Star Spotting

Behind every good horse is a good trainer, and the National Hunt game is no exception for this. Working through the winter months they regularly provide us with some amazing equine performances to admire, coaxing ability and determination out of these fragile but magnificent animals.

They annually deliver our favourite old friends to the course, fighting fit and ready to rock and roll, allowing us to witness some of the most miraculous feats of equine ability you’re ever likely to see. They then skilfully rejuvenate and revitalise these warhorses time again and year after year, allowing the public to fall in love with the true stars of racing- the horses.

Here we look at some of the sport’s current masters.

Paul Nicholls

Paul Nicholls is a former jump jockey who began training racehorses in 1991 with just a stable of eight. He’s now a living legend in the sport having saddled over 1,500 winners, won four Gold Cups and is the reigning Champion trainer, having won the last six titles.

When reading a story on jump racing you’re almost certain to see Paul’s name mentioned as he’s the very proud trainer of current superstars Kauto Star and Denman – the former a winner of two Cheltenham Gold Cups and the latter a winner of one.

Denman’s win in 2008 meant Paul was astonishingly the trainer of the first three finishers with Kauto Star second and Neptune Collonges third.

Paul’s other career highlights have been to train six winners on the same card at one of his favourite tracks in Wincanton, as well as being the most successful trainer at the Cheltenham Festival six times since 1999. He also starred in a short film with the charismatic Kauto Star to promote Somerset in 2009 and will be looking to that horse to provide fireworks again this season.

Nicky Henderson

Despite his Eton education, Nicky Henderson has been best friend of the man on the street for decades owing to his knack of training big-race winners. This is highlighted by the fact he’s the winningmost trainer at the Cheltenham Festival (39 wins) still in active service.

First sending out runners in 1978, Nicky has trained the winner of a remarkable five Champion Hurdles, the most recent being 2010’s victor Binocular, who’s unlikely victory came after it looked like he would miss the race through injury. In 2011 he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Long Run.

Nicky has also been Champion jumps trainer twice as well as the holding fantastic achievement of training the oldest racehorse to ever win on the flat Royal Ascot – the admirably tough 12-year-old Caracciola, whom the trainer rightfully describes as “very special”.

Held in high esteem by both racing royalty and real royalty, Nicky trained successfully for the Queen Mother and now trains a number of Her Royal Highness the Queen’s horses, notably her star chaser Barbers Shop.

Aside from horseracing, Nicky is a keen golfer and also enjoys shooting and fishing. His favourite band is the Rolling Stones, whilst his favourite film is ‘10’. Nicky describes his bad habits as smoking, wine and worrying!

David Pipe

David Pipe, son of the fifteen-times-Champion-trainer Martin, is really making a name for himself in his own right as a trainer.

Training Point-to-Point horses for a number of years, David started out as a National Hunt trainer in 2006 and, incredibly, his first winner Standin Obligation was followed by another two winners on the same card – a sign of things to come indeed!

David has since gained the accolade of becoming the first ever trainer to train 100 winners in their first season. What’s more he has already saddled five Cheltenham Festival winners; his first was the tough mare Gaspara in 2007, who was fatefully victorious in his father Martin’s own colours – what a fairytale!

David then achieved a feat in two years that had taken his old man twenty; he won the 2008 Grand National with the cheekily-named but granite-tough gelding Comply Or Die.

Philip Hobbs

Philip Hobbs rode 160 winners over jumps but now firmly deserves his place in the top echelon of trainers, as his exploits with such top horses as Flagship Uberalles are incredible.

Philip expertly handled that horse to win three Grade 1 races in three consecutive years, including the 2002 Champion Chase at Cheltenham, even though he was the horse’s fourth trainer overall.

Although he has trained many top chasers in his distinguished career so far, the most popular horse Philip is ever likely to train was the enigmatic grey hurdler Rooster Booster, whom the trainer transformed from perennial nearly-horse to serial winner, culminating in landing the 2003 Champion Hurdle by a staggering eleven lengths.

Like the aforementioned Nicky Henderson, Philip is no stranger to switching codes and landing big prizes on the Flat. In 2006 he sent out another grey called Detroit City to miraculously win Cheltenham’s Triumph Hurdle in March, before arriving at Newmarket seven months later to scoop one of the Flat’s most competitive handicaps in the Cesarewitch.

The Hobbs yard has been closely associated with top jockey Richard Johnson for many years now and it is no coincidence that such a great rider has remained with the handler for so long.

Jonjo O’Neill

Another successful jockey-turned-trainer, Jonjo O’Neill primarily trains for Tony McCoy’s boss and friend, J P McManus.

The trio combined famously in 2010 when Don’t Push It landed a gripping Grand National, which reduced the great jockey to both smiles and tears – two things you don’t naturally associate with the legend, but such was the enormity of the victory!

Jonjo rode the brilliant racemare Dawn Run in the mid-80s and the couple became somewhat household names when she achieved the astonishing feat of winning both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle. That combination of trophies for one single horse has never been achieved since and is unlikely to be in the near future.

Sharing a similarity with Philip Hobbs in recent years, one of the trainers most popular stalwarts was the giant grey hurdler Iris’s Gift, whom owner Robert Lester paid just £5,000 for and named him after his mother. Other trainers had turned the horse down and he was the owner’s only horse in training, but when the gangly brute, described by Jonjo as a “lunatic”, was expertly handled to win the 2004 World Hurdle at Cheltenham, it nearly brought the house down.

The Best of the Rest

There are many other top National Hunt trainers to look for in your race card, most notably Donald McCain, who trained this year's Grand National winner Ballabriggs, 'Twister' Nigel Twiston-Davies, trainer of reigning Gold Cup champ Imperial Commander, as well as a pair of legendary Irish handlers in Noel Meade and Willie Mullins, plus Alan King.

Also don’t forget the ladies- trainer of the 2009 Grand National winner Mon Mome and known as “the fast lady of racing” for her love of fast cars, Venetia Williams is becoming more and more high profile each year, while Henrietta Knight has been a much loved stalwart of the Jumps game for years.

Copyright Adam Brookes, 2010

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