Nigel Twiston-Davies

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Welcome to our profile of Gold Cup and two-time Grand National winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies. 

We look at his current runners, form, big wins and history.

Find out more about Nigel Twiston-Davies:

Key Stats N.Twiston-Davies

Trainer Profile of Nigel Twiston-Davies

Nigel Twiston-Davies has been an ever-present in the National Hunt training ranks for over forty years.

His first winner was Last of the Foxes at Hereford in 1982.

Nigel Twiston Davies

He is the father of jockeys Sam and William, the latter having retired in 2017.

Twiston-Davies has won 17 races at the Cheltenham Festival including the 2010 Gold Cup with Imperial Commander.

He is also a two-time Grand National winner with Earth Summit in 1998 and Bindaree in 2002.

Nigel Twiston-Davies – Key Trainer Stats

Twiston-Davies has trained more than 1500 winners under rules.

His most prolific season came in 2010-11 when he saddled 97 winners.

His horses have earned more than £1 million in prize money in a season on eleven occasions.

In 2017-18 they earned nearly £1.9 million.

He is the only current trainer to have won the Grand National twice and all five races staged over the National fences at Aintree.

Nigel Twiston-Davies Big Race Wins

The list of popular horses trained by Twiston-Davies is almost endless.

Besides the Aintree Grand National, Earth Summit also won the Welsh and Scottish Grand Nationals.

Bristol De Mai has won the Betfair Chase at Haydock on three occasions. Imperial Commander’s 2010 Gold Cup win was probably Twiston-Davies’s greatest triumph.

The New One won the Ballymore Novices Hurdle and the Aintree Hurdle and was a great servant to the stable. He won 20 of his 40 races including the International Hurdle three times and the Champion Hurdle Trial four times.

Nigel Twiston-Davies – Most Famous Victories

Imperial Commander started 7-1 for the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup following a disappointing performance in the King George.

Prior to that he had been beaten a nose by Kauto Star in the Betfair Chase and Twiston-Davies had him back in top form for Cheltenham. With odds-on Kauto Star falling at the fourth last, Imperial Commander forged clear of Denman for a memorable 7 lengths success.

The Grand National victories of Earth Summit and Bindaree are obviously high on the Twiston-Davies CV.

Earth Summit won the Scottish National as a novice but his career hung in the balance after suffering a serious injury at Haydock in 1996.

He returned to the fray almost two years’ later, winning the Welsh National in 1997 and adding the Aintree marathon in 1998. He remains the only horse in history to win the three British Nationals. Bindaree won the 2002 Aintree Grand National and the 2003 Welsh Grand National for the stable, ridden by Jim Culloty and Carl Llewellyn respectively.

Summary of Jumps Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies

Nigel Twiston-Davies has been at the top of his profession for many years but his desire for winners remains undiminished.

He is still regularly chalking up between sixty and seventy winners per season and is always competitive at the major festival meetings.

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