Stuart Messenger

Stuart joined us at Barbury Castle as Head Lad in November last year. He has proved a great asset and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge which has proved beneficial in a short space of time. What’s most pleasing about Stuart is his helpfulness and knowledge he passes on to our younger members of staff which helps them in their development, notably having a big influence on their performance at work.

Stuart has a glowing CV where he began his career in racing at Sir Michael Stoute’s back in 1978, where he started as a Stable Lad working his way up to Head Lad after only a couple of years. In his time there he has worked alongside some star names which include Workforce, Harbinger, Kris Kin, Kalanisi & North Light. He worked for Sir Michael for a total of 36 years. The highlight would have obviously been winning the Godolphin Stable Lads Award back in 2010. His next chapter was a move to Richard Hughes’s, where he joined him to help set up his training career back in 2016 working as head lad for two seasons.

Stuart has had many good memories but the stand out was looking after and riding Kribensis in his retirement.