We have three new trainers in our ranks for 2023; Cornelius Lysaght finds out more about them...

Michael Bell

Michael Bell is the longest standing of Opulence’s new trainers having held a licence since 1989, based at historic Fitzroy House in the centre of Newmarket. I recall meeting Bell, who had previously been assistant to trainer Paul Cole and before that to Mercy Rimell – a renowned figure, with her husband Fred, in post-War jump racing – at Epsom after the fledgling trainer’s first-time-out filly A-To-Z provided him with success at the 1991 Derby fixture. I had to break off to chase after Sir Henry Cecil who had a fancied runner in the Oaks for an interview. Bell called after me that one day I’d be pursuing him, as proved to be the case when Motivator won the Derby in 2005 and Sariska the Oaks (2009). Over the years, names like Pass The Peace, Roger The Butler, Wigmore Hall, Margot Did, Big Orange and The Lir Jet have ensured a steady stream of big-race success.

Quick-fire Questions

Number of horses for 2023: 75

Biggest racing moment to date: Motivator justifying favouritism in the Derby at Epsom

Favourite racecourse: July Course, Newmarket

Ambition on the track: Success in either Guineas

Little known fact: Winner of a Pony Club Cup for ‘most cheerful boy’ – probably a consolation prize for the boy most lacking riding ability

Superstition: Not walking under ladders

Best place to celebrate winners, and with whom: the Royal Ascot winning connections room is always somewhere to cherish, and hopefully we might be there with Opulence’s lovely Soldiers Call after the Albany

Soldier's Call x Warm Welcome - to be trained by Michael Bell

George Scott

George Scott who has just completed his seventh full season of training may have become ‘one to watch’ in flat racing circles, but his initial climb up racing’s ever-slippery greasy poll came over jumps, as an amateur rider in point-to-points and working as a stable lad for the champion national hunt trainer Paul Nicholls, mucking out during the era when the stable’s stars Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded dominated so many steeplechasing headlines around the Cheltenham Festival and beyond. But a fascination with speed and pedigrees drew Scott closer to the flat where he worked as assistant to a number of trainers including Michael Bell and even more famously Jane Cecil, when she took over the licence after the death of her husband Sir Henry in 2013. Since starting in his own right at the end of 2015,

Newmarket-based Scott has enjoyed widespread success not least with talented colt James Garfield.

Quick-fire Questions

Number of horses for 2023: 55

Biggest racing moment to date: James Garfield and Frankie Dettori winning the Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury in 2017

Favourite racecourse: York, the best-run track in the country

Ambition on the track: To continue to improve year on year and find a champion – maybe by Too Darn Hot!

Little known fact about you: I love House music: Black Coffee and Solomun are favourite DJs – see you in Ibiza next summer?

Superstition: A loose one in the morning means a winner in the afternoon

Best place to celebrate winners, and with whom: A night out in London with friends

Time Test x Heading North - To be trained by George Scott

Ed Walker

Ed Walker is not from a horsey background, but became hooked on becoming a trainer during schooldays when his father and some friends put several horses for which they had not paid a fortune with Ian and then Andrew Balding; there was one called Dubaian Gift which used to win regularly on the big days. After spells working around the world with some of racing’s biggest names including, in the UK, the Baldings, the Watership Down operation, Roger Charlton and Luca Cumani, it can certainly be said that Walker hit the ground running. When granted a licence in 2010, runner number one, Riggins, hit the winners’ enclosure at Kempton that November. Now based at magnificent Kingsdown stables tucked, out-of-the-way in Upper Lambourn, the Walker team is considered amongst British racing’s most upwardly mobile, reaching a new level with recent Group One successes for Starman and the terrific mare Dreamloper.   

Quick-fire Questions

Number of horses for 2023: 90

Biggest racing moment to date: Starman winning the July Cup, our first Group One

Favourite racecourse: Goodwood because it is everything that is wonderful about British racing: stunning, quirky, hard to get to, it attracts great horses because of the prize money, the ground is well-maintained and it is a great experience for owners. York is a close second. 

Ambition on the track: To win the Derby is the ultimate ambition

Little known fact about you: I once trained at Newmarket’s most famous address – Warren Place, where Henry Cecil was based – while moving from rented yard to rented yard, but have been fully settled at Kingsdown since the end of 2016

Superstition:  I do not believe you can have them as a trainer - I can’t be worrying about what socks or boxers to wear on a particular day 

Best place to celebrate winners, and with whom: The Queens Arms, East Garston, with winning owners and my great team

Hedonista is a two-year-old filly in training for the 2023 season

Unnamed - Ten Sovereigns x Tracing

Unnamed - Night of Thunder x Polar Circle