Mark Prescott

Commentators always either say he’s great or they say he’s a hard nut to crack but I genuinely never knew why is he held n high esteem or sometimes as an afterthought in the industry would anyone say he’s a top class trainer I really don’t know as I rarely back his horses I’ve never… Any info on him over tge years was he quite close to tge Queen is that why?

From a Newmarket yard with around 50 horses 78 year old Sir Mark must rate as one of the most astute trainers.

Everyone knows how he runs his 2 yo horses at wrong distances early in their career  to get a handicap mark and of course all within the rules.

He has been pulling off large gambles of his horses for many years and the money normally is not left behind.

Most remember pastenak winning the Cambridgeshire in 1997 a 32 runner race backed from 11/1 into 4/1 fav with his other runner Rudimental coming 2nd.

The late Graham Rock a part owner and racing correspondent at the time of  The Observer won enough to buy a new house.

Sir Mark also won The Prix De l'arc de Triomphe with Alpnista in 2022 and also another French classic The French Oaks with Confidential Lady in 2006.

So clearly Sir Mark has been winning big races for many years.

Sir Mark has been training horses for over 45 years although William Butler his business partner has been assisting him for the past 18 years

Sir Mark had an excellent record with horses he sent to race in Scotland and although many were short price favourites as bookmakers could not take chances with his runners

George Duffield recalls after a short price runner got beat at Musselburgh Sir Mark and George drove all the way back to Newmarket without them saying a word to each other and when they arrived back at Newmarket all Sir Mark said to his stable jockey was 'dont be late in the morning.

This are a few reasons why Sir Mark is held in such high regard

Very astute trainer in his day getting horses well handicapped by wrong running style or distance but the market and handicappers copped on.
Yesterday’s man.

Owners didn’t tell him we’re to run, he told them and you would be fortunate for Sir Mark to take you’re horse to train.

has he not had a few of todays top trainers
ie; w haggis amongst plenty as apprentices
over the years...!!!??

Past glories, apart from the winning the Arc he has rarely troubled some of the big races recently plus i dont rate his stable jockey.

Quite surprised he didn't tell the AMO guy to get to f@ck..

"Apart from winning the Arc"  There are many , many people in racing who would give anything to be able to utter that line.

Not many people have operated in such a way as to necessitate the need to change the rules of racing to try and prevent their edge. I believe SMP was the genesis of cumulative penalties, and the requirement to run at certain distances in qualifying runs.

He is 78 years where the majority that age do fck all.

One would not expect him to be as busy as Charlie Johnston or William Haggas these days.

Thanks Everyone I honestly didn’t know all the facts about him as I rarely back his horses and when I have done I never seemed to get them right so I kinda gave up. It’s just when other commentators talk about him they all seemed to be scared of him in a wird  kinda way? Also Cider can you explain to me in layman’s terms what you mean mate by your reply I’m just not understanding it cheers bud?

Back in the day, winners only got one penalty. For 10 days or a fortnight iirc, something like that. So when he got them well in, they would run in and win three or four races, carrying a single winners' penalty before the new mark was in place. He also ran them with staying blood over 5 and 6f to get their handicap marks, and would go straight to 10 or 12f for their handicap debut. Now they are not permitted to have huge leaps in race distances. I'm pretty sure he was also involved in multiple race winning 2yos. Back in the day it was not unknown for 2yos to win 8,10,12 races. Basically he was a master in exposing loopholes, I guess in a similar way that E Mullins has done in more recent times.

Lots of folk moaned of course, but he didn't cheat and those options were available to all connections. It was a game for him vs the authorities, so once one loophole was exposed, he would identify another one.

Brilliant great info cheers mate much appreciated as I know a bit more about why he is held in high regard I always thought it was because he was a bit of a snobby chap with friends in high places

Thanks again cider and everyone else. Danon

Another tactic was biding his time until the second part of the season. So he made sure they got good marks, and were also running against horses that the handicapper had more of a handle on. This is still his MO to some extent. If he got one that was a group horse at home, he didn't play games with them. More recently, he trained group 1 winning filly Marsha, that achieved 6 million guineas at public auction upon retirement, a record at the time.

Spindrifter won more than a dozen for him as a 2yo,at least 10 in a row...Wizard King another improving handicapper as a 3 yo,won good quality races starting with the Britannia..

Not to forget the horses he sold to Graham Wylie that went on to win at Cheltenham,Inglis Drever the best of them

I've never heard that about him being close to the queen.
Can you name any horse he'd ran in her colours?
I don't have recollections of ANY.

Hardly ever back his horses but he's as shrewd as they come.

I always remember that he said Rudimental would finish very close to Pasternak when
that horse was a well-laid out gamble for the Cambridgeshire nearly 30 yrs ago.

I backed him E/W at 28/1 - he was runner-up to Pasternak beaten 3/4 length

Shame he is a closet whoopsy as his nereditary baronetcy will die when he passes.

Odd comment, Crawford.

Despicable but factual,brandy

Jul 7, 2026 -- 7:40PM, brandyontherocks wrote:

Odd comment, Crawford.

Maybe friends. Who knows.

Previous assistants to Sir Mark - William Haggas, James Fanshawe, Henry de Bromhead, Simon Crisford, David Loder, James Ferguson, Chris Wall, Horton, Scargill, O'Neill.  Oh and some French ones - Ferland, Bary and Ferland.  There might be others.

See George Duffield mentioned below.  When SMP was once asked about him and his longevity as a stable jockey. He commented, "I've look at a lot of women, but I have never looked at another (stable) jockey"

Just noticed this post so a bit late posting, Sir Mark Prescott, I wrote to Sir Mark a couple of years ago after seeing an interview with Mike Cattermole in that he told the story of how he as a 12 year old went to Newton Abbott and first saw someone who was to become his hero Tim Brookshaw.I told Sir Mark that i knew Tim well when i worked for Roy Whiston at Hodnet  around 1959 . He mentioned i should read Chris Pitts autobiography "Fearless", I told him that it was out of print and i could not get a copy, He then sent me his signed copy to my home in Spain with the request i return it to him once i  had read it. I know this book meant a lot to him and he didn't know me from Adam. The book was read i returned it to him (despite the high risk Spanish postal service.) I now have a copy of the book . Not all famous trainers take the time out as he did. Another famous Newmarket trainer i wrote to telling how i had worked for his father in the 1960s never bothered to reply, Yes that Sir Mark a Class act.

Just noticed this post so a bit late posting, Sir Mark Prescott, I wrote to Sir Mark a couple of years ago after seeing an interview with Mike Cattermole in that he told the story of how he as a 12 year old went to Newton Abbott and first saw someone who was to become his hero Tim Brookshaw.I told Sir Mark that i knew Tim well when i worked for Roy Whiston at Hodnet  around 1959 . He mentioned i should read Chris Pitts autobiography "Fearless", I told him that it was out of print and i could not get a copy, He then sent me his signed copy to my home in Spain with the request i return it to him once i  had read it. I know this book meant a lot to him and he didn't know me from Adam. The book was read i returned it to him (despite the high risk Spanish postal service.) I now have a copy of the book . Not all famous trainers take the time out as he did. Another famous Newmarket trainer i wrote to telling how i had worked for his father in the 1960s never bothered to reply, Yes that Sir Mark a Class act.

How people act when they think nobody else is looking is the true test of a man (in my opinion).

Here's an illustration (hopefully) from back in the day that culminated with four wins in just ten days...

One horse that sticks in my mind for him is Spindrifter but that was much further back T2R, the 80s I think? He had a couple that I seem to remember were earlier than the likes of Chapman's Chaplins Club in running up sequences, Spindrifter certainly did in at least one season, unfortunately my memory is not so good these days.

Spindrifter won 13 times from 19 starts in 1980, was second five times and only once unplaced (on his final appearance that year).

He won on his second start as a 3 year old in 1981 but was then kicked by another horse at exercise, fracturing his off fore and he had to be put down

Thanks for that Dixie, sad though as I never knew he had such a sad ending. Did he also have one called Anita's something, I thought Anita's Prince but I think that one may have been another trainer?

I remember him referring to George Duffield as Duffield……

Trip from Hamilton to Newmarket one stop,words the whole journey,you get the sandwiches I’ll get the petrol…..

CagliariG 17 Jul 26 12:25 
Thanks for that Dixie, sad though as I never knew he had such a sad ending. Did he also have one called Anita's something, I thought Anita's Prince but I think that one may have been another trainer?

Just Google it Cagliari……

Misty Halo is the one I could not remember the name of, cheers Cider.

cag - I do remember a horse called Anita's Prince i think in the early 80s but cannot recall any actual details about them. Names from those days stick much better than today, probably because there was much less racing and therefore horses to remember !

Spindrifter's fate was very sad but is a reminder how such accidents can happen anywhere, not just at the track. I still remember poor Silver Buck ( dual King George winner as well as the 82 Gold Cup) getting spooked at the Dickinson stables when being ridden by Graham Bradley, going berserk and running in to a solid wall, fracturing his pelvis. Brad unfortunately was probably to blame as it was well known SB was easily spooked and he didn't follow the proper routine that he needed when being saddled

Spindrifter seemed to run every other day in 1980 but four years later we had the wonderful Provideo running 24 times as a 2 year old and winning 16 of them.
Remarkable stuff. As is often the case with such precocious types he was no good at 3 and was retired. .

Anitas Prince won the King George Sprint @ Goodwood under Piggott (1984).

Was Anita's Prince not a top sprinter back in the mid-80's, Dixie?

Won a couple of listed races, I think.

Aah. Yeh,Penzance. Well done!

Was he trained in Ireland, do you remember?

Penzance/raspberry, yes, well remembered. 

Just checked and it was indeed Lester who won on AP at Goodwood - trained by Richard Lister, who i have to admit i'm not familiar with .

That race is on youtube,if interested.

He once said that if you've got a great horse, you should send it to Henry Cecil, but a good horse would do better with Sir Mark Prescott.

Going from the memory banks here so I might not be 100%...but I think Anita's Prince was the first horse who punctured the seemingly
impenetrable armour of the great Habibti after her dominance of the sprint division in 1983.

It was in the King Stand Stks at Royal Ascot and Habibti had to be forcefully ridden to just get up in a photo from the unconsidered
Irish trained outsider Anita's Prince so the chínks were there for all to see before she was ransacked by Chief Singer ...and alas as
what seemed to happen a lot back then with fillies, she'd definitely regressed at 4yo and despite still running to a high level in the
G1 sprints she was probably about 10lb short of her best.

I always remember professional hit-man Alex Bird believing she was a cert that day...and he also said the deputising pilot (a certain
L.Piggott) was actually an advantage as 'The Pig' was a 3 lbs better jockey than Willie Carson who'd partnered the filly in all her G1 wins.

What we didn't foresee was the much underrated Chief Singer transferring his excellent mile form so comfortably to 6f and it was such
a pity he was never given the opportunity to replicate that superb form when annihilating the next season's outstanding undisputed
champion Never So Bold. He really could've been one of the immortals of the turf in the sprint division.

Very nice write-up there, Herbie!

Interesting stuff.

Those were the days, eh?

Thanks bud - makes a change for informative posts to be appreciated on here nowadays