Brian Ellison

The highlight of his training career so far came at Doncaster on 29 January 2022, when he won a Class 1 race — one of the top races in British racing. For a trainer still in the early years of their career, landing a prize at that level is significant. It is one thing to win races consistently; it is another to step up to the biggest occasions and deliver.

On wet, muddy ground, Ellison's horses go particularly well. He has won 4 of just 7 races in those conditions — that is 57%, or well over half. Most trainers are happy to find a win rate anywhere near 20% in a single set of conditions, so those numbers suggest Ellison either targets those days deliberately or simply has horses in his care who thrive when others are struggling through the mud. Pontefract is another place where his runners punch above their weight: 4 winners from 16 runners at that track, a course that suits a certain type of sturdy, grind-it-out horse.

His most productive working relationship is with jockey Ben Robinson, who has ridden 22 winners for the yard from 205 attempts together — wins in roughly 1 in every 9 rides. That kind of long-running partnership matters in racing. A jockey who knows a yard's horses, and a trainer who trusts one jockey with his best ammunition, tend to get more out of each other than a revolving door of different riders ever would. One horse who features heavily in that partnership is Tashkhan, who has won twice in 26 races with Ellison — a horse that clearly holds a place in the yard despite testing everyone's patience along the way.

Four years in, 192 winners, and a Class 1 race already on the board. Brian Ellison is building something worth watching.