David Evans – a Lifetime in Racing
Birmingham-born racehorse trainer David Evans has had his licence for over thirty years, and so far has sent out the winners of well over 1800 races. He became interested in racing through a couple of his uncles, who followed the sport and liked a flutter. At 15 years of age he started his own career in racing, as an apprentice jockey, but soon realised that his future lay in another direction. He worked his way up in the industry, becoming head lad to Paul Felgate, and later got the job of assistant trainer to Tom Bill at Ashby, a role he subsequently filled for Annabel King at Stratford, before he began training in his own right with the help and support of his good friend Roy Ashford.
Initially he had only five horses, and was based in a rented yard at Long Mountain, near Welshpool in Powys. His first winner came at Hereford in 1989, and there followed a steady stream of winners from his first base. Eventually he took the plunge to buy his own yard, and found an ideal location between Hereford & Abergavenny, at Ty Derlwyn Farm in Pandy.
He first developed his new yard by putting in a 4 furlong uphill sand gallop (since re-laid with carpet fibre). A circular gallop has also been added, and the facilities include lovely large stables, breaking areas and a trotting ring, as well as extensive turn out paddocks.
There is plenty of land to canter the horses or give them a ride through the woods. It really is a perfect environment to train a racehorse.
His shrewdness and hard work has seen his string grow steadily over the years and, ably assisted by his wife Emma, he now trains up to 80 horses in a picturesque location in the shadow of the Black Mountains.
David has consistently been one of the top trainers on the all-weather. At Wolverhampton he has had close to 400 winners, and nearly 200 at Lingfield, but he has had far more winners on turf, so shouldn’t be regarded as just an all-weather specialist. He has also enjoyed some notable successes in the National Hunt world, with horses such as Master Beveled, who won 17 races including the Listed Agfa Hurdle at Sandown.
He has earned a reputation as a trainer who can generally find improvement in horses he takes on from other yards, and is very skilled at preparing two-year-olds. It helps that David and Emma still ride out themselves, so they get a great feel for when a horse is ready. They are backed up by superb staff who always have the horses interests as a priority.
David has had some good horses over the years, including the likes of Good Vibes and The Kiddykid, and has enjoyed success in Group and Listed races, including the Group 2 Duke of York Hearthstead Homes Stakes at York, the Group 3 Greenland Stakes at The Curragh, and the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood. He even won the Group 3 Tower Stakes in Ireland with Dingle View, before the filly went on to win the Norwegian 1,000 Guineas.
It was not until 2021 that he tasted success at Royal Ascot with Rohaan, who dramatically came from last to first when winning The Wokingham Handicap, and is by far the best horse David has trained to date. Due to the spectacular success of Rohaan, David was thrust into the spotlight, and deservedly so. This horse came to the yard as a twice-raced maiden, and received an initial handicap rating of 55. Within 9 months he had improved to a mark of 116, after winning seven races including the Group 3 Pavilion Stakes at Ascot, the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock, and of course the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot.
This incredible achievement was only surpassed in June 2022, when Rohaan became the first horse for 24 years to enjoy back-to-back wins in the Wokingham Stakes. Ryan Moore gave the horse a brilliant ride to provide the yard with yet another Royal Ascot winner!
