Trainers

Paul David Evans, usually known as David, was born in Birmingham, but nowadays operates a mixed yard, with 70 or so horses, at Ty-Derlwyn Farm in Pandy, near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. In his late teens and early twenties, Evans rode as a moderately successful apprentice jockey and subsequently spent a total of four-and-a-half years as assistant trainer to Anabel Murphy (née King) and Tom Bill.

He first took out a public training licence in 1989 and, from his original base, at Long Mountain, near Welshpool, Powys, sent out his first winner, Peaconpala – one of just five horses in his care – in a selling hurdle at Hereford in April that year. Fast forward three decades or so and Evans has saddled well over 1,000 winners, most of which have come on the Flat.

His best horse in that sphere, at least so far, was The Kiddykid, winner of the Group Two Duke of York Stakes at York in 2005, while in 1999 he saddled Master Beveled – also a prolific winner on the Flat – to win the Grade Two Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock Park. Granted his heritage, it is no real surprise that Evans is fond of Wolverhampton and, during his career, has saddled 339 winners from 3,282 runners, at a strike rate of about 10%, on the all-weather surface at Dunstall Park.

Website: https://davidevansracing.co.uk/

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Contact: https://davidevansracing.co.uk/contact-us/

 

Charlie Hills is one of the four surviving sons of Classic-winning trainer Barry Hills and has been involved in horse racing since he was a teenager. After leaving school, at the age of 18, Hills worked for leading Australian trainers Peter Hayes and Gabrial ‘Gai’ Waterhouse, before spending two years as assistant trainer to James Fanshawe. Thereafter, he worked for his father until taking over the licence at Faringdon Place Stables in Lambourn, Berkshire, at the age of 32, in 2011.

Charlie Hills saddled a winner with his first runner, Blaise Chorus, in a maiden fillies’ stakes race at Kempton in August that year and quickly established himself as one of the most promising young trainers in the country. Less than two years later, in May, 2013, he won his first Classic, the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh, with Just The Judge and, later that season, won the Shadwell Fillies Mile at Newmarket and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita with the ultimately ill-fated Chriselliam.

More recently, Hills saddled Cartier Champion Sprinter, Muhaarar – rated 132 by Timeform – to win four Group One contests, including the Commonwealth Cup, July Cup and British Champion Sprint Stakes, during his three-year-old campaign in 2015. More recently still, Battaash – currently the highest-rated horse in Europe, according to Timeform, with a rating of 133 – has continued to fly the flag for Hills in the sprinting division, winning the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp in 2017.

Website: http://charleshills.com/

News / Blog: http://charleshills.com/news/

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Contact: info@charleshills.co.uk

The son of former amateur National Hunt jockey and trainer Thomas ‘Tom’ Tate – who is the brother-in-law of former National Hunt champion trainer Michael Dickinson – James Tate has a fine racing pedigree. A qualified veterinary surgeon, Tate Jr. spent six year under the auspices of the most successful trainer in the history of British horse racing, Mark Johnston, before moving to Jamesfield Place Stables, on Hamilton Road, Newmarket, and taking out a training licence in his own right in 2011.

In November that year, Tate was one of the main beneficiaries when Rabbah Bloodstock – the organisation formed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of the Emirate, in 2006 – removed 24 of its horses from La Grange Stables, the yard operated by Ed Dunlop, on nearby Fordham Road. In fact, Tate saddled his first winner, Dark Falcon, owned by Saeed Manana, in a maiden stakes race at Southwell, the following month.

Fast forward eight years and Tate has saddled over 300 winners and won over £3 million in prize money. He enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2013, when he saddled 62 winners on British soil, but has saddled at least 40 winners in every season since, bar 2017. In recent years, multiple Listed and Pattern level winners Invincible Army and Hey Gaman have flown the flag for the yard, but Tate also has a bevy of promising younger horses at his disposal, so has plenty to look forward to.

Website: http://www.jamestateracing.com/

Socials: https://www.instagram.com/jamestateracing/

Contact: james@jamestateracing.com

 

 

Bio: Nicholas John “Nicky” Henderson worked as assistant trainer to Fred Winter before taking out a training licence, in his own right, in 1978. He won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship for the first time in 1985/86 and has since won the trainers’ title four more times, including in 2016/17 and 2017/18.

In fact, the 2017/18 season was his most successful ever, in pecuniary terms, with over £3.4 million in prize money. In July, 2018, nearly 40 years after he saddled his first winner, Dukery, at Uttoxeter in October, 1978, Henderson reached 3,000 career winners when Brave Eagle landed odds of 4/9 in a beginners’ chase at Worcester.  In of these successes lead to him having an estimated net worth in 2024 of £8million. Other sources are less certain though about his net worth, and simply highlight his company net assets of £1.88m

Based at Seven Barrows in Lambourn, near Hungerford, Berkshire since 1992, Henderson has an outstanding record at Cheltenham and was, until 2018, the most successful trainer ever at the Cheltenham Festival. He was finally caught, and passed, by Willie Mullins on the final day of the 2018 Festival but, even so, he remains a close second in the all-time table. His sequence began with the victory of See You Then in the Champion Hurdle in 1985 and he has since won that race eight more times (most recently Constitution Hill in 2023), the Queen Mother Champion Chase six times, the Stayers’ Hurdle twice and the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice (with Long Run and Bob’s Worth).

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