Group winning trainer Ed Vaughan to hang up his license

Dual Group 2 winning trainer Ed Vaughan will hang up his license later in the 2020 season, with the Newmarket trainer announcing the decision on his website early on Thursday. 

Where it all began

Graduating from the Irish National Stud course, Ed Vaughan would spend four years across the pond in the United States subsequently. Assistant trainer to Gold Cup-winning trainer Noel Chance, he would then move to the late Alec Stewart’s team in Newmarket, with the West Suffolk market town being his home for the rest of his training career.

He started training for his own operation after Stewart’s passing in 2004, before moving to the Machell Place Stables in 2011, where he will hang up his license later in the 2020 campaign.

Difficult decision

Speaking on his website, Vaughan cited an issue that many trainers have brought up since lockdown ended for racing, the economy of racing. On why he would be ceasing his operation, Vaughan said: “As everyone is aware, with the reductions in prize-money and the cost of running a business being so high, the economics of training in Britain are not good. I’m taking this decision now because I can see things getting worse in the next year.”

Ending on a high note

It was just a week ago when Vaughan trained the winner of the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket with the gutsy and tenacious Dame Malliot. In fact, that horse provided him with his two biggest days at the racetrack. Although not quite able to claim a Group 1 contest, he landed a pair of Group 2 races in a successful career, with Dame Malliot also claiming the Group 2 Prix de Pomone last August.

The big days

Vaughan can look back on his career with a smile, as the Newmarket-based trainer collected six pattern races, with the first being the 2014 Group 3 Winter Derby with Robin Hoods Bay. Mehronissa would provide him with the Listed Flying Fillies Stakes in 2014, before Mikmaa secured the Listed Radley Stakes in 2017.

It would be from there where Dame Malliot would provide Vaughan with the rest of his pattern successes, winning the Listed Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket before adding a pair of aforementioned Group 2 successes on the board, the biggest wins of Vaughan’s career.