june_58_talking_to2.qxp
18/5/09
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TALKING TO...
Talking to
Charlie Brooks The racehorse trainer-turned-author looks forward to writing new material and impending marriage Words: Tim Richards
I had nothing else to distract me. I used to get up at 4am and put in four uninterrupted hours. Now I am with my fiancée, Rebekah [Wade, editor of The Sun]. Seriously, though, I reckon I am pretty disciplined.
Your new novel, Citizen – what’s it all about?
Is writing a book a bigger test of character than training horses?
It’s basically a traumatic love story, set in the racing world, woven into a plot involving quite serious consequences for world sport, not just racing. The twist in the tail is that if it really happened in sport it would be shocking. It is a fun, light read with a serious point at the end.
It is a different and bigger test of character, and actually I think it suits me. With training you have the horse there, to get fit, keep healthy and run in the right race. Writing a book, you are staring at a blank piece of paper wondering what you are going to create.
How much of it was drawn from your own racing experiences?
What made you give up training when you had handled such high class jumpers as Celtic Shot, Couldnt Be Better and Suny Bay?
A lot – I want to leave the reader wondering where fact ends and fiction starts. I have tried to do that by using real people and real places.
PHOTOS: GEORGE SELWYN
You have produced a tale of skulduggery. Does this mean you think a lot goes on in racing, or is the sport cleaner than ever?
I have set it in racing but it could so easily have been in athletics, cycling or another sport. Ironically, I do think racing is cleaner than other sports. If what the book predicts was to happen, I think it will take place with humans before horses; probably somewhere like China. I envisage it happening in a country where the population could be manipulated. How disciplined a writer are you?
When I was single I was very disciplined because
Charlie Brooks with his fiancée Rebekah Wade
I wasn’t achieving the goals that I’d set myself. When I took over from Fred Winter I thought it would be worth doing only if I could match what he did. I simply couldn’t keep my horses healthy and that was a problem that neither I nor the vets could get to grips with. We had some good horses and won some big races but for four or five seasons from the end of November to March the horses weren’t healthy. For all I know, it might have been the way I trained them. Paul Nicholls has a stable full of stars – could you have handled the pressure of training his string or dealing with his high-profile owners?
Yes, I believe I could handle the Paul Nicholls pressures, provided the horses were healthy. He
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