John_L._Dunlop
John Dunlop (racehorse trainer)
British race horse trainer (1939–2018)
John Leeper Dunlop OBE (10 July 1939 – 7 July 2018) was an English race horse trainer based in Arundel, Sussex.[1] He trained the winners of 74 Group One races, including 10 British Classics,[2] with over 3000 winners in total.[3] He was the British flat racing Champion Trainer in 1995.
Born in Tetbury, he first took out a training licence in 1966. After a two-year apprenticeship with Neville Dent and Gordon Smyth he took over Castle Stables in Arundel, on the Duke of Norfolk's estate.
He played a pivotal role in the establishment of Middle Eastern influences in British horseracing, training Hatta, Sheikh Mohammed's first winner as an owner at Brighton in 1977.[2] He was also associated with Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum over a period of three decades, training horses such as Salsabil, winner of the 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and Irish Derby. The main jockeys with which he was associated include the Australian Ron Hutchinson, Willie Carson, Pat Eddery[3] and Lester Piggott . In later years he was also associated with Richard Quinn and Ted Durcan.[4] The 2,000 Guineas was the only British Classic that eluded him.[2]
Dunlop was appointed OBE in the 1996 Birthday Honours. He was also a trustee of the British Racing School.[5]
In 2001, he suffered a ruptured aorta, but survived.[4] He retired at the end of the 2012 flat racing season. His sons, Ed and Harry, are also both trainers. Jeremy Noseda and Gerard Butler also learnt their trade with him.[3]
