The battle for superiority between British and Irish horse racing trainers has one that has long been fought on the turf.
Whilst the majority of casual pundits wouldn’t have a clue who was training the horses from one minute to the next, those that are deeply invested in the sport will know that information in minute detail.
For a time, the Irish trainers couldn’t get anywhere near their British counterparts, with the entire point being that the sport was seemingly set up for them to fail. That has long since been turned on its head and now it is the Brits that feel as if the sport is beyond them.
Will it turn back again any time soon?
What Willie Mullins’ British Jump Trainer Title Tells Us
Towards the end of April 2024, the jump racing world lined up to offer plaudits to Willie Mullins after he was crowned the British Jump Trainers’ Champion. He became the first Irishman to win the title in 70 years, with many feeling as though it signalled the death knell of British jump racing.
In some ways, Mullins winning the title shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise; after all, he is the most successful trainer ever at the Cheltenham Festival and his name is regularly attached to the biggest prizes in the sport. On the other hand, becoming the first Irishman to win the award for 70 years means that something quite drastic must have happened.
@raceday.rtv Willie Mullins the Bristish Champion Trainer 2023/24 👏👏#Raceday #HorseRacing #sandownpark ♬ original sound – Raceday.RTV
There is also the fact that Mullins didn’t actually enter as many horses as some of the British trainers, yet was still able to walk away with the title. The British Jump Trainers’ Championship is decided upon according to prize money, with Mullins’ horses winning more than £3.2 million over the previous year, largely thanks to success in some of the biggest races in the sport.
He was responsible for the winners of the Grand National, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Scottish Grand National, to name but three important races. Although he had a fraction of the runners of the likes of Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls, his won more money.
Ireland’s Domination is ‘Killing’ the Sport
In 2014, Pineau De Re won the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse, trained by Dr Richard Newland. Now the doctor is voicing his concerns that the success of Irish trainers is all but killing the sport from a British point of view. Having been involved in jump racing for many years, Newland decided that he needed to branch out into flat racing in 2023 in order to try to keep his business viable.
Speaking to Racing TV, Dr Newland said that National Hunt racing in the country is ‘in crisis’. He pointed out that in 2023 there were 1,000 Irish jump runners taking part in UK races, taking home more than £6.5 million in prize money.
Why is English horse racing in the regions allowing itself to be destroyed by the south and the BHA?
Restricted races, short fields, short odds Un preferential days and coverage.
BHA is killing English horse racing to support a few select rich locations.
The Irish are masters of racing now
— taylordauthor.bsky.social (@taylordauthor.bsky.social) 15 November 2024 at 13:11
During that same period, only one UK-trained horse managed to win in Ireland, which resulted in €121,000 in prize money. A big part of the problem is the fact that the success of the Irish trainers means that more and more British-based owners are taking their horses out of the country and over to Ireland to get trained.
Of the 16 Graded races run at the Cheltenham Festival, 13 of them were won by Irish-trained horses, whilst 12 of them resulted in an Irish one-two. Over the past four years, Newland says, there has been a 45% drop in UK trainers entering their horses into the Cheltenham Festival, which is problem for the sport’s long-term success.
Can UK-Based Trainers Get Back in the Game?
The most obvious question to ask is whether or not trainers from the United Kingdom will be able to get back to the point of enjoying success in the coming years. It is, Dr Newland said, a problem that the British Horseracing Authority has at least recognised as something that needs to be fixed. He said, “British racing can’t hide from this. We have a problem and we have got to do something about it”.
The good news is that Julie Harrington has said that it is the BHA’s firm intention to tackle the problem in the coming years. Ladt year Dan Skelton did at least come close to winning the title that ultimately went to Mullins, but it isn’t enough.
One of the biggest problems that British jump racing has is the fact that the prize money on offer for many British races isn’t good enough to appeal. As a result, more and more British trainers and owners are entering their horses into competitions in other countries, which is leaving something of drain on resources in this country. It is not that there is no talent when it comes to UK-trained horses.
There are plenty of big guns that can be wheeled out for the right occasion. The issue is more that the majority of races run in the United Kingdom offer little interest to UK-based trainers, leaving them open to be hoovered up by the Irish.
The good thing about Dan Skelton is that (even though he hasn’t been training long) when he gets a Gold Cup type, he will give it a go. Protektorat was third and fifth in Gold Cups. They regrouped, reevaluated and won a Ryanair. Grey Dawning is in such good hands going forward.
— Samantha Martin (@sam_angelina22) November 23, 2024
If the BHA can get to the point that more and more events offer at least some interest to trainers from the UK then the improvement for them will happen. The problem on that front is that it is a long road back that isn’t helped by the knowledge that there simply isn’t as much money in British racing as there used to be.
Prize money is seemingly shrinking all of the time, which means that more and more people within the industry are looking to the likes of Qatar and the United States of America to find locations where the prize money is more in line with the amounts needed for their enterprises to earn enough money to survive.
