Honestly, I’m not counting.
Believe it or not, I’ve been passionate about horse racing for forty years. I still tell myself I look relatively young. Maybe that’s thanks to finding a bottle of Oil of Ulay (back before they rebranded it to Olay) in my mum’s drawer.
Remember when Colonel Sanders called it Kentucky Fried Chicken? That was before “fried” became one of those devil-words no company dares to utter.
As if the letter F means it doesn't exist. I guess to many that's how it works. I think a lot of people would use a different F word in explanation.
Anyway, let’s steer this back to the horses before I lose your attention.
Horse Trainer Directory is just your average website. When it’s up to date, though, it’ll be worth your time.
There are literally hundreds of horse trainers. Some have websites, others use social media, and a few are like lone wolves, operating without much public communication at all. That’s one of the things I love about horse racing—you get all types of people pursuing their passion. Many are striving, and perhaps struggling, to turn it into a profitable business. I have equal admiration and sympathy for them.
While updating my lists of trainers, I always leave links to deceased trainers for a year or two out of respect. It feels wrong to remove them too quickly. In our fast-paced world, death is often hurriedly swept under the rug, but these names deserve to be remembered. When we talk about those who’ve passed on, we keep their legacies alive. It feels like a fitting memorial.
Every year, I update my horse trainer list, cataloging every two-year-old horse they’ve trained. I focus on this niche because it provides the foundation for my research and helps me gain insight into all aspects of juvenile racing.
Take Roger Varian, for example. I’ve tracked all of his juvenile runners since he began training. My research is specific to the Flat turf season, running from March to November. From late November to January, when two-year-olds officially turn three, I pause this work.
Some might argue this skews the data slightly, but the truth is that data can be shaped and interpreted in countless ways. How it’s measured and presented often depends on the perspective of the analyst.
Nevertheless, having this data reveals fascinating patterns. It’s surprising how much you can learn about horse trainers from their performance metrics. It often becomes clear where the winners begin and where the losers trail off. Without such detailed information, you wouldn’t have the same depth of understanding I do—and that should concern you. Of course, it probably doesn’t, because you either have your own method for picking winners, or you simply don’t follow two-year-old racing.
Someone once told me: “You must be mad to focus on two-year-old racing!”
They said it as if they knew some profound truth I didn’t. But let me tell you, that wasn’t the case. I replied: “You only think that because you don’t understand—and that’s due to a lack of knowledge.”
Why wouldn’t anyone want to master a subject that can make them money? Their dismissive attitude revealed they’d probably bet and lost in the past. Limited thinking—that was their downfall.
I could tell you things you’ve never heard before. Insights that highlight both high and low success rates among trainers. And here’s the thing: you can make money from either end of the spectrum, as long as you know what you’re doing.
Make no mistake: you get out what you put in. If you lack knowledge, you’re already at a disadvantage. But if you commit to understanding horse trainers through in-depth analysis, you’ll improve your chances of achieving gambling success.
Good luck.