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Hugo Palmer announced as new trainer at Manor House Stables

By Racing TV

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

Hugo Palmer will up sticks and move to Cheshire to become a salaried trainer at Manor House Stables.

Palmer has been based at Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket, from where he sent out Galileo Gold to win the 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes in 2016.

Tom Dascombe had been training out of Manor House Stables, owned by ex-footballer Michael Owen, until a surprise parting of ways was announced in December, ending a 12-year association.

The 41-year-old Palmer saddled 54 winners in Britain last term and struck Group One gold in Ireland with Ebro River, who landed the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh. It was the fifth Group One winner of Palmer’s career since he began training in 2011.

Palmer said: “Cheshire is a beautiful part of the world and I am ambitious and hungry and I want to win more races.

“It has taken a lot of people by surprise, but it is a fantastic professional opportunity and also, from a personal side of things, it removes the pressure in many respects, as it just means I can be paid a salary to do the job I love, rather than tearing my hair out with people not paying me.”

Palmer is looking forward to building his string to the levels he enjoyed earlier in his career.

“It is not just being a salaried trainer, it means we will have a really significant number of horses again, which I am really very excited about," he said.

“It is just a wonderful opportunity and we will have the same number of horses we had when we had our best-ever season in 2016. We will be starting with the same number of horses and we have real ambition to grow from there.

“I'm over the moon. It is really very, very exciting. It is a massive opportunity and both Michael and I have got enormous ambitions - I will be doing everything I possibly can to realise those ambitions."

He added: “Kremlin Cottage Stables will be for sale. But I would be happy to rent it as well. It is a yard I bought 12 years ago and it was 30-odd boxes. An awful lot of time, effort and money has gone into it in the last 12 years to make it just shy of 100 boxes now.

“It is something I've obviously built up and I'm very proud of. I'm not going to give it away to the first bidder, but it is for sale and equally it is a lovely yard and I'd be happy to rent it as well.”

Palmer confirmed he will make the move to Manor House Stables during Cheltenham Festival week.

He added: “I take over then, and then I expect there will be a couple of weeks where we may be stretched here and there, but hopefully it will all come together pretty quickly."

In a statement posted on Twitter, Owen said: “I am absolutely thrilled to announce that multiple Group One and Classic winning trainer, Hugo Palmer, is to join Manor House Stables as our trainer and will be taking up his appointment in readiness for the new season.

“Hugo’s CV is there for all to see and it’s a huge coup for the area to welcome one of the country’s leading trainers.

“MHS has made giant strides both on and off the track since we opened our doors 17 years ago and I look forward to furthering that success with Hugo in the years to come.”

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