Liam Bailey Horse Racing Profile (Trainer)

Liam Bailey
Liam Bailey (Photo thanks to Middleham Trainers Association)

Some horse trainers feel as though they’ve been working in the industry forever, whilst others seem to come from nowhere and make a big impression. It is fair to say that Liam Bailey fits into the latter category, making a big impression in a relatively short amount of time after taking out his training licence for the first time back in 2019.

The progress that he’s managed to make has been slow and steady rather than setting the world alight, but he’s enjoyed some decent wins and has the ability to put forward horses both on the flat and as part of the National Hunt calendar.

About


Liam Bailey got his training licence in 2019, soon being asked to run a relatively young team at Foulrice Park Racing for Colin and Ailsa Stirling. They founded the company in 2010 before moving it to its permanent home in the Yorkshire Dales three years later. Not long after taking out his dual licence, Bailey picked up three wins under National Hunt rules before mainly focussing his attention on the flat. Although he didn’t break into double figures during any of his first few years working in the medium, Bailey developed a reputation as someone with a creditable strike rate.

In the October of 2019, Bailey made the headlines in a way that he won’t have been too happy about. He was guilty of what was called a ‘truly shocking incident’ when he issued violent and threatening behaviour towards a female member of his stable staff, seeing her fall to the floor after he grabbed her arm. He admitted the charge that was put forward by the British Horseracing Authority, resulting in him being issued with a £4,500 fine. He promised that he wouldn’t act like it again, stating that ‘whatever I get, I deserve’ when speaking about the matter to the BHA.

Major Success

Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs, home of the Ladies’ Derby Handicap (Mark Anthony Ray via Shutterstock)

Given the relative lack of experience that Bailey has, it is perhaps not all that surprising that his list of wins is significantly less full of major races than many of the other horse racing trainers that we feature on this page. That is also owing to the fact that he works with a relatively small number of horses when compared to some of the biggest names in the sport. That being said, he has still picked up some decent wins across his young career. Towards the end of June 2025, for example, he picked up the tenth win of the year, having won 15 races the year prior, which was a career best.

Here is a look at just some of the races that he has won so far:

  • Ladies’ Derby Handicap (Female Amateur Jockeys)
  • FBS Chartered Accountant Handicap
  • Kirkton Controls Ltd Handicap
  • Flat Season Starts Now Apprentice Handicap
  • Classified Stakes

Horses Trained


As with the races run, the relative youth of Bailey is such that he hasn’t worked with the level of horses that some of his rival trainers have been able to take under their wing. Whilst that is unquestionably true, he has still taken some decent horses into the Winners’ Enclosure during his career, taking the opportunity to soak up the admiration. Still, the horses are more in the camp of ‘young but learning’ rather than brilliant achievers who will be well known to everyone in the horse racing industry. Some of them have picked up some wins, whilst others have yet to achieve one.

Yakhabar

When it comes to horses that are worthy of a mention, one that helps you achieve something interesting is definitely one that should be on the list. In the case of Yakhabar, the horse won the Female Amateur Riders’ Handicap, which was the trainer’s tenth win of the season in 2025. That put him one step closer to his career best of 15 winners, which had been achieved before. Yakhabar was one of the winners in 2024, winning on the all-weather course in Newcastle in the middle of February. He also won at the same course two months later, before picking up the win at Ripon.

Protest Rally

Another horse that Bailey has been able to take into the Winners’ Enclosure on multiple occasions is Protest Rally. The first win came at Southwell in the May of 2023, following that up a little over a year later with victory in a handicap race at Musselburgh. A number of second-place finishes followed, winning another race at the same venue in the August of 2024. He obviously likes the course, picking up another victory there two years after his win at Southwell, adding to the numbers for Bailey in the 2025 calendar year that came close to breaking his own record.