The numbers from the last twelve months alone tell a striking story. Appleby has turned out 121 winners from 410 runners, meaning his horses win roughly 1 in every 3 races they enter. That is an extraordinary conversion rate for any trainer, but especially one still relatively early in their career. And these are not wins scraped together in minor races around small tracks — 114 of his career winners have come at the very top level, the biggest and most prestigious races in the calendar. In the autumn of 2025 alone, he landed top-level wins at Newbury, Goodwood, and twice at Newmarket, which is essentially the headquarters of British flat racing. Winning once at that level in a season is an achievement. Winning four times in a matter of weeks is something else entirely.
Part of what makes Appleby so effective is how well he reads conditions. When the ground turns wet and heavy and other trainers are nervous, Appleby tends to thrive — his horses have won 21 from 41 races on soft or muddy ground, a win rate of just over 50%. Winning half your races in any circumstances is remarkable; doing it when the conditions are difficult suggests a trainer who knows exactly which horses to run and when. Kempton Park is another happy hunting ground, with 20 winners from just 39 runners there.
His most reliable partnership is with jockey William Buick, and the numbers bear out what racegoers have long suspected — these two are a formidable combination. Together they have won 68 races from 219 rides, a win rate of 31%, which works out at almost 1 in every 3. In a sport where margins are wafer-thin and a fraction of a second separates a winner from also-rans, that kind of consistency between trainer and jockey is built on genuine understanding, not luck.
Four years in, 563 winners, and 114 wins at the highest level. Appleby is not building towards something — he is already there.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newmarket | 113 | 39 | 34.5% |
| meydan | 66 | 9 | 13.6% |
| Kempton Park | 39 | 20 | 51.3% |
| Ascot | 24 | 5 | 20.8% |
| Sandown Park | 23 | 5 | 21.7% |
| Haydock Park | 19 | 8 | 42.1% |
| Southwell | 16 | 4 | 25% |
| Newbury | 15 | 5 | 33.3% |
| Wolverhampton | 12 | 6 | 50% |
| Doncaster | 11 | 2 | 18.2% |
| Great Yarmouth | 10 | 4 | 40% |
| Goodwood | 10 | 1 | 10% |
| York | 10 | 1 | 10% |
| Nottingham | 9 | 3 | 33.3% |
| chelmsford | 7 | 3 | 42.9% |
| Lingfield Park | 7 | 1 | 14.3% |
| Epsom Downs | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Newcastle | 3 | 2 | 66.7% |
| Windsor | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| abu_dhabi | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
| Leicester | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Carlisle | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| The Curragh | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Salisbury | 1 | 0 | 0% |