Small trainer- south of England.

Daniel & Claire Kubler - more than a dozen TBF after starting with a string of 7 or so.

They know the time of day and will continue to rise towards the top IMO

Sheena West does well with cheap horses and is in the South of England  Sussex

Warwick Davis

https://www.britishhorseracing.com/racing/participants/trainers/trainers-map/

Last year he ran exactly ten horses on the Flat, he won with three of them - Under The Twilight (3 wins), Mr Zee (3) & Eagle Court (1)

Would appear fit blue heaven's criteria exactly.

He's only managed to win with Under The Twilight so far this year on the Flat, but did so off a career high mark, and from just handful of runners over jumps so far this season, two wins from Clearance.

trains a horse for pottsy if my intuition is correct

GEORGE I was looking at his jumps stats, apologies, I can remember those winners so should've clicked.

https://www.racingpost.com/profile/trainer/14051/michael-blake

Rachel Cook & John Bridger
Trainer details

    Licence/Permit Type: Combined
    Training Since: 2023
    Number of Horses in Training: 12
    County: Hampshire
    flat non-runner rate: 2.22%

Championships

British Flat
Rank: 151
Wins: 11
Number of Prizes: 48
Runners: 116
Total Prize Money: £106,168.66

Blake is probably a little too far from me & in the opposite direction of where I’d like to be but Sheena West is a very good shout, her stats under both codes are good with moderate horses. She also seems to refresh her stock quite often & doesn’t keep older or hopeless horses running for the sake of it.

my advice for what it's worth is put stats low on the list if you have an average animal, write the money off and focus on your enjoyment

choose a trainer you will have fun with that makes you feel valued, gives you their time and helps you understand the sport from another direction, one that puts a breakfast on the table and spends hours talking about their horse past and present, or their riding career, horse welfare, vets & one that takes you along to the sales or lets you drop in for a coffee anytime you feel like it

i had most enjoyment not from the biggest yards or at the major meetings / tracks (and i had some good horses) but having a day out with a trainer i considered a friend and that made my experiences more memorable, without doubt the two things that came through were their personality (or their ast trainer) and that of the staff that looked after the horses

the value for your investment will be the memories and the insight they give you and therefore it might not be a winner that ticks the box

That French guy now at Epsom…Hervé Villechaize

elg, you're watching the love boat not itv racing

I would put convenience at the top of your list , I owned 2 foals as part of a small syndicate . One sold for pointing and one raced till 11 or so winning four times . Trainer was local so saw gallops many times , summer garden party , even galloped my own steed up his gallops . Plus he was regularly in my local . Profitablility was irrelevant but experience treasured .

Pick the best jumps trainer in your area, and put your Flat horse in training with them. They'll be grateful for your business during the summer, and at that time of year you can enjoy all the benefits of being an owner in a yard where there won't be many other horses competing for attention. You'll get that personal touch that you're evidently looking for. At the same time you can enjoy the advantage of the horse being under the care of a top trainer. One benefit of being in a big yard is that they tend to still train winners even when they're out of form. That's how they stay at the top.

Small yards can look good when they're in form, but they can suddenly get a virus and simply disappear without a trace.

Having said that, if you're sure you want to go for a small yard, I would recommend Michael Blake too. He does train on your side of Bath - it's not that far. He and his wife are friendly and he always seems to be able to find a winner from somewhere. He's good.

screaming, do you really think that Paul Nicholls or Nicky Henderson are training the flat horses? It will be an assistant or family member calling the shots there. They still have the training facilities though so it might be a good idea.

Well, this is the only horse I've ever owned - I bought it for £3,000 as a yearling, and I had no problem getting Martin Pipe to train it for the Flat. Just went up and asked him one afternoon at Newton Abbot:

https://www.racingpost.com/profile/horse/501379/light-on-the-waves/form

I'm sure Pipe was fully involved in the training of the horse. He used to initiate long and intense phone calls where he would read out the incoming declarations for races the horse was entered in, and we would decide which one to go for. And I was always made to feel important when my girlfriend and I visited Pond House, being invited into Mr and Mrs Pipe's lounge for snacks. The lounge was like a giant conservatory, with the tail of their helicopter subtly visible to the side, jutting out of its hangar. Just to remind visiting owners what kind of an operation they were paying for.

Look, maybe you're right, I'm naive, and it really was the assistant doing the hard work, but as Pipe's assistants at the time included people like Gordon Elliott, it's no bad thing. You don't get that sort of back-up in twelve-horse yards.

Screaming, fair play to you and well done. I remember you telling us the story before on the forum and I'm pleased for you.

However Pipey also had horses running on the flat as well so it wasn't a case of having 1 flat horse and 200 jumpers.  I remember him having royal ascot hcp winners so he knew the time of day with his flat horses.