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Horse racing is hugely popular in both the UK and Ireland, worth 1.8 billion euros in the latter alone. In the UK, it’s the most popular sport after football.

As well as employing 28,000 people in Ireland and 85,000 in the UK, it is enjoyed by millions. People love the excitement of watching the horses run, and many also enjoy placing a bet on horse races.

From Perth in Scotland down to Devon in England, there are 60 racecourses in the UK. In Ireland, horses race at 26 different courses, which is staggering in a population of less than 5 million.

The biggest of any of these is Aintree in Merseyside, where the Grand National is held every year. It has a capacity of 75,000, which is usually filled to the brim every April.

Cheltenham, which hosts a world-famous festival every March, holds around 67,500 spectators. While Ascot, a favourite with the Royals, holds around 70,000.

In Ireland, the famous Leopardstown racecourse in County Dublin, is the largest and hosts Dublin Racing Festival annually. The Curragh racecourse in Kildare is the best-known flat racing course in the country.

As already touched upon, in the world of horse racing, sports betting is huge. In fact, there are now more bookies who offer horse racing bets and odds to their punters and more punters placing bets on horse racing events.

Its popularity can be traced back over a century, and there are many reasons for this:

• Lots of information

Finding out how the horse has performed recently, what jockey is riding, and other information helps make a decision.

• Exhilarating

The thrill of placing a bet and shouting for your horse is exciting.

• Options on betting

You can bet each way, or on certain horses coming in first, second and third place.

• Possibility to win big

There are always surprises and the money in horse racing means that you can win big from a small wager.

In horse racing, it’s not just about the horse, there are many factors that go into making it successful. Certain jockeys, and famous horse trainers have a lot of success, but it’s also the people behind the scenes.

If you want to make an informed choice when betting, then it’s important to know the good trainers. A good trainer puts in all the hard work, although they rarely get the glory.

 

Look out for some of these top trainer names in the horse racing world:

1. W.P. Mullins

Known as Willie to all in the horse racing world, this former jockey has become synonymous with winning – never a bad trait. His current strike rate is 28%, which is higher than any other trainer in the British Isles.

Willie has had 78 winners in the Cheltenham Festival, making him its most successful  ever. Here are some of the champions he has trained:

1. Al Boum Photo

Bred in France, this dark grey gelding with a white star only made three appearances in the 2018/2019 season. However, he took home two wins and a second place during that time.

In 2020, he won his second consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cup.

2. Hurricane Fly

This gelding began his illustrious career in France, before coming under Willie’s care. He then gained the world record for most Grade 1 wins, which he held until 2019.

Now, he enjoys his retirement at the Irish National Stud.

2. Nicky Henderson

Nicky followed in his father’s legendary footsteps becoming a horse trainer in 1978. His training stables are at Seven Barrows in Berkshire.

Henderson has had 70 winners at Cheltenham and has swept the board of many other races. His notable champions include:

1. See You Then

Showing good form on the flat before he competed in hurdles. In fact, he only ran 15 hurdle races, but won ten of them, gaining his place in history.

He was classy in victory, often sprinting away after the last hurdle to win easily. He retired to Italy, where he spent more than 20 years after his career.

1. Sprinter Sacre

This legendary gelding made his first appearance at Ascot in February 2010, winning by a nose. In April 2016, he won the Celebration Chase at Sandown Park by 15 lengths.

3. Henry de Bromhead

Irishman de Bromhead now runs his family stable, where he has trained plenty of stars. His first winner, Sizing Europe, won the Irish Champion Hurdle in 2008 and the success has continued.

De Bromhead has also had winners in:

1. A Plus Tard

Sired by the great Kapgarde, A Plus Tard has run 18 times, winning seven of those, and placing 11. Last year, the attractive gelding and the year prior won the Savill’s Chase.

2. Minella Indo

This Irish bay horse with a white star made his first professional run at Punchestown in April 2018, coming third. In 2021, he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup when partnered with Jack Kennedy, although usually Rachel Blackmore is his jockey.

Other trainers to look out for include:

1. Henry Daly

He has had six winners this season, including Hillcrest, who is one to watch.

2. Sam Thomas

This young trainer is operating well above a 20% strike rate at present.

3. Samuel Drinkwater

In this season alone, Drinkwater has run 20 horses with five winners.

Knowing the trainers will give you a better idea of which horses to choose for a good bet and put you one step ahead of the competition.

With the Aintree Grand National fast approaching let’s take a moment to appreciate women’s hard won achievements in the event. In the world of horse trainers it was none other than the determined Jenny Pitman who broke through, with a win by Corbiere in 1983. Success breeds success and she repeated this feat in 1995 with Royal Athlete. Training two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners didn’t hurt her credentials either. She paved the way for the two other female trainer winners of the Grand National, Venetia Williams and Sue Smith.

As Katie Walsh explains in her Betway ‘animated history’ piece, women were handed nothing in the sport and had to earn their stripes and then some. Shamefully, it took changes in law to bring about the first female jockey in the Grand National – Charlotte Brew, in 1977. Though she didn’t finish, Geraldine Rees did in 1982, before Rosemary Henderson and Carrie Ford both placed 5th in 1994 and 2005 respectively. Walsh herself put the cherry on the cake in placing an impressive third on Seabass in 2012. I think we see where the trajectory is going. Before long much like female trainers, we will have our first female jockey Grand National winner. A sum of all who came before and an inspiration to every little girl with a love of racing.

Tune in on 10th April to see how the three female jockeys taking part in the 2021 Grand National get on. Best of luck if you’ve placed a bet!

Believe it or not, we have now had 15 years of the Fred Winter Novices’ Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. This was added to the programme when the premier National Hunt meeting expanded in 2005, so that there was a race for four-year-olds who weren’t thought quite good enough for the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle.

Now run under the name of sponsorship of jewellery makers Boodles, there is enough history behind the Fred Winter to look at certain trainer trends. David Pipe, for example, has had three seconds in the race since he last won it back in 2007.

If the plan was to run Adagio in this year’s renewal, then his handicap mark has been blown by winning the Grade 1 Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow on Welsh Grand National day. Punters may have to look elsewhere.

Nicky Henderson usually plays his cards close to his chest in this division, so that may be why he’s had two seconds in the last four years. We won’t see the best Seven Barrows inmates out until nearer Cheltenham.

Irish handlers have won the last three renewals of the Fred Winter, and the middle of those went to young trainer Joseph O’Brien with Band Of Outlaws in 2019. He has two Flat coverts from father Aidan in Flying Scotsman and Palm Beach for the most recent winning owner of the race, the mighty JP McManus, as possible this year.

The other Emerald Isle trainer to enjoy recent success in the Fred Winter is not Willie Mullins but Gordon Elliott. In fact, he has had horses finish at least second in each of the last three years and won the race twice in that period (and three times overall).

Elliott saddled three of the first four home in the 2020 Fred Winter, so don’t be surprised if tips & predictions for the Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle focus on his horses as the yard looks strong in this division this season. Duffle Coat, a Grade 2 winner at Cheltenham already, is an obvious contender from this stable but may have grander ambitions by running in the Triumph instead.

Despite the strong performances of Irish runners in recent years, two-thirds of previous Fred Winter renewals have gone to a trainer based in Britain. Between 2006 and 2017, only two winners were trained outside of the UK.

 

Sharing the record with Elliott for most Fred Winter victories is the master handler of Ditcheat himself, Paul Nicholls despite the fact he hasn’t had a horse placed in the last four years. He managed consecutive one-twos in 2015 and 2016, and had four seconds in a row from 2013.

Nicholls has typical French imports Hell Red and Houx Gris as potential entries, but both have something to prove. The former looked potentially top class when winning at Chepstow, but disappointed in the Grade 2 race won by Duffle Coat when pulled up after being sent off favourite.

Houx Gris, meanwhile, was pitched in at the deep end on his debut for Nicholls and came third behind Adagio. There could be more to come from both, depending on how generous the handicapper feels.

 

Getting involved with horse racing on any level is anything but a formality. The spiraling costs that are involved and somewhat ‘closed shop’ nature of the sport , often means that many with a passion for racing are always outside looking in, rather than actively involved. Add being a woman to that already tough road, and some would argue that it becomes even more difficult to make it. Racing isn’t quite as much as an old boys club as it used to be, but it’d be naive to imagine that element doesn’t still exist in the minds of some. Still, whether jockeys, trainers or owners, the glass ceiling is starting to shatter and we have the likes of trainer Venetia Williams to thank for that.

Venetia Williams has the distinction of being only the second woman – after Jenny Pitman in 1983, and again in 1995 – to train the winner of the Grand National. In 2009, her nine-year-old, Mon Mome, ridden by Liam Treadwell, was driven clear to beat the 2008 winner, Comply Or Die, by 12 lengths. In so doing, he became the first 100/1 winner of the Grand National since Foinavon in the infamous renewal of 1967, when a mêlée at the smallest fence on the National Course gifted the winner an unassailable lead. So while many of us are scouring through tips for 2020 Grand National Festival, Williams has walked the walk, and in spectacular fashion.

Prior to winning in 2009, Mon Mome had finished tenth of 15 finishers, beaten 58 lengths, behind Comply Or Die in the National the previous year but, nevertheless, fared best of the 13 runners that Williams had saddled in the race in her 14-year training career up to that point. However, when asked about her chances of winning in 2009, she said, “They [Mon Mome and stable companion Stan] should both manage on the ground and the fact that I’ve got two to line up at the start is exciting enough, so anything is possible.” Ironically, Stan fell at the fence now called “Foinavon” on the first circuit, but anything was, indeed, possible.

Venetia Williams’ association with the Grand National started over two decades earlier in 1988 when, as an up-and-coming amateur rider, she had her one and only ride in the iconic steeplechase aboard 200/1 outsider Marcolo. In the days before the landing zone at Becher’s Brook was levelled, Marcolo fell at the formidable obstacle, knocking Williams unconscious in the process.

The eventual winner, Rhyme ‘N’ Reason, also blundered at the same fence, slithering down on his haunches before making a dramatic recovery. As Williams later recalled, the Racing Post ran a series of photographs showing his recovery which, quite by accident, also showed her coming a cropper in the background.

Williams is a rare breed, and no doubt she appreciates that other women, such as the aforementioned Jenny Pitman (winning with Corbiere in the 1983 Grand National, and Royal Athlete in 1995) paved the way for her success. They both dared to do what hadn’t been done, to train a Grand National winner, despite the challenges and naysayers that paved the way to that lofty goal.