October 2026

Hugo Palmer

admin October 1, 2026

Hugo Palmer began training in his own right at Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket, Suffolk in 2011 with a string of 11 cheaply-bought, syndicated horses. He saddled his first winner, Steady The Buffs, ridden by Adam Beschizza, in a two-year-old maiden auction stakes race at Brighton on May 9, 2011. Palmer broke into double figures for the season for the first time in 2013, but thereafter steadily increased his seasonal tally, peaking with 87 winners from 508 runners in 2018, at a strike rate of 17%.

Palmer enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2015, saddling Covert Love to Group 1 wins in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh and the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp and amassing over £1 million in prize money in a season for the first time. The following season, he saddled his first and, so far, only British Classic winner, Galileo Gold, in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. The Paco Boy colt was beaten in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh, but resumed winning ways in the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

On August 8, 2021, Palmer added another Group 1 winner to his carry tally, Ebro River, ridden by Shane Foley, in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh. The following March, he was recruited by former England footballer to replace the previous incumbent, Tom Dascombe, at Manor House Stables, his training establishment in Malpas, Cheshire. From his new base, Palmer saddled a winner with his very first runner, Noman, in a mile-and-a-half handicap at Leicester in April 1, 2022 and, in so doing, reached the landmark of 500 career winners.

Since making the move from Newmarket, Palmer has continued to thrive, saddling a further 10 Pattern winners at home and abroad. Most notably, he sent out the Too Darn Hot colt Glacius to win the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Stakes at Saratoga, New York on August 8, 2026.

Eve Johnson Houghton

admin October 1, 2026

Based at Woodway Stables, near Blewbury, Oxfordshire, Eve Johnson Houghton is the daughter of the late Fulke Johnson Houghton, who sent out over 1,200 winners – including the 1978

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner, Ile De Bourbon – from the family yard between 1961 and 2007. Formery an accomplished amateur rider, Johnson Houghton became assistant trainer to her father in 2000 and took over the training licence following his retirement at the end of 2006.

Starting with a string of fewer than 20 horses, Eve Johnson Houghton saddled her first winner as a trainer in her own right, Robustian, ridden by Steve Carson, in a mile handicap at Pontefract on April 10, 2007. Her inugural season yielded 22 winners, but Johnson Houghton enjoyed her most successful campaign, numerically, in 2024, when she saddled 56 winners from 486 runners, at a strike rate of 12%.

At the time of writing, Johnson Houghton has saddled two Group 1 winners, the home-bred Accidental Agent, who sprang a 33/1 surprise when winning the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2018, and Zavateri, who won the National Stakes at the Curragh in 2025. Other notable winners for the yard include the cheaply-bought juveniles Chipotle, who won the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Two Year Old Trophy at Redcar in 2021, and Havana Hurricane, who won the Windsor Castle Stakes, again, in 2025, despite costing less than 20,000 guineas between them.

More recently, the Lucky Vega colt Night In Vegas has proved an excellent money-spinner, justifying favourtism in both the £200,000 Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes at Newmarket and Weatherbys £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes at Doncaster, in August and September 2026, respectively, collectively worth nearly £374,000 to winning connections. He holds potentially lucrative late-season entries, so may not be finished yet.

David O’Meara

admin October 1, 2026

Nowadays based at Willow Farm in Upper Hemsley, near York, North Yorkshire, David O’Meara was formerly a successful National Hunt jockey, notably winning the Fox Hunters’ Chase, over the Grand National fences at Aintree, on Bells Life, trained by Philip Hobbs, in 2000. He quit the saddle in 2008, initially to set up a livery yard at Great Habton, near Malton, North Yorkshire, alongside former weighing-room colleague Anthony Ross.

Less than rwo years later, though, O’Meara took over the training licence at Arthington Barn Stables in Nawton, North Yorkshire and saddled his first winner, Simple Jim, ridden by Silvestre De Sousa, in a handicap at Redcar on June 19, 2010. Fast forward less than a decade and O’Meara reached the landmark of 1,000 career winners, under both codes, courtesy of Betsy Trotter, ridden by Harrison Shaw, in a fillies’ handicap at Wolverhampton on October 5, 2019. The following sunmer, he reached the same landmark on the Flat, alone, when Sudona, ridden by Daniel Tudhope, justified favouritism in a handicap at Pontefract on July 7, 2020.

O’Meara saddled 100 winners in a season for the first time in 2013 and went on to repeat that feat for the next 11 seasons running. Indeed, on the last occasion he did so, in 2024, he enjoyed his most successful season so far, financially, amassing over £2.3 million in prize money. At the time of writing, he has saddled seven Group 1 winners at home and abroad, the first of which was G Force, ridden by Daniel Tudhope, in the Sprint Cup at Haydock in 2014 and the last Estrange, also ridden by Tudhope, in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in 2026. A lightly-raced five-year-old mare, Estrange has, so far, won six of her nine starts for O’Meara and amassed just shy of £700,000 in prise money.