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Who is John Ferguson? He is lying 2nd in the jump trainers’ prize money table and has the most winners. Yet he seems to attract very little news or publicity. Shouldn’t he be better known?
another question would be does he train for anyone else other than Bloomfields….?
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
He tends to take top quality flat horses and Hoover up novice hurdles. But they tend not to progress. And you don’t see him run many chasers.
He doesn’t have many horses that haven’t campaigned at a decent level on the flat.
His best horse last year was Parlour Games, winning a grade 1 and finishing 2nd in his next two behind Windsor Park and Nichols Canyon.
He has recently ran over fences but finished 8 lengths behind in class 2 novice company.
His horses invariably immaculately turned out but seem to struggle to maintain form.
My theory with John Ferguson horses is that when the ground is decent they run their races and he generally does well.
I might be wrong on this, it’s just how it seems to me, but when the ground softens a little and gets a bit more testing, his string, which are mainly made up of flat bred horses tend to get found out a bit more?
Thought it was a shame Maputo returned lame the other day because I thought he ran a belter that day and was progressing nicely and could have been a rare one to mix it at the top level…
I ran a theory past a Post colleague the other day that if the ex-Sheikh Mohammed horses John Ferguson receives were absolutely, 100% sound, wouldn’t they still be doing their original jobs for as long as their form on the Flat held? If that is the case, might it be that a longevity of career over jumps can’t necessarily be guaranteed either?
Hats off to the gentleman, then, for being able to get three seasons (and counting) out of some animals over hurdles and fences that weren’t assured to have three seasons in the discipline in them.
Rather unusually, he has nothing entered in the Cambridge University UHC meeting at Cottenham which jointly opens the new Point-to-Point season this Sunday. If the other two days jobs aren’t pulling him elsewhere, though, I expect he’ll be in attendance, and as happy and prepared to talk about his string as ever he is.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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