Merrick Francis, born in 1949, is the son of National Hunt jockey and racing thriller writer Dick Francis and his wife Mary. Merrick was always likely to carve out a career in racing, given the fame of his father, so in 1968 he began as assistant trainer in Sussex before deciding to launch his horsebox transportation business in the 1970s, starting with just one box. By the late 1970s he was training at Delamere House on the Baydon Road, and in 1982 he built Folly House and stables on the Folly Road, complete with its 27 boxes. He trained from there between 1982 and 1991, retiring for the first time in 1992, when Brian Meehan moved in a year. During that first spell he won the 1983 Northumberland Plate with Weavers Pin, its 150th running, and celebrated a Royal Ascot success in the 1987 Britannia Stakes with Genobra.
In 1996 Noel Chance took over and managed to train a Gold Cup winner, Mr Mulligan, at the stables. At the end of 1998 Noel relocated because Merrick wanted to restart his training career. By that stage Merrick had been running his Merrick Francis Transport for 3 years, having launched it in 1989. In February 1992 he took over the historic Lambourn Racehorse Transport, located on the Baydon Road, which could trace its history back to 1934. Merrick continued to train until 2008 when he put Folly House on the market for £1.9 million. Sylvester Kirk was based there for a short while.
1983 Northumberland Plate at Newcastle WEAVER'S PIN 20/1, owned jointly by Mrs Francis, trained by Merrick Francis and ridden by Paul Eddery
1987 Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot GENOBRA 25/1 owned by Dr Omar Zawawi, trained by Merrick Francis and ridden by Chris Rutter
Brian Joseph Meehan, born in Limerick on 16th July 1967, served as assistant trainer to Richard Hannon senior before launching his own training career in 1993. He was initially based at Folly House Stables, Lambourn, and enjoyed 14 winners in his first seaon. At the end of that season he realised that his stables limited his opportunity to expand and build on his growing reputation, as it could only stable 26 horses, so in January 1994 he approached Cath Walwyn to ask to lease the empty Saxon House Stables, conveniently located just 250 yards away.
1995-1998 Noel Chance
Noel Chance, born in Dublin, Ireland on 18th December 1951, was educated at St Patrick's High School, Downpatrick, and freely admits that school was a low priority in his thoughts, with racing set on a much higher plane. He inherited his love of racing from his father, a Head Lad who died when Noel was just 2-years of age. Noel launched his training career near The Curragh, in his native Ireland, in 1974, after working for Sir Hugh Nugent at The Curragh from 1967 and then gaining further experience in Neville Begg's Sydney yard in Australia in 1971, but he was much more successful when he was enticed by owner Michael Worcester to transferred to Folly House Stables in Upper Lambourn in 1995. The next year he won the Towton Novices Chase at Wetherby with Mr Mulligan, who then followed up in the Reynoldstown Novices Chase at Ascot. He further repaid Worcester's faith in him by winning the 1997 Cheltenham Gold Cup with Mr Mulligan at 20/1 a year later. In 1999, when Mark Pitman decided to move across to Weathercock House after his mother announced her retirement, Noel Chance was able to move to the historic Saxon House Stables, announcing himself as a public trainer, landing the Sun Alliance Chase with another of his stars Looks Like Trouble, but even Chance would have thought it long odds against winning a second Gold Cup with the horse just 12 months later. Nevertheless, Looks Like Trouble won the 2000 Gold Cup at 9/2 for owner Tim Collins when ridden by Richard Johnson, following up in the John Bull Chase at Wincanton in 2001. Also, in 2000 Chance landed the prestigious Tingle Creek Chase with Flagship Uberalles, the race being moved to Cheltenham that year. Flagship Uberalles had already won the 1999 Tingle Creek trained by Paul Nicholls, but Chance took him on in 2000 to win that year's running, although the horse was less successful in the other 3 races he ran whilst at Saxon House. In 2002 Chance moved to Berkeley House in Lambourn where the best horse he trained was Murphy's Cardinal, remarkably unbeaten at 8-years-old. Saxon House was purchased by Charles Egerton and Mark Usher became trainer at the historic stables. Noel Chance then gave up training for a while when it became financially unviable, but did return to the training ranks when based at Upshire House Stables before finally retiring in 2013.
1996 Towton Novices Chase at Wetherby MR MULLIGAN 3/1 owned by Michael Worcester, trained by Noel Chance and ridden by Richard Johnson
1996 Reynoldstown Novices Chase at Ascot MR MULLIGAN 9/4 fav owned by Michael Worcester, trained by Noel Chance and ridden by Richard Johnson
1997 Cheltenham Gold Cup MR MULLIGAN 20/1 owned by Michael Worcester, trained by Noel Chance and ridden by Tony McCoy
2008 Sylvester Kirk
Sylvester Kirk, son of the Irish National Hunt trainer Syl and his wife Myra, and brother of Rhonda, was destined to spend his life in racing. His father trained just outside Clady, County Tyrone, and won the Ulster National at Downpatrick on 3 occasions, twice with Treat Me Good and once with Miss Leap Year. He also won the Slaney Hurdle at Naas with Regular Time. Sylvester not only learnt his trade from his father, but then spent time working for the Irish National Stud, Coolmore Stud and Australia before acting as assistant to Richard Hannon senior in Marlbrough for 8 years. He married Richard's daughter Fanny and the pair believed that, in 2001, the time was right for Sylvester to train on his own account. He successfully applied for a trainers licence and the couple purchased Cedar Lodge, Upper Lambourn and set about the hard work of turning it into the successful stable it is today. When Merrick Francis put Folly House and stables on the market in 2008 he implied that Sylvester Kirk was making use of the stables, maybe as a second yard. Not certain if he did use the stables, if so, how long he stayed.
Jamie Snowden was always likely to join the training ranks having been associated with horses from an early age. He joined the Pony Club, enjoyed hunting and rode in local point-to-point races, notching up about 60 wins, and even whilst still at school he rode out for Nigel Twiston-Davies. He attended University at Newcastle, after spending a year in New Zealand to gain training experience, and then embarked on a short Army career, reaching the rank of Captain, which provided him with the chance to ride in the Royal Artillery Gold Cup and the Grand Military Gold Cup, winning each 4 times, the first time, appropriately enough on Folly Road owned by Miss B W Palmer. In 2005 he was assistant trainer to Paul Nicholls before moving to Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows yard as assistant between 2006 and 2008. In 2008 he thought the time was right and launched his own training career, basing himself at a small rented yard in Wiltshire. After 2 years he took over Folly House in Lambourn where he has carved out a successful training career, even winning with his first runner Knighton Combe in the Listed English Summer National at Uttoxeter. Later that year his first Cheltenham win came in the form of Ixora, although he had to wait almost 3 years before his first Cheltenham Festival win when Present View won the 2014 Rewards4Racing Listed Handicap Chase Final. In a 5 month period in 2019 Jamie guided Pacify to 5 consecutive wins for Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, culminating in victory in the Matchbook Listed Novices Hurdle at Kempton. Since then Jamie has shown that if a horse has the ability then he can train it to perfection, winning the Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree with Hogan's Height, and the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham with GA Law.
2002 Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown FOLLY ROAD 14/1 owned by Miss B W Palmer, trained by Dai Williams and ridden by Jamie Snowden
2003 Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown STORM DAMAGE 5/4 fav owned by Major A M J Shaw, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Jamie Snowden
2005 Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown WHITENZO 8/11 fav owned by G Z Mizel, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2005 Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown WHITENZO 8/11 fav owned by G Z Mizel, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2006 Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown INCA TRAIL 11/8 owned by Major A M J Shaw, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2006 Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown INCA TRAIL 5/6 fav owned by Major A M J Shaw, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2007 Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown HOO LA BALOO 4/5 fav owned by Brigadier Julian Browne, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2008 Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown LE DUC 4/6 fav owned by Major A M J Shaw, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Captain Jamie Snowden
2011 English Summer National Listed Chase at Uttoxeter KNIGHTON COMBE 16/1 owned by I R Snowden, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Darryl Jacob
2012 AP Securities Veterans Chase at Ascot KNIGHTON COMBE 5/2 fav owned by I R Snowden, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Tom O'Brien
2012 Ladbrokes Novice Hurdle at Worcester KNIGHTON COMBE 2/1 fav owned by I R Snowden, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Tom O'Brien
2014 Rewards4Racing Handicap Chase at Kempton PRESENT VIEW 5/2 fav owned by Sir Chips Keswick, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Brendan Powell
2014 Rewards4Racing Listed Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival PRESENT VIEW 8/1 owned by Sir Chips Keswick, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Brendan Powell
2018 Safran Landing Systems Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham MONBEG THEATRE 20/1 owned by Tim Dykes & Lynda Lovell, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Page Fuller
2018 Pertemps Network Long Distance Handicap Hurdle at Haydock MONBEG THEATRE 11/1 owned by Tim Dykes & Lynda Lovell, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Page Fuller
2018 Charlie Hall Meeting Handicap Hurdle at Wetherby MONBEG THEATRE 11/4 fav owned by Tim Dykes & Lynda Lovell, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Page Fuller
2019 July Hurdle at Southwell PACIFY 7/2 owned by Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 Signs 2000 Novices Hurdle at Uttoxeter PACIFY evens fav owned by Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 Visit atheraces Novices Hurdle at Newton Abbot PACIFY 2/7 fav owned by Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 TM Resources Novices Hurdle at Stratford PACIFY 4/9 fav owned by Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 Matchbook Listed Novices Hurdle at Kempton PACIFY 5/4 fav owned by Chips Keswick and the Duchess of Cornwall, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase at Aintree HOGAN'S HEIGHT 16/1 owned by Foxtrot Racing Hogans Height, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Tom Cannon
2019 Newton Listed Novices Hurdle at Haydock THEBANNERKINGREBEL 5/4 fav owned by Chips Keswick, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Gavin Sheehan
2019 Rising Stars Grade 2 Novices Chase at Wincanton GA LAW 2/1 fav owned by The Footie Partnership, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Darryl Jacob
2022 Jane Seymour Mares Grade 2 Novice Hurdle at Sandown ANYTHINGFORLOVE 18/1 owned by Foxtrot Racing Anythingforlove Partnership, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Page Fuller
2022 Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Cheltenham GA LAW 5/1 owned by The Footie Partnership, trained by Jamie Snowden and ridden by Jonathan Burke
MR MULLIGAN (1997 Cheltenham Gold Cup)
GA LAW (2022 Paddy Power Gold Cup)
GENOBRA (1987 Britannia Stakes)
WEAVER'S PIN (1983 Northumberland Plate)
HOGAN'S HEIGHT (2019 Grand sefton Handicap Chase)
