Meet the Trainers
18 great trainers with great daily insights

We believe our selection of trainers are some of the best names in the business and we hope you will enjoy reading their comments on their runners.

He has proved himself as adept at training as he was at riding, with an increasingly successful string of horses both on the Flat and over Jumps.

One of the nicest men in racing, for whom nothing is too much trouble, Brendan is definitely a trainer on the up.

Hambleton certainly boasts an almost unrivalled connection with racing history and whether it is something to do with the altitude (1300 ft above sea level) the facilities or the relaxing surroundings this ancient training ground is steadily making its way back to the forefront of top racehorse training establishments in the country.

They are proud to offer first class facilities at our purpose built yard, situated at the foot of the gallops in Upper Lambourn, including turn out paddocks, a cover horsewalker, weigh scales, a solarium, a loose school, a large out door arena, an excellent 5 furlong 'cushion track' all weather gallop and a range of schooling fences.

In total there is stabling for 65 horses in this professional but very friendly yard.

Dairy farming and horses are his passions and fortunately he has so far made a success of both enterprises.

In 1995 he started training two point-to-point horses for his son Joe to ride. The combination produced eight wins that season and set the ball rolling!

David Simcock’s career has really gathered pace in the last couple of years and he will start the 2010 season as one of British racing’s most upwardly mobile trainers. Simcock, 37, has found the winner’s enclosure with increasing regularity and there have been a clutch of high-profile successes – not least that of "Darley Sun" in the 2009 Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Champions’ Day.

Henry's extended biography will be coming soon.

The son of trainer Billy Williams had the equivalent of an Oxbridge education when it came to realising his ambitions to follow into the family run business. It included time at the exclusive academies run by some of the biggest names in Horse racing... Martin Pipe, Francois Doumen and Jenny Pitman. Williams graduated having experienced what it fells like to be in close proximity to a Gold Cup winner, in "Garrison Savannah" and Doumen’s "The Fellow" trained by Jenny Pitman.

Earlier in Osborne's career, he produced a sensational performance as a jockey at the Cheltenham Festival in 1992. He rode five winners at the Festival that year, including three in one day. Prestbury Park will always hold special memories for Jamie as he frequently rode winners there. These included a victory in the Champion Hurdle, a Champion Chase success, three Arkles and two Stayers' Hurdles wins.

Jamie's best season as a jockey was in 1996-97, recording 131 wins in total.

He started pre-training a few horses for point-to-points. "For years we used to graze horses for the Mullins and I also drove a truck for George Mullins for a couple of years. After that I worked with Tony Mullins in his yard and I was involved with Peter Daly who was Tony’s head lad at the time. I got to learn my tricks that way. Paddy Mullins was also a great man in his own right and if you were with him and stopped talking and listened, you’d always learn something. We’d be feeding the horses and you’d learn more in five minutes with Paddy than you’d learn from a schoolteacher in a year. If you were willing to listen and learn, he was a good teacher."

The Croft houses racehorses for leading owners and partnerships alike, everyone is welcome and looked after in style by John, Fiona and the team.

a potted history

Riding

Raised in a racing environment, John had his first success aged 16 in the 1976 Newmarket Town Plate, staged over 3 3/4 miles. His mount, Matinale, was probably a bit of a good thing as she went on to win the 1977 Ascot Stakes at the Royal Meeting, but this didn't matter to JWH who was well and truly hooked.

Two years later and with a couple more amateur wins under his belt John left school and took his first job in racing with Edward O'Grady at Killeens in Tipperary. The stable had just lost the gifted "Golden Signet", but there was plenty of talent around including "Jack Of Trumps", "So", "Mount Rivers", "Flame Gun" and "Drumlargon".

John had just one ride for "Edward", "Happy Crow" at Thurles, but unfortunately the old mare and he had a disagreement over the first hurdle in the straight and demolished the left wing. After a couple of calls from HQ the J Hills jumping career was put on hold!

After Cheltenham John went to Harry Thomson-Jones as Pupil Assistant arriving at Green Lodge at the same time as Alec Stewart who was to be Assistant. It was an interesting time in Newmarket and coincided with the first venture into racing of the Maktoum family. John rode a lot of winners for Tom including the Kilkerran Cup on the great "John Cherry", but never got to ride "Tingle Creek" who head lad Fred Flippance, one of the best, never let anyone else near (trainer Don D Cantillon was the exception).

During John's three seasons in Newmarket he won The Moet and Chandon at Epsom on Lumen for Josh Gifford and Peter Hopkins, also completing a notable double winning the Richmond Brissac Trophy at Goodwood and Angers in the same year, tieing for the amateur championship with Ray Hutchinson in 1980. At the end of this time brother Richard had started as apprentice and Michael had gone to Jeremy Hindley and it was time to let them get on with the riding, John had ridden 21 winners.

Training

Next came California with John Gosden at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, John was doing particularly well with his European horses and taking Charlie Whittingham on at his own game. During this time these horses included "Bates Motel", "Star Pastures", "Millingdale Lillie" and "Battlewind". A memorable day was bing sent to Las Vegas with pocket loads of cash to place on an unknown horse called Crews Hill who was running at Bay Meadows. He had won the previous year's Steward's Cup, and they didn't see which way he went!

Before finally returning to England, John spent a season in South Australia with the legendary Colin Hayes during which time the stable had 245 winners! Based at Lindsay Park near Angaston, the stables were right in the middle of wine producing Barossa Valley. At that time Colin's son Peter was in overall charge and David, who has been so successful in Hong Kong, was a pupil. Also on the team were Brent Thomson who was to come to England and Tony McEvoy who now holds the reins at Lindsay Park and is Kerrin's uncle.

During these years John had been able to attend most of the major sales with his father and significantly the Robert Sangester selection team, this time spent walking around the yearlings with the likes of the legendary P P Hogan and Demmy O'Bryne from Keenland to Doncaster have proven invaluable over the years. Today John teams up with James Delahooke (Rainbow Quest, Dancing Brave) to select his yearlings.

Then it was back to South Bank in Lambourn to take up the post as assistant to father Barry. At the time Robert Sangster had a bet with him that the relationship might not last long, both being a bit stubborn, but during the next three-and-a-half years, they never had a cross word. There were plenty of good horses too, during this time Gildoran won consecutive Ascot Gold Cups, "Sure Blade" won the St James's Palace Stakes and QEII, "Cormorant Wood" took the Sun Chariot before going on the following year to win the Benson and Hedges and the Champion Stakes, "Desirable" also took the Cheveley Park. This fily could not follow up at three, finishing 3rd in the 1,000 Guineas, but her daughter "Shadayid" put things straight in 1991 by winning the fillies classic.

The 1996 season marked the re-opening of the great Manton Estate as a state-of-the-art training establishment with Michael Dickinson at the helm. Unfortunately for both Robert and Michael it was not an immediate success and that autumn Robert approached John's father Barry to see if he would take over. On certain conditions this was agreed and John got his chance to being his own career by leasing South Bank.

One of the key aims of Kim Bailey Racing is to ensure our horses are trained in a safe, relaxed and professional environment using training methods which unite orthodox procedures with an individual approach that generates the best possible performances from the horses. Kim’s hallmark has been the ability to blend strict training discipline with the patience and individual care that is given to each and every horse in the yard.

www.kimbaileyracing.com

Lucinda Russell started training in 1995 having previously evented, showjumped, trained point to pointers and been awarded a BSc Hons in Psychology at St Andrews University. Her ambition and drive has led the yard to be the leading national hunt yard in Scotland. She is proud of buying and producing fit athletic racehorses. and on a day to day basis she compiles the work list, rides out and does evening feeds. They are an expanding young ambitious yard whose strengths are enhanced by an established professional team.

Since starting out as a trainer Marco has used the huge experience gleaned from being around horses since he can remember. He spent time learning with some of the biggest and most respected names in the sport. This included three years as assistant to his father before periods with Godolphin - including six months in Dubai, Ed Dunlop and Luca Cumani. Marco can also list on his CV a stint working for Bill Mott in America.

Marco moved to his current base at Green Ridge Stables, which backs onto the historic Racecourse Side training grounds in 2007 and subsequent results both at home and abroad have shown that he is more than capable of progressing yet further in the months and years ahead.

He took over the training licence when his father died in 1998. He saddled a winner with his first runner, Better Times Ahead, at Carlisle Racecourse in October 1998.

The most successful horse he has trained to date is Monet's Garden, winner of the Ascot Chase, Melling Chase and Old Roan Chase in 2007. The grey won his third Old Roan Chase in 2010 having also won it in 2009.

In addition, the Lambourn Gallops now promise to rank amongst the finest in the country having recently been taken over by the Jockey Club. The yard itself is relaxed and informal and we welcome owners and visitors alike on a daily basis.

After a short spell riding, Reg soon gained a licence to train and has since enjoyed six decades of success from his home and stables in Upper Longdon, most notably in 1978 when he saddled "Remainder Man" to finish second in the Guineas and third in the Derby.

While Reg has certainly displayed his talents as a horse racing trainer over his illustrious career, he also grew a strong reputation as a man who could groom young apprentice jockeys’ and develop them into champions.

Those jockeys’ include the likes of Kevin Darley, Walter Swinburn, Tony Culhane, Willie Ryan, Michael Wigham and Pat Eddery who have all gone on to succeed as great flat riders of their time. Walter and Willie both went on to score in the most prestigious flat race in the world - the Derby aboard "Shergar" and "Benny The Dip" respectively.

The majority of Reg’s success as a trainer has come on the flat but with a combined licence the veteran trainer also expressed his love for the jumping game.

Reg has built Lodge Farm into a yard that is most certainly up there with the best. It has been averaging 40 winners a year for the last three years.

After four years with a licence, William has proved himself an upwardly mobile trainer. The result has been a better-quality yearling intake year on year. For 2010, in terms of both home-breds and those horses acquired at the sales, he feels his two-year-olds are, in general, the nicest bunch he has had to date.

William, an honours graduate in Equine Business Management at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, has certainly got ticks in all the right boxes as far as doing the job to a high standard is concerned. He honed his horsemanship skills either side of the Millennium, performing key roles as assistant trainer to leading handlers John Hills and Ed Dunlop. With the latter, he spent five informative years, playing an integral part in the international successes of such names as champion filly Ouija Board, multiple Group 1 winner Lailani, Independence and other top-class horses. Such an experience wasn’t wasted on him and this enthusiastic and talented trainer is now making an impact in his own right.

He will be well known as the 'voice on the end of the phone' at Hambleton House and can occasionally be spotted having an afternoon out at Thirsk or York races!!