The inside story on the filly who proved no flight of fancy for Knight, Barry and Currie - and grandad Colin

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Here, Tom Peacock speaks to Lucy Barry following her success on a notable Henrietta Knight winner at Windsor – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Cotswold Cottage’s victory in a little middle-distance handicap at Windsor in mid-October garnered more attention than it might have otherwise done for being the first winner trained by Henrietta Knight since her slightly unexpected return to the ranks.

There was another strand to this all-female alliance. The four-year-old filly provided cause for celebration for Nicola Currie in what has been a very quiet season for the rider, particularly as it was for her friend and former colleague Lucy Barry, the unsung hero in this story.

Cotswold Cottage was bred by Barry’s grandfather Colin Rogers who was, of all things, a keen pigeon fancier. He decided he would try to replicate such line breeding with racehorses, and this filly is the last remnant of his time in bloodstock.

"He was very successful with racing pigeons and he wanted to breed horses in a similar way," says Barry.

"I can’t tell you all the ins and outs of it, he’s tried to explain it to me so many times but I respect what he’s done with the breeding side, everything he’s bred has definitely been capable of winning, if not won a race."

Some of Rogers’ project sounds somewhat quixotic, including covering mares in Australia, where he used to spend half the year, and flying them lock, stock and barrel back to Britain. Nonetheless, he had a good eye for a bargain and bought Cotswold Cottage’s dam Minety Lass for just £800 as a yearling from an Ascot sale.

His granddaughter won on the sprinter by Needwood Blade on two occasions in 2011, back when she was a budding apprentice.  

Cotswold Cottage is her only thoroughbred foal, with Rogers deciding more recently to retire and disperse all of his stock.

"I quite liked the filly, I broke her in and pre-trained her and he said I could have her if I wanted her," says Barry.

"So I’ve kept her going, mainly for him actually. I wanted to keep that family line going."

Barry went out on a winner just over three years ago, having loved riding since childhood, so moulding a backward yearling into an athlete must have filled some of the gap. 

Henrietta Knight's first winner since resuming her training career was our hero Cotswold CottageCredit: Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Her partner is jump jockey Brendan Powell, whose father is Knight’s assistant, so Cotswold Cottage headed to West Lockinge Farm and was finally ready to run in June.

"She’s a lovely looking filly, she did show a bit of ability and that’s why I’ve kept pursuing it with her," says Barry.

"She’s a bit of a madam. You could put your granny on her but she has her own mind a little bit with the stalls and the lorry, so there were some delays.

"I wanted to be very much involved in her training regime, so it kind of made sense to go to Hen’s."

It clicked at the fourth time of asking on Cotswold Cottage’s handicap debut, when she became one of just five winners in 2024 for Currie. 

"To be honest I find it crazy that she is having a tough season," Barry says of her friend.

"She’s an incredible rider and she gives the most amazing feedback, it’s been paramount to going on to what we’ve done.

"Whenever I’ve taken her for awaydays, Nic has come and helped with the lorry, worked her or sat on her, so she’s put in so much work, which I think is why she found it quite satisfying. It was a team effort."

Cotswold Cottage is currently having a spell in the field with Barry’s other pet, the unrelated Hawthorn Cottage, who is a horse of particular sentimental value as she provided the last of her 37 career winners.

Barry bought that mare on behalf of the Melbourne 10 syndicate and was in the saddle for victories in a Cheltenham bumper, two hurdles and finally a chase at Warwick.

Hawthorn Cottage and Lucy Barry in winning action at WarwickCredit: Tim Goode (Getty Images)

It might very well have been an enforced holiday for Cotswold Cottage in any event as nature has dictated that Barry must take a break too; she is due to give birth in January.

"I won’t get her back in until I get back riding, so she can come back for next season," she says.

"A few people have asked if she’d go jumping, but I think that’s the Henrietta Knight connection. 

"Her mother is built for speed and [sire] Frontiersman has given her a little bit of stamina. I’ve no doubt she’ll stay further but I think she might be a more valuable horse to stay on the Flat for the end of her career."

Barry reports her grandfather to have been "over the moon" with Cotswold Cottage’s win. It came in his old silks and the filly’s name is in tribute to both her paddock mate and to Rogers himself, a Cotswold stone roofer by trade who named his own horses with a connection to the area.

There will have been many who were just as delighted for Barry, a bright and thoughtful figure who is remembered fondly by the weighing room. When she retired she seemed to have found closure from issues which invaded her riding career, including eating disorders and depression, and she has continued thereon with purpose.

"I’ve got out of racing a little bit, so the two horses are my hobby," she says.

"I’m not ready to completely give up riding but I’m doing my qualifications in permanent make-up and tattoo removal, which I’ve done through Jets [the Jockeys Education & Training Scheme]. 

"I thought I needed a job that’s more flexible, especially with starting a family."

Barry laughs that she isn’t doing things by halves; there is not only a baby and setting up a business on the horizon, but she and Powell need to move house in the next few months.

You still suspect that by early spring she’ll be back in the saddle. After all, Cotswold Cottage is just another extension of the family.

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"We really regard him as one of the family, as does our stallion man, Clive Cox, who has done an amazing job caring for him," says Paul Cashman as Rathbarry Stud announced the retirement of grand servant Acclamation aged 25. 

Pedigree pick

Shadwell have a debutante at Newcastle today in the 7f fillies’ novice stakes (5.30) who has a fair bit going for her on paper.

For starters, Majaz is by Dubawi, so gets a big tick there, while she was bred in partnership by Floors Stud and Coolmore out of the Group-placed Galileo mare Cushion, dam of three winners from three runners led by Group-placed Hafit, the full-brother to the debuting two-year-old.

It took Shadwell 450,000gns to acquire her at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, and she makes her debut at Gosforth Park for Roger Varian, with Jim Crowley in the saddle.

Due Diligence’s two-from-two daughter Searchingtheblues sets the standard, though Sea The Stars youngster North Star was a promising second on her debut over course and distance last month and is another potential barrier to our pick making a winning start.

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