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James Ferguson bringing curtain down on training career
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Mon 1 Jun 2026
James Ferguson pinpointed the Group One win of El Bodegon as one of the standout moments of his training career after announcing he is to quit for a role in bloodstock insurance at the end of July.
The Newmarket trainer, who saddled his first winner in 2019 and has sent out over 150 winners, has decided to call time on his training career after receiving an offer he felt he “could not turn down”.
But he said he will leave the training ranks with both a heavy heart and a wealth of memories, including El Bodegon’s Grand Criterium de Saint-Cloud in 2021 and Deauville Legend’s fourth in the Melbourne Cup the following year.
“I wanted to remain in the bloodstock industry and I will very much be working with everyone I have been working with in the past,” said Ferguson.
“It is an incredibly exciting opportunity and when it came up I could not turn it down.
“I have already been in communication with all of my owners and it is very much business as usual until the end of July and I will help whichever owners decide which other trainers to go to.
“But no one is taking over the stables so we are going to make it as smooth a transition as we can.”
Ferguson insisted he would miss the day-to-day aspect of training racehorses despite being excited about his new role.
“Obvious highlights have been El Bodegon winning a couple of Group Threes and then the Grand Criterium de Saint Cloud,” he said.
“Deauville Legend came second in a photo at Royal Ascot, won the Bahrain Trophy and finished off winning the Voltigeur at York. He then ran so well in the Melbourne Cup (fourth to Gold Trip in 2022) where we all got excited for a moment.”
Ferguson added: “I am going to miss working with the team and the day-to-day training, I’m really sorry that I am not going to be doing that anymore.”
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