Trainer form: Which yards were flying in November?
Tony McFadden highlights which jumps trainers had a notably successful month in November.
Best strike rate
Sam Thomas - 38.5%
Sam Thomas posted the highest strike rate of any jumps trainer with at least ten runners in November, sending out five winners from his 13 representatives. There were some significant successes among those handful of victories with Al Dancer landing the prestigious Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton and Steel Ally winning the valuable handicap hurdle at Haydock on Betfair Chase day. The promising Celtic Dino took his record under Rules to four from five when successful at Ascot last month and he is an exciting prospect for the yard.
Matt Sheppard didn't have such high-profile winners, but posted six winners from 16 runners at a strike rate of 37.5%. He also had four seconds which underlined the yard's wellbeing. One of those who failed to win in November was Johnny Mac, but he was one of the big success stories of last season and improved his Timeform rating by more than two stone after joining the yard and rattling off a hat-trick.
Of the bigger yards, and dealing with larger sample sizes, Joe Tizzard excelled with 17 winners from 59 runners at a strike rate of 28.8%. JPR One's Haldon Gold Cup win was the highlight among his haul. Henry de Bromhead performed similarly well with 16 winners from 57 runners at a strike rate of 28.8%.
Tizzard and De Bromhead also fared well when sorting by level-stake profit, showing returns of £33.44 and £30.28 respectably. Only Philip Rothwell (£42.50) had higher among the yards with at least ten runners, though 40/1 Punchestown winner Rockymountainblue accounted for much of that total.
Most winners
Gordon Elliott - 33
Size of stable and number of runners clearly play a significant role in this category, so it's no surprise that one of jump racing's leading trainers, Gordon Elliott, topped the list, especially as he tends to target the early months of the core season when rival Willie Mullins has yet to start firing on all cylinders.
Elliott's tally of 33 jumps winners, from 147 runners at a strike rate of 22.5%, is still meritorious, however, and is nine higher than any other trainer in Britain or Ireland. His strike rate last month compares favourably to overall record of around 15.4% since the start of the 2019/2020 jumps season.
Elliott's former assistant, Olly Murphy, had the most winners among trainers based in Britain and his total of 24 represents his most prolific month yet. A strike rate of 26.7% underlined the yard's good form.
Paul Nicholls was the only other trainer to breach the 20-winner barrier in November, sending out 23 winners at an impressive 26.4%. This marked a notable improvement on his performance in October when he had only four winners from 37 runners at a strike rate of only 10.8%.
Highest run-to-form percentage
Kim Bailey - 67.7
The last time Kim Bailey hit at least a 20% strike rate across a campaign was in 2014/15 when he registered his highest tally of winners (61) since the turn of the century. Bailey's on course to hit that strike rate benchmark - he's had 21 winners from 98 runners so far this season - and months like November will help his cause.
Bailey had nine winners from 34 runners - a strike rate of 26.5% - but he also had nine runners finish placed. More than half of his runners last month either winning or finishing placed is indicative of a yard going well and his run-to-form percentage of 67.7 backs that up.
Tizzard (66.1) and Murphy (60) are others who unsurprisingly fare well by that metric given their success outlined above, though Joseph O'Brien (61.3) is an interesting case. O'Brien had only three winners from 31 runners so on the face of it could be considered to be struggling. However, 18 of his runners were at least placed, and his run-to-form percentage backs up the view that his team are in better nick than the winners' tally suggests.
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