'I pleaded' - Robin Bastiman dismayed by son's plan to sell yard for development

Family fallout has followed tragedy at a Group 1-winning yard in Yorkshire which now lies empty and could be lost to racing.

The stable near Wetherby where Robin Bastiman prepared Borderlescott to win back-to-back Nunthorpe Stakes in 2008 and 2009 may be turned into housing or commercial property.

Bastiman handed over the licence in 2015 to his daughter Rebecca, who became the third generation of the family to train and sent out more than 100 winners herself.

She died in March last year, following a long illness, and the reins passed to her brother Harvey, who quit at the end of last year due to dwindling numbers. He is now working in maintenance in a hotel in Harrogate and investigating options for redeveloping the stables, which he inherited from his sister.

Harvey Bastiman, 46, admits it has caused a fallout with his father. He said: "There have been arguments. It's a bit of a nightmare, it's all up in the air. I miss the horses but I'm taking a year off from racing. It's a complete change, I've been with horses for 35 years.

Robin Bastiman with Rebecca (on Borderlescott in front) and Harvey (on Maraud behind)Credit: Jon Winter

"I will maybe look for somewhere I can start up again. My sister left me the property with the stables so I'm going to see if maybe I could develop the stables into properties then go and look for somewhere else where I can set up myself with a bit of land and a few stables and go again. That's the long-term plan."

Robin Bastiman, 71, who is currently warned off after being found to have injected a horse with a substance containing cobalt on a day it was due to race and whose suspension does not end until August, said: "It's all gone pear-shaped. The yard is empty at the moment.

"My daughter left it to him, which is fair enough as I gave it to her in the first place. So I'm now left with 35 acres of land, a gallop and no stables. It's a mess. There are two barns and he'll probably be trying to get planning permission for those."

Explaining his decision to quit, Harvey Bastiman said: "The number of horses had gone down and the expense of everything had gone up. We'd got down to ten horses and I owned a lot of them, or they were my sister's, and they were knocking on a little bit.

"It was a hard decision to let the owners take the horses away but they said they'd come back and support me if I decided to set up again."

Robin Bastiman, whose father Deryck started the family training business, said: "I wanted him to carry on but I knew he wanted to pack it in.

"I pleaded with him, I said I knew things weren't going so well towards the end but just advertise – you've got all the facilities. We have everything here. I wouldn't mind training just half a dozen horses for a few of my friends."

Read more:

Trainer Rebecca Bastiman dies aged 40 following long battle with illness

'She had an affinity with horses' – Robin Bastiman's tribute to daughter Rebecca

Borderlescott: the much-loved little sprint wonder with the huge heart

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