Keith Dalgleish - a trainer to watch
It can pay great dividends to pick up on trainers early in their careers and despite being well known as a jockey, since switching to the training ranks Keith Dalgleish has made an excellent start but his runners can still be underestimated.
He was forced to retire from the saddle at 21, as increasing weight problems got the better of him but his first season from Belstane Racing Stables at Carluke in Lanarkshire could hardly have gone better. Those looking at the racing betting will know this.
The numbers tell the tale with 28n winners already on board from just 172 runners at an impressive 16% strike-rate and a very healthy level stakes profit of £41.50. As is often the case with a new name on the training scene the horses are often a bigger price than their ability warrants, another reason to keep stables like this on your side early in their training lifecycle. Having largely been associated with Mark Johnston in his riding days you would have expected to see the Dalgleish training CV dominated by middle distance types, but the story is anything but – sprinters have dominated the winner's column. 16 of his 28 winners have come at the five or six furlong distance, although he has trained winners over further at an equally acceptable strike rate. People who bet on racing should bear this in mind.
Most of his winners have come with older horses but he has had five juvenile successes, most notably with Stonefield Flyer who was second in the Windsor Castle at Ascot. Placing horses is a much underrated part of the trainer's art and Dalgleish is well worth watching when he drops anything into claiming or selling grade where he has impressive success rates.
Three tracks, Ayr, Musselburgh and Hamilton, have provided Dalgleish with the bulk of his winners but he should be watched closely at Pontefract (2/3) and Lingfield (1/1). You should also pay close attention when he teams up with Joe Fanning who he would have ridden alongside at Mark Johnston's – the pair are already 8/19 for a 42% strike rate and a level stakes profit of £48.Keith Dalgleish a trainer to follow and watch over the coming months.
