Jump Trainer of the Year

JUMP

TRAINER of the Year

HENRY DE BROMHEAD PAUL NICHOLLS

FERGAL O’BRIEN DAN SKELTON

THE NOMINATIONS

BY PETER SCARGILL

HENRY DE BROMHEAD

The Irish domination of the major spring festivals in Britain was one of the main talking points of the last jumps season, and no trainer dominated quite like Henry de Bromhead.

In a quite remarkable tour de force, De Bromhead captured the Champion Hurdle with Honeysuckle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase with Put The Kettle On, the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Minella Indo and, to top it off, saddled the 1-2 in the Grand National with Minella Times and Balko Des Flos.

It was the first time any trainer had won all of those races in the same year, but for good measure he also took out the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham, plus the Irish Champion Hurdle and Savills Chase at Leopardstown.

Long respected for his ability to get the best out of his horses, as was showcased by the brilliant two-mile chaser Sizing Europe, De Bromhead also played a pivotal role in the record-breaking season for Rachael Blackmore, who rode four of the trainer’s Cheltenham winners and the Grand National winner, a moment that put racing in the headlines for all the right reasons.

Approachable and thoughtful, De Bromhead dealt amicably with the additional publicity that came his way - not only through his feats on the racecourse, but also through receiving Envoi Allen, the highestprofile horse to leave Gordon Elliott’s following the fallout from the photo of the trainer sitting astride the dead horse Morgan.

De Bromhead’s feats may never be matched again in what was a season that left no one in doubt about his abundant talents.

PAUL NICHOLLS

When reflecting on last season for Paul Nicholls, three things come to mind: the trainers’ championship, Clan Des Obeaux and Frodon.

On the first point, Nicholls reasserted himself as the leading domestic trainer in Britain with a thunderous season in which he sent out a personal best of 176 winners and wrestled back the trainers’ title from Nicky Henderson to take the prize for a 12th time.

What made that all the more impressive was that Nicholls achieved the feat without the presence of a bona fide superstar in his stable, but instead extracted the very best out of his talented runners through a buccaneering approach and steely determination.

Clan Des Obeaux was one of the horses to benefit from this approach, bypassing the Cheltenham Festival to instead land the Grade 1 Bowl Chase at Aintree before providing Britain with a victory in one of Ireland’s premier contests - the Punchestown Gold Cup only a matter of weeks after Britain’s Cheltenham mauling.

However, it is Frodon who perhaps best exemplifies what Nicholls can do. Maybe he is just underestimated by everyone else, but Frodon’s triumphs last season were a testament to Nicholls and his Ditcheat team.

His top performance was, of course, his memorable all-the-way-win under Bryony Frost in the King George VI Chase (a 12th for Nicholls) giving racing another positive story to present to the wider world.

It is not the first time Nicholls has achieved the unlikely with a horse not thought capable of scaling such heights, and it was a standout moment in what was a super season for the trainer.

FERGAL O’BRIEN

To slightly amend the well-known chant from the football stands, there are only two Fergal O’Briens.

One is the irreverent face of the operation presented on social media under the guardianship of Dr Simon Gillson that has catapulted O’Brien into being one of the most well-known, and followed, racing figures around. The other is the ambitious competitor who has turned his stable into one of the leading yards in Britain.

It is the latter, of course, who is the most important, but the general feel-good and positive vibe around O’Brien’s stable is undoubtedly an overall positive for jump racing and the wider sport. And based on the results of the last 12 months, we are going to be hearing and seeing even more of O’Brien both online and in person in the years ahead.

O’Brien, who has since teamed up with Graeme McPherson, sent out a personal best of 104 winners in the 2020-21 season and he led the way in this season’s trainers’ championship into November, as his team seeks to build on a high of seventh in the table achieved last season.

While a trio of Grade 2 prizes were delivered by the talented and promising Hurricane Harvey, Alaphilippe and Silver Hallmark last season, the sight of the evergreen and eternally enthusiastic Perfect Candidate powering through the mud and the gloom at Haydock to win his ninth race as a 13-year-old last November further showcased O’Brien’s skill in handling his horses and maintaining their enthusiasm.

There is certainly plenty of enthusiasm for O’Brien to continue succeeding, and he has shown himself more than capable of doing so.

DAN SKELTON

Last season was the one where the quantity of winners we have become accustomed to from Dan Skelton were bolstered by a greater quality as well.

This plan set out by Skelton and his team helped his yard land Grade 1s with Allmankind, My Drogo, Protektorat and Shan Blue, while Nube Negra came agonisingly close to running down Put The Kettle On in the Queen Mother Champion Chase too.

The range of talented horses and big races won by Skelton in the last season highlighted his ascent to becoming one of the major players in British jump racing, not to mention the fact that he has the champion jump jockey as part of the team as well.

The victory of Harry Skelton, a vital cog in the racing operation alongside his wife Bridget Andrews and Dan’s wife Grace, was a feather in the cap for all involved, with 136 of his 152 winners being supplied by his family yard.

Alongside the racecourse success, Dan Skelton displayed an ability to stand back and see the wood for the trees despite the all-consuming nature of his role when highlighting and discussing issues around the, at times, overbearing focus on the Cheltenham Festival.

In voicing his views on the stresses and mental challenges brought on by always looking to Cheltenham at the expense of other big targets during the jumps season, he showed himself to be someone who thinks about his sport and how to try to better it for others too.

Bold and confident in the ability of himself and his horses, Skelton is not unlike his mentor Paul Nicholls and he is firmly on the path to emulate him based on what we continue to see from his yard.