Trainers

Oliver ‘Ollie’ Sangster is the grandson of the late Robert Sangster, a legendary owner and breeder who, alongside John Magnier and Vincent O’Brien, effectively changed the face of thoroughbred horse racing in the seventies. In 1984, Robert Sangster purchased the 2,000-acre Manton Estate, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, for a reported £10 million. The majority of the estate, including all the gallops, was bought by former Newmarket trainer Martyn Meade in 2017, but it was at the Redpost Yard, Manton House that Ollie Sangster embarked on his training career in 2023.

Indeed, Sangster, 26, only narrowly missed out on a winner with his very first runner when the three-year-old Cruise was beaten just half a length, having repeatedly been denied a clear run, at Kempton Park on April 1, 2023. Nevertheless, he saddled his first winner, The Thunderer, at Wolverhampton on April 10, 2023 and in his first year, so far, has increased his tally to 10 winners from 52 runners, at a strike rate of 19%. His biggest winner to date was the two-year-old filly Shumwari, who, on July 27, 2023, beat subsequent Moyglare Stud Stakes winner – and current ante-post favourite for the 1,000 Guineas – Fallen Angel in the Listed European Bloodstock News EBF Star Stakes at Sandown Park.

Ollie Sangster may be a new name on the training roster, but he served a lengthy apprenticeship and learnt his trade from some of the best in the business. He joined Lambourn trainer Charles Hills as pupil assistant more or less straight out of school and subsequently spent two years – ‘probably my most formative time’, according to Sangster – as assistant trainer to Wesley Ward in America. On his return to home soil, he spent a year as assistant to Hugo Palmer in Newmarket and another two as assistant to Joseph O’Brien in Ireland before setting up on his own. In 2025 said he was elated to place 2nd (with Flight) and 3rd (Simmering) in the 1000 Guineas with big priced winners (28-1 and 33-1 respectively). The future clearly holds a lot of promise!

 

Website: https://www.olliesangsterracing.com/ 

Social: https://x.com/olliesangster

Email: ollie@olliesangsterracing.com

Born in Hoby, Leicestershire on June 11, 1946, Jenny Pitman (née Harvey) was, prior to her retirement in 1999, a trailblazing trainer whose name is writ large in the annals of National Hunt history, at Aintree, Cheltenham and elsewhere. Pitman trained her first winner as long ago as 1975 but, on April 9, 1983, she made history when saddling Corbiere, ridden by Ben de Haan, to win the Grand National at Aintree. On March 15, 1984, she did so again when saddling Burrough Hill Lad, ridden by Phil Tuck, to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Thus, in a period of less than 12 months, she became the first woman to train the winner of both premier steeplechases run in Britain.

Both Corbiere and Burrough Hill Lad had won the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow the December prior to their historic victories and Pitman would win that race again with Stearsby, ridden by Graham Bradley, in 1986, for three successes in all. She also won the Cheltenham Gold Cup again, with Garrison Savannah, ridden by her son, Mark, in 1991, and the Grand National again, with Royal Athlete, ridden by Jason Titley, in 1995. On a less happy occasion, Pitman also saddled Esha Ness, ridden by the luckless John White, to ‘win’ the ‘Grand National that never was’ in 1993; the race was declared void and the result nullified after the majority of the jockeys failed to realise a false start had been called. Nevertheless, Jenny Pitman finished her training career just three shy of 800 winners.

Jenny doesn’t have much in the way of a social media presence, website or contact info online, though can be hired as an after dinner speaker.

Former trainer Steve Gollings decided to take out a training licence in the 1992/93 National Hunt season after running a livery yard for over a decade. Of his livery business, he said, “It was satisfying to be associated with winners, but apart from the people immediately involved we got no credit for our work.”

Based at Highfield House in Scamblesby, near Louth, Lincolnshire, Gollings was never hugely prolific and never trained more than 16 winners, under either code, in a single season. Under National Hunt rules, he achieved that total twice, in 2010/11 and 2012/13, while on the Flat his highest seasonal tally was 14 winners, which he achieved back in 2003.

On March 17, 1998, Gollings enjoyed the highlight of his training career, so far, when he saddled In Truth, ridden by Seamus Durack, to win the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. Later in his career, he recorded further high-profile victories, courtesy of the likes of Royal Shakespeare, Ursis, Local Hero and Conquisto. Twice a Grade 2 winner for the yard, Royal Shakespeare came within a short-head of becoming a Grade 1 winner when just touched off by Brave Inca in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown in 2004.

The last three-named were all, likewise, Grade 2 winners, Ursis in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick in 2007, Local Hero in the Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham in 2011 and Conquisto in Old Roan Chase at Aintree in 2013. Indeed, victory in the Old Roan Chase, worth £42,203 to the winner, provided Gollings with the biggest payday of his career.

 

social: https://x.com/stevegollings?lang=ar

 

Formerly amateur rider to the late Richard Barber at Seaborough, Dorset, Anthony Honeyball was forced to join the licensed yard of Paul Nicholls at Ditcheat, Somerset as a conditional jockey in 2001, when the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain for 20 years caused the cancellation of all point-to-point fixtures. He would ride 10 of his 45 winners under National Hunt Rules for Nicholls and, in 2006, made the natural progression from jockey to trainer, initially at his parents’ farm in Somerset.

Honeyball began his training career with only half a dozen horses, but nonetheless saddled his first winner, Classic Fair, in a mares’ only maiden hurdle at Taunton on December 18, 2006. He subsequently rented a yard from Barber and, in 2012, moved to his current base at nearby Potwell Farm Stables in Mosterton, near Beaminster. He has significantly expanded his operation since his arrival and currently has approximately 80 horses in training.

Honeyball enjoyed his most successful season, numerically and fiscally, in 2023/24, when he saddled 42 winners from 258 runners, at a strike rate of 16%, and amassed £760,665 in prize money. That represented a second consecutive record season for the yard and, with 33 winners and £379,138 on the board already in 2024/25, at the time of writing, a third is by no means out of the question for the burgeoning stable. A Grade 1 winner has so far proved elusive but, with a total of 19 Graded and Listed winners to his name, success at the highest level for Honeyball is surely only a matter of time.

 

website: https://ajhoneyballracing.co.uk/

news: https://ajhoneyballracing.co.uk/news/

social: https://www.facebook.com/anthonyhoneyballracing/?locale=en_GB

https://www.instagram.com/anthonyhoneyballracing/

contact / email:  office@ajhoneyballracing.co.uk