Sam Thomas: Reflecting on a Memorable Season and His Racing Journey

SAM Thomas has had a season to remember, after claiming the Welsh Grand National in December.

The Lisvane based trainer has had 20 winners from 103 starts this season, and he had to pick a success in the iconic grade three at Chepstow as his highlight of the season.

“Obviously the highlight would have to be the Welsh national, it’s a race that I was never very successful as a jockey in.

“To win a Welsh National, being a Welsh trainer it’s very special.

“he’s a horse which we have had from the very start of his career and was bred not far from my family home in Cross Ash by great friends and Stan Brown, who gave me my first ever winner as a jockey under rules.

“The whole story is just pretty epic really from a personal point of view.

“It’s just great to win in such a big high profile Welsh race, being a Welsh team.

“We are down on winners from last season, but we’ve had some really big weekend winners, obviously the Welsh National being a grade three and a grade two at the end of the season with Stolen Silver. So, lots of memorable weekends along the way.” 

 Iwilldoit took the same route to the big race as the previous winner, Secret Reprieve, only having one run in the build-up by winning the Welsh National trial.

“We obviously had a dream to go and train him for the Welsh National which was the plan from the season before.

“The season before didn’t quite work out.

“I ran him in the Borders National first time out which in hindsight was the wrong thing to do.

 “He came back really light and was very difficult to train from there on, so I learned a lot from the season before this season with him. 

“I kept the horse at the yard for the summer, instead of going back to Stan the Breeder’s where he always had done. 

“It just meant that I had the horse in a lot earlier than I’ve had him in the past. 

“Also, for a horse which maybe hasn’t been the easiest train in that he is a bit of a worrier, it just meant that he was already at the yard and didn’t have to be transported anywhere.

“The trial really was the most obvious prep race for him.

“The only negative about that is that it was just three weeks before the actual Welsh National itself, which would be the absolute minimum really for Iwilldoit.

“All credit to the horse to be able to pull them off really.” 

February 19^th was another successful day for the yard this season, when Good Risk At All and Skytastic picked up a double at Ascot worth £39,000 in prize money for Sam’s yard.

“Good Risk At All, we have always thought very highly of, and I guess we were a bit disappointed at the start of the season, he just never quite got into gear really.

“He was beaten at Chepstow first time out, we took on Jonbon at Newbury on ground that was too quick, he finished second that day which was still a good run, and the time was pretty fast. 

“Then he got beaten at a handicap hurdle in his next run by a nose, so it just took a while to get going until Ascot, it was a real relief Be honest.

“Certainly, with him he just got the hang of it, and he just proved that he does love soft ground.

“That was great and unfortunately, we got we missed out on Cheltenham with him, he got balloted out of the Coral Cup.

“That left us with Aintree and for whatever reason he didn’t fire.

“He’s still a very good horse and we’ll put him away now.

“He could go novice chasing, or he could stay and be targeted at a nice handicap hurdle off a mark of 137 he’s still really well handicapped, there’s lots of options.

“Skytastic had a niggle at the start of the season, so that meant we didn’t have him where we wanted him to be, so he started a bit later in the season.

“He was workmanlike at Doncaster and did it really nicely first time out. 

“I was absolutely thrilled when he won at Ascot. 

“He’s certainly a horse that doesn’t love heavy ground, so he showed his good horse to win the way did, and again at Aintree, unfortunately he didn’t quite fire, he has come back absolutely fine.

“Three miles might just have stretched so he might step back in trip next season.” 

                         

Sam runs a relatively small yard with just over 30 boxes but has shown his yard can produce those big weekend winners.

“I’m very lucky that the majority of horses that we train are owned by Mr Walters, who has been a huge supporter of national hunt racing for many years.

“He has put a lot of money into the industry. 

“We’re very lucky to have the exciting horses we train, and we are in quite a lucky position, that if the horses aren’t good enough to be Saturday horses they generally get moved on.”

“As a result, although we are a small yard and it’s very much quality over quantity.” 

The Welshman was very successful as a jockey, having ridden over 500 winners. He was part of Paul Nicholls’ yard during a golden era, where he rode the likes of Denman, Kauto Star and Big Bucks. He told of his story of how the racing journey started.

“As a kid all I ever wanted to do was ride ponies and horses, much like someone who wants to be a tennis player or footballer all their life, that’s what I want to do from a very young age.

“That was down to my parents really, they were big supporters, dad loves his racing, and I was riding ponies at a really young age. 

“We did lots of hunting, show jumping and cross country, and I thank my parents for putting all their time, effort and money into providing me and my sisters with our hobbies really.

“I was quite determined from the young age that I was going to be a jockey and thankfully it all worked out.”

After racing, Sam decided training was the next step to take in his career.

“I think after riding I was probably quite lost in terms of where I was going to go afterwards.

 “Mentally, all I ever wanted to do was ride so I was a bit stuck at first as to what avenue I was going to go down.

 “I just gradually started to pretrain horses and did a bit of breaking in and I really enjoyed that.

“I probably jumped into training and was a bit naive, I thought it would be easy, but looking back I was probably a bit naive.

“I would have done things differently if I was able to do things again.

“I probably would have taken my time to gain some more experience before I committed to getting on with it.”

 
He recalled what it was like to ride Denman, a legendary horse who Sam rode to a memorable Gold Cup in 2008.

The horse also produced two of the great weight-carrying performances of all time in his two Hennessy Gold Cup victories under a weight of 11 stone 12lb, and the Welsh jockey was also in the saddle for the first of those wins in 2007.

“If anyone has ever driven a car, riding is a bit like getting into a car but not knowing what engine is under the hood.

“He looked like a nice horse, but you still don’t know what they’re going to give you until you get onto the grass or gallops or jump a fence.

“It’s only when you started driving and experience that you think this is a bit special.

“I was blown away by the feel he gave me first time He gave me when we just went down to do some schooling.

“The first time I took him on the grass, and we were going to give him a warmup and he just took off with me and I will never forget that initial feel that he gave me.

“He really blew me away that’s what he was like when he was feeling well, and he was at his best

“you’re riding a big horse, but he had so much speed, power and enthusiasm and that’s what made him so good.”