In his third season as a trainer, Ollie was tipped by Timeform earlier in 2010 as one of five trainers to follow. Once again, Timeform got it right.
Old Farmhouse Stables produced 24 winners from 22 boxes, with fourteen different winning horses owned by twelve different owners. Of the fourteen winners, only two just failed to produce a profit from a pound level stake over the year.
2011 is going to be a year of expansion for the Old Farmhouse, based in the heart of the northern headquarters of racing in Malton. Footings are in and by the end of January, 30 boxes will be available, increasing to 35 by midsummer.
35 year-old Ollie is recognised by the industry as one of the up-and-coming trainers in the country, with an appreciation of horses and an ability to get the best out of, and place, even moderate animals.
A former jockey with 168 winners both on the flat and National Hunt, where weight and injury forced retirement, Ollie prepared meticulously for his venture into training. At the family farm near Barnsley, he established a pre-training yard - breaking and teaching basics to an average 70 horses a year for some of the Norths top trainers, including Howard Johnson, Dandy Nicholls, Kevin Ryan and Karl Burke. This was followed by 18 months as assistant trainer to Howard Johnson, successfully looking after the two-year-olds in the yard.
In 2007 he spent time with Dandy Nicholls, at Sessay in North Yorkshire, and with Jim Boyle in Epsom, with an intensive month at Michael Dickinsons Tapeta Farm in Maryland, USA, where, coincidentally, he met his fiancee and assistant trainer, Vicky.
Ollie started training in late 2007, rented and trained at the Old Farmhouse Stables for over two years (living in an on-site caravan) before having the opportunity to buy the Old Farmhouse complex in 2010 and to begin expansion plans.
Ollie has a profound understanding of the racehorse and an encyclopaedic knowledge of racing and of the racing calendar, applied in specific detail to each individual in the yard.
He offers a smaller but very progressive and increasingly successful yard, where owners can expect personal attention and integrity at all times, with a direct and professional assessment of their horses and their prospects, and honest, hard-nosed advice for those new to the industry who want to participate in racing ownership.
