The headline figure for the last twelve months is 202 winners from 1,038 runners. That is a 19% win rate, up from 15% the previous season — a jump that sounds modest until you realise that at this volume, four percentage points represents dozens of extra winners. Improving your accuracy while also increasing your workload is not something every trainer manages. Most yards do one or the other.
The top-level record is where Balding's reputation really sits, though. Seventy Class 1 wins — the biggest, most competitive races in Britain — at some of the sport's most famous venues: York, Ascot, Newmarket. Two of those came in quick succession last autumn, at Newmarket on 11 October 2025 and Ascot a week later on the 18th, which suggests a yard that peaks when the season reaches its most important moments. Plenty of trainers win races. Fewer win the ones that matter most, and Balding has done it 70 times.
The partnership with jockey Oisin Murphy is one of the more productive working relationships in the weighing room right now. Across 296 rides together, they have combined for 73 winners — that is 1 in every 4 rides resulting in a win, which is a remarkable conversion rate when you consider how often horse racing humbles even its best practitioners. When Murphy climbs aboard a Balding-trained horse, there is every reason to pay attention.
On a smaller scale, Balding's record at Redcar is the kind of stat that makes racing fans sit up — 3 winners from just 5 runners there amounts to a 60% win rate, which borders on the extraordinary. The horse to watch in his string is See The Fire, who has won 4 of their 16 races together and clearly brings something out of this yard. Four years in, 712 winners deep, and the trajectory is still pointing upward.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kempton Park | 111 | 21 | 18.9% |
| Newmarket | 72 | 12 | 16.7% |
| Southwell | 69 | 13 | 18.8% |
| Ascot | 67 | 8 | 11.9% |
| Goodwood | 63 | 9 | 14.3% |
| Lingfield Park | 62 | 10 | 16.1% |
| Newcastle | 60 | 20 | 33.3% |
| York | 54 | 12 | 22.2% |
| Newbury | 52 | 11 | 21.2% |
| Chester | 48 | 12 | 25% |
| Wolverhampton | 42 | 12 | 28.6% |
| Sandown Park | 37 | 9 | 24.3% |
| Doncaster | 36 | 7 | 19.4% |
| Haydock Park | 36 | 6 | 16.7% |
| Windsor | 28 | 4 | 14.3% |
| chelmsford | 28 | 1 | 3.6% |
| Salisbury | 25 | 5 | 20% |
| Epsom Downs | 19 | 3 | 15.8% |
| Nottingham | 19 | 2 | 10.5% |
| Bath | 17 | 5 | 29.4% |
| Great Yarmouth | 17 | 2 | 11.8% |
| Leicester | 14 | 1 | 7.1% |
| Ffos Las | 10 | 1 | 10% |
| Chepstow | 9 | 1 | 11.1% |
| Brighton | 6 | 3 | 50% |
| Redcar | 5 | 3 | 60% |
| Catterick Bridge | 5 | 1 | 20% |
| Beverley | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| The Curragh | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Thirsk | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Hamilton Park | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Carlisle | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Ayr | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Musselburgh | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Pontefract | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| abu_dhabi | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| sha_tin | 1 | 0 | 0% |