Monday 6 July 2015 15:24, UK
Kerry Lee is keeping her fingers crossed for a "fairytale" start to her training career on Tuesday as she officially takes over the reins from her father with two runners at Uttoxeter.
Richard Lee retires after a 29-year training career, during which he saddled two winners of the Welsh National in Le Beau Bai (2011) and Mountainous (2013).
Lee also trained winners at the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree's Grand National meeting, while his last big-race success came with Top Gamble, who landed April's Future Champion Novices' Chase at Ayr.
Kerry Lee, who has been assisting her father as well as working for Channel 4 Racing in recent years, heads to Uttoxeter with two horses running under her name, with Definite Future heading for the Saint Gobain 350th Anniversary Handicap Chase and Goldray lining up in the Hexagon Leasing Mares' Handicap Hurdle.
She said: "The details were finalised over the weekend and I'm very much looking forward to having my first runners at Uttoxeter tomorrow in Goldray and Definite Future.
"I'm hoping Definite Future can live up to his name, for me as well as himself.
"It would be nice to get off to a winning start, but I've been involved in the game long enough to know fairytales don't always come true."
Lee insists her father will very much remain a big part of the team at Bell House stables in Herefordshire.
"The headline is dad is retiring, but it will be very much business as usual. I've been assistant to dad for a while and he will still be around to help. He's just taking more of a back seat and he has other things he wants to do in life as well as training racehorses," said Lee.
"I think we've got the best string of horses we've had here in many a year and we've had fantastic support from all our owners.
"Probably the biggest vote of confidence I've had is that some of the owners who sent dad horses when he started out in 1986 are coming back with horses for the start of my career.
"It's an exciting time and hopefully team Lee can provide lots of winners for our owners for many years to come."
Richard Lee feels now is the right time to pass on the baton.
He said: "I think this is the natural progression.
"Kerry has always been heavily involved and I think she deserves a crack at it in her own name now.
"I'm still going to be here and I think I'll still be wanted to drive the horse-box and roll the gallops and that sort of thing.
"Kerry has new ideas, which is great. We've got some very nice horses here and it's a good place to train.
"Those Welsh Nationals were great, there was the couple of Cheltenham winners and winning the Martell Cup at Aintree (Macgeorge, 1999).
"It's been great, but nothing stays the same."
