Master Oats started his racing life with Henrietta Knight as a point to pointer.  I believe he failed to complete on his three starts, which would not have been surprising as he must have been so weak and gangly.  His owner, Mrs Judy Maitland Jones, asked me to train him, which was a slight surprise as she had always had her horses trained by Nicky Henderson, perhaps Nicky did not think the horse was good enough but who knows as I was delighted to train him.

Marcus pushed and prodded all the way round and eventually he won by 12 lengths.  We were all very surprised, but delighted.  Marcus rang me after the race, out of earshot, to say that I might be a good trainer but that in his opinion winning with Master Oats was my greatest training performance to date, Master Oats in his opinion was very moderate!  Three weeks later Master Oats ran at Stratford again ridden by Marcus, this time he started to show something, it was a truly run race and he ran a vastly improved race to finish 2nd beaten a length by a very up and coming horse in Padaventure.  His ability at last was beginning to show.

Master Oats went home to his owners for a well deserved summer holiday, now with a future ahead of him.  To my horror David Murray Smith, who at that time was training in Lambourn, let it slip in conversation that he was in the process of buying Master Oats. Staggered that I did not know about it, I am afraid I gazzumped David and bought Master Oats myself.  I then advertised him in the Sporting Life/Racing Post and that is when Paul Mathews bought him.  Sadly for Paul a couple of months later Master Oats strained a tendon and missed a whole season - it might have been a blessing in disguise as it gave him time to mature.

His first race for his new owner was at Uttoxeter a year later, ridden by Norman Williamson.  Master Oats was always going well, he looked like winning by half the track 3 from home, but in the end he only just scraped home by 3 lengths.  When he returned to the unsaddling enclosure it was obvious that he had broken a blood vessel as blood was pouring out of both nostrils, so much so that I thought that he might bleed to death, he filled a bucket!  Paul must have wondered what the hell he had bought!  We were very worried about him, so from then on, we decided to change his training routine so as not to stress him, fresh air and exercised twice a day, cantering and no working.

After a break he reappeared at Huntingdon on Boxing Day ridden by a 3lb claimer called Andrew Thornton and he duly won easily by 12 lengths.  He went on to win five chases that season finishing up with a great win at the Perth Festival in April.  They have now named a bar after him; perhaps it was because we all celebrated for so long, far too much drinking took place after his win!  We had by now started to dream as he was improving so quickly, from a season start rating of about 88 he finished the season on about 145.

The new season started with a hugely impressive win in the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow on his favoured soft ground, beating the new Grand National winner Party Politics.  Then the big test, the Welsh Grand National.  By now we were thinking of the Gold Cup and 50/1 was soon taken!  The Welsh National has never been one of my favourite races, usually held on unraceable ground which I knew would suit Master Oats, but it can ruin horses.  So you can imagine how relieved I was when it was abandoned because of water logging.  Newbury came to the rescue and staged the race instead. This suited me far better as it was level and soft. Norman Williamson again on board Master Oats absolutely bolted up by 20 lengths; beating Nigel Twiston Davies’ future Grand National winner Earth Summit, no more 50/1!!  Luck is very much part of racing, both Master Oats and Alderbrook needed soft ground to produce their best.  Cheltenham had re-drained their course so everybody thought that the days of bottomless ground were in the past, but as I said, luck played its part and it kept raining.  Master Oats had a pre Cheltenham prep race in the now firmly established Gold Cup trial the Pillar Phase.  Loving the soft ground he beat Dubacilla, the favourite, by 15 lengths in pouring rain.

March 16 1995, Gold Cup Day, was day 3 of the Cheltenham Festival. Alderbrook had already done his bit, now we needed Master Oats to do his.  First things first, he needed a schooling session before he went off racing - Master Oats was renowned for making one dreadful mistake in each of his races.  Yogi Breisner again was the schooling guru; he and Norman spent hours trying to sort Master Oats out.  So he had a quick school over solid poles before he left for the races in the hope that his slow mind might remember what to do!

The race as far as the public were concerned went like clockwork.  Master Oats won by 15 lengths beating Dubacilla again, but during the race Master Oats went to sleep and started to jump badly and was never really travelling.  Now this is where Norman Williamson was so good, because not only did he know the horse but he had the balls to pull him back down the field and bring him wide on the outside to rekindle that spark.  He lost a great deal of ground by doing it but it also won him the race.  Balls is something Norman was never short of!

Master Oats ran a tremendous race in the Grand National to finish 5th a few weeks later.  He never won another race although he was second at Leopardstown to the next up and coming star Imperial Call.  His career ended when he cut his hock on a flint sticking out of a wall, he was lucky again to live.  Master Oats is now living a life of complete luxury, hunting and hacking round the hills of the Cotswolds with Chris and Sophy Leigh.  Some story!