Leading Contenders for British Flat Trainers’ Championship

  • Posted on
  • /Under News

It has been an exciting start to the 2024 Flat season in Great Britain, with the British Classics and Royal Ascot producing some exceptional performances on the track.

Here is a look at who has put themselves in contention for the 2024 British Flat Trainers’ Championship following the opening major meetings of the season.

Aidan O’Brien

 

Irishman Aidan O’Brien has picked up just short of £4 million in prize money from just 13 winners in the early stages of the campaign. Victories for City Of Troy in the Derby, Kyprios in the Ascot Gold Cup, and Auguste Rodin in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes have helped the Ballydoyle trainer take an early lead in the Flat Trainers’ Championship standings.

O’Brien has a strong team of horses this year so he will be targeting all the big meetings on this side of the Irish Sea. Kyprios is set to return in the Goodwood Cup at Glorious Goodwood where he will be a hot favourite to win another major prize in the stayers’ division.

The most successful British Classic-winning trainer in history has been the Champion Trainer in Great Britain on six occasions. His last success was in 2017. This year looks like a great opportunity for the Irishman to extend his tally to seven wins.

John and Thady Gosden

Father and son pairing John and Thady Gosden made history last year by becoming the first duo to win a Flat Trainers’ Championship together. Thady joined his father John on the trainer’s licence in 2021, and it took them just two years to gain a title.

The Gosden duo have accumulated over £2 million in prize money already this season. The reigning champions had a great week at Royal Ascot, with Israr and Running Lion coming out on top in the Wolfreton Stakes and Duke Of Cambridge Stakes respectively. They also tasted Group One triumph earlier in the campaign with Audience in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

This year’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes could prove to be an important race in determining who wins the British Flat Trainers’ Championship. The Thady team have three runners entered for that Group One middle-distance contest, with Middle Earth, Emily Upjohn, and Arrest all set to be involved at Ascot.

Andrew Balding

No trainer has arguably been more consistent than Andrew Balding over the last few years. If the British Flat Trainers’ Championship was determined by the number of winners and not prize money, the Kingsclere-based trainer would be a champion by now.

Balding has a strong team of horses from a wide range of owners in the sport. He is one of the trainers on the RaceShare roster, as he trains Scampi for the syndicate. You can buy shares in a racehorse like Scampi with Balding for as little as £76 per share. You will get regular updates from the leading British trainer on how Scampi is training and get the chance to see the horse in action on the track.

The son of former British Champion Trainer Ian Balding should have plenty more winners as the season progresses. How he fares at the big meetings will determine where he finishes in the standings at the end of the campaign.

This year’s British Flat Trainers’ Championship winner will lift the trophy on British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 19th of October.