Jockeys & Trainers / Wayne Bailey / 06 January 2009 / Leave a comment

Wayne Bailey takes a look at the record of multiple Irish champion trainer, Noel Meade.

Not many people can be described as a 'household name', but in Ireland, Noel Meade is one such man. Indeed, he's been firing the winners home for four decades now and shows no signs of stopping yet. The story behind Tu Va stables is an endearing one with modest beginnings. His racing kingdom now spans 175 acres, but it all started out with just one horse - ridden by Meade himself!

He took out a licence in 1971, but owners quickly noticed his small but talented crop, and it wasn't long before he had a list of horses to train and made the decision to expand. He's since gone from strength to strength and is recognised as one of the most successful Irish trainers of all time. While he primarily focuses on National Hunt these days, he's also quite successful on the flat and his horses there shouldn't be overlooked.

The Cheltenham Festival has been a thorn in his side somewhat and he had to wait until the year 2000 before finally finding his first winner there. Success has been snatched from his grasp numerous times, most notably perhaps when Hill Society was beaten in a photo in the 1998 Arkle Trophy. I still know people who swear that the result was called wrongly! Meade is a determined individual however, and no doubt we will see numerous entries once again in the 2009 festival.

Here's a quick look at when his horses are particularly noteworthy...
(All data is from 2003 onwards)

Courses

In the past five years, Meade has had 16 winners from 47 races (34.04%) at Wexford, making it by far his most successful course recently. Had you stuck a tenner on each horse, you'd be £123 better off today. With 40 wins from 144 bets (27.78%), Kilbeggan is another course where Meade horses should be noted and a profit of over £600 to £10 stakes would have been shown had you backed each.

Races

Meade is recognised as a bumper specialist and has had 103 winners from 456 races in the past five years, and shows a small profit to level stakes. Meade also likes to target the top races, and in National Hunt Non-Handicaps valued at £21,000+ he's had 55 winners from 317 races and shows a very reasonable profit of nearly £400 to £10 stakes.

Jockeys

What's rare is wonderful as they say, and when Meade teams up with Johnny Murtagh on the flat, they show considerable success and have proved profitable to follow. Nina Carberry has a 25% strike-rate when riding in bumpers for Meade, but punters have long discovered this success story and prices are usually restrictive. Paul Carberry, Niall Madden and Dennis O'Regan also ride for Meade on a regular basis with varying degrees of success.

Horse Age

There's a possible laying opportunity on the flat with regard to two-year-olds - as Meade horses generally take a couple of years to find their form. In fact, he's had just one winning two-year-old in the past five years from 47 races (The Fist Of God at 4/1 back in October 2007).

Trainer Championship

Meade won the Irish jumps trainer championship seven times since the turn of the century, finally giving way to Willie Mullins in 2007/2008. At the time of writing, Meade trails Mullins in the 2008/2009 Irish championship by roughly £340,000 with Jessica Harrington a distant third.