John Gosden - Personal Life

Personal Life

Gosden is the son of racehorse trainer John "Towser" Gosden, who died in 1967. He studied economics at Cambridge University. He currently lives in Newmarket, England, and is married to Rachel Hood, a lawyer. He has four children, Sebastian, Serena, Theodora and Thaddeus.

Gosden is considered to be more open and informative than some other trainers, and is called “one of the sport’s great communicatiors”. His television interviews are often praised,“Gosden is Cary Grant in Ernie Els’s body. He is the Big Easy with a sly smile, a wry wit, and a charismatic charm”.

Gosden is a dedicated music fan, according to Ronnie Wood, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. “He knows his music history. He knows everything about Bob Dylan, followed by everything about the Stones. He knows all the words and everything”, said Wood. Gosden also describes himself as “a Neil Young man”, and said “I went to see him the other week at the Hammersmith Apollo and it was just wonderful”.

In addition to music, Gosden is a keen fan of art and opera, “Some people get on that narrow-gauge railway and have nothing except racing to talk about, but it would drive me mad. I guess I’d be happiest if they built a racecourse in Hyde Park…but from here I can dart into London, 60 miles, go to the opera, the ballet, see a band”.

Gosden feels of his position,“You have to move along gracefully if you can, and hopefully with a following wind, with common sense, a sense of reality, humility and a bit of history”. His office is decorated with pictures of some of the most successful horses he has trained,“Paintings of champion horses - the filly Ryafan, last year’s Breeders’ Cup hero Raven’s Pass – look down from the walls”.