John Gosden claims third champion trainer title

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum is the leading owner in 2020.

John Gosden has been crowned champion Flat trainer for the third year running and fifth time in all.

The Newmarket handler has amassed GBP 3,114,226 in prize money in the calendar year – more than GBP 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 GBP 217,000 from Godolphin, with total prize money of GBP 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.

Ben Curtis claimed the 2020 annual Flat jockeys’ title with a total of 170 victories during the year.

“Given the lockdown in March, I set out to pass the 100 winners mark – so to have surpassed that along with the many other talented jockeys in the weighing room at the moment, such as Hollie (Doyle) and Tom (Marquand), is a great achievement,” he said.

“For us to have reached those figures, all things considered, is fantastic for British racing.”

Curtis enjoyed three Group successes in June, the Pavilion and Sagaro Stakes at Newcastle with Dubai Station and Nayef Road respectively, before having his first Royal Ascot winner with Dandalla in the Albany Stakes.

“The standout win of the year for me has to be the Royal Ascot victory,” he added.

“To ride in those races and on those occasions is one of the main reasons I moved over to England in the first place, so to have got my first Royal Ascot win this year was a special moment.”

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John Gosden Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum

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