1. INTRODUCTION
2. 2005 WINNERS OF 3 OR MORE RACES
• High Quality
• Low Quality
• Ability to win off OR80-87
• Persistence
3. TRAINERS
4. APPENDIX A : 2005 MULTIPLE WINNER LIST
5. APPENDIX B : 2006 MULTIPLE WINNER LIST

    A brief detour along dimly lit 'Memory Lane' - what do the names Provideo, Timeless Times and Spindrifter mean to you? If you are old enough it will set off recollections of 2yos winning 13, 14, even 16 races in a season. Almost daily runs in later season as they tried to break the record for the number of wins. Endless, small-field, Conditions races at Northern racecourses with these horses carrying double penalties but still beating the other two runners. It will also bring memories of two trainers in particular - WA (Bill) O'Gorman and M Prescott.

    Mr O'Gorman trained a host of multiple winning 2yos from the 70s onwards including Provideo and Timeless Times. We could bore on at enormous length about Manor Farm Boy, Abdu, Brondesbury, Superlative, Mac's Imp, etc. but ought to be stopped. Mr O'Gorman is now mostly retired and only has the occasional 2yo runner. Gone with him seems to be the regular set of 2yos that can win 5 or more races in a season.

    Mr Prescott trained Spindrifter who was one of the last examples of 2yos that won umpteen races in a year. He is still very active with 2yo runners and also very prominent in producing what now passes for 'multiple winning 2yos'. The number of multiple winners in the last four seasons is detailed in the '2yo Racing 2002-06 Stats' section on this site. In the last 4 seasons only one horse has won more than five races and only 6 have won as many as five with none in 2005. 75% of winning 2yos are successful in just one race and around a further 20% win two races. Which leaves a very small set of 2yos that win between 3 to 5 races.

    Before going further it is worth considering where the 2yos like Provideo and Spindrifter have gone. Perhaps the 2yos are just less robust that they used to be and do not run as many times? This does not appear to be the case and there are still plenty of examples of 2yos running 12 or more times in the season. The fundamental reason has been the restructuring of racing undertaken as a result of the various 'Competitive Racing' initiatives over the last decade and more. Bookmakers want to maximise turnover and 3 runner conditions races with Spindrifter taking on two opponents while pot-hunting round the Northern tracks does not do that.

    The outcome has been a structure of race types and penalties for previous winners that makes winning four races very difficult, 5 very rare and winning 16 races impossible. However, we can look at the horses that currently win three, or more, races to see whether there are any worthwhile patterns that show up. These will be covered in the next section but it is worth mentioning Mr Prescott again because he provides a link with the past. 2005 saw him produce two four time (out of a total of 6) and two triple winners. He has also produced two of the six 5-time winners in the three years 2002-4. So, the opportunities are still there to produce multiple winners if the trainer has the ability but a 4 time winner is as difficult as an seven or eight time one of 15 years ago.

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    The table in Appendix A lists the 41 horses, out of 768 winners in total, that won 3 or more races in 2005. It was a notably moderate year for multiple winners with no horse winning more than 4 races and the lowest number of 3+ winners in the last four years. The table includes the type of races that the 2yos won in date order which helps to identify what factors are involved. Assessing the table it is possible to identify a number of these factors as being important for these multiple wins.

• High Quality :- The race types and penalties for winners mean that after a horse has won two races (a Maiden and a Novice for example) it will probably need to step up in race class to a Conditions, Listed or Group Class. A look at the table shows that high quality horses make up a high percentage of the list. Four of the six 4-time winners were successful at Group level and thirteen of the thirty-five 3-timers won at Listed level or higher. Having high class horses is partly good fortune for a trainer but handling their careers well and developing it through suitable races to maximise the wins is within the trainer's control.
• Low Quality :- At the other extreme runners which have competed in lower quality races have opportunities to build up multiple wins. These come in two main forms with the first being the use of selling and claiming races. Claimers allow trainers to offset any penalties by setting a competitive raceweight themselves and therefore to achieve extra 'unpenalised' wins. Wins in selling races usually go unpenalised in better races and also have the advantage of being under-rated by the Official Handicapper. The two 4-time winners who were not high class both owed their status to running in low level races. M Prescott knew that Outlook was uncompetitive off OR84 after she had won a weak Nursery so instead put blinkers on and ran her in claimers. The other 4-timer was Saxon Saint who had finished placed is a seller as his best run before switching to Nurseries with a low OR61 rating. His 'seller' origins meant that his Official Rating (OR) only went up 11 points as he won four early Nurseries in less than 4 weeks. 5 of the 3-time winners owed their position to low quality races.
• Ability to win off OR80-88 :- It is an interesting point that the majority of the multiple winners that won in Nurseries needed to be able to win off a OR of 80 or higher. The exceptions either had run in sellers/claimers and started at very low OR (Saxon Saint, Quince & Figaro Flyer) or were trained by MR Channon (Wovoka & Yankee George) and examples of 'Persistence' which is covered in the next bullet point. The ability to win off 80+ in Nurseries is another indicator of the 'High Quality' factor and a number of the 2yos won in that range before moving on to better races. It also links to 'Persistence' in that many of the OR80+ winners had longish Nursery careers and managed to win after their OR rating had dropped a little.
• Persistence :- The more times you run the greater the chance that you will find a moderate race that you can win. The most interesting exponent of this is MR Channon. Each season he identifies a small group of his 2yos that he feels are tough enough to run 12 times or more. These 2yos often include smaller, natural, 2yos who probably have limited development so they may as well win what they can at 2yo. Wovoka and Yankee George were two examples in 2005 and both won 3 times by sheer persistence. Wovoka ran in 12 Nurseries for his two wins and had been beaten off OR85 or higher in 4 previous races before finally getting his third win. Other examples were Qusoor & Triskaidekaphobia who were beaten in 3 Nurseries before achieving their third win. Skhilling Spirit was beaten twice and his OR dropped before he won his first Nursery.

    Before the article was written it was intended that this section would identify the trainers that excelled at producing multiple winners. This would include trying to identify the strategies that they used. This has proved to be one of those cases where drawing together the information to produce the article has changed the overall impression. It is actually difficult to say that a wide range of trainers show real strategies for getting 3-time winners or more if we assume that having high quality horses in the stable is already in place.

    The obvious exception is M Prescott who was responsible for two of the six 4-time winners and two of the 3-timers. He clearly has a plan for each of his 2yos before they run and plans their development to ensure they work their way through the race types to maximise wins. At a lesser level JL Spearing (who gets a 3-time winner every season) and WGM Turner (gets at least on 3-time claimer/seller winner in cheekpieces) deserve a minor note because they identify the horses capable of multiple wins.

    If we then look at the other trainers with more than one multiple winner in the table we can put most of them down to the trainer having high class runners. MR Channon and R Hannon run such large numbers of 2yos and start so many of them early in the season that they get a number of multiple winners by sheer persistence and high numbers of individual runs.

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