Talking Horses: Appleby’s champion trainer defence takes some stopping

A superb Guineas weekend showing could help propel Charlie Appleby on to a short but illustrious list of Flat trainers

Since the start of the 20th century, 39 trainers have won the championship on the Flat for the first time. Just five – Frank Butters, Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, Paddy Prendergast, Peter Walwyn and Aidan O’Brien – retained the title the following season. The old saw in football that winning the championship is tough but hanging on to it is even harder seems to hold true in Flat racing, too.

But as the racing caravan moves on from Guineas weekend at Newmarket, towards Chester, York and the Derby meeting at Epsom, it is already clear that Charlie Appleby will take a great deal of stopping in his attempt to become No 6 on the list, two decades after O’Brien won his second title in 2002.