‘Out of the Box’ Trainer & Jockey Combinations

If a yard doesn’t have a stable jockey then they certainly have 1 or 2 jockeys that they will turn to on a regular basis.

We all know these combos; some of the major ones would include Hannon & Hughes, Stoute & Moore, Cecil & Queally, Gosden & Buick and O’Brien and…eh… O’Brien I guess!

These combinations certainly produce winners and sure, under certain circumstances they do produce a profit but overall these are the pairings that will be heavily backed and in general the profits will be squeezed to within an inch of their lives.

What I want to look at in this article is a couple of less than obvious combinations, a few pairings that don’t naturally spring to mind, the trainers and jockeys that maybe don’t get together on a regular basis but when they do our antennae should be twitching.

I want to highlight the combinations that sneak under the radar and apply a little ‘out of the box’ (OOTB) thinking in our search to go against the crowd to isolate those all-important hidden profits.

It is perhaps a misconception that when one of the bigger jockeys gets a ride for a yard he rarely rides for they are simply hopping on to a spare ride, looking for the ride on something in a big handicap/graded race because there main yard doesn’t have anything entered.

Whilst this may be true on the odd occasions there is often more to it than this. A trainer knows his string inside out, right? So he also has a strong opinion of how it should be ridden and who, in their mind, is the best man or women for the job.

It makes sense that sometimes they will deviate from their everyday pilot if they think their horse will benefit from the talents of someone else.

There may be a number of reasons for this (too many to mention here) and we do not necessarily need to know the exact reasons, we just need to be aware that when certain combinations get together they are a potent and profitable force.

Take a look at the following examples of some ‘Out of the Box’ trainer and jockey combinations –
*Figures sourced from the excellent Proform Database – Years analysed: 2008 – present

Trainer – David Barron

David Barron spreads his rides out amongst a number of jockeys but when he picks up the phone to secure the services of one JAMIE SPENCER we should definitely be taking an interest –

David Barron/Jamie Spencer Combination

15 wins from 52 rides | 29% S/R | +£28.20 BFLSP – Win & Place 23/52 | 44% S/R

The partnership team up on a regular enough basis and certainly produce figures that make them well worth following. It is interesting to note the record of Spencer when he is on a Barron runner that is well fancied –

David Barron/Jamie Spencer Combination – SP favourites

10 wins from 15 rides | 67% S/R | +£20.87 BFLSP – Win & Place 14/15 | 93% S/R

A 67% WIN S/R and a 93% Win & Place S/R is quite something! Only failing to get one of them home in the places is quite a startling stat and suggests that when the money is down and Spencer is on-board the horse is primed to collect.

Keep a close eye on the combo, especially when the money is down…

Trainer – Jim Boyle

Pat Cosgrave is the regular pilot for Jim Boyle but it is when the Epsom trainer picks up the phone to secure the services of JOE FANNING that we should really be looking out for –

Jim Boyle/Joe Fanning Combination

5 wins from 15 rides | 33% S/R | +£35.73 BFLSP – Win & Place 8/15 | 53% S/R

The partnership doesn’t team up often but Boyle does generally send a handful of rides each season towards Fanning and the jockey tends to get the job done.
Keep an eye open for this elusive pairing…

Trainer – James Fanshawe

Fanshawe has a couple of ‘go to guys’, namely Jamie Spencer and Pat Cosgrave, but it’s when he seeks out former champion KIEREN FALLON that my antenna really begins twitching –
James Fanshawe/Kieren Fallon Combination

14 wins from 47 rides | 30% S/R | +£11.53 BFLSP – Win & Place 29/47 | 62% S/R

The partnership has a potent record on the All-Weather, especially with those at the head of the market –

James Fanshawe/Kieren Fallon | A/W | Top 2 in the market

9 wins from 19 rides | 47% S/R | +£18.19 BFLSP – Win & Place 14/19 | 74% S/R

When Fanshawe has a fancied All-Weather runner with Fallon on-board we seriously need to be thinking about getting our money down…

This sort of approach requires a deal of patience as you will not see these partnerships week in-week out but having this knowledge at hand and being aware of these ‘out of the Box’ Trainer/Jockey combinations is vital in our quest to unlock hidden profits.

The full 40 page NTF ‘Out of the Box’ Trainer/Jockey combos guide is available exclusively to members of the NTF 2012 flat subscription service.