Racehorse trainer Oliver Signy is already looking ahead to his first full season

Lambourn trainer is using the extra time to continue developing facilities at The Croft

OLIVER Signy has started to prepare for next season as he continues to search for his first winner as a horseracing trainer.

Signy, who trains out of The Croft Stables, Lambourn, picked up his racing licence in September 2019 and has been eager to win a race in his debut season.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, racing has been suspended, effectively ending this year’s jumps season.

“The yard has quietened down,” admitted Signy. “We’re predominantly a National Hunt yard and racing has been pushed back until July 1 with the coronavirus and the lockdown.

“We have furloughed one of our employees, which will help keep the costs down in order to help the business as much as we can.

“We have two Flat horses in the yard who are both dual purpose, which means we can run them on the flat and then over hurdles when it all gets going again.”

Having only started in September, Signy – who is supported by his wife Katherine – has not had much time to leave his mark on the season.

“It’s only been six months and it’s been a short season,” he said. “With the ground being wet and also having other issues, we were looking forward to April time when the ground was getting better.

“The horses would’ve wanted this better ground, but the season has shut early and now it means we can try and get going again in the autumn, hoping the ground will be good so we can have a full season next year.”

With just the two horses in the yard, Oliver and Katherine have been improving the facilities at the yard, while making plans for next season.

He said: “We’re liaising with the owners to see how they want to move forward, but we’re still aiming for some of the horses, for the summer racing, to be ready for July 1.

“With the winter racing, we will aim them for July so they can be ready to run at the end of September or the beginning of October.”

The Lambourn Open Day was due to take place on Good Friday and Signy admitted it was a real shame to lose it, as it would have been his first at The Croft Stables.

He said: “It’s a huge loss for Lambourn and the charity donations that the yards make, as well as our yard because it was a chance for people to come in and see the improvements we have made.

“Myself and Katherine are decorating and painting, so it’s disappointing we can’t show our yard off, but we’ll aim for next year.”