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The 2024 flat racing season has reached its thrilling conclusion, with British Champions Day at Ascot drawing the curtain on another fantastic campaign of heart-racing action.ย
While the hard work never stops for the top flat trainers, they will certainly take time to look back at the highs and lows of the 2024 season.ย
Some handlers have excelled more than others in the last five months or so, getting their yards into tip-top shape and winning some of the sportโs grandest contests.ย
With the scene set, letโs take a look at some of the trainers who have made their presence felt and left their mark this season.ย
Aidan O’Brien
Itโs so often that season reviews kick off with Aidan OโBrien, and this year is no different as the master of Ballydoyle looks set to coast to his first Trainersโ Championship since 2017.ย
OโBrienโs runners are regular favourites in the racing betting, and you can see why with 30 wins and a further 79 places in 145 outingsโworth roughly ยฃ8 million in prize money.ย
His standout wins this year include City Of Troyโs Group 1 hat-trick of the Derby, the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International, as well as the English/Irish St. Leger double with Kyprios and Jan Breughel.
Not to mention a record-extending 16 Irish Derby success at the Curragh with Los Angeles, as well as an array of other Group 1 victories.ย
Ralph Beckett
Ralph Beckett isnโt in the top five of the Trainersโ Championship race at the time of writing, sitting in sixth narrowly behind Karl Burke and William Haggas.ย
However, when you assess just how good his season has actually been beyond the numbers, he deserves his place on this list.ย
Bluestocking has been arguably the story of the entire flat racing campaign, as the Juddmonte mare has won the hearts of flat enthusiastsโespecially with her latest win in the Arc de Triomphe.ย
As well as her other two other Group 1 wins this year, Beckett has enjoyed top-level success in the Irish Oaks with You Got To Me, adding another Classic to his ever-growing list of honours.ย
Andrew Balding
Sitting second behind OโBrien in the Trainersโ Championship at the time of writing, Andrew Balding has had an incredibly busy yearโsending out, give or take, 950 runners.ย
Thatโs almost 150 runners more than anyone else in the top 10, but it has come with its fair share of rewards for the Kingsclere handler.
Baldingโs current tally of 151 winners is a career-best, while heโs also saddled nearly 500 placed runners for a grand total of roughly ยฃ4.5 million.
His relationship with Champion Jockey Oisin Murphy is a key cog in Baldingโs success, and the pair have joined forces for several high-profile wins this campaign.ย ย ย
Charlie Appleby
Another trainer who regularly makes the headlines throughout a flat racing season is Charlie Appleby, who has arguably the highest-profile job in British racing as the head handler at Godolphin.ย
The pressure of working for one of the biggest operations in the entire sport and regular favourites doesnโt seem to faze him, though, as winners are common in the race results for Moulton Paddocks.ย
Appleby kicked off the season with a 2000 Guineas victory thanks to Notable Speech but had a relatively quiet start to the summer, which included firing a blank at Royal Ascot.ย
Things picked up for the trainer later in the campaign, and he unleashed a couple of exciting juveniles in Desert Flower and Shadow Of Light, who are sure to bring more top-level success next year.ย
