What really happens behind the scenes at a top training yard?

It's 5.30am and far too early for nasty surprises when the phone rings in the kitchen at Somerville Lodge. The trainer rolls his eyes, puts down his tea and considers the possibilities. "Somebody copping off sick," he ventures, sounding as though he's been down this road before.

It's not a crisis, but this is the kind of thing a man can do without when he's a meticulous planner who has designed an intricate but hopefully foolproof system to facilitate the smooth running of a racing yard containing 170 horses, "but we employ about 80 people, so there's always going to be somebody in bad form one way or another."

From the outside looking in, this is a prestigious Newmarket stable that has turned out more than 2,000 winners in the past 33 years. From the inside, what William Haggas sees is a large and complex operation that has turned out more than 2,000 winners because it is run in a way that minimises the opportunities for error and maximises the chances of getting the best out of every horse.