He was a top-class cricketer for 20 years, renowned not just for his talent, especially with the bat, but also for his loyalty and management skills. But now former England international and longtime Warwickshire captain Andy Lloyd is building quite an innings in another sport - as the manager of a successful stud farm in the English Midlands.
Lloyd played for Warwickshire between 1972 and 1992, leading them to the prestigious NatWest Trophy one-day international competition with victory over Sussex in the final in 1989. When he stopped playing, he became chairman of cricket at the county until 2004.
He also has another, interesting distinction - as the only England Test opening batsman never to have been dismissed. Lloyd, who had played in three one-day internationals for England in 1984, made his one-and-only Test appearance that year, against the West Indies. He was ten not out when a ball from the famed fast bowler Malcolm Marshall hit him on the head. Lloyd spent several days in hospital and was out for the rest of the season. He never played in a Test match again.
But, like one of the trainers he uses, Mick Channon, who played football for Southampton and England before carving out a successful second career as a racehorse trainer, Lloyd switched to horseracing. And for the past ten years, he has been involved in managing Hunscote Stud.
Lloyd had been interested in the sport for a long time.
“I come from Shropshire, a rural county, and have been interested in horseracing ever since my early teens,” he said. “When playing cricket, our manager, David Brown, was already in the breeding business at Furnace Mill Stud, which gave me lots of food for thought. I owned various pieces of horses from my late teens, but to become part of a breeding operation was not on my radar at that stage.”
Lloyd’s involvement in breeding at Hunscote Stud came about through a business relationship. “Stephen Smith, the owner, and I were business partners and we decided in 2011 that we would do something we both loved for the remainder of our active lives, deciding the time was right to venture into bloodstock.”
Despite not having previously worked in the business, Lloyd considered he had gained valuable background knowledge through buying horses with a close friend. “My daughters had ponies on our small farm at that time,” he said. “I also pinhooked some young jumping stock with near-neighbour Aidan Murphy. This gave me the basic horse-welfare experience, and also the understanding to get to grips with the sales markets. The most important line I got from Aidan was ‘remember they are not pets’.”
Working within a limited budget, the partnership’s initial mare-buying policy for breeding proved quite successful. “You have to settle on what funds you want to put into your initial purchases. This leads to the level at which you begin, he said. “We tried to buy mares of different pedigrees that might produce racehorses over various distances. Three of our initial purchases, In Your Time, Rebecca Rolfe and Happy Holly, have all produced black-type performers. We have been very very fortunate as this business is not an exact science.You need a lot of luck at whatever level you play at.”
Lloyd believes the management skills he learned in his cricket career have been a big asset to his job at Hunscote.
“I gleaned what I know from the cricket world,” he said. “I was captain at Warwickshire for five years and later became chairman of cricket. These roles meant that I had to manage the squads I was involved with, so any man-management skills would have been developed intensively at this period.
“I have managed the stud from the start and like to think that we have an excellent group of five staff working alongside.”
He added, “Basically, I oversee the management of the horses and employees. I really believe the early months of a Thoroughbred’s life are very important, having a massive influence on things that happen later in life. This is something that I focus a large amount of my time on. I also look after our racing interests as well as contributing to discussions on mating plans.”
Lloyd, 64, spoke of the very different pressures that come with involvement in cricket and horseracing.
“My two roles as a cricketer and stud manager have been completely different in terms of pressure. As a cricketer, your performance as an individual in a team environment is very important. This brings added pressure to perform well. As a breeder of racehorses at a stud, you have little control in the actual performance of the horses on the track. You rely on third parties - trainers and jockeys - to enable your horses to attain the best level of performance. Having said that, the feeling on big-race days is so different.”
Lloyd cited the difficulties of operating a stud at lower-to-middle level and owning horses within the British prize money system. “The financial model in the UK is desperately poor,” he said. “Compared to places like Australia, Hong Kong, France and the U.S., the prize money is derisory. Clearly more money has to find its way back into the sport than happens at present to support all areas of the industry.
“As regards selling, most nice horses find a good home, though perhaps not for the values they deserve. At Hunscote, we are lucky to be able to survive without selling everything.”
The stud doesn’t have any stallions. Currently, it has an interest in 17 mares, 12 of which are at Hunscote. “Apart from our mares, we also own a 40 percent interest in the stallion Cityscape, who stands at Overbury Stud in Gloucester,” said Lloyd. “Our main objective is to breed the best racehorses that we can, tending to keep fillies that may come back to us after racing and putting most colts through the sales. However, we do not let them go unless they achieve a price level we think they justify.”
The pandemic has had a significant impact. “It was not too bad in 2020, though we didn't put many through the sales last year,” he said. “In recent months, Covid and Brexit have been the perfect storm and things are tricky now, but hopefully it will become easier as the months roll on.”
One Hunscote Stud-bred foal in particular - by Saxon Warrior out of Archangel Gabriel - made 280,000gns at Tattersalls December 2020 foal sales. “She was a spectacular horse that personally I would have loved to have retained,” said Lloyd. “The filly is the best we have bred, and it would have been lovely to have her as a yearling, strolling around the paddocks today. However, money does have its influences, at that level we had to sell. I am sure she will be a fantastic racehorse.”
But Hunscote Stud has bred several good winners. “Our best would be Dan’s Dream, Cairn Gorm and Rebecca Rocks (who beat subsequent Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and Prix de l’Abbaye heroine Glass Slippers in a listed race at Ayr in 2019). “However, I hope the top three might be different come the end of the forthcoming season.”
The now 3-year-old Cairn Gorm won the G3 Prix de Cabourg a shade comfortably over six furlongs at Deauville last August. It was the colt’s third successive victory for Mick Channon.
“Cairn Gorm previously went through the sales ring twice - as a foal and as a yearling - but did not reach our valuation each time,” said Lloyd. “Bought back as a yearling for £35k, he would have been a good buy for somebody. However, we put him in training with Mick, and he has a share.”
Cairn Gorm’s form tapered off in subsequent runs at a higher level last year, though there were valid reasons. “Cairn Gorm had a few niggles as the season progressed, and, competing in the type of race he was contesting, you have to be spot on to be really competitive,” said Lloyd. “He still ran creditably and hopefully this season will progress, probably over distances less than a mile. This was our second success in France after Milltown Star won the listed Prix Heron at Chantilly in 2019.”
Lloyd pointed out a couple Hunscote stud horses in training to watch out for this season. “We hope Ville De Grace can pick up some black type, while one of my favourites, Rolfe Rembrandt, might win a nice prize at handicap level.
“For the future, our objective is to continue to breed the best racehorses we can. Everyone wants to breed Group 1 winners, which would be our obvious goal.”