John Ferguson, one of the most successful trainers in National Hunt this season, will give up his licence in the spring and move to a new role as the chief executive of Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin organisation, following a major overhaul of the Sheikh’s racing and breeding operations.
Ferguson has enjoyed consistent success with his string of jumpers since launching his training operation in 2011, offering a racing career to castoffs from the Sheikh’s huge string of impeccably bred Flat horses. Ferguson has saddled 70 winners this season and is fifth in the trainers’ championship with £557,163 in prize money. He has increased his haul in each of his five seasons and seems certain to pass last season’s £615,185 before he hands in his licence.
Ferguson’s training career over jumps has flourished alongside his continuing role as Sheikh Mohammed’s principal bloodstock adviser, a position he has held for 30 years. That role will now expand significantly, however, following the Sheikh’s decision to merge and streamline his racing and breeding operations, which was announced on Godolphin’s website.
“I will miss the training,” said Ferguson, who will be Godolphin’s new chief executive and racing manager. “Jump racing has always been one of my sporting passions, and I love the involvement. I am very grateful to Sheikh Mohammed for giving me the horses to send jumping in the first place. In fact, he wanted me to continue, but I could see that Godolphin must always be a priority and requires my undivided attention.”
Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock operation is the biggest the sport has seen, and has 2,000 racehorses stabled in Britain, Ireland, the United States, Australia and Dubai. Its breeding arm, run under the banner of the Darley Stud in Newmarket, includes 2,500 breeding stock and stands stallions around the world.
Darley’s roster includes Dubawi and Cape Cross, who finished second and third respectively among sires in Europe this year in terms of their offspring’s earnings. Cape Cross’s representatives on the track included Golden Horn, who emulated Sea The Stars, another son of Cape Cross, in winning both the Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Dubawi, meanwhile, was the sire of Postponed, winner of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
“It is an exciting new chapter in the Godolphin story,” Ferguson said. “Our long-term objective is to improve on Godolphin’s results on the racetrack. I feel honoured to be appointed chief executive and racing manager, but I realise that it will require more of my time and attention.
“It makes sense for the racing and breeding operations to merge. One is sourcing the other and a well-planned, common strategy can only strengthen both.”
Like Godolphin, Darley is named after one of the three foundation stallions of the thoroughbred breed, which were imported into Britain from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Darley name will not disappear entirely but will in future be used “solely as a brand to promote stallions”.
Ferguson has recorded two Grade One successes during his five seasons and sent out New Year’s Day to finish second in the Festival Bumper at Cheltenham in 2012. He has yet to saddle a winner at the sport’s showpiece meeting, however, a gap on his record that he will be eager to fill before his stable closes its doors in the spring.
Ferguson has saddled 72 different horses from his base at Cowlinge in Suffolk this season, and the most successful will now join Charlie Appleby, one of Godolphin’s two principal trainers in Newmarket, to race on the Flat under the main Godolphin banner.
“I won’t be training any jumpers,” Appleby said on Tuesday. “What will happen is the best of John’s horse will come back to race on the Flat, some of them still have pretty lofty ratings.
“It will be nice to add some four- and five-year-olds to our string as we have a lot of younger horses at Moulton Paddocks, we haven’t had the older ones before. It’s exciting to have those type of horses and it will give us a nice balance.”
