‘It’s not been a bad week!’ – trainer ends 16-month wait for a winner just six days after getting married
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Some things really are worth waiting for. Six days after getting married following a 14-year courtship, Noel Wilson ended 16 months without a winner on Friday evening.
Success with Brandenburg in a nursery at Hamilton was his first since he returned to training in Britain last year.
He had quit in 2019 and headed out to Florida with long-term partner Alex Porritt. They were among the winners at Gulfstream Park but returned to Britain in 2022, after which he had stints working for Karl Burke and Patrick Neville and also turned his hand to pre-training and acting as a jockeys’ agent.
“It’s not been a bad week!” said Wilson, speaking on Saturday from the stables he rents at Ann Duffield’s yard in Sun Hill, near Leyburn in North Yorkshire.
“That win was very much needed. The first year was about getting horses fit and ready for their three-year-old careers. We bought yearlings who had to get their marks.
“The horses have been running well and we’ve made the frame a few times but it’s been tough.”
Brandenburg justified even-money favouritism under David Egan at Hamilton, having finished second at 50-1 at York last Saturday.
Brandenburg: winner at Hamilton for Noel WilsonCredit: Grossick Photography (racingpost.com/photos)
Wilson said: “He’s very laid-back and one for the future. He’ll probably be gelded over the winter and will make a nice three-year-old.
“He’d run a blinder in a decent race at York in his first nursery, beaten by a very good winner. It was a worry turning out again so quickly but he’d eaten up and had a nice canter on the day of declarations.”
Wilson had sent out 200 winners in his first spell of training in Britain, which lasted nearly 20 years.
“There was no celebration, I was too busy,” he said of his latest success. “I was riding out this morning. We have 14 horses in and Walk On Walk On runs on Monday so I gave him a canter then a breeze.”
However, there had been festivities last weekend, when he and Alex got married in Edinburgh.
“We’ve been together 14 years and have been meaning to do it for a long time,” Wilson said.
“It was a beautiful place to do it. My mother, who’s 93, came over from Ireland with my three sisters. My son Charlie was my best man and we both had kilts with the Wilson tartan!”
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