Category: Trainers and Owners

In March, 2021, just a week before the start of the Cheltenham Festival, Co. Meath trainer Gordon Elliott was banned for a year – the last six months of which were suspended – by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) for bringing the sport into disrepute. The ban, which was reciprocated by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), followed an investigation into a photograph, widely circulated on social media, showing Elliott cheerfully sitting astride a dead horse. The horse in question was later revealed to be Morgan, a 7-year-old owned by Gigginstown House Stud, who died of a suspected heart attack on the gallops at Elliot’s Cullentra House Stables.

Elliott apologised, more than once, for what he described as an ‘indefensible moment of madness’ and accepted his punishment, which also included €15,000 in court costs, without appealing. Nevertheless, several high-profile owners, including Simon Munir, Isaac Souede and Cheveley Park Stud, removed their horses from the yard and severed all ties with Elliott. Elliott was allowed to return to training on September 9, 2021 and, at the time of writing, has already made his first entries ahead of his return to racing. Of the owners who left, Elliott said, ‘I still speak to them all and the gate is always open. I understand completely why they had to go.’

Commemorated by the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, run annually at the Cheltenham Festival, David Nicholson was the son of Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson, a renowned National Hunt jockey and trainer in the first half of the twentieth century. Nicknamed ‘The Duke’ from an early age, because of his aloof, sometimes arrogant, demeanour, David Nicholson was also a successful National Hunt jockey, with 583 winners to his name.

However, to a modern audience, David Nicholson is probably better known as one of the leading trainers of his generation. He turned to training at Condicote, Gloucestershire in 1968 and saddled his first winner, Arctic Coral, whom he also rode, at Warwick the following January. By the time of his retirement from the training ranks in 1999, Nicholson had saddled a total of 1,499 winners and won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship twice, in 1993/94 and 1994/95. Indeed, he was the only trainer to interrupt the sequence of trainers’ titles won by Martin Pipe from 1989/90 onwards.

At the Cheltenham Festival, Nicholson saddled 17 winners, most notably winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Charter Party in 1988 and back-to-back renewals of the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Viking Flagship in 193 and 1995. Elsewhere, he also win the King George VI Chase at Kempton with Barton Bank in 1993 and was unlucky not to do so with the same horse in 1994; Barton Bank was clear of his rivals when blundering badly and unseating jockey Adrian Maguire at the final fence.

The fairy-tale story of Aldaniti and Bob Champion proved so inspirational that it spawned the 1984 Embassy Pictures film ‘Champions’, starring John Hurt, Edward Woodward and Jan Francis. In 1979, Champion, a leading National Hunt jockey, was diagnosed with testicular cancer and given six months to live. That same year, Aldaniti finished third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and second in the Scottish Grand National, but was sidelined with recurrent leg trouble until February, 1981.

Remarkably, by that stage, following a gruelling course of chemotherapy, Champion had recovered sufficiently to ride Aldaniti to victory at Ascot. The rest, as they say, is history. At Aintree, Aldaniti was sent off 10/1 second-favourite and took the lead towards the end of the first circuit, eventually coming home 4 lengths ahead of Spartan Missile for an emotional victory.

Emotional it may have been, but victory for Champion owed much to the loyalty of trainer Josh Gifford, who insisted that his position as stable jockey would be waiting for him when he recovered. Reflecting on his unlikely triumph, Gifford said, ‘We only kept Aldaniti in training to keep Bob’s pecker up really. It was touch and go every day he went out, we were scared to look around him or feel his legs in the evening. I was just waiting for the day I would have to call his owners and tell them he was a lost cause.’ He added, ‘But we got through it, Bob got through it and it was just as if it was meant to be. A fairy tale.’

Five-time champion trainer John Gosden was born in Hove, Sussex on March 30, 1951 so, at the time of writing, he has recently turned 70 years of age. Gosden has been based at Clarehaven Stables on Bury Road, Newmarket since returning to the ‘Home of Horse Racing’ from his previous base in Manton, Wiltshire in 2006.

Gosden is on the record as ‘not looking to retire any time soon’ but, since March, 2021, has held a joint training licence with his son, Thady. Thady Gosden, 25, had been assistant trainer to his father for five years and regularly represented the yard at racecourses around the world. According to Gosden Snr., he is ‘more than ready to take over’ and, with Gosden Jnr. supervising the training of Mishriff, winner of the Saudi Cup at Riyadh and the Sheema Classic at Meydan in recent months, few would care to argue.

The father-son partnership, described by John Gosden as a ‘fair compromise’, was successful with its very first runner, Regent, at Lingfield on March 26, 2021. Thady Gosden was not present to witness the landmark victory, though, because he was already on his way to the Dubai World Cup Meeting.