The South Downs near Lewes are home to several race horse trainers and one of the most recent to join the group is 36-year-old Mark Ewar-Hoad.

Mark has had his licence for only two months and if the name has a familiar sound it is because as plain Mark Hoad he rode 100 or so winners under National Hunt rules and was assistant to his father, Roger.

Roger retired to France in the autumn and Mark took over the Windmill Lodge stable. At the same time he added his wife, Justina's maiden name to his own.

"It is a genuine partnership between us," he explained, "And as Justina had been successful in her own right, especially with Oulton Broad who won four successive races last season, we decided on the double-barrelled surname to acknowledge the partnership."

While acting as assistant to his father, Mark ran a horse transport business but this has now been put on the back burner. He said: "We had only three or four horses when we moved here in October, but we have ten in now and more to follow, and the horses come first."

Mark and Justina share a one and a half mile grass gallop on the Downs with neighbour Gerry Enwright. They do not use the old race course which is privately owned but when the severe winter weather sets in the team goes down to the beach at Pevensey which is a change for the horses and a therapy for their delicate legs.

Due to the exceptionally wet weather the Ewar-Hoads have had only a handful of runners over hurdles and fences, but last week Gaelic Foray won twice on the flat at Lingfield within a seven day period.

Mark said: "There has been plenty of interest since that double and I bought a yearling to order at Newmarket sales as well, so things are looking very promising."

There will be several runners for the Windmill Lodge stables over the Christmas period. "Oulton Broad is entered at Kempton Park on Boxing Day, but I'm afraid he won't like the ground unless it dries out.

"He is not well-handicapped either as a result of winning a decent race at Ascot last season, but we have got to get a run into him so he will go to Kempton Park whatever."

Head For Heaven, inherited from Roger Hoad for whom he won four races, is due to run at Plumpton on New Year's Day in the two mile handicap chase which he won on the course exactly a year ago.

- Robin Gray