Mark Prescott

Last updated

Sir Mark Prescott in 2005 SirMichaelStoute2005.jpg
Sir Mark Prescott in 2005

Sir Mark Prescott, 3rd Baronet (born 1948), is an English race horse trainer with over 2000 winners to his name, including Alpinista, winner of the 2022 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He is based at Heath House Stables, a historic 50-box yard at the bottom of Warren Hill in Newmarket.

Contents

Background

Prescott is the son of Conservative Party MP Stanley Prescott and grandson of Sir William Prescott, 1st Baronet, who was also a Conservative MP. He attended Harrow School and in 1965 inherited the Prescott baronetcy from his uncle.

Prescott left school aged fifteen, with plans to become a jockey. He was riding in a race at Wye in 1965 when he broke his back in a fall, resulting in a nine-month hospital stay. He then joined the yard of Jack Waugh at Heath House Stables and took over the licence on Waugh's retirement in 1970. [1]

Career

In a career spanning more than fifty years, Prescott has trained over 2,000 winners. Although a British Classic has eluded him, he has won a French Classic as well as numerous Group races and major handicaps. Notable amongst his horses have been Spindrifter (winner of 13 races as a two-year-old in 1980), sprinter Pivotal (winner of the King's Stand Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes in 1996), Confidential Lady (winner of the French Classic Prix de Diane in 2006), Marsha (winner of the Nunthorpe Stakes in 2017), and multiple Group 1 winning sisters Alborada and Albanova. [2] His greatest prize came when Alpinista, owned and bred by Kirsten Rausing won the 2022 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe under Luke Morris. "It has been just a marvellous journey – I'm lucky to get a good one at this stage of my career" said Prescott of Alpinista after her victory. [3]

In the early days of his of career Prescott employed assistant trainers for a period of two years but since 1999 William Butler has occupied the position and will take over the licence when Prescott retires. His former assistants include leading trainer William Haggas. [1] George Duffield was stable jockey at Heath House for 31 seasons from 1974, winning 830 races for Prescott. [4] He was succeeded by Seb Sanders, [5] with Luke Morris riding as first jockey to the yard since 2012. [6]

Personal life

Prescott is unmarried. His interests include field sports such as hare coursing, fox hunting and bullfighting,he also developed a deep passion for the Gaelic game of hurling through his companionship with a young newtownshandrum boy named Eric Curtin . [1] On 1 September 2009, Prescott and television cook Clarissa Dickson-Wright received an absolute discharge from Scarborough Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to hare coursing whilst attending an event organized by Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialling Club in March 2007. [7]

Major wins

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain


Flag of France.svg France


Flag of Germany.svg Germany


Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Dettori</span> Italian jockey

Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, is an Italian jockey based in England. In a career spanning over 35 years, he has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ridden the winners of 287 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.

John E. Hammond is retired a Thoroughbred horse trainer in France.

Alain de Royer-Dupré is a retired French thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gérald Mossé</span>

Gérald Mossé is a jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding professionally in April 1983. His success during his apprenticeship under Patrick-Louis Biancone led to an offer to ride for renowned trainer François Boutin. His stable of horses belonging to Jean-Luc Lagardère. Mossé went on to become one of his country's top jockeys, winning the 1990 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. In 1991, he rode Arazi to five straight wins in France then spent 1992 and part of 1993 racing in Hong Kong.

George Duffield MBE is an English retired flat racing jockey.

Seb Sanders is a former flat race jockey. Sanders was British Champion Flat Jockey in 2007, a title he shared with Jamie Spencer.

Stéphane Pasquier is a French flat racing jockey. In October 2006, he won the 85th Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves Saint-Martin</span> Retired French champion jockey

Yves Saint-Martin is a retired champion jockey in French Thoroughbred horse racing. He is widely considered one of the greatest riders in French racing history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thierry Jarnet</span> French jockey

Thierry Jarnet is a champion thoroughbred flat racing jockey in France who won the title four times between 1992–1995. Jarnet was first apprenticed to Patrick Rago at Maisons-Laffitte and then to Yann Porzier at Chantilly, Oise.

Greville Michael Wilson Starkey was an English jockey who rode almost 2,000 winners during a 33-year career on the flat.

Miswaki was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse that was a Group One winner in France and a stakes race winner in the United States. He was an important sire of 97 stakes race winners and was the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1999 and 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1986 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe</span> Horse race held at Longchamp, France

The 1986 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp on Sunday 5 October 1986. It was the 65th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Pivotal was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career restricted to six races between October 1995 and August 1996 he established himself as one of the leading sprinters in Europe. His most important wins came in the King's Stand Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes as a three-year-old in the summer of 1996. He was then retired to stud where he became an exceptionally successful breeding stallion.

Alborada was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare best known for winning consecutive runnings of the Group One Champion Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse. In a racing career which lasted from July 1997 until October 1999 she won six of her ten races. In addition to her wins in the Champion Stakes she also won the C. L. Weld Park Stakes in 1997 and the Pretty Polly Stakes and the Nassau Stakes in 1998. Following her retirement from racing she had some success as a dam of winners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Morris</span> English jockey

Luke Morris is an English jockey who competes in flat racing.

The following list shows the line of descent for major winners from the Northern Dancer sire line, tracking patrilineal descent from the stallion dubbed by the New York Times in 1990 "the dominant progenitor of his breed". It focuses on winners of the principal three-year-old Classic races, as these have long been used to evaluate a stallion's success, and the highest quality races for older horses based on International Federation of Horseracing Authorities rankings. A few other highly prestigious races from around the world have been included as well.

The 2017 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Chantilly on Sunday 1 October 2017. The race could not take place at its usual venue at Longchamp Racecourse as that course was closed in 2016 for major redevelopment. It was the 96th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The race was won by Khalid Abdullah's three-year-old filly Enable, trained in England by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. It was a record-breaking fifth win in the race for Dettori after wins on Lammtarra, Sakhee, Marienbard and Golden Horn. Gosden was winning the race for the second time, while Khalid Abdulla was recording his fifth win in the race. Enable became the first British-trained filly to win the Arc and the sixth female winner in the last seven runnings of the race.

The 2019 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp Racecourse on Sunday 6 October 2019. It was the 98th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The race was won by Gestut Ammerland & Newsells Park's five-year-old horse Waldgeist, trained in France by André Fabre and ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot. It was a record-breaking eighth win in the race for Fabre after the victories of Trempolino, Subotica, Carnegie, Peintre Celebre, Sagamix, Hurricane Run and Rail Link. Both the owners and jockey were winning the race for the first time. Waldgeist became the first French-trained five-year-old to win the Arc since Le Paillon in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpinista</span> British Thoroughbred racehorse

Alpinista is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. She showed some promise as a juvenile in 2019 when she won a maiden race on her debut and finished fourth in the Prix d'Aumale. In the following year she won the Upavon Fillies' Stakes and ran second in the Yorkshire Oaks. In 2021 she won all five of her races, namely the Daisy Warwick Stakes, Lancashire Oaks, Grosser Preis von Berlin, Preis von Europa and Grosser Preis von Bayern. As a five-year-old she added further major victories in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The mare was retired to stud after a setback in training thwarted plans for a final racecourse appearance in the Japan Cup.

The 2022 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp Racecourse on Sunday 2 October 2022. It was the 101st running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The race was won by Kirsten Rausing's five-year-old mare Alpinista, trained in Britain by Sir Mark Prescott and ridden by Luke Morris. It was a first win in the race for the owner, trainer and jockey. Alpinista became the second five-year-old mare to win the Arc after Corrida in 1937.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sir Mark Prescott plans to bow out gracefully". The Times. 4 November 2017.
  2. "Sir Mark Prescott: educated, erudite, refreshingly eccentric – and eyeing Arc success with Alpinista". thoroughbredracing.com. 2 October 2022.
  3. "'It's been marvellous' - Prescott's finest hour as awesome Alpinista lands Arc". Racing Post. 2 October 2022.
  4. "Duffield calls time on a classic career". The Guardian. 12 March 2005.
  5. "Former champion jockey Sanders now work-rider for Godolphin". Racing Post. 28 March 2017.
  6. "Morris looking to make most of Prescott link". The Times. 7 June 2012.
  7. "Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Sir Mark Prescott plead guilty to hare coursing". Horse & Hound. 3 September 2009.
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Stanley Prescott
Baronet
(of Godmanchester)
1965present
Incumbent