Initially, Ian was not drawn to follow his father, Billy, into training, but, a year at college studying Business & Accountancy persuaded him that horses weren’t too bad after all.
As the tag line on the website says “Passion to succeed never dies.” Ian’s objectives are simple – improve the quality of the string and continue to saddle winners. He achieved a lifetime ambition on 15th March 2016 when Ballyalton gave him his first Cheltenham Festival winner. Having run so well to be 2nd to the mighty Faugheen in 2014, it was appropriate that Ballyalton should give him his first ‘gold medal’.
When Brasted won at Chelmsford on 15th October 2015, Ian completed a full set of saddling a winner at every racecourse in the UK – a unique achievement in modern training!