He was world #5 at the start of the year, but an exceptional 12 months in which he has captured 17 G1s, including the Epsom Derby, the King George at Ascot, the Irish Derby, the St Leger, the Grand Prix de Paris, three races at the Breeders’ Cup and the Canadian International, have sent Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby soaring to the top spot and put him out on his own as our World Trainer of 2021, as James Willoughby reports here in the second part of his annual review of the TRC Global Rankings.
Click here to read part 1: The jockeys
This was the Top Ten on January 1, 2021:
And this is the Top Ten in the latest rankings:
This is the data specific to 2021:
ANALYSIS
Charlie Appleby has been simply outstanding in 2021 – easily the world’s best by our figures and a solid #1. He leads the world in Group/Graded wins with 43, achieved at a 29 percent strike rate, and has marshalled the development of a raft of top horses while barely putting a foot wrong.
Whether it is in Dubai, Europe or the U.S., Appleby seems to have dead aim on the right races for his horses, and his hand has been on the rudder while Godolphin has ascended to new heights as a global operation.
No trainer has occupied the #1 spot longer than the great Aidan O’Brien, however. The fact that European racing is a zero-sum game has seen him drop from #3 to #6 because Appleby is in his way in so many of the top races that were his to farm before. Still, no trainer has sent out more G1 winners in 2021 than his 18; it is the volume of runners he has taken to achieve his success that the TRC Global Rankings algorithm must debit him for, in order to bring more parity to our rankings.
The usual leviathans of global training, like Chad Brown, John Gosden (joined on the licence in March by son Thady) and Chris Waller, have been effective in 2021, but controversial U.S. trainer Bob Baffert has made the headlines for reasons other than a solid season numerically.
It has been an excellent campaign for Brad Cox and Todd Pletcher in the U.S., WilliamHaggas in Europe and Jamie Richards in Oceania. Cox seems like an unstoppable force in Graded stakes, while Pletcher has taken a step back towards the days when he led the world in our classifications. For his part, longstanding British ace Haggas has increased the quality of his string while remaining just as uber-efficient as ever, while Richards has come to the attention of the power brokers in Hong Kong, where he will shortly take up residence.
There is a good deal of stability at the top of the trainers’ rankings: Nine of the ten names leading the world entering the year are still there as it draws to a close.