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Blue Spinnaker arrived in 2002 after I bought him from John Hammond in France. He had had problems with his legs but I knew I could fix him up and I knew he would be good once I had!
He showed lots of promise on his debut at Pontefract where he was narrowly beaten by a head in a maiden race for older horses at odds of 100/1. At that point I knew I had a serious horse on my hands.
Spinnaker went on to win the Thirsk Hunt Cup and the Zetland Gold Cup along with seven other races in 92 outings. He earned a total of £160,000 in prizemoney. Blue Spinnaker liked Doncaster, winning there three times and he also won twice just up the road at York and twice at Thirsk as well as at Redcar and Haydock.
It was his fifth win, at York in 2006, that got me into trouble. I was interviewed about how I bought him and I got pulled up for what I said on the telly. I had no idea it was a forbidden word that I'd used, but I got a letter for me troubles and a slap on the hand.
Blue Spinnaker was retired in 2011. For years he was our babysitter, looking after the yearlings when they were out in the fields. However, he was tragically killed in October 2020 when he was driven out of his field by poachers. An awful end to one of the most memorable horses of my career.
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