Lucy Normile grew up in Duncrievie, Glenfarg, Perthshire, where her interest and passion for all things equestrian began.

Her parents had racehorses and brood mares and Lucy went through Pony Club, competing in eventing, showing, hunting, point-to-pointing and eventually racing.

Her racing interest started with a horse called Pyjamas, bred by her mum, Fiona Whitaker. “He was so named because as a 10-day-old foal he had an accident in the field which resulted in him wearing dad’s shirts as pyjamas,” explained Lucy.

“He won many races for mum but then came home after injury for rehabilitation after breaking down racing.” Lucy then took him on to do hunting and then point-to-pointing before moving down south to work on Kim Bailey’s yard for three years, where she met her husband, the late Alan Normile.

Moving back up to Scotland together, they set up on their own in 2000 to train pointers, starting with a yard of just six. Their first winner was a horse called Snapper. “He was a real honest chap,” said Lucy. “He got us noticed and made the change for us from pointing to the racecourse.”

Now running a yard of 22, nine for the flat and the rest over jumps, with a couple of home-bred youngsters and three mares to breed from, Lucy feels the numbers are fair for all concerned.

“With increasing numbers, you lose individual attention. We pride ourselves in the longevity of our horses and their careers.

“We are not that big a yard and don’t have many owners, so we keep the horses we have – and they are horses to us, not just numbers,” explained Lucy. “We have a great selection of owners who are more like friends to us. They are patient with the horses, so if they need a year off, they get it.”

This season, Lucy has high hopes on the flat for the six-year-old Royal Regent. “This could be his year. He’s not been over raced, so he’s now reaping the rewards and I’m looking forward to this summer with him.”

Reggie, as he’s called at home, is the highest rated flat horse they have had on the yard at Duncrievie, and was their first two-year-old winner, winning four races last season and only being out of the top three once in 10 races.

On the jump circuit, Lucy’s hopes are with the five-year-old mare, Sense of Urgency. “She has run a few times and has been placed. After a winter off, she has matured and should prove her worth over jumps this summer,” added Lucy.

Finding staff is often a problem but Lucy is lucky to have a strong team behind her that have been with her from almost the beginning. Libby Brodie and Caroline Barclay have been there since 2004 and Steve Freeman since 2003, with Emma Roberts and Jordan Lee joining the team more recently.

“While you have to endure Scottish winters, you do get to be involved in a great industry, work with fantastic athletes who each have their own personalities and make some amazing friends too,” pointed out Lucy.

“Racing is an opportunity to bring on young horses and watch them mature into great horses and be with them all the way, especially on the racecourse – that’s where all the hard work at home pays off.”

Along with riding out and managing the yard, Lucy also has three children who are all keen on horses – Ben (15) is keen on racing and enjoys going racing with owners, and being involved in the yard; Sophie (11) is pony crazy and has been trying her hand at pony racing as well as everything in Pony Club; and Tom (8) has just joined Pony Club.

Lucy has been busy with lambing her 20 Black Welsh Mountain sheep which she has to keep grass down for the horses and to finish for the family freezer.

“The stand-out horse trained at Duncrievie would have to be Strobe ... or Super Strobe as he was better known,” said Lucy. “We had him for 10 years and in that time he won 13 out of 91 races and gave Libby and I had many sleepless nights due to his many quirks and some strange medical requirements.

“He was a yard character and won on the flat, over hurdles and over fences. Caroline looked after him from day one until he was rehomed to Zander Voy, who rode Strobe to his first win as a jockey.”

Everything at Duncrievie is done in the horses’ best interests which extends the longevity of their careers and being patient pays dividends, she concluded.