Original subtitles

Pancake.

Have we got strawberries and stuff?

Uh, yes.

Emily, do you want to get the milk out?

All right.

Oh, for goodness' sake.

- What's that? - What?

Do you know how much ice cream's already in the freezer?

How do you know it's ice cream?

'Cause it says on the bag, ice cream.

Apparently, wrapping it up in paper keeps it cooler for longer.

This is like Christmas, innit?

Malteser.

World Class.

Biscoffi.

Honeycomb. My favourite. Clotted cream.

Coconut, approval?

- Yeah. - Still going?

There's a whole other bag, Mum.

We're waiting for the toffee fudge.

All right, hold on. I don't think I got toffee fudge.

Did you not?

Right.

Let's get this show on the road.

Oh, no.

This was not one of my finest ideas, this.

Dad, if you actually use your brain, all these can go in here.

Oh, yeah, great shout.

That's why you're the brightest in the house, Emily.

Yep.

Oh, Emily's just sorted it for us.

Well done, Emily.

Jesus, James,

why don't you just put your pancake in the bloody tin of Nutella instead?

I'll do it.

Come on.

- Actually, do a proper flip. - Don't try and do anything.

Watch the plant.

Ah! What a shot that is.

How good was that?

That was belting.

How are we?

James needs tails for Royal Ascot.

- Sure. - And I am short on summery outfits.

So I'll do some shirt measurements.

So, you have quite a sloping shoulder,

which is attractive for tailoring rather than too square.

Second compliment today.

I've been told I look like a model and also I've got an attractive shoulder.

Jesus Christ.

How many have you had, Dad?

None yet, but you wait.

Patrick will be drooling about my inside leg length.

Royal Ascot is the week in the calendar.

Royalty. Glitz. Glamour. Fashion.

Great horses from all over the world.

Owners are just in heaven if they have an Ascot horse.

At Ascot, I had one really fortunate year where

the Queen asked me to go in the carriages

and somebody comes to us and says all these rules, regulations.

"When she comes up to you to talk, your hat off."

So the Queen gets out.

I'm there with my hat on.

So I'm walking towards the lift,

and… and she shouts, "Come on, come on."

"We can all squeeze 16 people in this lift."

And obviously, at the time, I've gone hat off because I'm now with her.

And she looks at me from here and she goes,

"If you put your hat back on, we might all be able to fit in this lift."

I was told otherwise

and I've got Louise, prodding me in the ribs saying,

"You got bollocked by the Queen."

I'll never know whether she was joking or whether she didn't like me.

If Chester is an FA Cup match, Royal Ascot is the Champions League Final.

With owners coming in from every corner of the globe.

A good result at Ascot can mean a boost in potential sales of our horses.

Fourth place gets you in the winner's enclosure.

But of course, our target is to win because then we're on the map.

You know, if you win at Ascot, then it's world news.

It's not news in the northwest.

You know, if you win at Chester.

So if we could win a race at Ascot, that would be incredible.

Here, mate.

We've got some elite horses that win up and down the country regularly.

The problem is Royal Ascot is so difficult to win.

So difficult because the best horses from around the world are there.

Take Glacius. He was our best two-year-old last year.

I mean, the form is incredible. He's 33-1.

So, what chance have you got?

But we think he's better than a 33-1 shot.

We've got some hot property at the minute,

but as we stand, we're well into the season now

and we've got seven horses for sale.

That's probably five too many.

I need to sell them.

But obviously, are people gonna wanna buy a horse

when half the season's already gone?

I don't know.

It's a good horse, this grey horse, Grey Cuban.

He's won about four at Chester.

I've been talking to people out of my sport, out of my social circle.

It's like, will there be an owner there?

You never know.

You learn so much when you're here.

- Yeah. - Um…

A lot of people say they prefer it here than actually going racing.

We've already had a few people offering and if we have a good Ascot,

we could have somebody that puts in a bid for any of them at any minute.

This is a horse called Cheshire Dancer.

She's a Group 3 winner.

Paid 30 grand for her.

She's probably worth about 300 or 400 grand now.

If we have a really big season again this season,

then the hope is that I buy the same amount and they all get snapped up,

and then we make a million quid next year.

If not, then I've got to shovel my own money into it.

And I've been doing that for 20 years now.

It's getting quite tiresome.

Ascot falls the day after Emily finishes her exams.

She's nearly finished her A-levels, and then it's off to uni.

She's the first one to have gone to sixth form,

let alone further education.

I'm the third oldest.

I'm probably the sensible and academic one.

I would definitely go to Emily for homework or revision.

Jessica, have you revised?

Yeah.

Really?

What?

Emily has been the easiest child in the world.

She is just kind, caring, loving.

I think she can walk on water.

So what was Michael Owen like in education?

Disaster.

When I don't see something that's relative, that, you know,

I'm not gonna use this or, you know, why am I learning Latin?

It's like,

why?

- All right. - Hello.

So what exam did you do today?

Erm, I had business, which was my final one.

So now I'm done with psychology and business.

I've just got one more, PE, which is next Tuesday.

Oh, my God. So you've got all week now to do nothing.

- Apart from-- - To revise.

Revise.

I want to study sports psychology,

how to deal with all the stress of sports

and anxiety and all stuff like that.

I just like the idea of finding out what people are thinking.

Do you want to go and get a fancy coffee or whatever you'd get?

Surprised you've offered, actually.

- What you mean? - You're so against it.

- Like, "Oh, coffee's a drug." - Well, I don't like coffee.

I know, I don't like coffee.

I've never met anyone with a mindset like Dad's.

Oh. Oh, girl.

I'm allergic to horses, believe it or not.

I don't think you'll ever quite know what he's thinking.

Look, Louise, I'm making you one.

I've never drunk a cup of tea or coffee in my life.

Is that that strange?

He is slightly strange.

I don't think he's that strange. I don't drink tea or coffee either.

I never ever offered my kids tea or coffee when they were little.

When people started to take the mickey, I thought, "Oh, what happened there?"

From the frozen, icy waters of the Antarctic.

The orca is a global traveller.

He doesn't watch films, he's just weird like that.

When we're watching films, he just plays Candy Crush.

That's his go-to game.

I've probably watched about six films in my life.

Rocky I, II, III, IV and V.

Yeah, he's… he's… he's quirky.

Emily.

He's so embarrassing.

We had my 18th birthday party which was very nice. Fancy dress.

Dad was Hulk Hogan.

Which was better than his original idea, which was…

being an arsehole.

- Whoo. - There was an outfit of an arse.

And he was thinking he was like, "Well, I'll just do this."

Just like, "No, Dad, this is my 18th."

"There's gonna be pictures."

"Please don't come as an arse."

Yeah, give it a good tug sometimes.

What?

He is kind of one of a kind.

Can I have a peach iced tea?

I've never ever ordered a cup of coffee in my life.

Well, good job it's not a coffee.

Hiya, mate. Can I order a peach iced tea, please?

And that's it, thanks.

Has that gone through?

Oh, my God.

- Has it gone through? - Yeah, no, do it now.

There we go.

- Oh, my God, Dad, you're so old. - What?

- All there for you. - Sorry about that.

- Thank you. - No worries, have a good day.

Thanks, mate. I've never done that before.

- You're so old. - You are.

What the hell? Why was that so, like, hard for you?

I never use my phone to click things.

- And I forgot my wallet this morning. - He was like,

he goes, "Do you want to pay card?" "I'll pay with my phone."

- What, is that classed as a card? - Yeah.

- So I should have just said yes? - Well, it's not cash, is it?

I wouldn't have just bought your bloody--

- Yeah, thank you. - …iced tea.

- And all you're doing is criticising me. - No.

Only shamed you into saying, thank you now.

Thank you, but it was quite funny.

So what made you decide on sports psychology?

I've always wanted to do something sports-related.

Growing up, I did athletics.

She was rapid, like, rapid.

Where does she get her speed from?

That's the stupidest question you've ever asked.

It's not Louise, is it?

I've competed in 100m and 60m indoor.

She was the fastest kid in her county.

She was the North of England champion.

She could have been on the Great Britain relay team.

She was so quick.

I was 16.

I was training and my hip just, like, started hurting.

I thought, "It will go away."

"It's fine. Just keep going." And it just didn't.

And it got to the point where it was hard to walk.

And so I had to stop doing athletics.

She quit.

And it was quite sad because she was super talented.

But I've been there, seen it, done it.

I picked up a lot of injuries.

Obviously, I didn't go through it on as big scale than he did,

but I still I'm like struggling with it.

And… And I just don't wanna go back, honestly.

It was really hard.

And that's why I've always wanted to be a sports psychologist

and help others get over it.

I can make a difference. I can help someone overcome…

anything they need to.

Peter, just… just walk the long way round.

It's a bit unfair for the colts having the fillies

trotted past their bedroom windows.

Royal Ascot is on the horizon and the standard is gonna be so high.

We wanna give these horses the best chance of competing,

so taking them away for days like these is an essential piece of the jigsaw.

You all right, girls?

- Yeah, are you? - Yeah, all good.

- All happy what we're doing? - Yeah, all good.

Cool.

Always feel bringing them away to do a piece of work

switches them on a bit more,

reminds them that they're racehorses.

We've got a group of jockeys in

to put the finishing touches on what we've done at home.

They're basically doing everything that they would on a race day.

And they're off.

Looking gorgeous.

I think he's done really, really nicely.

Just a stunning-looking thing that.

Good old boy, isn't he?

- Oh, mate, he's class. - God, I'd love ten of them.

That's nice.

Blingy's Sister's flying. Oh, my God.

I didn't think she had that speed.

Ooh!

I was really excited by the first gallop.

But the big hope is… is Glacius.

If he performs, he could be a real game changer to the business.

Obviously, we're hoping he's that good.

There they go and they're off.

Oh, he's given them three or four lengths to start with.

He can't keep up.

Mm.

I'm a little bit nervous.

He's not the fastest.

No, he hasn't got there.

That wasn't ideal.

When you've got a horse that's entered Royal Ascot,

you're wanting him to go sprinting clear and think, "That looks like a winner."

Well, first impression, it didn't look like that,

but there's still a long way to go.

If they were the finished article, we wouldn't have come here.

They'd have gone straight to the races.

Yeah.

So how are you feeling overall?

It's all right.

It's a training ground, isn't it?

Yeah.

You haven't been on one of these?

I've not been on one of these. No.

Now these are a little bit different from the static one.

It's got three speeds on it.

That's the higher speed, then. Yeah?

- Okay. - She's looking a bit nervous.

I'm taking part in the Magnolia Cup,

and Franny is really starting to push me.

One, two, three.

Nice, nice.

Just try and straighten up a little bit and then drop your shoulder a bit.

Now you're coming with it. That's it!

Yes, away we go, jockey.

I'm one of them people that once I've committed to something--

Nice.

I will obsess over it.

- We need to stay more compact with it. - Mm-hmm.

So this was just sort of flapping about a bit.

Okay. It's all that I think about all day, every day.

Creating scenarios in my head, thinking, "How am I gonna do the best that I can?"

That's it, get lower. The lower you can get, the better.

That's when it burns, Franny.

Come on, Gem. Let's have it. Come on!

Let's have it.

I think Franny would agree that I'm confident with the foundations.

What does he always say?

"Your foundations are solid."

That's what he says. "Your foundations are solid."

"You've got a solid base."

"Go on, kid."

- So you ready to go again, kid? - Yeah.

And away we go, jockey.

What's the fastest it goes?

That's the fastest, kid. We can't get it any faster.

I understand the way of riding. I understand the horses.

I think a big part of the race is actually the rider's mentality.

Let's go, let's go! Drop into that position.

I haven't obviously ridden as a jockey before,

but I've ridden to a high level in dressage.

Change your hands. Come on, come on.

Yeah.

I know what competing under pressure is like.

I know what competing with a crowd is like.

Well done.

Well done.

I don't think I'll buckle.

We've got one chance at this.

- You know what I mean? - God, Franny!

One chance.

- This is the mentor coming in now. - I'll try my best.

- We've got one snap at this, kid. - I know. I know. I know.

- Let's not [bleep] it up. - I won't. I won't. I won't let you down.

I think I'm the most average tie-knotter in the world.

I just did it like I used to do at school

and there's loads of people that do lovely ties and mine's just…

Well, in fact, James is the worst, and that's why you're a helmet.

I literally… I finished PE paper three and then drove straight here.

Shall we take some chocolates in our bag for later?

Yeah, because you always want some.

- Is that a bit excessive though? - Maybe.

Welcome to Royal Ascot, the crown jewel of the racing calendar.

It's the nearest you get to playing at Wembley, this, mate.

- I know, mate. - Yeah.

So, Manor House, then.

Absolutely incredible to have 17 runners here this week.

Which ones are we running in?

We've got Blingy's Sister, Fitzella, Brigid's Well and Tricky Tel.

Oh, and Glacius.

Kaiser!

All right, my son.

Looking well. Looking well. Emily. Gemma. Do you know our dog, Kaiser?

It's named after him.

This is the Kaiser.

Kaiser.

Stop getting excited.

Kai! Stop being a knob.

Oh, Kaiser!

Louise, he's curled one by the back door,

see, he's licking his willy,

and now he's gonna lick you.

Is he behaving, Kaiser?

No.

- No? - Terrible.

That's who he was named after.

Like the real one?

He's a pisshead like the real one.

Which one is…

How much are you charging now?

- Just under four grand. - [bleep]

- I used to pay £1,200. - I know, yeah.

Oh, and we train 140 horses, we can't make a penny.

23 years, Manor House has been going,

and we've started off with five horses.

We're now training 140,

and we've now got 17 horses at the royal meeting.

So we're gradually mixing it with the big boys.

But Royal Ascot, the standard is so high.

Just finishing in the top four and getting into that winner's enclosure

would be a huge achievement and grow the business even further.

I hope this time you hit the back of the net.

Yeah. Well done.

I set you up for that.

I don't like giving assists.

It's normally the other way round.

Yeah, well played.

God, I'm sweating.

I've got, like, taps of water going down my back,

right down my crack,

onto my…

- Oh, no, no. - nuthole.

- Passing the nuthole onto my weld. - No, no.

- And the bottom of my ball sack. - Wait. Are you joking?

Talking about his sweaty ball sack and bumhole or something. I don't know.

- It just drips off and into my underpants. - Yep.

Very good.

Right, come on. 17 runners this week.

Got to hope for a winner.

And they're off and racing and they break away from the stalls.

Jesus, they're going quick.

Go on, you [bleep] beauty.

Far side's our best chance. White face.

She's running well, she's running well.

Here, we're gonna win on the… No, we're not.

Another fifth place for Manor House Stables.

Where did ours finish?

- Like, seventh or eighth, I think. - On this side?

Yeah, on this side. Yeah.

About seventh or eighth. She ran quite well.

Fifth. One out being in there.

- Our horses are running so well. - Yeah.

- They're all doing so well. - Just need a little bit of luck.

Next up, the Sandringham Stakes.

One to watch is long-shot Blingy's Sister out of Manor House Stables,

trained by Hugo Palmer.

She's 115-1.

Let's hope for a nice surprise.

And they're off in the Sandringham.

Blingy's Sister's coming.

Come on, Blingy!

Blingy's flying!

As they begin to fan out. Blingy's Sister is moving up the pack.

It's gonna come about sixth.

Come on, keep going, keep going.

Fourth. Blingy got fourth.

Blingy got fourth.

- Fourth. - She's ran a cracker.

A fantastic result for Manor House Stables.

Blingy's Sister is in the winner's enclosure.

Yay!

- How good was it? - We'll take that.

How good was she?

That was amazing, wasn't it?

Well done. Oh, yeah.

Fourth at Royal Ascot.

Normally you don't celebrate fourth, do you?

But when you're at Royal Ascot, it's, er… it's hard not to.

Oh, clever girl.

Hey, clever girl.

In the winner's enclosure at Royal Ascot.

And that was with our starter, wait for our main course.

That's Glacius.

This is a serious animal.

But it's been working so average, been looking rubbish in its coat.

And to be fair to Hugo, he's just shown the patience of a saint

and just in the last two weeks, he started working much like his old self, so.

We think he's, er… we think he's ready to go.

Biggest moment of the week.

And they're off.

Go on. Fan out and get a gap.

Glacius, Oceans Four, wider from those two.

Go on, he's travelling well.

Glacius is trying to thread his way through more towards the inside.

Go on, Billy!

I think we were third.

Third.

Cheered you up.

Back in business, ain't we?

Jesus Christ, we beat horses that are worth half a million quid.

It was a great run.

He showed an explosive turn of foot.

You're gonna have a really fun horse going forward for the future.

Our horses have run brilliantly well in the main.

That's incredible.

The yard has performed really well.

Just without that flagship horse that's gone and won.

Genuinely got excited.

How would you analyse your dad from

a sports psychology point of view?

He never really…

…struggled with anxiety.

Any negative got turned into a positive.

- Thank you. - All right.

And that's what you need in such a competitive sport.

I'll pour these for you guys. You just grab them.

You've got to have that self-belief.

Otherwise, what have you got?

Can I propose a toast, please?

- Emily's finished her exams. - For God's sake.

Well done, Emily.

That's why I wanna do sports psychology.

Let's hope your results match your brains.

Let's hope your brains match your dad's brains, and then you'll be all right.

Yeah, okay.

I wanna understand people like him.

- Cheers, Emily. Well done. - Cheers.

He never thought, "Oh, am I good enough?"

He always thought, "I'm too good for these, I'm too good, I'm the best."

"I'm this, I'm that."

And that's what he still is like now. "I'm the best at everything."

It's just a matter of time.

I mean, we're at Ascot and we're up there.

And we're disappointed we're not winning.

I know.

- Massive step, isn't it? - It is.

You could say I'm delusional,

but I'm gonna be the best.

In racing, how much of a positive is that mentality?

It is in certain ways,

but in the other ways, it's the most dangerous mindset in the world.

It was a good Ascot,

but I've got about six or seven horses still left for sale.

The bottom line is, if you're an accountant,

you're looking at me saying, "You're an idiot."

I've overbought.

I'm now having to cover the feed and the bedding myself.

When you're actually responsible for the jobs of 45 people

and the welfare of these gorgeous things…

Hey?

…then it's sort of a bit different.

I don't know.

It's great.

It is great.

We're trying to build this foundation of a monster.

But as it stands,

we could lose a million quid this year.

So you don't even think you'll break even?

No.

Most people will watch this and think, "He's reckless."

But if you're safe, you're nothing.