There is almost certainly a world in which Andrew Balding raises a wry smile when someone asks him if he’s any relation to Clare Balding. The media celebrity, who began life as an amateur flat racing jockey before becoming a presenter on the likes of the BBC and Channel 4, is his eldest sister.
Given the fact that Peter Hastings-Bass, the trainer, was his grandfather on his mother’s side and William Hastings-Bass was once the trainer to Queen Elizabeth II, it’s fair to say that horse racing is in the family blood when it comes to the Baldings.
About
When he was a child, Andrew Balding was a pupil at the preparatory school, Caldicott School. He then went to the public school, Radley College, before working with his father, Ian Balding, at his training yard, Park House Stables in Kingsclere. It isn’t outrageous to suggest that Andrew will have felt that he had a lot to live up to by taking over from his father, not just because of the family name but also because of his father’s success training on the flat, where he won the likes of the Epsom Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Of course, having grown up around royalty and the upper echelons of British society, Balding was probably quite used to high expectations being foisted upon him. He became a licensed trainer in 2003, taking over from his father at that point and almost immediately registering a big win when Casual Look came home first in the Epsom Oaks. If you’re going to come out of your father’s shadow, winning one of the British Classics is an ideal way to do so. In the years that followed, both the yard and Balding’s career went from strength to strength.
Major Successes
If you look at a list of the big races that Andrew Balding has won during his career, you will see huge races in almost every country around the world that has flat racing events worthy of the name. From the Canadian International Stakes through to the Hong Kong Vase via the Dubai Sheema Classic and the LKS Mackinnon Stakes, if it’s a big name in flat racing then the chances are high that Balding will have trained the winner at some point. Of course, being based in the United Kingdom means that the British races sit at the top of his list of accomplishments.
The major flat racing meetings like Royal Ascot have seen a horse trained by Balding enter the Winners’ Enclosure on more than one occasion, whilst he’s also had a good go at winning each of the Classics. By getting the Epsom Oaks under his belt before he’d even really been able to unpack his boxes, Balding put himself in a position to be able to let owners know that the family’s success was likely to continue, which gave them the reassurance needed to keep sending their horses to Kingsclere. That, in turn, ensured the successes kept coming.
Here is a list of the races that Andrew Balding has trained the winner in at least once:
- 2,000 Guineas
- Epsom Oaks
- British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes
- British Champions Sprint Stakes
- Cheveley Park Stakes
- Dewhurst Stakes
- Coronation Stakes
- July Cup
- City of York Stakes
- Sussex Stakes
Horses Trained
A fastest-ever Guineas 🥇
The day belonged to Kameko who won the 2000 Guineas for Andrew Balding and Oisin Murphy. pic.twitter.com/tObMi41z1p
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 6, 2020
The fact that Andrew Balding was able to take over the yard that his father had built such an impressive reputation for meant that he has had the opportunity to work with some top-class horses from the moment that he launched his training career. The likes of Kalpana, Never So Brave, Side Glance and Blond Me have all impressed both at home and abroad, which isn’t even mentioning the horses that won the Classics for him. Here is a look at just some of the horses that have been trained to wins by Balding over the years:
Casual Look
If you’re going to start anywhere, starting with the horse that won you your first Classic isn’t a bad launching off point. Casual Look was owned and bred by William S. Farish III, coming out of the mare Style Setter and sired by Red Ransom. When the horse was riding in Europe, it was Martin Dwyer who was in the saddle and that’s exactly what happened when she raced to success in the 2003 Epsom Oaks. She followed that up with a third-place finish in the Irish Oaks, never quite able to reclaim the glory that came at Epsom.
Kameko
There are countless different races run on the flat that many trainers would kill to be responsible for the winner of, but there is no question that the Classics sit at the top of the pile. As a result, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Andrew Balding will look on those that have won one of the famous British races whilst in his care with extreme fondness. Kameko, which is the Japanese word for ‘child turtle’, won his first race before coming second in two, then in just his first appearance as a three-year-old he ran a record time winning the 2,000 Guineas.
Chaldean
When a horse wins a Classic, that will always sit at the top of its CV. In the case of Chaldean, there are some other races that sit just below the 2,000 Guineas, which he won in 2023, that are also worthy of attention. It is fair to say that 2022 was a good year for the chestnut colt, winning the Acomb Stakes, the Champagne Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes before heading into the following year with the Classic race well in his sights. He proved to be just as successful in that event, heading home with Frankie Dettori on his back.
