Gosden Scales The Heights In Prize Money

Our expert looks at the effect of altitude on trainers’ stables

Last month, I promised you some of the altitude groupings for the top Flat trainers. Here they are. The 14 groupings are represented by a banding spread of 25 metres in the table. The trainers do not include those overseas.

It is no surprise that John Gosden and William Haggas are based at the racing headquarters of Newmarket in Suffolk. Gosden has 141 horses and Haggas has 137. It is a most manageable number whereas Richard Fahey, Richard Hannon and Mark Johnston have over 1,000 horses in their care. The quality of their charges in terms of prize money places them behind John Gosden in second, third and fourth respectively. While this performance is admirable, their strike-rates are considerably less than Gosden’s; Mark Johnson has a strike-rate of 14%, Richard Hannon’s is 13% and Richard Fahey’s is even lower at 11%.