BetTurtle Blog

The first two months of the horse racing year often brings opportunities for astute betting punters, particularly those who follow in-form horse trainers.

January and February typically sees the top-trainers preparing their horses for key races at Cheltenham and other racing festivals and they represent the majority of race winners.

However, it is some of the smaller, lesser known, trainers that provide the profitable betting angles during this period.

Profitable Trainers In January and February To Follow

Using data from the Jan-February 2023-2024 seasons, we can see that the Top Trainers in the UK and Ireland provide the majority of winners during January and February.

However, as you can see from the Return on Investment (ROI) column, backing every horse from those yards would incur significant losses.

Indeed, it is some of the smaller, less well known yards, that provided the more interesting betting options during this period.

Each of the yards in the table above returned a decent number of winners, a good strike rate and a positive return on investment during the period.

Based on the past 30 days, up until 1st January 2025, the following trainers from the list are in decent form;

Henry Daly (9-32 28%)

Anthony Honeyball (6-42 14%)

Harry Derham (5-13 38%)

However, it could be the trainers in lesser form that provide the more interesting angles over the next two months, based on the historic data;

Chris Gordon (4/34 12%)

Kerry Lee (2-15 13%)

Stuart Edmunds (2-20 10%)

Jeremy Scott (2-18 11%)

James Ewart (1-13 8%)

Ben Clarke (1/12 8%)

Tom Lacey (1-18 6%)

Brian Ellison (1-27 4%)

Stuart Coltherd (0/27 0%)

Profitable Trainers By Course

A number of trainers target their horses at particular courses and meetings and this provides another angle for betting profitability.

Top Irish trainer, Willie Mullins is the standout in terms of 24 winners from 59 runners at Naas during Jan/Feb in the past two years.

Others that catch the eye from our Trainers to Follow list include;

Jeremy Scott with runners at Wincanton. He had 7 winners from 22 runners and returned an astonishing ROI of 436%.

Kerry Lee with runners at Hereford. She had 9 winners from 20 runners and returned a 76% ROI.

Stuart Edmunds with runners at Fakenham. He had 5 winners from 8 runners and returned a 164% ROI.

Anthony Honeyball with runners at Exeter (7 wins from 22 runners and 35% ROI) and Fontwell (5 wins from 13 runners and 125% ROI).

Chris Gordon with runners at Fontwell (6 wins from 20 runners and 141% ROI), Lingfield (4 wins from 16 runners and 20% ROI) and Wincanton (4 wins from 11 runners and 86% ROI).

James Ewart with runners at Ayr. He had 4 winners from 13 runners and returned a 266% ROI.

Tom Lacey with runners at Doncaster. He had 4 winners from 15 runners and returned a 87% ROI.

Brian Ellison with runners at Catterick (4 wins from 16 runners and a 136% ROI) and Sedgefield (6 wins from 22 runners and a 37% ROI).

Manually Tracking Trainer Runners

BetTurtle provides a number of tools to help you keep track of trainer runners.

The Search Today's and Tomorrow's Runners feature provides a list of all horses and trainers. You can sort of filter on trainer names to find the trainers you are interest in.

Automatically Tracking Trainer Runners

If you would like to automate the process of finding a trainers runners, then the following example shows how to create an automated system using BetTurtle.

Once you have created your system, you can then view your list of systems including current and historic tips and profitability statistics.