Born in Pulborough, West Sussex on June 10, 1939, Guy Harwood originally started training, as a permit holder, in 1965, before taking out a public training licence in 1966. At that point, he purchased Coombelands Farm and established Coombelands Racing Stables, which he would develop into one of the most modern, innovative training establishments in the country.
Harwood will always be best remembered as the trainer of Dancing Brave, unanimously voted British Horse of the Year in 1986, having won the 2000 Guineas, Coral-Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and suffered a controversial defeat in the Derby. However, Harwood was by no means a ‘one-trick pony’ and in his heyday, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, he and stable jockey, Greville Starkey, formed a formidable partnership.
Together, they had already won the 2,000 Guineas with To-Agori-Mou in 1981 and the Coral-Eclipse and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Kalaglow in 1982. Understandably, Harwood hailed Dancing Brave as ‘very much the best I trained’ but, at the time of his retirement in 1996, he had saddled over 1,600 winners, including 30 at the highest, Group One level. Other notable horses to pass through his hands included Ela-Mana-Mou, Recitation, Lear Fan, Rousillon,
Warning and Sadeem.
Harwood was succeeded at Coombelands by his daughter Amanda, who is married to former National Hunt jockey Mark Perrett, who was once apprenticed to her father. Harwood, 81, remains chairman of Harwoods Group, the motor dealership founded by his father, Wally, in 1931, although he once admitted, ‘I’m a horse man first and a car man second…’
Born in Pulborough, West Sussex on June 10, 1939, Guy Harwood originally started training, as a permit holder, in 1965, before taking out a public training licence in 1966. At that point, he purchased Coombelands Farm and established Coombelands Racing Stables, which he would develop into one of the most modern, innovative training establishments in the country.
Harwood will always be best remembered as the trainer of Dancing Brave, unanimously voted British Horse of the Year in 1986, having won the 2000 Guineas, Coral-Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and suffered a controversial defeat in the Derby. However, Harwood was by no means a ‘one-trick pony’ and in his heyday, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, he and stable jockey, Greville Starkey, formed a formidable partnership.
Together, they had already won the 2,000 Guineas with To-Agori-Mou in 1981 and the Coral-Eclipse and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Kalaglow in 1982. Understandably, Harwood hailed Dancing Brave as ‘very much the best I trained’ but, at the time of his retirement in 1996, he had saddled over 1,600 winners, including 30 at the highest, Group One level. Other notable horses to pass through his hands included Ela-Mana-Mou, Recitation, Lear Fan, Rousillon,
Warning and Sadeem.
Harwood was succeeded at Coombelands by his daughter Amanda, who is married to former National Hunt jockey Mark Perrett, who was once apprenticed to her father. Harwood, 81, remains chairman of Harwoods Group, the motor dealership founded by his father, Wally, in 1931, although he once admitted, ‘I’m a horse man first and a car man second…’