Alex Scott (racehorse trainer)

Alexander Archibald Scott (8 February 1960 – 30 September 1994) was a British thoroughbred racehorse trainer. In six seasons as a licence-holder Scott trained 164 winners. His most notable horses were the future Epsom Derby winner Lammtarra and the 1991 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Sheikh Albadou.^[1] In 1994 Scott was shot and killed by a groom at Glebe Farm Stud near Newmarket; he was 34.^[2]

Family background, education and early life

Alex Scott was the third son of Sir James Scott, 2nd

Scott was educated at Eton and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied theology before switching to land economy. In 1981 he began working as assistant trainer to Peter Calver, moving to Harry Thomson Jones at Newmarket a year later and then, in 1985, joining Dick Hern at West Ilsley in Berkshire.^[1]

Career as a trainer

Success

In June 1988 Scott was offered the position of trainer at

Scott quickly established a reputation as one of the leading young Flat trainers in Britain. In his first season, 1989, Cadeaux Genereux won two Group One sprints, the July Cup at Newmarket and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York. Two years later Scott won the Breeders' Cup Sprint on the dirt track at Churchill Downs, Kentucky, with Sheikh Albadou.^[1][6][7] Victory in that race made Sheikh Albadou one of only two British-trained winners in the history of the Breeders' Cup and the only British winner on a dirt track.^[5][7] Scott had trained his horse on a sand-and-fiber surface for the previous five months to prepare for the race.^[8]

1991 was also the year in which Scott won his first Classic race with

In December 1992 Scott bought Glebe House and its stud farm at Cheveley, Newmarket.[2] Scott's wife, Julia, continued to run the stud successfully after the death of her husband, basing the operation around a small number of mares, including Corndavon, whom Scott had bred in partnership with Craig Bandoroff; Palace Street, dam of Sakhee's Secret; and Ferber's Follies, a daughter of Saratoga Six.^[13]

Death

On 30 September 1994 Scott was shot in the chest and killed by a stud groom, William O'Brien, using a single barrel shotgun. O'Brien and Scott had become involved in a dispute that culminated with O'Brien telling the trainer that he could "stuff his job". O'Brien had reportedly disagreed with Scott's working methods since his takeover of the farm in 1992. The following day Scott sent O'Brien a letter asking for confirmation of his resignation. There was then a confrontation in a barn at Glebe Stud Farm in which Scott was killed. The jury in the case rejected the defence's assertion that O'Brien was guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder.^{[2][6][14][15][16]}

The Alex Scott Memorial Fund Assistant Trainers' Scholarship was established in 1996 to provide assistant trainers with the chance to spend a month gaining experience of working outside Britain.^[17][18]

Personal life

Scott married Julia Mary Mackenzie in 1986. They had two sons and one daughter.^[1]

References