Megsons planning to cut string after Pauling split

Owners will ‘thin out’ their racing interests as they look to reignite their enthusiasm.

Owners Andrew and Jane Megson have removed their horses from Ben Pauling’s yard as part of a thinning out process they hope will rekindle their enjoyment in racehorse ownership.

The Megsons enjoyed some great days alongside Pauling, with Global Citizen winning the Grand Annual at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022 and their string growing in quality at a time the Naunton Downs handler has expanded his operation.

However, the husband-and-wife duo have come to the conclusion they need to “freshen things up”, with their string set to be split between a few select trainers as they seek to recapture the joy of ownership.

Global Citizen was a Cheltenham Festival winner in 2022
Global Citizen was a Cheltenham Festival winner in 2022 (Tim Goode/PA)

“The real driver is about making sure we enjoy it because it is a hobby and we don’t want it to be a grind,” explained Andrew Megson.

“So we decided to thin out and while we did that we took the opportunity to make a few changes. We know Jonjo (O’Neill), we know Fergal (O’Brien) and we thought we’d just have a change and freshen things up.

“We still have a business and we’ve built up a number of horses almost by accident. Our thinking was we have too many horses and can’t go and watch them – watching a horse midweek on my phone in the corner of my office is not the most enjoyable and my wife Jane doesn’t really want to be going racing on her own.”

He went on: “Accidently we’ve become quite big owners and we don’t really want to be the biggest owner in anybody’s yard. It’s not what we set out to do and Jane is very keen that when we do buy horses in the future, we spread them out a bit.

“Ben is doing really well and his yard is doing fantastic. He’s got some lovely horses and he’s grown exponentially and we wish him all the best.

“It’s all amicable with Ben and there’s been no falling out, in fact he sent me a lovely message. Ben is a great guy and I’m sure he will have a brilliant Aintree.”

Pauling, who won the closing bumper on the first day of the Grand National meeting, said he had “no inkling” of the move coming and was taken by surprise.

He said: “Everyone has their reasons for what they do and the Megsons have been huge supporters of mine for many years and I will always thank them for that. But, for whatever reason they have chosen to move them.

“I don’t know what they are but I wish them the best of luck. I had no inkling at all, genuinely.”

Tellherthename will be campaigned on the Flat this summer
Tellherthename will be campaigned on the Flat this summer (Adam Davy/PA)

Part of the family’s plans to reignite their enthusiasm is to switch this season’s star novice hurdler Tellherthename to the Flat and he will join Ed Dunlop in Newmarket with staying aspirations this summer before a potential move to O’Neill to continue his National Hunt career.

He added: “We think Tellherthename is a rocket and this year (over hurdles) the ground has gone against him. We want to try him on the Flat in staying races as he’s not been over raced this year by any stretch of the imagination and on decent ground, we hope he could be quite smart.

“He’s gone to Ed Dunlop who is going to say if he is interesting for the Flat or if we should keep him over hurdles or fences.

“It’ll probably never happen, but you see what Alan King did with Trueshan and you think let’s dream about that and you have to dream when you own racehorses.”

Harper's Brook will join Dan Skelton
Harper’s Brook will join Dan Skelton (Steven Paston/PA)

As well as O’Neill, O’Brien and Dan Skelton will joining their small band of trainers, with some of the Megson’s current string of horses soon to be sold.

Megson said: “We are sending six or seven to the sales. We had 20-plus horses but now we will have five with Ed Dunlop on the Flat if you include Tellherthename, five with Jonjo O’Neill and potentially Tellherthename if he goes back jumping, five to Fergal O’Brien and we’ve decided to put Harper’s Brook and Storminhome with Dan Skelton.

“They were going to go to the sales, but what would be deeply disappointing would be if Harper’s Brook stopped being quirky and bolted up in a big race after we had sold him.”

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