Horse Trainers

John & Thady Gosden

admin July 3, 2026

Born in Hove, Sussex on March 30, 1951, John Gosden was assistant trainer to Noel Murless at Warren Place, Newmarket and Vincent O’Brien at Ballydoyle in Cashel, County Tipperary before heading to California, where he worked for Tommy Doyle in Bradbury before setting up on his own in Santa Anita in late 1979. After a decade Stateside, he returned to England to train for Sheikh Mohammed at Stanley House Stables, Newmarket in 1989, before relocating to Manton, Marlborough in 2000 and to his current base, Clarehaven Stables, Newmarket, in 2006.

In his own right, Gosden was British Champion Flat Trainer five times, in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020. He also has 11 eleven British Classic winner to name, having won the St. Leger five times, the Oaks three times, the Derby twice and the 1,000 Guineas once. Beyond British shores, Gosden has also won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe three times, the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

In March 2021, Gosden was joined on his licence by his son Thaddeus – ‘Thady’ for short – and the pair celebrated their new arrangement by saddling a winner with their first runner together, Regent, ridden by Robert Havlin, in a fillies’ novice stakes race at Lingfield on March 26, 2021. Indeed, the Gosdens wasted little time in chalking up their first Group 1 winner on British soil, Palace Pier, in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on May 15, 2021 and the same horse became their first Royal Ascot winner when following up in the Queen Anne Stakes a month later. In 2023, the year in which they saddled their first British Classic winner, Soul Sister, ridden by Frankie Dettori, in the Oaks at Epsom, racked up 130 winners and collected £7.2 million in total prize money in the year as a whole, taking their first trainers’ title along the way.

Aidan O’Brien

admin July 1, 2026

Born in Killegney Townland, County Wexford on October 16, 1969, Aidan O’Brien has been described by the ‘Racing Post’ as “the world’s most powerful trainer”. O’Brien saddled his first winner, Wandering Thoughts, ridden by Pat Gilson, in a seven-furlong handicap at Tralee on June 7, 1993. He went on to become Irish Champion National Hunt Trainer five years running between 1993/94 and 1997/98 and famously saddled Istabraq to a hat-trick in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

By that stage of his career, O’Brien had been recruited as private trainer to John Magnier and his Coolmore Stud associates, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, at Ballydoyle, near Rosegreen, County Tipperary. O’Brien became Irish Champion Flat Trainer for the first time in 1999 and has retained his title ever since. In 2001, he became the British Champion Flat Trainer for the first time, making him the first overseas winner since his unrelated namesake, and the previous master of Ballydoyle, Vincent O’Brien in 1977. O’Brien retained his title in 2002 and won it again in 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2024 and 2025.

On British soil, O’Brien has won the Derby a record 12 times, most recently with Christmas Day in 2026, the Oaks 11 times, the 2,000 Guineas a record 10 times, the St. Leger nine times and the 1,000 Guineas eight times. In his native land, his record is no less impressive, with a 17 wins in the Irish Derby, 13 in the Irish 2,000 Guineas,12 in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, eight in the Irish Oaks and seven in the Irish St, Leger. O’Brien is, in fact, the most successful trainer in the history of all the Irish Classics bar the Irish St. Leger. Beyond Great Britain and Ireland, O’Brien has won the Breeders’ Cup Turf eight times and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice, among countless other intermational successes.

Charlie Appleby

admin July 1, 2026

Born on July 5, 1975 in Southampton, Hampshire, Charlie Appleby graduated from the British Racing School and rode, briefly, as an amateur rider before working for Susan Piggot and in various roles for Goldolphin, including as assistant trainer to Saeed bin Suroor and Mahmood Al Zarooni. On April 25, 2013, Al Zarooni was banned for eight years by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) after admitting administering anabolic steroids to numerous horses in his charge and Appleby took over as trainer at Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket.

Appleby saddled his first winner in his own right, Expressly, ridden by Mickael Barzalona, in a maiden fillies’ stakes race at Ascot on July 28, 2013. Domestically, his initial season yielded 60 winners from 304 runners, at a strike rate of 20% but, internationally, he achieved his first Grade 1 success, courtesy of Outstrip, ridden by Mike E. Smith, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on November 1, 2013.

At the time of writing, Appleby has since added another 97 winners at the highest level at home and abroad to his career tally, including seven British Classic winners. He has won the 2,000 Guineas three times, with Ruling Court (2025), Notable Speech (2024) and Coroebus (2022), the Derby twice, with Adayar(2021) and Masar (2018) and the 1,000 Guineas and the St. Leger once apiece, with Desert Flower (2025) and Hurricane Lane (2021).

Appleby splits his year between Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket and his winter base, Marmoom Stables, Dubai. On British soil, he enjoyed his most successful season, numerically and financially, in 2022, when he saddled 152 winners from 488 runners, at a strike rate of 31%, and amassed £6.25 million in total prize money. Aside from the 2,000 Guineas, other highlights that year included winning the St. James’s Palace Stakes and the Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

David Pipe

admin July 1, 2026

Born on February 7, 1973 in Wellington, Somerset, David Pipe is the son of 15-time Champion National Hunt Trainer Martin Pipe. Pipe Snr. announced his immediate retirement, due to ill-health, on the final day of the 2005/06 National Hunt season and Pipe Jnr. celebrated his first day as the master of Pond House Stables, in Nicholashayne, Somerset, with an across-the-card treble on May 9, 2006. David Pipe saddled his first winner in his own right, Standin Obligation, ridden by Timmy Murphy, in a novices’ chase at Kelso, followed by Wee Dinns, ridden by Tom Scudamore, in a handicap hurdle later on the same card and Papillon De Iena, ridden by Tony McCoy, in a handicap chase at Exeter later in the day.

In his inaugural season, David Pipe saddled 134 winners – still a career-high total, at the time of writing – from 767 runners, at a strike rate of 17%, and amassed £1.61 million in total prize money. Highlights included a notable double for Gaspara, who won the Imperial Cup at Sandown under Tony McCoy on March 10, 2007 and followed up in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival under Andrew Glassonbury three days later. In so doing, Gaspara became a first Festival winner for Pipe and collected a £75,000 bonus in the process.

Pipe has since added 14 more Cheltenham Festival winners to his career tally, but his most recent victories came courtesy of Un Temps Pour Tout, who won back-to-back renewals of the Ultima Handicap Chase under Tom Scudamore in 2016 and 2017. Away from the March showpiece, Pipe is probably best known for winning the 2008 Grand National with Comply Or Die, owned by the late David Johnson and ridden by Timmy Murphy, although he does also have 11 Grade 1 victories at home and abroad, to his name.

Willie Mullins

admin May 13, 2026

To anyone with even a passing interest in National Hunt racing, Willie Mullins probably needs little or no introduction. The most decorated trainer of his generation, he has been perennial champion trainer in his native Ireland since 2007/08 and won the British National Hunt Trainers’ Championship two seasons running in 2023/24 and 2024/25, thereby emulating his illustrious compatriot Vincent O’Brien, who achieved the feat in 1952/53 and 1953/54.

Mullins is also the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, where he has been leading trainer on 13 occasions since 2011, with 121 winners to his name at the last count. He has saddled five winners of the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing, the Cheltenham Gold Cup – Al Boum Photo (2019 and 2020), Galopin Des Champs (2023 and 2024), Gaelic Warrior (2026) – and jointly holds the record for most winners, alongside Tom Dreaper, the trainer of Arkle. Mullins has also saddled four Grand National winners, namely Hedgehunter (2005), I Am Maximus (2024 and 2026) and Nick Rockett (2025).

Born in Goresbridge, County Kilkenny on September 15, 1956, Mullins is son of the late Paddy Mullins, another great Irish trainer, who saddled Dawn Run to an unprecedented double in the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Willie Mullins saddled his first winner in his own right, Silver Bachelor, whom he rode himself, in a ‘bumper’ at Thurles on 18 February, 1988, and his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Tourist Attraction, ridden by Mark Dwyer, in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – a race he has now won a record eight times – on March 14, 1995. He has since carried all before him, on both sides of the Irish Sea, reaching the landmark of 4,000 careers with Bronn, ridden by Daryl Jacob, in a beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse on January 28, 2023.

A National Hunt maestro he may be, but Mullins is no slouch on the Flar either. His high-profile winners on the level include Wicklow Brave, ridden by Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, in the Irish St. Leger at the Curragh on September 11, 2016 and Ethical Diamond, ridden by Dylan Browne McMonagle, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on November 1, 2025.

William Haggas

admin May 13, 2026

Born in Skipton, North Yorkshire on August 23, 1960, William Haggas is the son-in-law of the late Lester Piggott, having married Maureen, the elder daughter of the 11-time champion jockey, in 1989. Having previous worked for John Winter and Sir Mark Prescott, Haggas took out a training licence in his own right in late 1986 and sent out his first winner, the two-year-old Tricky Note, over five furlongs on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket, on April 15, 1987.

Haggas has remained at Somerville Lodge Stables on the Fordham Road in Newmarket ever since, whence he has sent out 35 Group 1 winners worldwide, including two British Classic winners, Shaamit, ridden by Michael Hills, in the Derby at Epsom in 1996 and Dancing Rain, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, in the Oaks, over the same course and distance, in 2011. Dancing Rain was subsequently beaten in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh, but went on to win both the Group 1 Henkel-Preis Der Diana at Dusseldorf and the Group 2 British Champions Fillies’ And Mares’ Stakes at Ascot later in her three-year-old campaign.

On British soil, Haggas enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2025, when he saddled 176 winners. His biggest win that year came courtesy of Dubai Honour, ridden by Tom Marquand, in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill in Sydney, New South Wales, which yielded £430,593 in prize money. Nevertheless, his domestic haul came from 731 runners, at a strike rate of 24%, and yielded £4.23 million in prize money, the third-highest total of his training career.

The best horse that Haggas has trained was the Sea The Stars colt Baaeed, who was awarded a Timeform Rating of 137 after winning the Juddmonte International Stakes at York by six-and-a-half lengths, as a four-year-old, on August 17, 2022. At that stage, Baaeed was the highest-rated horse in Europe since Frankel achieved a rating of 147 in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19, 2012. Unlike Frankel, Baaeed lost his unbeaten record when only fourth, beaten a length and three-quarters, in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on October 15, 2022, his final start, despite being sent off at prohibitive odds of 1/4.