Patrick Neville
Patrick ‘Paddy’ Neville hails from County Limerick but, nowdays, is based at Brecongill, a dual purpose training yard in Coverham, near Leyburn, in the Yorkshire Dales. Neville had been training race horses in his native Ireland for 15 years but, finding success hard to come by with low-grade horses, started to make occasional forays to Britain, before making the move permanent. While waiting for a British training licence, he worked for a spell as assistant to local trainer Ann Duffield, who credited him with masterminding the shock 28/1 victory of N’Golo in the Swinton Handicap Hurdle in 2022.
As a trainer in his own right, Neville enjoyed far his most successful season on British soil, numerically, in 2024/25, when he saddled 13 winners from 92 runners, at a strike rate of 14%, and amassed £205,522 in total prize money. Far and away his best horse, so far, has been The Real Whacker, who the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2023 and the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby in 2024.
At the time of writing, Neville was recently declared personally bankrupt at Darlington Crown Court as the result of a unpaid debt of €110,000 to Rebecca Dennis, who owns a quarter-share in The Real Whacker and loaned him the money in 2022. Ahead of his hearing, he said, “It doesn’t affect my licence.” I can’t own anything. I’ll be like a salaried trainer.” In the absence of Dennis, who said, understandably, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable at all”, The Real Whacker made his seasonal debut in a three-mile handicap at Perth in September, with the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby in November, once again, his early-season target.
In the 2025/2026 National Hunt season, so far, Neville has saddled nine winners and 22 placed horses from 41 runners and collected £86,555 in prize money. He currently lies twenty-fourth in the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship.
Contact details and social Links:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Patrick-Neville-Racing-100093030171402/