You know what to expect when you pass through the security gates at a stud – but it is different at Stetchworth Park. Here, you encounter a unique experience.

Naturally, there is everything you would anticipate seeing at an elite equestrian establishment, including stables and turn-out paddocks.

Yet you are also stepping into an art installation. It is everywhere you look.

On one side of the drive stands the imposing statue of Apache military leader Geronimo while opposite him, just outside the stud office, is the abstract sculpture of a faceless Prince Philip, credited to Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry.

Step into the waiting room and boardroom and the viewing is equally eclectic. An exhibit from London-based figurative artist Davina Jackson is among the pictures competing for every inch of space on the walls and ceiling, along with a portrait of User Friendly, winner of the English and Irish Oaks as well as the St Leger in 1992.

The experience, of course, reflects the character of User Friendly’s 91-year-old owner Bill Gredley.

Never one to be tied down by convention, he has always done it his way, occasionally ruffling the feathers of officials and trainers on a journey that took him from East End docker’s son to Rich List regular thanks to Unex. The property group he built from scratch is also now based at the stud, a few miles south of Newmarket, that was bought from the Duke of Sutherland.

“If I had my time again, I wouldn’t do anything differently”

However, in an ironic twist, the man who once caused a stir with the Royal Ascot fashion police by turning up with a ponytail under his topper is now batting very high up the order for a group once regarded as very much part of the establishment but now on the endangered species list – the British owner-breeder.

The Gredley renaissance has coincided with Bill’s son, 38-year-old Tim, taking over at the tiller of the operation, with the familiar silks – yellow, black and yellow striped sleeves and white cap – regularly spotted in big Saturday races both on the Flat and over jumps.

The involvement of his son is clearly a source of pride to Bill, who says: ‘‘If I had my time again, I wouldn’t do anything differently. I think it is harder for him to look after me than the horses, but Tim has come through and picked up the reins and is doing very well.

‘‘He can recognise a good horse. He lives it and has done a wonderful job. As a father with a son, you hope they do this or that and I must say Tim has not let me down. We have far too many horses but fortunately one or two nice ones.’’

That list of talented horses includes 2024 Derby runner-up and Irish Derby third Ambiente Friendly, Royal Lodge Stakes winner Wimbledon Hawkeye, who is being aimed at the 2025 Derby, and Burdett Road, winner of the Godolphin Stakes at Newmarket before landing a typically competitive edition of the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Burdett Road and Wimbledon Hawkeye are both trained by James Owen, with whom the Gredleys have struck up a fruitful partnership.

He also trains a clutch of promising juvenile hurdlers for the family including East India Dock, Lavender Hill Mob, Liam Swagger and Opec.

The venture into the winter game is a relatively recent development for the Gredleys, who struck at Grade 1 level when the Dan Skelton-trained Allmankind, Opec’s brother, landed the Finale Hurdle at Chepstow in 2019.

It allows all-year-round entertainment for Bill, who is not one to treat his horses as ornaments.

Yet Tim believes he and his team at Stetchworth Park, led by stud groom Giles St Lawrence, have alighted on a system offering the best commercial solution for an operation that favours patience and staying pedigrees with its 35 broodmares and 55 horses in training.

“We decided to try to race as much as we can and then try to get a few sold privately”

Tim explains: ‘‘When I first got involved, we went down the route of trying to sell a few during the yearling sales to try to pay a few bills, but we never had any luck.

‘‘One year we put [2018 Prix Morny winner] Pretty Pollyanna and James Garfield [winner of the 2017 Mill Reef Stakes and 2018 Greenham Stakes] through the ring and hardly got a bid. It was the same with following year with Vange, who finished fourth in the [2018] Coventry Stakes.

‘‘I said to dad, ‘I just don’t think this is going to work for us’”.

‘‘So, about two years ago we took the view that we would like to try to race as much as we can and then try to get a few sold privately. Vange got sold very well to Hong Kong and James Garfield went as a stallion.

‘‘We are really just seeing the fruits of that decision. I would say nearly all the horses who are now juveniles over hurdles will be going in the Horses-in-Training Sale next year.

‘‘If someone comes along in the meantime and wants to do a deal privately, we are very open to that as well and we have had a lot of offers.

‘‘Ultimately, I feel we have added value to those horses. East India Dock is a prime example. He is favourite for the Triumph Hurdle and would be worth quite a lot of money on the open market now compared to if we had sold him at the 2024 Horses-in-Training Sale.

‘‘There is a lot of money in jump racing now”

‘‘Opec, the filly who won a Listed juvenile hurdle at Newbury, had never won a race on the Flat or even looked like she would do. If we had put her through the ring, we would not have got much money for her. We have hung on to her and she is now a Listed winner – and she is a sister to Allmankind.

‘‘There is a lot of money in jump racing now. I felt that we might be missing a trick selling these horses with the potential to go jumping and missing out on all the fun.

‘‘With the idea of selling them later this year, Cheltenham and Royal Ascot are our biggest showcases. Everybody all over the world is watching these races. It is important to get your horses to these meetings. When they go through the ring, they will be recognisable horses.

‘‘We will maybe keep one or two but also speak to the agents so they know they will be on the market. Perhaps some will be Melbourne Cup-types.’’

The success of Big Orange in the 2017 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot coincided with Tim’s greater involvement in the businesses his father had built and helped kindle his enthusiasm for racing.

In 2016, he had stepped away from a successful full-time international showjumping career, which had included competing in the World Equestrian Games.

Encouraged by wife Rachel, a former Sky Sports presenter, Tim, who has two young daughters, Charlotte and Isabella, returned four years later and narrowly missed out on a place in the Great Britain team that took gold at this summer’s Olympic Games.

Tim says: ‘‘The problem with showjumping is that it takes you away for a long time. It was going well but I was beginning to feel I needed to spend more time in the company. The best way to do it was to cut it off.

‘‘I was a reserve for the Olympics”

‘‘I sent the horses to a few friends of mine to compete so I still had a bit of an interest but that was when I got into the racing side a lot more. I was in the office all the time with dad and his PA Sarah Porter, who is very knowledgeable on the pedigrees. They were talking about the bloodstock all the time.

‘‘In a funny way, I think the showjumping has gone better second time round. All the showjumpers are here. I ride a couple in the morning and then come into the office.

‘‘I was a reserve for the Olympics and gave it 100 per cent. I didn’t make it, but the boys won the gold medal – it was brilliant for the sport.

‘‘I had eight or nine horses in my string at the time and have cut it down to four.

‘‘That was a conscious decision because I felt it was taking me away from what I enjoy most – the company, racing and my family – but, as long as I am enjoying it, I will carry on.’’

Tim’s enthusiasm for racing was also fuelled by Frankie Dettori, who at one point was the Gredleys’ neighbour.

‘‘I used to go round there most nights and go through the races with him,” Tim explains. “It was lucky I could do that because it really got me thinking how big the industry is.

‘‘He is still a very good friend and when I was showjumping in America he came over and we had lunch a couple of times.’’

Dettori’s influence on Tim mirrors that of the great American jockey Steve Cauthen on his father.

When Cauthen was riding in Britain, he lived in a cottage on the Stetchworth Park estate. At a party to celebrate his 1985 Derby win on Slip Anchor, Bill offered to buy the jockey’s nomination to the colt when he was retired to stud.

The resulting mating with mare Rostova produced User Friendly.

‘‘I don’t know if it is a good horse or a bad one but if I like the look of it, I buy it!’’

Cauthen, along with some advice from the late Khalid Abdullah, also helped when Bill went to the US to buy bloodstock at Keeneland.

‘‘They were pedigrees no-one had heard of – but I got some great broodmares and didn’t spend a lot of money,’’ recalls Bill.

Among them was Water Woo, a daughter of Tom Rolfe, who was carrying a colt by Cozzene. The progeny turned out to be Environment Friend, who won the 1991 Eclipse Stakes a month after finishing unplaced behind Generous in the Derby.

Bill’s ventures into the sales ring tended to have an unconventional approach yet regularly reaped dividends.

‘‘It is easy to go to Tattersalls and put your hand up and I have bought some bad ones but, on the whole, I think I have a good eye,” he explains.

‘‘I don’t know if it is a good horse or a bad one but if I like the look of it, I buy it!’’

That’s how Ambiente Friendly ended up joining the Gredley team and Bill has been busy again, buying 15 yearlings at the autumn sales to mix in with the Stetchworth Park homebreds.

Tim continues: ‘‘Everyone says it’s a bit of a joke when dad goes to the sales, but he has bought some nice horses. He has a good eye for it – I stay well away from the buying. That’s his department.

‘‘I really enjoy the middle-distance horses and dad loves buying backward yearlings, so it works really well.

“Early yearlings is not really in our DNA.’’

‘‘We have a lovely filly called Trad Jazz, who won on her debut at Kempton. Because she was big and backward, dad bought her. I love managing that type of horse because you don’t have to rush them.

‘‘It works well rather than going and buying the early yearlings. That is not really in our DNA.’’

Whatever the genetics, the masterplan is working. Tim has an intriguing long-term plan for the future of the operation.

‘‘It has been an idea in my mind that, at some point down the line, we would partner up with someone to come in and share the fun,’’ he says.

‘‘That is the way the industry is going. Partnerships are the only way forward. The biggest operation in the world, Coolmore, has had partners for decades. They were well ahead of the game. There is always a representative enjoying the day when they win.

‘‘You also see it in jump racing. Look at the success John Hales, Sir Alex [Ferguson] and those guys are having buying into those horses.

‘‘We are having fun and making it pay but wouldn’t it be great if we could share it with other people?

‘‘When I was in America, a lot of showjumping people were interested in racing and they all wanted to come over for Royal Ascot and Cheltenham. A lot of them, when they had an interest in a horse as our guests, absolutely loved it.

‘‘Sometimes we have great days and there is no-one there to represent us. If we could do that, we wouldn’t have to sell them – that is the reality.’’

However, for the immediate future, it will remain the Bill and Tim’s excellent adventure.

Tim adds: ‘‘I can’t explain what a privileged position it is to take over the management of these horses that dad has built up over decades. It takes a lot of time and thinking about, but I absolutely love it.

‘‘The great thing is dad is still here to enjoy it. That has been the most enjoyable part of the whole journey.’’

“It was a bit of a punt with James”

When Tim Gredley decided to send horses to trainer James Owen, he admits it was a calculated gamble, but one which has paid off handsomely.

The Newmarket trainer’s first winner – Father Of Jazz in a Kempton novices’ hurdle on May 1, 2023 – carried the Gredley colours.

Their horses with him now include a clutch of Cheltenham Festival aspirants headed by Burdett Road and East India Dock plus 2025 Derby hope Wimbledon Hawkeye, who became Owen’s first two-year-old winner when successful at Kempton in May. The son of Kameko went on to land the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket and subsequently ran third in the Group 1 Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster.

Before taking out his trainer’s licence, the Gredleys were clients of Owen’s pre-training business, while Tim had got to know him better after he asked the man who had been East Anglia’s champion point-to-point rider nine times to train him a couple of point-to-pointers.

Tim says: ‘‘When I gave up showjumping and started working for the company full time, I still needed my horse fix. I knew James had a National Hunt background so I asked him whether he would train a couple of point-to-pointers for me.

‘‘Riding out in the morning I got to see what he was all about. I said to dad, ‘I think he is a good fit for us’’. He is a horseman through and through and I think that is the most important thing with trainers.

‘‘At the beginning, he liked the idea of having a few jumpers, but with the Flat horses he really needed pushing.

‘‘It was a bit of a punt when we sent so many to him – especially the Flat yearlings – in his first season but I took the view that there is no point sending him two or three because you need a lot of numbers to work them with.’’

The Gredley support has allowed Owen, who cut his training teeth when becoming a multiple champion in the world of Arabian racehorses, to become the hottest recent addition to the training ranks.

Tim adds: ‘‘It has been a great journey for all of us. The nice thing is James is very open to having conversations, which I think is especially important for trainers with owner-breeders.

‘‘When you breed horses, you form a relationship with them. When they are yearlings and you send them off, if you don’t hear about them for months on end it is frustrating. I work very closely with James, so we stay in touch with them all.’’

Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle
Burdett Road and Harry Cobden win for James Owen (3 from left), pic Bill Selwyn 17-11-24