Trainers

Based, since 2013, at Prestige Place on the Snailwell Road in Newmarket, Italian-born Marco Botti is the son of Alduino Botti, who has been the force majeure in the training ranks in his native land for over three decades. Having learned his trade with compatriot Luca Cumani, Ed Dunlop and Saeed Bin Suroor in Britain, and Bill Mott in the United States, Botti embarked upon his own training career and saddled his first runners in Britain in 2006.

Exclusively a Flat trainer, Botti wasted little time in chalking up his first Group level victory, courtesy of juvenile filly Sesmen in the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood on August 27, 2006. He has since added a total of seven Group 1, or Grade 1, wins worldwide, the pick of which was the Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, in October 2012; under a well-judged ride from Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, his five-year-old Montjeu colt Joshua Tree made all the running and stayed on well in the closing stages to collect the £569, 620 first prize.

Numerically, Botti enjoyed his most successful season in Britain in 2013, when he saddled 89 winners from 541 runners at a strike rate of 16%. Indeed, that season he broke through the £1,000,000 barrier for the first time, amassing £1,076,761 in total prize money, and would do so again in both 2014 and 2015.

Website: www.marcobotti.co.uk

Social: https://x.com/MarcoBotti

Email: office@marcobotti.co.uk

Formerly a National Hunt jockey, but forced to retire as the result of injuries sustained in a fall at Lingfield Park, Ronald Harris spent several decades away from racing to develop his meat import and retail business. However, in 2003, in pursuit of his dream of becoming a racehorse trainer, he built Ridge House Stables in Earlswood, some five miles northwest of Chepstow, Monmouthshire. After a year as assistant to Norman Berry, Harris saddled his first runners, in his own right, in 2004; his 0-7 record on the Flat in his inaugural campaign was clearly nothing to write home about, but he upped his seasonal tally to 28, 43 and 52 winners in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Harris enjoyed his most prolific, and profitable, season in 2012, when he saddled 63 winners on the Flat and amassed £313,013 in total prize money in that sphere. By that stage, he had already recorded his first ‘black type’ victory, courtesy of Glamorous Spirit in the Group 3 Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh in June 2010. Some years later, he would add two more to his career tally, courtesy of Just Glamorous in the Group 3 Prix du Petit Couvert at Chantilly in September 2016 and the Listed Rous Stakes at Ascot in October 2017.

Social: https://x.com/RonHarrisRacing

Email: ridgehousestables.ltd@btinternet.com

Based at Libohill Farm in the village of Uplawmoor, in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, 15 miles or so from Glasgow, Jim Goldie reached the milestone of 1,000 career winners when Call Me Ginger, ridden by Paul Mulrennan, won the Book For Scottish Sun Ladies Night Handicap, over six furlongs, at Ayr on June 18, 2022. Indeed, it was at the west coast course that Goldie saddled his first winner, of any description, Dawadar, in the Crosshill Handicap Hurdle, over 2 miles and 6 furlongs, on October 9, 1993, while still a permit holder.

Goldie was granted a full training licence in 1994 and, after a slow start, has continued to flourish pretty much ever since. Indeed, his 2023 seasonal tally of 78 winners on the Flat, which contributed to £898,617 in total prize money, was the highest of his career so far. Although probably best known as a Flat trainer, thanks to the expoits of the likes of Orientor, Hawkeyethenoo, Euchen Glen and Nicholas T, Goldie is also no slouch when it comes to training jumpers. Career highlights in the National Hunt sphere include winning back-to-back renewals of the Grand Sefton Handicap Chase, over the Grand National fences, at Aintree in 2007 and 2008.

Website: https://jimgoldieracing.co.uk/

Email: jimsloangoldie@yahoo.co.uk

Edward ‘Ed’ De Giles first obtained a training licence in December 2010, having gained previous experience as assistant trainer to Nick Gaselee, for two years, and as an owner, of the likes of Markab, who won the Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park in September 2010. Based at Lilly Hall Farm, in the village of Little Marcle, near Ledbury, Herefordshire, De Giles holds a combined licence, but has achieved the bulk of his success on the Flat.

In that sphere, the former investment banker enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2016, when he saddled 29 winners from 200 runners at a strike rate of 15%. He has reached double-figures in every Flat season since and has started 2024 well enough, with two winners from just nine runners already. Under National Hunt Rules, De Giles has never saddled more than three winners in a single campaign and, indeed, has not had a runner in that domain since 2021/22.

De Giles has yet to make much of a mark on the upper echelons of Flat racing, at least not since joining the professional training ranks. His solitary ‘black type’ success came back in April 2016, when the vastly-improved Proclamation filly Frosty Berry sprang a 50/1 surprise when edging out the odds-on favourite Clever Cookie in the Listed Further Flight Stakes at Nottingham.

 

Website: www.eddegilesracing.com

News: https://www.eddegilesracing.com/blog/index.php

Socials: https://www.facebook.com/eddegilesracing/

Email: ed@eddegilesracing.com