The Trainer

Nigel rode as an amateur for 6 years for a range of trainers including Fred Winter, Fred Rimell and Kim Bailey. He moved to the Cotswolds in 1981 and took out a permit to train with his first winner (he rode it too!) being Last Of The Foxes at Hereford in 1982. The horse that did most to establish the yard in the early years was Mrs Muck and there's been a steady line of her relatives in training at Naunton ever since.

He took out a full licence in 1989, with his first winner fully licenced was Babil on December 30th. Since then he has trained well over 1200 winners including the Grand National (2), Scottish Grand National (3), Welsh National (2) and 8 at the Cheltenham Festival. Add successes in races of the ilk of the Hennessey Gold Cup, Great Yorkshire Chase, Becher Chase, Midlands National, Sussex National, Scottish and Welsh Champion Hurdles and many other top prizes and his versatility and record with N.H. stock is self-evident.

His best season, judged purely by number of successes, was 2007/8 when Grange Hill Farm welcomed home 87 winners. An overview of his training career is shown on the statistics page.