User:Bcp67/Alec Stewart

Alexander Christie Stewart (21 June 1955 – 4 August 2004) was a Scottish racehorse trainer who specialised in flat racing. After a brief spell working in insurance he spent a period working as an assistant trainer before becoming a fully-fledged trainer himself in Newmarket in 1983. He was noted principally for his handling of Mtoto, who won the Eclipse Stakes twice and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. His career was cut short by his death from cancer at the age of 49.

Early life
Stewart was born in Kinrossshire, Scotland, in 1955. His father, Sir Robert Stewart, was previously Lord Lieutenant of Clackmann and Kinrosshire, and Stewart’s mother Ann was the daughter of Sir Ralph Cochrane who was a senior Royal Air Force officer during World War Two. Stewart was educated at Gordonstoun School and after leaving school worked with horses in both New Zealand and Canada. He subsequently worked in insurance at Lloyd’s of London, a career which brought him into contact with a racehorse trainer, Gavin Hunter. Stewart left the insurance market to take up the post of assistant trainer with Hunter.

Racing career
Stewart worked with Hunter for a year and moved on to work as assistant to Harry Thomson Jones in Newmarket, where he stayed for over four years. In 1983 Stewart moved on to become a trainer in his own right at Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket and sent out his first winner at Catterick Bridge Racecourse when Opale won a maiden race in June of that year. Opale went on to win the Irish St Leger in 1984. Stewart trained the filly Dubian to finish third to Oh So Sharp in the 1985 Epsom Oaks and at the end of 1986 he moved his training operation to another location in Newmarket, Clarehaven Stables, where he remained for the rest of his career. The years 1987 and 1988 were marked by the successes of Mtoto, who won top-class races despite suffering from brittle hooves. Mtoto won the 1987 Eclipse Stakes in a close finish from that year’s Derby winner, Reference Point, and returned to win the same race in 1988 before adding Britain’s most important all-aged race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the same month. At the end of the 1988 season he was beaten by a neck in his final race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, finishing second to Tony Bin. Stewart did not manage such high-profile successes again during his career but continued to train horses to win good races, including Wagon Master who won the Princess of Wales's Stakes in 1994 and Mutaman, the winner of the 2000 Canadian International Stakes. Stewart became ill with cancer during 2002 but continued to train until shortly before his death in August 2004. He was married with two children. Stewart’s most notable stable jockey was Michael Roberts (jockey), who rode Mtoto to his major wins.

Major wins

 * Eclipse Stakes - (2) - Mtoto (1987, 1988)
 * King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes - Mtoto (1988)