Situated in the historic racing village of Lambourn, The Croft stands in 17 acres and has 56 boxes. The original part of the yard was built at the turn of the century. Past inhabitants include Lanzarote and Jay Trump who won the Champion Hurdle and Grand National respectively for the great Fred Winter.

Fred used the yard as an isolation unit. The 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Fortina was also stabled here, standing in a box which only three years before had housed American GI’s preparing for the D-Day landings. Today these boxes are full of two-year-olds.

The main part of the yard is newly built with the most modern facilities to hand, horsewalkers, weighing machines and good ventilation.

The horses train on the 120-year-old Faringdon Road grass, belonging to John’s father Barry and two brand new Polytrack gallops. The most important being Kingsdown, built by Martin Myers and shared with Jamie Osborne, this mile gallop is arguably the best in the country and allows owners to follow the horses along as they work. This is a wonderful experience and cannot be repeated in Newmarket, Epsom or Middleham.