ALISTAIR KING
THE founder of Cotebrooke Shire Horse Centre and Stud Farm died on 15 March, aged 74, from cancer.
Born in 1947, Alistair (pictured, above) was christened William Alistair King after his father. Being half Scottish gave Alistair a lasting love of Scotland, and he named his fillies after lochs and his colts after Scottish mountains.
Alistair met his first wife, Sheila, while running the Alvanley Arms in Cotebrook. The couple had two children, Steven and Matthew. He bought his first Shire, Knutsford Sunbeam, from Frank Williamson, starting a lifelong love of the breed. When he bred his first foal, he chose one of the most successful Shire stallions of the 1970s, Hillmoor Enterprise, and later bought a filly, Hillmoor Leah, by the stallion. With guidance from Alistair’s mentor,…