After the success of my December article, I’m back with more!
Following on from my Horse Racing Trainers To Follow in December 2025 article, the majority of the trainers I highlighted had a fantastic month in December: -
- Gary & Josh Moore - 12/56 (21%) with 35/56 (63%) in the first four and +£5.48 to a £1 level stake
- Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith - 10/42 (24%) with 27/42 (64%) in the first four and +£0.56 to a £1 level stake
- Jane Williams - 4/16 (25%) with 10/16 (63%) in the first four and +£2.08 to a £1 level stakes
- Jonjo & AJ O’Neill - 9/49 (18%) with 24/49 (49%) in the first four and +£15.13 to a £1 level stake
- Ben Pauling - 17/77 (22%) with 44/77 (57%) in the first four and +£27.44 to a £1 level stakes
Hopefully you all found that article useful, and made good use of the data supplied. After the success of that one, I’ve decided to write another article featuring trainers to keep an eye on in January 2026!
If you’re new to my content here, I’m Gav, better known as RacingGav on X. I’m the resident horse racing expert at Betting.co.uk and my main responsibility is delivering
free horse racing tips. However, I also publish educational guides, big race trends and informational content like this!
If you are looking for more , be sure to check out my existing educational guides which include
Understanding the UK Handicap System
and
Horses for Courses, the latter of which is concerned with track bias.
Before we get stuck in, let’s take a look at Unibet!
As always, I highlight a bookmaker in every article that I produce. This time around, I want to highlight Unibet to you. Unibet are famous for sponsoring many of the top horse races in the UK, including the prestigious Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
There are two reasons I want to highlight Unibet. First, they often have the
best horse racing odds, and secondly, they also have a great sign up offer for new customers. If you
bet £10, you’ll get £40 of free bets. That’s a cracking deal!.
It’s a New Year and I have new trainers for you to follow!
The performance of trainers will vary from month to month, so I will have different trainers for you to follow at the start of each new month. To compile my lists, I have looked back at the historical performances of 50+ trainers in January. Make sure you keep reading to find out who stands out for January 2026.
Reliable trainers to follow in January 2026
Three trainers stood out to me this time. Over the last three Januarys combined, they each produced a profit to £1 level stakes.
Harry Derham:
2023 – 3/11 (27%) with 5/11 (45%) in the first four and +£29.50 to a £1 level stake
2024 – 7/15 (47%) with 9/15 (60%) in the first four and +£11.95 to a £1 level stake
2025 – 3/44 (7%) with 21/44 (48%) in the first four and -£38.70 to a £1 level stake
Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith:
2023 – 3/23 (13%) with 13/23 (57%) in the first four and +£22.50 to a £1 level stake
2024 – 1/24 (4%) with 11/24 (46%) in the first four and -£19.50 to a £1 level stake
2025 – 7/27 (26%) with 16/27 (59%) in the first four and +£15.68 to a £1 level stake
Willie Mullins:
2023 - 0/2 (0%) with 2/2 in the first three and -£2.00 to a £1 level stake
2024 – 3/5 (60%) with 5/5 in the first three and +£3.82 to a £1 level stake
2025 - 2/4 (50%) with 4/4 in the first two and -£0.60 to a £1 level stake
As you can see, both Harry Derham and the partnership of Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith (previously Sue Smith solely) had a strong January in two of the past three years. For both, the poor year of winners, and consequent £1 level stakes returns, don’t show the full picture, as they were repeatedly hitting the frame with their horses during that year. As an example of what I mean, Harry Derham only had three winners from 44 runners in 2025, but he had nine second places.
Willie Mullins makes the list, despite his very limited number of runners, as he also made a profit to £1 level stakes. Impressively, all 11 of his runners during the three year period finished in the first three places, and five of the last nine won.
Trainers who had a fantastic January in 2025
The next set of trainers are hard to assess, as they had a very successful January in 2025, but fared less well in previous years. So, it’s more a case of whether they can reproduce those results in January 2026.
Nigel & Willy Twiston Davies:
10/49 (20%) with 30/49 (61%) in the first four and +£7.89 to a £1 level stake
Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore:
13/54 (24%) with 31/54 (57%) in the first four and +£11.08 to a £1 level stake
Emma Lavelle:
8/30 (27%) with 21/30 (70%) in the first four and +£29.66 to a £1 level stake
Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero:
4/24 (17%) with 10/24 (42%) in the first four and +£15.00 to a £1 level stake
Neil Mulholland:
7/32 (22%) with 18/32 (56%) in the first four and +£25.70 to a £1 level stake
Wildcard trainers to follow in the New Year
Away from the statistics, there are two other trainers that interest me as we enter the New Year. I mentioned Jonjo & A J O’Neill in my
Trainers To Follow in December 2025
article, explaining the issues the stable had in the early part of the season. I felt they could turn it around in December, and they certainly did. They may well continue that form into the New Year now they are firing, and they are definitely worth keeping an eye on.
I also mentioned Venetia Williams in last month’s article, but unfortunately, here failure to fire has continued. Over the last five seasons, she has produced a strike rate of 15%. However, during October, November and December 2025, she operated at just 9.3%, with only 7 out of 75 of her runners winning. I would say the continued dry weather, and lack of typical winter conditions are fuelling her drought. If the weather turns as we enter 2026, and the rain begins to fall, she may well start to pick up.
Which trainers are worth following in January 2026?
Of all the trainers mentioned, I would always tend to focus on those that have been delivering reliably over a three year period. For January 2026, that’s Harry Derham and the partnership of Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith. In addition, I would keep a close eye on any runners that Willie sends over, as they tend to make it worth the journey for him and the punters that back them.
The five trainers who had a strong January in 2025 are also worth putting on your watch list, but I wouldn’t recommend backing their runners blindly. Although they fired in January last year, they didn’t do so in previous years, meaning there’s no guarantee they will back it up this year. Personally, I would just review them for a week or two to see how they perform.
Lastly, I would have a similar brief for both Jonjo & A J O’Neill and Venetia Williams. The father and son duo could continue to fire in the winners, and produce another profitable month to £1 level stakes. And Venetia may finally hit form if the weather turns in her favour. After all, we’ve seen an unusually dry start to the 2025/26 season,which has hampered her campaign to date.
My final point is that I would tread carefully with Dan Skelton’s runners in January. He clearly had all guns blazing in the early part of the season, and he will want to be doing the same in the spring. It’s unlikely he can keep it up all season long, so the compromise will likely be a quiet start to 2026 for Lodge Hill. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Dan's form dropped off in January, and maybe even February, before we see him start to fire in winners again from March to May.
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