Which trainers have won the Eclipse Stakes most often?

Run annually over a mile and a quarter at Sandown Park in Esher, Surrey in early July, the Eclipse Stakes is a Group 1 contest open to horses aged three years and upwards. Indeed, Eclipse Stakes provides the first opportunity for three-year-olds of the 'Classic' generation to meet older rivals at the highest level, so it follows that it is one of the major middle-distance races of the European Flat racing season. Established in 1886, the race is named after the prolific racehorse Eclipse, who retired unbeaten after 18 starts, many of them walkovers, in 1770 and subsequently became one of the most influential stallions in bloodstock history.

As far as the most successful trainers in the history of the Eclipse Stakes are concerned, at the time of writing, three men jointly hold the record with six wins apiece. The first of them was twelve-time champion trainer Alec Taylor Jnr., a.k.a. the 'Wizard of Manton', who saddled Bayardo (1909), Lemberg (1910), Buchan (1919, 1920), Craig an Eran (1921) and Saltash (1923; Lemberg, the 1910 Derby winner, dead-heated with old rival Neil Gow, who had beaten him a short-head in the 2,000 Guineas.

More recently, ten-time champion trainer Sir Michael Stoute saddled his first Eclipse Stakes winner, Opera House, in 1993, but has since added Ezzoud (1994), Pilsudski (1997), Medicean (2001), Notnowcato (2007) and Ulysses (2017) to his winning tally. Pilsudski, who won the Breeders' Cup as as three-year-old, twice finished second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and won the Japan Cup on his final start, as a five-year-old, was probably the best known of the sextet, although Ulysses also won the Juddmonte International Stakes and finished third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

More recently still, Aidan O'Brien – who didn't start his training career until 1993, 21 years after Sir Michael Stoute – has saddled Giant's Causeway (2000), Hawk Wing (2002), Oratorio (2005), Mount Nelson (2008), So You Think (2011) and St. Mark's Basilica (2021) to victory at Sandown Park. At the time of writing, his St. James's Palace Stakes winner, Paddington, is 11/4 second favourite for the 2023 renewal of the Eclipse Stakes, so it may not be long before he becomes the most successful trainer outright.

Which trainer has won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes most often?

Run annually over a mile and a half at Ascot in July and open to horses aged three years and upwards, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes has the distinction of being the most prestigious, and valuable, all-aged Flat race in Britain. Indeed, with guaranteed prize money of £1.2 million, it is the second most valuable Flat race, of any description, behind only the Derby.

Established, as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Festival of Britain Stakes, in 1951, the race has been one by some of the truly great middle-distance performers of the modern era, including Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar, Dancing Brave, Reference Point and Harbinger. Two of that illustrious septet, Shergar, in 1981, and Harbinger, in 2010, were saddled by Sir Michael Stoute who, with six wins, is the most successful trainer in the history of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Fresh from facile victories in the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh, Shergar was equally untroubled to land odds of 2/5 at Ascot, drawing clear in the closing stages under Walter Swinburn to beat fellow three-year-old Madam Gay by four lengths. After a 12-year hiatus, Stoute won his second King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with the five-year-old colt Opera House, owned by Sheikh Mohammed, in 1993.

In 2002, Stoute produced Golan, who had won the 2,000 Guineas as a three-year-old, but had been absent since finishing unplaced in the Japan Cup the previous November, to win on his seasonal debut and, in 2009, saddled an unprecedented 1-2-3, courtesy of Conduit, Tartan Bearer and Ask. More recently, he has added to his winning tally with Harbinger, who won by an impressive 11 lengths in 2010, but sadly never raced again after fracturing a cannon bone on the gallops in Newmarket, and Poet's Word who, in 2018, beat his marginally better-fancied stable companion Crystal Ocean by a neck, with the pair nine lengths clear, after what the 'Racing Post' described as a 'stirring battle'.

Which active trainer has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire Handicap?

Run over nine furlongs on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in late September, with a maximum field size of 35, the Cambridgeshire is one of the most competitive handicaps of the British Flat racing season. Together with another 'cavalry charge', the Cesarewitch, which is run over two and a quarter miles on the same course two weeks later, the Cambridgeshire comprises the historic 'Autumn Double' which, in the days of yesteryear, attracted floods of ante-post money.

The ante-post market may not be what it was, but the Cambridgeshire remains as fiercely competitive as ever and, as such, is a fiendishly difficult race to win. In the current training ranks, five-time champion trainer John Gosden has been the most successful in the Cambridgeshire, with a total of five winners, four of which were three-year-olds.

Gosden sent out his first Cambridgeshire winner, Halling, from Stanley House Stables in Newmarket in 1994. Sent off 8/1 co-favourite, the three-year-old was always prominent and stayed on strongly in the closing stages to win by 2½ lengths under Lanfranco 'Frankie' Dettori. With the benefit of hindsight, the Diesis colt must have been the proverbial 'good thing', off a handicap mark of 93, on that occasion; shortly afterwards he was transferred to the fledgling Godolphin and went on to win five Group 1 races, inclduing the Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International Stakes twice apiece.

After a 13-year hiatus, by which time he had moved to his current base, Clarehaven Stables, also in Newmarket, Gosden saddled his second Cambridgeshire winner, Pipedreamer, who justified favourtism in the 2007 renewal. He followed up with the four-year-old Tazeez in 2008 and, more recently, has added Wissahickon, in 2018, and Lord North, in 2019, to his winning tally.

Jamie Snowden profile

With over 400 winners to his name, Jamie Snowden has enjoyed plenty of success since obtaining his license in 2008, including two Cheltenham Festival winners. 

Jamie has been involved in horse racing from an early age, through a mixture of Pony Club, hunting and point-to-point racing. During his school time, he rode out for Nigel Twiston-Davies and during his gap year he went over to New Zealand to work as an Assistant Trainer for a flat yard. 

He followed this with a career in the army, where he cotninued his affiliation with horse racing by competing in the Grand Military Gold Cup and Royal Artillery Gold Cup, winning both races a record equalling four times as a jockey. 

After spending a year as pupil assistant for champion trainer Paul Nicholls, Jamie switched to Seven Barrows to become assistant trainer and amateur jockey for trainer Nicky Henderson, before taking out his trainer license in 2008. 

It took him three years to land a Listed winner, but the big winners kept coming after that, including a win at the 2014 Cheltenham Festival winner, when Present View landed the Novice Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Festival. He landed his second Cheltenham Festival winner in 2023, with You Wear It Well winning the Jack De Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

Last season, Jamie had his best season to date in terms of prize money won, largely thanks to Datsalrightgino winning the Coral Gold Cup. He had plenty of other memorable winners during the season, including www.racingclub.com syndicate horse Farceur Du Large winning both the Grand Military Gold Cup and the Royal Artillery Gold Cup - a fitting winner for the trainer having been so prolific in the race as a jockey.

Jane Chapple-Hyam

 

Australian-born Jane Chapple-Hyam is the former wife of trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam, to whom she was married for 18 years. However, with her marriage coming to an end, she decided, in her own words to 'give it [training] a go myself.'

Chapple-Hyam had studied stud management at the National Stud in Newmarket as a teenager and worked for trainers Michael Dickinson and Barry Hills – employed by her late step-father, Robert Sangster – at Manton, Wiltshire, as well as alongside her former husband. Nevertheless, she effectively started again, from scratch, when she took out a training licence in her own right in 2005.

Chapple-Hyam saddled her first winner, Chief Commander, at Wolverhampton in January, 2006. The following August she made history by saddling the longest-priced winner in the history on the Ebor at York, Mudawin, at 100/1. His £124,640 winning prize money remains her biggest payday to date. She won her first Pattern race, the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury in 2010 and, in 2012, 2013 and 2014, recorded three more Group 3 wins, courtesy of Mull of Killough. Indeed, Mull of Killough contested as series of races in Australia, including the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, in 2013.

Nowadays, Chapple-Hyam operates what has been described as 'boutique' stable of 30 or so horses in Dalham, near Newmarket. Her current stable star in undoubtedly the filly Safforn Beat, who won the Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket in 2020 and subsequently finished second in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Horse Trainer Bill Turner: Brocklesby Stakes Review

If Bill Turner is associated with one horse race it has to be the Brocklesby Stakes. The first two-year-old race of the season. Finally, the Flat turf season has arrived after a cold winter and the eternal hope for winners warms the spirit.

I’ve never been to Doncaster racecourse. However, watching a replay of this year’s Brocklesby Stakes I saw Bill Turner attending his two-year-old colt Bob The Bandit, a sizeable son of Aclaim. The horse looked a picture and groomed perfectly with stars on its hind quarters.

It would have been a pleasure to congratulate him on a gallant second place behind Zminiature, who ran out a fair winner. I would like to shake Bill Turner’s hand and say: ‘Thanks for all those Brocklesby Stakes memories...’

Bill Turner, as for so many other handlers across the country, has a passion that comes from his love of the sport. We can only imagine how difficult it must be to find an owner with money to spend, or a breeder who chooses a smaller stable to send their horse. And for that horse to keep sound and have enough ability to win a race.

Look through the results in the Racing Post it seems every horse is a winner. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Winners are few and far between. I have the statistics for every trainer of two-year-old horses and even the biggest trainers have times when they struggle to win. It’s fair to say some of the powerhouses make it look easy.

It’s sad that so many smaller stables struggle to find wealthy owners. One person with a pot of cash could transform their career. It happened with Dominic Ffrench Davis when Amo Racing Ltd sent class horses his way. It proves the point, a trainer is only as good as their horses. In fact, many of the smaller trainers may be better because they have to try harder not being able to rely on a classy thoroughbred.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to visit Bill Turner at Sigwell’s Farm, Dorset and say: ‘Bill, have you ever fancied training a Frankel colt?’

Wouldn’t that be a lovely day.

Now, I’m sure Bill Turner isn’t a man to be down on his luck. Certainly not a gentleman to feel sorry for himself. After all those years of training horses he is a realist and someone who appreciates success when it happens. He doesn’t take it for granted. And that’s why seeing Bob The Bandit claim second place in the Brocklesby filled my heart with joy.

There’s always hope of that elusive win.

He’s been waiting for the next Brocklesby victory since 2013 when Mick’s Yer Man won for the yard.

True, he will have to wait another year if not longer. However, the stable staff, and their governor, would have been smiling when they returned with Bob The Bandit. I’m sure on the drive home a few of the stable’s Brocklesby Stakes winners were mentioned.

‘Bob The Bandit did us proud. He’s a winner waiting to happen.’

You can bet he is.

For me horse racing is more than simply the next winner and then moving swiftly on. True, for many punters it is exactly that. But those who do are missing out on the reality of life. They miss out on the story beyond the gamble. Don’t ever forget that every horse, trainer, jockey, owner and punter have their story to tell.

But for that to happen there is a need for someone to listen.

Someone like you.

Ralph Beckett

Formerly assistant trainer to the late Peter Walwyn for three and a half years, Ralph Beckett took over the training licence at Windsor House Stables in Lambourn when Walwyn retired in 1999. In his first half a dozen full seasons, Beckett saddled just over a hundred winners, including his first Pattern race winner, Penkenna Princess, in the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes at Newbury in April, 2005. A month later, he was narrowly denied his first Group 1 victory when the same horse was beaten a short-head by Saoire in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

In 2006, Beckett succeeded David Elsworth at Whitsbury Manor Stables, near Fordingbridge, Hampshire. In the next five seasons, he saddled over 240 more winners, including his first British Classic winner, Look Here, in the Oaks in 2008. In 2010, Beckett purchased his currrent base, Kimpton Down Stables in nearby Andover, and completed his move in time for the start of the 2011 season. Since then, he has saddled two more British Classic winners, Talent in the Oaks in 2013 and Simple Verse in the St. Leger in 2015; the latter also won the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot the following month to give Beckett the fourth Group 1 victory of his career.

Beckett took his career tally to 1,000 winners when the 6-year-old Another Boy won an apprentice handicap at Salisbury in August, 2019. In 2020, he enjoyed his most successful season so far, numerically, passing the landmark of a hundred winners on British soil for just the second time.

Maurice Barnes

Maurice Barnes, 70, found fame as a National Hunt jockey when winning the Grand National on Rubstic in 1979. At the end of his riding career, he took out a combined training licence at his original base in Little Salkeld, near Penrith, Cumbria in 1989, before moving to his current home, Tarnside Stables in Farlam, near Brampton, to the east of Carlisle in 2000.

Barnes did not saddle a winner for his first three seasons as a trainer and did not reach double figures until 1993/94 so anyone tipping him may not have been his biggest fan over that time. However, that season he saddled 19 winners, his highest seasonal total so far, at a strike rate of 20% and won over £61,000 in prize money. He has not matched that strike rate since, but did reach double figures again in 1994/95 and every season between 2010/11 and 2019/20. Financially, Barnes enjoyed his most successful season in 2018/19, when he saddled 13 winners, at a strike rate of just 6%, but nonetheless amassed over £152,000 in prize money and was a firm fixture on racecards at that time.

Barnes still harbours ambitions to saddle a Listed or Graded winner, but so far has failed to do so. Nevertheless, he remains philosophical and, when interviewed in 2019, turned to the wisdom of the late Arthur Stephenson, a fellow Cumbrian trainer, insofar that 'little fish are sweet, so why bother about the big ones?' In October, 2020, Barnes and his wife, Anne, were forced to move into a touring caravan after a fire, caused by an electric fault, devastated their home.

Jedd O’Keeffe: Staying Power

John Eamon Declan Dunderdale O’Keefe, known universally as Jedd, is in the enviable position of training Sam Spinner, who is currently 5/1 favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2018. Bought for 12,000 guineas as a 3-year-old, the son of Black Sam Bellamy has won five of his seven races over hurdles including, most recently, the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, and amassed over £142,000 in total prize money. O’Keefe said recently, “It’s very exciting for all of us in a small stable to have a real star, and I’m really grateful it’s happening as it is.”

Of course, O’Keeffe is no stranger to the winners’ enclosure, having saddled 148 winners on the Flat and 36 winners over Jumps in his career to date but, with a few obvious exceptions, has lacked the firepower to make much of an impact at the major meetings. Sam Spinner aside, the highlights of his career, so far, were the victories of Shared Equity in the Coral Sprint Trophy at York in 2015, More Mischief in the Betfred Mobile/EBF Hoppings Stakes at Newcastle in June, 2017 and Lord Yeats in the Betfred Fred Archer Stakes at Newmarket the following month.

O’Keefe served an eight-year apprentice, as pupil assistant, travelling head lad and assistant trainer to Micky Hammond, before applying for a training licence in his own right. He moved into Highbeck Lodge and Stables, which is part of the Brecongill Estate, in Coverdale, in the extreme east of the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire in 2000. At that time he had just three horses – the minimum number allowed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – but saddled his first winner, Route Sixty Six, in a novices’ hurdle at Musselburgh the following January. From small beginnings, by honest, old-fashioned hard work, O’Keefe gradually increased his number of horses in training, to an average of 20 or so over the last decade.

In 2011, O’Keefe underwent an intensive course of treatment for throat cancer and although he recovered, his business very nearly did not. He later recalled, “Though I’d finished the treatment, I was still very ill, and needed staff to cover. With the cost of all that, and the financial crisis, we felt we couldn’t go any further, and rang the owners to say we were giving up.” Thankfully, he did not and now, with Sam Spinner just one of 45 horses in his yard, can hopefully look forward to a happy, healthy and profitable future.