A Horse Racing Memoir by Matt Sheppard

Given an opportunity to work as an unpaid pupil assistant to Mercy Rimell in 1986, I was lucky enough to embark on a fabulous journey of thrills and spills, highs and lows, and everything in between. I spent a summer flat racing at Classic winning trainer Paul Cole’s, then three years in Kildare as head lad to Arthur Moore when he was Irish champion jumps trainer, and was then head-hunted to work a brief spell in Wiltshire for Martyn Meade before he became a big name. I set myself up in Eastnor, Herefordshire in 1993, where I have been training ever since. 

This account is the reality of what it’s like to be a bit player in the Sport of Kings.

Published 4th November