THERE are as many ways of becoming a licensed race horse trainer as there are trainers.

For Pulborough-based Luke Dace, however, there was no choice: he had to start at the very bottom.

No money, no great name as a jockey and he is modest enough to describe himself as just a stable lad despite having ridden six winners from less than 100 rides in his early twenties.

Now an ambitious 30-year-old, Luke has a stable of ten horses in training, with another four or five in for rest and recuperation.

He said: "I always had my own ideas about training, based on the fact that all the horses I had in my first yard were there because they had problems. They were unsound, or sour, or needed schooling, or whatever.

"I realised quite soon that it was vital to

keep them happy, that the mental aspect was

as important as the physical."

Dace revealed how he developed his methods.

He said: "When Simon Dow couldn't find an owner for Northern Village a few years ago I took him on and ran him in my parents' name.

"The horse thrived on the varied routine I gave him and I won a hunter chase with him at Towcester."

That was before Luke was granted a full license by the Jockey Club, but soon after he scored with Greenside Chat at Taunton to get off the mark as a full trainer.

Now there is a note of real confidence in Luke's voice.

He said: "For the first time I have got horses that cost money and orders to buy more. Before I had to struggle with cripples, horses on their way to the knackers yard, but I know now that I have horses in my yard capable of winning races this year."

Keeping horses happy with visits to the seashore at Clymping and changing the routine between his own gallops and those of the Harwood family at Coombelands is not Luke's only policy.

His seven or eight owners, too, are treated as part of the family.

He said: "Even if they haven't got a runner themselves, they will often come to the races to support a horse from our stables. We have lunch and enjoy the day. We are a happy family, a close team and no one is left out."

Luke has only one full-time employee, Tabitha Pratt, who rides out two or three horses every morning.

His mum is kept busy helping around the yard, sweeping up and making sure the place is spic and span. Dad, who works shifts, does his bit while licensed jockey Alan Morris ("a very good work rider") is on hand whenever possible.

Luke's winners as a jockey came when he was riding for Epsom trainer, the late Ron Smythe. But he also has the distinction riding the first winner trained by Storrington's Richard Rowe, a mare named Glebelands Girl.

Now his focus has changed. But he knows that if you start at the bottom as a trainer the only way is up.

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