CHELTENHAM Gold Cup-winning trainer Robert Alner died on Monday night at the age of 76.
He saddled Cool Dawn to win the 1998 Festival feature, while he also trained leading jumps horses Sir Rembrandt, The Listener and Kingscliff.
Alner was involved in a car crash in 2007, with the accident leaving him paralysed and in need of a wheelchair.
He continued to train under a joint licence with his wife, Sally, until 2010, when the pair announced their retirement.
Son-in-law and trainer Robert Walford said: “Sadly Robert has passed away.
“Obviously he had the car crash a long time ago, but I don’t think it has been as big a struggle in recent years as perhaps many people think. The last week has been difficult, though.”
Jockey Andrew Thornton enjoyed plenty of high-profile success for Alner and steered Miko De Beauchene to an emotional victory in the Welsh National just weeks after Alner’s crash.
Thornton said: “He’d been going to Odstock Hospital every two months on and off for the last 12 years – the nurses knew him like part of the family.
“Even last week one of the nurses was reading him the Racing Post and read him it even though he wasn’t in a good way.
“I didn’t see him as much as I’d like to as I live up north now, but I’d try to get to see him when I was down there.
“To have had horses of the class of Cool Dawn, Sir Rembrandt, Kingscliff, The Listener and Miko De Beauchene while never having more than around 60 horses takes some doing.
“When I was still riding he was still following my career. He was a massive part of my career – there’s no question I wouldn’t have achieved what I did without him.
“I met him at the right time and we moved along together.”
Alner is survived by his wife, his daughters Louise and Jennifer, and four grandchildren.
