Trainer Trends 1st Sept

The McCain team are in Red-Hot Form

See which trainers Andy Newton is recommending to follow this week, while he could have a handler that you might not have expected to see on the current cold list…..

Some highlights from last week’s spotlighted trainers………………

Tim Walford: Only had three runners since last week’s mention but a 15/8 winner and a monster 50/1 third would have had followers laughing all the way to the bank.

Tim Vaughan: He celebrated his birthday with a winner last Thursday, but since then, despite a whole host of placed runners, they’ve only had one more winner.

Peter Chapple-Hyam: Another that’s not had many runners in the last seven days, but a tasty 15/2 victory at Yarmouth on Sunday was a bonus, while 5 of their last 6 finished fourth or better.

Mahmood Al Zarooni: A massive 16 runners since last week, but backers were rewarded with 17/2 and 6/1 winners, while 10 of those finished third or better.

William Haggas: Another that’s had plenty of placed runners (11 from last 17), but a 13/1 double on Monday means that despite not featuring in this week’s hot list they are still a stable in good heart.

This Week’s Featured Hot Trainers……

REBECCA CURTIS (4 winners from her last 7 runners, 57% strike-rate) – Operating over both codes at present so don’t just limit yourself to just looking for her runners at the jumping fixtures. That said, all of those four recent winners came over the sticks, while a certain AP McCoy was doing the steering on three of them! The only downside is that her runners are extremely thin on the ground at the moment – just a double entry in the NH Flat race at Stratford on Saturday to look forward to.

TIM WALFORD (4 winners from his last 8 runners, 50% strike-rate) – He featured in last week’s list and with 2 more winners (6/1 and 15/8) from just 5 runners last week meant his strike-rate remains one to take notice of. Include into that a 50/1 third at Ripon on Monday then there might be a few of his still going under the radar. Jockey Graham Gibbons gets the rides on the majority of their runners, while don’t forget they are a yard that operate over both codes. They have the well-fancied Zefooha heading to Redcar on Thursday, another at Haydock on Friday and plenty more on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to get stuck into.

DONALD McCAIN (10 winners from his last 21 runners, 48% strike-rate) – Overturn winning the Scottish Summer Champion Hurdle a few Saturday’s ago has kick-started another hot spell for the McCain team with nine more winners since, including a huge 11/1 success at Hereford on Wedsnesady. Add in that 19 of his recent 21 runners have finished third of better then I don’t need to tell you that their current winning strike-rate could have been even better! Stable jockey Jason Maguire is out of action with a back injury after taking a tumble at Cartmel last Saturday, so that leaves the door open for Adrian Lane and John Kington to grab some limelight – two jockeys they’ve used plenty of times since.  With 36 winners over the sticks already then before the real jumps season has kicked in they are already well on the way to surpassing last year’s tally of 100 wins. Future entries include Cuban Piece, who is entered on both Thursday (Newton Abbot) and Sunday (Fontwell), while they should have more heading to Newton Abbot next Monday.

ROBIN BASTIMAN (4 winners from his last 9 runners, 44% strike-rate) – Most people known this Yorkshire-based trainer for getting Borderlescott to win two Nunthorpe Stakes, but when his sprinters hit top form then you should really take notice. Winners at 4/1,5/6, 11/4 and 9/1 over the last few weeks suggest that his limited string are in cracking form, while they even had a rare winner over 1m2f during that period too. Jockeys Robert Winston and Lee Newman are used the most, but Bastiman does have a liking for Fallon too – evident when he put the title-chasing jockey on his well-fancied Miss Blink at Lingfield last week. Looking back at past seasons it’s hard to know how they survive as 14 winners in 1999 is the best they’ve ever done, but I guess Borderlescott’s haul of Group race prize money has more than helped in recent years. They are currently on 10 winners for the season, so just another 5 and they will have their best ever win tally for a campaign. On the horizon they have one heading to Brighton (Miss Blink) on Friday and a whole host off to Musselburgh on Saturday.

JEREMY NOSEDA (9 winners from his last 22 runners, 41% strike-rate) – Five winners from his last 6 runners have shot the Newmarket-based handler right up the hot list in recent days and with plenty more scheduled to run over the next week then it should pay to keep on the right side of their horses. Interestingly if you see one of theirs go off favourite then take note as ALL of their last 6 runners that were sent off as the market leader won! In terms of jockeys they do shop around but Jimmy Fortune tends to get the leg-up on most of their runners, riding 3 of those 8 winners, but also keep an eye on young John Fahy, who is 2 winners from just his last 3 rides for the yard.

TIM VAUGHAN (16 winners from his last 49 runners, 33% strike-rate) – Only had one winner since his birthday last Thursday, but before that he was firing in successes all over the place and although his current strike-rate is still being backed up by that good spell a few weeks ago with a plenty of placed runners it’s clear his horses are still in great nick. Dickie Johnson obviously gets booked for most of their runners and with the limited jumps fixtures at present then there’s no danger of his talents being double booked. The yard have already bagged a monster 45 winners this season so it’s long odds on that they will better last season’s total of 91 – to be honest they might even do that before the NH season kicks in proper around October. Plenty of theirs should be on show at Newton Abbot on Thursday, Stratford on Saturday and Fontwell in Sunday – it goes without saying that a lot of theirs will have multiple entries so it might require a bit of homework to keep track of where certain horses are actually heading over the coming days.

NOEL QUINLAN (4 winners from his last 13 runners, 31% strike-rate) – 4 of his last 7 runners have ended up in the winners’ enclosure and with a 28/1 success amongst that lot then anyone following the yard are certainly smiling. Based in Newmarket you can expect to see most of their runners around the Suffolk area or at the southern tracks, while there’s not a lot I can tell you about jockey bookings as they used 12 different jockeys for their last 13 runners! Looking ahead they got one entered at Brighton on Friday, some at Thirsk and Ascot on Friday and some more at York and Newcastle over the weekend.

KEITH GOLDSWORTHY (3 winners from his last 10 runners, 30% strike-rate) – 7/1, 6/1 and 5/6 winners from their last 5 runners mean that the yard are already on 8 winners for the season – just 9 short of their final tally of 17 for the whole of 2010! All of their runners of late have been over hurdles or NH Flat races, but they do have recent winner Bobs Law entered for a Novice Chase at Newton Abbot on Thursday. Jamie Moore has been getting most of the rides for the yard, but they do also like to use AP McCoy when they can – backed up when the champ booted home Bobs Law at Worcester last week. Away from Newton Abbot on Thursday they’ve should also have a few going to Stratford on Sunday, including recent winner Cresswell Bramble.

CLIVE COX (5 winners from his last 22 runners, 23% strike-rate) – I always remember John Francome chuckling to himself on the Morning Line a few years ago when talking about Cox’s Xtension – of course he was referring to his talented miler that now races in Hong Kong, but the 34 winners so far this season the yard have already extended past last year’s total of 29 winners and will now have their 2009 tally of 52 (their best ever) in their sights. Adam Kirby is the main man in the saddle, having ridden all their recent winners, but interestingly they are another yard that seem to do well with their horses that are sent off favourite – the last four have finished 1-3-2-1! Too many entries over the next few days to mention them all but it will be a shock if they can’t improve or at least maintain their current good strike-rate.

This week’s cold trainers

Dandy Nicholls – (14 days and 41 runners without a winner) -  Okay, I don’t for one minute expect to see the ‘sprint king’ on the cold list for much longer and really it’s only been just shy of 2 weeks without a winner. That said, this feature is all about keeping you up-to-date with trainer’s current form and with 40 runners without a win then by Dandy’s high standards and the sheer volume of runners they have I thought it was worth bringing to your attention. Of course, I would not be going out blindly laying all their runners, but when drilling into their recent stats it is a bit more worrying that only 7 of their last 36 runners finished in the frame – suggesting there might be an angle laying their runners in the place market where the liabilities are a lot lower.

Pat Phelan – (51 days and 40 runners without a winner) – Based in Epsom the yard will argue that they’ve had 4 seconds and 2 thirds from their last 12 runners, but it’s almost 2 months and over 40 runners now since they last tasted success. Yes, they are not the biggest of stables, but they do operate a fair few runners around the southern tracks and considering they are based in Epsom it might be unusual for some that they’ve not had a winner at their local track, from 21 runners, yet this season. They tend to do best on Kempton’s AW track, where they boast a +£31 level stakes profit this season, so perhaps it will be a runner at the Sunbury-on-Thames course that can end their lean spell.

Note: Don’t forget you can check a trainer’s future entries by clicking on their name