It’s increasingly likely that there will be a changing of the guard on the flat this season as John Gosden closes in on securing the British Flat Trainers’ Championship.
The Newmarket-based handler has had yet another stellar season despite some difficulties, including Roaring Lion bursting onto the scene with three Group One wins and Enable’s crowning moment in the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe.
With the likes of Cracksman, Roaring Lion and Lah Ti Dar all set to race on British Champions Day, Gosden will be feeling extremely confident of adding a third trainers’ title to his CV after successes in 2012 and 2015.
Aidan O’Brien, who will be losing his crown after consecutive wins the previous two years, sits just over £900 short of Gosden in second place. It’s been a difficult season for the Ballydoyle handler, and if a bug didn’t hit his yard at the height of the season, O’Brien would have been a lot closer in the standings.
Despite his already astute reputation, it could be considered that 2018 has been a breakthrough season for Charlie Appleby.
The Godolphin trainer has yielded 80 winners from just 279 runners this year and currently sits in fifth place.
However, with Masar’s first Derby success for the boys in blue, plus group one wins with Blue Point and Wild Illusion and many globetrotting top level successes, it’s been a season to remember for Appleby.
The season though has been a bout between Gosden and O’Brien, and in the latest round of it, Gosden has edged this one.