Craig Lidster is becoming a familiar name on your race cards, and an even more prominent one in the winners enclosure. His rising success in the game hasn’t come overnight however, nor through any form of luck. The Rotherham-born Sheffield Wednesday fan has been involved with racehorses since eleven years old, riding out Kevin Frost’s horses, ponies and point-to-pointers. The love for the thoroughbred immediately blossomed, and further education came to an abrupt end as Craig left school at sixteen to enrol in the Racing School at the National Horseracing College in Doncaster. After developing a valuable racing foundation from the college to build upon, Craig’s first job was for ex-racehorse trainer Jeremy Glover, where spent a short while at before going on to work for the late Sir Robert Ogden, who was then the leading jump’s owner of the 90’s. Craig had the pleasure there of working with the likes of Marlborough, a Cheltenham Festival winner and 2nd to Best Mate in the King George, and See More Business, a Gold Cup winner. Riding champion’s from a young age was a key element in Craig’s learning curve to where he is now, as he was able to distinguish the difference between the top calibre of horses to those that possessed lesser ability.

At Sir Robert Ogden’s Craig found a lot of his strength’s there, in particular breaking in young
horses, an attribute that he is extremely proud of. After a year and a half there, he moved over to Malton to work for Malcolm Jefferson in the Millennium, and Malton became Craig’s home ever since, twenty-two years and counting. Ten of those years were spent at Brian Ellison’s, a place that he often refers to as his “second family’. As well as working as travelling head lad there, Ellison gave Craig his first ride as a jockey. However, Craig soon realised that his race-riding ability was anything but akin to his natural ability regarding the training aspect of the thoroughbred, and his short-lived riding career saw his next venture land in Richard Fahey’s yard.

As travelling head lad for Richard Fahey, Craig was able to work with some exceptional horses,
none other than now Coolmore Stallion Wootton Bassett. Craig’s biggest personal success with
Fahey was travelling Wootton Bassett across to France at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting, where he lead the Champion Two-Year Old up to win the Group One Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2010. Lidster picked up plenty of his flat racing habits across the eight years spent with Richard Fahey, in particular breaking in young horses, his main passion. Craig quite clearly realised he didn’t just have the passion for working with unfurnished horses, but a serious talent for it too. As a result of that, he had a spell working with problem horses, those who required a specialised form of care consisting highly of mental stimulation as opposed to physical training. Craig endured that spell with his friend and Cheltenham Festival winning trainer Tim Etherington, as the pair learnt the ropes with renowned horseman Gary Witherford, leading to Craig breaking in and pre-training problem horses in the north of England, crucially paving the way to getting his qualifications up and running to start training.
 

Within the space of just over a decade, Craig had accumulated an extraordinary wealth of equine knowledge, personifying that of a Swiss-army knife. In late 2021 into 2022, Craig inevitably embarked on his own training career, where he moved over to Eboracum Racing Stables in Easingwold. Craig Lidster’s training capabilities are exemplified by his abundance of loyal owners, all of whom he has a strong rapport with. Owners are largely the currency of success and progression in horse racing, without them trainers would fail to earn a living, therefore Craig’s connection with his owners is something he never takes for granted and prides himself on massively.
 

On the fourteenth of June 2024, Craig Lidster recorded his biggest accomplishment to date when landing his first winner at his local track York, with Alfa Kellenic. It was a huge moment for the team with their excellent apprentice William Pyle doing the steering, and he didn’t have to wait much longer for the second when Finn Ironside duly obliged under Duran Fentiman a month later. Having waited for what must have felt like an age for those local winners, the wonder filly Alfa Kellenic notched up a five timer for the yard in a Class Two Fillies Handicap at York’s coveted Ebor Festival. To have a winner like that on the biggest stage in the North is a testament to the determined efforts and capabilities of Craig, and now the floodgates have opened on the Knavesmire, further success at the track is inevitable. Alfa Kellenic’s remarkable progress saw her land an incredible six timer when taking the Ayr Silver Cup, breaking the track record at the time in the process. That success was reflective of the excellent training of Craig Lidster, whose patient and pinpoint planning saw the filly rise from a mark of 70 to 101, culminating over £120,000 in prize money.
 

In 2024, Craig Lidster notched up thirty five winners, improving on his total of twenty six from 2023.Furthermore, an impressive forty seven percent of his runners filled the top four places, with the stable amassing over half an million in prize money for its owners.

Craig has risen to every challenge he’s been faced with thus far, but 2025 will perhaps be his
biggest yet. Now situated in Beverley House Stables in Malton, Lidster has returned to the place
he’s called home for the last two decades and counting, a place steeped in racing prestige. While it will be a tough test for the team, it is nonetheless an exciting one in a beautiful location. The likes of Catterick, Thirsk, Ripon and York are all nearby courses, and the scenic land overlooks the historic Highfield Gallops, where five classic-winning sets of hooves have graced the turf with their presence. That famously included Captain Charles Elsey, who In 1965, became the only Northern trainer within the last one hundred years to possess that title. Both the former Oaks and the St Leger winners were trained on these gallops, and there’s no doubt that Craig will be dreaming of similar success. Craig is fond of dreaming. Dreams allow you to aspire, they enable you to mentally set yourself a task no matter how unreasonable or unachievable it may seem, in the hope that one day the improbable future manifests into the present day. For Craig, his journey through racing’s fabric has lead him to live his own dream, one that he continues to manifest into a successful reality.
 

The most important thing to know about Craig Lidster, is that he is first and foremost a family man. None of the above would have been possible without the endless support of his wife Laura, who is a massive part of the Lidster team, as well as his two children Ava and Ella. One of Craig’s proudest moments was seeing Ava lead up his horse Dickieburd to win at Catterick, an emotional moment for Craig who owes all of his success to the support from those loved ones around him.