Being the home to the current Earl of Derby, Knowsley Hall was once home to one of the most powerful and influential people in horse racing, Edward-Smith Stanley.
Smith-Stanley was The 12th Earl of Derby, and the owner Knowsley Hall. However, his base was in London, on an Estate known as The Oaks.
He flipped a coin with Sir Charles Bunbury over naming rights to the most expensive UK flat race. Derby won, hence the two race names, The Oaks and The Derby.
In recent years, Dr Marwan Koukash has bought out the horse training facilities and Pat Morris is the man who looks after a lot of Dr Koukash’s horses in their younger days.
Morris doesn’t train many of his own horses, but still looks after Koukash’s runners over the winter months.
Pointing aimlessly, Pat also said “walking about somewhere is the original Gabrial, he’s won over £800,000.
“We also get horses from Richard [Fahey] and Ian [Williams], when they need to rest and recuperate.” Morris said.
With many of the horses baring the name ‘Gabrial’ in some way, Koukash’s famous Grey and Gold Star silks are a regular at the podium up and down the UK.
Earning just shy of £3m in all of his entrants since 2015, it’s certainly a success story for the Liverpool John Moores University graduate.
Dr Koukash’s biggest earner this year, is the Fahey gelding, known as Growl. He plays a starring role in the video piece below, where the interview is posted in full.
Growl’s most successful race this campaign, was a close second to Angel Alexander in the Ayr Gold Cup in September.
Here is what happened when Merseysportlive went down to meet Pat:
