In one sense, the stable jointly run by Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero is like many of its counterparts up and down the country.

Horses are scattered around the verdant fields which border the driveway up to Stockton Hall Farm, where barns that once held Aberdeen Angus cattle have been converted into open, airy stables for thoroughbreds.

Around them staff dash to grab a quick coffee in between morning lots in a scene replicated in all racing stables.

But that is as far tradition goes in this corner of Cheshire, a stone’s throw from the market town of Malpas.

The system that Greenall and Guerriero operate with its clearly defined roles – Oliver responsible for the business, liaising with existing owners and recruiting new ones, and Josh for the training of their horses and entries – is unusual in a British racing stable.

But what is unique is how their system has shaped the make-up of their stable. Ninety per cent of the 90 horses in their care are syndicate-owned.

There are almost 400 individual owners on their books, many having multiple shares, and the stable runs 56 individual syndicates with, once again, some of them being involved in multiple horses.

As costs continue to rise, putting inevitable further financial pressure and constraints on individual ownership, the model looks to be a glimpse into the future, with Greenall and Guerriero ahead of the curve.

When Guerriero joined Greenall in 2016, they had less than 20 horses but a heap of hope and ambition.

We got lucky with a couple of syndicates we did.

Not only has the number of horses increased almost five-fold, on average they now syndicate two horses a month, having created a system that keeps their owners continually informed on both their horses’ progress and their financial position.

They also have a live Randox Grand National hope in their care in the JP McManus-owned Iroko, the high-class gelding who gave the duo a first Cheltenham Festival success when he landed the 2023 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

‘‘We probably get an enquiry a week asking about getting involved in a syndicate,’’ Greenall explains. ‘‘We always felt we’d be a happy with 50 or 60 horses, but it has happened relatively quickly.

‘‘When we started, we bought two or three horses, split them into shares and sold them. As soon as they were sold, we started again. That is how we built up.

‘‘We got lucky with a couple of syndicates we did. I did a Haydock Park racing club where you got an annual member’s badge to the track. That was 40 members and, out of those, 30 are still owners and have at least five shares in other horses.

‘‘That syndicate also brought a lot more people in and we started to be able to buy more expensive horses.

‘‘We run all the syndicates ourselves. I try to design them so that everybody is going to get on. We are not a big gambling yard. All our owners are similar – they just enjoy racing.

‘‘They are not in it to make money. They just like seeing the horses do well and having an enjoyable day out.’’

The training partnership has its roots in the weighing room. Greenall and Guerriero got to know each other while riding as amateur jockeys, although they came into the sport on different avenues.

Greenall is from a family with racing in its blood. His three brothers, including Jake who turned professional and Thomas who was twice champion amateur jump jockey, all rode. His father Peter is Lord Daresbury, senior Jockey Club member and former Chairman of Aintree and Haydock as well as also being a two-time champion amateur jump jockey.

I never thought I would train but I found the farming very lonely

Oliver originally envisaged a life in farming when riding out for Mick Easterby while studying at Askham Bryan College near York.

He was another two-time champion amateur jump jockey with his biggest win coming in the Foxhunter Chase at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival on Amicelli.

Steve Wynne was training at the Greenalls’ Stockton Hall Farm when Oliver arrived back in 2010 to look after a handful of point-to-pointers and a herd of suckler cows.

Greenall, who eventually took out a full training licence in 2016, admits: ‘‘I never thought I would train but I found the farming very lonely – and I didn’t make much money at it!

‘‘I used to breed store cattle. I would sell them once or twice a year. That was my only interaction, the rest of the time you are on your own and I was new to the area, so I found the farm quite isolating.

‘‘With racing I really liked the interaction with the owners, doing the horses and going to the races. As I got a little bit bigger with the horses, I employed people and had people like the farrier, physios and the vets coming in. I enjoyed it more.’’

For Guerriero, the chance to join forces with Greenall offered up an opportunity he feared he may never get. He was born and spent his early years near Florence in Italy and moved to Britain when he was ten after his father, Giuseppe, moved to Penrith and opened a restaurant.

He learnt to ride while on holiday back in the country of his birth but the connection to racing came when helping out at Nicky Richards’ Cumbria stable.

I have always been quite driven that I wanted to do my own thing.

From there Guerriero moved to Philip Hobbs in Somerset during which time his 99 winners as a rider included the 2008 Fox Hunters’ Chase at Aintree on Christy Beamish with Greenall back in fourth on Sonevafushi.

As well as assisting Hobbs, Guerriero also worked for Victor Dartnall for four years before assisting Dan Skelton for the first three years of his training career.

It was a tough decision to leave someone who always looked like becoming a future champion trainer, yet Guerriero recognised the offer to work in partnership with Greenall was probably the only way to realise his ambitions.

Initially the pair were business partners without being joint licence holders.

Guerriero says: ‘‘Dan’s stable was an up-and-coming yard and growing like mad – there were 120 horses there when I left, and they were getting bigger. But I have always been quite driven that I wanted to do my own thing.

‘‘I knew it would be very hard to do it without backing. When Ollie spoke to me, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do it together. I saw a future here.

‘‘I could have stayed at Dan’s and been an assistant for the next 20 years – but it was not what I wanted to do.’’

What works so well now for Greenall and Guerriero did take time to evolve. Both candidly admit it took a while for their working relationship to become harmonious.

Greenall recalls: ‘‘We had a lot of arguments to start with. I had been here six of seven years doing it myself. Josh wanted to do things the way he had been taught by Philip Hobbs, Victor Dartnall and Dan Skelton. I had come from Mick Easterby – quite different ways!

You never get a final decision if you are both trying to do the same thing.

‘‘All the old staff at that point had worked for me for a long time and they were slightly on my side, saying, ‘Who’s this guy coming in?’.

‘‘It was tricky, but we soon realised that training is such an opinionated thing that it was important Josh focused on the training and I focused on the other side of it.

‘‘For the business to work, I knew my skills were getting the owners in, communicating with them and dealing with that side of the business. We didn’t have any big backers and because we are mainly syndicates that became more and more time-consuming.’’

Agreeing with his business partner, Guerriero adds: ‘‘It took us a while to find our roles. We had to do separate things because you never get a final decision if you are both trying to do the same thing.

‘‘Someone has to have the final say. Now we leave each other to our own job. It was the only way to make it work without any fallouts or complications.

‘‘I am pretty much always here at the stable. I don’t go racing too often apart from Aintree, Uttoxeter and Bangor, which is four miles down the road. I do all the feeding and like to be here to do all that.

‘‘There are owners who have input and will speak to me which works fine but, with Ollie largely dealing with them, I can be objective and try to do exactly what I think is best for the horse and find which race is best without being too influenced.’’

The partnership took a step forward when Guerriero’s name was added to the licence for the 2022-23 season.

Greenall says: ‘‘Josh said it would not really matter if his name was on the licence or not but the day he was put on the licence, I noticed a change, not in enthusiasm but the way he approached the business. He felt that responsibility. He felt more invested in it.’’

In a further illustration of the division of labour, much of the stable’s recruitment from domestic sales is delegated to bloodstock agent Dan Astbury, who used to work alongside Greenall and Guerriero before going freelance.

The stable also taps into the French venture set up by Lord Daresbury, which buys up to 15 foals a year and develops them in conjunction with the Cypres family at Haras de Cercy in the Nievre region, renowned for AQPS horses.

The talent from there has included Iroko, Gesskille, winner of last season’s Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree before suffering a fatal injury in the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham a month later, Grade 2 winner Homme Public and Gaboriot, third in this year’s Grand Sefton.

There are a handful of individual owners at Stockton Hall Farm. JP McManus currently has three there which include Jagwar, a winner at Bangor and Wetherby already this season, useful juvenile hurdle recruit My Noble Lord as well as Iroko.

However, the stable revolves around syndicates. Owners are encouraged to visit any time but there is also an owners’ morning on the first Saturday of every month, with information on that plus all updates on horses shared via the Racing Manager App.

Greenall says: ‘‘A list will go out on Racing Manager saying what time a horse is out on the gallops, so you just turn up, have some breakfast and watch your horse.

‘‘We get on average 100 people on those mornings and all the main information also comes from Racing Manager.

‘‘Each horse has its own page where we post all the videos and updates. Owners can access the horses they have a share in.

‘‘On a Monday the horses all jump so you get a jumping video and on Wednesday and Saturday they work so you should get one working video in a week.

‘‘Some things are automated so if the horse is about to run, Timeform do a written preview of the race and you get an entry note.

‘‘If you want to go to the races, you can click on to send me a notification and get a ticket.

‘‘Before and after the race we do a video of the jockey. There is a race replay and the next morning a trot-up video. We try to do set things and owners can write comments to each other. It works really well.’’

We accommodate how an owner wants to do it.

Greenall and Guerriero also engaged a software company to develop an owner portal on their website, which allows clients to keep up to date with their winnings and outgoings.

Greenall explains: ‘‘We have built our own accounting platform where we put all the accounts each month.

‘‘Financially, the syndicates are run differently. Some owners pay a set monthly fee, some pay an up-front fee, and some pay as they go. It depends how the syndicate is set up and we accommodate how an owner wants to do it.

‘‘If I am selling up two syndicates a month, one might be an up-front fee and one not to attract different people. Owners go on the portal to see where their account stands.

‘‘If their horse has won or perhaps they got some VAT back, you get a credit that month with some money back or, if you are not on a direct debit, maybe not having to pay that month. If you owe us money, you get billed.

‘‘With so many owners, for our cash flow, it’s important to the business.

‘’People want the information. The more you can give people we find the happier they are and the less questions there are.’’

No matter what the questions, with their innovative approach, Greenall and Guerriero seem to be coming up with plenty of the right answers.

 

“We’ll have to bump everyone up”

The hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions plus April’s rise in the national minimum wage announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the first Budget of the new Labour government will inevitably lead to owners having to pay more in their training bills.

That is the verdict of Oliver Greenall, who also feels too little attention is paid to the costs trainers incur developing the skills of their employees.

He says: ‘‘We are going to work out what it will cost us but, because most of our staff are aged between 18 and 23, it will probably hit us quite hard.

‘‘We pay the staff over the minimum wage, but we will have to bump everyone up. We will have to pass it on to the owners unfortunately, which we always try not to do.

‘‘The industry is dominated by younger people, so raising the minimum wage will have a big effect.

‘‘The problem we find is that a lot of staff are so inexperienced when they first arrive. Every year you get less and less people who have ridden all their lives.

“A lot have been to the races and fancy having a go. They go to college for nine to 12 weeks, get turfed out, and suddenly think they can work in racing, which is not the case.

‘‘Luckily, being a National Hunt yard, the horses tend to be nicer to ride at home so we can take on less experienced staff, but we have to put a lot of work in, with all the senior staff helping.

‘‘We have one girl who has recently completed a coaching module to try to help the staff. She rides upsides them once a week, trying to improve and help.

‘‘For the first two years at least, you have to give them extra time. Maybe they ride and muck out less. It is an investment.’’