Gosden claims fifth champion trainer title John Gosden has been crowned champion Flat trainer in Britain for the third year running and fifth time in all. The Newmarket handler has amassed £3,114,226 in prize money in the calendar year — more than £650,000 ahead of six-time winner, Aidan O’Brien. “I would like to thank all of my staff for all of their endeavours in this most difficult of years,” Gosden told Great British Racing. “My thanks to our owners, who have been so supportive, and to the whole racing industry for pulling together so effectively.” Among his 149 winners this year, Gosden enjoyed seven British Group One triumphs including a record third King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Enable and a third successive Ascot Gold Cup and a fourth Goodwood Cup with Stradivarius. The 69-year-old trainer also claimed two Group One victories with Nazeef in the Falmouth Stakes and the Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes for champion owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. Those big-race wins helped Sheikh Hamdan take that crown by £217,000 from Godolphin, with total prize money of £2,309,194 in the championship decided from June 1 to December 31 as a result of the pandemic. Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager Angus Gold said: “To win the champion owner title is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved, it’s what we all work hard for and strive to achieve. It’s been a difficult year for everyone, but we have been blessed on the track this year with some amazing horses. “While it was sad for Sheikh Hamdan not being able to come over to the likes of Royal Ascot to see them in the flesh, he is incredibly enthusiastic — and winning the champion owner title means the world to him and all the team.” Sheikh Hamdan recorded 112 victories in total this year, with other stars of the show being Battaash and his Sussex Stakes hero Mohaather.
