Soon they decided to establish a yard of their own, away from the "goldfish bowl" of Newmarket, where they could develop their horses out of the public view. To this end they acquired for £3,000 the 8-box yard of Tom Parr at Fyfield, just west of Marlborough on the old Bath Road, in Wiltshire, who although he had achieved some success with wins in the Goodwood Stakes, the Cesarewitch and two wins in both the St Leger and the Gold Cup, had been unable to manage his finances. Alec was hired in about 1848 and his first task was to supervise the expansion of the accommodation to about 40 boxes. Included in the sale were all fixtures and equipment and two horses including "Fernhill", which under Alec's training won the 1849 Great Metropolitan Handicap at Epsom, having been backed by Hawley to win £20,000, which paid for the purchase price of the yard many times over, albeit Hawley had to hire "a host of labourers" at his own cost to clear snow off the course so the race could proceed. Alec's next wins were in 1851 with Aphrodite in the 1000 Guineas and Teddington in the Derby, both owned by Hawley. It was the first of what would be eleven wins in the five British Classics.