Polly Walker, nee Gundry, could have established a riding career in eventing. ‘When I was 16, I had someone pay my entry fees, which got me into the eventing quicker than I would have done without. This was Sheila Rowe, my first owner,’ explains Polly Gundry. From 16-21, she competed in Junior Regional Novice classes, including going round at Blenheim in 1996 on Nuit St George. ‘I enjoyed the cross country and showjumping, but did the dressage because I had to. Having ridden for Sheila Rowe in 1991-2, I won a scholarship to spend six months with Mike and Angela Tucker in Long Newton, near Tetbury. They saw I could go cross country because of all my hunting, and they aimed to improve my dressage. I felt so sorry for Angela, who was trying to instruct me to become better at dressage because, as Adam Kemp said, ‘‘How could you be so talented over a fence and absolutely talentless on the flat?’’ As a result, I went point-to-pointing.’
And the rest is history…
Polly became one of the best female amateurs in history. When retiring in April 2011, she’d clocked up 303 point-to-point winners and approximately fifty winners under Rules. ‘I also rode six winners in France, which I'm really proud of. Over three days, I had seven rides and had six winners and a second, which was amazing.’
Of those National Hunt winners, Torduff Express winning the Aintree Foxhunters’ in ’02 was Polly’s biggest success, which at the time saw her only the third woman to ride a winner over the big Grand National fences. This is followed by the ’05 Horse and Hound Cup on Mrs Be.
A training career naturally followed. ‘We were looking around for some ground and in 2006, we found this cow farm with twenty-nine acres. We moved in there in the October with two horses, and two more arrived two days later.’ Polly details how their training operation has steadily grown. She sends out runners under a license, whilst husband Ed Walker, from Laverton near Broadway in the Cotswolds, trains point-to-pointers, including the talented My Drogo. He also had a very horsey upbringing; his parents Robert and Sally Walker trained ‘pointers and he was a member of the North Cotswold Pony Club.
There’s a shining pride when Polly states, ‘Our horses are really happy.’
Winning the Aintree Foxhunters', Don't Rightly Know winning at Newbury and Polly and Ed at Cheltenham when Santini ran
Polly, 49, has seen considerable success under Rules, including training Santini in his later years and Dawson City, who has become their daughter’s riding horse. Back in mid-January, she sent out her biggest success as a trainer so far when winning the Class 1 Listed mares’ race at Newbury when Don’t Rightly Know beat Apple Away by just over a length. A month later, Don’t Rightly Know followed up in another Listed mares’ chase at Exeter.
Having originally grown up in Berkley, Gloucestershire, Polly then spent some years of her childhood in Dorset and near Tetbury, before resettling back in Berkeley. ‘I’m very much a Berkeley girl,’ she sums up.
Polly and Ed train near Ottery St Mary, Devonshire. Their daughter Daisy is Polly’s ‘mini-me’ and eight-year-old son Bertie, who’s a keen footballer and is laidback like his dad but, as Polly jokes, is a bit of a mummy’s boy too. ‘My children keep me sane,’ she says. ‘I’m so much nicer and happier with children.’ They have a fourteen-year-old terrier called Stoat, a rather plump and greedy whippet called Pumpkin, who eats anything from eggs out of the laying boxes to horse and bird feed, and an older homebred lurcher called Coco.
Did you have a horsey childhood? Yes. I inherited my mother's first pony, who was 29 when I was born. He was called Noah, was amazingly kind and loved hunting. My first day’s hunting off the leading rein was when I was four and a half. I was told not to go in front of the ‘yellow coats’ but I did manage to go in front of the lady master who was wearing a blue coat.
I was never happier than when I was on a pony bumbling around the field. My mother always allowed me to be very independent so I always rode on my own from when I was quite young, probably from about six.
How did you get into racing? My mum rode for Dick Baimbridge before Alison Dare did, and mum is still brave enough that I don't try to keep up with her out hunting. She was pretty gung-ho and jumped round Badminton. My dad was a talented jockey and, despite not getting many good rides, did jump round the Aintree fences in the Foxhunters in the early 1970s. Both my parents grew up in the hunting field, as I did.
What trainers have you worked for? I cocked up my A-levels, finished at the Tuckers and was so flattered when Steve Bush, a point-to-point rider/trainer, rang me up, asking me to go and ride out for him that season. He had about eight horses in training. I also went to Hartpury College and rode out for Matt and Nicky Sheppard. At the time, Julian Pritchard was the superstar amateur jockey in our area. I was still eventing a bit whilst studying at Hartpury College but after I'd finished, I worked for Jim Old in Wroughton, Wiltshire. It nearly killed me off; it was at such a cold place and I got so many boils and chilblains. I rode out lots of ‘pointers belonging to local farmers just because I loved it – we all did it for nothing in those days.
In my early 20s, I worked for Henrietta Knight. After that, I worked for Susie; The Countess Goess-Saurau at Rock, near Barbary Castle. Her husband, Konrad Goess-Saurau ran the former Marlborough Cup timber races. Turlough Donnelly, the Countess’ trainer, was an absolute hero. He had trained up north in his own right. There were various horses named from around the north, such as Themanfromcarlisle, who was named after Turlough himself. They sold a few horses to people such as Paul Nicholls and Henrietta Knight, both of whom I had worked or ridden for. I worked for Paul Nichols, mostly clipping, riding out and as a box driver. Paul kindly put me down on his list as an ‘assistant trainer’ because I generally filled in the gaps and did whatever jobs that needed doing. I never realised how important that was going to be until I applied for a licence.
When I was riding for Richard Barber, Paul Nicholls had been pretty rude about my crap riding, quite rightly! When I won a point-to-point championship, which was entirely Richard Barber's doing by having so many nice horses, Paul asked me to go and ride out. He had eighteen-year-old Joe Tizzard as his main jockey and an even younger Sam Stronge as his conditional, so Paul didn’t want a young amateur as well. Having been pretty critical of my riding in point-to-points, I was a bit nervous of going to ride out at Ditcheat, but did go eventually. On the first morning, he asked me if I'd like to ride Torduff Express in a novice hurdle at Exeter in September. ‘Torduff’ won so I thought riding Paul Nicholls’ horses was a lot of fun! Quite a lot of my fifty-odd National Hunt winners were for Paul, probably half in fact.
Other roles in racing: In 2003, I started being a nutritionist for Spillers Horse Feed but by ’09, we’d gone up to about twenty-four horses, which was enough to support us. I’d also got tired of driving all those miles.
When I started at Spillers, I thought my race riding would take a nosedive, but it took off because when I couldn’t get people interested in buying horse feed, I would ask if I could ride out for them in the hope that I would sell them feed, and ended up riding for them in races.
First winner as a jockey: It’s a wonderful story. At Talybont-on-Usk, Wales on Easter Monday in 1992, I rode Connemara Dawn. John Tuck, from the Berkley country, asked me to ride him because he’d been on him and rode a finish a circuit too early at Garnons, so I got the call up in a ladies’ race. It was my fourth ride; I just held on to the mane all the way round and the horse won entirely of his own accord.
Favourite racecourse under Rules: I only went to Southwell four times and had three winners – all were on Paul Nicholls’ horses. I really liked Taunton in wet weather – I had a lot of luck there. I generally like undulating courses, unlike Taunton and Southwell, but I had a lot of luck on those two courses because I was riding decent horses there.
Favourite racecourse between the Flags: Everyone thinks I'm bonkers but I really loved Wadebridge.
Polly wins a Black Forest Lodge Ladies' on Sailors Folly for owner Richard Kelvin Hughes
Photo Credit: The Big Green Annual
Best day as a jockey: I had far more of those than my fair share.
Another of my favourite racecourses is Flete Park for its atmosphere and I had a four timer there. All the horses I rode were slow and we were out the back, bumbling round. The ones in front went too quick and didn't see the trip out so I won all four races coming from behind, overtaking after the last.
How did you start training ‘pointers? When I came down to Devon with Ed, we
thought that I would train ‘pointers and he would ride them, and achieve all his ambitions. But then, when the horses didn't run as well as we thought they might, he ended up, because of my experience, saying I could ride them. He wasn't keen on the pressure of riding our own horses – he also had a struggle with his weight.
Nowadays, Ed trains our ‘pointers. He has one set of staff and I my own. I oversee all the training of all the jumping though.
How has point-to-pointing changed for the better? I'm very opinionated on this. The centralisation has been a reason that ‘pointing has been failing. In trying to save point-to-pointing, the Point-to-Point Authority (PPA) have taken over a lot of the decisions for ‘pointing and it's antagonised a lot of people who organised the point-to-points. If they were there as a good support then great but they've tried to control the direction the sport has gone in. In a few ways, it did need a helping hand but they've also annoyed a lot of people who volunteer and organise.
The centralisation of hunt certificates means the hunts don't even know the people who are supporting them – they've made the gap between hunting and ‘pointing even bigger. There will be trail and bloodhound hunts that continue but there's a bigger gap between the hunting fraternity and the point-to-point/National Hunt racing fraternity now, which is a great shame.
Without those volunteers, point-to-pointing cannot go on as we know it, and the volunteers only do it because they support their pack, club or hunt.
The cost of it has got increasingly serious, making it more elitist. On the other hand, if someone's really keen to get involved, they've got to be patient and go down the old-fashioned route. This isn't a bad thing – those kids who are born into it often win races too early and this can ruin them, as much as make them. I love helping youngsters get into racing – if they work hard, they earn the opportunities. Alex Chadwick is a great example of someone who has taken his time to get into race riding, and done it the old-fashioned way, and is now a top-class amateur jockey.
How has everything changed now for female jockeys? It was tough but I was really lucky to be tomboyish. I still think we were treated as the fairer sex from the point of view that the boys were known as gentlemen and we were known as ladies, whether we were ladylike or not! I am so glad I was born when I was. One or two people asked if I would consider going professional – but I couldn’t see that as a career because it was my hobby. I was a bigger fish in a small pond as an amateur because I was a girl riding. If I had been a boy, I wouldn't have stood out as much. I also love socialising and drinking at the back of car boots, usually wearing a signature wacky hat on a cold day. I've been brought up to think that it's better to be talked about than not – it's better to be remembered than overlooked. Being a girl, it was easy to be remembered.
Favourite racehorses: Connemara Dawn started off as my favourite. Hearts Are Wild was a horse I was given by the late Tim Nixon as a result of my cousin marrying Henry Daly. He was probably the best quality horse I sat on – he had wind issues but still won a few ‘points for us.
Obviously Torduff Express was amazing and Mrs Be was quite outstanding. She was like riding a rabbit and knew more about the job than I did.
Rockwithacaveman, who came out of Pipe’s, was one of my favourites. He was a gentle horse, owned by Robin Pike. Kiama was one I thought I could have gone close in a Cheltenham Foxhunters’ but we managed to never get that far. Carry On, who won at five point-to-points, was a lovely mare.
First winner as a licenced trainer: Fort View, owned by Guy Henderson and ridden by his son Robbie. Guy was a lawyer and afterwards has done and is doing many important jobs in racing, like being Chief Executive of Ascot Racecourse. Guy is such an amazing, inspiring person – he encouraged me to get out my National Hunt training licence so, because of him, the win meant a lot to all of us.
What is the best advice you've been given? I take advice from anyone – you cannot stop learning from anyone and everyone. I'd take it all on board and use what I like. The late Geoff White – Johnson White’s father – was a steward at Exeter and Taunton. After I'd been training about twelve months under Rules, he inquired how I was getting on. We got on the subject of handicapping and I said I didn't really understand it but it didn't matter because I was always trying. He hilariously said, ‘you must cheat!’
Can you give any advice about training? If the horse looks well, it will be more likely to be well. I hate horses looking to lean. If it looks well, fit and happy and surely, it'll be more likely to run a good race.
How do you reflect back on training a fourth in the Aintree Grand National? To be given that opportunity was like fairytale. That year, I learned so much from training Santini and we’ve since trained Drogo much better. It was a huge honour and it was really playing with the big boys.
I love training and racing the horses but I wouldn't want to do it with a hundred. I like riding them and getting in their heads. When I started out, my aim was to train nine horses potentially rated over 130 and every year, I'm getting closer. It's real satisfaction. Every year, I improve and I understand more about where I am.
What guidelines do you train by? I've always been good at getting horses to jump, giving them the opportunity learn and perfect their technique. I'm a horror for dissecting things – why things went wrong or why things happened. I like to be really well prepared.
I'm a great believer in that if a person or a horse knows their job, then the happier and better they'll be at that job, and will achieve so much more. It's the same with staff and children too. I definitely use a stick and carrot approach – work them well and discipline them nicely. I try to give horses and staff opportunities to shine, and when they do, you can sit back and enjoy the moment. When I've done it right, I drink champagne.
Please describe your methods of training: I'm always griping to Ed that we haven't got the best facilities. We've got lots of facilities that we use to the best of our ability. We've got forty-seven acres, which include banks so we train like Dick Baimbridge up short sharp hills, a four-furlong sand canter that is up hill and a two furlong oval loop to do slow canters in either direction or we can canter inside that oval on turf, as well as an extensive amount of hacking through the woods. We can go cantering through the woods for miles.
We jump horses twice a week and if they're not good at it, we jump them four times a week. We use logs and small tyres to get them good at it. I love trot jumping – the best jumpers I've ridden are timber racers in America and that's what they do. We do a fair bit of flat work, especially in the autumn and then keep doing flat work in the spring the keep them strong across their backs. All our horses hack on Mondays – rarely do I ever canter anything on a Monday unless it's running on the Tuesday.
Everything I have has a day's hunting. I learn so much from a horse, especially an older horse, whether it's happy, nervous, weak, windy or if they go in softer or better ground.
Favourite meal: I really like smoked salmon. If anyone gives me a present of a smoked salmon, it makes me very happy.
Favourite drink: I'm pretty keen on Moët and Chandon, but Avery’s champagne is really nice and easy to drink. It's made by my mum’s partner, Richard.
Favourite snack: My Godfather Johnny brings in broken biscuits so they keep us going on the yard when we are flat out!
Favourite holiday destination: Somewhere with a comfy bed. I only go away to sleep! I'd love to take the kids away to somewhere hot with a pool.
Favourite music: Shania Twain. I also love Chris Martin and Coldplay.
Favourite film: Pretty Woman, which I should have grown out of by now but I love it and have watched it so many times.
Favourite book: I've just finished John Francome’s autobiography Born Lucky for the third time. I'm a big fan of his.
Best ever racing party so far: My mentor was an old chap called John Daniel, who won the Cheltenham Foxhunters’ twice in the 1960s and he was an absolute legend. After winning my first championship, we held the party at his house on his farm. We often took over his place for the parties and he just loved it – that one was perhaps the wildest. He was in his eighties then and in his element. There were point-to-point lads and girls scattered everywhere in his house and garden, and it made him so happy. I spoke to John Daniel after every National Hunt ride I ever had. He told me what I had done right or wrong, and I'll always miss him.
Santini before the 2022 Grand National
Photo Credit: Emma K Hawes Photography
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