Born in Birmingham as Paul David Evans but dropping the Paul for his professional work, Paul Evan was a decent apprentice jockey during the early part of his career. He became an assistant trainer to Anabel Murphy, as she was then, and Tom Bill, then in 1989 took out a public training licence.
He gained more and more experience as the years passed and put himself into a position whereby he has gained a decent amount of respect in the industry. Although tending to specialise in flat racing, he has seen numerous winners over jumps and worked to become one of the top trainers in the world of all-weather racing.
About
David Evans works with an assistant in the form of his wife, Emma. The pair are based on Ty Derlwyn Farm, which is located near Abergavenny in South Wales. He got into racing thanks to some uncles who followed the sport and liked to have a bet on it every now and then, having just five horses when he began his career. He enjoyed his first winner at Hereford not longer after getting his training licence, eventually getting round to buying his own yard. In the years that followed he put in the hard yards and worked shrewdly, growing his yard to the point that he has over 80 horses under his tutorship in South Wales.
Major Successes
In his time in racing, Evans has trained nearly 2,000 winners. As a result, it is hardly a surprise that he has managed to enter the Winners’ Enclosure for some decent races. Here are some of the more notable ones:
- Agfa Hurdle
- Duke of York Hearthstead Homes Stakes
- Greenland Stakes
- Tower Stakes
- Norwegian 1,000 Guineas
Horses Trained
David Evans has been responsible for some top-notch horses during his career, including the likes of Master Beveled, Good Vibes and Dingle View. Of course, there will always be some horses that stand out above the others when it comes to a trainer’s reputation, helping to draw them to the attention of the wider industry, and Evans is no exception on that front. Here is a closer look at some of those horses:
Rohaan
Evans was thrown into the spotlight thanks to the incredible success of Rohaan, who arrived at his had as a horses that had raced in just two maidens. Within the nine months that followed, she went up more than 60 pounds as she won seven races, which included the Group 3 Pavilion Stakes at Ascot and the Sandy Lane Stakes, a Group 2 event raced at Haydock. It was her success in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot that really saw Evans gain attention, however, not least of all because Rohaan went from last to first in order to secure success. A year later and Rohaan won it again, being the first horse in more than two decades to win the race in successive years.
The Kiddykid
Evans took on the four and a half hour trip from South Wales to York in order to see the Kiddykid take part in the Duke of York Stakes. It was a journey that was rewarded, with the horse winning the Group 2 race and presenting him with his first win at that level. It wasn’t the first win of The Kiddykid’s career, but it might well have been the most important. He had already won the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes and would go on to win a few more besides, but if you’re the horse that gives a trainer his first Group 2 win then it is fair to say that you’re going to be remembered by him for a long time to come.