LEADING owner Graham Wylie is a man dedicated to racing.

With his current string extending to 100 in training, he is also a man clearly devoted to his horses, and was devastated by the recent loss of stable star and horse of a lifetime’ Inglis Drever.

The top class hurdler’s career was sadly cut short through injury – though not before establishing himself as one of racing’s greats – before he tragically lost his life in October to a serious bout of colic.

The three-times World Hurdle winner had already written his name in the history books, adding the first-ever Order of Merit to that outstanding achievement.

Inglis Drever was sold as a yearling at Tattersalls in October 2000 to Charlie Gordon-Watson Bloodstock for 130,000gns.

He returned to the same Sales three years later when Graham Wylie purchased him as a four-year-old for 110,000gns.

“I bought him at the Tattersalls Horse in training sale in October 2004,” explained Graham. “He was one of a batch of horses trained by Sir Mark Prescott up for sale.”

The gelding won four races on the Flat, totalling £31,000, and was rated 105, and it was that performance on the level as well as his appearance, which attracted Graham to the horse.

“First of all, we loved the way he ran on the Flat – always battling and never giving up, and his form was great in the middle distance races,” said Graham.

“When we saw him in the flesh we loved his stocky build and powerful hind legs,” he added.

But it was when he turned his attentions to hurdling, that Inglis Drever was to make such an impact and write his name into the history books.

On his first visit to Cheltenham in 2004, he was beaten just half-a-length in the Royal & Sun Alliance novices’ hurdle. In the same year, he was also runner-up in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle.

Cheltenham proved to be his hunting ground, and he went on to win a remarkable three World Hurdle titles at the Festival.

His first came under Grand National winning jockey Graham Lee in March 2005.

Having had a year off after sustaining a minor tendon injury when falling at Chepstow in December that year, Inglis Drever reclaimed his World Hurdle title in 2006 in the hands of Paddy Brennan, before repeating that feat in 2008 under Denis O’Regan.

Graham Lee won on the horse seven times, but he was also successful under champion jockey Tony McCoy in the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton in February 2005, won the long distance hurdle at Newbury with top Northern jockey Tony Dobbin in November 2006, and took the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January 2008 under Richard Johnson.

The 10-year-old won 17 races from 35 starts, amassing almost £800,000 prize-money, before retiring to his owner’s Chesters Stud, near Hexham.

“It was a great honour to win the first-ever Order of Merit,” said Graham, who is in no doubt how “versatile” his top performer proved to be.

“Interestingly enough, he started the season as a two-mile hurdler in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, ran in two more two-mile races, before winning the three-mile Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, and then came a very close second in the two-and-a-half mile Aintree hurdle on Grand National day.”

Asked of his best memories of the horse, Graham says his three wins at Cheltenham, were all very memorable.

“There are two other races I always remember fondly, “ he adds.

“There was his first ever hurdle race for me at Aintree, when he won by a distance going away, and I remember Norman Williamson coming up to me and saying he was going to be something special.

“The second was when he won the Champion Hurdle trial at Haydock Park.

“That was the same day my first horse, Lord Transcend won the Peter Marsh chase, so a great day out with my first two horses!” he enthused.

Bred by Bobby McAlpine and David Pickering, Inglis Drever injured a front tendon after winning his first Ladbrokes World Hurdle and missed defending his crown the following season.

“He then injured his back legs, again a tendon injury, at the start of the season after he won his third World Hurdle and, unfortunately, that was a career ending injury,” said Graham.

With many novices included in his current 100-strong string, Graham is looking forward to some exciting hurdling and chasing prospects, but admits he is “struggling” to find a replacement for Inglis Drever.

“Horses like him don’t come around too often, and it is a credit to his achievements that I am finding it hard to replace him,” admitted Graham.

Choosing Howard Johnson as a trainer wasn’t solely based on his ability, but also down to a friend and “lucky omen” as Graham explained:

“A very good friend of mine, David Fulton, owned horses in training with Howard, and he persuaded me to visit the yard one Sunday morning and buy a horse,” explained Graham.

“Two magpies flew over the yard as I left and I considered this to be a lucky omen, and so I bought a grey horse from Howard,” he continued.

“I named him Lord Transcend. He won five races for me, and I was hooked.”

Not that Graham was any stranger to the racing game, developing an interest through his father, who was a keen follower of the sport.

“He would study the form every day and put on a small bet, and I was always interested in helping him pick out the winners,” said Graham.

“I was often invited to the racecourse as a guest of many of my customers and suppliers, and ended up hosting boxes myself.

“I never thought about owning a racehorse until my friend, and my wife, persuaded me to buy a string of nice horses after I retired from business.”

Having already admitted to being “hooked” Graham says he continues to enjoy all aspects of the sport.

“The excitement builds up when you know you have a decent horse with a chance in a race, whether it be at Hexham or Cheltenham, and it’s a great thrill watching the horse during the race.

“However, the one aspect I like more than any other is going down to Howard’s yard and watching the horses in training, both on the gallops and on the schooling ground, and hearing what Howard thinks about them and where they will be racing next.”

Denis O’Regan is retained to ride the Wylie horses and is also highly rated by Graham.

“He is still young, but has a tremendous style and gives all my horses a huge amount of confidence,” he said.

“He also has tremendous balance and presents a horse perfectly at a steeplechase fence.”

He says Cheltenham is his favourite racecourse.

“It’s where all owners want to have a winner, and I have been very lucky to have owned a Festival winner,” he continues, adding candidly, “I like all racecourses where I have a winner!”

He says he has no specific targets for his horses, but looks forward to seeing one of his novices “do something special” and hopes he has found another Festival winner.

So is there anything about racing he doesn’t like?

“The handicapper!” laughs Graham.

“I know everyone moans about the handicapping system, but I think they are particularly harsh on novice horses, especially when they are in modest races in the north of England and Scotland.

“It is a hard enough going down south to take on the better horses, without having the handicapper put loads of weight on their back as well,” said Graham.

“I have loads of second horses that are handicapped too high and struggle to even get placed in a modest race.”

Aside from his racing, Graham is looking forward to the opening of a new championship golf course.

“I own a golf course near Newcastle, called Close House, and we have one successful course there and are busy building a new championship course which we open in the spring of 2011, so it’s all looking very exciting,” he said.

Returning to Inglis Drever, I ask if the horse had any special traits?

“He wasn’t an easy horse to ride, since he would often get a little lazy in a race and needed stoking up,” explained Graham, “but he had a terrific turn of foot and you could put him any where in a race and he would always end up in the first two or three coming over the last hurdle.

“He was a horse who knew how good he was, and made his presence felt on the gallops, in the parade ring and in a race.”

His final comment aptly sums up both horse and owner – “a real gentleman.”