Key Points
- Who are the best horse racing trainers in December?
- Which horse racing trainers find a hot streak during December?
- Are these horse racing trainers about to come into form?
In today’s article I have something a little different for you. For the first time, I’m going to look at the upcoming month and suggest some trainers you might want to keep an eye on. To compile my list I’ve looked back through their statistics over the last few years to identify trends. In doing so, I have found some interesting angles for you.
If you’re new to my articles, I’m RacingGav and I’m the resident horse racing expert here at Betting.co.uk. As part of my role, I write several articles per week for this site. These are mostly betting tips, both daily and antepost but I also cover other areas. For example, you’ll also find big race trends, educational guides, and other articles that focus on interesting racing-related topics, like today’s!
If you’re looking to learn more about the great sport of horse racing, be sure to check out my educational guides. Two that I’d definitely recommend you check out cover
the UK Handicap System
and
National Hunt Racing. But for now, let’s move on to my December 2025 trainers to watch.
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I have gone through 30-40 trainers and checked out their statistics for the month of December over the last three seasons. From this, I've identified those trainers worth following, and some who are a little less inconsistent, but have still some produced some eye-catching figures.
Who are the best horse racing trainers in December?
I’m sure it won't be a surprise to learn that it has been the powerhouse stables of Dan Skelton, Olly Murphy and Paul Nicholls which have fired in the most winners during December in recent years. Dan Skelton hit 18 winners in both 2022 and 2023 but reached new heights with 26 (a 20% strike rate) in 2024. Olly Murphy has similarly been climbing each year, with nine in 2022, 14 in 2023, and 20 in 2024. In those latter two years, he produced a strike rate of 22% and 25% respectively.
Paul Nicholls had very strong figures in 2022 and 2023, with 21 and 22 winners respectively, producing strike rates of 21% and 23%. However, he saw a worrying decline last year with just 14 winners from 94 runners, bringing a much lower strike rate of just 15%. Whilst that is still strong, it’s not the normal Nicholls standard, and it’ll be interesting to see if he bounces back this year, or continues to decline.
Which horse racing trainers find a hot streak during December?
Much like Olly Murphy, Jamie Snowden has seen significant progress in December over the recent years. In 2022, he recorded just one winner. In 2023, he recorded three from his 22 runners (14% strike rate). However, he really hit new heights in December 2024 with nine winners from 43 runners and a strike rate of 21%. Can he build on that again in 2025?
Ben Pauling is another trainer who regularly fires in winners when December rolls around. In 2022, he produced a hugely impressive 12 winners from 46 runs (26% strike rate). He wasn’t miles off that last year with 11 winners from 58 runners (19% strike rate). However, in December 2023, he had just seven winners from 57 (12%). So can he prove that was just a blip with a strong December this time around?
Another progressive trainer who seems to enjoy a hot streak during December is Harry Derham. In December 2022 he landed one winner from just four runners (25% strike rate). In 2023 he jumped right up to 33 runners, producing seven winners (21% strike rate). Then last year with just 15 runners, he produced five winners (33% strike rate). His yard certainly seems to be going in the right direction.
Which horse racing trainers are profitable to follow overall in December?
One stable blew me away on this front and that was that of Gary & Josh Moore. If you backed all of their December runners in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to £1 level stakes, you would have returned profits of +£72.94, +£23.94 and +£17.91 respectively. During those years, they achieved an impressive strike rate of 20% with their runners. It’s safe to say they like to land some Christmas gambles!
Another duo who hit three profitable Decembers in a row was Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith. The last two years have produced modest enough profits to £1 level stakes of +£4.75 (2024) and +0.58 (2023). However, 2022 produced an incredible figure of +£55.00. So that could be another yard to follow through December this year.
We then have Philip Hobbs & Johnson White, who had a very strong December in 2024 with 12 winners from 50 runners (24% strike rate) and a £1 level stakes profit of +£3.87. Similarly, Mrs Jane Williams recorded seven winners from 27 runners (26% strike rate) and +£10.00 to £1 level stakes last year. The previous years for both were not as strong though, so they would need to prove this wasn’t just an anomaly.
Finally, I have tried to find a couple of horse racing trainers that are starting to look ready to hit top form.
Firstly, we have Venetia Williams who often comes alive at this time of year. This is largely due to the winter ground conditions, which are typically important for her horses. I’ve looked at her with a wider scope, covering both November and December. In these two months combined, the last three years have produced some interesting figures. 2022: 17 winners from 107 runners (16% strike rate), 2023: 35 winners from 116 runners (30% strike rate) and 2024: 19 winners from 100 runners (19% strike rate).
While they are all impressive results, 2023 was particularly notable, where Venetia produced a £1 level stake profit of +£49.28 that year. However, with a very dry 2025, she seems to be behind schedule this season. In November 2025, she recorded just three winners from 30 runners. As the winter ground comes, she could have plenty of winners to come.
We also have another yard with excuses that might be about to come good. Jonjo & AJ O’Neill have had a disastrous start to the 2025/26 season, with just four winners recorded to date. For some context, in the first two months of the 2024/25 season, they had 26 winners. Jonjo was so unhappy with the performance of his horses that he pulled all of his runners, and ran tests on them, to establish if there was some kind of underlying cause. Hopefully we will start to see his runners trickle out over the next week or two. If they can start to build up momentum heading towards Christmas, the stable could start firing out winners left, right and centre.
So which trainers should you follow this December?
You won’t go far wrong following the likes of Dan Skelton, Olly Murphy and Paul Nicholls. However, I would tread quite carefully with the latter for the time being. Also, this isn’t really an edge as everybody already knows how good these trainers are. Personally, I’d be more tempted to follow some of the progressive trainers who are trying to become the next big thing: Jamie Snowden, Ben Pauling and Harry Derham.
In terms of past profitability, it’s hard to overlook Gary & Josh Moore, Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith, Philip Hobbs & Johnson White, and Mrs Jane Williams. However, the first two are more proven than the second two, who may have just been a flash in the pan.
Finally, Venetia Williams and Jonjo & AJ O’Neill are miles off their usual pace. The former due to the weather, and the latter due to a suspected bug within the yard. These are the types of trainers that would be particularly interesting to me. Statistics are all well and good, but there is no guarantee they’ll be repeated. Whereas with these two yards, there are very solid reasons why they should come good as the season progresses into December.
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