History
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Sadly, a couple of years later following his divorce, Bryan's string was reduced to only a handful of horses and things were looking bleak to say the least. However, with true Yorkshire grit and determination Bryan managed to stay afloat and in 1990 he met his present wife Victoria who was the Equine Sport Therapist to Lord Huntingdon's string and also an amateur rider and point to point jockey. Together they set out to make the business work and Bryan spent many Sundays on the eventing circuit using his skills as a rider and trainer to help a number of eminent event riders with their show jumping.
Amongst those he trained are British Team member Rodney Powell and Olympic Gold medallist Andrew Hoy. Vicky was also involved with the physiotherapy of the event horses and together they paid off the debts and set about filling the yard up with horses. In spite of his background in National Hunt racing Bryan began to attract more flat horses and soon he trained his first flat winner -two year old filly Sharp Gazelle who won a Maiden Auction Race at Bath. The owners' of Sharp Gazelle were a small partnership of businessmen who are still involved with the yard and who collectively "skint the bookies!!"
"I'll never forget that day - it was like the turning point for us and thanks to a steady stream of home bred horses we managed to improve on our score each year." Then in 1996 through his connections with eventing and showjumping Bryan was introduced to Luis Alvarez Cervera, himself an Olympic medallist for Spain, who sent him SIL SILA. She was a sweet filly by Marju and showed she had something special but could be lazy at home. If you were a gallop watcher you certainly wouldn't have picked her out as a future classic winner. However there was something about her that made her special and Sil Sila duly won her maiden at Warwick followed by the Listed Radley Stakes at Newbury - her only two starts as a two year old.
The following year Sil Sila won the Group 1 Prix de Diane Hermes (French Oaks) at Chantilly beating the winner of the Irish Guineas Matiya. The race was run in the third fastest time ever and the fastest time for ten years.
Bryan's string increased to about thirty horses the following year with the emphasis on the flat and the quality also improved, thanks in a large part to Bryan's good eye for a horse, particularly at the yearling sales. In 1998 he trained the winner and the third horse home in the inaugaral running of the Doncaster St Leger Sales race with 2 year olds Boomerang Blade and Patriot winning over £200,000 in prize money in one day.
In 1999 he won another valuable 2 year old Sales Race - The Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury with Don Puccini.