NEWMARKET trainer Ed Vaughan will hand in his licence before the end of the Flat season.
He cited a lack of prize money and increasing costs behind the decision at a difficult time for the industry, with racecourses forced into cutting prize funds.
The news comes just days after Vaughan’s Dame Maillot struck in the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket during the July Festival.
This year’s first prize of £32,000 compares starkly to the £57,000 won by Mark Johnston’s Communique in 2019.
Vaughan explained: “I haven’t just woken up and decided to do this. It’s been on my mind for a while and now seems the right time to finish up training here in the UK.
“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.
“I wouldn’t rule out training elsewhere, but with 25 horses, as we have here, I just don’t see a future for doing that in the UK because I think things are going to get very tough when we are already in the situation where we have prize money that hardly covers the cost of keeping a horse in training for a month.”
Vaughan has based a part of his business model on trading horses abroad, in particular to Australia through his association with bloodstock agent Paul Moroney.
He added: “I’ve trained horses here to continue their careers in places like Australia after putting a European-style base to their training, and they’ve gone on and done very well down there, winning several races and some of them won over $400,000.
“I have a good idea of the type of horse that’s required and the level and style of racing you need for various jurisdictions. We’ve also done well selling horses to Hong Kong and America.
“There have been some great days, and I feel blessed to have met some wonderful people along the way.
“All these friendships I can take with me on the next stage of the journey, which will be somewhere in this industry that I love.”
