Heavyweights Coolmore and Godolphin slugged it out again during the 2024 flat season. The winningmost trainers and jockeys tend not to work for either operation though, so how do we assess who has truly done best?
We’re taking a look at how it all went during a fascinating turf campaign that leaves us impatiently already waiting for more next term.
Trainer, Jockey & Owner Championships Show Mixed Successes
Despite being based in Ireland, Aidan O’Brien finished the year as champion trainer in Britain owing to the £8.3 million his horses amassed. That was all done from only 31 wins owing to the prize money level in things like the Derby, the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International.
Flat Trainers Championship 2024 Top 5
| Position | Trainer | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Aidan O’Brien | £8.3m |
| 2nd | Andrew Balding | £5.0m |
| 3rd | Charlie Appleby | £4.0m |
| 4th | Karl Burke | £3.9m |
| 5th | William Haggas | £3.8m |
Some would argue that can be lucky. In O’Brien’s case, the same horse won all three of those races and indeed this has been a year during which City Of Troy has been the main talking point. Either way, it’s a great performance.
Nobody won more races (157) than second-placed Andrew Balding whose horses earned over £5 million. With 202 horses in training however, again some commentators will say he should be winning plenty of races.
More impressive domestically was the performance of Charlie Appleby. He earned £4 million from 80 winners, those coming from 132 horses in training.
All of those horses are owned of course by Godolphin, the official champion owner earning the same amount. How do we assess that? True, the larger Coolmore team earned more but with horses listed as being owned by various combinations of the people involved.
Flat Owners Championship 2024 Top 5
| Position | Trainer | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Godolphin | £4.04m |
| 2nd | Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum | £2.26m |
| 3rd | Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith | £2.09m |
| 4th | Juddmonte | £2.00m |
| 5th | Shadwell Estate | £1.87m |
Likewise however, family members connected to Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin also amassed millions more including Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum and others.
Oisin Murphy was miles clear in the jockey’s championship with 163 winners. Rossa Ryan was second on 110 ahead of Tom Marquand (104), Billy Loughnane (97) along with William Buick and Danny Tudhope on 81.
Flat Jockeys Championship 2024 Top 5
| Position | Trainer | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Oisin Murphy | 163 |
| 2nd | Rossa Ryan | 110 |
| 3rd | Tom Marquand | 104 |
| 4th | Billy Loughnane | 97 |
| =5th | William Buick | 81 |
| =5th | Daniel Tudhope | 81 |
Buick for one has proven he can win the championship, while he is also understandably much more focussed on Group 1 rides including those overseas. Murphy deserves his title based on ability and work rate, but it seems clear that Loughnane and potentially Cieren Fallon (40 winners) are the names to watch over the next season or two.
Along with Murphy, it seems universal that if you see Buick or indeed Ryan Moore’s name next to your horse, you’d be pretty happy.
Given some of the hype in the recent past, the season may have been a disappointment for some. Sean Leavy finished with 23 winners, Harry Davies with 36, Shadwell-retained Jim Crowley with 42 and Gosden number one Kieran Shoemark rode 58.
How Do We Rate 2024’s Talking Horse?
We saw some great handicap wins, some major improvers and some amazingly consistent types such as Kyprios. Since last autumn however, all the talk on the flat was about City Of Troy.
Did he deserve the level of plaudits afforded him? Let’s say first of all, that he is an outstanding horse. He was a brilliant juvenile who then added the Derby, the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International to his list of successes.
That deserves congratulations, no doubt. The problem many have is the fact that he was the only horse given major exposure in advance of his race at York and, especially, his effort in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. That’s not on.
What that coverage also did was fuel, for free, Coolmore’s campaign of marketing to attempt to have one of their horses have the same reputation as Frankel and the likes, while also keeping the stud fees as high as possible.
We really need to stop this hyperbole. Coolmore is a very strong operation with a brilliant trainer, but the marketing of their horses is now boring, as is the wider media’s constant “genius” remarks about their trainer.
City Of Troy won the Dewhurst, flopped in the Guineas and then won the Derby. He did that because he had a bad day at the office, but ultimately was a top-class horse. Notable Speech won the Guineas, flopped at Ascot and then won the Sussex. No such genius comments were forthcoming for Charlie Appleby.
Would City Of Troy’s legacy have been any worse had he gone to the Breeders’ Cup Turf, the Champion Stakes or the Arc instead of the Classic? Probably not. In fact, it would surely have been better if he’d gone to one of those turf races and won.
City Of Troy was excellent. Rated 127 after York, he sits just above Calandagan, Goliath, Economics and Rebel’s Romance. He is actually a pound behind Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River overall.
Longines Best Racecourse Rankings (Oct 2024)
| Position | Horse | Rating | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Laurel River | 128 | Bhupat Seemar |
| 2nd | City Of Troy | 127 | Aidan O’Brien |
| =3rd | Calandagan | 125 | Francis-Henri Graffard |
| =3rd | Goliath | 125 | Francis-Henri Graffard |
| =5th | Economics | 123 | William Haggas |
| =5th | Fierceness | 123 | Todd Pletcher |
| =5th | Rebel’s Romance | 123 | Charlie Appleby |
He is not a 130 horse, nor a 135 and certainly not a 140 horse. He is not as good as Frankel, nor Dubai Millennium, Baaeed or even the likes of Ghaiyyath. Whether some fans like it or not, those numbers actually don’t lie.
His performance was top-class, but the usual Coolmore hype simply has to stop. They won’t fool learned breeders and owners, and the punters are already awaiting next year’s “best horse we’ve had” comments around Royal Ascot time.
The Year’s Best Group 1 Winners
Given his all-weather prep and how he swooped past what turned out to be a top-class field, Notable Speech’s 2000 Guineas win was a great way to start the year.
City Of Troy may have struggled had certain intended runners in the Derby not suffered injuries, but he got the job done and had a great year overall. His teammate, Kyprios, ran up a good sequence himself with the Gold Cup at Ascot a particular highlight.
The best three-year-olds, Notable Speech and City Of Troy, were each above average again in the Sussex Stakes and the Juddmonte respectively while this time around it was Charlie Appleby who boasted then best juveniles.
His Desert Flower was particularly taking in the Fillies’ Mile, while Shadow Of Light showed class, toughness and versatility to land a rare Middle Park-Dewhurst Stakes double.