Hills senior hands over the reins to son Charlie

Legendary Lambourn trainer Barry Hills, 74, has more than 3,200 winners and 10 Classics in Britain and Ireland to his credit but will retire this month and hand over his training licence to his son Charlie, who has been acting as assistant trainer for some time.

Charlie Hills said he intended to make the most of a "fantastic opportunity" after it was announced he would officially take over training duties from his father after next week's Ebor Festival at York. Hills snr will remain as managing director of the family company.

He began training in 1969 on the back of a hugely successful punt on Frankincense in the previous season's Lincoln. Recently his health has suffered but his family now feel he is in his best shape for some time.

Charlie Hills said: "It's a fantastic opportunity for me. It's something that I've been looking to do for some years now. It's great to have the opportunity and I'm very much looking forward to it. Things will carry on as they have been.

"Dad's in great shape really, the best shape he's been in for some years, and this is the right time for him to step down and hopefully enjoy a great retirement. It's going to be a lot of hard work and graft. We've got a good team here and we want to keep things going if we can and get some new owners in and keep the existing ones."

The Hills family is one of the biggest dynasties in the sport. His eldest son John is an established trainer, while twins Michael and Richard are two of the most well-respected jockeys in the weighing room.

Michael is effectively the stable jockey while Richard, retained rider for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, has also enjoyed huge success for the yard, winning the 2,000 Guineas on Haafhd in 2004 and the 1,000 Guineas on Ghanaati in 2009.

Richard Hills said: "We've had some great days together and obviously the main ones were riding a Guineas winner on Haafhd and doing it again on Ghanaati a few years later. Dad has been a great trainer – his statistics speak for themselves. You look at those and you don't really have to say much more."

Michael Hills enjoyed more than 20 Group 1 wins for his father, but of all the many great horses he rode, the one that he remembers most is the stayer Further Flight. "It's been amazing, 40 years at the top like he's been, consistently turning out the winners – 3,200 of them. It's incredible," he said. "My fondest success for us both was Further Flight winning five successive Jockey Club Cups."

Angus Gold, racing manager to Hamdan Al Maktoum, admitted it had been a pleasure to work with Barry Hills down the years. "He's been a fantastic trainer and it doesn't need me to say that. It's there in the record books."