Category: Trainers and Owners

Charlie Appleby had worked for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in various capacities under Godolphin trainers David Loder, Saeed bin Suroor and Mahmood Al Zarooni before being appointed a Godolphin trainer, in his own right, in July, 2013. Appleby was thrust into the limelight under extraordinary circumstances, after Al Zarooni, who had previously held the training licence at Godolphin’s Moulton Paddocks, on the outskirts of Newmarket, was ‘warned off’ for eight years. The previous April, a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) Disciplinary Panel found Al Zarooni guilty of administering banned anabolic steroids and metered out one of the most severe suspensions ever.

At the time Appleby took over at Moulton Paddocks, Silvestre de Sousa was still a retained jockey for Goldolphin, albeit as first jockey to Goldophin’s longest-standing trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, at Godolphin Stables, formerly Stanley House, in Newmarket. However, when William Buick and James Doyle joined Godolphin as retained jockeys in January, 2015, de Sousa lost his retainer. Buick is officially first jockey to Charlie Appleby and, as such, has ridden the lion’s share of winners for the yard. At the last count, he had ridden 346 winners from 1,296 rides, at a strike rate of 27%. Unremarkably, Doyle is next best, with 132 winners from 522 rides, at a strike rate of 26%, but Adam Kirby, who has ridden most of his winners for the yard on all-weather surfaces, isn’t far behind, with 104 winners from 343 rides, at a strike rate of 30%.

At the time of writing, Sam Twiston-Davies lies second in the 2021/22 Jump Jockeys’ Championship with 46 winners from 304 rides, at an overall strike rate of 15%. For his father, Nigel Twiston-Davies, who is based at Grange Hill Farm in Naunton, Gloucestershire, he has ridden 10 winners from 84 rides, at a strike rate of 12%. In his career as a whole, his father has been his principal benefactor, supplying him with 499 winners, albeit from 3,293 rides, at a modest strike of 15%. By contrast, for Paul Nicholls and Dr. Richard Newland, who are the only other trainers for whom he has ridden over a hundred winners, Twiston-Davies has a career record of 280-1,233 (23%) and 188-799 (24%).

Twiston-Davies, 29, famously won the Christie’s Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival in March, 2010, on Baby Run, trained by his father, at the age of 17. The following season, 2010/11, he won the conditional jockeys’ title and, in May, 2014, replaced Daryl Jacob as stable jockey to Paul Nicholls. Indeed, the 2014/15 season proved to be his most successful ever, numerically and fiscally, with 145 winners and over £2 million in prize money for the one and only time in his career.

In May, 2018, in the face of increased competition for rides at Manor Farm Stables from Harry Cobden, Sean Bowen and Bryony Frost, Twiston-Davies left Nicholls to go freelance. Nonetheless, he rode 104 winners in 2018/19, 99 winners in 2019/20 – bringing up 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland at Southwell in June, 2019 – and 83 winners in 2020/21.

Mark Johnston, the most prolific trainer in the history of British horse racing, once said that Keith Dalgleish was ‘way, way ahead’ of any apprentice he’d had in the past. He added that he hoped Dalgleish would ‘ride out his claim with me and then stay on to make his future here.’ Dalgleish did just that but, after five bright, but brief, seasons, he was forced to concede defeat in the battle with his weight and retired in 2004, at the age of just 21. Dalgleish subsequently became assistant trainer to Noel Wilson at Belstane Racing Stables in Carluke, South Lanarkshire and took over the yard, at the behest of owner Gordon McDowall, when Wilson left in 2011.

As far as a stable jockey is concerned, at the start of 2021, Dalgleish committed himself, 100%, to Callum Rodriguez and vice versa. Rodriguez, who turned 24 in May, 2021, served his apprenticeship with Richard Ford and Michael Dodds, riding out his claim on Mustaqbal, trained by Dods, at Carlisle in September, 2018. Interestingly, he had previously been described as ‘one of the apprentice finds of the season’ after winning the Ebor Handicap at York on Nakeeta, trained by Iain Jardine, as a 5lb claimer, in August, 2017.

Dalgleish and Rodriguez are enjoying a productive campaign in 2021. Dalgleish has already equalled his highest ever seasonal tally on the Flat, 86 winners, and Rodriguez has ridden 51 winners for the yard, including Volatile Analyst in the £100,000 Coral Sprint Trophy at York in October.

Nowadays based at Ravenswell Farm in Withington, Gloucestershire, Fergal O’Brien has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2021/22 National Hunt season. Effective from October, 2021, O’Brien joined forces with fellow Gloucestershire trainer Graham McPherson to create O’Brien McPherson Racing, but retained the role of licensed trainer for the new enterprise. He currently leads the Jump Trainers’ Championship with 57 winners and £441,223 in prize money, over £100,000 ahead of his nearest rival, reigning champion trainer Paul Nicholls.

At the time of writing, Paddy Brennan has ridden 150 of the 265 runners that O’Brien has saddled under National Hunt rules so far in 2021, for a return of 40 winners, at a strike rate of 27%. He currently lies third in the Jump Jockeys’ Championship, 29 winners adrift of 2019/20 champion jockey Brian Hughes. Nevertheless, his current strike rate for the yard compares favourably with his overall strike rate over the last five seasons, which stands at 206-1,033 (20%). During that period, he achieved his previous highest strike rate, 21%, in both 2019/20 and 2020/21, but his highest total, 64 winners, in 2020/21.

Interviewed during the latter part of the 2020/21 season, during which O’Brien eventually saddled a career-best 104 winners, Brennan told the ‘Racing Post’, ‘People ask how long this incredible run is going to last and I say this is just the start.’ It appears his optimism was not misplaced.