“Unsung Heroes” (Part 1) ADELE ALSOP Photo above: Adele Alsop & colleagues with ONE WORLD. Photo courtesy Chase Liebenberg. I think I was one of the last “visitors” to the Vaughan Marshall stables in Milnerton to meet and greet the great son of Captain Al, ONE WORLD, before he left VHM for good and moved on to stud. I had visited with him also, a week or two before his fantastic Sun Met victory over Rainbow Bridge. A proud and sentient boy, who carried himself with pride and assurance, he left a great impression on me. That’s what great horses do... impress. I was, on those occasions, hosted by Mr Marshall and his gregarious and redoubtable assistant, Adele Alsop, and their inimitable canine cohorts Jack and Molly, the equinefriendly Jack Russells who have the run of the place.
A friendlier stable I have never visited. And hardly a more successful one. VHM Racing is legendary, and the “Graded” notches on Marshall’s rather capacious belt are many. Racing fundis would know all that! Assistant trainer Adele Alsop is pushing 10 YEARS now as Mr Marshall’s “right hand.” Born and bred in Tokai in the Cape, Ms Alsop has always been “besotted with horses.” She explained: “My first experiences with horses were on my Ouma’s farm. My Oupa was a very good horseman. The farm experience led to riding schools, excercising friends’ horses, and then into racing.” As a ‘work rider’, Adele had no less than a legend as teacher/tutor: Bert Abercrombie. “He taught me how to ride work, and then the bug bit,” she recalled.
