John Ferguson

[michael_o]

An extremely affable, and able, fellow but one who finds himself in a highly privileged position, being the beneficiary of Sheikh Mo's generosity and thus able to indulge his hobby of training horses (Godolphin cast-offs yet some with a rating of 120+ on the Flat) for summer and winter jumping. He is prepared to send his horses any distance (from Newton Abbot to Perth) to hoover up novice hurdles and chases, and for the most part they duly oblige.

All this is great for John Ferguson, who in numerical terms is the leading trainer so far this jump season, but is it doing NH racing any favours in the long run? Small trainers and owners find life hard enough on what often seems an uneven playing field, but now even in what might be a "winnable" race such as a Class 4 novice hurdle at Hexham, you are liable to come up against a Bloomfields horse.

I've noticed that rumblings and grumblings have started to appear on some trainers' blogs which will no doubt be dismissed by many as sour grapes. Mr. Ferguson has every right to be doing what he's doing, but his operation is bound to put further pressure on those at the lower end of the sport and is not something that I welcome.

Any other views?

 

[Aughex]

I don't know of any domain in which competition leads to disaster? competition is always welcome as far as I'm concerned. The greater pleasure one gets when winning a class 4 event knowing that the fields are so competitive, harder work higher satisfaction.. something needs to be done though with the prize value, 5K for a class 6 Jumps race should be the minimum, the fixtures that can't get the sponsors for this kind of amount should simply be cancelled and/or merged.

 

[harry]

How's his Chase stats?

 

[Bachelors Hall]

I think it's great for the sphere with respects to quality. Martin Pipe once said that he bought a lot of horses out of sellers (Make A Stand the most notable) because a lot of them were better than ones found in bumpers so with this fresh influx of Darley could-have-beens, it's impossible to see that happening again. Also, whilst it was a rare occurrence in the modern era (all too rare for NH fans) for a really good flat horse like Vintage Crop or Alderbrook to go over hurdles and do well, this is something that will happen a lot more frequently. We've already seen the Arc fifth Penglai Pavilion win a couple of minor events and it wouldn't be unimaginable to see a Guineas or Derby placed horse over hurdles in the next few years.

It's not all straightforward for John Ferguson as a lot of the degenerates in his care left the flat due to their non-straightforward manner. Besides, since the sphere already has monster operations such as Gigginstown, McManus and Ricci, one more isn't going to do much harm. Although as Aughex alludes to, it would be fair to see the strengthening in the standard of competition reflected in the prize money.