Trainer targets Derby win with Ambiente Friendly

Trainer James Fanshawe hopes his horse Ambiente Friendly can win the Derby to give him his first British Classic success.

The colt is one of the favourites for Saturday's race at Epsom after winning his trial at Lingfield earlier this month.

Newmarket-based Fanshawe, who has previously only ever had one runner in the Derby, has been training racehorses at Pegasus Stables in the Suffolk town for 33 years.

"It's a real privilege to have a horse of his calibre going for the Derby. There is a definite buzz in the yard," he said.

Ambiente Friendly is owned by the Gredley family, who breed and own horses at Stetchworth Park Stud, just outside Newmarket.

Bill Gredley, 91, paid 80,000 guineas for him last year. "He was a nice looking horse but we didn't know he was going to be this good," he said.

The Derby hopeful was one of nine two-year-olds bought by Bill at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale to celebrate his 90th birthday.

His son Tim, 38, who is aiming for selection for the British showjumping team for the Paris Olympics, said: "It's a busy but really exciting time.

"We breed 30 to 40 mares every year with the idea of trying to win the Derby. We didn't breed this one but it is the next best thing owning him," he said.

"Everybody has a dream when you buy a horse that it might run in the Derby one day. We have got plenty wrong, so it is nice when one comes right."

The Gredleys were advised to buy Ambiente Friendly by Freddy Tylicki, now a bloodstock agent, who was stable jockey for Fanshawe before a career-ending fall at Kempton in 2016 left him partially paralysed.

"I didn't like him [the horse] at first. But Freddy said I was mad; told me to have another look and we bought him.

"It is just luck. But that is the wonderful thing about the game.

"I have never won the Derby. I would love it."

Nine previous winners of the Lingfield Derby Trial Stakes have gone on to win the Derby, which takes place on Saturday.

Corbin Turner, Ambiente Friendly's groom, has looked after the horse since he arrived in the yard last year.

"He has a good temperament. He is easy to handle and enjoys the races," he said.

"He is good with crowds, so hopefully he will go well."

Fanshawe, who has enjoyed multiple victories at the highest level but, as yet, not in a Classic, added: "He has really improved from two to three [years old].

"It is really special to have a runner and we would love to put that right."

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