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Does anybody have any details of the Wiley old fox that is Ian Semple. Retired a few years back and somebody recently told me he is training again somewhere in central scotland.
Very shrewd with his horses and has has some big priced winners over the years.
Hope to see him at Hamilton in the not too distant future!!!
His Big Timer gave me my biggest ever win, in the 2008 Wokingham, so I’ll always have a soft spot for him.
He trained a couple of miles up the road from me in Carluke, North Lanarkshire for a few years, but obviously disappeared for a while. I noticed that he had The Galloping Shoe running at Epsom last weekend, but assumed that he hadn’t returned to his old base. I’d heard a rumour he was still based in Lanarkshire, but haven’t had it confirmed yet.
The postcode given for him in the Trainers Directory on the BHA website (ML8 5BP) points to him still training at Carluke.
AP
… but maybe not at the Belstane stables where his time(s) have been chronicled in the Carluke Gazette ? :
http://www.carlukegazette.co.uk/sport/l … ion=search
the Belstane postcode is ML8 5HN and it now seems home to Keith Dalgleish…..unless the place supports two postcodes ?
then again, how many training establishments are there in Carluke?
wit, Don’t know of any others in Carluke, but wouldn’t rule it out.
Donal Nolan is very close by in Wishaw, and I believe he was known to use the facilities at Belstane, so I suppose there’s the potential for Belstane to accommodate another string, assuming that Semple would only have a small string at the moment.
Meanwhile, Ian Semple is making a shock return to training after nearly 18 months in retirement. The Scot, who turns 63 next month, has taken over at Burnwynd Stables, between Strathaven and Hamilton, from John McShane, who is remaining as his assistant.
"I feel refreshed and re-energised after my break," he said. "I feel like I’ve got another five years left in me again."
May 1, 2011 – The Sunday HeraldSemple tempted back by the craic
WITH his 63rd birthday only a couple of furlongs away, and four grandchildren coveting his undivided attention, Ian Semple could be forgiven for cantering his way through retirement.
Instead, after 18 months of being ‘dragged around Marks & Spencer and Matalan’, the Scot is making an unlikely comeback, having seemingly turned his back on racing for good when severing a 12-year association with Belstane Stables — including two separate stints as head trainer — at the end of 2009.
Refreshed and re-energised by his break, however, Semple has taken over the reins at Burnwynd Stables, near Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, from John McShane, who is staying on as his assistant.
The duo worked together previously at Belstane, the Carluke set-up from where Semple etched his name indelibly into the tartan turf’s record books by becoming the first Scottish-based trainer to send out a winner at the Dubai Carnival with Appalachian Trail in 2007.
Furthermore, the 49 winners Semple recorded in 2006 remains the most in a calendar year by a Flat trainer in Scotland since George Boyd half a century earlier.
Semple, who has recently been acting as a consultant to Valhalla Stud in Stirlingshire, admitted the opportunity for renewing his day-to-day involvement with horses and ‘having a craic’ with the lads were the primary reasons behind his shock U-turn.
‘There are only so many crosswords, shopping trips and country walks you can do,’ he said.
‘So, when Robert Reid (Burnwynd Stables’ owner-founder) asked me if I’d take out my licence again and try to get this place off the ground, I jumped at the chance. Being away from racing made me realise how much I missed it.
‘John had been doing his best to get things going here, but it just wasn’t happening. When I came here four or five weeks ago, the only horses on the books were Robert’s. Now we have eight new owners on board and 17 horses.’
With improvements to Burnwynd’s facilities all but completed, Semple hopes to saddle his first runners from his new base at Hamilton’s Braveheart Stakes meeting on Friday week.
Refuting suggestions his comeback might prove as short-lived as his second spell in the Belstane hotseat — which he ceased within 12 months in order to spend more time with his family — Semple insisted this would be no fly-by-night venture.
‘At nearly 63, it’s hard to say that I’m as ambitious now as I’ve ever been,’ he added. ‘But I’m keener now than I have been for a couple of years, and probably longer.
‘The break has refreshed me and re-energised me. I’m in the yard just after 6am most mornings and I’m often still here at 6pm, but I feel bright and breezy and, most importantly, I’m enjoying it.
‘Like anyone who’s been in the same job for 12 years, I went stale at Belstane. I wasn’t able to give them a five-year commitment back then, which is one of the reasons why I left.
‘But, right now, I feel as though I have as many as another five good years in me.’
Daily Mail
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