With turf racing getting underway in Britain on Saturday, John Ingles looks at the stables which had the most success this time last year.
The following trainers had the most winners in Britain or Ireland in 2024 between the start of the turf season in Britain and the end of April.
KARL BURKE (91 runners, 17 winners, 18.7% strike rate)
Karl Burke finished fourth by prize money won in Britain last year when the stable’s total of 121 domestic winners set a new best annual tally. That was helped by quickly getting into gear after the start of the turf season. Liamarty Dreams got things underway at the opening turf fixture at Doncaster, winning a seven-furlong handicap, and followed up in a similar event at Musselburgh in April. He’s entered in the same Doncaster race again this year, as well as the Spring Mile/Lincoln. The smart Poet Master provided the yard with a winner at Newmarket’s Craven meeting (he went on to Group 2 success in Ireland later in the year), but it was the end of April when the stable’s winners really started flowing, with 11 winners coming at the end of that month, three of them two-year-olds.
Burke has already landed some good prizes on the all-weather this year, with Royal Champion winning the Winter Derby and Marshman and Rebel’s Gamble both successful in listed races, so he could well hit the turf running again. Thunder Run and Native Warrior are leading contenders for the Lincoln, while stablemates Marshman (Cammidge Trophy) and Liberty Lane (Doncaster Mile) are others to note at Doncaster on Saturday.
ANDREW BALDING (93 runners, 17 winners, 18.3% strike rate)
Andrew Balding was another trainer to set a personal best in terms of domestic winners (163) last year, as well finishing runner-up to Aidan O’Brien in the trainers’ championship. Like Burke, Balding made a good start in the spring with an almost identical number of runners and winners. However, after the start of the turf season, the stable’s first ten winners all remained on the all-weather, including a double on All-Weather Finals day at Newcastle from Fivethousandtoone and Fire Demon.
It wasn’t until Newmarket’s Craven meeting that Balding had his first turf winner of the year when Kalpana, who ended the year a Group 1 winner rated 120, made a mockery of a BHA mark of 78 on her handicap debut. That preceded a double at Epsom’s April meeting where Bellum Justum won the listed Blue Riband Trial. Balding starts this turf season as the leading trainer by prize money after 25 wins on the all-weather so far this year.
RICHARD HUGHES (42 runners, 16 winners, 38.1% strike rate)
Richard Hughes had a tremendous spring in 2024, having less than half the number of runners of either Burke or Balding but almost matching them for winners to yield an outstanding strike rate of just over 38%. He too went on to have record earnings and number of winners (64) for the season. Hughes struck early on the turf, with Knebworth winning a six-furlong handicap at the Lincoln meeting, and he’s entered in the same race again this weekend having had a similar prep run at Wolverhampton earlier this month.
The stable also had a win at the Craven meeting where Brunel Nation was awarded a handicap, while Lincoln entry Whip Cracker was runner-up in the Feilden Stakes at the same meeting. Smart colt Bracken’s Laugh was the most significant all-weather winner in the same period, landing a valuable conditions race at Chelmsford.
JOHN & THADY GOSDEN (59 runners, 13 winners, 22% strike rate)
John & Thady Gosden had a handful of all-weather winners in the early weeks of the turf season in 2024 but for much of April the yard’s runners were going close without winning. For example, they had five placed horses at the Craven meeting where Eben Shaddad and Lead Artist were runner-up in the Craven and Wood Ditton respectively.
However, there was a big change of fortunes at the end of April when the stable fired in seven consecutive winners over three days. It was probably significant that four of those winners were improving from their reappearances earlier in the month. The Gosdens have had a couple of winners on the all-weather this month, one of whom, Pantile Warrior, is entered in a handicap at Doncaster on Sunday.
AIDAN O’BRIEN (61 runners, 13 winners, 21.3% strike rate)
Aidan O’Brien’s 2024 turf season began in earnest at Leopardstown’s first Flat meeting of the year where, despite being beaten on a couple of odds-on shots, Ryan Moore also rode a treble on a card where the stable has had plenty of success in the past. Moore’s winners included Battle Cry who beat stablemate Samuel Colt to give O’Brien a tenth win in the 2000 Guineas Trial. O’Brien has won the Ballysax Stakes eleven times but had to make do with second and third in the latest renewal.
Later in the month, top stayer Kyprios began another unbeaten campaign in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan, just as he’d done two years earlier, and presumably that will be the plan for him again. On the same card at Navan, Ballydoyle had its first two-year-old winner of the year. Camille Pissarro was a beaten favourite in the Coventry Stakes but ended the year with a Group 1 win in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. O’Brien has won four of the last seven editions of the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh and that could serve as a prep run on April 12th for Irish Derby winner Los Angeles ahead of the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
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