PAUL COLE, the man I like to call ‘Generous’ and the trainer of the horse with that name who stormed to Derby victory in 1991, is set to relinquish his licence.
“I looked out at a horse this morning and just thought the time has come for me to retire,” Cole told me.
Oliver Cole will take over his dad’s training operation[/caption]
He said: “I’ve been sharing the licence with my son Oliver since 2020, and I’m just very old now.
“Oliver knows what he’s doing and is more than capable.”
With over 1,500 British winners to his name, Cole has been training out of his yard in Whatcombe, Wantage, since 1987 and has sent out a whole host of big-race winners during the last three decades, headlined by Generous, the spectacular 1991 Derby, Irish Derby and King George hero.
Other notable triumphs for Cole, who was also crowned champion Flat trainer in Britain at the end of that memorable 1991 campaign, include the Classic victory of Snurge in the 1990 St Leger and the success of Mr Dinos in the 2003 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.
Other names familiar to a certain age group include Pass the Peace, Pouliches heroine Culture Vulture, Broken Hearted, Ruby Tiger and Bint Pasha.
Cole could land a punt in big handicaps like the Lincoln and at one stage was ‘King’ of the two-year-olds.
He also embraced the International scene, taking the 1992 Washington DC International with Zoman, two Italian Derbys, an Irish Oaks with Knights Baroness and Group 1s in Germany with Ibn Bey.
Snurge banged in a Canadian International and Rubyt Tiger an EP Taylor.
At Royal Ascot, Cole had 21 victories and one in partnership with Oli.
They included juvenile successes with the likes of Dilum, Magic Ring, Fair Cop and Sri Pekan.
Cole puts his success down to luck and a strong determination, helped very much by his late and much loved wife Vanessa, who sadly passed in May last year.
He said: “Vanessa was a fantastic wife and a fantastic trainer’s wife. She brought calmness and understanding. I could not have found anyone better.”
Of how it all started, Cole revealed: “My dad had farms but he sold then in the war which wasn’t a great idea.
“However, I was always around horses and went hunting. But we didn’t have a lot of money.
“My father knew someone who had a caravan park in Bournemouth and asked him if he would lend me the money to lease a yard.
“One way or another I got a few horses together and I went to the Jockey Club to get a licence but I saw straight away there was a “no” by my name.
“You see, back then, you had to be in the right group of people to get accepted.
“It was just after National Service was ending and the Jockey Club didn’t understand that it was suddenly going to be approached by younger people who wanted to get in on the scene.
“I had to re-apply but I wasn’t going to give up. I wasn’t that academically bright and it was just a case of thinking, ‘what can I do?’.
“I was thinking about being a stud manager when I was 21. But in the end I had no doubt what I really wanted to do.
“I always had a feeling I would end up at Whatcombe and I’ll continue living here and Oli will train here.
“It was one of my ambitions to be here. I just had to facilitate how I was going to get here.
“When we arrived it was nothing like it is now. It was all creosote and nails. Not much else.”
The ‘Generous’ year came about in unusual circumstances.
The famed trainer told me: “Anthony Penfold was racing manager for Fahd Salman, and we met at Heathrow before heading to Goffs’s.
“I said to Anthony there would be some big buyers in Ireland and we would have to go for a horse with an unusual colour or pedigree. We got both.
“Generous was like Roy Rogers’ famous animal Trigger in that he was a flashy chestnut and by Caerleon who wasn’t that popular.
“We did have to go above budget, to 200,000 Irish guineas, but we got him.
“Generous was the best I trained. He had an incredible turn of foot – he won over 5f first time out.
“When he kicked nothing was going to pass him.”
Cole always trained with a mission.
He said: “I have loved training but it was a way of earning some money, be able to get married and be able to educate the children.
“That’s why we travlled the horses so much. So we could earn people money who owned the horses.”
Cole continued: “I loved to buy a cheap horse and win a big race. I think we got Sarab for £1800 and he won the Foret. That was special.
“Snurge went everywhere. A warrior and a traveller.”
Cole has used many jockeys in his time, but Richard Quinn, Alan Munro and most recently, Jamie Spencer, a good friend of another of Cole’s sons, Alexander, have been most in demand.
Cole said: “Richard Quinn started with me. But Fahd Salman had a lot of advisors and they didn’t always want him.
“That said, I never really had any falling out with jockeys.
“Quinn did the job that was needed. Alan Munro won the Derby on Generous and Jamie Spencer has done very well. He’s a jockey for a certain type of horse.”
It’s the end of an era with the retirement of Paul Cole.
It follows the departure of the late Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute and Roger Charlton, huge names of the game.
They all loved this sport.
Cole finished off by saying to me: “What a lucky decision I made to go into racing. I started very humbly. And we won some of the biggest races.”
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