Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Britain's most successful racehorse trainer, trained more winners than anyone for 14 years and won the Trainers' Championship 8 times.
On the island
Eight records
And uh people that know of me will know Maker Stan won the champion hurdle. He really did go from rags to riches. ... Went back into our local pub with the cup, opened the door, and you'd never believe this record was playing.
I used to have a a record player, one of these old record players, in a sports car that used to spin round and round ... and I'd race to beat the record so that I'd get home before Hey Jude finished.
Oh! CarolFavourite
I've got to call this one. It's named after my wife, O'Carroll.
I think the young lady was about sixteen when she was singing this, Helen Shapiro, and uh she was uh a fabulous singer, a real husky voice and walking back to happiness.
My wife's father wanted to go to a consort in London um to see Pavarotti ... and I really, really enjoyed it. Fantastic music, Nessam Dormer.
This is no one from my youth. In fact, I think it was the first holiday I was allowed to go away on, down to Newquay. And this brings back fond memories. We used to dance to this in the evenings and really let our hair down.
Uh we were talking about Peter Scudemore. And there was a time we were getting winner after winner, and uh we used to sing to him all the time. There was this record, Nobody Does It Better.
It's another old favourite from my youth. A misspent youth really. Used to play snooker listening to these records, some favourite buddy Holly records, and I just love Peggy Sue.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:31Have you always been competitive, Martin?
Very keen, very competitive. I want to win.
Presenter asks
1:36What else has [being a bookmaker] got in common with being a trainer?
Of course I knew all the race courses. I used to go racing with my father. ... And then being a bookmaker we handled about forty-five betting shops and uh I was in charge of a lot of them so we had to keep in touch with exactly what was going on and this this helps me control so I know exactly what's going on with each one of my horses.
Presenter asks
5:17How many of [your horses] do you own yourself or own a leg of?
Too many, I think. I love buying horses. I'm a very bad seller. Uh I love hanging on to my babies so that I know where they're going to race and what they can do, so that we don't over face them.
Presenter asks
16:57What big mistakes have you made along the way?
The keepsakes
The book
R. S. Timmis
A lovely, very old fashioned book which tells you all about the old remedies that they used to do to look after horses, the old herbal remedies, and it's it's still, in my mind, probably better in those days than now.
The luxury
the winning post from Cheltenham racecourse
so that nobody else could win while I was away.
Um when we bought our first horses, uh we'd go to the sales and buy the cheapest one we could. We'd come home with one costing three hundred pounds um and wonder why and realize oh probably only had three legs. We honestly didn't know that whether they were sound or lame. And I think that taught me an awful lot because it taught me to to try and cure the legs and try and manage them.
Presenter asks
24:17How do you react when [the horses] have to be put down?
People outside would not understand. We have our horse boxes filled up with horses, and all of a sudden you come home one night and there's not one there. ... It is like missing your pet dog.
Presenter asks
27:52Do you feel fully accepted now as part of the fraternity?
Um, I probably still don't feel a a a a true trainer as such. I I'd love to to to go and work for a proper trainer. I've never worked in a trainer's yard, so I've devised all my own methods of of looking after the horse and daily routine. ... So so I s still probably uh feel a bit of an outsider.
“Basically we we try and take the guesswork out of training.”
“I was very muddy coddled as a a child, I think. I wasn't even allowed to ride a bicycle to school, so uh I had to walk to school or I was taken to school. So when I had this sports car uh at seventeen you can imagine what happened. Freedom at last freedom at last”
“Yes, I certainly was an outsider. I knew nothing. Um basically that could have been a help, because I have a very searching mind. And uh i if when you run your horse and it finishes last, you try and analyse why.”