isnt it sad to see the decline of john oxx??

see the stars seems a long time ago

Agreed.  No Group winners since September 2013 and only two flat winners season to date.

They were saying the same about Cecil once.

such a shame , seems like a genuinely nice man

His training of STS was spot on..

I agree John Oxx is a great trainer, his handling of Sea The Stars was masterly and his overall record dpeaks for itself. The Aga Khan will feel vindicated in moving his horses to Dermot Weld by the victories of Harzand, but Michael Halford also trains for HH and has had much less success than Oxx. Hopefully Oxx will rise again, just as Henry Cecil did a decade ago.

whats the story with the aga khan??

With any luck he would of trained HARZAND

trained the mother and father of it

but I really like Dermot weld though but john oxx is such a gent............its really sad

but I really like Dermot weld though but john oxx is such a gent............its really sad

Needs to give up soon getting embarrassing

Should have tried harder to get STS run at 4  I would also like to have seen a triple crown winner.

It is sad but not embarrassing; this is what he does best, and unless he has the ammunition to go to battle with it is not his fault and nothing he could have done about it.

Just look back at HRAC when the likes of Lord Weinstock, Howard de Walden, Prince Fahd Salman, Wafic Said, Wilderstein, etc, had passed away and/or virtually gave up the game it was only Khalid Abdullah and the Niarchos family that kept him going when the fickle oil money left; HRAC had the final say with the 'freak', Frankel, the once tearaway and best horse he had ever trained!

The love of horses and training them are what keeping John Oxx going,...and long may he continue til the day he is unable to do so any more - a decent man and a thorough professional highly regarded in his field.

This thread and the Cumani one have a lot in common and top notch trainers don't forget what to do overnight but they can't do it unless they have the horses.

Stoute will probably be next with his own thread too.

Or maybe they weren't top notch trainers in the first place, maybe they just had the horses now they don't and are just getting found out


Maybe the top notch trainers are the ones that get the best out of bad horses

Anyone who doesn't have the hroses will get "found out" regardless, although I personally wouldn't use that term anyway as I don't think there's anything to find out here. I'm sure both Cumaini and Oxx are still capable of winning races with what they have left, but there are unlikely to be too many top grade races in there amongst their wins if winning races with a lower standard of horse, yet if they were actually found out then they wouldn't even be doing that.

That's not to say there weren't other trainers incapable of winning top race with horses like Alkaased, Barathea, Falbrav, Kahyasi, Presvis, Alamshar, Azamour, Ebadiyla, Ridgewood Pearl, Sea The Stars and Sinndar but by the same token, Cumani and Oxx would have been capable of winning top races with other the top horses of other trainers too.

Plus the likes of Cumani and Oxx weren't just given those top class horses on a whim and had to have shown previously that they deserved them and could win races with lesser types.

Luck, timing, money, right place right time, connections, nepotism etc

Of course they are good trainers but are they really any better than the likes of Elison, Dagleish curley et al to call them 'top notch'

There's no definite answer but the latter 3 have proved themselves with mediocre horses. The top notchers you mention, clearly haven't.

Really feel sorry for the multi millionaire

Always seems to fine a way to get one beat

All of those things you mention jamesdean are factors for trainers but wealthy high profile patrons rarely send them top horses from day one and they usually have to have established a certain level of success that convinces those owners that the trainer can be successful with their horses.

John Oxx started training in 1979, the Aga Khan didn't send him any horses until 1987 but in the meantime Oxx must have had success with mediocre horses and actually did up to Group level in order to attract the high profile owners, yet if he were to have further success today with lesser horses to match the likes of "Elison, Dagleish Curley et al" then that would generally be seen as a comedown compared to having previously trained Grade 1 and Croup 1 winners.

I don't suppose anyone is feeling sorry for him on a financial basis Try My Best but not everything is about money alone.

John Oxx is back.....with Sea Of Grace!

Nice to see John Oxx get a Group winner at Curragh. I hope he has many more to come. Campaigned Sea the Stars perfectly, and is undoubtedly a very good trainer. A qualified vet to boot, along with D Weld, M Johnston, J Tate, J Given, etal.

As good a trainer as there is.

also did a great job with the most under rated of all middle distance horses.

I never heard of an unqualified vet

mr combustible, your pedantic comment is noted. In fact there can be a PART-QUALIFIED vet, just as there can be in any profession.