With the end of the NH season and a whole day to wait before the start of the next one I've had a rummage through the stats in both the Irish and British trainers titles. Congratulations to Henderson and Mullins for their deserved victories. Although both men appear very gentlemanly in front of the camera I suspect that for different reasons their triumphs will be very sweet and they'll both have allowed themselves a few drams of the really good stuff yesterday evening to celebrate the success. Away from the winners the stats do show what a tough game it must be for a run of the mill yard on either side of the Irish Sea. Colin Tizzard for example looks to have secured himself a top 10 finish in Ireland having only effectively entered the competition on day 1 of the Punchestown festival. No wonder the stink of corruption is never very far away. One only has to look through the middle/lower reaches of the trainers tables to see the prize money return to the number of runners is not sustainable. Appreciate that owners approach the sport as a pastime and don't expect a monetary return as such but the cost of running even a 40 horse yard must be considerable. Others things I personally noted: - the lovely Rebecca needs to regain her magic festival touch. - Harry Whittington did not really follow up on his first season success. - Jonjo O'Neill in particular and to an extent Dan Skelton have a lot of very mediocre horses. - Ellmarie Holden had fine season in Ireland but finished below Colin Tizzard! - Tom George/Adrian Heskin a decent partnership. - Barry Brennan, Giles Smyly, Katie Stephens and Sandy Forster must have a deep pockets/the last sympathetic bank manager/an honourable benefactor - between them 180 runners and no winners and less than 40k in prize money. Suffering!
You can add Anabel K Murphy, Shaun Lycett, John Panvert, Sheena Walton, Helen Nelmes and Sarah Murphy to that list too Ron. All have 30 odd runners over the season with very little to show for it. Tough game.
I think for a small "trainer" like Katie you can expect seasons with no wins under rules, think it's more of a past time than her career. Barry Brennan has had a torrid year after doing well last season. He should be doing better than that.
If these are trainers (excuse my ignorance) then at least they are receiving income for training the horses, so it will be the owners who are losing out. Mind you, if they don't have winners it's hardly likely to attract owners and reducing the number of horses in the yard won't reduce the overheads. So I can see that unsuccessful trainers will be hit as well, possibly forcing a sale of the set up. Still I suppose it keeps the tax down
Yes, I’ll second the congrats to Mr Henderson. Never heard of that Mullins chap myself. But I’ll add a ‘well done’ to him too. Whoever he is. Another term that saw Mr Henderson shine brighter than every other trainer and for nothing is he, and will forever remain, the forum’s favourite. I’m sure there wasn’t a dry eye on the forum when he lifted his prize high above his head at Sandown Park on Saturday afters. The incident that baffled me most, re trainers last season, was Colin Tizzard continually musing in the media, leading up to the ‘King George VI Chase’ on St Stephen’s Day where Thistlecrack would run and going out of his way to seemingly want to portray it was up to him whether Thistlecrack went for the ‘King George’ or the novice equivalent run earlier on the card. The decision never was his and wasn’t made by him either yet he seemed desperate to convice everyone that it was! Very, very strange. Also, my usual point re ‘awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww bless little’ Danny Skelton and Harry Fry. How long do we have to go on hearing that this pair are ’the next big thing’?!? Will this still be the case in 2027?!?
