SUFFOLK sporting legend Henry Cecil has rubbished claims he is planning to quit horse racing's headquarters.After a national newspaper published an article which said the 10-time champion trainer was preparing to sell up his famous Warren Place yard in Newmarket and move to the South of England, the acclaimed 62-year-old trainer has branded the story "absolute rubbish.

SUFFOLK sporting legend Henry Cecil has rubbished claims he is planning to quit horse racing's headquarters.

After a national newspaper published an article which said the 10-time champion trainer was preparing to sell up his famous Warren Place yard in Newmarket and move to the South of England, the acclaimed 62-year-old trainer has branded the story "absolute rubbish."

Speaking from Warren Place, which he has occupied for 36 years, told the EADT: "I'm not moving to the south, I'm not moving anywhere, it's all complete rubbish."

There has been much speculation in recent years that Mr Cecil, who has trained the winners of 32 Classic races, including four Derby winners, may retire from the sport having recently failed to recapture the success which has hitherto marked his career.

However, he is adamant that he is not retiring and said: "I am enjoying training and my way of life.

"I read the piece and I couldn't believe it, and it's all speculation, saying this that and the other. I felt like suing, it doesn't do my business any good suggesting I'm about to sell-up."

Mr Cecil is one of the must successful trainers in the history of horse racing and all but dominated the sport during the 1980s and 1990s.

Since he began training in 1969 he has sent out more than 3,000 winners, garnering more than £38 million in prize money.

However, he has also garnered headlines for his two failed marriages, a drink-driving conviction and the tragic death of his brother, along with the departure from his yard of former champion jockey Kieren Fallon.

In recent years he has reduced the number of horses he had previously trained and famously lost the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed, who is one of the sport's most influential figures and who had been his main owner, in 1995.

Last season he trained 73 horses, having previously trained twice that number, and let out part of the Warren Place yard, which he acquired from his former father-in-law Sir Cecil Boyd-Rochfort in 1969, to other trainers.

Although letting out part of the yard added fuel to speculation about Mr Cecil's future, he was happy to confirm that he has no intention of retiring or moving in the near future.

Because of the increasing demand for stables in Newmarket, which Jockey Club Estates has described as the highest in recent memory, and its position at the top of Warren Hill in the heart of Newmarket's training grounds, it is thought that Warren Place would be worth in excess of £2million.