Red Balloons. Lucinda Russell, you were born in Edinburgh in 1966. Your parents Peter and Edith. But if you'd followed in your family's footsteps, I think we'd be talking about whiskey rather than horses today. Tell me about the family business. Yes, dad was a whiskey broker originally and he then bought a couple of distilleries. And as a kid growing up, I was just used to him always being away. He was always away selling and selling and selling. And the whisky industry is quite a traditional industry. You know, whisky takes a long time. You can't sell it before it's eight years old. So everything that you do has to be quite measured and spend the time watching the whisky mature. And it's a spirit that's made at the heart. Actually, I don't drink it myself, but I like the idea behind it. My father was very big influence on my life, and especially in business and the way that he ran business. He had quite a strong ethos, it sounds like. Oh, huge ethos. He always said that you only do business with people that you like. And I think that's a very, very true saying. He said, always leave a penny on the table for the next man. And your handshake is your bond.

Presenter5:28

And it's certainly the way that I like to rule my life is having that same feeling. And what kind of father was he? Obviously, travelling a lot and away, but when you did get to spend time together, what was your relationship like? He was just wonderful. He was very soft. He was my hero, always will be. And your mum, I think, you've described as artistic. Tell me more about her. Oh, she's just amazing. She dresses as if she's an 18-year-old. Her attitude is that of a young person, and she and dad together made it a fantastic pair. She's more like sort of abfab than she is. It's like a sort of a very sensible sort of country lady. Even now, she's very forward-thinking. I know that your dad would often come to fixtures with you. It sounds like he had a great approach to making friends and getting chatting to people while you were off working. Where would he pitch up, and what would that setup look like? We'd go to point-to-points, or we'd go to horse trials or whatever, and he'd always have at the back of his car a bottle of gin, a couple of bottles of tonic, a lemon, and some ice, and occasionally bacon rolls. He absolutely loved sharing his drink with different people and enjoyed meeting other people. I think we'd better hear some more music, Lucinda. This is your second choice today. What have you gone for? My second choice is really from my mother's influence of Forever Young. She always said, Never tell your age, it's only a number. Just Forever Young and always enjoying yourself.

Presenter7:22

Forever Young by AlphaVille. Lucinda Russell, when exactly did your interest in horses start?

Presenter7:29

Oh my goodness. I was the kid that if a horse walked past the house or if I heard a horse I'd go running route just to see it. We used to stop the car at the side of the road and feed a pony that was on the way to school. I don't know. It's just always been in me. And you grew up in the countryside but you were born in Edinburgh so it's not necessarily an obvious fascination to start with. I mean you would have been a city kid. Yeah absolutely but we had a holiday house at a place called Ely in Fife on the coast there. We went there every weekend, every school holiday and it was like being stuck in the 1950s. You know you you didn't wear shoes, there were no cars on the road and there were some beach ponies there that I used to lead up and down the beach all summer. So was that your first job then, leading the ponies on the beach? Yeah I guess so. I don't believe we were paid for it. I think our payment was to be able to ride them bareback down from the field down to where they got fed but I absolutely loved it and

Presenter8:18

I'm not sure. I think I became a little bit wild. I was the one with no shoes. We often imagine a teenager's bedroom wall being covered in posters of pop stars. Was yours posters of horses? Of course. It was red rum. And all the sort of. I mean, start with the best. Of course. And all the sort of ripped out from the Pony magazine, all the pictures from that, and pictures of Princess Anne actually riding. I remember that one. I was the pony mad kid. What is that relationship about, do you think, between people and horses? The psychology of it is fascinating, isn't it?

Speaker 18:29

Uh all the sort of

Presenter8:48

It is. I suppose you have to, you know, you listen to them, you watch them, you watch their body language. Because they can't talk to you, but you can still listen to them, it makes you much more aware of your surroundings. And as a kid, they're always the solace. There's just something, what is it, that there's something about a horse on the outside that's good for your soul. And I think that's very, very true. Definitely my happiest times have been with horses. And as you mentioned, after years of badgering and emotional blackmail, your parents finally caved in and bought you a pony when you were 10. Tell me about that pony and what it meant to you. Oh, he was a little horror, he really was. I mean, I think mum and dad, I'm not sure that they really knew what they were doing. Oh, he was a great pony, but I fell off him a lot more than I stayed on. Did you used to ride fast? Oh, always fast, yeah, always fast. Often without saddle, I used to fall off. And then it was funny, if you fell off in the same place, you go back and try again, and I survived it. So it makes you resilient.

Presenter9:41

So when you were thirteen, the family you kept your holiday home in Ely but you moved out with the family home to a farm in Kinrostshire and you continued to go to school in Edinburgh and you sound like quite an able student. Yeah I did well at school but my heart was never ever in it. Always my heart was at home. I was always thinking about the ponies looking outside. I just wanted to be outside. What were your expectations back then? Did you ever imagine that you could make a life of being with horses, working with horses? I guess I'm pretty stubborn. I always knew that I would do and I never wanted to comply so when they said you're going to go to university

Presenter10:13

I don't know that I should admit this to the world, but they said you should go to university and you should really study English or biology. So I thought I'm definitely not going to study English or biology. Just because they'd said that that was what you should do. Yeah. So my brother's girlfriend at the time was doing psychology. So I thought, well, that sounds good. Didn't really know what it meant, didn't really know how to spell it, but by chance it's ended up probably shaping my life a bit. Well I want to find out more about that, but next I want to hear your third choice today if you wouldn't mind. What are you taking to the island and why?

Speaker 110:24

Yeah.

Presenter10:44

Yes, so this is probably going right back to the first song that I remember really, Lee Marvin and Wandering Star. Loved his voice, loved the fact he was a cowboy, because cowboys meant the horses. And it really reminds me of those carefree days and I'm walking around, no shoes on, just enjoying myself, going up and down to the beach and leading the beach ponies.

Speaker 411:08

Dream Star Wars.

Speaker 411:18

Rimstar.

Speaker 411:21

Wheels are made for rolling, mules are made to pack, I've never seen a sight that didn't look better looking back.

Presenter11:30

Lee Marvin and Wandering Star. So, Lucinda, despite the lure of the gallops, you applied yourself and you decided to study psychology at St Andrews University. And you said then that it's been incredibly useful to you. I think that's right. It's certainly my industry, it's very important for the jockeys to be resilient and for the people that work with the horses to be resilient and the owners, because you're going to have to deal with highs and lows. You have to deal with injuries, you have to deal with death, and with elation and with success. So, you've got to be able to cope with that. And I wonder about the horses, because I have read a couple of profiles with you where you've talked about the kind of mental health of the animals that you work with. It's sort of the same with the horses. They've got to cope with the, you know, we're pushing them quite strongly physically and we've got to make them go through a pain barrier, but they've got to be happy to do that. I feed every morning at quarter to six, and that's probably one of the best times of my day. I go around and see every horse, and if they've left a few nuts from the night before, it's normally because they're upset, because they're not feeling so good. I mean, I'm sure it probably works the same. I haven't had children, but I'm sure it probably works the same with kids. If kids stop eating, it's the same thing that you know that they're uncomfortable, there's something that's not quite right with them.

Presenter12:44

It was after your university course that you decided to spend a year of venting, biddish show jumping, dressage, and cross-country racing. So, how did you keep earning enough money to continue competing? How did you kind of balance the books? Yeah, well, that was through buying and selling horses, and I think that was really good for me because you'd buy a horse, you'd have to assess it, put it into the right job, fit it with the right new owner, and then always have an aftercare policy. So, we always sort of would give lessons to the people that bought our horses. And then, from there, I was asked to take out my proper licence, and I didn't really appreciate it.

Presenter13:19

What it was going to entail and how big it was going to get. Tell me about that initial assessment. Can you describe that process? What it is you're looking for, what it is you're seeing in a horse, and how you spot it. Well, I think I've been practicing since I was about four years old, so just listening to horses and trying to work it out. And you know, even now, when we get the racehorses, some horses don't want to be a racehorse, they don't have the competitive edge, and you're much better letting them go off and do something else and become inventors or family horses or whatever. There's no point in making a horse be a racehorse.

Presenter13:51

I can assure you the horses in my yard that are being trained to go racing actually enjoy it.

Presenter13:55

So you took your professional trainer's licence out in 1995 and then set about transforming your childhood's home at the farm, putting up more and more sheds for your horses. Your parents had been supportive up to this point. How much did they have to put up with? Well, I have to admit, I'm not sure I always told them when I was spooting up a few more stables. They used to come down. Oh, they'd say, oh, there's some builders in. Oh, yes. But they were very supportive, and if we did well, they loved it. But dad was very, very good. If we went through bad phases and stuff, he looked after me. I want to find out about your first successes, but we've got to make time for the music, Lucinda. Your fourth choice today, what's it going to be? So.

Presenter14:36

Piano Man and Billy Joel, I think the way that he describes all the different characters in this song is fabulous. And it's a really it's a song about observing and listening to people, and that's what I do all the time.

Lucinda Russell14:50

The waitress is practicing politics As the businessmen slowly get stoned Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness But it's better than drinking alone

Presenter15:19

Billy Joel and Piano Man. Lucinda Russell, you had immediate success as a newly licensed trainer with a horse I think called Five Lee Builds. Tell me about those first wins and how they felt. Oh, it was just fantastic. Five Lee Builds was a very, very good horse. It was very easy for me. He was a front runner, so that's really exciting because they go out in front, never get headed. He's just the most wonderful horse, and he stayed with us right to the end of his days. It was just, every day was an excitement. You just wanted to get out there, love my job. Sounds like you felt like, and I can tell from the look on your face, you just felt like anything was possible. You're right, it was just anything was possible. And I was amazed when we were beaten one day. I thought, oh, he's got to keep winning. What do you mean he can't win five in a row? Now when you think about it, you know, being realistic, it's a very tough job to do. But there was a naivety about the world. I think there probably was a naivety about the world in the late 90s anyway. So I was just in heaven, you know. I still am.

Presenter16:17

Lucinda, in 2012, you won your first high-profile race at Cheltenham, a Grade One race, the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle. A jockey called Campbell Gillis was riding Brindisi Breeze. What kind of horse was he? So, Brindisi was an amazing little horse. He was quite small, but he was a very forward-going horse, quite free, wanted to get on with it, loved front-running. When he first started with us, he was very slow and used to get really cross if any other horse passed him and demoralised him. But as he got older and stronger, he started to stay in front, and nothing could pass him. And when he went to Cheltenham, it was a front-running ride from Campbell that won the day. You mentioned that the fantastic wins, but also, you know, there were loads to come. And one of those was Brindisi was killed. Brindisi Breeze was killed just a few months after that amazing win. How did it happen? We turn all our horses out in the field. It's very important for them to be out and to be allowed to be horses. And there were six horses out in a field. One of them jumped over a gate and it happened to be Brindisi. I think maybe the personality that made him such a winner also was a little bit of madness. And you know, he took on the gate. I mean, it was a big gate. It was a big, big effort for him. Jumped out onto the road, got hit by a lorry, and that was the end. So just one of the worst days. It was an incredibly difficult time for you, Lucinda. Much worse was to come because the young jockey, Campbell, who was just 21, he also died in an accident on holiday just a few months later. It must have hit all of you at the stables incredibly hard. Yeah, so I mean, we talk about being a team, but at that time, we were a smaller team, and it was just, you know, everyone's friends. You know, everyone, and Campbell was just the most outgoing, wonderful person. Tell me about him. He had a good eye for a girl, and every girl adored him. He just had a magic about him. Maybe he was a bit like Brindisi, maybe he had a little bit of madness about him. But he had such confidence, and there aren't very many.

Presenter18:18

twenty year olds that would go to Cheltenham Festival, which is the biggest racing festival that we have, ride a horse from up north, front run and just stay there and cope with the winning. Honestly, it was just one of the best days we'd ever had. But um he went on holiday, twenty years old, it was his birthday was about was a few days to come and uh they had quite a few drinks I suppose beforehand and and he drowned in a in a swimming pool, so it was just tragic.

Presenter18:47

How does an event like that change your outlook and your approach? I mean, you describe your team and this incredibly close knit community that you have. To lose someone so young and so full of promise and life, it must have changed things after that.

Presenter19:03

It definitely brought us together. You know, sharing grief is a way to get over it and we did. And it's lovely now because Campbell's sister works for us Rita. So we've still got Campbell in the yard. We've still got his body protector in the yard and his hat. And he'll still be very much part of the yard as his ashes are scattered on the gallops and he's there with us. But I'd like to think that he'd be very proud of what we've achieved. I would have loved him still to be here because I think he would have been a very big part of it. But it's not to be.

Presenter19:33

Let's take a minute for some music, Lucinda. This is your fifth choice. What's it going to be? This is a song called This Is the Day by Ther and I just love the optimism in it. And while we can all have tragedy in our life, I love that thing about waking up in the morning, the sun's high in the sky, and the feeling that today's the day and you can achieve what you want.

Lucinda Russell19:55

You fall back again, and the sun burns into your eyes.

Lucinda Russell20:01

You watch a plane fly across a clear blue sky.

Lucinda Russell20:08

This is the day your life will surely change.

Lucinda Russell20:15

This is a day.

Lucinda Russell20:18

When things fall into play

Presenter20:25

They're there, and this is the day. Let's turn to the Grand National at Aintree, Lucinda, a race that's cemented your reputation. So forty horses jump thirty fences over a distance of just over four miles. What is it about this race in particular that excites you so much?

Presenter20:42

It just goes back to when I was a kid and I had Red Rom on the on the wall.

Presenter20:46

To me, it was the ultimate race, and it meant that the horses were genuine, that they could jump, that they could gallop.

Presenter20:51

And it just seemed a fantastic race. I grew up in a non-horsey family, and I suppose I was always slightly trying to justify the fact that I loved horses and that I did well. And I remember when I won the Grand National the first time, I remember my brother phoning up and saying he'd been at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens and he'd watched the race on his phone. And that meant so much to me. The fact that he'd actually watched something that I was doing and that he knew that we'd won. It's been fantastic to be part of the history. It is a very famous fixture, but of course it's not without its controversy. Horse fatalities are high. Animal rights activists often target the race. How do you respond to the criticism that it's too cruel and too risky?

Presenter21:28

I think in the past it has been very risky, but um I think

Presenter21:32

We have to keep telling people how much we adapt and how much we want to make things safe.

Presenter21:37

I think on the race course the ground conditions right, the fences are safe, and they have made huge alterations.

Presenter21:43

You know, I'm training horses because I love them, I'm training them to be the best that they can, and I'm making sure that when they go out to race, it's not too much of a test for them.

Presenter21:52

Remember this year we ran a horse called Curric Rambler. This horse means so much to us. He might be owned by seven lovely people, but we see him as our horse. He's he's like a pet. I've seen horses standing in the field in the cold and the wet. That's a welfare issue. My horse running in a race to me is not a welfare issue.

Speaker 122:04

You know?

Presenter22:12

I want to take you back listening to the Grand National in 2017. So as that race approached, you'd been talking up your horse One for Arthur ridden by a jockey called Derek Fox. But if you're listening to the commentary of that race, for the first 25 fences it's actually barely mentioned. Talk us through those final furlongs and what happened. It was just a fantastic race. So one for Arthur's a lovely, lovely horse, but he was really quite slow. So Derek in his wonderful way had just relaxed and let him just canter round at the back.

Presenter22:41

You could just see him at the back of the field.

Presenter22:43

And then he jumped a a fence called the Canal Turn, and um that's the one where they they go at an angle to the fence, and I just saw him suddenly making up ground.

Presenter22:52

And we're watching the race together. The two golf widows and myself, Belinda and Debs, were watching it together. They're the horse owners. I want to come to them. That's right. And we nodded at each other and said, Yeah, he's travelling very well. He could win. He'd used no energy through the first part of the race. And when he crossed the Melling Road and then started passing horses, it was just fantastic. And I still now, you know, I'm starting to get the goose pimples now just talking about it. It was a fabulous race. We were very proud of the fact that we were Scottish and going down there. It goes back to the siege mentality. We were small people taking on the big guns and we just won what was the most famous horse race in the world. Tell me about the team at the stables. How did everybody feel? Well, I think I had a video afterwards of drink hitting the roof in the local pub. It was fantastic. I don't think we can really go into what went on because there was a hot tub and there was a lot of celebrations. You mentioned the local pub. I think one for Arthur ended up with his own tap there, didn't he? That's right, he's got his own beer tap. And then, of course, the poor guys when Curric Rambler won, they've had to put in another one.

Speaker 123:41

But it was a lot of

Presenter23:54

So I've got to ask you about the owners of one for Arthur. How did it come about that they bought a racehorse? Oh, it's a fantastic story. So they went to school together and they decided that we were going to buy a horse together because their husbands go off and play golf all the time, so they felt they wanted to have something that they could enjoy together. So we went to the Cheltenham sales and I think we went slightly over budget, not too badly though. And the rest is history really. Just what a lovely horse. He's taken them great places and you never think that you can win a race like that.

Presenter24:26

And then, when you do win, it seems so easy. And because you're doing it with friends, it was: of course, we were going to win the National, of course, he was.

Presenter24:33

It's time for some more music, Lucinda. Your sixth choice. What's it going to be and why are you taking it with you to the desert island today?

Presenter24:40

So, in Horse Racing, there's a band called The Saw Doctors. They're Irish, they're from Galway. And this song, To Win Just Once, is just fabulous. It's about.

Presenter24:49

The desire to win, and there are people on the sidelines that are telling you what to do, and what you should do, and what you shouldn't do.

Presenter24:55

But it's just about winning and and the the verve and the the determination that it takes to win.

Lucinda Russell25:00

Two injustons ones would be enough.

Lucinda Russell25:04

Those who've lost in life or love For those who've lost their guile and nerve Their innocence and their drive and verb For those who feel they've been mistreated Discriminated, robbed or cheated To claim one victory inspired During just once is their day

Presenter25:32

To Win Just Once, The Saw Doctors. Lucinda Russell, you've had so many winners over your career. Most recently, aided and abetted by your partner, the champion jockey Peter Scudamore, who you call Scoo. You've described those big wins as addictive, and I wonder about that for the both of you. Do you kind of make each other more ambitious?

Presenter25:53

Yes, I mean I think we're a really good balance with each other. We can talk about it all the time. Scoo's very, very competitive. He does drive me and I think I drive him. So we've always said we only want to do something that we're good at and I think together we can be better. You've won the Scottish Grand National in 2021 and you've been recognised as one of Scotland's leading national hunt trainers. How important is it for you to fly the flag for Scotland in the world of horse racing?

Presenter26:19

I'm just very proud of being a small team that's got bigger and we're now taking on the world.

Presenter26:24

So we have a thing in the morning, so you have to muck out horses. And we used to say, right, some people are going to muck out, some people ride. We've changed that. Since Covid and since lockdown,

Presenter26:34

Everyone had to muck in and do everything. You couldn't have your individual jobs. And I actually found that that brought us closer and it meant that we had better communication. So I now make everyone mucks out first thing in the morning. It doesn't matter who they are. We've got a very good owner manager who looks after all the owners, he mucks out in the morning. We've got Derek Fox, who's won the Grand National twice, he mucks out in the morning. I muck out, Scoo mucks out. It's just something that we have to do. And I think it brings you very close together. And I'm not saying that that's why we do so well, but I think that's one of the reasons. And of course, you won the Grand National again this year, and you took the ashes of your first winner, one for Arthur, to that race with you. Must have been a very emotional day. Oh, it was. Yeah, the golf widows were with me. Poor Arthur unfortunately got colic a couple of months before the National and then unfortunately died at home. So we took his ashes and we sprinkled them on the finishing line and it was almost as if he'd passed the baton on to Korek. You know, it was lovely. It was a tremendously emotional day. But Korek is, oh, he's just tremendous. He's just a different horse. He's exceedingly intelligent. He understands your emotions. And I wanted him to have everlasting glory and he's got that.

Presenter27:44

Lucinda, you're still at the same site you always were in Scotland, Our L Airy Farm, and I know that your dad, Peter, died earlier this year, but he followed your races till the end of his life. That must have meant a huge amount to you.

Presenter27:57

I always think as you get a bit older it's nice to have something in the diary, something to look forward to. And dad looked forward to every race and um he was very sharp right to the end. He was doing my books actually, doing my accounts until the a year before he died, but he uh he loved watching the racing. And when we won the National this year he died at at the end of January. So um

Presenter28:15

Of course I thought about him and and how proud he'd be of it.

Presenter28:19

Lucinda, it's time for your next piece of music, your seventh choice today. What are we going to hear? So, this is the really, really emotional one, I'm afraid. I'm not sure if I might have to cry through this introduction, but Andy Williams really reminds me of Mum and Dad. And we played at Dad's funeral actually. It starts off very slow, it's a true love song, and it just is all about Mum and Dad. But actually, now it's had to swing around and it just reminds me of Sku. You know, he I told you I cry.

Presenter28:51

He um he means

Presenter28:54

He means so much to me and he he's transformed my life. You know, he he we met in 2006. He just has supported me through so many things, you know, through all Campbell dying, so many things. He really is my rock. It's just my loved song to him, really.

Lucinda Russell29:13

The animal

Lucinda Russell29:15

Alright, I need you baby too warm a lonely night I love you baby

Lucinda Russell29:22

Trust in me when I say

Lucinda Russell29:26

Oh pretty baby, don't bring me down afray, oh pretty baby, now that I've found this day and let me love you baby, let me love you.

Presenter29:41

Andy Williams, can't take my eyes off of you. For your father, Peter, but also the other Peter in your life, Lucinda, Peter Scudimore Scoo, a constant in your life for the past seventeen years. How did the two of you balance living and working together?

Presenter29:55

Oh, I think we're pretty good at it now. So we have very many similarities, but he's brilliant with his race reading and watching the horses on the gallops. He's absolutely superb at that. I don't think he's got a huge interest in the veterinary side of it, and that's something that I like. So I think, yeah, we just work really well together and we're just passionate about our life and our lifestyle and the way that we do things. Lucinda, undoubtedly, the two of you are a power couple in jump racing, but I know that you travel together in your beloved old campervan with three dogs, which doesn't necessarily sound like the most glamorous setup. Why do you go from fixture to fixture like that?

Presenter30:31

Oh, I have less of the old actually. It's uh it's a rather nice camper about it's it it looks like a black taxi. Sometimes when you're in the public eye all the time and when things are quite highly stressful and you're at the edge, it's just nice to go back to the camper van, the five of us, we have three dogs, and just have some reality. And we sort of started it really, it was when Arthur went to the National and Aintri very kindly said that we could park up at the stables and to be there with the horse and be on sight rather than going out on the town. It must mean that you get to see all the comings and goings as well because you're there from dawn till dusk. Yeah it does. Mind you we do go to bed at sort of half past eight at night so we don't see all the comings and goings but it's a yeah no it's great and there's just no stress when we're in the camper van. Well as you say a little piece of home but of course we're about to cast you away from everything that is familiar, send you to your desert island, away from the bustle of the stable yard. How good are you in your own company?

Speaker 131:15

I like it.

Presenter31:27

Well, it's going to be very hard without the horses. I don't mind being on my own, but I normally do share my time with an animal of some sort. But I suppose I might befriend a baboon or whatever we have on the desert island. Well, before you get there, we're going to allow you one more disc. Your eighth choice today, Lucinda Russell. What's it going to be and why? One of the great things about training race horses, it's not just the horses, but the owners as well. And we've got some lovely owners, and they very kindly invited us out to Majorca. And there they said we've got some guests coming for lunch. And one of the guests was Anna Fried from ABBA. So it was absolutely fantastic. We had a wonderful lunch. We started off very politely and very sensibly. And by the end of it, we were singing ABBA songs. It's rather embarrassing, really. So at what point did you go from thinking don't mention ABBA to just asking about ABBA? Oh no, it was just, I think it was the second bottle of Rose, but it was just wonderful. And this song, Andanti and Dante, really encapsulated that day.

Lucinda Russell32:26

I'm your music, your music, and I understand I'm your song Maybe time and time again

Speaker 132:30

Your song

Lucinda Russell32:36

And make me strong, make him wish me sing

Lucinda Russell32:43

Make me sally wishing in you.

Lucinda Russell32:49

Tread lightly on my ground

Lucinda Russell32:54

Adde on the

Presenter32:57

ABBA and Andante Andante. So Lucinda Russell, I'm going to send you away to the desert island. I'm giving you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare. You can also take another book of your choice. What would you like? Well, I'm going to go very scientific and very veterinary, and I'm going with a book that my vet Ehenio actually gave me called Equine Sports, Medicine and Surgery by Mr. Hinchcliffe. And it's got all the

Presenter33:24

Problems that you could ever have with a horse. You can also have a luxury item. What would you like? I'm going to really cheat on this one and I'm going to take my camper van. Ah, so if the stresses of the cold water and the hot sun get to me, I can go to my camper van and relax. Well, you can't live in it because that would be breaking the rules. That would be a little bit too practical if it's a kind of practical shelter, but certainly a place where you can recharge your batteries. There's plenty of precedent for that. So I'm delighted to send your camper van with you. And finally, which track of the eight that you've shared with us today would you rush to save from the waves if you needed to?

Speaker 133:32

Okay.

Presenter33:58

I think I'm going to save Andy Williams can't take my eyes off of you because it just reminds me of Mum, Dad, and Scoop.

Presenter34:06

Lucinda Russell, thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs. Thank you.

Presenter34:22

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Lucinda. Let's hope she finds an animal to befriend on the island. We've cast away many people from the equine world, including Frankie DiTori, Jenny Pittman, Carl Hester, Mark Johnston, and Lucinda's partner Scoo, Peter Scudamore. You can find these episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sands. The studio manager for today's programme was Giles Aspen, the assistant producer was Christine Pavlovsky, and the producer was Casey Hickman. Next time, my guest will be the comedian Catherine Ryan. I do hope you'll join us.

Speaker 135:11

Hello Desert Island Discs fans. I'm Dr. Michael Mosley and in my BBC Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing, I'm investigating some quick, simple and surprising ways to improve your health and life. Which will you try? Maybe a cup of tea.

Speaker 135:30

to help your heart health or breathing through your nose.

Speaker 135:35

To fight off infection.

Speaker 135:38

How about a walk on a rainy day?

Speaker 135:41

To boost your immune system.

Speaker 135:43

So to benefit your brain and body in ways you might not expect, here's just one thing you can do right now. Subscribe to the podcast on BBC Sounds.