Richard Hannon Jnr

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Richard Hannon Jnr. – who, in fact, is one of triplets – is, of course, the son of four-time Champion Trainer Richard Hannon Snr. and took over the training licence at Herridge and Everleigh Stables near Marlborough, Wiltshire following the retirement of his father at the end of the 2013 season. Having spent twelve years as assistant to his father, one of the most successful trainers in the country, Hannon Jnr. wasted little time in making his own mark on the training ranks.

 

His first runner as a licensed trainer in his own right, Unscripted, won a lowly median auction maiden stakes race at Wolverhampton by 10 lengths on January 3, 2014, and by the end of the year Hannon Jnr. had saddled 206 winners and earned £4.75 million in prize money to become Champion Trainer at the first attempt. His first major prizes of the season came on consecutive days in April, courtesy of Shifting Power in the European Free Handicap and Toormore in the Craven Stakes, both on the Rowley Mile Course at Newmarket. Toormore subsequently ran in the 2,000 Guineas, but weakened in the closing stages to finish seventh, beaten 4¼ lengths, behind unfancied stablemate Night Of Thunder, who thus provide Hannon Jnr. with his first British Classic winner.

 

Further success at the highest level followed, with victories for Olympic Glory in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, Toronado in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and Tiggy Wiggy in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket. In fact, the latter won six of her eight starts as a juvenile to become Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In a stellar first season for Hannon Jnr., other money-spinners for the yard included the two-year-old colts, Beacon, who won four races, including the Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster, and Baitha Alga, who won three races, including the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. Later, reflecting on the transition between father and son, Hannon Jnr. said, “My father is still the only man in the world I am frightened of. I think that is only right.”

John Gosden

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Having worked as assistant trainer to two of the finest trainers in the history of the thoroughbred, Vincent O’Brien and Sir Noel Murless, John Harry Martin Gosden began training, in his own right, in California in 1979. In 1989, Gosden moved to Britain but, after spells at Stanley House Stables, Newmarket and Manton, Marlborough, didn’t become Champion Trainer on this side of the Atlantic until 2012, by which time he was firmly settled at Clarehaven Stables, also in Newmarket, where he’d moved in 2012.

 

The 2012 season was, in fact, the fourth time Gosden had trained over a hundred winners in a season, but his total of 119 winners was his best so far, as was, by some way, his prize money total of £3.74 million. His biggest winner of the season, in pecuniary terms, was Ghurair in the £500,000 Tattersalls Millions 2-Y-O Trophy at Newmarket, but he also landed three domestic Group 1 contests, courtesy of Fallen For You in the Coronation Stakes, Nathaniel in the Coral-Eclipse and The Fugue in the Nassau Stakes.

 

In 2015, Gosden was Champion Trainer again, with 133 winners and £5.28 million in prize money. His flag-bearer that season was Golden Horn, rated 133 by Timeform and the winner of the Derby and the Coral-Eclipse en route to victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Other success stories that year included top class sprinter Shalaa, who won five of her six races as a juvenile, culminating in the Middle Park Stakes and GM Hopkins, winner of the Royal Hunt Cup.

 

In 2018, Gosden had plenty of firepower at his disposal at Clarehaven Stables, but handled it with aplomb in an outstanding season that saw him saddle 162 winners from 647 runners in Britain, at a strike rate of 25%, but, more importantly, earn £8.4 million in prize money to become Champion Trainer for the third time. His domestic successes at the highest level came courtesy of Roaring Lion, in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes , the Juddmonte International Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Cracksman in the Coronation Cup and the Champion Stakes, Stradivarius in the Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup, Without Parole in the St. James’s Palace Stakes and Too Darn Hot in the Dewhurst Stakes.

John Dunlop

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The late John Leeper Dunlop OBE, who died in July, 2018, at the age of 78, after a long illness, was one of the greatest racehorse trainers of his generation. Following National Service, in 1961, Dunlop accepted a job as general factotum to New Forest trainer Neville Dent and, two years later, became assistant trainer and secretary to Gordon Smyth, private trainer to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk at Castle Stables in Arundel, West Sussex. In late 1965, following the retirement of Jack ‘Towser’ Gosden, Smyth moved to Heath House Stables in Lewes, East Sussex to become a public trainer and Dunlop took over the training licence at Castle Stables at the age of 26.

 

As he expanded his operation, Dunlop became the first British trainer to enjoy the patronage of the royal and ruling family of Dubai, the Al Maktoum family. All in all, in a career spanning nearly five decades, before retiring at the end of the 2012 season, Dunlop saddled over 3,500 winners, including 10 British Classic winners.

 

However, despite spending many years at the top of his profession, Dunlop was Champion Trainer just once, in 1995. His stable star that season was Bahri, winner of the St. James’s Palace Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for Hamdan Al Maktoum, but, all told, Dunlop saddled 126 winners from 628 runners in Britain, at a strike rate of 20%, and collected over £2 million in prize money. Bahri aside, his only other domestic success at the highest level came courtesy of Beauchamp King in the Racing Post Trophy, but Dunlop also saddled Beauchamp Hero – owned, like Beauchamp King, by Erik Penser – to win three races, including the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in a memorable season for the Swedish financier.

Ryan Moore

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At the time of writing, Ryan Lee Moore is one of just four jockeys still riding – the others being Frankie Dettori, Joe Fanning and Jamie Spencer – to feature in the top twenty most successful British-based jockeys, numerically, of all time. In fact, since 2000, Moore has ridden 2,117 domestic winners, placing him in nineteenth place in the all-time list.

 

Champion Apprentice in 2003, with 52 winners, Moore was Champion Jockey for the first time in 2006, with 182 winners. At that stage of his career, he was still with Wiltshire trainer Richard Hannon Snr., with whom he’d be enrolled by his father, National Hunt trainer Gary Moore, as an 18-year-old, in 2001. The highlight of his first title-winning season, though, was winning the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Notnowcato, trained by Sir Michael Stoute.

 

A broken wrist forced Moore to sit out nearly three months of 2007, effectively surrendering the jockeys’ championship, but he gained just dessert when, at the end of the season, he was offered the job as stable jockey to Stoute. In 2008, Moore rode a total of 192 domestic winners, but his three biggest winners – Promising Lead in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, Linngari in the Grosser Preis Bayerisches Zuctrennen at Munich and Conduit in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park – all came abroad.

 

Nevertheless, he became Champion Jockey for the second time that year and would defend his title in 2009, once again, thanks in large part to horses trained by Stoute. His globe-trotting exploits continued, though, and as early as April that year he’d already won the QE II Cup at Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on Presvis, trained by Luca Cumani. Domestically, wins at the highest level on Ask in the Coronation Cup, Conduit in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Beethoven, trained by Aidan O’Brien – to whom Moore would later become stable jockey – contributed to his seasonal total of 178 winners and clinched his third jockeys’ title.