2026

Jamie Snowden

admin March 9, 2026

Formerly an accomplished amateur jockey, with 38 wins to his name under Rules, including the Grand Military Gold Cup and the Royal Artillery Gold Cup, both at Sandown Park, four times apiece, Jamie Snowden spent a season as pupil assistant to Paul Nicholls and three more as assistant

trainer to Nicky Henderson before taking out a training licence in his own right in 2008. From his initial base, in a rented yard in Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire, he sent out his first winner as a trainer, Marsh Court, ridden by Tom O’Brien, in a novices’ hurdle at Fontwell on October 4, 2008.

Three seasons and a further 14 winners later, in the summer of 2011, Snowden moved to his current base, Folly House Stables in Lambourn, Berkshire – originally built in 1982 by Merrick Francis, son of Dick – from whence he sent out a winner with his very first runner, Knighton Combe, ridden by Daryl Jacob, in the English Summer National at Uttoxeter on June 26, 2011. The 2011/12 season, as a whole, yielded 19 winners and Snowden has continued to flourish ever since.

He saddled his first Cheltenham Festival, the ill-fated Present View, ridden by Brendan Powell, in the Rewards4Racing Novices’ Handicap Chase on March 11, 2014 and has since added a second, You Wear It Well, ridden by Gavin Sheehan, in the Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle on March 16, 2023. More recently, Snowden opened his Grade 1 account, courtesy of Julius Des Pictons, again ridden by Sheehan, in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on April 4, 2025.

Indeed, the 2024/25 season, which yielded 62 winners and £807,146 in prize money, proved to be his most successful, numerically and financially, at that point. However, at the time of writing, Snowden has already exceeded both those totals in 2025/26 and, now with well over 500 winners to his name, is set for his best season yet.

Joe Tizzard

admin March 9, 2026

Born in Sheborne, Dorset on December 13, 1979, Joe Tizzard is the son of former trainer Colin Tizzard, who saddled Native River to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2018. Champion conditional jockey in 1998/99, when with Paul Nicholls, Tizzard subsequently rode as stable jockey to the multiple champion trainer and, later, to his father at Venn Farm in Milborne Port, Dorset. He combined his role as stable jockey with that of assistant trainer until retiring from the saddle, with 700 winners to his name, in March 2015.

Colin Tizzard saddled his last runner as a trainer, Reserve Tank in a handicap hurdle at Chepstow on April 22, 2022 and handed his licence over to his son. At that point, Joe Tizzard said, “I’ve served my 42-year apprenticeship and it’s just going to be Joe Tizzard on the licence. That will change straight away and we’ll have our first runners next weekend I’d imagine.” Indeed, on May 2, 2022 Joe Tizzard saddled his first winner, Slate House, ridden by Jonjo O’Neill, in a handicap chase at Kempton with just his second runner in his own name.

The 2022/23 season as a whole yielded 55 winners, including a first Graded winner, Oscar Elite, ridden by Harry Cobden, in the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot on February 18, 2023. Tizzard has continued in similar vein ever since, saddling 45 winners in 2023/24, 69 winners in 2024/25 and 47 in 2025/26, so far, at the time of writing. He opened his Grade 1 account on January 27, 2024 when Elixir Du Nutz, ridden by Freddie Gingell, downed 1/4 favourite Jonbon in the rearranged Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham. Tizzard has yet to saddle a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, but believes the Champion Hurdle will bring out the best in his progressive stable star, Alexei, who has officially improved 21lb since the start of the 2025/26 season.

Paul Nicholls

admin February 24, 2026

To aficiandos of National Hunt racing, Paul Nicholls requires little or no introduction. Based at Manor Farm Stables in Ditcheat, Somerset, he won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship no fewer than 14 times between 2005/06 and 2022/23, his sequence interrupted by only Nicky Henderson and, more recently, by Willie Mullins.

Formerly stable jockey and assistant trainer to the late David Barons in Kingsbridge, Devon, Nicholls set up in his own right at Manor Farm Stables, which he rented from his “mentor, friend and adviser”, the late Paul Barber, in 1991. Starting out with just eight horses, he saddled his first winner, Olveston, ridden by Hywel Davies, in a novices’ handicap chase at Hereford on December 20, 1991.

Fast forward 27 years or so and, on April 18, 2019, Nicholls reached the landmark of 3,000 National Hunt winners on British soil, courtesy of Kupatana, ridden by Harry Cobden, in a mares’ novices’ handicap chase at Cheltenham. In so doing, he became just the third trainer in history, after Martin Pipe and Nicky Henderson, to achieve the feat. At the time of writing, Nicholls is on the cusp of becoming the most prolific British National Hunt trainer ever, with his eyes set firmly on the record 3,930 winners achieved by Martin Pipe.

Nicholls saddled his first Grade 1 winner, See More Indiams, owned by Paul Barber and ridden by Graham Bradley, in the Feltham Novices’ Chase at Kempton on December 27, 1993. He saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Flagship Uberalles, ridden by Joe Tizzard, in the Arkle Challenge Trophy Novice Chase on March 16, 1999, quickly followed by his second and third, Call Equiname in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and See More Business in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, both ridden by Mick Fitzgerald.

Those three winners were sufficient to become leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time and he did so again in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. On March 13, 2025, he reached a career half century of winners at the March showpiece, courtesty of Caldwell Potter, ridden by Harry Cobden, in the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase. Nicholls has won the Queen Mother Champion Chase a co-record six times, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Stayers’ Hurdle four times apiece (another record in the case of the latter), the Ryanair Chase three times and the Champion Hurdle once.

Nicky Henderson

admin February 24, 2026

Born in Lambeth, Central London on December 10, 1950, Nicholas John ‘Nicky’ Henderson was educated at Eton College before joining the legendary Fred Winter at Uplands Stables in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire as amateur rider-cum-assistant trainer in 1972. In July 1978, he began training in his own right at Windsor House Stables in nearby Lambourn, saddling his first winner, Dukery, in a novice hurdle at Uttoxeter on October 14, 1978.

In the early part of his career – that is, before he moved to his current base, Seven Barrows, back in Upper Lambourn, in 1992 – Henderson sent out no fewer than 14 Cheltenham Festival winners. His early tally included the Champion Hurdle three times, with the talented, but fragile, See You Then in 1985, 1986 and 1987, the Triumph Hurdle twice, with First Bout in 1985 and Alone Success in 1987 and the Arkle Challenge Trophy once, with Remittance Man in 1991. Indeed, Henderson also won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship in both 1985/86 and 1986/87.

Since moving to Seven Barrows, Henderson, 75, has won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship four more times, in 2012/13, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2019/20. At the Cheltenham Festival, where he has been leading trainer three times, in 2000, 2010 and 2012, he has saddled a total of 75 winners, placing him second on the all-time list, behind only the indomitable Willie Mullins (whom he once described as a “good mate”). Of the feature races at the Festival, he has won the Champion Hurdle a record nine times, the Queen Mother Champion Chase a co-record six times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Stayers’ Hurdle and Ryanair Chase twice apiece. His 2023 Champion Hurdle winner, Constitution Hill, is a top-priced 100/30 to win again in 2026, following an impressive Flat debut at Southwell.

On July 31, 2018, Henderson reached the milestone of 3,000 National Hunt winners, courtesy of Brave Eagle, ridden by James Bowen, in a beginners’ chase at Worcester. He quipped, “It’s taken 40 years for 3,000, but I’m not going to try to double it!” adding, “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and we haven’t finished yet.”

Olly Murphy

admin February 24, 2026

Olly Murphy is the son of former trainer Anabel Murphy (née King) and spent four years as assistant trainer to Gordon Elliott in Longwood, Co. Meath before taking out a licence in his own right. Based at Warren Chase Stables, a converted stud in the village of Wilmcote, near Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Murphy made an immediate impact, saddling a winner with his first-ever runner, Dove Mountain, ridden by Luke Morris, in a mile-and-a-quarter handicap on the Flat at Brighton on July 4, 2017. Five days later, on July 9, 2017, his first two runners under National Hunt Rules, Gold Class, ridden by Bryony Frost, and Banff, ridden by Gina Andrews, finished first and second in a lady amateur riders’ handicap hurdle at Market Rasen. Shortly afterwards, he said, “We’ve had a magic start. It’s been the kind of thing we could only have dreamt of.”

After saddling 47 winners in his inaugural season, Murphy maintained his momentum, with 82, 67, 80, 92 and 81 winners in the next five seasons, before reaching his maiden century, with 102 winners, in 2023/24. He trained his first Grade 1 winner, Itchy Feet, ridden by Gavin Sheehan, in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown on February 1, 2020 and his second, Strong Leader, in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree on April 13, 2024.

The 2024/25 National Hunt season, which he later described as “a breakthrough year in many ways”, proved to be his best yet, numerically and fiscally. Murphy saddled 141 winners from 570 runners, at a healthy 25% strike rate, and amassed £1.71 million in total prize money, which was enough to finish fifth in the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship. High-profile victories that season included Pickanumber, ridden by Dylan Johnston, in the Swinton Handicap Hurdle at Haydock in May, Sure Touch, ridden by Harry Cobden, in the Summer Plate Handicap Chase at Market Rasen in July, Booster Bob in the Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Newbury and Go Dante in the Imperial Cup Handicap Hurdle at Sandown, both in March, and Resplendent Glory in the Bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase, also at Sandown, in April; the last three named were all ridden by Sean Bowen.

Horse Trainer: Dan Skelton

admin February 23, 2026

Dan Skelton is the son of former Olympic showjumper Nick Skelton and the elder brother of former champion National Hunt jockey Harry Skelton. After serving a lengthy apprenticeship as assistant trainer to Paul Nicholls in Ditcheat, Somerset, Skelton took out a licence in his own right at Lodge Hill in Shelfield Green, near Alcester, Warwickshire in 2013. He saddled his first winner, Mister Grez, ridden by his brother, in a handicap chase at Ffos Las on October 13, 2013. A little over two months later, on December 21, 2013, he saddled his first high-profile winner, Willow’s Saviour, in The Ladbroke at Ascot, which he later acknowledged as the jumping-off point for his training career.

After saddling 27 winners and 73 in his second, Skelton trained over 100 winners in a season for the first time in 2015/16 and has repeated the feat every season since. Indeed, in 2018/19, he saddled 205 winners, thereby becoming just the second National Hunt trainer, after the record-breaking Martin Pipe, too pass 200 winners in a single season. In terms of prize money, on which the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship is decided, Skelton recorded his highest tally so far, £3.4 million, in 2024/25, but once again played second fiddle to Willie Mullins, having topped the table for most of the season, as he had done in 2023/24.

Skelton reached the milestone of 1,000 career winners with Faivoir, ridden by Harry Skelton, in a novices’ limited handicap chase at Ascot on November 19, 2021. On March 17, 2023, Faivoir, ridden by Bridget Andrews, went on to win the County Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the race in which he saddled his first Festival winner, Superb Story (2016), Mohaayed (2018) and Ch’tibello (2019). All told, Skelton currently has 11 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name, the most recent of which was The New Lion (ante-post favourite for the 2026 Champion Hurdle), again ridden by Harry Skelton, in the Turner Novices’ Hurdle on March 12, 2025. He is no stranger to Grade 1 success, either, with 13 winners at the highest level to his name at the time of writing.