Hot to Trot: Following Osborne a licence to print money

Flat trainer: Jamie Osborne

Currently leading the way in our trainer form table for Flat trainers is Jamie Osborne, who has saddled six winners and 11 more horses to finish in the frame from his last 27 runners. Backing all Osborne’s runners since the first day of September would have yielded a £140 profit to a £10 level stake, and the UAE Derby-winning trainer showed once he’s again that he’s a man up for a challenge when sending horses to race on the beach at Laytown in Ireland recently, coming back with a winner, two seconds and a third from six runners. Osborne has won with three of this last seven runners at the time of writing, including two-year-old Swallow Street who improved for the fitting of blinkers when winning a Redcar nursery on Wednesday at 16/1. Osborne did something similar back in April when his subsequent Britannia Handicap winner Defrocked wore a first-time hood when winning a maiden at Windsor at 10/1. La Manga could be a particularly interesting runner for the trainer if taking up her entry at Bath on Monday, given she improved when runner-up on her handicap debut at Wolverhampton in January and has been off since disappointing at Kempton in January just three days later.

Jumps trainer: Nigel Twiston-Davies

Nigel Twiston-Davies always starts his jumps season earlier than most of the other big trainers and it looks to be no different this year, with him running his 2016 Champion Bumper winner Ballyandy in a novice hurdle at Perth on Thursday (close second to Moon Racer) a big signal of intent. Twiston-Davies also ran another of his stars from last season, Flying Angel, in a novice chase at the meeting and the gelding passed the test in facile fashion. Both horses look booked for more success in the near future, as do the likes of Ballymalin (also won at Perth on Thursday, making his hurdling debut) and Templehills (won over hurdles at Uttoxeter and will improve further as his stamina is drawn out). The fact that Twiston-Davies recently got a win out of the long-standing maiden (over jumps) Sword of The Lord is another sign that his yard are firing on all cylinders at present, and all of his runners should be afforded plenty of respect in the coming days—Ballybolley, Wholestone and Templeross are all entered at Newton About on Monday (latter pair in the same race).

Under the radar: Robyn Brisland

Former jockey Robyn Brisland only had his first runner as a trainer in January but he’s since sent out 11 winners and a whole host of placed horses from 69 runners, so he clearly knows what he’s doing. Brisland struck with his fifth runner, E Fourteen, in a handicap at Chelmsford, and enjoyed his biggest success when another sprinter, Magnus Maximus, landed a 0-105 handicap at Ascot earlier this month. It was Magnus Maximus’ third win of the year for Brisland, following up from a five-length win at Chelmsford the time before, and he could climb even higher yet. Brisland has saddled two more winners since Magnus Maximus’ Ascot win, including Brick Lane in a handicap over the extended seven furlongs at Wolverhampton; she’d won a similar race over the same C&D on her previous outing. Brisland doesn’t have any immediate entries but his runners will be worth waiting for in the coming weeks; a profit of £580 to a £10 level stake for all his runners suggest punters generally haven’t yet latched on to his ability as a trainer.