TRAINERS
FIND OUT ABOUT OUR TRAINERS
Christian Williams
In November 1982 Christian was born into a family where involvement with horses was a way of life and it wasn't long before he had ridden his first winner between-the-flags as a young man. Ever since Christian Williams has dedicated his life to horse racing.
Christian’s riding career was very successful. He rode more than 100 winners for both multiple Champion trainer Paul Nicholls and well-known Welsh handler Evan Williams. Christian enjoyed Grade One success on Noland, holds a perfect 3-3 record on Gold Cup winner Denman and was also a gallant runner up on Royal Auclair in the 2005 Grand National.
Having suffered some unlucky and quite serious injuries as a jockey Christian retired from the saddle to make the natural progression to training. He was first employed by leading National Hunt owner Dai Walters spending five years as a private trainer. But then it was time to make his dream move back to Ogmore Farm to embark on his own training career and thereby launching Christian Williams Racing.
Christian has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience both from high-level race riding but also working for a large selection of the most successful trainers in the sport. He adopts a hands on approach and affords every horse in his close knit yard the ultimate personal attention.
An ambitious, hungry man Christian realises it will be hard work but the aim is to win more big races and dine at the top table of UK trainers.
Ogmore Farm
It is fortunate to have both the Ewenny and Ogmore River running adjacent. Horses can cross over to the largest and highest sand dunes in Western Europe which cover a vast 840 acres of hills, trails and natural streams. All leading to an uninterrupted two mile stretch of magnificent sandy beach and lapping fringe of the sea.
At Ogmore Farm a different approach to racehorse training is observed by utilising the natural surroundings together with a hands on and holistic approach to the work.
The beach is used as part of the daily routine and thereby takes advantage of the benefits of cold salt water to aid with any leg injuries sustained from racing or exercising. The cooling and tightening effect of the chilled seawater greatly reduces any low-grade inflammation which is common after exercise. It is also beneficial for any open wounds and acts like a poultice to draw out infection.
We utilise the products of market leaders Easy Fix for all our needs. The schooling grounds are ideally placed in grassland with panoramic views of the dunes and beach. The hurdles and fences are easy to relocate which can help provide a different jumping test and underfoot conditions for every horse.
Oliver Greenall
At the age of 33, Oliver is a licensed trainer for both flat and national hunt, having trained point to point for 6 seasons and now is in his 3rd season with a full license. Oliver previously gained a vast amount of experience in the racing industry, not least five years employment at Mick Easterby’s yard and a short spell with Sir Mark Prescott.
During his time as a jockey he won the Men’s National Point-to-Point Championship in 2007/8 when he recorded a record 56 winners in points and is a past Amateur Jockey’s Association title holder under rules were he rode a total of 78 winners and 42 in one season.
He retired from race riding on the last day of 2014/15 point to point season at Umberleigh with a winner on his last ride He has had plenty of success in the point to point field including a fantastic treble at Bangor on Dee and getting beat a neck in the Aintree Foxhunters with Cool Friend.
Stockton Hall
Over the last couple of years Oliver has invested substantially to ensure Stockton Hall facilities are in line with our ambitions. When you combine these with there superb setting, Oliver has an establishment which he can be proud of.
Oliver built a water splash in 2017 and it has been a great addition to the facilities here at Stockton Hall. After every horse has exercised, they walk them through the splash and it not only washes their legs off but also cool them down after they have worked. They also use the splash for horses with previous leg injuries as they can stand in there daily and helps prevent any further injury and can also help speed up recovery.
All Weather Gallops
Oliver has a one-mile gallop, with a 2-furlong loop. This is a good starting point and excellent in helping to develop a horse's balance, they have found that this works very well with the flat horses.
They also have a four furlong carpet uphill gallop, this is an especially good gallop for ensuring and maintaining a jump horse's stamina.
The Schooling Grounds
Oliver is fortunate to have superb schooling grounds, set in the middle of open countryside. The established turf ensures good going and there is a gradual incline. He makes use of fences, hurdles and tyres in order to ensure there horses are confident and technically correct in their jumping.
Loose Schools
With an all weather surface, this is a vital facility for any jumps trainer. It is used to school horses of all ages and experience and can accommodate a range of jumps at different heights. This enables Oliver to address a specific goal, from schooling of young horses to sorting out a problem with an older more experienced horse.
Oliver has three walkers, each being able to accommodate five horses at a time.
He also has a lunging ring, or sand pen as it is also known, which has a number of applications, one of which is giving the horses somewhere to roll and relax after exercise. It is also used for long reigning and lunging young horses on a sound all weather surface.
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Gordon Elliott
Gordon Elliott began his racing career as a teenager, working for Tony Martin at weekends and during school holidays. Having taken out his amateur rider’s license at the age of 16, he went on to be a prolific rider both in the point-to-point field and on the racecourse. He rode a total of 46 winners on the racecourse, with the highlight being his win in the Punchestown Champion Bumper on the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained King’s Road in 1998. He also and also rode as an amateur for Martin Pipe. Having hung up his riding boots at the end of 2005, he began to concentrate on his new career as a trainer the following year. Gordon Elliott came to worldwide attention when training Silver Birch (Robbie Power) to win the Aintree Grand National in 2007, a success made all the more remarkable by the fact that, at the time, he had yet to train a winner in Ireland. Gordon trained five winners in Britain before his first success at home.
Don Cossack (Bryan Cooper) gave him another major success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, 2016 and he sent out his first winner at Royal Ascot when Commissioned (Adam Kirby) landed the Queen Alexandra Stakes in June of the same year. Gordon recorded a treble on the opening day of the 2017 Cheltenham Festival when Labaik (Jack Kennedy), Apple’s Jade (Bryan Cooper) and Tiger Roll (Lisa O’Neill) all won. In all, Gordon has trained 14 Cheltenham winners and he was the leading trainer at the Festival for the first time in 2017 with six winners. Gordon went very close to winning his first National Hunt trainers’ championship in the 2016/2017 season. He led all the way until the penultimate day of the season, but while he missed out on the coveted crown, he did match Willie Mullins’ tally of 193 winners, a record for the number of winners in a season, set in 2012/2013.
A treble at Downpatrick on Sunday, March 25, 2018 saw Gordon set a new record of 194 winners in a season. He reached the 200 winner mark, the first trainer to do so in a National Hunt season, for the 2017/2018 season when the Declan Lavery-ridden Portnablagh won the Cork & Waterford Mares’ Point-To-Point INH Flat Race at Cork on Easter Monday, April 2, 2018.
Tiger Roll, a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner, gave Gordon his second success in the Aintree Grand National when winning under Davy Russell on Saturday, April 14, 2018.
Cullentra Stables
Gordon has four purpose built gallops; a 4 furlong circular Wexford sand gallop which we have recently resurfaced, a three furlong warm up ring and two extended 6 furlong gallops, one woodchip, one sand – both on an incline on which the horses do their faster work. There is an all-weather schooling strip with Easyfix hurdles and fences and also a schooling ring inside our circular gallop that is fantastic for our younger horses. In addition he has schooling fences on grass.
After exercise the horses walk home through a natural stream to cool and relieve their muscles and are then washed in one of our multiple wash bays followed by a cool down on one of our 7 walkers. In addition to the walk through steam we also have a natural spa in which 2 horse can stand and move around in the cold free flowing water which is extremely beneficial to the recovery and repair of their tendons.
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Ian Williams
In the early 90’s, Ian spent 6 months with Martin Pipe at Pond House before joining Francois Doumen at Chantilly in France. His time there coincided with a golden age for the yard with The Fellow landing a couple of King George’s as well as the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In 1997, Ian returned to Britain to begin his own journey as a trainer. Initially based near Oxford, with just a dozen horses, half of which came from the ever supportive John and Anne Poynton; very quickly it became obvious that these facilities were not to the standard the ambitious Williams required.
Fortunately, Ian was introduced to Patrick Kelly, a very successful businessman, who shared a passion for horseracing. Mr Kelly had a vision to create a state of the art training facility in the heart of the Midlands and together, they created the amazing training complex of Dominion Racing Stables.
There are currently over 140 horses in training and on 29th November 2016 saddled winner number 1,000 when Appy Days won at Lingfield. Yet, Ian remains fiercely ambitious and continues on the quest for champions.
As the tag line on the website says "Passion to succeed never dies." Ian’s objectives are simple - improve the quality of the string and continue to saddle winners. He achieved a lifetime ambition on 15th March 2016 when Ballyalton gave him his first Cheltenham Festival winner. Having run so well to be 2nd to the mighty Faugheen in 2014, it was appropriate that Ballyalton should give him his first 'gold medal'.
When Brasted won at Chelmsford on 15th October 2015, Ian completed a full set of saddling a winner at every racecourse in the UK - a unique achievement in modern training!
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Olly Murphy
From an early age Olly’s future lay in the racing industry. Originally Olly’s ambitions were in the saddle. He attended Pony Club, hunted and led his Mum’s string, before riding in point-to-points and progressing to riding as an amateur under rules. He rode 30 winners before he inevitably outgrew his breeches!
Once Olly had decided he wanted to a train, he spent a year with Alan King. He then made the move to Ireland, joining Gordon Elliott as Assistant Trainer. Olly spent four seasons with Gordon, tasting success at the highest level. During Olly’s time, Gordon won several Grade 1’s, numerous Festival winners and was all topped off by Don Cossack winning the 2016 Gold Cup.
In 2017, the time came for Olly to take up the reins himself. Three years into his training career, Olly has trained 216 winners, won over £2 million in prize money and is a Grade 1 winning trainer.
Olly’s training career started back in July 2017 at Brighton, where Dove Mountain set the standard by winning and it wasn’t long before Gold Class followed up at Market Rasen, making it two from two.
He finished the 2017/18 season on 47 winners, surpassing many of his peers. A notable highlight was Hunters Call winning The Racing Welfare Ascot Hurdle £150,000.
Olly finished the 2018/19 season on 82 winners and £650,888 in prize money. A winner at Cheltenham, several placed efforts in Grade 1’s including, the second & third in The Supreme Novices Hurdle proved the yard is heading in the right direction.
Olly’s third full season saw him train his first Grade 1 winner with Itchy Feet, winning The Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase for Kate and Andrew Brooks. Due to the Corona virus cutting the season short, Olly finished the season on 67 winners and £613,394 in prize money.
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Sam Allwood
Sam Allwood set up his training yard in 2010, training point to point horses, situated in the village of Ash Magna near Whitchurch, Shropshire. After a successful career as a point to point rider, riding 75 winners under both codes, Hunter chasing and pointing. In the summer of 2019 he gained his National Hunt Licence.
Sam started his career at Phillip Hobbs’s yard in the south west where a lot was learnt about what needed to be done in the day to day running of a highly successful racing yard, 3 years was spent working with a great team and high class horses. Sam furthered his experience by moving to Robert Alner where he rode many successful pointers including horses on the track, it was a great yard to be associated with and they were great at peaking there horses at the right time.
Sam also spent some valuable time riding out at numerous other yards including Victor Dartnall and Dan Skelton.
Church Farm
The yard now boasts some great facilities including 15 large stables, an outdoor school with excellent schooling jumps, a 5 horse Monarch horse walker, a 3 furlong hill grass gallop and a 300m deep sand oval gallop including a water splash.
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Jonjo O'Neill
Jonjo O’Neill continues to enjoy one of the most successful careers in horseracing. As a jockey and dual-purpose trainer he has reached virtually every height this great sport has to offer, along the way overcoming adversity, including beating cancer. Through all of this, his love of horseracing, his affinity with horses and thirst for success has never changed.
Jonjo O’Neill was born on April 13th 1952 in County Cork, Ireland. His boyhood ambition was to become a jockey and after leaving school he began an apprenticeship with Michael Connolly. In 1970 he rode his first winner when Lana dead heated at the Curragh.
In 1977/78, he broke the record for most winners in a season. His tally of one hundred and forty nine beat the previous record (held by former champion and one of Jonjo’s closest friends, Ron Barry) by twenty four. The following season, he claimed the Jockeys’ Championship for a second successive time.
Jonjo was a hugely popular figure as a jockey. In a career spanning 16 years (between 1970 and 1986), he notched up 901 winners, and secured a reputation as one of the greatest jump jockeys of all time.
Jonjo is widely remembered for riding Dawn Run, the only horse to win the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He also had a wonderful partnership with Sea Pigeon, on whom he won the Champion Hurdle in 1980.
Jonjo O’Neill is one of racing’s outstanding National Hunt trainers.
His career as a trainer began in 1986, the same year he was also diagnosed with cancer. With trademark determination, he battled and overcame Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Based at Penrith for 15 years, he moved to Jackdaws Castle, near Cheltenham, in 2001.
He remains the only person to register a seasonal tally of 100 winners as both a jockey and trainer. Additionally, he is the only person to ride and train a winner on the Flat, and over fences and hurdles at Ascot.
Currently in his 19th season at this state-of-the-art Jackdaws Castle, Jonjo has joined an elite band of trainers with 2,000 winners, among them 26 Cheltenham Festival successes and, famously in April 2010, the Grand National at Aintree with Don’t Push It and 2012 the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Synchronised.
Jackdaws Castle
Set in 500 acres of glorious Cotswolds countryside just 25 minutes from Cheltenham Racecourse, Jackdaws Castle is arguably the finest training facility in British jump racing.
With three grass gallops, two all-weather gallops of five-furlongs and one-mile, outstanding schooling grounds featuring series of hurdles, brush hurdles and regular chasing fences, an equine swimming pool, an indoor school and an equine solarium, your horses will experience the very best care from our passionate and talented team.
Tom Dascombe
Before accepting the offer from Michael Owen and Andrew Black to take over as trainer at Manor House Tom had already made a name for himself in the training field. He began his career as a jump jockey with Martin Pipe. His time there was well spent and Tom reckons he learned more in five years with Mr Pipe than he would have achieved in 15 years elsewhere.
His education continued during stints as an assistant trainer with Ralph Beckett and Mike De Kock. Tom set up on his own in 2006 and since then he has successfully increased the number of winners every year.
Manor House Stables
Manor House Stables is set in over 160 acres of the beautiful Cheshire countryside. The fully equipped facilities offer accommodation for 90 horses, grass gallops, an impressive 7-furlong all-weather gallop, trotting ring, sand roll, equine pool and spa. The well-appointed owners’ lounge with a viewing balcony is a sign of the stables commitment to making owners feel welcome.
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Donald McCain
Donald grew up in a racing household; his father the legendary Ginger McCain trained 4 Grand National winners. He started his career as a jockey and rode some 40 winners. After giving up race riding Donald worked for Luca Cumani, Sir Michael Stoute and Oliver Sherwood as Assistant Trainer.
Having served his training apprenticeship with some of the top names in the industry he returned to Bankhouse stables to take over the reins from his father in 2006. Since then his record has been amazing.
Bankhouse Stables
Bankhouse Stables is set in the beautiful surroundings of Cholmondeley Castle Estate, in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. Bankhouse has stabling for more than 100 horses, superb private grass and two purpose built all-weather gallops. Owners and horses alike can enjoy the quiet and peaceful setting.
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Dr. Richard Newland
Dr. Richard Newland is best known for his handling of the 2014 Grand National winner Pineau De Re, but it has been the shrewd placing of his string and an uncanny ability to improve horses that has seen his training career soar to new heights. Dr Newland enjoyed a career-best 53 winners during the 2018/19 jumps season at a phenomenal strike rate of 24%.
His yard has performed consistently well since, with his seasonal strike-rate dipping beneath 20 per cent just once in the ensuing six campaigns.
Newland broke the 50 winner barrier for the first time last season – finishing on 53 from 217 runners – and collected more than £600,000 in prize-money, his best haul since his National-winning season. However, those feats already look under threat after a red-hot summer during which Newland has trained 29 winners over jumps and seen his earnings push past the £250,000 mark.
A recent move to a top-of-the-range new facility will allow him to double the number of horses in his care and take the stable to even greater heights.
Urloxhey Stables
Richard Newland's new yard will be located just eight miles from his current base and will allow for an expansion that could see a doubling of the number of horses under his stewardship.
The new yard is the top of the range with 40 new boxes, a new top-of-the-range six-furlong gallop, schooling grounds and lots of turnout.
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