Behind the scenes at Lizzie Quinlan Racing in Bolton Mill

‘These are the twenty-fifth, sixth and seventh this morning. We have 36 in work at the moment’, say Lizzie, as two chestnut horses and a bay are led up for her to look over, before a team of three girls mount and head out up the road.

The set-up at Bolton Mill is well-established but has grown substantially since Lizzie took over the training permit from her mother, Barbara Butterworth, in 2023. ‘I’ve lived here all my life, born and bred at Bolton Mill. Mum and dad, Barbara and Graham, have farmed here and my grandfather before that.

‘Mum always had a permit, so she initially trained a handful of her own and rode herself, and dad had harness racing horses

‘So, there has always been horses here. Mum always says I could ride before I could walk,’ Lizzie tells me as we get into her car and follow behind the string of horses heading up the road.

Although the obvious path would appear to be for Lizzie to take over the reins directly from her mum, Barbara, it wasn’t what Lizzie had always intended to do. On leaving school, Lizzie joined the British Horseracing Development Programme, to learn more about the different aspects within horseracing. Placements at the Horserace Betting Levy Board and York Racecourse that ended up with her becoming a racing manager for Hambleton Races as well as riding as a jockey successfully herself, taught Lizzie a lot about the industry.

‘It gave me a much broader background. We added some more stables on and then we got a few more of our own, still under mum. We had probably 12 horses based here and then mum just said, “Right, I’m not renewing my licence anymore. You’ll have to finish your modules and take over”. And that was it.’

By this point Lizzie had married her husband, the Irish jockey, Sean Quinlan. The pair met while at the races and very much work together. ‘Having Sean here is just a huge, huge asset because of his knowledge and feel for horses. He can tell you things straight away just by sitting on them.’

So, in 2023 along with their two children and Lizzie’s parents behind them acting as a strong foundation, they set out to train in their own right.

As we pull out of the drive and head up the hill, the string of horses we are following move into trot, working their way up to the gallops through Bolton village.

‘There’s a nice community feel in this village. I definitely wouldn’t ever want to move from here, I love it. We get a lot of people come up to the gallop, stand and watch. We have a lot of our friends that live in the village – they get behind you and really want to see you doing well. We have a village WhatsApp group and I can remember that when Sean was riding in the National there were all these messages from the group saying good luck to him.’

I can see from the waves, smiles and consideration towards the horses, that this is true – the village are behind the Bolton Mill-Quinlan team.

Pulling out of the village, we come to the circular gallop track that looks across the valley offering views to the fells beyond.

‘Where we are is absolutely brilliant and it’s just got links to everywhere, straight onto the A1 and straight onto the M6. Okay, the weather is a little bit of an issue at times. But we’re well used to it and we’ve got some good waterproofs, because it can be very, very wet in Cumbria!’ Lizzie laughs. ‘But the gallop keeps us going. It’s got to be fairly cold to stop the gallop. And it’s just such a lovely place to live and work. Here itself and our yard, is just so quiet and peaceful.’

What strikes me the most is the calm, clockwork-like efficiency everything runs to.

The girls are quiet and soft with the horses and on reaching the gallop, we meet the team dedicated to keeping the sand gallop track right between lots with a tractor and special harrow, each person working to their role off instinctively which from the outside looks to have been instilled through good communication. ‘We’re really lucky. We have really good staff. They’re all good riders and we’ve got a really, really good team,’ Lizzie says as we stand and watch the horses work. Lizzie then debriefs with each rider after, discussing how each horse has gone.

Life with horses is rarely a steady one. It comes with incredible highs – in her riding career, Lizzie had wins at big fixtures including the Scottish Grand National meeting – but it also has devastating lows, of which Lizzie has not been spared. In 2015, Lizzie had a rotational fall where she broke her back in five places.

‘I didn’t just do a little one, I did it good and proper. I had full body brace and everything, on for a long time. I had my brace on for nearly four months,’ says Lizzie in her down-to-earth and matter-of-fact tone.

‘It took me six months to get back on a horse because of how slow it healed. I was very happy once I did get back on but definitely didn’t have the same amount of bottle afterwards. I didn’t think I’d ever get to race ride again, but they did give me my licence back to ride on the flat, not over jumps. So, I rode once on the flat, didn’t enjoy it and didn’t ride anymore. So, I just ride out at home now and not on the track.’

Fate might have cut Lizzie’s riding career shorter than she’d have hoped, but it is fair to say that her training career is only just getting started. Her strong background in riding, not just in racing but across all the equestrian spheres is helping to shape her own individual training style – one with correct basics at its core.

‘I am a huge stickler with the way the horses go. I love to see them using themselves properly. When horses first come to us, we do a lot in the arena, getting them to carry themselves and use themselves correctly, so that they’re muscling up properly. Also to balance them, if we do a lot of the groundwork and help them learn how to go properly, when they’re going at speed to a fence or a hurdle, they can naturally manage to lengthen and shorten their strides a little bit easier because they’ve been taught. They just strengthen up better and muscle up better.’

There is substance behind Lizzie’s words as since taking over the permit, the team have tallied up 28 winners, a number which is set to grow, I’m sure.

But it’s not just the results that speak for the yard, but the feel. ‘Everyone is really integrated – a real family atmosphere,’ Lizzie explains. ‘We try to do lots of things as a team, and throughout the year, the feel is lovely. Everybody gets on and it’s just, well, it’s mum really, she treats everybody like it’s one big family.’

Lizzie’s two children, Sophia and Isla, also play their part in the yard’s successes, their two ponies often accompanying racehorses to the races, acting as nannies to horses needing extra support.

‘They love watching daddy on TV, but they just love watching at home, love watching at the races, and being involved with the horses,’ says Lizzie.

As we look forward to the future of racing, I would suggest that you dog ear your future race cards for the horses trained out of the little village of Bolton in Cumbria, because the Quinlan team are set to be successful for generations to come.