Born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on February 28, 1958, Nigel Tinkler is the son of the late Colin Tinkler Snr., whose training operation he took over in 1982. From his original base at Boltby, near Thirsk, Tinkler saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winner, The Ellier, ridden by Gee Armytage, in the Kim Muir Challenge Cup in 1987. The 11-year-old, who went on to finish seventh behind Maori Venture in the 1987 Grand National, had the distinction of being the first winner ridden by a female jockey at the Cheltenham Festival.
In 1989, Tinkler retired from race riding to concentrate solely on training from his present base, Woodland Stables in Langton, near Malton. He holds a dual-purpose licence and, while his winners under National Hunt Rules have been few and far between in recent years, he enjoyed early success in that sphere with the likes of Rodeo Star, who won the Tote Gold Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Newbury in 1992, and Sacre D’Or, who became the second Cheltenham Festival winner, in the Mildmay Of Flete Challenge Cup Handicap Chase, in 1993.
On the Flat, Tinkler enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2021, when he saddled 41 runners from 406 runners, at a strike rate of 10%. Earlier in his career, he saddled Sugarfoot to nine victories between 1996 and 2000, including the Park Stakes and the Leicestershire Stakes, both at Doncaster and both Group 3 contests, in 1999 and 2000, respectively. More recently, on September 11, 2020, Tinkler enjoyed the first Group 2 winner of his career, Ubettabelieveit, ridden by Rowan Scott, who sprang a 40/1 surprise when leading in the final strides to win the Flying Childers Stakes, also at Doncaster, by a short-head. The same year, he also saddled Acklam Express to three wins, including the Listed Julia Graves Roses Stakes at York.