A wealth of experience combined with the energy of youth provides a team for all seasons, to ensure that Kingsclere will move with the times, and that its future promises to continue the legacy of its glorious past.

In addition to Andrew, the other members of the Balding family are all involved at Kingsclere. Andrew’s father, Ian trained here for thirty nine years and still rides out each morning on his hack, whilst Andrew’s mother Emma runs the Kingsclere Stud, from which she has bred many stars for the Kingsclere Racing Club. Andrew’s wife Anna Lisa plays a key role in the running of the business and the management of staff and owners, whilst the kids all help out in the holidays.

Paul Morkan

Paul joined the team at Kingsclere in December 2021 having worked in racing in the UK, Ireland, and Australia, and after ten years as Assistant Trainer to Mick Channon. An experienced horseman with a background in showjumping and eventing, Paul oversees the day-to-day running of the yard with the horse and staff management, as well as organising all of our stalls training.

Lucy Alexander

Lucy rode successfully as a professional jump jockey for about a decade before being side-lined by a serious back injury in November 2020. She started at Kingsclere at the beginning of 2022, and amongst other things, assists Andrew with owner communications, race planning and analysing Equinity data from the work mornings.

Assistant Trainer Paul Morkan is supported by Nigel Walker as General Manager and Maddy O'Meara as Riding Assistant, as well as a strong team of experienced Barn Managers. Kevin Hunt, Ben Corke, Fabrizio Specchio and Wayne Bolton between them have a wealth of experience in horse management. Each manager is responsible for the welfare of the horses in their yards, feeding and checking them each day and ensuring a high standard of work from the staff team.

Simon Humphries, Sam Geake, Jana Stefanova and Chrissy Hannaford head up our senior travelling team, taking charge of our horses and staff at the races and ensuring that everything goes smoothly at the track.

Simon and Jamie Knapp of Kingsclere Vets are our vets and are in the yard most days through the busiest months of the flat season. Simon has been the vet here for over thirty years and has an exceptional level of experience in his field. He is a member of the BHA’s veterinary committee and the senior racecourse vet at Ascot, Sandown, Epsom and Kempton. His son Jamie joined the team in 2019 and, ably assisted by veterinary nurse Laura Perkins, they provide timely and expert care to all our horses.

With the retirement of long-standing farrier Eugene Cullen, Ben Tillett now leads our farrier team having spent plenty of time alongside Eugene working with the horses at Park House. He is responsible for the maintenance of the horses’ feet and ensures that they are appropriately shod for training and racing.

We are blessed with an excellent team of riders and ground-staff, most of whom live on site. We have a good balance between promising young riders and older staff with invaluable experience. Each full-time groom looks after around five horses, doing them every afternoon and taking them racing. This enables horse and carer to form a bond and means that anything out of the ordinary is quickly spotted and reported.

Lindy Rees is our racing secretary, backed up by Jo Gammell. They oversee entries, declarations, travel, accounts, payroll and all the other important administrative functions of a racing office. They are assisted by Sue Stringer and Mary Gee, who help keep the books in order!