Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assistant to trainer Pat Rohan and began training horses on his own in 1972. His first win as a trainer came on 28 April 1972 when Sandal, a horse owned by Stoute's father, won at Newmarket Racecourse in England.[1] Since then, he has gone on to win races all over the globe, including victories in the Dubai World Cup, the Breeders Cup, the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong Vase.[2]
He was knighted in the 1998 Birthday Honours for promotion of sports tourism in Barbados.[3][1] He was the only trainer in the 20th century to win an English Classic in five successive seasons[4] and has been Champion Trainer ten times (1981, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009).[1][5] He was the trainer for Kribensis, who won the Triple Crown of Hurdling, in the 1989/90 racing season. Stoute also trained Shergar, arguably his most famous horse, who won the 1981 Epsom Derby and was later stolen, presumably by the IRA.[6]
In 2009, three horses trained by Stoute—Conduit, Tartan Bearer and Ask—pulled off a rare feat when the trio made a clean sweep of the placings at the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. In all, the horses took home $1,787,000 of the $2,008,945 prizemoney in Britain's richest horserace.[7] Those wins helped him regain his Champion Trainer title in 2009, winning a total of £3,372,287 in prize money.[8]
In 2013, he trained the Queen's horse Estimate to Gold Cup victory at Royal Ascot. He was invited to ride in the King's procession at Royal Ascot 2023.[9]
