Farewell to ex-Newmarket trainer and publican Ken Clutterbuck, as funeral date set

The funeral service for a former Newmarket trainer, who died earlier this month, will be held on April 22.

Ken Clutterbuck died after suffering a stroke while in the process of being discharged from hospital following a minor fall from a horse.

Mr Clutterbuck was also a well known local publican, having run The Shoes pub in Moulton Road and Exning’s The Wheatsheaf, where in 2013 he hosted the Channel 4 show Four in a Bed.

He moved to the area in 2000 when he bought Pond House Stables, in Exning, having begun his training career at Fowlmere, near Royston.

A former point-to-point and amateur jockey, his training career spanned four decades and his most notable winner was Bayadere, who won a claiming hurdle at Fontwell in 2005 at odds of 100-1.

Leading trainer at Fakenham for many years, Mr Clutterbuck ceased training in 2014 before a five-year ban from the British Horseracing Authority for associating with a disqualified individual came into force.

His son James, who is a trainer at Saxon Street, just outside Newmarket, on a licence he shares with Peter Charalambous, said: “Dad went to hospital after the fall and they kept him in for 24 hours' observation and he was fine. As he was walking out he went to the pharmacy to pick up some tablets and had a severe stroke.”

Mr Clutterbuck’s daughter Emma, who works for town trainer Roger Varian, said: “He wasn’t unwell, it was completely out of the blue and a huge shock to us all. He lived his whole life unapologetically however he saw fit until his last few days and that’s all he ever wanted.

“He will leave a huge Ken-shaped hole in an awful lot of people’s lives.”

She thanked the medical team at West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, who she said had done their utmost to save him.

“But in true Ken fashion, he went on his own terms,” she said.

His funeral is at St Mary’s Church, in Newmarket, at 1.30pm. Donations will go to the Injured Jockeys’ Fund.