Category: Trainers and Owners

Who was Walter Swinburn?

The late Walter Swinburn, who suffered a fatal head injury when falling from the bathroom window of his home in Belgravia, London in 2016, at the age of 55, was a former jockey and trainer. Swinburn had suffered from post-traumatic epilepsy after a near-fatal riding accident at Sha Tin, Hong Kong in 1996, which may, or may not, have contributed to his death.

Swinburn rode his first winner, Paddy’s Luck, at Kempton in July, 1978 and enjoyed a meteoric rise through the ranks, thanks in no small part to the tutelage of Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson and Reg Hollinshead. By 1980, he had not only ridden out his claim, but had been appointed stable jockey to Michael Stoute – in the days before his knighthood – for the following season. Nicknamed the ‘Choirboy’ in his heyday, because of his fresh-faced, angelic looks, Swinburn was still only 19 years of age when he rode the ill-fated Shergar to a record 10-length win in the Derby in 1981.

All told, Swinburn won a total of eight British Classics and recorded numerous high-profile successes at home and abroad, including the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on All Along in 1983 and the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Pilsudski in 1996, to name but two, before retiring from the saddle in 2000. Four years later, he took over the training licence at Church Farm in Tring, Hertfordshire from his father-in-law, Peter Harris, and enjoyed a reasonably successful training career before handing in his licence, due to financial constraints, in 2011.

Which horse was Paul Nicholls’ first Cheltenham Festival winner?

Which horse was Paul Nicholls' first Cheltenham Festival winner? Paul Nicholls has come a long way since he arrived at Manor Farm Stables in Ditcheat, Somerset with just eight horses. With the possible exception of his landlord, Paul Barber, no-one could really have predicted his rise to the top of his profession, where he has remained for over two decades. Nicholls did not become Champion National Hunt Trainer for the first time until 2005/06, but has done so a further eleven times since and remains one of just three men – the other two being Martin Pipe, who retired in 2006, and Nicky Henderson – to have won the trainers’ title since the turn of the century.

As far as the Cheltenham Festival is concerned, Nicholls has saddled 46 winners and until 2021, when he drew a blank, had saddled at least one winner every year since 2002. He has won the Leading Trainer Award at the Cheltenham Festival six times, including on 1999, the year in which he saddled his first winner at the March showpiece. His first winner was, in fact, Flagship Uberalles in the Arkle Challenge Trophy on the opening day, but he also saddled Call Equiname to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase and See More Business to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup later in the week.

Which current trainer has won the Grand National most often?

The record for training the most Grand National winners is currently held, jointly, by George Dockeray, Fred Rimmell and Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, who all saddled four winners apiece. However, the current trainer who has won the Grand National most often is Gordon Elliott, who has, so far, saddled three winners.

Indeed, Elliott also holds the record for the youngest trainer to saddle a Grand National winner. He was just 29 – and, remarkably, yet to saddle a winner in his native Ireland – when he sent out Silver Birch to win the Aintree showpiece in 2007, just months after taking out a training licence. Elliott had to wait a few years for his next Grand National winner, but saddled winners two and three in rapid succession, courtesy of Tiger Roll in 2018 and 2019.

Of course, in recent months, Elliott has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In March, 2021, he was found guilty of bring racing into disrepute, had his training licence suspended for six months and was fined €15,000 after a photograph of him sitting astride a dead horse went viral. To his credit, he accepted his punishment without appealing, saying, ‘I am paying a very heavy price for my error, but I have no complaints.’

When is Gordon Elliott allowed to return to training?

In March, 2021, just a week before the start of the Cheltenham Festival, Co. Meath trainer Gordon Elliott was banned for a year – the last six months of which were suspended – by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) for bringing the sport into disrepute. The ban, which was reciprocated by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), followed an investigation into a photograph, widely circulated on social media, showing Elliott cheerfully sitting astride a dead horse. The horse in question was later revealed to be Morgan, a 7-year-old owned by Gigginstown House Stud, who died of a suspected heart attack on the gallops at Elliot’s Cullentra House Stables.

Elliott apologised, more than once, for what he described as an ‘indefensible moment of madness’ and accepted his punishment, which also included €15,000 in court costs, without appealing. Nevertheless, several high-profile owners, including Simon Munir, Isaac Souede and Cheveley Park Stud, removed their horses from the yard and severed all ties with Elliott. Elliott was allowed to return to training on September 9, 2021 and, at the time of writing, has already made his first entries ahead of his return to racing. Of the owners who left, Elliott said, ‘I still speak to them all and the gate is always open. I understand completely why they had to go.’

 

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