Charlie Longsdon – Trainer
Charlie gained plenty of experience whilst at Oxford Brooks University, spending his summers working for national hunt trainers: Oliver Sherwood and Nigel Twiston Davies. On graduation, he spent time, breaking in youngsters on a game reserve in Kenya before returning to England to work as Assistant to national hunt trainer Kim Bailey. In 2001 he moved to Nicky Henderson as Assistant where he gained much experience including caring for Grade 1 winners Bacchanal, Marlborough and Trabolgan. In 2004, he won the Alex Scott Memorial Fund Assistant Trainer’s Scholarship and spent time in the US, working for flat trainer Todd Pletcher. Charlie took his licence out in 2006 and started training from Cotswold Stud and in 2009 moved to his current base at Hull Farm which has been purpose built near Chipping Norton. He has since trained over 700 winners.
Sophie Longsdon – Trainer’s Wife
Charlie and Sophie got married in 2008 and have a daughter called Milly, and twin boys, Harry and Fred. She is no stranger to racing as her younger brother, Ben Pauling, also trains locally. She is always a welcoming face when you come to the yard and at the races!
The CLR Team
We have a fantastic team here at Hull Farm, led by Roche who is a brilliant horseman and an invaluable asset to the yard as our Head Lad and Charlie's right hand man/assistant.
The office is manned by our head secretary Emma who keeps the show on the road and tends to everybody's problems, however big or small, Emma is assisted by Lauren when she isn't riding out. Rachel assists Charlie by representing him at the races, communicating with owners daily, runs the social media and carries out office duties throughout the day when not racing.
Lilly Pinchin is our stable jockey who comes in 2 to 3 times a week to work and school the horses. She has come such a long way and rode out her claim to turn professional during the 2023/2024 season. Former stable jockey Paul O’Brien is also in once a week who is still a valued member of ours. We also welcomed conditional jockey, Elizabeth Gale to the team at the beginning of the 24/25 season.
Zeniy and Vadim are our general handy men, gallops maintenance and stable staff... between the two of them they are capable of fixing everything and anything! Zeniy and Vadim are in charge of all yard maintenance and do an excellent job, they are massive assets to our team.
Jess and Isobel are our very capable travelling head grooms, taking and turning horses out beautifully at the races on a regular basis.
The rest of the team include Georgia, Macy, Sarah, and Rhiannon, who are very capable stable staff, riders and racing grooms. We couldn't do it without them!
We strive to have a happy and easy going team which reflects onto our horses to flourish in a relaxed environment.
