Laying the foundation to follow in father's footsteps

Patrick Haslam, who saddled over 1,000 winners in a 39-year training career which has taken in spells at all three of Britain's main racing centres – Lambourn, Newmarket and Middleham – has decided to retire and he will hand over his licence to son Ben a week on Friday.

"My health has not been great for the last two or three years," says the 61-year-old. "Although in many respects I am quite well, you have to be so proactive as a trainer – more so now than ever – and I feel it better than Ben takes over.

"He will be making his own decisions, it will be his show and he will have his own ideas – he wouldn't be any good if he didn't – but he has been a great help to me over the past three-and-a-half years and, hopefully, I can support and help him in return."

So as one distinguished career comes to an end, another – hopefully – begins and all the signs are pointing in the right direction.

The Haslams moved base four months ago, just 100 yards or so from Manor House Stables to a new development, Castle Hill Stables, complete with airy, American-style barns, and Ben is delighted with his surroundings as he anticipates his first steps as a trainer.

He appreciates he is following in special footsteps. His father laid claim to a unique slice of Turf history when Tony McCoy rode King Revo to success at Cheltenham in 2004. That victory gave Haslam the "full house" – having trained a winner at all 59 courses then staging racing in this country (Great Leighs and Ffos Las have been added to the list of tracks since then).

He also sent out the brilliant filly Kinnaird to win the Group One Prix de l'Opera at the 2005 Arc meeting at Longchamp with Kevin Darley in the saddle, numbers the Bunbury Cup (twice), the Royal Hunt Cup and the Victoria Cup among his other successes and recalls with satisfaction winners like Godstone, Pipe Major, Maroussies Wings, Hawkley and Mummy's Pleasure.

Racing has been a major part of Ben Haslam's life for as long as he can remember but his first serious involvement came when he rode morning work during holidays from school at Shrewsbury.

He took out an amateur rider's licence and had five winners from his 25 rides but accepts that his first steps towards a career in racing came when he responded to an advertisement in the Racing Post.

The ad sought applicants to the Darley Flying Start programme, a scholarship originated in 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai aimed at giving young people with ambitions to be involved in the thoroughbred industry the perfect grounding.

"I was probably going down the university road until I saw the advert and the first time I applied I wasn't among the 12 selected," he recalls.

"But after I had fluked a few 'A' levels and had a gap year, I applied again and was accepted.

"It was an unbelievable experience. I had six weeks' work experience with Sir Michael Stoute, was involved with Godolphin in Dubai, went to Australia, to Santa Anita in California and earned a degree in equine sciences at Limerick University, all in two wonderful years – and we were funded for the whole time, I didn't spend a penny. It was amazing."

With that foundation behind him, Ben returned as a 21-year-old to Middleham to work with his parents and now he exudes confidence as destiny beckons.

Castle Hill is home to 35 horses of which 17 are two-year-olds and it is on these juveniles that he intends to lay the foundations of his career.

"You have to be careful, picking the right time to run them otherwise you can either ruin them by sending them out too early or waste their talent by leaving it too late to run them," he says.

The snows of January meant the gallops at Middleham were out of commission for three weeks and, as a result, some of his charges are not as forward as he would like but he envisages the stable will be approaching a peak in time for the start of the Flat season in March and, as well as his juveniles, he has high hopes of success over the jumps.

"Duke of Touraine won four races for us last year but was injured just before Cheltenham and has had a year off," he says. "He is rated 127 over hurdles and we hope to get him back racing in March, maybe at Doncaster," he says.

Dance For Julie is another of whom much is expected. "She won her maiden in soft ground and with her sex allowance should go well in juvenile hurdles," he added.

The education of the two-year-olds will be completed close to home.

"We are lucky to have good courses like Thirsk and Ripon nearby, then there is Pontefract which is an excellent venue for juveniles," says Haslam.

"After that, it would be nice to have runners at places like York and, hopefully, we will have four or five horses with the potential to mature into good older horses we can aim at the bigger handicaps, although winning races like that is always so difficult."

Young Haslam has learned enough about racing to know that it is not an easy way of making a living but he points to neighbour Mark Johnston as proof of what hard work can achieve.

"Mark has kept Middleham on the map," he says, "but it is nice when some of the smaller yards have their successes – as father did with Kinnaird – and that will be the target for us."

It is a target which will surely be achieved.