Richard Fahey pays tribute to Wootton Bassett

The news of the passing of Wootton Bassett has hit everyone very hard. The team at Musley Bank have lost a real pal. He was a wonderful character, a horse people loved being around and he leaves a big hole here, in France and of course at Coolmore.

I know how Monty, who used to look after him at home with us, will be feeling right now and John Murphy, who rode him out all the time, is still working here. It’s such a sad day for the stable and sport in general. He’s a huge loss to the racing industry.

We were so proud of his achievements on the racecourse – and of course in recent years at stud.

I enjoyed going through all the two-year-old races and seeing what he had running. This weekend he had winners in England, Ireland and France. He was a superstar stallion already but with so much still in front of him.

I’ll be forever grateful for what he did for my career. We cheated a little and won the sales races with him as a two-year-old as they were worth a fortune in those days. But the Lagardere was always the big target and to win that was such a special afternoon.

He was just a special horse though, an absolute pleasure to deal with. He leaves us with wonderful memories and a real legacy at stud, but it’s the people who were closest to him that are in my thoughts right now.

They loved being around him every day in the yard and the studs and, as I said at the start, the overriding feeling this morning is one of losing a real friend.

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