CHELTENHAM may have been and gone, and the Grand National fast approaching, but for our flat racing trainers the season is yet to really get going.

And yet, for one stable stalwart, the year has already got off to a flying start with a prestigious awards success.

Kim Jones, 47, who lives at Brean and works as assistant trainer for Malcolm Saunders’ Blue Mountain Farm, Green Ore, was a finalist at the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards.

Having been involved with horses for 40 years and with Saunders for 27 years, she came in as runner-up in the Dedication to Racing category.

Jones said: “From the age of seven I loved ponies, and went to riding school as often as I could.

“My uncle was in with racing at Unity Farm; that got me into horses and I stayed interested.”

After riding horses from the age of 11, Jones worked with trainers including Philip Hobbs, Charlie Nelson and Gerald Ham.

“Malcolm [Saunders] had a lot of horses with Gerald [Ham], so I went to break horses in for him… and I’ve never left!

“I’m not sure I could work for anyone else now, as Malcolm lets me get on with doing my own thing.”

Her role has too many facets to count – from running the yard and work rotas, to riding the horses and nursing them back to health when required, even foaling mares in the yard.

She prepares the horses for racing, driving them to events, saddling and leading them up too.

“The best part of the job is seeing a horse you’ve worked with, that they can race and can win,” she said.

“The downside is losing a horse that you’ve looked after – it’s heart-wrenching, because they’re part of the family.”

Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News:

CARE: The horses 'always come first' for Kim Jones. Pic: Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards/British Horseracing Authority

Jones made it down to the final three in her category at the Godolphin Awards, from an initial entry of more than 500.

It was fully deserved recognition for Jones, of whom Saunders said: “She is so dedicated to the horses and they will always come first.”

Jones herself said of the awards night: “There are so many people qualified to go for it, so to be nominated out of that field was fantastic, and the evening was just perfect.”

Flat racing is the object for Jones and her colleagues, and so they are looking ahead to meetings from the middle of next month, running through to November.

She added: “The horses are a bit behind with the wet and cold weather we’ve had.

“But we aim to be all singing and dancing from mid-April, and we have 15 horses to race this season.”