'He did it all from scratch' - 'streetfighter' Barry Hills conquered racing's peaks and became a Lambourn legend

He was christened Barrington W Hills because his mother considered the name would look perfect on a brass plaque outside a solicitor's office. A career in law was spurned by the teenager, but Mrs Hills was to take immense pride in the twin achievements of her boy.

After a brief period as a featherweight apprentice with trainer George Colling, which yielded eight winners, Hills became a consistently successful trainer. He also founded a dynasty. The Hills family are to British Flat racing what the Rockefellers were to US industry.

The story of how Hills set himself up as a trainer is like no other. In 1968 he was in his tenth year as head groom to Newmarket trainer John Oxley. Hills took a shine to a tough miler named Frankincense, whom he considered well handicapped.

Having quickly grown a considerable punting kitty from the previous season, with bets that included Sky Diver at 50-1 in the Stewards' Cup, he went for a life-changing touch on Frankincense in the Lincoln, backing him at 66-1 and all odds available down to 25-1.

Ridden by Greville Starkey and carrying 9st 5lb, Frankincense was sent off at 100-8 and came home half a length in front, beating 30 other runners.

By the time the now wealthiest stable lad in the land had collected he was £60,000 to the good. In today's terms that is more than £900,000. It was the type of bet most of us dream about. He was once asked what advice he would give punters.

"Never bet odds-on," he said. "If you could buy money they'd sell it at the shop down the road. And don't be frightened of a long price – under those circumstances always have more on!"

Barry Hills with a painting of Frankincense, whose coup in landing the 1968 Lincoln set up his training career Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

He already had a plan scripted on how best to spend his Frankincense pot, and invested £15,000 to buy South Bank Stables in Lambourn, the now demolished yard – replaced by executive houses – from where Lester Piggott's father, Keith, had trained the 1963 Grand National winner Ayala.

From South Bank he teed off a career that was to collect almost every major Flat prize in Europe, including the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

The one missing piece of the jigsaw was the Derby, in which he provided the runner-up on no fewer than four occasions with Rheingold, Hawaiian Sound, Glacial Storm and Blue Stag. All four came so agonisingly close that their combined losing distances were less than the length of the trainer's horsebox.

In 1978, Hills was convinced that the front-running Hawaiian Sound, a first Derby ride for US legend Bill Shoemaker, had held the challenge of Shirley Heights. Owner Robert Sangster, who had watched the race just beyond the winning post, went over to Hills and said: “Bad luck, Barry. We just got beat.” Hills thought otherwise: "Don't be silly, we've won."

Shirley Heights (right) wins the 1978 Derby from Hawaiian Sound, one of four runners-up in the race for Barry Hills Credit: Gerry Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Some 20 years later when telling the story, Sangster said that when the result was announced the colour drained from the trainer's face and there was a look of utter dejection.

He had been training for 17 years at South Bank when Sangster, one of his closest friends, asked if he would take over from Michael Dickinson at the Manton estate on the fringe of Marlborough in Wiltshire. With the team having expanded on the back of his success, it was a timely challenge he grabbed with relish.

Hills adored Manton. Among the improvements he supervised was the restoration of the Manton House stable block and construction of an indoor equine pool.

The relocation was an outstanding success, with 400 winners including Sir Harry Lewis, who won the 1987 Irish Derby, and Handsome Sailor, who took the following year's Prix de l'Abbaye.

In 1990 Sangster's company, Swettenham Stud Ltd, had a notion, which turned out little more than a whim, to sell the 2,300-acre estate for £15 million. Hills attempted to put together a package to remain in situ, inviting several other trainers, including Nicky Henderson and Richard Hannon, to join him and share the acclaimed facilities.

His project came to nothing and Hills was £3m short of the required funding. He returned to South Bank, but his agile mind was already thinking about the next step; while South Bank had served him admirably down the years, he had outgrown the stables.

At the time, he was the only trainer in Lambourn with more than 100 horses. In addition, he was concerned about the distance from the stables to his private gallops, along an increasingly busy road.

His answer was to invest several million pounds to build Faringdon Place, a superb training base just below his private gallop. Two American barns soon grew to three, plus another rank of stabling. He also pumped considerable funding into a variety of all-weather gallops. He said he had made a big investment and the place had to work; and it did.

Barry Hills in 2001 at Faringdon Place, the state-of-the-art stables he developed in Lambourn Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Planning permission from West Berkshire Council for the Faringdon Place project had been far from certain, but Hills, noted for his lack of tolerance for long-winded nonsense from officialdom, made it clear he would retire if the scheme was rejected. That threat certainly concentrated the minds of any dithering councillor because a departing BW Hills would have seen unemployment figures soar in the Lambourn valley.

Faringdon Place was more relaxed for the horses, and also for their trainer. He was nicknamed Mr Grumpy for good reason, and at times, particularly before breakfast, he could be as tough as last week's Hovis. He seemed more amenable after settling into a new home within a furlong of the stables.

He once said: "People say I don't get so worked up these days, and perhaps that's true, but I can still get very stroppy at times. I can accept major things going wrong, and that mistakes do happen, but it is the needless mistakes that make me angry.”

He was always looking for a fresh challenge. At one stage he had a blueprint for a satellite yard in Germany but, although he visited several possible sites there, he was unable to find a suitable location.

Pride in appearance was a key factor with Hills, not only with his horses. He was invariably immaculately dressed and few people ever saw him without a tie.

John, the eldest of his five sons, and who trained in Lambourn until his untimely death from cancer in 2014, had said there was something of the streetfighter in his father's character.

“I've been lucky," said John. "Being the son of Barry Hills is obviously an enormous help. He had to go through a lot more than I did to get his training operation up and running. He did it all from scratch. He's a streetfighter. He doesn't suffer fools."

Hills instilled rich qualities in his sons. Between them John, as a trainer, and twins Michael and Richard in the saddle, won thousands of races at home and overseas, but the true and lasting significance of their achievements cut deeper than success on a racecourse. They earned respect throughout the sport for the professional, no-nonsense way they went about getting the job done.

Barry Hills with son Charlie, who took over from his father at Faringdon Place in 2011 Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

The same can be said of his fourth son, Charlie, who took over the running of the stable from his father in August 2011. Charlie trained his first Classic winner less than two years later in May 2013, with Just The Judge in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, and achieved a Breeders’ Cup success with Chriselliam the same year.

He has also sent out four-time Group 1-winning sprinters Muhaarar and Battaash, back-to-back Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner Khaadem and Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Phoenix Of Spain.

George, the youngest son, is a bloodstock insurer and the dynasty has embraced another generation as grandson Patrick, son of Richard, accumulated more than 80 winners as a jockey between 2006 and 2013.

The three eldest sons were from the trainer's first marriage to Maureen, the two youngest from his marriage to Penny, who, although publicity-shy and insistent on remaining in the background, was such a level-headed, steadying influence she was possibly the key person in the set-up. The staff always adored her.

No wife could have shown greater support when Hills was diagnosed with throat cancer. Few outside the immediate family were aware he was undergoing treatment. He had struggled with troublesome vocal cords for 20 years, and had surgery at various times for the removal of benign nodules.

It was shortly before Christmas 2005, while he was at a festive lunch in London with his sons, that he received the news in a telephone call from his doctor that a biopsy had revealed cancer.

Barry and Penny Hills in their home at Faringdon Place Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Like every other challenge in his life, he tackled this one with a determined spirit. After supervising the first two lots at Faringdon Place he would travel to London, with Penny always at his side, on 36 consecutive working days, Monday to Friday, to receive the treatment in Harley Street.

After each session, he set himself the mission to research which London restaurant served the best lunch, with his award going to the Dorchester Grill. The challenge focused his thoughts away from the next session of treatment.

The cancer returned in 2008, necessitating the removal of his voice box. He soon got to grips with a digital replacement.

"You can't keep a good one down, can you?" son John had sportingly said when his father's Moonax had narrowly denied his Broadway Flyer Classic glory in the 1994 St Leger, and so it proved as Hills snr came out of retirement in 2013.

First of all it was to assist John with the Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned horses in his care, but on his son's death he took out a training licence once more, saddling 17 winners in each of two seasons, including Fadhayyil, who almost gave Hills another Royal Ascot success in 2015, only to be beaten in the Jersey Stakes by Dutch Connection, trained by son Charlie.

Charity work is a tradition with the family. Hills raised more than £100,000 for good causes at an open day in 2002, and then, four years later, son Charlie easily topped that at a cricket match, with proceeds donated to various charities including the Rhinology and Laryngology Research Fund.

Barry Hills 1937-2025:

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