What’s a horse racing syndicate?

As in other walks of life, in horse racing, a ‘syndicate’ refers to a group of people engaged in a shared enterprise, in this case the ownership of one or more racehorses. Obviously, the initial purchase price of a racehorse varies according to its age, pedigree, soundness and so on, but between £10,000 and £20,000 is not uncommon. Coupled with annual training costs, typically between £16,000 and £23,000, it is easy to see how the cost of buying a racehorse and keeping it in training is beyond the means of many individuals.

Consequently, groups of like-minded people, who may be strangers to each other, are brought together by a syndicate manager to share purchase cost(s) and the day-to-day cost of ownership among them. A typical syndicate consists of twenty or so members, each of whom buys a fixed share, say 5%, in one or more horses and makes an annual contribution towards training and other costs. Any prize money is, likewise, shared among syndicate members, but most people join a syndicate for the love of the sport, rather than an opportunity to make money.

When did Richard Johnson retire?

On April 3, 2021, to the shock of everyone, Richard Johnson announced his retirement with immediate effect. Johnson rode his first winner under National Hunt rules, Rusty Bridge, at Hereford in April,1994 and, under the mentorship of David ‘The Duke’ Nicholson, won the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship in 1995/96.

By the time of his retirement, Johnson accumulated 3,819 winners, a figure bettered only by his great friend and rival Tony McCoy. Indeed, he was forced to play ‘second fiddle’ to McCoy for much of his career, finishing runner-up in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship on no fewer than occasions.

However, McCoy retired in April, 2015, allowing Johnson to finally emerge from his shadow. He did so in style, winning the jockeys’ title four years running between 2015/16 and 2018/19, with 235, 180, 176 and 200 winners, respectively. At the Cheltenham Festival, Johnson rode a career total of 22 winners and won each of the main ‘championship races’ – Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup – at least once.

In the Grand National, Johnson still holds the unenviable record of the most rides, 21, without success. The best he ever managed in the Aintree marathon was two second-placed finishes, on What’s Up Boys in 2002 and Balthazar King in 2014.

Was the late John Dunlop ever champion trainer?

Was the late John Dunlop ever champion trainer? The late John Leeper Dunlop, who died at the age of 78 on July 7, 2018, after a long illness, was indeed champion trainer, just once, in 1995. That was the season in which Bahri, owned by the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and ridden by Willie Carson, took an unconventional route, isolated on the far side, until the home turn to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. However, Bahri was just one of 74 Group One winners, including 10 British Classic winners, that Dunlop saddled in a training career spanning six decades.

Dunlop took over the training licence at Castle Stables in Arundel, West Sussex in 1966 and by the time he retired, in 2012, had saddled over 3,500. He was closely associated with Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum for much of his career and notable winners in the famous blue-and-white silks included not only Bahri, but also Salsabil, who won the 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and Irish Derby in 1990

Erhaab, who won the Derby in 1994. At the time of his death, Dunlop was rightly described as

one of the great trainers of his generation and his racing legacy lives on through his sons, Ed and Harry, both of whom are Group One-winning trainers. Touchingly, at the time of writing, Ed Dunlop trains a promising 3-year-old Frankel colt named ‘John Leeper’ in homour of his late father.

How many winners did A.P. McCoy ride at the Cheltenham Festival?

In the sphere of National Hunt racing, it would be fair to say that Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, still known to his friends as ‘A.P.’, carried all before him. At the time of his retirement in April, 2015, he had ridden 4,348 winners under National Hunt rules and set a series of extraordinary records, some of which may never be broken. McCoy won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship in each of the 20 seasons he rode in Britain. In 2001/02, he racked up 289 winners, smashing the previous record for the number of winners in a single season, set by Sir Gordon Richards in 1947.

However, the Cheltenham Festival was perhaps the one instance when McCoy did not entirely rule the roost. Of the four main ‘championship’ races, he won the Champion Hurdle three times, the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice and the Queen Mother Champion Chase once. The Stayers’ Hurdle was a notable omission from his CV, but he did win the leading jockey award twice, in 1997 and 1998, while stable jockey to Martin Pipe. However, his career total of 31 Cheltenham Festival winners is only third in the all-time list, behind Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh, with 59 winners, and Barry Geraghty, with 43 winners. Of the jockeys still riding, only Davy Russell, with 25 winners, is really within hailing distance, so his position looks safe for a while yet.

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