Andrew Balding making serious tilt at prestigious British Flat trainers’ crown

Balding says victory is ‘very unlikely’ but there is a good chance he will improve on second-place finishes achieved in 2021 and 2024

The British Flat trainers’ championship winners’ club is among the most exclusive in the sport, with just a dozen new members through its doors in the past 50 years. Aidan O’Brien, John Gosden, Richard Hannon Jr and Charlie Appleby, meanwhile, are the only trainers to win a first title outright this century.

Becoming the fifth seems to be the last thing on Andrew Balding’s mind, however, despite an exceptional week at York’s Ebor festival that took his prize-money total for the season past £7m, his domestic Group One tally since 10 July to four and left him just under £700,000 behind O’Brien in the title race.