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As in, whatever happened to ……
I was looking at the Stratford card for this afternoon and found myself wondering how the trainer has ended up with such an apparently useless animal as Sefton Park, outsider of seven in the juvenile hurdle.
This is the man that ten years ago had Decoupage (winner of the Tote Gold Trophy, favourite for the Arkle), the multiple hurdle winner Teaatral, Mely Moss (2nd in the National), Killusty (unbeaten as a novice) etc.
Last season he managed just ten jumping winners that produced less than £60k total prize money. Sefton Park seems unlikely to improve matters, beating just 8 rivals in four dismal runs on the flat, and declining over hurdles to 5th in a seller last time. The really sad part is that Egerton paid £100,000 for this animal as a yearling!
Just one of a number of Lambourn yards that once flew high and are now making up the numbers at the gaffs.
AP
Don’t think he likes being called Charlie, prefers Charles I’ve heard.
Funnily enough I was thinking of another Charlie from that neck of the woods earlier on, Charlie Nelson, he had some good horses, Mahogany, Double Schwartz etc but just seemed to give it up when he wasn’t necessarily on the decline as far as I can remember, maybe he moved on to something more profitable and/or enjoyable.It’s a real shame to see that Charles Egerton doesn’t have the quality of horse that he used to have. He clearly showed in the past that he was more than capable of training a good horse and winning at the big meetings.
He used to train for Elite Racing Club, from stars like Mysilv to old faithfuls like Paradise Navy and I remember he was one of the trainers who would give genuinely interesting reports rather than the standard “working nicely” vague tosh that a lot of trainers offer up. One horse in particular stands out from that period and that was Seixo Branco back in the late 90s or early 2000s. He was a hurdler who, if memory serves, won or at least ran well in 2 starts as a novice before a setback ended his season early. I’m sure he won at least one because he wasn’t eligible for novice company the following season.
Anyway, after a fairly long layoff he re-appeared in a minor handicap hurdle at one of the gaff tracks, maybe Southwell (?) and Charles clearly felt he had been let in lightly by the handicapper and recommended a maximum bet – something almost unheard of in Elite where gambling is not the main purpose. I plucked up the courage to place the biggest bet of my life to that point on Seixo Branco and I remember being on jelly legs as the race unfolded but it was never in question as Norman Williamson was still taking a pull going to the 2nd last and hacked up at fairly generous odds.
I don’t really know why he’s not used by more owners these days – good trainer in my book
One can understand why hearing people shouting "Charlie!" in his vicinity would make him jumpy.
I once applied for a job with him and had a bizarre interview which lasted well over an hour, in which he started several dozen sentences, but it wasn’t entirely clear if he finished any of them. He didn’t seem entirely sure if he wanted to sit down or not, either, which was slightly confusing.
I’d have to agree, it’s a mystery to me too, talented trainer, affable fellow and very good to his staff too I hear, a friend of ours was an apprentice with him back in the 1990s.
Of all his horses I recall Mely Moss with the most affection, he was one of three horses that combined to give me my biggest ever win on the horses.
On the other hand though, I do recall him with some mixed emotions as by "only" finishing second at 50-1 in The Grand National on that very day he cost me a win beyond my wildest dreams.
He was the first to run in a hefty patent, the next horse also at Aintree was a 5-1 winner, I forget the horses name, and the bet finished with Quadco who ran away with the Bumper at 33-1,I remember Egerton as a very, very good trainer – a reliable one too, a characteristic which is worth its weight in gold.
AP, you make a good point about Lambourn yards. I can’t speak for the jumpers, but stables such as Marcus Tregoning, Barry Hills, Jamie Osborne, Harry Dunlop and others have had quiet seasons – the first named for the third year in a row.
Environmental issues? Fashion? Coincidence? Economics?
Jumping wise, in the 90’s Lambourn produced three National winners (Mr Frisk, Party Politics, Royal Athlete), plus the dual runner-up Suny Bay. Three of those trainers have left the game and the other has moved away.
There were also three Gold Cup winners in the 90’s (Garrison Savannah, Master Oats, Mr Mulligan), with Looks Like Trouble in 2000. The trainer of that last pair could be added to the ‘whatever happened to’ list.
The idea of Lambourn winning either of those races now would depend entirely on Henderson finding the right horse.
Two other names on the flat – Brian Meehan and Ralph Beckett have done better since leaving Lambourn.
AP
Charles trained a couple of horses i always liked in
Seekin Cash
and
Montgermont
, i also remember watching
Decoupage
jumping hurdles and thinking what a horse he would be jumping fences! He was a good looking beast,the horse not Charles!
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I see Sefton Park was bred by Mystic Meg, so perhaps his best days are in the future…
Looking at the breeding, though, he can only improve as a 4yo+; and a cursory reading of his recent race comments suggests that once he gets his jumping act together he’ll win some small event somewhere.
There are many more hopeless cases in training than this one, and (as several posts have said) he has a good handler to aid the cause.
How few winners does a ‘good trainer’ have to have before he ceases to be a ‘good trainer’? Recent evidence would point to Egerton regressing at a rate of knots – the sums paid for the horses that ran in the Hankinson silks were huge and for very little return.
As well as the 100,000gns for Sefton Park, Count Of Tuscany was a 65,000gns purchase after looking promising for Amanda Perrett and has barely been able to put one leg in front of the other in two runs for Egerton. It is one thing to struggle if you are operating with cheap horses, but when you have rich owners prepared to spend, it makes it a bit harder to swallow.
Strange how Yards can change so much over a period of time.
Another trainer who has nowhere near the calibre of horses he had a good 10 or 15 years ago is Kim Bailey…what happened there too?
About 15 years ago I was celebrating my best ever Cheltenham where Bailey trained the winner of the big two races with Alderbrook and Master Oats!!
How few winners does a ‘good trainer’ have to have before he ceases to be a ‘good trainer’? Recent evidence would point to Egerton regressing at a rate of knots – the sums paid for the horses that ran in the Hankinson silks were huge and for very little return.
As well as the 100,000gns for Sefton Park, Count Of Tuscany was a 65,000gns purchase after looking promising for Amanda Perrett and has barely been able to put one leg in front of the other in two runs for Egerton. It is one thing to struggle if you are operating with cheap horses, but when you have rich owners prepared to spend, it makes it a bit harder to swallow.
I don’t see Evelyn Hankinson complaining though…..
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