Trainers

Based at the historic Bedford House Stables on the Bury Road in Newmarket, which he purchased from the recently-retired Luca Cumani in 2019, Charlie Fellowes holds a combined training lience, but his emphasis is, with few exceptions, on Flat racing. Having served his apprenticeship with the likes of James Fanshawe, Nicky Henderson and Lee Freedman, he first set up on his own at Saffron House Stables, on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket, in 2014, before quickly moving to nearby St. Gatien Stables, on the Bury Side, en route to his current base some years later.

No stranger to sending his horses to far flung corners of the globe in search of success, Fellowes enjoyed the biggest payday of his career in 2018, when Prince Arron collected £132,596.69 for winning the Geelong Cup at Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. Domestically he has gone from strength to strength in recent years, recording his most successful season, financially, in 2023, when he amassed £718,989 in total prize money. Highlights of the campaign included victories for Grand Alliance in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury and Vadream in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket.

Indeed, Fellowes has carried on the good work in 2024. At the time of writing, he has already saddled seven winners from 31 runners – 15 of whom have also finished second, third or fourth – at a strike rate of 23%, and amassed £78,921 in total prize money.

Website: www.charliefellowesracing.co.uk

Social: https://www.facebook.com/fellowesracing

https://x.com/fellowesracing

https://www.instagram.com/charliefellowesracing

Email: charlie@charliefellowesracing.co.uk

A graduate of the British Racing School, Chelsea Banham officially became the youngest trainer in Britain, when, on August 7, 2019, at age of 20, she saddled her first runner, Makambe, in a Yarmouth handicap. Her arrival in the training ranks caused a minor kerfuffle insofar that he father, Gary, had been subject an indefinite ban – albeit later rescinded – by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in January 2011, having failed to answer questions regarding the running and riding of Sabre Light at Lingfield in December 2008. Chelsea Banham, who was still a child at the time of the incident, said, quite rightly, ‘I had absolutely nothing to do with that’.

Having persuaded the BHA to overturn his ban, Gary Banham bought Mulligan’s Yard, near the village of Cowlinge, Suffolk, less than ten miles from Newmarket, for his daughter. The yard had previously been occupied by John Ferguson and, subsequently, by Paul Howling, for whom Chelsea Banham worked as assistant before striking out on her own. Prior to that, she had spent a year in a similar position with veteran Alan Bailey at Cavendish Stables on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket.

Chelsea Banham holds a combined licence, but has, so far, saddled all bar one runner on the Flat. She enjoyed her most successful season so far, numerically, in 2020, with 15 winners from 129 winners, at a strike rate of 12%, and just over £70,000 in prize money.

Social: https://www.facebook.com/chelseabanhamracing/

Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/chelsea_banham_racing/?hl=en

Email: chelseabanhamracing@gmail.com

Formerly a child actor, bank employee and moderately successful jockey, Conrad Allen has been, by his own admission, a ‘journeyman’ trainer since 1987. Nowadays based on the Hamilton Road in Newmarket, where he holds a combined licence, Allen trains a humble string by modern standards and, in 2024 so far, he has saddled just four winners. That said, those winners have come for just 24 runners, at a healthy 17% strike rate, for an equally healthy level stakes profit of 22.25 points.

Indeed, Allen enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 1990, when he saddled 19 winners. By that stage, though, he had already written his name into the history books by saddling Niklas Angel, ridden by Richard Quinn, to win division one of the William Hill Claiming Stakes at Lingfield on October 30, 1989. He thereby became the first trainer to win a race on a syhthetic, or ‘all weather’, surface.

In his career as a whole, big race wins have proven few and far between, but Allen does have two Listed level wins to his name, courtesy of Prince Aaron in the Hopeful Stakes at Newmarket in 2004 and Hay Chewed in the Land O’Burns Fillies’ Stakes at Ayr in 2014. As testament to his consistency, he also has the distinction of saddling a winner at every Group 1 racecourse in the country.

Website: https://conradallenbloodstock.com

Social: https://x.com/shadowfax500

Email: conrad@sportsdays.co.uk

Formerly a professional polo player and, more recently, a commissioned officer in the Army, Billy Aprahamian is, nowadays, a trainer based at his purpose-built yard, The Gallops, in the village of Adstone, near Towcester, Northamptonshire. Officially, he holds a combined, or dual-purpose, licence, but, at the time of writing, he has yet to saddle a runner, never mind a winner, on the Flat, so his emphasis is, clearly, very much on National Hunt racing.

Formerly assistant to none other than six-time champion trainer Nicky Henderson, with whom he spent three years, at Seven Barrows in Upper Lambourn, Aprahamian first took out a training licence in his own right in 2021/22. In his inaugural season, he saddled just one runner, Precious Cargo, who finished unplaced in a hunters’ chase at Leicester in March 2022, but opened his account when Conceal, who had previously troubled the judge just twice in ten previous starts under Rules, sprang a 50/1 chance in a handicap chase at Uttoxeter in October 2022.

In 2023/24 so far, Aprahamian has added three more winners to his career total, from 44 ruuners, at a modest 7% strike rate. However, as he said himself, of his fledgling training career, ‘ It’s the love of the game, that’s why it doesn’t really feel like a job.’

Website: https://billyaprahamian.racing

Social: https://x.com/billyapro1

Email: billy@billyaprahamian.racing