Which active trainer has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire Handicap?

Run over nine furlongs on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in late September, with a maximum field size of 35, the Cambridgeshire is one of the most competitive handicaps of the British Flat racing season. Together with another 'cavalry charge', the Cesarewitch, which is run over two and a quarter miles on the same course two weeks later, the Cambridgeshire comprises the historic 'Autumn Double' which, in the days of yesteryear, attracted floods of ante-post money.

The ante-post market may not be what it was, but the Cambridgeshire remains as fiercely competitive as ever and, as such, is a fiendishly difficult race to win. In the current training ranks, five-time champion trainer John Gosden has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire, with a total of five winners, four of which were three-year-olds. Punters flock to the race, much in the same way they do jokacasino online pokies real money australia.

Gosden sent out his first Cambridgeshire winner, Halling, from Stanley House Stables in Newmarket in 1994. Sent off 8/1 co-favourite, the three-year-old was always prominent and stayed on strongly in the closing stages to win by 2½ lengths under Lanfranco 'Frankie' Dettori. With the benefit of hindsight, the Diesis colt must have been the proverbial 'good thing', off a handicap mark of 93, on that occasion; shortly afterwards he was transferred to the fledgling Godolphin and went on to win five Group 1 races, inclduing the Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International Stakes twice apiece.

After a 13-year hiatus, by which time he had moved to his current base, Clarehaven Stables, also in Newmarket, Gosden saddled his second Cambridgeshire winner, Pipedreamer, who justified favourtism in the 2007 renewal. He followed up with the four-year-old Tazeez in 2008 and, more recently, has added Wissahickon, in 2018, and Lord North, in 2019, to his winning tally.

Horse Trainer Bill Turner: Brocklesby Stakes Review

If Bill Turner is associated with one horse race it has to be the Brocklesby Stakes. The first two-year-old race of the season. Finally, the Flat turf season has arrived after a cold winter and the eternal hope for winners warms the spirit.

I’ve never been to Doncaster racecourse. However, watching a replay of this year’s Brocklesby Stakes I saw Bill Turner attending his two-year-old colt Bob The Bandit, a sizeable son of Aclaim. The horse looked a picture and groomed perfectly with stars on its hind quarters.

It would have been a pleasure to congratulate him on a gallant second place behind Zminiature, who ran out a fair winner. I would like to shake Bill Turner’s hand and say: ‘Thanks for all those Brocklesby Stakes memories...’

Bill Turner, as for so many other handlers across the country, has a passion that comes from his love of the sport. We can only imagine how difficult it must be to find an owner with money to spend, or a breeder who chooses a smaller stable to send their horse. And for that horse to keep sound and have enough ability to win a race.

Look through the results in the Racing Post it seems every horse is a winner. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Winners are few and far between. I have the statistics for every trainer of two-year-old horses and even the biggest trainers have times when they struggle to win. It’s fair to say some of the powerhouses make it look easy.

It’s sad that so many smaller stables struggle to find wealthy owners. One person with a pot of cash could transform their career. It happened with Dominic Ffrench Davis when Amo Racing Ltd sent class horses his way. It proves the point, a trainer is only as good as their horses. In fact, many of the smaller trainers may be better because they have to try harder not being able to rely on a classy thoroughbred.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to visit Bill Turner at Sigwell’s Farm, Dorset and say: ‘Bill, have you ever fancied training a Frankel colt?’

Wouldn’t that be a lovely day.

Now, I’m sure Bill Turner isn’t a man to be down on his luck. Certainly not a gentleman to feel sorry for himself. After all those years of training horses he is a realist and someone who appreciates success when it happens. He doesn’t take it for granted. And that’s why seeing Bob The Bandit claim second place in the Brocklesby filled my heart with joy.

There’s always hope of that elusive win.

He’s been waiting for the next Brocklesby victory since 2013 when Mick’s Yer Man won for the yard.

True, he will have to wait another year if not longer. However, the stable staff, and their governor, would have been smiling when they returned with Bob The Bandit. I’m sure on the drive home a few of the stable’s Brocklesby Stakes winners were mentioned.

‘Bob The Bandit did us proud. He’s a winner waiting to happen.’

You can bet he is.

For me horse racing is more than simply the next winner and then moving swiftly on. True, for many punters it is exactly that. But those who do are missing out on the reality of life. They miss out on the story beyond the gamble. Don’t ever forget that every horse, trainer, jockey, owner and punter have their story to tell.

But for that to happen there is a need for someone to listen.

Someone like you.

Ralph Beckett

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.  If modern day AI Racing Tips tooks had been available in the past, they'd have certainly favoured a punt on this chaps horses.

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. It's hard to fault a record like this, much in the same way that it is someone who takes todays football tips and runs with it, winning big in the process.

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.