MARK GRANT
RACING
MARK GRANT
RACING
MGR is based in Lambourn, Berkshire in the Valley of the Racehorse – and we offer the following services:
Mark hails from Tipperary, Ireland and fell in love with horses at an early age. He represented Ireland at the European Championships on the Pony Eventing Team, before catching the bug for horse racing. He started his career at the world-famous Ballydoyle at the age of 16, before he moved to the Point to Point circuit where he worked for the Cross-Country king, Enda Bolger.
Mark forged a relationship with David Watchman and the Watchman /Grant combination saw Mark crowned Joint Champion Novice Point-to-Point rider and finish second by the narrowest of margins in the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship.
Mark was first jockey to David Watchman before David turned his attention to training purely flat horses and that’s when Mark moved to the UK, where he was a successful jump jockey for 14 years. In the latter stages of Mark’s riding career, he started Mark Grant Racing, a breaking and pre-training yard in Lambourn.
The yard has expanded over the last few years and in 2018 he started preparing breeze up horses. MGR break 50 plus horses per year and buy, prepare and sell between 15-20 breeze-up horses. The most famous breeze up graduate is multiple Group 1 and dual Royal Ascot winner Bradsell.
In 2018, Mark married Eimear, daughter of dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winning trainer Noel Chance and they run the business together with Mark focusing on the yard and Eimear focusing on the business and marketing side of Mark Grant Racing.
Mark and Eimear love welcoming and providing hospitality to existing and prospective clients when they visit Upshire House Stables. Whether you want to view the breeze-up horses or send a horse to be pre-trained, a warm welcome awaits.
We are proud to work with The Pheasant Inn, a local Pub and rooms. The Pheasant has a rich racing history, being one of the country’s most famous racing pubs. The fantastic food, great atmosphere, gorgeous rooms and ideal location, just off the M4 motorway make it the perfect place to eat or stay when visiting Lambourn.
