The Flat Season - Who's Fresh?

The flat begins. We've seen the Guineas trials, we've seen a few handicaps, and there's more racing in the Curragh this Sunday morning. We haven't seen the jumping finales in Sandown or Punchestown yet, but the flat is well and truly underway.

It is still April though and, as ever, all of the attention is focused on which yards are already firing and which trainers' horses seem to need the run first time out. We've taken a quick look at some of the most and least successful trainers, only taking into consideration their horses running on the flat in the month of April after a break of at least 150 days...

Note: Data includes racing from 1st April - 17th April inclusive.

The Stables Which Are Firing

Here are the stables whose runners do seem to be firing at this early stage of the season:

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	Win/Place	Win/Place%
Dermot Weld	14	6	43%	2	14%	8	57%
P D Deegan	7	3	43%	1	14%	4	57%
Mick Channon	5	2	40%	1	20%	3	60%
B J Meehan	5	2	40%	1	20%	3	60%
Jessica Harrington	5	2	40%	0	0%	2	40%
John Gosden	10	3	30%	3	30%	6	60%
Aidan O'Brien	11	3	27%	4	36%	7	64%
David O'Meara	8	2	25%	2	25%	4	50%
William Haggas	5	1	20%	2	40%	3	60%
Sir Michael Stoute	11	1	9%	5	45%	6	55%

It's no surprise to see Dermot Weld at the top of the list, the man who seems to be winning everything at the moment. It is possibly more surprising to see that Aidan O'Brien actually has the highest win/place strike rate, despite the fact that his runners are thought to be needing the run this year. Some of the other records possibly shouldn't be taken at face value due to small sample sizes.

Needing The Run

Here are some of the stables whose runners seem to be needing the run to shake off the cobwebs:

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	Win/Place	Win/Place%
J S Goldie	7	0	0%	1	14%	1	14%
Micky Hammond	7	0	0%	1	14%	1	14%
Tom Dascombe	8	0	0%	1	13%	1	13%
M W Easterby	9	0	0%	1	11%	1	11%
T D Easterby	18	0	0%	1	6%	1	6%
R A Carr	7	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
A J Martin	6	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
John Joseph Murphy	8	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
C G Cox	6	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%

One place from 7 runners is nothing to boast about, but the worst record here has to be that of Tim Easterby who has had only one place from 18 runners in the time studied.* Also worth noting is John Joseph Murphy, winless from 8 runners, and Ruth Carr, winless from 7.

*Tim Easterby actually picked up a win on Saturday (Saturday 18th's racing is not included in this data) bringing his record to 21 runners, 1 winner and 1 placed.

So, there it is. As each week passes, we will learn more and more about which trainers are turning the corner, which yards' horses are beginning to blossom and when we can start following them with less hesitation.