From Raj to riches for Lawrence Fownes - By Michael Cox
Posted on - 09 Apr 2015
From Raj to riches for Lawrence Fownes
Lawrence Fownes sat in a Causeway Bay hotel room and it felt like the walls were closing in. It was July 1981 and the then 43-year-old had left behind a relative life of luxury in India at the peak of his powers as a horse trainer, the winner of 650 races, including every major event on the racing calendar.
Casper Fownes (right) hugs his father & former Hong Kong Trainer Lawrence after winning the 2013-14 Trainers Championship
He was the darling of owners and the media, adored by the racing community at large. Fownes, born and raised in India, was twice champion trainer of Calcutta and a leading force in the sport during the 1970s.
Now, with wife Pamela, two teenage girls, Stephanie and Fenella, and then 12-year-old son Caspar, Fownes had come to Hong Kong, lured by the riches promised in the burgeoning professional era of racing in the British colony.
What Fownes found, though, wasn't anywhere near as welcoming as he had hoped. Allocated a 10-horse stable full of "broken down brumbies" incapable of winning, he also encountered a notoriously crooked scene, where jockeys ran the show and just as many trainers were chasing a quick and unscrupulous dollar.
This was the era of the Shanghai Syndicate race-fixing scandal, a time when, for many, tipping to shadowy characters was far more important than long-term success. Above all else, for Fownes it was a closed shop, especially to a Johnny-come-lately from India who didn't want to play the game, and whose previous achievements meant nothing.
"It was extremely tough - I went from the top of the tree to an also-ran in a heartbeat," Fownes recalls over lunch. "All I had were the 10 horses I was allocated by the club, but they could be taken off you, too - there were a lot of stable transfers back then.
"And needless to say, the first horses I got from outside that first allocation weren't very good either - they had tendon problems or were terrible barrier rogues. I patched a couple up, then everyone wanted to give me their crap, broken-down horses to fix as well - but I didn't have time to take a horse that needed five or six months' rest, I needed something decent to train to show my ability."
Fownes had also expected a warm reception from the town's strong contingent of Indian owners, but that didn't materialise, at least not initially.
It was Pamela, who hasn't lost an ounce of the feistiness Fownes first spotted at a monsoon season race meeting more than half a century ago, who had pushed for her husband to let go of the lavish lifestyle that had been afforded in India.
"I thought he was wasting his talents, and it was about a better future for our family. But in the beginning it was very stressful," she said.
"We knew everyone in India. I had grown up there too, and we were well adapted to the customs. Here, we knew no one. We heard all the remarks - people were calling him 'Curry Fownes'. The pressure was on the whole family. We didn't know what would happen."
In his first season in Hong Kong, Fownes finished last in the trainers' championship with just six winners, followed by an uninspiring 10 in the following term.
There is one story that consistently comes up when speaking to Indian racing folk about Lawrence Fownes, a tale that has taken on fable-like proportions. The story encompasses so much about Fownes, the trainer, and also the man; it speaks of his superb horsemanship, but also his sportsmanship.
"People still talk about it today," says the former chairman of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, Cyrus Madan, speaking of the 1974 Bangalore Derby.
"These were the days when trainers could still help load their horses into the gates, and Lawrence was down there helping put his horse, Skyline, who was a real handful and a 20-1 shot, into the gates.
He had helped with that, but then another horse, Mauritius Pearl, just would not load. Without a second thought, Lawrence ensured the rival horse took its place in the race. That says so much about the type of man Lawrence Fownes is."
Fittingly, and famously, Skyline and Mauritius Pearl dead-heated that day in the most dramatic finish in the race's history.
Zareer Darashah is one of India's greatest trainers with more than 2,000 winners, but with no background in racing as a youngster, he was actually inspired by Fownes to start his career in the sport.
"We went to the same school, St Joseph's in Bangalore, and I first met Lawrence when he came back for an old boys' race. He was a fantastic athlete - golf, snooker, badminton or whatever he tried - but as a trainer he was a pioneer and led from the front.
At that time I had nothing to do with racing and never thought I would be a horse trainer, but that's where my involvement started, through Lawrence. We became great friends - in fact, he is my closest friend. He is a great horseman, but above all else, he is a super human being - a guy who once you get to know him, is a friend for life."
One of Fownes' owners in India was Naresh Kumar, a former Davis Cup player and captain and obviously an incredible athlete himself, who is still humbled by his friend's lust for life.
"He's a person who lives life to the hilt," Kumar says. "He is so full of life and to be honest I don't know where he got the energy. He could play a round of golf in record time.
Pamela & Lawrence Fownes leading in Caspers Choice, named after their son.
But what I will always remember is his readiness to help the poor. There was a lot of poverty at the racecourse, and a lot of punters there with nothing, and he would give these people money - he was one of the most generous fellows I knew. He was also fearless, and a lot of fun to race horses with - it just wasn't the same after he left India and we stopped being as involved with the sport."
In the end, it was the influential Indian owners of Hong Kong who afforded Fownes his big break - but only after the hard graft of those seasons of struggle, and it was Fownes' integrity, his refusal to play the game, that he believes won him favour.
"The battle was won when they realised I wasn't going to take horses and have them run by the jockeys," Fownes says. "Back then, trainers were dispensable and jockeys called the shots. You could make good money if you played the game, and if you were here short-term maybe that would be the route you would want to go.
"The word must have spread that this guy wasn't going to play along and was prepared to go the hard yards. Gradually I got support, kicked on and thank God that things got better and better."
After those lean two years, there was no monumental breakout season - just consistency over 22 seasons.
Between 1985 and 2003, Fownes never trained less than 20 winners in a year, and never more than 39, as he chipped away to nearly match the number of winners he trained in India, reaching 636. It was a career based around the principles that had served him well in his homeland - integrity, hard work and family.
To hear Fownes recall what he says was a charmed childhood in colonial India seems something like Rudyard Kipling-meets- Boys' Own adventure. "I wouldn't change a thing about my life in India. It was a great upbringing, we were out and about from the moment the sun came up - we swam in wells and lakes, and it was a glorious time."
It was Fownes' grandfather, "Smiling" Jack Fownes who first brought the family name to India, moving there at the turn of last century as a member of the famed Royal Hussars mounted regiment. Smiling Jack was the father of six, including two boys - Major Eric Fownes and Captain Dinky Fownes - who would follow in their father's military footsteps as cavalrymen themselves, but also become horse trainers.
Fownes' father Eric, along with his brother, would both become rivals and form part of a horse racing family dynasty. That racing family tree grew when Fownes' sister Jessica married Dinky's leading stable rider Barney Woods, the father of jockeys Dwayne and Wendyll, and current Hong Kong trainer Sean.
Still, despite a career in racing seemingly written in the stars, Fownes' story is the classic tale of racing's prodigal son, pushed away from the sport, only to return. "I was shunted away from racing by my father - when I was 17 I emigrated to Australia for three years."
Fownes worked in a Sydney chemical factory as a plant operator mainly doing the dangerous work making agricultural fertiliser, but as fate would have it, he lived close to Randwick racecourse where he saw equine legends Tulloch and Todman compete.
"I didn't have anything to do with racing other than doing my pay packet each weekend. In the end, dad was sick, and asked if I could come back and help with the stables and I was back like a shot.
As much as that twist of fate ensured the Fownes family involvement in racing continued, and eventually stretched across Asia to the new stronghold of the sport in Hong Kong, the lineage of trainers was nearly snapped when Lawrence reached the compulsory retirement age of 65.
It seems ludicrous now that three-time championship winner and current title holder Caspar would ever be denied a licence, but so it was in 2003. Fownes Snr would pour his heart out in an open letter published on the back page of the South China Morning Post.
"The dreams and aspirations of a hard-working young man have been cruelly dashed," he wrote. "For the past 18 years, Caspar has worked alongside me in a most diligent and dedicated manner, fine-tuning his skills and learning all he can about the art of training racehorses.
"As his father and mentor, I am firmly convinced that he has all the attributes to excel at the job and firmly believed he would be given the opportunity to follow in my footsteps.
"The Fownes family has been in the horseracing business for over 60 years and this will be the first time a Fownes does not hold a licence to carry on our proud tradition - a sad day indeed!"
Eventually, the 11th-hour departure of another trainer towards the end of the 2002-03 term opened the door for Caspar to begin his celebrated career.
"From the time Caspar was about eight years of age, we have been more like buddies than father and son," Lawrence says now. "It's completely different to the old school. My relationship with my father was very different - as much as I loved him and he was a wonderful fellow, we never had that closeness.
"Caspar could tell me anything. I might have spoilt him a bit, and unlike me, he always knew he wanted to be a trainer and once he decided he wanted to be a trainer he was in whole hog. From the moment he started I told him you have to learn the business from the ground up and commit yourself 100 per cent.
"The two things you have to look after the most are your horses and the owners - because a lot of these guys here only look after themselves. It's about what they can earn. As long as you follow that way, stay out of trouble and don't mix with the wrong people, you'll be a success.
"I could see that he had an eye for a horse and that he had that observant nature about him that when he was in the stable he could see visually if there was anything wrong with the horses. He did the hard yards too - he started working in the yard when he was 18 and didn't get his licence until he was 36."
In January last year, Lawrence Fownes was admitted to hospital with issues that led to kidney problems, and was found to have lumps on his lymph nodes. For such a strong-willed and principled man, who never smoked, wouldn't know what it is like to be drunk, and still exercises vigorously nearly every day when his health allows, it seems particularly unfair that his body is now beset by illness.
It is no surprise, though - to those who know him at least - that Fownes has maintained a staunch and positive attitude, for the most part fighting the illness with natural therapies, although he requires dialysis.
"I told them flat out, no chemotherapy. I had seen both of my sisters die after a month or two of misery. Besides, I would have hated to lose my hair," he says, rubbing his long-bald scalp. "Thank God I can still get around and come to the races. For a guy that is going to be 78 next birthday, I am pretty active."
Last week, Lawrence and Pamela Fownes, now the grandparents of 10, celebrated 52 years of marriage. And it was throughout last summer, while battling illness, that Lawrence was a constant racetrack presence and his son launched an amazing late-season charge, culminating on the final day, that resulted in his third championship.
In the lead-up to that dramatic day, Fownes' put his career achievements - and his relationship with his father - in perspective. "He said it doesn't matter what you achieve, you've shown everybody you are a champion - that means more than anything to hear those words come out of my father's mouth," he told the Post. "He is tough and he has been amazing to be around at this time. His spirit hasn't been broken and it is remarkable how he has handled things."
As he sits in the Sha Tin racecourse clubhouse, not far from where that championship was celebrated six months earlier, not only does Lawrence beam with pride when asked to relive that magical moment - there is a strong sense he can't wait for the next season finale and another trophy presentation.
"It was a fantastic effort for Cas to win the title last season, and don't forget about Fenella's involvement with the stable, too. She does an amazing job, including helping on raceday with owners - it's a team effort. And I'll tell you what, Cas will be right in the thick of it this year as well - I don't care what anyone says. He has got the ammunition."
Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since Lawrence Fownes sat in that hotel room with his young family and wondered what he had done, risking everything and arriving in a new, strange town with nothing. For more than 70 consecutive years now, a Fownes has been training a racehorse somewhere in the world. As of today's Sha Tin meeting, Caspar sits on 632 Hong Kong wins - just four short of what his father achieved.
As his son's success nearly equals his own, his family's legacy and future in Hong Kong secure, he rightfully states: "I'm very proud, of all of my family.
