CHELTENHAM Festival-winning trainer Patrick Neville has been declared bankrupt – less than three years after his big £100,000 winner.
The North Yorkshire-based handler sprung a shock when his stable star The Real Whacker won the Brown Advisory in March 2023.
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He racked up a remarkable hat-trick at the home of jumps that season when seeing off Gordon Elliott’s 5-4 fav Gerri Colombe by a short head in a thriller.
But the Racing Post report Neville was made personally bankrupt at a court hearing last month.
The matter relates to an allegedly unpaid loan of €110,000 (£96,000).
Neville’s former associate Rebecca Dennis made a petition to Darlington County Court.
She still owns a quarter share in The Real Whacker but will not be at Perth on Thursday to see his seasonal comeback.
A proven Grade 1 performer, The Real Whacker finished fifth in last season’s Gold Cup and was last seen finishing fourth behind Gaelic Warrior in the Bowl at Aintree’s Grand National Festival.
He won the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby last November and remains one of Britain’s best and most established chasers.
Neville did not comment on the latest news but said before the court hearing last month that any bankruptcy filing ‘doesn’t affect my licence’.
He told the Racing Post: “I can’t own anything. I’ll be like a salaried trainer.”
Neville alleges that Dennis owes him a larger sum than the loan that has forced his bankruptcy.
It is reported that his business, Paddy Neville Racing Ltd, will ‘soon begin to pursue Dennis in court’.
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