23 November 2009 Yorkshire stalwart Burnell retires
by Carolyn Tanner
Wayne Burnell, a regular on the Yorkshire circuit for nearly 20 years, has decided to hang up his boots, but his involvement with the sport will be as strong as ever. In a poacher-turned-gamekeeper move, he will now officiate as a steward, with his first appointment due to be at the area's opening meeting at Sheriff Hutton in January.
The inmates at his livery yard situated between York and Wetherby currently comprise hunters, youngstock and ponies, the latter belonging to his seven-year-old daughter Poppy. Although he has no Pointers of his own to run this season, his proven training record and the stable's excellent facilities mean that outside owners can be assured that their horses will be given every opportunity for success.
Wayne's own initial victory between the flags came on the classy The Red One at Cottenham in 1991, the first leg of a four-timer for the partnership, but a broken femur subsequently sustained at Duncombe Park brought Wayne's season to an abrupt close. The ups and downs of the sport were never more apparent than seven years later, when he was to suffer an identical injury at Witton Castle.
He rates The Red One and his own Polygonum as his most outstanding rides, with the latter providing him with some memorable days, including two Hunter Chase victories (ironically beating The Red One into second at Wetherby!) and a safe round in the Aintree Fox Hunter Chase in 1993.
Wayne is currently in his sixth season as a joint-Master of the Badsworth & Bramham Moor, and has been heavily involved with helping to set up the new course at Whitcliffe Grange, near Ripon, which the hunt will share with the West of Yore.
All the Burnell family are stalwart supporters of Yorkshire Point-to-Pointing. Wayne's wife Jane is the Badsworth & Bramham's entries' secretary, his parents Graham and Sue are long-standing area sponsors, and his sister Kirsty, who helps organise the area dinner, has taken on the role of Yorkshire PRO.
