Horse Racing Trainers to Follow

Horse Racing Trainers to Follow in April 2025

For the top five trainers in April, we have the flat season back underway and the top trainer is one on the flat, they are joined by three jump trainers and one on the all-weather.

 The combined statistics for the past five years look decent, each year with a 20% or better strike rate and a combined LSP of +432.26 for the five years.

**We have included 2019 for April as no racing took place in April 2020

Here is how the five trainers included below have combined over the past five years:

Ben Haslam (FLAT - Handicaps over 6f to 1m)

Here are the top three winners from Ben Haslam from the past five years when using this criteria:

• Do I Dream (100/1)
• Wen Moon (22/1)
• Fortamour (7/1)

Despite going 0-4 in 2019 and then 0-5 in 2021, Ben Haslam has returned decent figures in the last three years for his runners in handicaps over 6f to 1m.

For the last three seasons, his figures are 10-34 (29%) for an LSP of +129.50 so is certainly one of interest early in the flat season.

No surprise given the location of his yard that all ten winners have come across three Yorkshire tracks with Pontefract (4), Redcar (3) and Ripon (3).

Paul Nicholls (NH - Handicap Hurdles Excluding Class 1 & Novices)

Here are the top three winners from Paul Nicholls from the past five years when using this criteria:

• Blueking Doroux (50/1)
• Sabrina (16/1)
• Kick Up A Storm (11/1)

Post Cheltenham and Paul Nicholls handicappers seem to come alive! Here we are focusing on his hurdlers in handicaps which are not restricted to novices nor class ones.

2019 was a bad month at the office but since it has been fairly consistent with three months returning a 29% strike rate and each of them showing a positive LSP.

2023 was certainly a bumper year with seven winners, a strike rate of 37% and an impressive LSP of +63.13. Keep an eye out for his runners sent to Wetherby as under this criteria they are 7-14 (50%) +32.50.

Peter Fahey (NH - 5-7yo's in Non-Handicaps)

Top 3 Winners:

• Ambitious Fellow (40/1)
• Suprise Package (14/1)
• Tiger Bay Queen (11/1)

Peter Fahey's handicap figures in April are 0-21 which is why we are not touching those and his runners not aged between 5yo & 7yo are 0-14.

So we are focusing on his non-handicap runners aged 5yo-7yo and also hope that 2024 was a small slip as they went 0-5 having shown a profit in the previous four years.

To be fair, four of his five last year were sent off 25/1, 40/1, 100/1 & 150/1 so were not expected to win, the only one expected to win was runner-up, lets keep fingers crossed he can produce winners this year.

David Loughnane (AW - Class 4-6 Entries Excluding 3yo's)

Here are the top three winners from David Loughnane from the past five years when using this criteria:

• Ravens Raft (33/1)
• Praxeology (18/1)
• Absolutelyflawless (11/1)

David Loughnane's three-year-old runners have struggled in April with a record of just 1-15 on the all-weather and he has not had a winner in a class higher than Class 4.

He has had one blank in the timeframe we have looked at which was in 2023 when he went 0-4 but he has shown a profit in all four of the other years.

As well as those nine winners he has also have a further six runners placing meaning 50% (15) of his 30 runners finished in the placings.

Neil King (NH - Excluding Chases, Maiden/Novice)

Here are the top three winners from Neil King from the past five years when using this criteria:

• Lookaway (28/1)
• Cubswin (28/1)
• The Bandit (11/1)

Neil King's chasers have struggled in April, they have a record of 1-21 (5%) which is why we are excluding them here!

His runners in Novices (0-17) and Maidens (1-8) also do not have the best of record so are also overlooked.

He has hit a couple of blanks, in 2021 was 0-9 and in 2024 was 0-7 so this one was a tentative inclusion but he is capable of producing a profit as seen in 3 of the 5 years.

Monthly Statistics

This is a breakdown of how each trainer has performed in the current month.

Here are the monthly figures based on runners who fall under the criteria supplied in this article.

Also, here is a full list of runners who have run under these conditions for this month.