Gihan Arnolda has taken an extraordinary route to becoming one of the most promising new trainers in British Flat racing. His journey began far away from the prestigious stables of Newmarket, with a difficult childhood that saw him sleeping rough on the streets of east London.
Today, Arnolda is building a reputation at Cadland Cottage Stables and has already made an impressive start to his training career. In his first three months as a licensed trainer, his horses produced five victories from 33 runners and earned around £50,000 in prize money. His stable’s performances have also attracted attention from Timeform.
Gihan Arnolda’s Difficult Childhood
Arnolda’s early life could easily have taken a completely different direction.
Born to parents of Sri Lankan and Portuguese heritage, he lost his mother to leukaemia when he was young. His relationship with his father was also difficult, and from around the age of 12 he regularly ran away from home.
For weeks at a time, Arnolda lived on the streets, sometimes sleeping in gardens and stealing food because he had nowhere else to turn. He was also increasingly exposed to the possibility of becoming involved with gangs.
A neighbour eventually offered him support and helped him enter the foster-care system. The change was transformative.
Arnolda moved from a difficult school environment in east London to Wimbledon College, where he achieved strong GCSE results and later studied law.
Discovering Horse Racing
Horse racing entered Arnolda’s life through his foster father. They would watch racing together on television, and the sport gradually captured his imagination.
At 18, Arnolda joined the British Racing School in Newmarket. Remarkably, he had never sat on a racehorse before his first day there.
Within months, he was riding competitively. His fifth public ride, Knave’s Ash, gave him his first victory in an apprentice handicap at Thirsk in 1998.
Over the following decade, Arnolda recorded more than 200 rides and several winners. However, the transition from care into adult life proved difficult, and his career as a jockey never developed as smoothly as he had hoped.
From Jockey to Chef and Back Again
A serious pelvic injury in 2009 eventually ended Arnolda’s riding career. Disillusioned with racing, he decided to explore a completely different profession.
Through a retraining programme for former jockeys, he became a chef. His culinary career took him to respected kitchens, including Michelin-starred chef Andrew Pern’s restaurant and Gordon Ramsay’s Maze in London.
But racing never completely disappeared from his thoughts.
In 2014, Arnolda returned to the sport, joining Godolphin under Charlie Appleby before working with other leading trainers, including Chris Wall, Roger Varian and Peter Chapple-Hyam.
These experiences gave him the knowledge and confidence needed to eventually establish his own stable.
Breaking New Ground in Newmarket
Arnolda’s arrival as a trainer is significant for another reason. He became the first trainer of Black or Asian heritage in Newmarket’s Flat racing community when he received his licence earlier this year.
Yet Arnolda does not want his background to be the only reason people remember him.
His ambition is straightforward: he wants to be judged on his ability as a trainer.
With his partner Charlotte, their two young children and a growing team around them, Arnolda is gradually expanding his operation. He already has plans involving yearlings and hopes to build a larger stable in the coming seasons.
