tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86188388299599919492024-03-05T06:11:41.281+00:00Horse Trainer ProfilesShining a light on horse racing trainers in the UKUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-46308994538604880672024-02-03T17:00:00.000+00:002024-02-04T22:58:53.816+00:00Jane Chapple-Hyam<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKyIKsCv0tv6UWlrNGffiYnhtiAruh-t3SkfFiZZzUH7pePifkQrjz97CEe8QUk1JMUq0yqe6CR_sYPjORUxeCy-7DPyWkBzGXymfQCy9Y_5ApJGrWKuCwxdBK9UM-I3FGdjvl7pO6-de9Ru29sSklhMgaT9VICRv45V2aO1m6Y58Gd99w1gGRig6ISPV/s640/horse-race-2714853_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKyIKsCv0tv6UWlrNGffiYnhtiAruh-t3SkfFiZZzUH7pePifkQrjz97CEe8QUk1JMUq0yqe6CR_sYPjORUxeCy-7DPyWkBzGXymfQCy9Y_5ApJGrWKuCwxdBK9UM-I3FGdjvl7pO6-de9Ru29sSklhMgaT9VICRv45V2aO1m6Y58Gd99w1gGRig6ISPV/s320/horse-race-2714853_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Australian-born Jane Chapple-Hyam is
the former wife of trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam, to whom she was
married for 18 years. However, with her marriage coming to an end,
she decided, in her own words to 'give it [training] a go myself.'<p></p><p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Chapple-Hyam had studied stud
management at the National Stud in Newmarket as a teenager and worked
for trainers Michael Dickinson and Barry Hills – employed by her
late step-father, Robert Sangster – at Manton, Wiltshire, as well
as alongside her former husband. Nevertheless, she effectively
started again, from scratch, when she took out a training licence in
her own right in 2005.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Chapple-Hyam saddled her first winner,
Chief Commander, at Wolverhampton in January, 2006. The following
August she made history by saddling the longest-priced winner in the
history on the Ebor at York, Mudawin, at 100/1. His £124,640 winning
prize money remains her biggest payday to date. She won her first
Pattern race, the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury in 2010 and,
in 2012, 2013 and 2014, recorded three more Group 3 wins, courtesy of
Mull of Killough. Indeed, Mull of Killough contested as series of
races in Australia, including the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley,
in 2013.</p>
<p><br />Nowadays, Chapple-Hyam operates what has been described as
'boutique' stable of 30 or so horses in Dalham, near Newmarket. Her
current stable star in undoubtedly the filly Safforn Beat, who won
the Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket in 2020 and subsequently finished
second in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. <br /><br /><br />
</p>
<p><br /><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-27128953081274107852024-01-15T02:00:00.001+00:002024-01-22T20:04:23.049+00:00Jedd O’Keeffe: Staying Power<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBizOjiXaMpkKxfEKAvzEEsdec9IaWlXTfrf1KtL_rLvV4Riy2CXDEywfHyoDsJiimFWBF2oiT8-bztiEFQe8ovoilGVOANSK2OQfCJowrWc_2A6g9VBQqDDzhTaJZz4xhir6GEqjxXCsbA7CgD1CRPxpD5hhrOn05iScayLnFloqds1menuXrfeH3W4gl/s640/horse-7833669_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBizOjiXaMpkKxfEKAvzEEsdec9IaWlXTfrf1KtL_rLvV4Riy2CXDEywfHyoDsJiimFWBF2oiT8-bztiEFQe8ovoilGVOANSK2OQfCJowrWc_2A6g9VBQqDDzhTaJZz4xhir6GEqjxXCsbA7CgD1CRPxpD5hhrOn05iScayLnFloqds1menuXrfeH3W4gl/s320/horse-7833669_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>John Eamon Declan Dunderdale O’Keefe,
known universally as Jedd, is in the enviable position of training
Sam Spinner, who is currently 5/1 favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle
at the Cheltenham Festival in 2018. Bought for 12,000 guineas as a
3-year-old, the son of Black Sam Bellamy has won five of his seven
races over hurdles including, most recently, the Long Walk Hurdle at
Ascot, and amassed over £142,000 in total prize money. O’Keefe
said recently, “It’s very exciting for all of us in a small
stable to have a real star, and I’m really grateful it’s
happening as it is.”<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course, O’Keeffe is no stranger to
the winners’ enclosure, having saddled 148 winners on the Flat and
36 winners over Jumps in his career to date but, with a few obvious
exceptions, has lacked the firepower to make much of an impact at the
major meetings. Sam Spinner aside, the highlights of his career, so
far, were the victories of Shared Equity in the Coral Sprint Trophy
at York in 2015, More Mischief in the Betfred Mobile/EBF Hoppings
Stakes at Newcastle in June, 2017 and Lord Yeats in the Betfred Fred
Archer Stakes at Newmarket the following month.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
O’Keefe served an eight-year
apprentice, as pupil assistant, travelling head lad and assistant
trainer to Micky Hammond, before applying for a training licence in
his own right. He moved into Highbeck Lodge and Stables, which is
part of the Brecongill Estate, in Coverdale, in the extreme east of
the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire in 2000. At that time he had
just three horses – the minimum number allowed by the British
Horseracing Authority (BHA) – but saddled his first winner, Route
Sixty Six, in a novices’ hurdle at Musselburgh the following
January. From small beginnings, by honest, old-fashioned hard work,
O’Keefe gradually increased his number of horses in training, to an
average of 20 or so over the last decade.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In 2011, O’Keefe underwent an
intensive course of treatment for throat cancer and although he
recovered, his business very nearly did not. He later recalled,
“Though I’d finished the treatment, I was still very ill, and
needed staff to cover. With the cost of all that, and the financial
crisis, we felt we couldn’t go any further, and rang the owners to
say we were giving up.” Thankfully, he did not and now, with Sam
Spinner just one of 45 horses in his yard, can hopefully look forward
to a happy, healthy and profitable future.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-21336219830196509502023-11-04T19:01:00.001+00:002023-11-04T19:01:00.146+00:00Horse Trainers: Creatures of Habit <p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgmxDlLbz8r9hKJj3MUnxql1I7BSlmveOjmMe9-LEvhQR4BCd6_CUc_3tmhL7jh4Lzr5hFW8OgCDxRFfSH-DVM97EWMINiazONeuuuNZYiWHVy847kHkKSdm5ShhNNLORuuf-miFToiQOu0V0L0lb5IRTM6TueMLbCQyE1IuFZA2-KfvPqubkB1VONUun/s640/fair-1559180_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="640" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgmxDlLbz8r9hKJj3MUnxql1I7BSlmveOjmMe9-LEvhQR4BCd6_CUc_3tmhL7jh4Lzr5hFW8OgCDxRFfSH-DVM97EWMINiazONeuuuNZYiWHVy847kHkKSdm5ShhNNLORuuf-miFToiQOu0V0L0lb5IRTM6TueMLbCQyE1IuFZA2-KfvPqubkB1VONUun/s320/fair-1559180_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I imagine if some trainers read this article they will be offended by being called a ‘creatures’. It’s not meant in a derogatory term. I like thoroughbred horse trainers from the smallest to the biggest stable. OK, I like the smaller stables a little better because I’m always rooting for the underdog. It’s a British thing, hey.<p></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Anyway, whether creature or not, I respect your effort to train horses to win races. It can’t be an easy task.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In fact, I don’t think any armchair jockey, trainer or coach potato appreciates how difficult it must be to train a winner.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I really need a quote from a trainer here to hammer this point home.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I wonder what John Gosden would say?</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">‘It’s easy!’</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Yes, that was my attempt at humour. I bet every trainer, at some point in their career, has felt the pressure of finding winners.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">However, trainers are creatures of habit. It’s hardly surprising because we all have our own way of working. It’s human nature, if not the human condition.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I have researched two-year-old horse racing for decades. To be fair it is more like 30-years, so I consider myself knowledgable. And digging into the data for each and every trainer it’s surprising what you can uncover. If you have enough data you can see the peaks and troughs of a trainer’s season. There is a distinct pattern to how they work. This isn’t something that happens by luck or coincidence.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It is planned.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">For example, if you look at a given trainer they may have all their debut winners in three months of the season. Some have 50% of all debut winners in one month. It’s often the same when you consider the starting price (SP) of many winners for an individual horse trainer. Some never, ever, have a horse win at speculative priced odds. In fact, some have never had a winner bigger than 5/1. This isn’t because the sample is small. Far from it. If you assessed this data by a statistical criterion it would be detailed as significant. That is pretty much a fact.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">These two points are just the tip of the iceberg.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You will see pattern after pattern which shows why some horses win and others lose.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">‘But what does this tell us?’</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It very much indicates that winning is intentional. Now, you may be thinking surely every trainer is trying to win all the time. This simply isn’t true. There are times when the trainer doesn’t believe their horse is going to win. They aren’t primed to win. While there are other times when they are confident they have a live chance. This doesn’t mean that every horse that goes to the course with confidence will win. Other trainers may have exactly the same idea.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But there is a habitual way trainers work from the horses they buy, how they are trained, the intricacies of this working and how this may reflect in the betting of a horse whether winner or loser.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Learn the habits of a horse trainer and you will be a lot closer to finding a winner.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Those creatures of habit!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-39698359192048607862023-10-18T17:09:00.001+01:002024-01-22T20:05:23.897+00:00Oliver Greenall<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlAYCvW4B6t0gOMcqJj9OG_0Nr0Wq6LbfXPFizEqTd4EbgyjS0MXXmjEhgh2Y9pzS1zjt8-9qXie3vD3RThP8BLzyaSQDR3R1gvP8-x_hyphenhyphenuiLI4JknoC99Xs9mKQrHMDYn-etS3fudD2JFyN5Ab4fSaQhBdxfhbgS38ise5_OebEEfCOHTdoWb-Be4DSf9/s640/horse-race-1577286_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlAYCvW4B6t0gOMcqJj9OG_0Nr0Wq6LbfXPFizEqTd4EbgyjS0MXXmjEhgh2Y9pzS1zjt8-9qXie3vD3RThP8BLzyaSQDR3R1gvP8-x_hyphenhyphenuiLI4JknoC99Xs9mKQrHMDYn-etS3fudD2JFyN5Ab4fSaQhBdxfhbgS38ise5_OebEEfCOHTdoWb-Be4DSf9/s320/horse-race-1577286_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Formerly a successful amateur jockey,
in the sphere of point-to-point racing and under rules, Oliver
Greenall spent five years as assistant trainer to legendary North
Yorkshire handler Mick Easterby before joining the training ranks in
his own right. He launched his business, Oliver Greenall Racing, from
his base at Stockton Hall Farm, near Malpas, Cheshire in 2015.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Greenall is a licensed trainer for Flat
and National Hunt racing although, to date, his main focus has been
on the latter. In that sphere, he enjoyed his most successful season
so far in 2020/21, when he saddled 37 winners from 329 runners, at a
strike rate of 11%, and amassed just over £303,000 in prize money.
Indeed, in April, 2021, he collected his biggest single prize when
the 4-year-old Herbiers, ridden by Paddy Brennan, won the bet365
Novices' Championship Final Handicap Hurdle at Sandown Park, worth
£38,580 to the winner. By contrast, on the Flat, Greenall is yet to
break into double figures in a season. His highest seasonal tally is
six winners, which he achieved from 85 runners, at a strike rate of
7%, in 2017.</p>
<p><br /><br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-76566561674907294512023-09-17T16:59:00.000+01:002023-09-22T15:34:20.379+01:00James Tate<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />A qualified veterinary surgeon, James
Tate spent eight years in that capacity, two in mixed practice and
six working for North Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston. He
subsequently moved to his current base, Jamesfield Place in
Newmarket, and took out a training licence in his own right in
October, 2011. Shortly afterwards, he became a private trainer for
Rabbah Bloodstock, the company founded by Sheikh Mohammed to manage
the racing interests of his friends and associates/<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tate saddled his first winner, Dark
Falcon, for high-profile Emirati owner Saeed Manana at Southwell in
December, 2011. After just one winners from five runners in his
inaugural season, he increased his winning tally to 21 in 2012 and 62
in 2013. He would not surpass that seasonal total until 2019, when he
enjoyed his most successful season so far, with 72 winners and over
£926,000 in prize money. That year, he expanded his training
operation with the purchase of Cavendish Stables, formerly occupied
by Alan Bailey, in Newmarket.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">By that stage Tate had already saddled
his first Pattern race winner, Invincible Army, in the Group 3
Sirenia Stakes at Kempton in September, 2017. Invincible Army would
also become the first Group 2 winner for the yard, in the Duke of
York Stakes at York in May, 2019. All told, Invincible Army won six
of his 19 races and over £371,000 in prize money. Tate has yet to
saddle a Group 1 winner, but his career tally, so far, is over 400
winners and over £4 million in prize money in ten seasons, the last
of which is far from over.</p>
<p><br /><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-66029767930788718872023-05-17T17:07:00.001+01:002023-07-27T16:23:28.549+01:00Michael Dobs<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Michael Dods took over the training
licence at Denton Hall in Piercebridge, near Darlington, Co. Durham
in 1990, following the death of his father, Dickie. After a modest
start, Dods increased his winning tally season-by-season and is now
established as one of the most consistent trainers in the North of
England. He has saddled at least 39 winners in each of the last ten
seasons and, in 2017, enjoyed his best season so far, numerically,
with 62 winners.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dods saddled his first Pattern race
winner, Barney McGrew, in the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes at Newcastle
in 2010. He recorded his first Group 1 victory courtesy of Mecca's
Angel in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in 2015 and his second courtesy
of the same horse in the same race the following year. Two seasons
later, Dods saddled Mabs Cross to win the Prix de l'Abbaye de
Longchamp for the third Group 1 victory of his career. Indeed, in
2018, won over £827,000 in prize money domestically and over £1
million worldwide.
</p>
<p><br />In recent seasons, Dakota Gold has been the standard bearer
for the yard, winning two Listed races in 2019 and three more in
2020, plus the Group 3 Bengough Stakes at York. Now a 7-year-old,
Dakota Gold has been an excellent servant to connections down the
years, winning 13 of his 39 starts and nearly £370,000 in prize
money.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-17989424849032285262023-04-03T00:54:00.002+01:002023-07-27T16:23:34.193+01:00David Loughnane<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Originally based in
Nawton, North Yorkshire, David Loughnane started his training career
in early 2016 and moved to his current base, Helshaw Grange, in
Market Drayton, Shropshire later that year. Loughnane, 34, spent five
years in Australia in his early twenties, where he worked in various
roles, including for the late Bart Cummings and his son, Anthony, in
Sydney and Paul Messara in Scone, a.k.a. 'The Horse Capital of
Australia'.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">A dual-purpose trainer,
who counts former Grand National winning trainer Steve Brookshaw as a
member of his staff, Loughnane has made a succesful start, gradually
increasing his winning tally season-by-season. Indeed, he enjoyed his
most successful season, numerically and financially, in 2020, with 41
winners and over £362,000 in prize money. The highlight of that
season, and his career so far, was the victory of the 2-year-old
filly Santosha in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Betfred Stakes at
Ascot in July.
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 2021, his
highest-rated horse, and highest single earner, so far, has been the
5-year-old mare Fizzy Feet, who has won handicaps at Lingfield and
Windsor and was only beaten three-quarters of a length in the
All-Weather Fillies' And Mares' Championships, also at Lingfield.
Another horse to note is the 5-year-old gelding Tranchee, who is 1-2
on the all-weather so far in 2021, but whom Loughnane believes has 'a
big pot on him'.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-34406528630172956802023-02-01T05:44:00.001+00:002023-07-27T16:23:43.214+01:00Martin Keighley: Cheltenham Specialist<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Martin Keighley began his career in
racing as a conditional jockey in 1992. In seven seasons, he rode
just nine winners, but they did include King’s Road, trained by
Nigel Twiston-Davies in the Martell Champion Standard National Hunt
Flat Race at Aintree in April, 1998. Keighley gave up race-riding at
the age of 25 and subsequently worked as a groundsman at Cheltenham,
where he learnt about ground conditions and how to build hurdles and
fences, which would help him when he started training.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Keighley first took out a public
training licence in October, 2006, but had previously trained
point-to-pointers and hunter chasers under permit. In fact, his first
winner under Rules was one of his own horses, Bosuns Mate, ridden by
his wife Belinda, in a hunters’ chase at Sandown in February, 2003.
Having moved into Condicote Stables in Luckley, near
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, his first winner as a licensed
trainer was Prince Dundee, whom he also part-owned, in a conditional
jockeys’ selling handicap hurdle at Taunton in January, 2007.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The horse that made his name as a
trainer, though, was Champion Court, who recorded his first major
success in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle in
2010. The Court Cave gelding made up into a smart steeplechaser, too,
winning the Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in 2012 and the
Silver Trophy Chase, also at Cheltenham, in 2013.
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Keighley, understandably, has a special
affinity with his local course and, at the last count, had saddled 19
winners at Prestbury Park. His most recent major success was with
Brillare Momento in the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association Mares’
Novices’ Hurdle in April 2017.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In March, 2016, Keighley saddled his
first “winner” at the Cheltenham Festival when Any Currency was
first past the post in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. However,
the 13-year-old was subsequently found to have traces of the
prohibited substance triamcinolone acetonide (TCA) in his urine and
disqualified. A disciplinary hearing at the British Horseracing
Authority (BHA) cleared Keighley of any wrongdoing but, nevertheless,
promoted Josies Orders, second in the Glenfarclas Cross Country
Chase, to first place. Any Currency did gain some scant compensation
when winning a handicap chase on the New Course at Cheltenham the
following month.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
He was retired, as a 14-year-old, a
year later after attempting, unsuccessfully, to win both races again.
Keighley said of him, “…you have been a horse of a lifetime;
we’ll miss you, but wish you the long and happy retirement that a
dude like you deserves.”</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-36849724033817353152022-10-11T17:22:00.000+01:002022-10-11T17:22:00.204+01:00An amazing place to train horses<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tyz9Y_LhzYA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-2053375858612952362022-08-17T17:06:00.006+01:002023-07-27T16:23:54.286+01:00Maurice Barnes<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Maurice Barnes, 70, found fame as a
National Hunt jockey when winning the Grand National on Rubstic in
1979. At the end of his riding career, he took out a combined
training licence at his original base in Little Salkeld, near
Penrith, Cumbria in 1989, before moving to his current home, Tarnside
Stables in Farlam, near Brampton, to the east of Carlisle in 2000.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Barnes did not saddle a winner for his
first three seasons as a trainer and did not reach double figures
until 1993/94. However, that season he saddled 19 winners, his
highest seasonal total so far, at a strike rate of 20% and won over
£61,000 in prize money. He has not matched that strike rate since,
but did reach double figures again in 1994/95 and every season
between 2010/11 and 2019/20. Financially, Barnes enjoyed his most
successful season in 2018/19, when he saddled 13 winners, at a strike
rate of just 6%, but nonetheless amassed over £152,000 in prize
money.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-GB">Barnes still
harbours ambitions to saddle a Listed or Graded winner, but so far
has failed to do so. Nevertheless, he remains philosophical and, when
interviewed in 2019, turned to the wisdom of the late Arthur
Stephenson, a fellow Cumbrian trainer, insofar that 'little fish are
sweet, so why bother about the big ones?' </span>In October, 2020,
Barnes and his wife, Anne, were forced to move into a touring caravan
after a fire, caused by an electric fault, devastated their home.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-31853254956737066482022-07-06T17:35:00.000+01:002022-07-06T17:35:00.189+01:00Willie Mullins Reflects on Career<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BX1czzlKvZE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-58572768662426066372022-06-14T17:11:00.007+01:002023-07-27T16:24:01.214+01:00John Quinn<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Originally from Tipperary, John Quinn
was a successful National Hunt jockey – albeit, by his own
admission, 'a journeyman' – with nearly 200 winners to his name
before turning his hand to training in 1994. Starting out with just
two horses at his base in Settrington, North Yorkshire, his initial
progress was slow. In his first three seasons, he saddled two, one
and five winners, respectively, but steadily increased his winning
tally thereafter.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">He won his first Listed race on the
Flat, the National Stakes at Sandown, with Taras Girl in 2000, but
had to wait another six seasons before he won his next big race, the
Lincoln, which was run that year at Redcar, with Blythe Knight in
2006. Crow Wood won the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle at Wincanton for the
yard in November that year and a steady stream of high-profile
winners followed.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Blythe Knight proved admirably
versatile, winning the Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree in early 2007,
in the days when it was still a Grade 2 contest, and the Group 3
Diomed Stakes at Epsom that season and the next, to provide Quinn
with his first Pattern race winners on the Flat. Other notable
National Hunt winners included Character Building in the Fulke Walwyn
Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival in 2009 and his
first Grade 1 winner, Countrywide Flame, in the Triumph Hurdle in
2012.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the Flat, Quinn saddled the first of
his seven Group 2 winners, Red Duke, in the Superlative Stakes at
Newmarket in 2011 and his one and only Group 1 winner, The Wow
Signal, in the Prix Morny at Deauville in 2014.
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-2276390647156377712022-05-05T17:02:00.007+01:002023-07-27T16:24:04.476+01:00Ralph Beckett<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Formerly assistant trainer to the late
Peter Walwyn for three and a half years, Ralph Beckett took over the
training licence at Windsor House Stables in Lambourn when Walwyn
retired in 1999. In his first half a dozen full seasons, Beckett
saddled just over a hundred winners, including his first Pattern race
winner, Penkenna Princess, in the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes at
Newbury in April, 2005. A month later, he was narrowly denied his
first Group 1 victory when the same horse was beaten a short-head by
Saoire in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 2006, Beckett succeeded David
Elsworth at Whitsbury Manor Stables, near Fordingbridge, Hampshire.
In the next five seasons, he saddled over 240 more winners, including
his first British Classic winner, Look Here, in the Oaks in 2008. In
2010, Beckett purchased his currrent base, Kimpton Down Stables in
nearby Andover, and completed his move in time for the start of the
2011 season. Since then, he has saddled two more British Classic
winners, Talent in the Oaks in 2013 and Simple Verse in the St. Leger
in 2015; the latter also won the British Champions Fillies &
Mares Stakes at Ascot the following month to give Beckett the fourth
Group 1 victory of his career.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Beckett took his career tally to 1,000
winners when the 6-year-old Another Boy won an apprentice handicap at
Salisbury in August, 2019. In 2020, he enjoyed his most successful
season so far, numerically, passing the landmark of a hundred winners
on British soil for just the second time.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-29403470449397104002022-03-16T17:34:00.008+00:002022-03-16T17:34:00.198+00:00Jenny Pitman Interview<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/38liDYYbBVI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> <div>An old yet fascinating interview offering numerous insights into the life of a horse trainer</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-63782417507615693412022-03-13T15:29:00.004+00:002023-07-27T16:24:18.740+01:00Cheltenham Festival's Most Memorable Winners <p> In the years
since Cheltenham Festival became a globally recognised horse racing
spectacle in the early 1900s, it has produced several worthy winners.
It is, after all, the culmination of horse racing and having been
held in one of the world’s most celebrated racecourses for over 100
years, it has attracted some of the world’s most renowned horses
and jockeys to its 350-acre raceway. To familiarise yourself with
Cheltenham Festival’s most memorable winners from over the years,
continue reading.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Golden
Miller </b></span>
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a true
testament to his name, </span><a href="https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/plus/features-plus/golden-miller-739746"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Golden
Miller</u></span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;">, owned by Dorothy Paget, is
one of the most memorable winners to have ever graced the famous
racecourse at Cheltenham Festival. In the years between 1932 and
1936, for example, the gelding won the Gold Cup every single year
and, to this day, remains the only competitor to have achieved such a
feat. It was in 1934, however, that Golden Miller truly showcased his
horse racing skills by winning both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the
Grand National within the same year and setting yet another record in
the process. In 1939, at the age of eleven, he retired with a total
of 29 wins from 52 races under his belt.</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Arkle </b></span>
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">It may be
Golden Miller that remains on the top of everyone’s tongue when it
comes to Cheltenham Festival’s most memorable winners but if we are
talking about the Gold Cup, in particular, </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/nov/05/horseracing.gdnsport3"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Arkle</u></span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;">
undoubtedly takes the lead. If it wasn’t his somewhat
unconventional style of running that stole the headlines, for
example, it was his ability to remain consistently brilliant by
winning the Champion Hurdles three years in a row and, in doing so,
eventually becoming the first equine millionaire. The most memorable
winners simply can’t be celebrated without also celebrating some of
the most memorable </span><a href="https://www.unibet.co.uk/racing/festivals/cheltenham/participants/"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u><b>Cheltenham
Festival trainers</b></u></span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;">, however,
with Tom Dreaper responsible for leading Arkle to victory time and
time again. It may have been an injury that cut his award-winning
career short but with the Arkle Challenge Trophy and the Arkle Novice
Chase named in his honour, his legacy continues to live on.</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Best Mate</b></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">It may not
necessarily sound like the most menacing of names but in 2002, 2003,
and 2004, Best Mate, trained by Henrietta Catherine Knight, cemented
himself as a true Cheltenham Festival legend by winning the Gold Cup
three consecutive times with a triple threat that remains difficult
to beat to this day. The gelding may not have had the opportunity to
race for a fourth consecutive title as a result of his untimely death
at the Exeter Racecourse in 2005 but with one of the most impressive
racing resumes under his belt, he will always be remembered for his
immeasurable contribution to the horse racing industry throughout the
world. </span>
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">It may still
feel like the beginning of the year but with the 2022 Cheltenham
Festival fast approaching, there is no time like the present to
familiarise yourself with some of the event’s most memorable
winners. This includes Golden Miller, Arkle, and Best Mate.</span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-53252127153889778152022-03-10T17:04:00.001+00:002023-07-27T16:24:25.351+01:00Rose Dobbin<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Rose Dobbin, née Davidson, is married
to former Grand National-winning jockey Tony Dobbin, whom she met
while working as an amateur jockey and 'unofficial' assistant trainer
to Nicky Richards in Greystoke, Cumbria. She enjoyed a successful
riding career, with 56 winners to her name, by always harboured
ambitions to become a trainer and, to that end, also spent her
summers in Newmarket with James Fanshawe.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In 2009, Dobbin moved to her current
base, Hazelriggs Stables in Chatton, near Alnwick, Northumberland
which, together with her husband, she has substantially renovated and
improved over the years. She saddled her first winner, Mirage Dore,
in a beginners' chase at Market Rasen in January, 2010; Dobbin had
ridden the same horse into second place in the Coral Cup at the 2009
Cheltenham Festival for previous trainer Lucinda Russell.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dobbin enjoyed her first big race
victories in February, 2016, when Jonniesofa won the Grade 2 Prestige
Novices' Hurdle at Haydock and Rocking Blues won the Eider at
Newcastle within the space of seven days. She achieved her most
successful season so far in 2017/18, with 25 winners and over
£203,000 in prize money. However, in 2018/19, her seasonal tally
dropped to just seven winners and, in the summer of 2019, she was
forced to close down her training operation completely after the yard
was struck by a respiratory virus. Nevertheless, she saddled another
big race winner, Bigirononhiship, in the Scottish Borders National in
2019 and increased her seasonal tally to 10 in 2019/20 and 21 in
2020/21.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-29807622996257262662022-01-12T16:56:00.002+00:002023-07-27T16:24:30.093+01:00James Moffatt<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Formerly a successful National Hunt
jockey, with 78 winners to his name, James Moffatt served time with
several experienced trainers, including Tommy Stack and Sue Smith,
before taking over the family training operation from his father,
Dudley, in late 2002. Based at Pit Farm Stables in Cartmel, Cumbria,
Moffatt enjoyed a 'purple patch' in the spring of 2007, when Chief
Dan George won two Grade 2 events, at Wetherby and Haydock, within
the space of a fortnight, and the Grade 1 Sefton Novices' Hurdle at
Aintree.<p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Three seasons later, Chief Dan George
also became the first and, so far, only Cheltenham Festival winner
for the yard when rallying in the last half a furlong to win the
William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase by a head. More recently, Highland
Lodge flew the flag for the yard, winning the Becher Handicap Chase,
over the Grand National fences, in 2015, before being denied by the
minimum margin in the same race in 2016.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Moffatt holds a combined licence, but
has never saddled more than a dozen winners in a National Hunt season
and never more than nine in a Flat season. However, in the 2021/22
National Hunt season, so far, he has saddled seven winners from just
19 runners, at a extremely healthy strike rate of 37%. Indeed, in the
space of five days in late May and early June, he saddled five
winners from 11 runners, at a strike rate of 45%, at his local
course, Cartmel.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-46436658122836030282021-11-18T01:06:00.005+00:002021-11-18T01:06:00.222+00:00Harry and Paul - Irish Horse Trainers Compilation<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oekus6eI_qQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div>A little comedic interlude</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-74214562782243739542021-10-14T00:57:00.002+01:002023-08-18T04:18:31.799+01:00Ed Walker<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Ed Walker began his
career in the bloodstock industry, at Watership Down Stud in
Burghclere, near Newbury. He subsequently served two years with Roger
Charlton and four years with Luca Cumani before taking out a training
licence in his own right in October, 2010. At that stage of his
career, he rented two dozen boxes in the historic St. Gatien Cottage
Stables in Newmarket but, remarkably, saddled a Listed winner with
his very first runner; the 6-year-old Riggins dead-heated for first
place in the Hyde Stakes at Kempton Park on November, 2010.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Thereafter, Walker
moved three times but, nonetheless, steadily improved the quality of
his string year-by-year until settling at his current base, Kingsdown
Stables in Upper Lambourn, in December, 2016. By that stage he had
already saddled three Group 3 winners, including Stormy Antarctic –
who has become a flag-bearer for the yard in recent seasons – in
the Craven Stakes at Newmarket in April, 2016.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Walker has yet to win a
Group 1 race, but Stormy Antarctic has won two Group 2 races, three
Group 3 races and finished second, albeit no match for the winner, in
the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp in July, 2020. Now an
8-year-old, Stormy Antarctic has won nine of his 36 races and amassed
over £695,000 in win and place prize money.
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Walker likes to
campaign his horses worldwide and has saddled winners in Australia,
France, Germany and Italy. Domestically, he enjoyed his most
successful season, in terms of winners and prize money, in 2018. That
year, he saddled 61 winners and earned over £822,000 in prize money.
All told he has over 350 winners to his name.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-68717793652061111502021-08-03T00:43:00.002+01:002023-08-18T04:18:40.824+01:00David Bridgwater<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />David Bridgwater, 50,
was formerly a successful National Hunt jockey with over 450 winners
to his name, including five at the Cheltenham. Indeed, he was, for
just over a season, stable jockey to Martin Pipe, but resigned that
position in September, 1996 to ride freelance.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">'Bridgy', as he is
popularly known, joined the training ranks in 1998 and from his
intial base, at Hill House Stables in Lambourn, saddled three winners
with his first three runners. He subsequently moved to Slade Barn
Stables in Ford, Gloucester en route to his current base, at Wyck
Hill Farm in nearby Stow-on-the-Wold. However, despite a flying start
to his training career, it was not until the 2011/12 that Bridgwater
reached double-figures for a National Hunt season; despite holding a
combined training licence, he has still yet to do so in a Flat
season. He enjoyed his most successful so far, numerically, in
2014/15 with 33 National Hunt winners.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Bridgwater achieved his
first major success as a trainer in January, 2012, when The Giant
Bolster won the Murphy Group Chase at Cheltenham. Less than two
months later, the same horse belied odds of 50/1 to finish second,
beaten 2<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">¼ lengths, behind
Synchronised in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. </span>
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It
would be fair to say that big race winners for the yard have been few
and far between, but Bridgwater did saddle The Giant Bolster to win
the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham and Wyck Hill to win the Eider Chase
at Newcastle in early 2014. More recently, he achieved his first
Cheltenham Festival winner as a trainer with the ill-fated The
Conditional in the Ultima Handicap Chase in 2020; a leading fancy for
the 2021 Grand National, The Conditional was fatally injured in the
Denman Chase at Newbury in February that year. </span>
</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-26269116562648285642021-07-15T01:03:00.005+01:002021-07-15T01:03:00.198+01:00Blast from the Past: Barney Curley Rant<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nUU0AlrNSt4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-59453459199796709412021-06-07T14:29:00.008+01:002021-06-07T14:32:11.076+01:00Joint Racehorse Trainers’ Licences Embraced in British Isles<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here for <a href="https://twitter.com/RacingPost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RacingPost</a> members, an interview with John and Thady Gosden in which they speak revealingly about their new partnership and each other - plus John's major fears for the future of British racing and plenty of great anecdotes.<a href="https://t.co/vLNwdg3uun">https://t.co/vLNwdg3uun</a> <a href="https://t.co/NXUPlOuwQs">pic.twitter.com/NXUPlOuwQs</a></p>— Lee Mottershead (@leemottershead) <a href="https://twitter.com/leemottershead/status/1390628063877140483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2021</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> One of the quirks of training
racehorses is, until very recently in the UK and Ireland, one person
alone has held the licence to do it at a set of stables. Officially,
those individuals are responsible for their equine charges but of
course there is a whole team at the bigger yards supporting them.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The fact that both British and Irish
horse racing authorities have now allowed joint training licences,
like those elsewhere in other countries including Australia, reflects
a changing attitude within the industry. It is also wider recognition
of what goes into getting thoroughbreds ready for the track.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Just because a trainer can share the
burden and responsibility doesn’t automatically mean that they
should or will. However, handlers are beginning to see the benefits
of joint licences and embrace the concept particularly on the Flat in
Britain.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When a high-profile stable such as <a href="https://www.horsetrainerprofiles.co.uk/2018/01/john-gosden-embarrassment-of-riches.html">the
John Gosden yard in Newmarket</a> does this, that makes people sit up
and take notice. This is one of the high-profile training facilities
in a real equine hub, but the licence now reads John and Thady Gosden
as father and son team up.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Thady Gosden - who handled MISHRIFF in Saudi last month - will share a joint licence with father John from the start of the UK Flat season.<br /><br />🙌 Congratulations and good luck! <a href="https://t.co/0Ozs4vFPkw">pic.twitter.com/0Ozs4vFPkw</a></p>— The Saudi Cup (@thesaudicup) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesaudicup/status/1369190736059637764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2021</a></blockquote><p><br /></p><p> In principle, this can be seen as the
beginning of the process that sees the torch passed from one
generation to the next. However, in practice, there remains a number
of top class thoroughbred racehorses in the yard including the likes
of Lord North, Mishriff and Stradivarius.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Checking the <a href="https://www.888sport.com/blog/horse-racing-tips">free
horse racing tips for tomorrow</a> and seeing a famous trainer name
next to a fancied runner can make or break your decision whether to
take a punt or not. In the case of Team Gosden, the joint venture
between them ensures some continuity.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Their approach contrasts sharply with
the O’Brien family in Ireland. Father Aidan remains master of all
he surveys at Ballydoyle and focuses on the Flat thanks to the
continuing support of owner-breeders Coolmore. Eldest son Joseph,
meanwhile, has horses that run both on the level and over jumps.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qZPd8SLq7eQ" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div>Younger O’Brien sibling Donnacha saddled a Classic winner in France inside his first year as a trainer. The family has decided to divide its resources and conquer horse racing in the Emerald Isle rather than concentrate all the power in Ballydoyle. <div><br /></div><div>There is uptake in Ireland, however, with Eddie Harty and son Patrick going for a joint licence and already training their first winner together at Punchestown. Other British stables doing likewise this year include another father-son duo Simon and Ed Crisford. </div><div><br /></div><div>Victorious horses at Group level in their Newmarket stables since they started sharing a licence include Goodwood Celebration Mile winner Century Dream and sprinter A’Ali. There is also a similar arrangement in a yard at Lambourn, another real UK equine hub. </div><div><br /></div><div>William Muir, put on the map by the exploits of Pyledriver at Royal Ascot last season, now jointly holds a licence with Chris Grassick. This sharing of the load may well become the norm in the years to come.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-65002814960528788132021-06-03T23:15:00.000+01:002021-06-03T23:15:00.161+01:00Simon Crisford: Making headlines<br />
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Formerly Newmarket correspondent at the
Racing Post, Simon Crisford became a familiar, and respected, figure
in British racing thanks to his 12-year tenure as racing manager to
Godolphin. However, in early 2014, in the wake of a doping scandal –
which saw former Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni ‘warned off’
for eight years after admitting administering anabolic steroids to
horses in his charge – Crisford resigned his long-standing role. He
immediately moved to a new position, doing consultancy work for
Sheikh Mohammed but, having completed the relevant British
Horseracing Authority training modules, set up as a trainer in his
own right later that year.</div>
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Initially renting boxes from Clive
Brittain at Carlburg Stables, on the Bury Road in Newmarket, Crisford
made an extraordinarily successful start to his training career. In
2015, he saddled 22 winners from 85 runners, at a very healthy strike
of 26%; the highlight of his debut season was winning his first
Pattern race, the Group Three Solario Stakes at Sandown, with First
Selection.
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In 2016, Crisford increased his
seasonal tally to 32 winners and, in 2017, following his relocation
to Kremlin House Stables, on the nearby Fordham Road, increased it
again to 43 winners. In 2018, he won a handful of Listed and Pattern
races, notably the Group Two Prix Daniel Wilderstein at Longchamp
with Ostilio, and recorded his first Royal Ascot success, courtesy of
the same horse in the Britannia Stakes. All told, Crisford saddled 70
winners from 337 runners, at a strike rate of 21%, and amassed £1.02
million in prize money, making 2018 by far his most successful
season, numerically and financially, so far.</div>
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In 2019, his continued success
warranted another move, across Newmarket, to the state-of the-art
Gainsborough Stables on the Hamilton Road. At the time of writing,
Crisford has maintained a similar strike rate from his new base,
sending out 48 winners from 242 runners so far. His most successful
horse of the year, so far, has been the two-year-old colt A’Ali,
who has won three of his five starts, all at Group Two level, and is
on course for a crack at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa
Anita.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-91463011719311848622021-05-06T05:42:00.002+01:002021-05-06T05:42:00.376+01:00Tom George: Building for the Future<br />
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At the time of writing, Tom George lies
in a highly respectable eighth place in the National Hunt Trainers’
Championship, having saddled 41 winners and amassed over £642,000 in
total prize money. However, as Adrian Heskin said, when replacing
Paddy Brennan as stable jockey to George at the start of the 2016/17
season, “Tom has a lot of young horses. He’s invested a lot of
money over the past year, so he has a lot of novices coming through.
There are a couple of really exciting ones that could be anything.”
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Having worked with Arthur Moore, Gavin
Pritchard-Gordon, the late Michael Jarvis, Francois Doumen and Martin
Pipe before becoming a trainer in his own right, George saddled his
first winner, Newton Point, at Worcester in 1993. Since then he has
sent out over 500 winners from his training establishment Down Farm
in Slad, near Stroud, Gloucester.</div>
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His first winner at the Cheltenham
Festival was Galileo – who was one of a crop of horses imported
from Poland – in the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle in
2002. George said at the time, “This is the sort of day everybody
dreams about”. He also enjoyed success with the front-running grey,
Nacarat, whose exploits at Kempton, in particular, he believes helped
to raise his profile. Nacarat won what is now the Betbright Chase at
the Sunley-on-Thames track as an 8-year-old in 2009 and again, as an
11-year-old, in 2012.</div>
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Other notable horses from the yard
include Saint Are, who finished second, behind Many Clouds, in the
Grand National in 2015 and fourth, behind One For Arthur, in 2017.
The 12-year-old is being trained for the great race once again this
season but, because of a change in the rules by the British
Horseracing Authority (BHA), will not be going hunter chasing
beforehand, as was originally planned.</div>
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In terms of prospects for the
Cheltenham Festival in 2018, George is likely to send Summerville
Boy, winner of the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown in January, straight to
the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, for which the 6-year-old is a
top-priced 20/1. He has also expressed himself satisfied with the
performance of The Worlds End, who has yet to trouble the judge in
three starts on unsuitably soft going, and is hopeful of an improved
performance in the Stayers’ Hurdle, for which the gelding is a 25/1
chance, in places.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618838829959991949.post-54867569482976879572021-04-05T01:00:00.004+01:002021-04-05T01:15:34.698+01:00Girl Power in the Grand National!<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-1g_8KNoMxQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><br /><br />As you well know from the trainer biographies on the site, female trainers have had a fair amount of success over the years. Who can forget Jenny Pitman breaking down barriers (not literally, that would be cheating!) with Grand National success with Corbiere in 1983. Buoyed by that success she went back for seconds, with a further Grand National win in 1995 with Royal Athlete. It's amazing what seeing success can do for others, and over the years both Venetia Williams and Sue Smith have both since walked in those same Grand National winning footsteps. <br /><br />But what's the story of female jockeys in the Grand National specifically? Well Katie Walsh had a few thoughts for <a href="https://betway.com/en/sports/cat/horse-racing">Betway</a> on that very topic. It's strange to think how slowly society can be at coming around to ideas that decades on seem like they've surely always been that way. It wasn't until the late 70s that changes to the law opened the door for female jockeys in the Grand National, the very first of whom was Charlotte Brew. Geraldine Rees, in those early days, was the first woman to complete the race. <br /><br />To-date Katie Walsh has set the highest standard by achieving of 3rd place in the Grand National. Such huge strides have been made over a relatively short time period, and with 16 women jockeys so far playing their part in the race (with three female jockeys competing this year alone), their performances and prominence in the event is going from strength to strength. Progress.<br /><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0