Archie Watson: Lambourn Wunderkind

The first thing to say about Archie Watson is that, at the time of writing, exactly two months into 2018, he is the leading Flat trainer in Britain, with 15 winners and £130,493 in total prize money. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, after Watson saddled 56 winners and amassed £458,985 in total prize money in an extraordinary first full season with a training licence in 2017.

Towards the end of 2017, he told At The Races, “The all-weather really suits my horses. I don’t know if it’s something to do with the way we train, but it benefits strong travelling types that like to sit close to the lead and I have quite a few of them.” In 2018, so far, he has a strike rate of 28% overall on the all-weather, which includes a dismal 0-9 on the Fibresand at Southwell, so he seems to have a point.

Highlights of his fledgling career, so far, have been wins for Absolute Blast in the Betfred Mobile Magnolia Stakes at Kempton in April and Petite Jack in the Betway Quebec Stakes at Lingfield in December. Brandon Castle, a 5-year-old gelding by Dylan Thomas, whom he acquired from North Yorkshire trainer Simon West in July, also paid his way, winning five handicaps before a rather ambitious tilt at the Prix Royal-Oak at Saint-Cloud in October. Corinthian Knight could only finish fourth behind Declaration on his trip to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November, but collected the best part of £10,000 for his trouble. The 3-year-old son of Society Rock was clearly none the worse for his exertions, either, winning both starts so far in 2018.

Watson, 28, bought Saxon House Stables, in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire – once the base of the celebrated Fulke Walwyn – in 2016. He said at the time, “We have bought the yard which gives us a sense of prominence and shows we mean business. Hopefully we will be here for years to come.”

Watson also said on his website, “I have been incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the foremost names in the industry both at home and abroad and now intend to put that experience to good use in launching my own training career. The “foremost names” to which he refers include Simon Callaghan, son of former Newmarket trainer Neville, at Santa Anita Park, California, Alec Laird, for whom he ran a satellite yard in Durban, South Africa for two seasons and William Haggas, to whom he was assistant trainer at Somerville Lodge, Newmarket.

Robert Cowell: Feel the Need…The Need for Speed!

Robert Cowell, 49, started training from his current base, at the privately owned Bottisham Heath Stud at Six Mile Bottom, Newmarket, Suffolk in 1997. However, he had previously served a lengthy apprenticeship with Gavin Pritchard-Gordon, David Nicholson, Jack Berry, John Hammond in France and Neil Drysdale in America. He was also a competent amateur jockey, riding 10 winners on both sides of the English Channel.

Cowell first took out a public training licence at Hollywood Park, California in 1996, but later explained, “I was training for a few people with only a handful of horses, the majority of which were claiming class and of average ability.” After returning to Britain the following year, he saddled his first winner, Mary Cornwallis, in a 5-furlong handicap at Lingfield in January, 1998.

Cowell didn’t saddle his first Listed winner, Biniou in the Prix Contessina at Fontainebleuau, until 2007 but, by then, had already developed a reputation for rekindling the enthusiasm of out-of-form horses, especially sprinters. In fact, he later reflected on the early days of his career, saying, “When we first began training the sprinter type was more affordable. Trying to buy a horse with useful sprinting form that may have lost its way was what we were looking at.”

Cowell had to wait until 2011, 14 full seasons after he moved to Newmarket, for his first winner at the highest level, Prohibit in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2011, but the victory was particularly satisfying. Acquired as a “castoff” from John Gosden in January, 2010, Prohibit graduated from the handicap ranks to become a bona fide Group 1 contender. Cowell later said of him, “I owe Prohibit a lot because he put me on the map, gave my family and the owners our biggest day at that stage at Royal Ascot. Once you have won at that level you crave it again.”

Win at that level Cowell certainly did, saddling Jwala to win the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York in 2013 and Goldream to win the King’s Stand Stakes and the Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp in 2015. Other high-profile winners for the yard in recent years have included Kingsgate Native in the Betfred Temple Stakes at Haydock in 2013, Intrinsic in the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood in 2014 and Outback Traveller in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016.

David Dennis: New Kid on the Block

David Dennis is a fairly recent addition to the training ranks, having taken out licence in 2013, but he ran a pre-training yard and spent a decade as a professional National Hunt jockey before setting up on his own. Highlights of his riding career included Kingsmark, winner of the Edward Hanmer Memorial Chase at Haydock three years running in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and Brewster, winner of the stanjames.com Challow Hurdle at Newbury in 2004.

Lowlights, on the other hand, included his ride on Jardin de Beaulieu in the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in 2002, in the days before remounting became a fruitless exercise. The 100/1 outsider was tailed off when turning a somersault at the second last fence, but was caught by a groundsman, who offered Dennis a leg up. However, the well-meaning, but heavy-handed, attempt to reunite the partnership succeeded only in tossing the jockey clean over the horse and back onto the Prestbury Park turf, from whence he had arisen just moments previously.

Nevertheless, Dennis survived the trials and tribulations of a National Hunt jockey until 2011 and, two years later, started training at Tyne Hill Stables, Hanley Swan, near Worcester. He saddled his first winner as a trainer, Princess Caetani, in a mile-and-a-half handicap at Chepstow in September 2013.

His one and, so far, only major success came at Newbury in November, 2016, when Roman Flight, ridden by Noel Fehily, won the bet365 Open Handicap Chase, worth just over £31,000 to the winner. All in all, Roman Flight won eight races over hurdles and fences for his owners, the Favourites Racing Syndicate.

Other notable horses that Dennis has handled in his short career include Maller Tree, who won twice in two days at Fakenham and Wetherby in 2014 and twice in three days at Newton Abbott and Huntingdon in 2015. In the 2014/15 season, Dennis also saddled Marju’s Quest to complete a hat-trick of wins at Worcester (twice) and Taunton. More recently, the Kayf Tara gelding Final Nudge won three steeplechases for the yard in 2016/17 and finished third in the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow in 2017/18.

In March 2017, to coincide with the Cheltenham Festival, Dennis celebrated the opening of a new, 60-box yard and other facilities at Tyre Hill Stables. So far, he has saddled 129 winners, 21 on the Flat and 108 over Jumps, and earned just short of £1 million in total prize money.