Cheltenham Festival Statistics | Trainers with the longest losing runs
Adam Houghton reveals another key stat to keep in mind for the Cheltenham Festival.
KEY STAT
86 – the number of runners Alan King has saddled at the Cheltenham Festival since his last winner
Only four British-based trainers – Nicky Henderson (twice), Sue Smith, Jonjo O’Neill and Will Biddick – hit the target at last year’s Cheltenham Festival as no fewer than 23 of the 28 races held at the fixture were won by their Irish counterparts.
That tally was a record for the number of Irish-trained winners at a single meeting, ensuring a familiar outcome in the Prestbury Cup as the British contingent were seen off for the sixth time in seven years (the only exception was a tie in 2019).
- The Prestbury Cup celebrates the rivalry between the home team of British-trained runners and those crossing the Irish Sea. It runs from the opening race of the four-day meeting and the winning side is the first to reach 15 winners.
There are some British-based trainers for whom last year was probably just a blip.
Paul Nicholls, for example, had saddled at least one winner at every other Cheltenham Festival since 2003, so it will probably take more than just one blank year for him to start panicking, particularly with several strong chances to run at the meeting in 2022.
However, there are several other trainers in Britain for whom the barren run goes back much further. It’s not that they aren’t accustomed to success on the big stage, either, as the two men currently on the longest losing streak at the Festival have consistently finished in the top 10 in the trainers’ championship in recent years.
King tops the Festival cold list
The first of them is Alan King, who has saddled a total of 15 winners at the Cheltenham Festival during his training career, including winners of the Stayers’ Hurdle (My Way de Solzen in 2006), Queen Mother Champion Chase (Voy Por Ustedes in 2007) and Champion Hurdle (Katchit in 2008).
Recent visits to the Festival haven’t been quite so kind, though, and you have to go back to 2015 for the last time King headed home from the meeting with a winner. That victory was achieved in another of the Grade One events with Uxizandre, who memorably gave A.P. McCoy a Cheltenham winner in his final year riding at the meeting when making all in the Ryanair Chase.
King has saddled 86 runners without hitting the target at the Festival in the interim, the longest losing streak at the fixture of any National Hunt trainer as things stand. 14/86 were sent off at single-figure odds as well, so it’s not like the stable hasn’t had its share of well-fancied runners.
Yanworth is the standout name on that list, returning an SP of 11/10 when favourite for the race now known as the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in 2016. He ultimately had to settle for second behind the enigma that was Yorkhill, forfeiting his unbeaten record over hurdles in the process.
Another to note is Dusky Legend, who hit the frame in successive renewals of the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle in 2016 and 2017, finding only Limini too good at the first attempt before finishing third behind Let’s Dance the following year. In total, King has had eight runners finish in the first four at the meeting since Uxizandre won the Ryanair.
The big question is which horse gives King his best chance of ending his losing run at the Cheltenham Festival in 2022?
The Glancing Queen has achieved a useful level of form in three starts over fences to date, so she will be very much one to keep on the right side in the Mares’ Chase, but it’s another novice chaser coming through the ranks at Barbury Castle who takes star billing.
The horse in question is Edwardstone, who completed a hat-trick over fences with an easy victory in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton last time, steadily drawing clear in the straight to give weight and a 10-length beating to his three rivals.
Clearly the pick of the two-mile novices in Britain, Edwardstone is currently trading at around 3/1 in the ante-post betting for the Sporting Life Arkle, a race which looks wide-open this year following the injury to ante-post favourite Ferny Hollow. Incidentally, King has already won the Arkle twice before with Voy Por Ustedes in 2006 and My Way de Solzen in 2007.
Twiston-Davies runners off target
Nigel Twiston-Davies saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winner in 1992 and his overall tally at the meeting currently stands at 17, ensuring that he sits comfortably in the top 20 amongst the most successful trainers in the history of the Festival.
Three of those wins came on the same memorable afternoon in 2010. Victory for Imperial Commander in the Cheltenham Gold Cup would surely have been memorable enough, but Baby Run – ridden by the trainer’s son Sam – and Pigeon Island went on to complete a treble for the yard when winning the Foxhunter and the Grand Annual, respectively.
Twiston-Davies also saddled two winners on the same day in 2016 when Blaklion won the race known today as the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and Ballyandy won the Champion Bumper.
To win two Grade One races at the same Cheltenham Festival is always a notable achievement and Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls are the only British trainers to have done it in more recent years as the Irish influence has started to grow.
Incidentally, 2016 was the year in which Ireland began their winning sequence in the Prestbury Cup and it was also the last time that Twiston-Davies saddled a winner at the Festival. Since Ballyandy won the Champion Bumper, Twiston-Davies has sent out another 81 runners at the fixture and they have all met with defeat.
9/81 were sent off at single-figure odds, including Ballyandy (3/1) who finished only fourth when trying to add to his Champion Bumper success in the following year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Al Dancer (9/2), who like Ballyandy had won the Betfair Hurdle on his previous outing, finished down the field when featuring amongst the fancied runners in the Supreme in 2019.
Overall, Twiston-Davies has saddled 11 runners to finish in the first four at the Cheltenham Festival since his last winner there, including Bristol de Mai, one of the stable’s top performers for a number of years who finished third in the Gold Cup in 2019.
Twiston-Davies doesn’t have a Gold Cup contender on his hands this year – Bristol de Mai hasn’t even been entered – but the Mares’ Chase is a race in which he could have a couple of lively contenders in the shape of Vienna Court and Zambella.
Zambella fell in the inaugural renewal of the race in 2021, but she has bounced back to win a couple of listed events against her own sex this season, while Vienna Court showed smart form when easily winning a valuable handicap on New Year’s Day, her second victory in a row at Cheltenham.
Torn And Frayed is another horse who has winning form at the track this season, producing a career best to register his first success over fences in a Grade 3 handicap on Trials Day. He is now up to a BHA mark of 139 and his connections are likely to have a race such as the Paddy Power Plate in their sights at the Festival.
Williams endures nine-year wait
Venetia Williams has saddled a total of six winners at the Cheltenham Festival and the Paddy Power Plate has been a particularly happy hunting ground. Williams has won that prize three times, most recently with Carrickboy when he sprung a surprise at odds of 50/1 in 2013.
That was nearly nine years ago now and it must be a cause of frustration for Williams that she hasn’t added another Festival winner to her tally in the meantime. The yard has sent out 78 runners at the meeting during that period and five second-place finishes is the best they have managed.
It’s worth pointing out that only 3/78 were beaten at single-figure odds, so the yard actually hasn’t had many fancied horses to run at the meeting in recent years.
The quintet who filled the runner-up spot probably all outperformed expectations to some extent, returning SPs of 33/1, 33/1, 20/1, 33/1 and 33/1. Williams has also saddled two thirds (at 8/1 and 40/1) and two fourths (at 14/1 and 20/1) at the Festival since Carrickboy was successful.
Aso has been one of the star performers for the stable in recent years, twice hitting the frame at big odds in the Ryanair Chase. A 40/1 shot when third behind Un de Sceaux in 2017, he produced an even better effort when chasing home Frodon two years later, ultimately passing the post a little over a length behind that rival at odds of 33/1.
Could 2022 be the year that Williams has a horse to go one place better at the Cheltenham Festival?
Well, L’Homme Presse certainly won’t be a big price when he lines up in the Turners Novices’ Chase, undoubtedly one of the most exciting novice chasers we’ve seen in Britain so far this season.
Unbeaten in four starts over fences, L’Homme Presse ended one long losing run for Williams when winning the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown on Saturday, steadily drawing clear from three out to land the spoils by 21 lengths – that was his stable’s first Grade One success since Golden Goal won the same race in 2002.
Green Book, who completed a high-profile double for the yard at Sandown on Saturday, has plenty of options at Cheltenham, while similar comments apply to fellow last-time-out winners Brave Seasca and Funambule Sivola.
Three still seeking first Festival win
A first winner at the Cheltenham Festival is a significant milestone in the career of any National Hunt trainer, but some have to wait for it longer than others and some don’t achieve it all.
Of the many trainers for whom a Festival success has so far proved elusive, Charlie Longsdon is on the longest losing streak – he is yet to saddle a winner at the meeting from 71 runners, six of which were beaten at single-figure odds.
Pendra is one horse trained by Longsdon who deserves a mention given his record at the Festival. He made five appearances at the meeting and only twice did he finish out of the first five places.
One of those placed efforts must have been bittersweet for Longsdon as Pendra hit a low of 1.17 in-running before being collared late on in the Kim Muir in 2017, coming as close as any horse has to giving the yard a breakthrough winner at the meeting.
Tim Vaughan also went close to winning at the Cheltenham Festival earlier in his career as Ski Sunday (Fred Winter in 2009), Destroyer Deployed (Champion Bumper in 2009) and Beshabar (National Hunt Chase in 2011) all filled the runner-up spot in their respective races.
It still hasn’t happened as yet, though, and Vaughan has now saddled 43 runners at the meeting without managing to get off the mark.
In truth, it seems that Vaughan generally doesn’t have the calibre of horse that is required to be competitive at the Festival. For context, all bar three of the yard’s runners over the years returned an SP of 20/1 or longer and Beshabar is the only horse to have been beaten at single-figure odds.
Vaughan has had fewer bullets to fire at the Festival in more recent years as well, saddling only five runners up to and including the 2017 fixture.
It’s possible that Vaughan’s best chance of landing a Cheltenham Festival winner is now behind him, but the same cannot be said for Fergal O’Brien, who is now well established as one of the leading National Hunt trainers in the country.
Admittedly, O’Brien has already saddled 38 runners at the Festival – including three who were sent off at single-figure odds – and two second-place finishes is the best they have managed, but there are signs that the quality of horse in his care is improving all the time.
This campaign has certainly been the best of O’Brien’s training career to date. He has already saddled 101 winners to put him on the cusp of smashing through the £1-million barrier in total prize money, whereas at the end of last season he had saddled 104 winners and pocketed £796,148 in total earnings.
Perhaps the best horse in the yard is Imperial Alcazar, an impressive winner of the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on Trials Day. Whether he steps up to Grade One level at the Festival or tackles one of the handicaps remains to be seen, but there is little doubt he has the makings of a very smart chaser.
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