I think I posted a similar thread to this a few years back but trainer’s profiles and abilities change as does correspondents’ perception of them. Plus of course there are continually new additions to the training ranks. So here we go again. Imagine these 2 scenarios: (1) Somehow or other (we won’t dwell on how!) you acquire a horse with an outstanding pedigree who potentially could be top notch. The animal in question for the Flat is an unraced 2YO who any trainer would be ebullient about having in their barn. The one for the NH game is an unraced 4YO who again would be a boon to any trainer in that sphere. So (i) who would train your animal on the level, and (ii) who would train your horse for the winter game, and (2) You are at the races one afternoon having a tremendously profitable afternoon (after following my tips, I’m sure) and after securing back to back trifectas are several, and I do mean several, thousand pounds up! A ‘seller’ is next and you are hugely taken by the winning performance. So taken in fact that you buy said beast, at the subsequent auction, for 5,000 gns. The animal for the Flat is 5YO and a 62 rated sprinter and the NH one a 5YO hurdler having only its second run over the sticks. Who would you send this one to will be a much more limited field as, quite frankly, if you called a top handler all that you would hear in response would be the dialling tone. But which trainer do you choose (iii) on the level and (iv) for your hurdler??? My answers would be: (i) I think there are, currently, a large number of excellent handlers on the level with special mention to old boy Gosden, Sir Michael, the 2 Roger’s (Charlton and Varian), Clive Cox, Mr O’Brien and Dermot Weld. However, my choice would be Roger Charlton. Let’s keep it in the county and he really is a top handler of every sort of horse. You can guarantee he’d eek out every possible ounce from your horse. (ii) Mr Henderson as the man’s a genius and there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, that his ‘magic hands’ can’t do to improve a horse. (iii) and (iv) Michael Blake. A small Wiltshire yard that always get the maximum out of their charges. They operate at a lower level but that doesn’t mean a lack of standards or ambition. Are a dual purpose outfit with decent results in both spheres. Are a ‘Saturday horse’ away from making a big breakthrough. Four questions then. Although in reality I suppose it’s only 3 as surely no-one will answer (ii) with anything other than the remark, ‘Mr Henderson, of course. He’s the forum’s favourite trainer, its idol, its inspiration, its very raison d’etre’.
(1) As regards the 2yo. It would have been Henry Cecil. In his absence, it would depend how it is bred. If bred to stay 12f I would go for MS and tell him to take his time. The 4yo hurdler I would send to Willie Mullins (2) Wouldn't buy either
My blue-blooded flat horse would probably go to Roger Varian because he is a young up-and-coming trainer and I will take the view that I have purchased a Frankel colt with a middle distance pedigree so he does not need to be in a yard with early season two year old targets in mind. I cannot imagine why I would be buying a NH four year old (and probably paying over the odds in France to do so) as the whole game is crooked. I suppose I would send him down to Mr Henderson as he might decide to run him on the flat in something like the Cesarewitch or the Gold Cup as well as targeting the Novices Hurdle at The Festival. I have no idea how I would find myself at a race meeting where the quality was so low that there was a selling race on the card (is this Wednesday night at Wolverhampton?). Having cleaned up on the SBC tips, I have got so plastered in the bar that I accidentally bid for the beast and now I need to find a trainer who is at the meeting because I cannot take it home in the boot of the car. In the ideal world, I would want to send this mediocre sprinter to somebody like Dandy Nicholls or Richard Fahey, but neither of them want glue factory candidates in their yard these days. So it has to be somebody like Michael Dods or David Barron, who might be on hand with some of their lesser lights. The twice-raced hurdler seems a bit of a quandary. Did it run so badly on debut that they have already given up on it and stuck it in a seller? While I try to find a French restaurant to sell it on to, it will have to be housed by some NH fiddler, so I am sure someone like Mick Chapman or John Wainwright would be around and has spare boxes in their yard.
I'd like to retire early so I'd like a trainer could land me a nice coup and set me up for one. Sheena West it is then. Failing that I could always try Charles Byrnes, they say he's nearly as shrewd at pulling off a coup as the West lady...
1) John Gosden. Excellent trainer and of course knows all about handling Group 1 animals. Stoute still has much to prove having been short of top animals since Workforce in 2010 and may have lost key staff since then if rumours were to be believed. 2) I couldn't have my horse with Mullins because he would run it over the wrong trips to avoid any clashes with the apple(s) of his eye. Paul Nicholls for me is still top class and appears to get the most out of those in his care. I think Dan Skelton will become something of a big success too down the line. 3) Robert Cowell. He is a sprint King and has revived a good few down the line. I'd like to see him get a top sprinter to take care of too. 4) If we want someone to improve a horse and work his way through the handicap I wouldn't mind taking a tilt with someone like Neil Mulholland- a shrewd trainer who may hit the big time but sits outside of that elite group at the moment. I feel he would maximise the potential.
