'Wages doubled, feed tripled in price and our fees went up' - the current battles trainers face

Razor thin margins, rising costs and high levels of stress are among the factors having to be considered by trainers when making the decision to continue preparing horses, or to hand in their licence to take on a new role.

Trainers across Britain have been walking away from the front line in the last 12 months, with the likes of Group-winning Flat trainers Joe Tuite, Harry Dunlop and Keith Dalgleish stopping, while over jumps Grand National-winning trainer Oliver Sherwood and Caroline Bailey have also called time on their training careers, among others.

In April, Harry Whittington, who enjoyed Grade 1 success with Arzal and guided Simply The Betts to Cheltenham Festival glory, relinquished his licence to focus on pre-training and breaking horses having run the business alongside training his horses for the previous year.