Two Sussex trainers are hoping to revive the glory days of Lewes as a training centre.

Jim Best and his brother Tom have just started training at the old racecourse.

Jim, 25, who holds the training licence, and Tom moved into the yard recently vacated by Tom McGovern.

Heavily supported by their father Leon Best, a successful businessman who lives at Heathfield, the brothershave upgraded the facilities and are buying more land to turn into paddocks.

It is many years since Lewes was at the forefront of British racing.

Forty years ago, Towser Gosden and Gordon Smyth trained the great Charlottown there and in the hands of the inimitable Australian jockey, Scobie Breasley, the horse won the 1966 Derby at Epsom.

But when Gosden retired and his successor Smyth left for Hong Kong, Lewes fell out of fashion.

The racecourse closed and Lewes played no serious part in racing for a long time.

The Best brothers are hoping to change all that.

Planning permission is imminent for a seven-furlong polytrack all-weather gallop and new schooling fences and hurdles have been built.

Jim said: "We are so grateful to Lawrence and Carrie Wells, who rented us some boxes at their stables near Billingshurst last year.

"But it was always going to be a temporary arrangement while we organised our new setup at Lewes racecourse."

Jim and his brother, who is two years younger, both rode as amateurs.

They spent all their spare time as teenagers at Storrington with trainer Richard Rowe.

Jim said: "We were both riding racehorses from a very early age, galloping and schooling when we should have been studying.

"Then I went off to Mark Pitman, who trains at Lambourn and Tom joined Toby Balding at Andover."

Tom became a successful amateur rider and won the National Championship and represented Great Britain in races all over Europe.

Jim, though, started to have problems with his weight and decided to take the Jockey Club's course at Newmarket which are mandatory for new trainers.

He said "At the best of times a jockey's life is pretty uncertain and I had always thought of training but only when the facilities were good enough to make a real success of it.

"Tom did better than I did as a rider but he, too, began to have problems with his weight, so we decided to set up as a team and train seriously."

After riding 50 winners as an amateur jockey, Tom will start the Jockey Club trainers'

course at Newmarket shortly.

Jim is unstinting in his praise for Toby Balding, now retired, for giving both him and his brother the grounding needed to be successful trainers.

Even now, he will turn to the veteran Grand National-winning handler for advice.

"Tom also spent some time in Somerset with Paul Nicholls after he left Toby and the experience gained there is bound to be of help as well," said Jim.

In recent years, both Jamie Poulton and Sheena West have kept Lewes on the racing map and sent out a steady supply of winners.

The Best enterprise, however, because of the enormous financial input, will take the area up to a new level.

"Our polytrack gallop is a very exciting prospect," said Jim.

"Nick Gifford, at Findon, admits his identical gallop completed last year has made all the difference. Ours will be ready in April and that is something to look forward to."

An additional horsewalker, an electrically driven carousel with divisions to exercise horses, is being installed and a sand arena is in place for loose schooling and basic work before horses are ridden.

Jim said: "The guys who build the fences at Cheltenham are putting up our schooling fences and hurdles and all the facilities will be in place by April or May."

At a conservative estimate, £1m has been invested by Leon Best to get the show on the road Jim said: "The sky's the limit, we won't rest until we are in the same league as Gary Moore down the road at Brighton."

Thirty boxes are available but only 11 are filled at present.

The first runner from the new stable was second at Folkestone recently and optimism is high for the future. If the Best brothers have a say in the matter, it is only a matter of time before another Charlottown emerges from Lewes racecourse stables.