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Racing Stable Daily Life Stories

The racing stable daily life stories from Susan Corbett's Girsonfield stud farm and racing stables.

Perth runners

Welcome to Life at Girsonfield - My Story

Hello there! I'm Susan Corbett, and I'd love to tell you about our little corner of the racing world here in the North-East. It's quite a journey we've been on, and honestly, sometimes I can hardly believe how far we've come.

I grew up in the small village of Burnopfield, and like most kids, I was absolutely horse-mad. Every Christmas I'd ask for a pony, and every year my mother would tell me it would never happen because "only rich people had ponies" and my dad worked at the factory - he didn't own it! But you know what?

Sometimes the best things come from the most unlikely places. My father was a spray painter, my grandad was a deputy in the local pit, and between the three of us, we got ourselves a paper round.

They helped me deliver papers in all weather, and when I was thirteen, I finally had enough saved to buy my first pony - a little mare called Melka. That moment changed everything.

I trained as a teacher, but life has a funny way of taking you down unexpected paths. When I was looking for a job after college, I completely changed direction and ended up working for the Journal Newspaper for seventeen years, eventually becoming their advertising manager.

It was a brilliant job, but when I met and married Frank and we had our two boys, Richard and Jamie, I was determined to find something that would let me stay at home with them. That's when the dream of having a stud farm was born.

It all started back in 1999 when Frank and I had this mad idea to create something special - an affordable thoroughbred stud farm that Northern breeders could actually use without breaking the bank. We were probably a bit naive, but we had buckets of enthusiasm and a dream. Looking back now, I'm so glad we took that leap of faith.

A peaceful early morning at Girsonfield

What began as a simple stud farm has somehow transformed into this buzzing racing yard, and I have to pinch myself some days. We've got modern facilities now for both our National Hunt and Flat horses, but what I'm most proud of is that we've never lost that family feel we started with.

And speaking of family, it's stayed truly that way - our eldest son Richard works as a civil servant and does our website, while Jamie was our yard conditional jockey and is now my assistant trainer. Every morning when I walk into the yard, I still get that same excitement I had on day one with little Melka.

The thing is, we're not just about the horses - though goodness knows they're the stars of the show! We're about the people too. Our clients aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet; they're part of our extended family and enrich our racing stable daily life stories.

We love having them visit the yard, sharing a cup of tea and a chat about how their horses are getting on. Regular get-togethers have become a tradition, and honestly, some of my best friends are people who started as clients.

Clear Angel superstar

What you'll find in these pages is the real, unvarnished story of stable life. The 5 AM starts, the muddy boots, the heart-stopping moments when your horse crosses the line first, and yes, the disappointments too.

It's the daily grind and the glorious highs, the staff who become like family, and the horses who steal your heart. This is our world, and our racing stable daily life stories that I'm thrilled to share with you.

Mid-January 2024 - The Madness Begins

Well, here we are in the thick of it! Mid-January and the three-year-olds are all back in work, which means absolute chaos in the best possible way. Some days the staff are riding twenty-five horses - I watch them and wonder how on earth they manage it all, but somehow they do.

Thank goodness for our jockeys! Edward and Sam are in every week, and Nathan keeps threatening to come in every week too - though I suspect he quite enjoys keeping us guessing.

Edward had a brilliant winner at Kelso today on Silver Vision, which was fantastic to watch. Poor Sam just got beaten on Deep Charm, one of his dad's horses - you could see how much that one hurt, but that's racing for you.

I'm so proud of how our staff team is developing. Jenna, who came to us from Lucinda Russell's yard, has just passed her three-monthly appraisal and earned herself a well-deserved wage rise. She's been brilliant from day one.

Then there's Codey - he's only sixteen but he's been offered a contract of employment, as long as he understands the "work" part of it! He's a natural rider though, and completely besotted with Theatre Light, who's become his absolute favorite.

Amanda's been with us a year now and she's turned into such an asset - not only is she an excellent rider, but she helps out with office work too. I've just taken on another weekend rider, and we're still looking for one more to complete the team.

Jamie and Josh continue to keep us all moving in the right direction, and I have to say Jamie's plaiting of Buddy's tail was particularly impressive today!

The Team

Not that it was Buddy's day, mind you. He was keen and jumped better than he ever has, but it looked like he didn't stay the distance - so we'll try him over something shorter next time. That's the thing about this game; you're constantly learning what each horse needs.

Atomic Angel was sixth in a race she actually won last year, but the conditions were completely different. Last year it was heavy ground, this week it was soft and the race was eight seconds faster. She just needs that slow, grinding ground to wear down the competition - patience is everything with her.

Atomic Angel

Racing Stable Daily Life Stories For January

This week's looking properly arctic with minus temperatures forecast, so we'll just be taking things steady with the horses. If it gets really frozen, we'll decamp to the beach - nothing like a good gallop on the sand to keep everyone happy!

The next two weeks are looking busy with quite a few horses heading out to race, but we've got a quieter week at home coming up. If anyone fancies visiting the yard, please do let me know - there's always a cup of tea on and we love showing off our four-legged stars!

Late January 2024 - Storms, Frozen Pipes, and Getting Back to Business

What a week it's been! I missed sending out the newsletter last week because the storms knocked our power out for two whole days over the weekend. By the time I could get online again, everything felt like old news - but here's a bumper edition to make up for it! Just another one of those Racing Stable Daily Life Stories, I guess. 

The weather last week was absolutely brutal - the staff were working in minus nine conditions, can you believe it? Every single horse still got out and did their steady work, though, bless them.

The hardest job by far was defrosting and carrying water to all forty-five horses. I watched the team trudging back and forth with buckets and honestly felt like nominating them all for medals!

Pinot Rouge and Atomic Angel

Pinot Rouge and Atomic Angel on a cold January morning

We only had one runner during all this chaos - Royal Prospect for Shaun Humphries. He'd won two weeks earlier, and this week he followed it up with a cracking second, ridden again by Cam Hardie. The horse that beat him went on to win again a few days later, so we're feeling pretty confident about Royal Prospect's next outing.

Now, here's a story that'll tug at your heartstrings. When we lost Naughty George to an infection, we brought in 'Jimmybegood' to replace him. Poor Jimmy has been such a slow process - he's had all sorts of issues with his lungs, just catching every cough and cold going.

But finally, finally, he made it to a racecourse gallop this week and made a brilliant account of himself over seven furlongs. All being well, he'll run in his first race on February 10th at Newcastle, hopefully with Harry Russell in the saddle - Harry came up to Newcastle to ride him this week. I've still got shares left in him if anyone knows someone who might be interested!

Then there's poor En Meme Temp, who completely stopped clearing his feed. We discovered he had a fractured tooth, so we called in one of the world's leading dental surgeons from Edinburgh. It took three hours to sort out because the root was bent - honestly, poor Meme was probably in agony. He's eating so much better now though, you can see the relief in his eyes.

We've got a new face in the yard too - 'Albert,' though we're calling him Charizard. He's here to be assessed to see if he'll make the grade, and he's looking good so far. Maybe four weeks away from a run if all goes well.

All the three-year-olds bar one are back in work and going nicely, which is music to my ears. This week we're absolutely flat out with runners at Newcastle, including first time out for us, Pinot Rouge. She ran in a point-to-point a year ago, so this is her debut under rules. This Is Bob is also heading to Newcastle, along with Kingston Rock. Rock Steady Eddie will wait until Wetherby the week after.

Pinot Rouge

Pinot Rouge – first time over hurdles for her – coming soon!

Then we've got another three out at Catterick on Friday, followed by Les's Legacy at Musselburgh, and another new horse to us - Theatre Light - out next Monday at Carlisle. Our head lad's horse, Just Oot, is running in his second bumper. He's for sale and honestly, he's a very nice young horse if anyone's looking.

So the week ahead looks like this: January 30th at Newcastle we have Kingston Rock in the 0-100 at 2.6, and This is Bob if we get in, plus Pinot Rouge in the novice hurdle. Then February 2nd, Champ Royal runs in his qualifier - he's up a grade, but we're using Edward Austin to claim 5lb off his back, so he should still run well. He's aiming for the final in April, so this is all part of the plan.

Honestly, I love this time of year - the anticipation, the planning, watching all our horses come back into form. It's controlled chaos, but it's our chaos!

Read Racing Stable Daily Life Stories In February