Devon, United Kingdom
Nigel Hawke
Devon, United Kingdom
Nigel Hawke is a Grand National-winning former jockey and racehorse trainer with more than 40 years’ experience in racing. Based at the family-run Thorne Farm near Tiverton in Devon, he has developed a training operation known particularly for National Hunt horses, young talent and an ability to identify horses with scope to progress.
Nigel’s riding career included one of the sport’s greatest prizes when he partnered Seagram to victory in the 1991 Grand National at Aintree. His career in the saddle was later brought to an end following a serious fall at Newton Abbot in 1993, after which his focus moved increasingly towards producing and training racehorses.
Today Nigel and his team operate from Thorne Farm, a 250-acre family farm set in its own valley in Mid-Devon. The yard combines Nigel’s experience in the saddle, a longstanding interest in sourcing young horses and a deliberately personal approach to training and ownership.
Thorne Farm sits within its own picturesque valley near Tiverton in Mid-Devon and forms part of a 250-acre organic farm. Its natural topography has been deliberately incorporated into the training operation, giving Nigel and his team considerable space and independence compared with trainers based within larger shared racing centres.
Horses have access to both grass and all-weather gallops, alongside extensive turnout and the open countryside surrounding the yard. The training regime makes regular use of paddock turnout and fresh air, while the farm continues to develop and enhance its facilities around the needs of both young and experienced racehorses.
Thorne Farm also offers an unusually immersive environment for owners. Yard and gallop tours can be combined with hospitality at Hawke Barn, while accommodation is available on the farm in its own cottages, allowing owners and guests to spend considerably more time around the racing operation than a conventional race-day visit alone.
The yard is supported by an experienced team headed by assistant trainer and head lass Katie Bennett, alongside travelling, riding and stable staff responsible for the daily care and preparation of the horses.
Nigel’s career in racing is headed by victory in the 1991 Grand National, when he rode Seagram to beat that season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Garrison Savannah at Aintree. The pair had also won the Ritz Club National Hunt Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival earlier that spring.
His eye for future talent was demonstrated particularly memorably by Tiger Roll. Nigel bought the unraced gelding for £10,000 in 2013, trained him to win on his racecourse debut over hurdles at Market Rasen and sold him the following month for £80,000. Tiger Roll subsequently became one of the defining National Hunt horses of his generation, winning the Grand National twice and five times at the Cheltenham Festival.
Another standout for the yard was Speredek, bought by Nigel for just €5,000 as a two-year-old. He developed into a high-class chaser, winning repeatedly for the yard and producing a career-best performance when finishing second to multiple Grade 1 winner Un De Sceaux in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.
Nigel has also enjoyed success at Cheltenham as a trainer, including Repetitio’s victory in a competitive handicap hurdle in December 2019, while horses such as The Imposter and Inferno Sacree have demonstrated the yard’s ability to improve horses through sustained winning runs.
Nigel’s training philosophy is built around creating happy, thriving horses through plenty of fresh air, paddock turnout, open stable windows, regular exercise and individual feeding programmes. Thorne Farm’s natural setting and space allow the team to combine structured training with an environment designed around the physical and mental wellbeing of each horse.
That individual approach extends to owners. Nigel places particular emphasis on open communication and believes ownership should offer far more than occasional updates or restricted visits. Thorne Farm works to give owners direct access to their trainer, regular communication and a hands-on connection with their horse and the wider yard.
The team describes its approach as an ‘arms wide open’ policy towards owners, with the intention that people become part of the Thorne Farm environment rather than simply another name on an ownership list.
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