'It was getting pretty scary by third lot' - Nicky Henderson battles the storm

The storms that battered Britain and Ireland on Friday did not miss Lambourn, where Nicky Henderson was among the trainers to attempt to brave the conditions.

Henderson's first lot pulled out just after 7am and the 71-year-old said: "It was foul – absolutely foul. First lot was just about all right and second lot was impossible.

"We had some owners down, so I tried to work a couple, but you couldn't have gone up Faringdon Road – we went up the all-weather, which is a bit more sheltered.

"We got them all out, but it was getting pretty scary by third lot, so I left them in the covered ride. Seven Barrows has its own micro-climate at times, but we have got a bit of shelter down here."

Nathan Brennan, a conditional jockey at Seven Barrows, which backs on to the main training areas in Upper Lambourn, put Saturday's Haydock runner Mill Green through his paces first thing on Friday.

He said: "It was dry, but very windy. I don't think horses are very fond of it, but they're not too bad, especially the older horses and we didn't really doing a whole lot because of it.

"I rode Mill Green, who I'm on at Haydock tomorrow, first lot and we went up the gallops for that. We were up good and early – around 7.20am – to get out before the bad stuff kicked in and then we were in the indoor school."

Lambourn: 'I think everybody has been busy getting the horses out as early as they can'Credit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

The majority of Upper Lambourn's other trainers were out and about early to miss the full force of Storm Eunice, which brought unprecedented winds to the area later in the morning.

Warren Greatrex cancelled his usual Friday morning schooling session and the gallops were a much quieter place than normal at 10am.

"I think this is the eye of it now and my weather app says 52mph winds, which is pretty strong – as strong as I can remember in my 11 years here," said Will Riggall, who manages the gallops for Jockey Club Estates.

"My wind monitor is at the yard and it's not up here. If it was, I'd say you could add 10mph to that. They predicted 70mph up here and it wouldn't surprise me if we got up to that. I've never seen warning colours for wind like that on a forecast app before. It's rough."

Action on the track was badly hit, with Fakenham, Lingfield, Southwell and Dundalk cancelling their fixtures, although Kelso's card survived.

Some homes in Lambourn lost power and Riggall added: "We were in an amber warning area, which is not uncommon and we knew the peak of the winds wasn't going to be until around 10am. At 8am the worst was to come and I think everybody has been busy getting the horses out as early as they can.

"I warned the trainers early in the week and it was pretty apparent this was going to happen many days ago and it's up to trainers if they wanted to get them out or not. I think a few yards have kept away, but some came out first thing."

Riggall continued: "Snow's the worst and this wind is a real pain in that it could affect a lot of railings and cause structural damage, which we don't need and would take up time we could spend doing other improvements to the gallops. We might just spend a few days tidying up.

"The sap has started to rise in the trees, which makes them a bit more flexible than perhaps they were in midwinter, so hopefully there aren't any down – we'll have the chainsaws at the ready. It will fall to us to clear the network of paths around Upper Lambourn that link the yards. We're getting used to more extreme patterns these days and these storms and freak weather are going to be more regular given climate change. The peak of the storm will last a couple of hours and then slow down, but it might be pretty rough for a few days."

Group 1-winning trainer Roger Teal: 'We did nothing – we didn't want to take any chances'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Group 1-winning Flat trainer Roger Teal was among those who did not pull out. He said: "We did nothing – we didn't want to take any chances. We're just preparing our horses for the Flat season, so missing one day isn't the end of the world.

"They've gone on the walker and had a stretch and while the wind has picked up, it wasn't as strong as I feared when I watched the news last night.

"You've got to think of the staff and I didn't want to get a silly loose one, a two-year-old getting spooked by the wind. We played safe and it's not like we've got to get anything ready for Cheltenham. This won't cost us anything and the staff work so hard, so I said we'd do a Sunday stables and have an easy day."

Lingfield and Southwell off but Kelso survives as Storm Eunice wreaks havoc

Calm before the storm at Newmarket

Newmarket is covered by the red weather warning from 10am so it was largely business as usual at first lot on Warren Hill – but it could be a different story later on after Suffolk declared a major incident as the county is hit by Storm Eunice.

John and Thady Gosden managed to canter stars such as Mishriff, Stradivarius and Lord North at first lot. John Gosden said: "We've managed to get through first and probably second lot as normal but it could be that we have to stay indoors at third lot as we're going in the red zone between 10am-3pm I believe."

There was a similar mood of caution from Gosden's fellow Newmarket trainers. Charlie Fellowes said: "It's not too bad just now but we're planning two lots out and two lots in our covered ride as it's supposed to get worse later on."

Harry Eustace said: "I got my two weekend runners out at first lot but we're staying in the yard for the rest of the morning where we have a trotting ring. It makes sense."

Sir Mark Prescott said: "I was going to stay in my covered ride but came out as Luke Morris is going on holiday next week, so I thought this might freshen him up! They say it's going to be bad later so I've had to get the candles out at Heath House for the first time since the 1970s."
David Milnes, Newmarket correspondent

Racing's workforce bravely battle 'horrible' conditions across Britain

Trainers and jockeys away from from two of racing's major centres in Britain have also been tackling the brunt of Storm Eunice to keep the show on the road on Friday morning.

Christian Williams, whose Glamorgan-based yard near the Welsh coast is also in the red zone, escaped the conditions with no serious damage.

He said: "It was very windy. We were in the red weather warning area, but had a good run for about an hour and a half to two hours, and then it got a bit windy.

"We managed to ride out a few and think we've around 12 to still do, so we'll go back at 3pm and do that. It was still rough enough from 10am."

Charlie Deutsch also rode out at Venetia Williams' Herefordshire-based yard this morning with no major issues, despite the conditions proving a significant challenge.

"It was horrible riding out this morning. It started off not too bad but then it got worse, you could hardly breathe at one point," he said.

"We carried on as usual, but didn't quite do as long a lots as we might normally. We did all the same work and didn't change much."

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