European Trainer - Issue 46 - Summer 2014

FRONT COVER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:11 Page 1

European

ISSUE 46 – SUMMER 2014 £5.95

www.trainermagazine.com

THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

BRIAN KAVANAGH

Opening the gates of global opportunity

It’s a small world

The issues of feeding globetrotting horses

BACK to SCHOOL

With Yogi Breisner

CRIQUETTE HEAD-MAAREK France’s first lady of racing

INSIDE FRONT COVER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:17 Page 1

GILES INTRO ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:01 Page 1

GILES ANDERSON A positive rule change

A

S we go to press, news reaches us of the decision by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to put into place a set of guidelines for the complete ban on anabolic steroids. Yes, they are making it very clear that there is no place in the sport for anything other than compliance, and that has to be a good thing. Yes, we thought that there was no place for anabolic steroids but now we know exactly where the line lies.

It becomes abundantly evident that perhaps the new rules, which subject to the changes to existing rules, come into force on January 1st, 2015, should be adopted around the world. With the global backing and agreement we are finally going to kick into touch the undesired use of anabolic steroids in our sport.

In the detail of the release it is clear that there is an opportunity and necessity for us to get agreement across Europe because from January 1st, 2015, unless your horse is trained in Ireland, France, or Germany you’re going to have to ship in at least two weeks prior to race day.

“Horses from Ireland, France and Germany which have spent 12 months under their similar policies will be exempt while runners from those countries will be treated as British horses and sampled as per the standard testing policy.

“The BHA ruled all other foreign runners must be in Britain a minimum of 14 days in advance of their intended race for post-arrival sampling and analysis, the results of which will be received prior to the horse running.”

So with the potential agreement in place on the complete outlawing of anabolic steroids, will we ever get a published list of minimum thresholds for permitted medication in horses? We all know the withdrawal times for medications exist but let’s not forget that horses do genuinely require medication for treatment, and I’m often shocked as to how often, in bystanders’ eyes, the use of medication can be so confused with that of steroids. Withdrawal times can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and here is our opportunity to clear up both areas at the same time.

Perhaps this is something we should take up with two of our feature interviews in this issue. Criquette Head-Maarek needs no introduction in this magazine, and she is widely recognised as a champion of the trainers’ cause across Europe, but towards the back of the publication we carry a very interesting interview with one of European racing’s greatest thinkers and legislators, Brian Ka vanagh, who expresses his opinions as to how and where racing should become more unified internationally.

Over the following pages we’ve packed in plenty of articles on topics such as feeding your horses when travelling away from home, treating sore shins, whether horses can smell fear, treating flu outbreaks in vaccinated horses, as well as yet more of the latest research on tendons.

Helping me prepare many of these articles over the last three years has been my amazing colleague, Suzy Crossman, who is about to embark on a new career to run one of the biggest pre-training operations outside Sydney, Australia. We’ll miss you Suzy but rest assured that we’ll keep sending you your favourite quarterly magazine!

Wherever your racing takes you this summer – good luck! n ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 01

CRIQUETTE HEAD ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:03 Page 1

Chairman’s message

CRIQUETTE HEAD

I

I would like to begin by congratulating all the trainers of winners so far this season, and especially those who have been successful at the highest level. Of course, these successes would not be possible without the breeders, and we have seen a wide variety of pedigrees and studs highlighted in the recent Classics.

N France, Avenir Certain (trained by Jean-Claude Rouget) took both the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane. This filly was bred by the talented young team of the Haras de la Cauvinière and is by first season sire Le Havre, who is already rewarding his owner Gérard AugustinNormand’s confidence and investment. The colt Classics in France went to two horses with international profiles. Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Karakontie carries the Niarchos Family colours for Jonathan Pease but this colt was bred in Japan,

by American stallion Bernstein. The Prix du Jockey-Club went to the truly European The Grey Gatsby, by Coolmore’s Mastercraftsman, raised in France, and trained in the North of England by Kevin Ryan.

Richard Hannon made a perfect start to his training career with victory in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket thanks to Night Of Thunder (Dubawi, Dalham Hall Stud), while André Fabre picked up one of the rare Classics missing from his roll of honour with Miss France, by Juddmonte Farms’ Dansili, in the fillies equivalent.

I love to watch the produce of young sires, and Sea the Stars has made a fantastic start to his breeding career based at the Aga Khan Studs, thanks notably to Taghrooda for John Gosden in the Oaks.

As destiny – and breeding – intended, Australia lifted the Derby for Aidan O’Brien, following in the footsteps of his sire, Coolmore’s exceptional Galileo, and his dam, the champion Ouija Board.

The Irish 1000 Guineas saw O’Brien, Galileo, and Coolmore back on the podium, thanks this time to Marvellous, while Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Kingman (Invincible Spirit, Irish National Stud) made his mark in the 2000 Guineas before going on to further glory at Royal Ascot.

As I write this, the Irish Derby and Oaks have yet to be run, but

02 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

“I love to watch the produce of young sires, and Sea The Stars has made a fantastic start to his breeding career based at the Aga Khan Studs, thanks notably to Taghrooda in the Oaks” all eyes will be upon the blue-blooded Australia at the Curragh.

At the opposite end of the breeding spectrum, I would like to pay tribute to Cirrus des Aigles who represents the most modest of pedigrees. His handler Corine Barande-Barbe has accomplished a remarkable training feat with this gelding, who continues to fly the flag at the highest level at age eight.

Royal Ascot was once again a wonderful meeting and I congratulate all the participants, but first and foremostly Edward Lynam, whose three winners, including the Group 1 sprint double, represent a great training exploit. Of course Sir Michael Stoute and John Gosden also deserve a mention for finishing top of the trainers’ table, but this is nothing new! We are used to seeing them there, along with their jockeys Ryan Moore and William Buick.

As you are aware, Treve finished third at Royal Ascot to another exceptional mare, The Fugue. I am pleased to say that Treve has no serious health problems and she will be back on the track in the autumn. This just goes to show that victory is never a foregone conclusion and we trainers must accept the ups and downs that are so much a part of our sport, while always remaining hopeful for the future. n

CRIQUETTE HEAD ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:03 Page 2

CONTENTS ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:19 Page 1

10

20

26

46

52

Issue 45

CONTENTS 10

Simply Criquette

Criquette Head-Maarek in profile, by Frances J Karon

20

Feeding globetrotting horses

Dr Catherine Dunnett looks at ways to feed racehorses when they travel abroad

26

Northern Dancer

Fifty years on from his Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins, Northern Dancer remains a legend, by Frank Mitchell

32

Treating sore shins

Thomas O’Keeffe on a problem that affects a lot of two-year-old racehorses

52

Do horses smell fear?

Justine Harrison on how much scent has to do with a horse’s behaviour

58

Back to school

Yogi Breisner is a master at teaching horses how to jump better,

by Emma Berry

64

Influenza

Flu vaccines and how we can help minimise spread, by Celia Marr

70

Brian Kavanagh

Lissa Oliver talks to Brian Kavanagh, chairman of HRI

6

38

Contributors

Patrick Prendergast about his hopes for the future

European Trainers’ Federation

Trainer on the up

40

Tendon and ligament research

Celia Marr on important research funded by the Horseracing Betting Levy Board

46

Best in show

Suzy Crossman on the burgeoning market for young National Hunt stock in France and England

04 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

7 8

TRM Trainer of the Quarter

74

Product Focus

78

Stakes Schedules

88

David Crosse

CONTENTS ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:19 Page 2

CONTRIBUTORS ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:52 Page 1

CONTRIBUTORS Publisher & Editorial Director Giles Anderson Editor Frances Karon Circulation/Editorial Executives Suzy Crossman/Louise Crampton Design/Production Neil Randon Advertising Sales Giles Anderson, Harriet Scott Photo Credits: Michael Burns,

Emma Berry is the Bloodstock Editor of Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder and European correspondent for Inside Racing in Australia. She is married to trainer John Berry and lives in Newmarket with too many horses, dogs and cats.

David Crosse is a professional National Hunt jockey. He moved to England from Ireland when he was 16 starting his career as an amateur for Charlie Mann in Lambourn. Champion Amateur jockey in 2001/02, he rode a Cheltenham Festival winner for Nicky Henderson. He then took out a Conditional licence, riding out his claim with 75 winners in 2004. David now rides out for Colin Tizzard, Tom Symonds and Nigel Twiston-Davies and has ridden more than 170 winners. He writes a blog for Love The Races website.

Coolmore, FRBC, Horsephotos, HRI, Professor Celia M Marr, Anne-Armelle Langlois, Patricia McQueen, Frank Nolting, Caroline Norris, Thomas O’Keeffe, George Selwyn, Shutterstock, TBA, Matthew Webb, Woodbine Entertainment Group

Dr Catherine Dunnett BSc, PhD, R.Nutr. is an independent nutritionist registered with the British Nutrition Society. She has a background in equine research, in the field of nutrition and exercise physiology, with many years spent at The Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. Prior to setting up her own consultancy business, she worked in the equine feed industry on product development and technical marketing.

Cover Photograph Anne-Armelle Langlois

Trainer Magazine is published by Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd.

Justine Harrison is an IAABC-certified equine behaviour consultant and trainer.

She uses the science of behaviour and learning to help horse owners and trainers throughout the UK solve a wide range of behaviour problems in-cluding stereotypies, aggression and phobias.

Justine regularly contributes to a number of UK and international equine magazines.

This magazine is distributed for free to all ETF members. Editorial views expressed are not necessarily those of the ETF. Additional copies can be purchased for £5.95 (ex P+P).

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Professor Celia Marr is an equine clinician at Rossdales, Newmarket.

She is a RCVS and European Specialist in Equine Medicine and Honorary Professor at the Glasgow University Veterinary School. She previously worked at veterinary schools in Glasgow, Pennsylvania, Cambridge and London and in racehorse practice in Lambourn. She is Chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board’s Thoroughbred Research & Consultation Group and Editor-in-Chief of Equine Veterinary Journal.

Frank Mitchell wrote a column at Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years.

He now pens a column for the online Paulick Report and does conformation and biomechanical analysis for DataTrack International. In his spare time, Frank works with his own horses and livestock on a farm not far from Lexington, Kentucky.

Thomas O’Keeffe is a graduate of University College Dublin, working in Ocala, Florida. He worked for Rossdales and Partners in Newmarket, UK as a member of their ambulatory racing veterinary team and in their hospital facility. He was also an associate with Scone Equine Hospital, Australia, as resident veterinary surgeon for Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland and worked in Lexington, Kentucky with Dr Ruel Cowles, DVM.

Frances J. Karon is from Puerto Rico and graduate of Maine’s Colby College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She operates Rough Shod LLC based in Lexington, Kentucky and specializes in sales, pedigree research and recommendations.

Printed in the European Union For all editorial and advertising enquiries please contact Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1380 816777 Fax: +44 (0)1380 816778 email: info@trainermagazine.com www.trainermagazine.com Issue 46

NOW AVAILABLE APP STORE l ANDROID STORE l IN PRINT l ONLINE CATCH UP WITH PREVIOUS ARTICLES ONLINE VIA THE WEBSITE ARCHIVE l

www.trainermagazine.com Tel: +44 (0)1380 816777 06 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Lissa Oliver lives in Co Kildare, Ireland and is a regular contributor to The Irish Field and the Australian magazine, Racetrack. Lissa is also the author of several collections of short stories and two novels.

EFT REPS issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:23 Page 1

EUROPEAN TRAINERS’ FEDERATION AIMS and OBJECTIVES of the ETF: a) To represent the interests of all member trainers’ associations in Europe. b) To liaise with political and administrative bodies on behalf of European trainers. c) To exchange information between members for the benefit of European trainers. d) To provide a network of contacts to assist each member to develop its policy and services to member trainers.

ETF REPRESENTATIVES Chairmanship:

Criquette Head-Maarek Association des Entraineurs de Galop 18 bis Avenue du Général Leclerc 60501 Chantilly FRANCE Tel: + 33 (0)3 44 57 25 39 Fax: + 33(0)3 44 57 58 85 Email: entraineurs.de.galop@wanadoo.fr

Vice Chairmanship:

Max Hennau FEDERATION BELGE DES ENTRAINEURS Rue des Carrieres 35 5032 - Les Isnes BELGIUM Tel: Fax: +32 (0)81 56 68 46 Email: mhennau@gmail.com

GERMANY

Vice Chairmanship:

Christian von der Recke Hovener Hof 53919 Weilerswist Germany Tel: +49 (0 22 54) 84 53 14 Email: recke@t-online.de

SPAIN

Erika Mäder Jentgesallee 19 47799 Krefeld Tel: +49 (0)2151 594911 Fax: +49 (0)2151 590542 Mobile: +49 (0)173 8952675 Email: trainer-und-jockeys@netcologne.de

Mauricio Delcher Sanchez AZAFRAN, 5- 3ºM MAJADAHONDA 28022 Madrid Spain Tel: +34 (0)666 53 51 52 Email: mdelcher@hotmail.com

CZECH REPUBLIC

UNITED KINGDOM

Josef Vana CZECH JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS ASSOCIATION Starochuchelska 192/16 159 00 Praha 5 - Velka Chuchle Contact: Roman Vitek Mobile: +42 (0)606727027 Email: drvitek@email.cz

Rupert Arnold NATIONAL TRAINERS’ FEDERATION 9 High Street - Lambourn - Hungerford Berkshire RG17 8XN Tel: +44 (0)1488 71719 Fax: +44 (0)1488 73005 www.racehorsetrainers.org

SLOVAKIA

ITALY

Jano Cagan SLOVENSKA ASOCIACIA DOSTIHOVYCH TRENEROV MDZ 48 942 01 SURANY Slovakia Tel: +42 19 03 165 609 Email: zuzana.caganova@gmail.com

Ovidio Pessi U.N.A.G. Via Montale, 9 20151 Milano milano@unag.it paolapezzotti@libero.it tel. +39 02 48205006 mobile: +39 348 31 33 828

Treasureship:

Jim Kavanagh IRISH RACEHORSE TRAINERS ASSOCIATION Curragh House-Dublin Road Kildare-Co.Kildare IRELAND Tel: +353 (0) 45 522981 Fax: + 353 (0) 45 522982 Mobile: + 353(0)87 2588770 Email: irishrta@eircom.net www.irta.ie

NORWAY

Sven-Erik Lilja Eventyrveien 8, 1482 Nittedal Norway Tel: +47 (0) 67 07 14 12 Mobile: +47 (0) 91 12 88 96 Email: svelilja@gmail.com

SWEDEN

Fredrik Reuterskiöld Swedish Trainers Association South Notarp 3228 S-243 92 Hoor Tel: +46 (0)413 55 00 65 Fax: +46 (0)413 55 04 95 Mobile: +46 (0)70 731 26 39 Swedish Trainers Association North Karlaplan 10 115 20 Stockholm Sweden Mail: worldracing@hotmail.com Tel: +46 (0)8 662 46 79 Mobile: +46 (0)708 756 756

www.europeantrainers.com ISSUE 45 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 07

TRM EURO issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:24 Page 1

Anthem Alexander with Aileen, Amy and Emily Lynam, Charles and Paul O’Callaghan, Sarah and Eddie Lynam, Pat Smullen and Noel O’Callaghan after winning the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot

TRM Trainer of the Quarter

EDWARD LYNAM

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter award has been won by Edward Lynam. Lynam and his team will receive a selection of products from the internationally-acclaimed range of TRM supplements worth €2,000, as well as a bottle of select Irish whiskey.

WORDS: SUZY CROSSMAN PHOTOS: CAROLINE NORRIS

08 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

E

DWARD Lynam made the history books at Royal Ascot this year, becoming the first trainer to ever win both the principle Group One sprint races with different horses.

In total, Lynam sent four horses to the Royal meeting and returned to his County Meath base with a second consecutive win in the King’s Stand Stakes with Sole Power – a feat which hadn’t been achieved since the 1930s – and a victory with Slade Power in the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

In addition, his team were also successful with the impressive two-year-old winner Anthem Alexander in the Group Two Queen Mary Stakes – it was not a bad week at the office!

The pictures in the winner’s enclosure following Lynam’s three Royal Ascot successes in 2014 were of an altogether happier scene than last year, when celebrations following Sole Power’s first King’s Stand win were dampened by the absence of Lynam’s wife Aileen, who had been badly injured in a riding accident and was unable to attend due to multiple injuries including a broken back.

Slade Power’s victory in the Diamond

TRM EURO issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:24 Page 2

Jubilee was another fairytale in the making as he had broken his pelvis eighteen months earlier and his future appearance on any racetrack looked doubtful.

To cap it all, Edward Lynam suffered a nasty heart attack in August of 2013 which, as he put it, made “last year our worst personally and our best professionally!”

Lynam’s path to training was not a typical one. He started out as a builder before he went on to learn the training ropes under Jim Bolger. He had his first runners in 1984, with his first Pattern victory in 1988 when Tantum Ergo won the C L Weld Park StakesGp 3.

He first hit the international scene in 2008 when winning the Group Two Park Stakes at Doncaster with Duff, who became Lynam’s first runner outside Europe when contesting the Hong Kong Mile in 2009.

The first Group One triumph came in 2010, when Sole Power stunned the York crowd in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at the odds of 100/1. At this point, Sole Power’s only previous victories had come on the allweather track at Dundalk. The son of

Slade Power, ridden by Wayne Lordan, wins the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot

Kyllachy has since won or placed in eight Group Ones, including a third in the 2012 King’s Stand before his back-to-back wins in the five-furlong event.

Sole Power, a seven-year-old gelding, and Slade Power, a five-year-old entire, are

owned by Mrs Sabena Power, and the pair are set to clash in the Group One July Cup at Newmarket before going on their separate ways and undoubtedly remaining as key players in the international sprinting scene through the end of the season. n

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 09

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:55 Page 1

PROFILE

10 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:55 Page 2

CRIQUETTE HEAD-MAAREK

SIMPLY CRIQUETTE The three-storey white block structure patterned with red bricks on Avenue du General Leclerc in Chantilly, in the Parisian basin of France, is partly shielded from street view by a brick-and-wroughtiron privacy fence. During working hours, a line of modest cars is parked against the wall on crumbled pavement. There’s no visible sign identifying this as Écurie Christiane Head, headquarters of one of the most successful trainers of all time and home to the reigning Arc winner.

C

WORDS: FRANCES J KARON PHOTOS: ANNE-ARmEllE lANglOiS

HRISTIANE “Criquette” Head-Maarek recalls her first meeting with the horse who would secure her a place in history with a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win. The bay filly was about a day or two old at the time, and Head-Maarek says, “I said to Papa, ‘I’ve seen the most beautiful foal that you can imagine.’”

Her papa, Alec Head, could certainly imagine a beautiful foal, or if not a beautiful one, then certainly a fast one. By his retirement at the end of 1983, he had trained the winners of four Arcs, plus the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (three), Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (two), Prix du Jockey Club (three), Prix Diane (two) and one each of the Epsom Derby, 2,000 Guineas, and 1,000 Guineas.

Alec’s father Willie, who settled in France from Great Britain and was the son of a horse trainer, had had some good ones of his own, winning two Arcs and two Jockey Clubs.

Willie Head’s first Arc winner, Le Paillon, won in 1947, a year before his granddaughter Criquette was born. She was nearly four in 1952 when Alec won his first Arc, with the Aga Khan’s Nuccio.

Of her own future Arc winner, after their first meeting, “I followed the filly,” says Head-

Maarek. “I was in love with her.” She visited Comte Roland de Chambure’s Haras d’Etreham – where the filly was born and raised – often, and was told, “Oh, that filly, she’s very difficult. She’s always swishing her tail.”

Undeterred, when Head-Maarek learned that the horse was to go through the ring at the Houghton yearling sale at Tattersalls, she told a client she would buy her if she didn’t make a “silly price.”

“It’s true,” the trainer says. “She was swishing her tail all the time. But she was lovely. She had everything that my dad told me to look for in a horse. She had a beautiful shoulder with a very deep chest and a good hind leg, and she was beautiful. She was walking like something good. She had a lot of class, that filly.”

Without telling her father or de Chambure – the filly’s consignor as well as being Head’s partner in the Societe Aland partnership – Head-Maarek bought the Lyphard daughter through agent BBA Ireland for 41,000 guineas on behalf of a Monsieur Lazard, a relation of the Wertheimer family matriarch Germaine.

But there was a problem: “Papa came to me and said, ‘I want that filly.’” She rang her client and told him of her dilemma. He replied, “You

know, Criquette, always give preference to your dad. Buy me anything else.”

She didn’t find another yearling she liked enough to purchase for Monsieur Lazard. She didn’t know it yet, but Head-Maarek had already secured perhaps the best racehorse in the sale anyway.

fe

In the haze of a spring drizzle, first lot is readied to go out. Head-Maarek is zipped up in a dark blue coat, wearing blue jeans and a dark-coloured wide-brimmed hat. She’s entertaining a group of students peering at the back end of a bay horse in a box midway down one side of the yard. Head lad Pascal Galoche leads the horse out, tacked up in a dark blue rug with beige trim and a beige “CH” under another, plain brown blanket and in dark blue front polo wraps. There’s no mystery as to who this is, even before HeadMaarek identifies her as Treve, last year’s Arc heroine and the most accomplished of the 80 horses in the yard.

Everyone follows on foot as premier lot exits through the back gate onto Les Aigles, or “The Eagles,” and its 500 acres of tracks – turf, all weather, and dirt – carved into a forest and under the auspices of France Galop. The birds

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 11

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 3

“It’s like people. If you’re well in the mind you’re well in the body.”

fe

Criquette and her husband Gilles

are so loud that at times their chatter drowns out other sounds, except for the upbeat tune someone whistles off and on throughout the morning. Simple white signs with black lettering staked into the ground identify paths and clearings with names of great horses whose hooves left their mark here.

Prior to setting out on their gallop, HeadMaarek’s team circle in the “Rond Le Fabuleux.”

Grandfather Willie Head trained Le Fabuleux to win the 1964 Prix du Jockey Club.

fe

“I think I’ve been lucky,” says HeadMaarek. “My dad was a very good trainer. My grandfather was a fantastic trainer. They knew their horses so well and they taught me how to look at a horse and to see what’s wrong or what’s not right. That’s important.”

At Écurie Head, keeping that eagle eye focused on the horses is a key component of racing success. Gilles Maarek, Le Parisien racing journalist and husband of HeadMaarek since 2000, tells his wife something she doesn’t seem to fully grasp: “You see something that some people don’t see. It’s hard for you to understand that, because they look and see nothing.”

Perhaps such an advantage makes it easier for Head-Maarek to maintain a natural yard.

“Why do strange things when you can do it simply?” she asks.

One such simplicity is bedding horses on straw. She says, “I think they need to eat straw, because it’s good for them. From what I’ve seen, it’s my theory that the less you use funny things, if you’re more natural with horses, you don’t get lots of problems. I never have colics. I don’t have horses with stomach problems. I don’t

12 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

bow horses. But you know, we’re very careful. If a horse has something we slow him down.”

Head-Maarek feeds black oats, “lots of carrots,” and good hay from the south of France. “And when I can,” she says, “I give them artichokes, too. You can see they love it, and it’s good because it makes them chew a lot. I’ve been taught that way. My father was very natural with his horses. It’s much better than to have a vet coming all the time.”

“You,” says Maarek, “are an exception, vetwise.”

“Why?” “Because your horses, they never see a vet in their life!”

“I don't think they need it!” Head-Maarek laughs. “If a horse looks well, why try to find silly things? Moi, I don’t believe in vets. I believe in good work, good food, good hay, water.”

That’s not to say that she won’t seek veterinary advice when necessary: When Treve ran third in the Prince of Wales’s at Royal Ascot three months after this interview, the trainer worried that something was amiss with the filly and consulted with vets, who found minor arthritis in her back and recommended a short break for the champion – a prescription bound to sit well with HeadMaarek, who also believes that letting a horse be a horse is the foundation of success.

“What I do is when the weather’s good we go and eat grass in the paddock after the work and roll in the sand. That’s the way I do it. It’s simple, it doesn’t cost anything, and the horses, they’re much happier. I think if a horse is good up there” – she taps an index finger against her head – “he’s well everywhere.

Criquette Head-Maarek understands on a very personal level how important it is to be “well in the mind,” after a brain tumour in 1990 and a cancer diagnosis in 2005.

“In those things,” she says, “I think mentally you have to fight. If you can fight mentally then you do better. When I had cancer I went to see the doctor with Gilles, and [the doctor] said, ‘The effect will be that and that and that.’ I turned to look at Gilles – he was white. I thought he was going to drop dead. So I said, ‘I’m the one who’s sick.’

“The doctor told me it’s not going to be easy. I said, ‘Look, it’s my way of living. I can’t quit my work, because my owners will go if I don’t still go out training. I have to work.’ So he said, ‘Well, try to do what you can but I don’t think you’ll be able to do anything, because you’ll be so tired and so sick and so that and so…’ I said, ‘Well, let’s see.’”

Every day for three months, Head-Maarek oversaw AM training sessions in Chantilly, then drove herself to and from Paris in the afternoons to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments. “The doctor – who I still see of course – he says, ‘You know, since I’ve seen you, I never stop people from working.

They have to work!’”

Some of her lymph nodes were removed, a side effect of which is that her legs “get bigger and bigger.” Head-Maarek says with a shrug, “There’s no way I can do anything about it, so it’s annoying but that’s all. I’d rather have that effect than the alternative. I’m fine. Cancer always comes back – no, not always, but sometimes. Life is like that. If it comes back…well, I’ve had a fantastic life so far, so.

And then what will happen will happen.”

On the desk in her stable office decorated with photos of Treve, Special Duty, and one of her father’s Standardbreds, a nondescript trophy – the big-race trophies are in her nearby home – holds a stack of hats identical to the one she’s wearing.

The hat is just part of her style; throughout chemo and radiation, Head-Maarek didn’t lose her hair.

Instead, she lost a major owner.

fe

Idling on the John Deere Gator she uses to get around Les Aigles, Head-Maarek exchanges a friendly greeting with one of Pascal Bary’s work riders. He used to ride for her, she explains. “When I lost Wertheimer’s horses I had to put a lot of people on the street.” She pauses. “Well no, I didn’t put anyone on the street. I called around and found jobs for all of them.”

The Wertheimers and the Heads share an association that is as much about European racing history and how it helped shape the

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 4

breed internationally as it is about the families themselves.

Heads have trained for three generations of Wertheimers: for Pierre and later his widow Germaine; their son Jacques; and his sons Alain and Gerard, who race as Wertheimer et Frere. Alec Head saddled many Classic winners for the family, from 1956 Epsom Derby winner Lavandin to Prix de Diane winner Reine de Saba in 1978, but is probably best remembered today for handling a trio of major sires: Green Dancer, Lyphard, and Riverman. Alec spotted and bought Lyphard (1972 Prix Jacques Le Marois and Prix de la Foret) and Riverman (1972 Poulains) at auction, while Green Dancer (1975 Poulains) was a Wertheimer homebred.

Criquette Head-Maarek extended the Wertheimer-Head success with such Group 1 horses as Green Tune (1994 Poulains) and Agent Double (1984 Prix Royal-Oak) for Jacques and 2000 Diane winner and Arc second Egyptband for Wertheimer et Frere. Freddy Head, Criquette’s brother, rode most of the Wertheimer horses until he signed on as retained jockey for the Niarchos family in the mid-1980s.

The relationship between the brothers Wertheimer and Head-Maarek became strained years later over their retention of rider Olivier Peslier. Trainer and jockey clashed. “It was a mess,” Head-Maarek says. “I called them and said, ‘I can’t go on like this.’ I had the cancer, and I was very sick for a while.

I was winning lots of races for Prince Khalid [Abdullah of Juddmonte Farms], and for the Wertheimer horses – nothing. They were running bad. Each time I was telling [Peslier] to go in front, he was waiting at the back. So one day I blew up. I said to both brothers, ‘I want you to come hear the orders, okay? I’m going to give orders to Peslier, and I want him to ride the way I tell him to. If he doesn’t do it, I quit.’ And he didn’t do it. I was so upset.

“I told them to choose: him or me. They thought I was going to die because of the

cancer, so they said, ‘We’ll go.’ And that’s how it was. He’s a very good jockey but I didn’t get along with him,” she says.

That final straw came on Quiet Royal, who ran fifth in the 6th August, 2006, Prix Maurice de Gheest, in which Marchand d’Or provided retired jockey Freddy Head with the first Group 1 of his training career. Freddy has since trained many Group 1 winners, including Goldikova – winner of 14 Group/Grade 1 races in France, England, and the US under Peslier for Wertheimer et Frere.

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 13

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 5

PROFILE

“I think they need to eat straw, because it’s good for them. From what I’ve seen, it’s my theory that the less you use funny things, if you’re more natural with horses, you don’t get lots of problems”

fe The second of four siblings, Head-Maarek, whose mother Ghislaine is from the van de Poele family of trainers, doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t around horses. “Moi, I think since I’m walking, I ride. When I was a baby my father used to take me to the track every morning sitting in front of him [on his hack].”

Nor does she remember ever going by her given name, “Christiane.” She says, “Papa had a friend who had a daughter called Criquette, and I think he liked the name. At school, you know, many times I wouldn’t answer when they would say, ‘Christiane, Christiane!’ I was so used to being called ‘Criquette.’”

Although there was never any doubt in her mind what she would do with her life, it was not as clear-cut to everyone else. “When I was

14 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 6

CRIQUETTE HEAD-MAAREK very young I said to my dad that I would be a trainer like him. And he said to me, ‘No. Women can’t be trainers,’ because in those days it wasn’t allowed.”

“Nobody had the idea,” adds Gilles Maarek.

“I was born in 1948, so that was three years after the end of the war. In those days, women would have babies and cook, clean the house, look after their husband well. Now it’s different. Now it’s the husband who looks after his wife!” Head-Maarek laughs. “Papa said to me, ‘One day, maybe you’ll marry a trainer.’”

Head-Maarek spent mornings and free time at her father’s yard until she left France to attend boarding school in England. Her first marriage, to banker Rene Romanet, took her farther from home to Spain, where daughter Patricia was born before the family returned to France in 1974.

Once Criquette Head-Maarek had “had the idea,” as Maarek put it, of becoming a trainer, she was determined to make it happen. While working as her father’s assistant, she applied for a licence in 1976 – the year before she purchased that tail-swishing Lyphard filly at Tattersalls. She went out on her own in September, 1977.

Head-Maarek was the second woman, after Myriam Bollack-Badel in 1975, to acquire a French training licence.

fe

Success was immediate. In 1978, the twoyear-old Habitat filly Sigy, bred by de Chambure, won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye in October against older horses, ridden by Freddy Head.

But Head-Maarek believed that she had another two-year-old better than Sigy in Three Troikas, that Lyphard filly she had fallen in love with as a foal and bought as a yearling.

“She was as fast as Sigy,” she recalls. “But then she was so big I said I’ll take my time.

She ran once at the end of her two-year-old year, ridden by Freddy. There were 20 runners at Saint-Cloud, and the ground was very deep. She won by a head, beating nothing, and I said to Freddy, ‘You know, that’s our best horse for next year, for the Prix de Diane and for all the big races.’ And he said to me, ‘No, no, no, she’s not good.’

“So Papa said, ‘My trainer says she’s good and my jockey says she’s not much. Who do I believe?!’ It was so funny.”

Three Troikas made six starts during her three-year-old season, winning all but the Diane, when she ran second to Dunette by a nose. In Ghislaine Head’s beige silks with black sleeves and with Freddy Head aboard, Three Troikas won four Group 1s in 1979: the Pouliches, in which Head-Maarek became the first woman to train a French Classic winner; Prix Vermeille; Prix Saint-Alary; and, of course, the Arc, at odds of 8-1 by three lengths against 21 other horses, including stablemate Fabulous Dancer.

“When I had cancer I went to see the doctor with Gilles, and [the doctor] said, ‘The effect will be that and that and that.’ I turned to look at Gilles – he was white. I thought he was going to drop dead. So I said, ‘I’m the one who’s sick”

fe

Like Three Troikas, Head-Maarek’s second Arc winner Treve has deep-rooted family connections. Treve’s first two dams, as well as the sires of her first three dams, were trained by members of the Head dynasty, and her Epsom Derby-winning sire Motivator has stood at the family’s Haras du Quesnay in Deauville since 2013.

Quesnay is also where Treve’s broodmare sire Anabaa spent most of his stud career, siring the likes of Goldikova, before he passed away in 2009. The Danzig horse was bred by the Gainsborough Farm of Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum – for whom Head-Maarek won the 1,000 Guineas with Ma Biche in 1983 –

and was gifted to the Head family after HeadMaarek refused to follow veterinary advice to euthanase him in the wake of a back injury on the gallops, when he was labelled a wobbler.

For Ghislaine Head, Anabaa won the Darley July Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest.

Head-Maarek picks up a binder on her desk, opening it to Treve’s pedigree. “The fun part,” she says, “is that Anabaa is there, Riverman is there, Lyphard is there. Trevillari is the first one [in the family] I trained.”

A daughter of Riverman, Trevillari – Treve’s granddam – only placed on the racecourse.

Head-Maarek trained her full sister Treble to Group 1 glory in the 1984 Prix Saint-Alary for their owner-breeder Edward Stephenson.

Their dam, Trevilla (by Lyphard), was unraced.

Treve’s dam Trevise is an own sister to Listed winner Tsigane but was not herself a black-type horse. Head-Maarek says: “Trevise was trained

by Freddy. She won as a two-year-old, very impressively – she beat [future Breeders’ Cup Mile winner] Six Perfections here in Chantilly first time out, and then something happened to her and she didn’t train on. But it’s a very solid female family. Papa has always loved it and he said we have to stick with it. So we did! And here comes [Treve].”

Racing first as a homebred in Quesnay’s solid red silks, Treve was sold privately to the Al Shaqab Racing of Sheikh Joaan al Thani following her four-length canter in the Prix de Diane – Head-Maarek’s third win in the Classic – last June. The filly remained undefeated through the end of her three-year-

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 15

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 7

PROFILE

old season, until a narrow second to Cirrus des Aigles in April’s Prix Ganay in her fouryear-old debut.

Treve’s box at the yard is flanked by two of her half-sisters: the Mr. Sidney three-year-old Trophee, who placed at two; and the unraced two-year-old Toride, by Fuisse. The sires of both fillies stand at Quesnay. Trevise has no yearling, foaled a filly by Motivator this year, and returned to that sire to try for another full sibling to the Arc winner.

Since 2009, Alec and Ghislaine’s children – Freddy, Criquette, Patricia, and Martine – have owned Le Quesnay, which they run through a company. Criquette and Freddy try to visit the stud, managed by Vincent Rimaud, once a week.

“Mama is 86 and Papa will be 90 this year, so they live in the Bahamas. They love it. I talk to them as much as I can. We need our background, so Papa’s still with us,” says Head-Maarek. “But he hasn’t got any more worries, let’s put it that way.”

“Worries” came in the form of running such a sizeable operation; the deaths of Quesnay sires Anabaa, Bering, and Highest Honor; and fertility problems experienced with Gold Away. “We had to renew all our stallions, so they’re all young,” Head-Maarek says.

16 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

“It’s much more difficult to train bad horses than good ones. Much more.

Good ones, they do everything right, and they make you look good” “Motivator came up, before Treve was Treve – we did the deal when Treve was a two-yearold. Motivator is good for the stud because he brings a lot of people in. We’ve got more clients, we’ve changed a few things. Papa did not need to have clients. He could run the place no problem, but we can’t afford for the moment to run it without clients.”

Of Quesnay’s six active stallions, Fuisse (a homebred by Head-Maarek-trained Green Tune, who was by Alec Head-trained Green Dancer) and Youmzain have their first twoyear-olds, while Dunkerque (also a homebred,

by Highest Honor) and Mr. Sidney are second-crop sires. All of these young horses bar Dunkerque, a dual Group 3 winner, are Group or Grade 1 winners.

The plan is to sell some of the homebred yearlings and keep others to race. Treve, whose name translates to “Truce,” was offered at the 2011 Arqana October yearling sale, where she was bought back for €22,000.

fe

Criquette Head-Maarek is, not surprisingly, extremely proud of her Arc triumphs. “Of course,” she says. “And then every race that I’ve won abroad, all the Guineas, and the Coronation, the Champion Stakes…I mean, every race that you win, whether it’s a big race or a small race, it’s nice, because you've done the right thing, the horse is in where it belonged. Of course when you win the Arc with Treve it’s different. It’s more the glamour of it, but for me it’s more – I would not say ‘the same’ because people will think that I’m crazy – but if you put a horse in a race and you win it, you’ve done the right thing, that’s all I can say.

“It’s much more difficult to train bad horses than good ones. Much more. Good ones, they do everything right, and they make you look good.” Head-Maarek laughs, as if we are to believe her record – tied with Charles Semblat – of seven Poule d’Essai des Pouliches victories is all down to the horses.

“Well thanks, but it’s both,” she says. “Let’s

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 8

put it that way. I think horses make 80% of everything. And I’m lucky, because when you train for big owners it’s a big plus. If you have a big stable with a big breeding operation behind you it’s a big, big plus.”

The Quesnay breeding operation has certainly been a big plus, providing such homebred stock as Bering, the 1986 Prix du Jockey Club winner whose only loss was a second, despite breaking his knee during the running, in the Arc to Dancing Brave; and Silvermine, Head-Maarek’s second Pouliches winner, in 1985. Alec Head and Roland de Chambure’s Societe Aland funnelled many other good horses, including her first Diane winner, Harbour (1982), and 1988 Pouliches and 1,000 Guineas winner Ravinella, to HeadMaarek.

The patronage of longtime owner Juddmonte has been advantageous as well. Their Classic winners together are Special Duty, who after Ravinella is Head-Maarek’s second winner of both the Pouliches and the 1,000 Guineas (the latter via disqualification), in 2010; and American Post, winner of the 2004 Poulains.

fe Whereas Freddy Head was a six-time champion rider in France, Head-Maarek’s own brush with race riding was fleeting; she participated in seven amateur races in her late teens, winning at Fontainebleau on her first mount. Now that her brother is churning out Group 1 winners from his yard a few doors down the road, Head-Maarek takes a keen interest in his successes.

He has a runner in the first at Deauville this morning, and Head-Maarek slips into her office and turns on the TV to watch the race. Someone pops in hoping for an autographed photo of Treve, so while the horses load, the trainer obliges, keeping one eye on the TV then taking a seat to cheer on her brother’s horse, a ParisTurf newspaper open on her lap.

“We’re in competition, yes and no,” HeadMaarek says. “Of course, we’re used to racing one against the other.”

fe Earlier, during first lot, standing on the wet grass within sight of Freddy’s white hack through the bare trees, the young visitors, here to see Treve’s work – after which they take their leave – ask Head-Maarek many questions. She answers patiently, enthusiastically. No one could say that the grandmother of three – daughter Patricia is married to trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias, who won the Arc in 2012 with the Wertheimer’s Solemia – is anything but a wonderful ambassador to the sport and livelihood she loves.

“Trêve, ah oui, elle allez bien seule, mais elle va chercher les autres!” Treve, she tells them, will be zooming down the straight alone near the back of the string, but the filly will catch up to the

Criquette and her loyal secretary Jane Claxton

others without much effort, simply because she’s that talented.

Depending on the weather, first lot will spend up to ninety minutes outside, with each successive set getting progressively shorter. “I always like to have my good horses first lot,” Head-Maarek says, “because we have more time.”

The horses cool out from their works in another clearing on Les Aigles. Head-Maarek passes along observations and quizzes her riders on what they felt during their exercise: “Il et bien?”

“Il est bien, madame, oui,” someone answers.

Some of the riders jump out of the saddles to lead their horses around in the big circle.

“After work it’s good for them to handwalk like that without any weight on their back.

Then we put them back up,” Head-Maarek says. “I’m very, very precautious about the weight.”

Treve, with Galoche back aboard, strides over and stops to nuzzle her trainer, who laughs. “She knows me so well. Each time I call her she comes to me like that.” She speaks to

“I’ve had very good mares and good fillies in training but like Treve, we don’t get many. With the speed that she’s got, that turn of foot she can produce, that’s quite unusual”

Treve (mostly in French), apologising for not having a carrot.

One of the women rides up on a blowing horse, pulling a carrot out of her own jacket pocket and handing it to Head-Maarek.

fe Treve is only the most recent in a long line of “good” horses to wear the white cloth numbered 68 – Head-Maarek’s France Galopassigned number, the system by which loose horses are tracked down to their yards – underneath the stable’s fancier rugs. There are some runaways – from this and other yards – on Les Aigles this morning. None of them get very far.

The two-year-olds, she explains as some of them kick up their heels down the straight, are particularly “fresh.” “He feels good! I like to see them like that.”

As it is only March and the young stock have not been at the yard for long, Head-Maarek drums them into her memory. “Every day I repeat them,” she says. There are sons and daughters of Quesnay stallions Dunkerque, Fuisse, and Mr. Sidney, and others by top sires like Dansili, Exceed and Excel, Mizzen Mast, Oasis Dream, Sea the Stars, and Tapit. Al Shaqab’s Sea the Stars colt is a half-brother to Motivator, and a Quesnay-homebred Fuisse filly is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Elusive Kate.

Juddmonte sent daughters of two top fillies she trained: Special Duty and Etoile Montante.

Soon, she will have an idea of which of the two-year-olds could be stars like Special Duty or Treve. “With Treve,” Head-Maarek says, “in April when she started to work, she was much better than anything that I had in the yard.

“It’s difficult to compare horses. I’ve had very good mares and good fillies in training but like

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 17

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 9

PROFILE Treve, we don’t get many. With the speed that she’s got, that turn of foot she can produce, that’s quite unusual. She can follow any pace.

Fast pace, slow pace, inside, outside – wherever she is, she feels happy. She’s like a little bicycle.

In the Arc, she had a terrible race, the worst race you can dream of. They knocked her out, she was outside all the way, she came early, and without doing any effort, she won very smooth.”

fe

Head-Maarek with her Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Treve

SOME OF CRIQUETTE HEAD-MAAREK’S GREATEST EUROPEAN VICTORIES

Poule d’Essai des Pouliches

Prix de Diane

Three Troikas (1979)

Harbour (1982)

Silvermine (1985)

Egyptband (2000)

Baiser Vole (1986)

Treve (2013)

Ravinella (1988)

Poule d’Essai des Poulains

Matiara (1995)

Green Tune (1994)

Always Loyal (1997)

American Post (2004)

Special Duty (2010)

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

1,000 Guineas

Three Troikas (1979)

Ma Biche (1983)

Treve (2013)

Ravinella (1988)

Prix du Jockey Club

Hatoof (1992)

Bering (1986)

Special Duty (2010)

18 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Head-Maarek, her feet in rain boots and squarely planted on Les Aigles and surrounded by memories of the great Heads who came before her, says, “I’m not working.”

A moment passes by before she adds, “Sure, it’s a lot of time. It’s very demanding. But it’s rewarding – of course. For me it’s never a problem because everything’s so easy, you know? I’m on vacation every day. You always have something to look forward to or to push you ahead of everything, so as long as you’re well physically, you can go on doing it.”

Overseeing her final set, comprised of mostly two-year-olds, Head-Maarek may wonder if that “something to look forward to” is her first Epsom Derby winner – a race that has eluded her and is at the top of her wish list – but it’s not a thought she’d be likely to dwell on. Any major accomplishments – like a second, or perhaps, if she dares to dream a little, a third, Arc with Treve – are a bonus. For now, her full attention is on the horses in front of her.

She points to a flashy bay colt, one of several with a body clip. “I don’t clip my horses,” says Head-Maarek. “In about a week’s time this filly” – she singles out a brown horse with a natural coat – “she’ll have a beautiful coat, she’s starting to dapple all over the place.

The ones you see who are clipped just arrived from somewhere else. That’s another thing that’s not natural, because the hair has to grow, and it takes a lot out of a horse to grow his hair back. Simple things. It’s been working like that, it doesn’t work badly!”

“It’s too late to change anyway,” says Gilles Maarek with a smile.

“Oui!” she replies. “I’m too old to change!”

And she laughs again.

fe

“The first time I talked to Criquette was at Saint-Cloud,” reminisces Maarek. He stops to pluck a small flower bud from the grass of Les Aigles. “Tiens. C’est un cadeau,” he says, handing it to her.

“How beautiful! Beautiful! Very romantic,” she says, tucking the gift away in the Gator to take back to her yard. “Everything is starting to bloom,” says the trainer whose bloom has never worn off.

It could be said that Criquette HeadMaarek, who defied the establishment to become the world’s most formidable lady trainer, has enjoyed a lifelong romance with the turf. n

EUROPEAN TRAINER HEAD ISSUE 46 v4_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 20:56 Page 10

CRIQUETTE HEAD-MAAREK

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 19

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 1

NUTRITION

The challenge of feeding globetrotting horses

20 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 2

LONG-DISTANCE TRAVEL

Travelling across continents and time zones is much more commonplace these days for horses, and talented horses will often race all over the world during their racing careers. European horses will commonly travel to countries such as Australia, Dubai, Japan, and America as well as within the Euro zone. There are inherent health risks such as pleura pneumonia (shipping fever), dehydration, and colic associated with travelling long distances.

WORDS: DR CatheRine Dunnett BSC, PhD, R.nutR PhOtOS: ShutteRStOCK, aiR FRanCe

H

OW much notice is given to disruptions to the diet with movement from country to country?

Inappetence and dietary change can impact hydration and may limit performance but are also major risk factors for colic. I have discussed the feed and management risks for health during long distance travel in ISSUE?. Here, I investigate the practical implications of minimising disruption to a horse’s feed program when racing abroad.

Taking your home feed with you Taking your home feed and forage with you avoids any radical change to your horse’s diet when racing abroad, but whilst this is possible, in many instances it can be problematic. The entrance requirements for feed into certain countries have stiff biosecurity controls, making the process complicated and bureaucratic. Australia, for example, has very strict customs controls with regards to the entry of plant-derived shipments including feed, forage, and/or supplements. Import certification is normally required from the feed manufacturer stating the producer, the ingredients, and how it was processed. A declaration of the presence or absence of plant ingredients, mammalian proteins or live microbials, etc., may also be required. For the entry of feed or forage into Australia, it is commonly irradiated in order to destroy any undesirable contaminating ingredients and to eliminate the viability of seeds and grains for germination.

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 21

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 3

NUTRITION

Feed irradiation causes concern amongst trainers Irradiation involves the treatment of feed with radiation-supplying gamma energy (similar to X-rays), effectively disinfecting or sterilising feeds. Sufficient energy can be absorbed by the feed to destroy moulds, bacteria, yeasts, insect-pests, and weed seeds, but the degree will depend on the dosage of the irradiation.

Trainer clients have previously voiced their concerns on the effect of the irradiation process both on feed value and palatability.

Amongst professionals, there is a difference of opinion on the effects of irradiation of feed,

22 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

but Racing Club Victoria does declare on their website that irradiation may affect feed palatability. Jane Chappell-Hyam, an Australian trainer based in Newmarket knows Australian feed well and has regular runners over there. She said of her experiences and preferences between sourcing good local feed and exporting her own: “Going to Australia as you know is very strict on quarantine and also therefore on equine feed entering the country, so we source feed out there, but with Singapore, USA, France, Ireland, Sweden, and Dubai we do take our own feed with us.”

What are the likely effects of radiation on

feed? Sterigenics, a US-based company that describes itself as a global leader in sterilisation services, offer the following comments on the effects on animal feed: That the effect of relatively high doses of radiation on protein and constituent amino acids is limited. Some vitamins such as vitamin E can be more sensitive to irradiation, but this is dependent on the form present, and alpha tocopherol acetate (the form widely used in feed) is very stable. Irradiation is suggested to have an effect on the oil content of feed and peroxide value (which gives an indication of the amount of oxidation that has taken place) generally increases following irradiation, but this will depend on the dosage and the nature of the oil present. This may help to explain the anecdotal reduction in feed palatability seen in some horses with irradiated feed, as oxidation of oil is part of the process of rancidity.

Feed is routinely irradiated when exported from Australia to New Zealand and even between states within Australia. Dr Ray Biffin is consultant nutritionist to Australian feed company Mitavite and also to new UK feed company Keyflow, and he described his practical experiences.

Dr Biffin explained: “The level of irradiation (25 Gy) for export feeds is a low dose designed to sterilise seeds [prevent them from germinating] and this level of irradiation has a negligible effect on vitamins and oxidation of oil.”

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 4

LONG-DISTANCE TRAVEL

Feeds comprising entirely cooked ingredients (micronised, steam flaked, or fully steam extruded) are not required to be irradiated. However, feeds that consist of some cooked ingredients (e.g. micronised cereals) and some uncooked (fibre pellets, oats, or concentrate pellets) would require irradiation. Interestingly he highlights that similar rules are in place between some states within Australia. Western Australia don’t want Eastern varieties of seeds to germinate and so have the same rules on irradiation.

In some instances a certificate from a germination laboratory is needed where feed is incubated for ten days to ensure no germination, as well as a certificate from an irradiation company such as Steritech.

If higher doses of irradiation were required to sterilise all microbes e.g. above 50 Gy, steps are usually taken by feed companies to ensure the residual level of vitamins. This is achieved by an overage, where more of a particular vitamin is added during manufacture to compensate for losses during irradiation.

Peter Huntingdon, Director of Equine Nutrition for Kentucky Equine Research “Even though the nutrient specifications may be similar, there are significant ingredient differences between racing feeds made in Europe and Australia.

“This means that switching feeds with a horse in full work coming for the Melbourne Spring Carnival from Europe is not ideal.

They already have to face a long journey, a change in environment, climate and forage and a change in feed may be too much, so that

horses just don’t eat well, lose weight and can’t run up to their potential.

“Irradiation of feed will allow the import of the horses usual feed, but often this impacts on palatability and other factors.”

“So since 2006, to minimise the disruption, I have collaborated with Saracen Horse Feeds to formulate and custom make an Aussie version of their leading racing feed, Race 13.

The main difference is the form of the sugar beet pulp, as for quarantine reasons, beet pulp shreds aren’t available here.

“But otherwise it’s the same and horses eating Race 13 in Europe go straight on to the feed in Melbourne. And often they eat and do better than at home - Ed Walker’s Ruscello,

who won the Gr II Lexus Stakes on VRC Derby day last year and qualified for the Melbourne Cup was a good example of this.

Normally, “I just formulate feeds, but for these horses I’m involved in the small batch mixing as well, so we provide a very fresh, hand made product that matches the feed the horse ate at home.”

For other countries, importing your own home feed and forage is a relatively straightforward process apart from the documentation required, but shippers and transporters have become very familiar and adept at the necessary processes. Shipping your forage and feed abroad may practically

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 23

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 5

NUTRITION

be a nuisance but it does represent the best option in terms of minimising the disruption to a horse’s feed and feed management ahead of an important race.

Horses can often transiently lose their appetite following a long journey and reestablishing normal feed intake on arrival is so very important. A familiar feed no doubt helps with this. In addition, the risk of colic increases with abrupt changes to feed, particularly forage.

Because of the bulky nature of forage, it is even more problematic to ship but in terms of colic risk it is equally, if not more, important.

I suspect that whilst many trainers may ship their feed abroad this may not always include forage.

Sourcing feed and forage locally If you are sourcing feed and forage in the host country then it is important to use products that are as close as possible to your home feed.

For forage, if you use haylage this is not always available, especially in those countries with better climates for making good hay, and it would be better to switch the horse slowly onto similar hay before leaving the UK. When sourcing hay to use abroad the following parameters need to be kept as consistent as possible: l Species of grass – Timothy, Ryegrass, Alfalfa, Meadow, or Orchard; l Protein – A similar percentage protein; l Fibre – Similarity in the fibre fractions NDF and ADF; l Carbohydrate – Similarity in NSC (non structural carbohydrate);

24 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Whilst some trainers may be comfortable with sourcing feed and forage abroad, it can be helpful to seek the advice of a local nutritionist, either independent or based with a feed company, and this can sometimes be organised through your existing European supplier. In addition, it is also worth noting that some feed companies operate on a global basis and their feeds are available in many of the major racing countries. Their brand of feeds may be contract manufactured locally by or in partnership with a local manufacturer.

Switch before travelling

“Even though the nutrient specifications may be similar, there are significant ingredient differences between racing feeds made in Europe and Australia” Peter Huntingdon For concentrate feed, similarity of ingredients is important, and then analytical parameters including percentage protein, oil, starch, fibre (NDF, ADF), and NSC should be compared. A comparable level of vitamins and minerals is also desirable.

A final alternative is to make the feed switch before you leave Europe, as this can be managed slowly over a period of time. It may be easier to import feed and forage from the country of destination to use prior to leaving. A quantity of this feed will of course need to travel with the horse to ensure consistency during the journey.

Changes to feed and forage would ideally be made over about seven days, allowing for a slow increase of the new feed in replacing the existing feed. This allows the horse’s digestive system to adapt slowly and avoids any abrupt changes to the microbial balance in the gut in response to the new feeding regime.

These practices for ensuring consistency of feed may seem a little over the top. However, they do represent the sort of attention to detail that top athletes in many spheres routinely employ to ensure no stone is left unturned and no box left un-ticked in order to give the athlete, in this case a racehorse, the highest chance of performing to the best of its ability. n

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 TRANSPORT_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:20 Page 6

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 1

RACING

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 2

NORTHERN DANCER Northern Dancer wins the 1964 Kentucky Derby by a neck ahead of Hill Rise

NORTHERN DANCER

Small in stature but a giant among thoroughbreds

Few horses were ever as animated and filled with a zest for life as the great racehorse and sire Northern Dancer. The bay son of Nearctic needed all the grit and exuberance he possessed, however, because he broke through prejudice and naysayers at every turn.

WORDS: FRank Mitchell PhOtOS: Michael BuRnS PhOtOgRaPhy, WOODBine enteRtainMent gROuP, aRchiveS DePt., cOOlMORe, hORSePhOtOS

N

ORTHERN Dancer was small in height; he was born in Canada; he was not supposed to be a Classic colt; and even among his partisans, none could have expected him to become the most prominent international sire of the past 50 years.

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 27

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 3

RACING Born of well-bred but hardly fashionable parents, Northern Dancer started life and his public career as a wee yearling that nobody would buy when left unsold at $25,000 in breeder E P Taylor’s yearling sale of stock with announced reserves. A couple of things dimmed the colt’s appeal to buyers. First, he lacked height, though neither balance nor quality. To compound his shortcoming, the colt’s sire was a young stallion known better for speed than stamina, and the yearling was the first foal out of a mare who had not won a stakes and kept it.

Natalma had finished first in the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, which was quite an endorsement of her speed, but she was

disqualified from victory. Then, in preparation for the Kentucky Oaks the following spring, Natalma chipped a knee, was retired, bred late to Taylor’s stallion Nearctic, and then foaled Northern Dancer on May 27, 1961.

So the greatest stallion of the late 20th century owed his existence, in the words of Tony Morris, to “an accident, a whim of nature, and a mating dictated by expediency.”

Northern Dancer went into Taylor’s racing stable with trainer Horatio Luro, and what a stroke of luck that was.

As a two-year-old, Northern Dancer established himself as a very good racehorse, with seven victories in nine starts. The last five of his victories came in succession, and the

powerful bay colt’s most notable success was the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on November 27, 1963. The Remsen and a mile allowance nine days earlier in which the colt had defeated Futurity Stakes winner Bupers were Northern Dancer’s only starts outside Canada as a juvenile.

But both the colt’s improvement as his racing season progressed and his favorable impression going the mile of the Remsen made Northern Dancer a prospect for the Classics of 1964.

There again, Northern Dancer had to prove himself.

The speed of his sire and dam dominated many observers’ estimation of Northern Dancer’s chances in the Classics. Nearctic, a son of the great sire Nearco and the Hyperion mare Lady Angela, had useful form but showed his best over shorter distances. Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, was by the once-beaten champion Native Dancer and out of the great producer Almahmoud. Her best demonstrated form came at two over sprint distances, but she might well have done better at three had she had the opportunity.

Northern Dancer lost his three-year-old debut, a six-furlong allowance at Hialeah, then won a special exhibition before his first test in the March 3 Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah. The bounding bay won the Flamingo and his remaining preps for the Kentucky Derby.

And after winning his last five races, plus ten of his last 11 starts, one might expect that Northern Dancer would be favoured for the Kentucky Derby.

E P Taylor (left) with wife Winnie and jockey Bill Hartack after Northern Dancer cruised to an emphatic victory in the Queen’s Plate (below)

28 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 4

NORTHERN DANCER Not so.

Instead, Northern Dancer had to overcome the prejudice that a “good big horse will beat a good little horse most of the time.” The good big horse was a towering son of Hillary named Hill Rise, and after successes in California, he was made favourite in the Kentucky Derby, with Northern Dancer sent off at 34-10.

In the Classic, Northern Dancer stayed within hailing distance of the pacesetters, took the lead by the mile post, and when Hill Rise came to Northern Dancer in the stretch, he wouldn’t let the bigger horse get by him, winning by a neck.

David had slain Goliath, and then Northern Dancer repeated the process two weeks later in the Preakness, this time stretching his dominance to two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Favored for the first time in the Belmont Stakes, Northern Dancer finished a tired third, but bounced back to win the Canadian Classic Queen’s Plate two weeks later. However, in a workout afterward, the colt bowed a tendon and was retired.

The winner of three Classics from four attempts at three, Northern Dancer was named the champion of his age in the U.S., as well as in Canada, where he was Horse of the Year in 1964.

1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand was sired by Northern Dancer’s son Nijinsky

The career at stud Sent to stud at what was then called National Stud in Canada, Northern Dancer had much greater odds to overcome as a sire than as a racehorse. Becoming a really good sire is an excellent outcome that falls to no more than one horse of high promise in ten that retire to the stud.

But Northern Dancer was a much better sire than Nearctic. Instead of being a good sire, Northern Dancer became a breed-shaping stallion of international influence.

To accomplish this, Northern Dancer had to get horses of the highest class and had to sire plenty of them. So he did.

From only 21 foals in his first crop, Northern Dancer got nine stakes winners, including Viceregal, who was voted Canada’s Horse of the Year as a two-year-old.

Then Taylor sent both Northern Dancer and Nearctic to the newly developed Maryland property named Windfields Farm, and from Northern Dancer’s second crop of racers came Nijinsky, who remains the only English Triple Crown winner since Bahram in 1935.

Nijinsky and other good performers made Northern Dancer the leading sire in England and Ireland in 1970, and he led the North American sire list in 1971.

The best of Northern Dancer’s American racers was probably either Fanfreluche (Alabama Stakes) or White Star Line (Alabama, Kentucky Oaks), although Dance Number, Northernette, and Lauries Dancer were also Grade 1 winners. All were fillies.

The stallion’s colts were better abroad or, more likely, the best of them went abroad

Sadler’s Wells became Northern Dancer’s greatest son at stud in Europe

because the time when Northern Dancer’s reputation and stallion success arose was the period when the purchase of American-bred stock for export reached a high point.

Northern Dancer was partly the cause of this demand for American-breds. His stock was generally very suitable for European racing. They had a good cruising speed, they were largely agreeable to being held up, and when unleashed, the best of them had a devastating turn of foot.

One has only to review grainy recordings of races won by Nijinsky, Sadler’s Wells, El Gran Senor, and others to see the way that the

really good Northern Dancers would finish. It made them devastating on the racecourses of Europe, and then they were given the best opportunities at the leading studs of the time.

And in getting good racehorses that bred on, Northern Dancer had to overcome the most elusive hurdle of all. Many good stallions, and more than a few of the great ones, have proved their importance during their own lifetimes, but when the next generation tried to take the old man’s place, the spark was gone.

Not so with Northern Dancer.

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 29

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 5

RACING influence of his trainer, the legendary Woody Stephens, and the wealth of his owner, Henryk de Kwiatkowski.

With Stephens telling important breeders that Danzig was the real deal as a racer and with de Kwiatkowski backing the horse with high-quality mares, Claiborne was able to syndicate Danzig and attract books of mares that enabled the horse to become the leading freshman sire of his crop, as well as ascend to international prominence.

Just as with Northern Dancer, however, the greatest test was whether the Danzigs would breed on in other hands, and they have done so in such adamant fashion that Danzig has threatened to overwhelm all other lines, not just the Northern Dancers, in the venues where the fast super-milers that the Danzig line tends to produce are best suited.

Australia is virtually swamped with the blood of Danzig’s son Danehill, and Europe has not only the important Danehill stallion Dansili but also Danzig’s son Green Desert influencing pedigrees there.

In conclusion Storm Bird at Keeneland Sales in 1979

The legend grows Since Phalaris, no stallion other than Northern Dancer’s grandsires Nearco and Hyperion had established such a set of important sons at stud.

Nijinsky was his best son in America, with Classic winners across the globe; Sadler’s Wells was the best in Europe; Nureyev was a talent of international scope, especially noted for his speed; and both The Minstrel and Lyphard were American-based sires of great quality that generally expressed itself more effectively in Europe.

Not surprisingly, Northern Dancer and his elite sons became the toast of breeding and the sales through the 1970s. Although Triple Crown winner Secretariat sired the first yearling to sell for more than $1 million, Northern Dancer sired the second. Furthermore, that yearling was named Nureyev, became a top-tier racer, and then an important stallion on his retirement to stud.

Not surprisingly, international sportsmen – first the English betting pools heir Robert Sangster, then Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos, and followed then by sheikhs from the Middle East – laid out fortunes to acquire the premium stock by Northern Dancer and his sons at the sales.

Their purchases included duds like Snaafi Dancer and Ballydoyle, but their successes included The Minstrel, Storm Bird, Caerleon, and others. And the run of high-class winners fuelled an unprecedented run-up in prices and demand for foals and yearlings by Northern Dancer. At the height of his popularity, the stud fee to breed to a mare to Northern Dancer rose to $1 million.

30 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

For racing in America, as distinct from breeding, there was a discontinuity.

Throughout the 1970s, there were no American Classic winners by Northern Dancer, and the first Classic-winning colt descending from him was a grandson, Gate Dancer (by Sovereign Dancer) in 1984.

As the sons of Northern Dancer established themselves, they proved the link to the American Classics for Northern Dancer.

Nijinsky sired Ferdinand, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Storm Bird, a highweight at two in England and Ireland who didn’t train on, sired Preakness Stakes winner Summer Squall, and he in turn sired Horse of the Year Charismatic, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Storm Bird is also the broodmare sire of classic winners Thunder Gulch (Kentucky Derby and Belmont) and Birdstone (Belmont).

But Storm Bird gained even greater acclaim through his son Storm Cat. Out of a Secretariat mare like Summer Squall, Storm Cat became the predominant sire in America of the last 15 years, at least when considering points other than the Triple Crown. Although Storm Cat’s son Tabasco Cat won the Preakness and Belmont, none of his offspring or those of his sons have won the Kentucky Derby.

Of all Northern Dancer’s fabled racing sons, however, the one who has emerged to hold the widest grasp on breeding and racing worldwide is one of the least renowned for racing.

Although unbeaten in three starts, Danzig never raced in a stakes, and he retired to stud at the world famous Claiborne Farm due to the

In addition to the energy and dominant competitiveness of Northern Dancer, his offspring and descendants over the past halfcentury have prospered because they possess a variety of qualities that make them admirably suited to racing.

Generally, they have a good mind for racing: alert and competitive but not unmanageable.

They have speed, frequently allied with enough stamina to make them contenders for the Classics. They have toughness, allied with determination, which serves them well in training and in racing.

There is a versatility to the tribe that has allowed them to spread and prosper in differing racing jurisdictions from Argentina to India, England to Hong Kong.

One of the most interesting things about Northern Dancer is that the mental and athletic qualities of the stallion and his best offspring seem to remain the same, even when the physical type of a male-line branch changes or the racing environment is different.

Breeders and sales buyers noted that, even in the first generation, there was some physical change from Northern Dancer in type. The really big, scopy Nijinsky was the most divergent, with The Minstrel being distinct but reminiscent of his sire, especially in attitude and in gamely running out his races. On the other hand, Lyphard and Nureyev were most like their sire, small and typey horses of the highest quality.

The differing types and sire-line tendencies of the Northern Dancer tribe showed that in his case, at least, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The game and glorious little battler from Canada was a class racehorse to the bone and has managed to spread many of his best qualities throughout the sporting world. n

NORTHERN DANCER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:25 Page 6

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 1

32 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 2

BUCKED SHINS

TREATING SORE SHINS

Can current research make a breakthrough?

Last November, Cleburne, a leading fancy in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was scratched in the build-up to the race due to having “bucked shins.”

From the turn of the year, consignors have been preparing their horses on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean for the rigorous and demanding process of two-year-old thoroughbred sales and have, no doubt, been battling the phenomenon of bucked shins.

M

WORDS: THOMAS O’KEEFFE PHOTOS: PATRICIA McQUEEN, THOMAS O’KEEFFE

ULTIPLE studies have been performed over the past 30 years to better understand and help prevent the condition. As recently as 2013, the Equine Veterinary Journal published a paper reviewing the incidence of bucked shins and the efficacy of a commonly used preventative technique, “periosteal scraping.”

Bucked or sore shins are part of the disease complex known as dorsal metacarpal disease and they have been affecting young racehorses for generations. In North America, a 2002 veterinary report stated that over 70% of horses in training suffer from bucked shins and due to this condition the financial losses for North America alone were estimated to be $10,000,000 in lost training and racing days!

Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that 12% of those horses that suffer from bucked shins subsequently develop radiographic evidence of stress fractures of their cannon bone up to one year after the initial injury.

Bucked shins is a condition seen throughout the world and has been treated over time in a variety of methods, from surgical management to traditional empirical therapies.

Management of sore shins is a controversial

subject, with many trainers and veterinarians differing on the optimal treatment strategy.

This article aims to discuss briefly why this condition occurs, the current research undertaken on the bone’s adaptive response to exercise, and the different approaches to managing this condition.

Development of bucked shins Bucked shins usually occur in two-year-old thoroughbred horses in training or in older horses that have not reached race speed previously or have had a long layoff. They can occur bilaterally and in North America are seen to usually occur sequentially, with the left leg being affected first as a consequence of the anticlockwise direction in which horses are trained and raced.

The disease is diagnosed on physical examination, where palpation of the front of the cannon bone reveals heat and pain.

Affected horses are uncomfortable, but the presence of overt lameness is variable.

Diagnosis can be confirmed radiographically by the presence of periosteal new bone formation over the front of the cannon bone, although this finding is not always initially apparent.

Originally, it was thought that bucked shins resulted from concussive damage to the

periosteum (the membrane that covers the outer surface bones), with subperiosteal haematoma formation, microfractures, and inflammation leading to clinical signs.

Current research has demonstrated that bucked shins may be the result of high-strain cyclic fatigue, caused by excessive compression on a bone that has not adequately remodeled to withstand such stress. Bone that is stressed immediately seeks to form a new layer of bone at the point of stress.

This rapidly formed woven bone is more porous and weaker than the more slowly laiddown lamellar bone. In the process of this rapid bone formation, the periosteum becomes lifted and inflamed, ultimately leading to the clinical signs characteristic of bucked shins.

The shin is a barometer of what is going on in the rest of the skeleton, and when sore the shin indicates the skeleton needs more time to adapt, a caution that unheeded can lead to more serious injuries, such as stress fractures of other long bones like the tibia or humerus.

Racehorse training and bucked shins As described above, bucked shins are a result of the mismatching of exercise with the modeling and remodeling of the cannon bone necessary for the bone to withstand the rigors of training and racing. Horses are not born

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 33

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 3

VETERINARY

Healing with pins

Healing with rest

Periosteal scraping

with the right bone structure for racing; it must be developed. A scientific law known as Wolff’s Law states that bone can only develop based on its own experience and as a result the purpose of training is to adapt bone to training and therefore training that mimics racing ought to adapt bone to racing.

When an animal is exercising at race speeds, its leg is at a much different angle than when the animal is jogging or even galloping, and the bone has to adapt to be structurally sound. Dr David Nunamaker, VMD, DACVS, has spent a large part of his career researching the dorsal metacarpal disease complex and is a worldrenowned expert on the subject. Nunamaker and his colleagues’ research over the past 30 years has shown that different exercise programs can change the shape and substance of bone.

High speed exercises in small doses have been proven to be highly protective against bucked shins, whereas long galloping exercise increases the chances of bucked shins.

Nunamaker found that increasing the number of short distance works (breezes) from once every seven-to-ten days (as done with classical training programs) to three times a week produced large changes in the modeling, remodeling, and inertial property measurements of the cannon bone.

It has been proven that exercise programs do exist to decrease the incidence of bucked shins and that the implementation of such effective training programs can significantly decrease the incidence of fatal musculoskeletal mid-cannon bone fractures. Despite evidence validating that the changing of a training regime can reduce the occurrence of disease, some trainers are often reluctant to alter their training methods, and thus other techniques and therapies should be discussed.

The UK approach to treatment Horses in the UK suffering from bucked shins are commonly not presented to the veterinary surgeon. The stable staff and trainers know how to recognize sore shins and they treat them in a variety of traditional methods.

Veterinary advice is usually to restrict the horse to trotting until the cannon bone is no longer painful to light fingertip pressure with the limb flexed.

The horse is then re-introduced to the exercise level one step beneath the level that produced the soreness. This speed is maintained for one month before increasing. If the shin soreness returns as speed increases the cycle is repeated.

More invasive therapies have been trialed at various times. These include shock wave therapy, various forms of blistering, and in the past practices such as pin firing or freeze firing.

Freeze firing removes the pain from the frozen area for a short time and offers no long term benefit.

Pin firing has provoked much debate and consternation since the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) attempted to outlaw the practice in 1991. This proved to be unenforceable but thankfully with the passing of time and the mounting evidence proving its ineffectiveness, the practice has greatly reduced. The current stand of the RCVS is that it considers all forms to be mutilations – practices that RCVS council considers ineffective and/or lacking justification as methods of treatment and that should be discontinued.

As with all clinical conditions, there is veterinary personal preference with regards to management, and treatment and regarding bucked shins in particular there are a plethora of theories and treatments highlighting the

lack of a single definitive effective treatment strategy.

Fractures of the front of the cannon bone are an extension of the dorsal metacarpal disease process and are known as dorsal cortical stress fractures. These usually lead to pain on palpation localised to one area of the cannon bone rather than being distributed across the entire surface of the skin. These fracture lines can be extremely difficult to see on x-rays in some cases, whereas clinical presentation is usually enough to make a presumptive diagnosis.

The fractures can be treated by surgical drilling (osteostixis), screw insertion across the fracture line, or shockwave therapy to encourage healing. The most common approach in these cases in the UK is conservative management, with a month out of training advised and a three-month wait before full training speeds are reached again.

This approach contrasts strongly with the more proactive strategies often implemented in North America to treat these cases.

34 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

The North American approach to treatment Great strides have been made in changing training techniques to manage racehorses with bucked shins in the US. Once inflammation is noticed, ice, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and topical cooling products (poultice) are often all that are required if training intensity is reduced and modified. Once the periosteum is hot, thickened, and sore over a large portion of the dorsal cortex of the cannon bone, the North American view is often that modifying training is too late. Training should be stopped and often pin firing or periosteal scraping is performed on the shin.

These procedures are thought to strengthen

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 4

ISSUE 31 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 39

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 5

VETERINARY

In 2002, financial losses due to bucked shins in North America were estimated to be $10,000,000

the bone and decrease healing time by causing an acute inflammatory reaction. Periosteal scraping is when a 16-gauge needle is used to create linear incisions of the periosteum using aseptic technique. Pin firing and periosteal scraping are done after the inflammation has subsided, and they are combined with rest.

Both procedures lack scientific credibility but are still performed at the request of trainers due to anecdotal reports of previous successes.

Recently there have been published reports of success treating bucked shins with the bisphosphonate drug tiludronate, along with shockwave therapy. The findings indicated success with this therapy in conjunction with a slow return to an exercise program, but the study was limited by the small number of horses treated, necessitating further investigation to establish its efficacy as a firstline treatment.

Dorsal cortical fractures are managed in general more aggressively in the US than in the UK, with surgery often deemed necessary.

Cortical drilling (forage, osteostixis) using numerous small diameter holes across the fracture line is thought effective and thus widely performed. In certain cases a bone screw surgically placed across the fracture line is deemed appropriate; however, implants must be removed before training begins.

This general, blunt description of the approaches of veterinarians in both North America and the UK should not be seen as a criticism of either method or as a suggestion

36 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

that all follow this trend. It is simply an overview of the general management of the condition on both continents and I am aware that opinions on this controversial subject vary greatly among the veterinary profession and trainers alike.

Efficacy of periosteal scraping, new evidence in 2013 In 2013 the Equine Veterinary Journal published a paper by Dr Sarah Plevin and Dr Jonathan McLellan of Florida Equine Veterinary Associates in Ocala. The paper reviewed the efficacy of periosteal scraping in preventing bucked shins in juvenile thoroughbreds and included 85 yearlings on whom periosteal scraping was performed and a control group of 85 yearlings that were not treated.

The horses were monitored until June of their two-year-old years. All were trained by the same trainer at a single site, with training was unaffected by the study. The results showed a slight increase in the incidence of bucked shins in the control group in comparison to those that has been scraped.

The treated horses breezed greater cumulative miles before clinical incidence of bucked shins than those not treated, but periosteal scraping failed to prevent the disease in the long term. Plevin and McLellan concluded that the altered training regime described by Nunamaker remains the gold standard for reducing the occurrence of bucked shins, and more investigation into

prophylactic techniques such as periosteal scraping is warranted to establish effectiveness.

Conclusion As with most musculoskeletal injuries, an increased awareness and understanding of the physiologic requirements of bone's adaptation to modern training practices has led to the early detection of many stress-related injuries. Bucked shins are just a precursor to what could become a potentially deleterious breakdown in the microstructure of the cannon bone and also potentially other fatal stress injuries of other long bones such as the tibia and humerus.

Extensive research over has informed us of the mechanism by which bucked shins develop and highlighted the most effective training strategies in preventing their occurrence. The huge financial cost and the obvious welfare issues that the disease process encompass make it imperative that trainers and veterinarians work together in a bid to reduce the incidence of this condition.

The varied approaches to the syndrome in different parts of the world are in part driven by anecdotal reports of the apparent beneficial effects of such therapies. Veterinarians and trainers must capitalise on the work performed in researching this and other clinical syndromes of the thoroughbred and strive to make evidence-based decisions in their quest to improve the health and careers of our racehorses. n

SHIN TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:26 Page 6

Trainer on the Up issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:29 Page 1

Trainer on the up

PATRICK PRENDERGAST

P

ATRICK started training in 2002 and has gradually increased the quality of horse in the yard over the past number of years. In an extremely tough and competitive industry he constantly continues to turn out winners, and his strike rate of horses in the first three – 36% in 2012 and 34% in 2013 – is impressive in a very competitive country such as Ireland. He won the Sandown Classic Trial in 2013 with the Rick Barnes-owned Sugar Boy and runs an extremely professional and operational yard on the Curragh. Equine Products are constantly trying to make people aware of our products, which are of exceptional quality, and to promote and help trainers in different countries who use them. When we approached Philip Masterson of the TRI shop on the Curragh, who stocks the Equine Products range, and asked him who were the main users of our products, Patrick’s name was immediately put forward as he uses our product range and mainly Transvite power and paste which is our probiotic yielding exceptional results.

PHOTOS: HEALY RACING

Who has been your greatest influence as a trainer?

It is very hard to choose one as there have been a number of people that have been very good to me; my father (Paddy), his brother Kevin who is still training, and my uncle John Muldoon.

Outside of them, I worked as an assistant to Sir Michael Stoute (four years), Ed Dunlop, and I was pupil assistant to Jim Bolger and spent time with DK Weld. To me this was a fantastic introduction to my profession which gave me a great insight to the game. It is lovely that my father is

38 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

still involved with me here providing me with a second opinion on anything when needed.

What has been the most useful and advantageous piece of advice given to you with regards to training?

‘Jealously guard your reputation’ – I’d like to think that I have a reputation for being honest. I run a small yard and my reputation is everything to me.

If you can’t be honest with your owners you are at nothing.

What advice would you give to a trainer staring out on their own?

You have to lead by example at all times. First to the yard, last to finish and when all of that is done you must pay close attention to your accounts. I am very fortunate as I live at Melitta so there is nothing that I don’t know about my horses, but trainers must ensure that bills are paid. It is a business and you must run it like one.

If you could spend the day with any other trainer, who would it be?

That is a hypothetical question so the hypothetical answer would have to be Darkie (Prendergast). He was my grandfather who died when I was very young but his achievements were amazing he became the first Irish-based trainer to be crowned champion in Tonton Macoute wins the Saadiyat Handicap at the Curragh in May

Trainer on the Up issue 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:29 Page 2

England in 1963, a feat he repeated in 1964 and 1965. This is a truly brilliant achievement for someone who started out with very little.

What piece of training equipment could you not live without?

My mobile phone and Wi-Fi are invaluable and owners are kept up to date regardless of whether I have to tell them good or bad news.

What is the main quality in a horse you look for when buying?

The main qualities I like to see in a horse are scope and strength. You need a good physical constitution to work with.

Looking at genetic traits and temperament, who is your most reliable stallion at the moment?

It is hardly original, but the obvious answer is fill your yard full of Galileo’s.

Galileo is one of the highest ranked sires to date not only for winning three Gr1’s himself but having the likes of Frankel winning all of his 14 starts including 10 Gr1 races, who could refuse a yard full of his progeny!

What is your favourite racecourse?

That would have to be The Curragh, it is right on my doorstep and probably the best track in the world.

What is your proudest training achievement?

I trained Coral Wave to win both a group and a listed race at the Curragh

as a two-year-old. She was due to run in The Moyglare that season however the ground turned up too fast for her, so I persuaded her owner that we shouldn’t run and subsequently that call proved to be right.

She needed a dig in the ground and I felt she wouldn’t have let herself down that day had she ran. She developed into a high-class filly later that year which was a very satisfying result and within a month, she had won her two stakes races. Sugar Boy’s win in a very competitive Gr3 Derby trial at Sandown last year was also hugely satisfying.

Does technology feature in your training regime?

Yes, very much so. You never stop learning in this game so you have to keep up with everything that will give you an edge over your peers.

When I took over the yard I invested in a weighing scales and a walker.

We do our own blood tests and we also use heart monitors. Of course, we have the internet so no matter what part of the world my clients are in, I can keep in contact with them.

What do you do to go that extra mile with regards to your horses’ wellbeing?

I have a small yard and my father and I both live here, so between the two of us there is a 24-hour presence each day. I can detect a cough and a sneeze and I know if they are carrying a bug before the vet gets here. I also use a very good product called Transvite that I get here locally from TRI on the Curragh. I find it a terrific help with my horses digestive system. n

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 39

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 1

VETERINARY

HBLB Tendon and ligament research Equine injury prevention and management WORDS: PROFESSOR CElia M MaRR, EDitOR, EquinE VEtERinaRy JOuRnal, nEWMaRkEt, SuFFOlk, uk Main PHOtO: GEORGE SElWyn

40 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

A

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 2

TENDON AND LIGAMENT RESEARCH

A

ROUND 35% of the veterinary research and education budget is spent on projects to understand musculoskeletal disorders, improve their treatment, and prevent and minimise injury to racehorses. A slightly larger proportion of the budget is aimed at control and prevention of infectious disease.

The HBLB-funded research is targeted at racehorses but the new developments in treatment and prevention of injuries are often directly applicable to horses and ponies of all types.

Throughout the last 50 years, HBLB researchers have amassed a huge body of work aimed at understanding why tendons lose function, how injuries can be prevented, and the best way to treat and rehabilitate horses that suffer from tendon and ligament injuries.

From the gene to the jockey HBLB research on musculoskeletal disease and injury prevention extends all the way from the gene to the jockey, looking at every level between. It also encompasses cuttingedge laboratory work through to studies conducted on the racecourse and training grounds.

Tendon and ligament injuries

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) collects a statutory levy from the horseracing business of bookmakers, which it then distributes for the improvement of horseracing and breeds of horses and for the advancement of veterinary science and education. HBLB makes a substantial contribution to the UK’s total prize-money and supports racecourse integrity service. Did you know that the HBLB’s contribution to equine research is substantial, amounting to over £25 million in the last decade?

Trainers can probably all agree that tendon and ligament injuries are extremely common.

With HBLB funding, Dr Kristien Verheyen from the Royal Veterinary College set out to establish how frequently these injuries occur and set a benchmark against which future developments and interventions can be judged.

Tendon and ligament injuries represent the most common injury to UK National Hunt racehorses: they account for 46% of racecourse limb injuries and by studying over 1200 UK National Hunt horses and in total monitoring around 9,500 months of training records, Dr Verheyen found that on average, two of every 100 National Hunt racehorses sustain tendon or ligament injuries per month.

Which structure is most injury-prone?

There are two structures of particular interest; 11% of these National Hunt horses injured their suspenory ligaments but 89% sustained injury to the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT). This important weight-bearing structure runs down the back of the leg from a muscle above the knee to the pastern. It is composed of collagen fibres arranged in organised bundles rather like a rope. These

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 41

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 3

VETERINARY

A fascicle, or bundle of fibres, from a superficial digital flexor tendon; the scanning electron microscope shows that there is a helical structure which acts as a recoiling spring. Image courtesy of Professor Peter Clegg, University of Liverpool

fibres are embedded in tendon matrix, a complex of molecules that support the strength and elasticity of the tendon. The matrix also surrounds tenocytes, the cells critical to maintaining the health of the tendon. To function effectively, the tendon must not only be stretchy and strong thus able to sustain the massive load generated when the hoof hits the ground at full gallop, but it must also be elastic and able to recoil effectively to flex the limb. All three elements – the fibres, the matrix, and the tendon cells – have been studied by HBLB researchers to better understand how they work together and what happens at the molecular, cellular, and fibre levels that leads to tendon injury.

Why are tendons prone to injury and how can this be prevented?

Tendon injury is most likely influenced by both nature (in the form of the horse’s genetic makeup) and nurture (in the form of specific factors that it is exposed to during training such as speed, distance, and surface). If we can understand these factors, strategies to reduce the risk may follow and this has been an important underlying principle behind much of HBLB-funded research over the past five decades.

Dr Verheyen found that risk factors for tendon and ligament injury are increasing age, increasing race distance, and specific training

42 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Superficial digital flexor tendon injury typically causes a swelling in the midsection, seen best when the cannon region is viewed from the side. Photograph courtesy of Dr Debbie Guest, Animal Health Trust

Short axis (a) and long axis (b) ultrasound images. Ultrasound produces a slice type of image that can look into the internal structure of the tendon. The tendon injury creates a black area in the core of the tendon that is roughly circulated in short axis and can be seen disrupting the fibres of the tendon in long axis. Images courtesy of Professor Roger Smith, Royal Veterinary College

The classic bowed tendon, which extends the full length of the cannon region when it is severe. Photograph courtesy of Dr Kristien Verheyen, Royal Veterinary College

facility, but cumulative gallop distance and number of days spent in jump schooling did not affect the odds of injury. Interestingly there was no difference in incidence of tendon and ligament injury in horses that entered National Hunt racing after a career on the flat, compared to those that had been produced specifically for National Hunt.

Looking at exercise diaries for the 30 days prior to injury, Verheyen concluded that increasing accumulated race distance is associated with higher odds of winning a race but also increases odds of tendon and ligament injury. Galloping during training did not affect the odds of sustaining a tendon or ligament injury but did increase the odds of winning prize money.

Good and bad genes?

A very recent study, performed by Dr Lucinda Tully, also from the Royal Veterinary College, has shown that genetic makeup can contribute to the risk of superficial digital flexor tendon injury. Two specific genes were linked to tendon injury: one lowered the odds and the other increased the odds of a horse sustaining a SDFT injury. Much more research is needed to understand the role of these genes and the work also needs to be repeated in a much larger group of horses to confirm the results. Nevertheless this is a first step towards understanding how genetic factors

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 4

TENDON AND LIGAMENT RESEARCH interlinked with environmental factors can affect the likelihood of injury in individual horses.

Repeated microtrauma damages cells, matrix, and fibres Although the tendon injury may become detectable on one specific occasion – often during a races – tendon and ligament injuries are the result of cumulative degeneration with repeated cycles of loading and ongoing microtrauma affecting the fibre structure, the tendon cells, and the tendon matrix. Professor Janet Patterson-Kane at the University of Glasgow focuses on looking at how stiffness of the tendon matrix signals to the tendon cells to produce healthy fibres.

The incidence of SDFT injury increases with age. Professor Peter Clegg of the University of Liverpool has been researching the mechanisms that allow the tendon to extend and recoil rapidly and repeatedly during gallop to determine where within the tendon structure microdamage occurs, to establish how fatigue loading alters cell function, and look at age-related effects. The tendon fibres are organised into bundles called fascicles.

Sliding of these fascicles allows the tendon to extend, and the fascicles’ helical structure allows rotation and provides a recoiling spring action. Clegg has shown that as the tendon ages, the amount of rotation and recoil decreases. Repetitive loading damages cells within the tendon and causes matrix proteins to degenerate. Damage occurring between the collagen fibers increases sliding and weakens the tendon fibres, contributing to a more injury-prone structure.

Early diagnosis Injury to the SDFT is not necessarily associated with lameness except when it is very severe. The key clinical sign is swelling of the back of the forelimb, midway down the cannon bone. More severe injuries will cause swelling all down this area. The old name for tendon injury, the bowed tendon, relates to this classic appearance recognised by horsemen down the centuries.

Ultrasound is used to confirm injury, document its severity, and monitor healing.

On an ultrasound image, the normal SDFT is a uniform bright white oval shape in short axis (cross section) and is composed of densely packed linear echoes in long axis, reflecting bundles of fibres.

With acute injury, black holes appear within the tendon, as fibres are torn and the defect fills with blood clots and early inflammatory cells. As the tendon heals, it gradually fills in with brighter, denser tissue, and linear echoes reform.

But if microtrauma precedes full-blown injury, can we identify it and prevent the horse from developing career-limiting injury?

Answering that question was the focus of an

Stem cells can be collected by inserting a specialised needle into the sternum and withdrawing a small sample of bone marrow. Photograph courtesy of Professor Roger Smith, Royal Veterinary College

HBLB-funded project conducted by Dr Charlotte Avella, with guidance from a group of senior tendon researchers based at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Veterinary College. Dr Avella selected 148 horses from ten National Hunt yards and examined them at three-month intervals over two seasons. The overall prevalence of injury was 24%, and a third of these horses had injury in both forelimbs. But Dr Avella was not able to predict which horses would develop injury based on the ultrasound findings. Better ways of predicting injury are needed.

Developing novel and effective treatments for tendon injury SDFT injury is a recurrent problem. Once a tendon has been injured, it is much more likely to happen again because scar tissue forms within the injury site. This scar tissue is weaker than healthy tendon and tends to be damaged again when training resumes.

Regenerative medicine is the "process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function." Stem cell therapy is an important component of regenerative medicine; stem cells currently in use are undifferentiated or

Stem cells are injected into an area of damaged tendon, using ultrasound to identify the injury site. Photograph courtesy of Professor Roger Smith, Royal Veterinary College

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 43

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 5

VETERINARY multipurpose cells that have the capacity to change into many of the tissues that make up the mammalian body. They can be found in embryos but also in various adult tissues, such as bone marrow.

In horses, stem cells can be collected from bone marrow, processed in the laboratory, and injected into tendons to allow healthy tissue to regenerate where scar tissue might have otherwise formed. Professor Roger Smith of the Royal Veterinary College has shown that in National Hunt racehorses with SDFT injury, stem cell therapy reduced the re-injury rate to around 26% whereas in previous studies of similar horses treated in more conventional ways, it was 50-55%.

An important limitation in this approach is that very small numbers of stem cells are harvested in this way. Stem cells can also be collected from the umbilical cord at the time of birth, with no harm to the foal. These cells are known as “embryonic” cells.

HBLB funding has enabled Dr Debbie Guest of the Animal Health Trust to study embryonic stem cells as an alternative treatment. The benefit is that this would avoid the need to collect the stem cells from the affected horse after the injury, which delays the onset of treatment. Embryonic stem cells could be prepared ready for use as an “off-theshelf” product.

Dr Guest showed that the embryonic cells were able to migrate to other injury sites in the tendon whereas adult stem cells stayed near to the injection site. Embryonic cells were not rejected when injected into horses unrelated to the foal from which they were derived, an important feature if products designed for use in any horse are to be developed.

Pluripotent stem cells – a scientific breakthrough If multipotent cells are useful, pluripotent

might be even better. The term pluripotent defines stem cells that are able to self-renew indefinitely and give risk to virtually all cell types in the body. Best of all would be if pluripotent cells could be generated from easily obtainable adult cells like skin cells.

Although researchers have been trying for almost 20 years, until recently this amazing biological feat had only been achieved in human and mouse cells.

In March 2014, with HBLB funding, Dr Xavier Donadeu at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh reported that he had generated equine plurIpotent stem cells from adult horse skin cells. This represents a major scientific breakthrough that not only offers a route to new treatments for tendon injury but also may lead to cures for previously untreatable conditions like motor neuron disease or grass sickness.

Don’t forget the jockey!

While much of HBLB’s musculoskeletal research focuses on horse molecules, genes, cells, and tissues, the impact of the jockey deserves some attention. The additional mass of a rider increases energetic cost of locomotion, and jockeys potentially improve stability during galloping and reduce the risk of injury.

In collaboration with the British Racing School, Dr Thomas Witte from the Royal Veterinary College is comparing riding styles between experienced and inexperienced jockeys, using force transducers in the stirrups and combined inertial and GPS technology on the jockey. Dr Witte’s preliminary work has confirmed that deviations in “horse-rider harmony,” or synchronicity of jockey movement relative to the horse, can have a significant impact on performance.

While the underlying concept may not seem novel to trainers, this is the first serious attempt to introduce science to the training of riders. It is only by quantifying jockeyracehorse biomechanical interactions that the effects of interventions can be documented and refined.

The future?

Research in action: a jockey is instrumented to study the effects of riding technique on horse biomechanics. Photograph courtesy of Dr Tom Witte, Royal Veterinary College

44 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Tendon and ligament injury remains a major challenge for racehorse trainers and vets, but collectively the wide range in HBLB funded research in this area has identified factors that lead to injury; provided an indepth understanding of the molecular, cellular, and biomechanical events in the tendon; and produced novel approaches to treatment available now and with huge future potential.

The work is not finished – who knows what the next decade of research will take us?

Because of HBLB support, scientists in veterinary institutes and universities across the UK lead the field internationally in this important area of research. n

TENDONS TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:40 Page 6

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 45

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:06 Page 1

BEST IN SHOW

46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:07 Page 2

Is the popularity of youngstock shows growing across Europe?

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 47

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:07 Page 3

RACING

With the National Hunt market becoming ever more competitive and commercial, France have led the way with a concept to promote one of their most successful breeds, the Autre Que Pur Sang (AQPS) racehorse. Isn’t it about time other countries followed suit and tried something new?

WORDS: SUZY CROSSMAN PHOTOS: FRBC, TBA, CAROLINE NORRIS

48 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

A

QPS was only recognised as a breed in 2005, but long before then, the official association developed an idea that has continued to grow year on year: the AQPS Show.

This is a chance for breeders and purchasers to view France’s finest foals and two-year-olds, a unique opportunity to showcase the top AQPS youngstock and broodmares in an atmosphere more akin to a social occasion then the high pressured sales we are more used too.

Lunch is often taken sitting under the shade of the trees and the conversation is about the latest trend in stallions, the appreciation of the quality of specimens being put forward, and the enjoyment that comes with being surrounded by like-minded AQPS fans.

Michel de Gigou founded the AQPS Stud Book. De Gigou insisted that the shows could help promote the breed internationally, his view being that if the breeders left their farms and showed their horses to a greater audience, the breed would grow.

From its origins at Chateaubriant the regional show moved to the prestigious Le Lion d’Angers Racecourse and now attracts over 80 foals and two-year-olds with the exception of yearlings. The current president of the West AQPS Association, Yann Poirier, considers that yearlings do not do themselves justice at this age.

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:07 Page 4

AQPS

With two key regional centres of AQPS breeding in France, one in Central-East, and one in the West, it made sense that two championships for these shows are held, one in Decize at the end of August and one at Le Lion d’Angers in the middle of September. The pre-selection shows start in early June with only the finest being put through. From small beginnings these shows now attract visitors from all over Europe and are judged by respected members of the racing community.

“The AQPS horses are accepted as being good or in many cases some believe a better jumping racehorse than a thoroughbred” James Ewart James Ewart is one such individual who has firsthand experience of judging the finest that the AQPS breed have to offer. Ewart believes that the AQPS Association have developed a model that other countries may wish to follow.

He says, “The advantages are massively abundant first of all economically – getting people to showcase their wares as soon as possible, creating a platform in terms of early

Two-mile Champion chaser Sprinter Sacre was the foal winner at the 2006 FRBC-run show

sales and exposure thus reducing the financial burden of the breeder.

“The AQPS Stud Book in France was, when I first worked there in 1999, very niche but has now expanded considerably. The AQPS horses are accepted as being good or in many cases some believe a better jumping racehorse than a thoroughbred with the successes in this country now also speaking for themselves.

“But apart from the showcase it allows a framework and structure for like-minded breeders to meet and compare notes/their products creating a competitive breeding and sales environment. This system surely improves

the overall quality of the end product and creates a network of socially connected people who can discuss results of sires/fashions in the sales rings and progeny and mating plans for their mares past, present, and future to help elevate the value of their end product. All of these values could be applied to the UK and Ireland regardless of the lack of an AQPS stud book.”

In the UK the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (TBA) have taken note of what the French have done with success, and they held their inaugural Foal Show at Bangor Racecourse last year.

With Bangor being a central point for the

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 49

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:07 Page 5

RACING Reigning champion two-mile chaser Sire De Grugy is an AQPS

majority of National Hunt Studs, the first show was an outstanding success and garnered much interest. Louise Kemble, chief executive of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, is behind the ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ Foal Show to be held in July at Bangor once again. “The inaugural TBA NH Foal Show was very well received and attracted a quality entry. This year we aim to consolidate on the success of the first year and grow the number of entries, whilst retaining

50 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

the quality,” says Kemble. “It will be some years before the British National Hunt Foal Show offers the complete package that French breeders have come to enjoy for their own regional shows, but there is a great deal of goodwill and support out there and our members have been very complimentary.”

The French Racing and Breeding Committee (FRBC) are instrumental in the promotion of these shows in France as they believe it is a key

opportunity to witness the next generation of jumpers. Sprinter Sacre was the foal winner in 2006 and Sous les Cieux was top two-year-old, beating out Silviniaco Conti, in 2008.

FRBC invites prospective purchasers to shows in Decize and Le Lion d’Angers in late summer, giving visitors the opportunity to view studs and training centres along with the more social activities of sampling the local food and wine.

They hope that by providing accommodation, transfers from Paris, and refreshment, overseas visitors will become more familiar with the breed and develop a network of business connections that can only widen the support of these racehorses. Hopefully these visitors will find their next stable star. It is commonplace to see the likes of Tom George, Willie Mullins, Anthony Bromley, Lucinda Russell, and John Edwards, who are all keen supporters.

The UK seem to be the only other country following in France’s footsteps. Germany deem their late developing breed – due to late weaning – as the reason that such shows would not be a success. During the October sales in Iffezheim, close to Baden-Baden, between 15 and 30 foals are sold but this market does not produce much interest, with clients choosing instead to approach the studs in Germany and purchase privately. German horses are typically bred to be successful at three years of age, so they feel there is not the demand for the younger stock.

With a star-studded lineup including Quevega, Sire de Grugy, and Kauto Star in the AQPS winner’s enclosure, these shows have certainly proved that good horses can be found. n

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 46 AQPS_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:07 Page 6

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 1

TRAINING

Do horses smell fear?

Racehorses are athletes performing at the peak of their physical capabilities, with their strength and fitness carefully monitored and researched. However less consideration is given to the psychological factors that may affect their performance, with fear being a major influence.

WORDS: JUSTINE HARRISON PHOTOS: CAROlINE NORRIS, FRANk NOlTINg, ANNE-ARmEllE lANglOIS

T

HE thoroughbred has a reputation for being nervous and easily frightened.

Fear is an exceptionally powerful emotion, essential for the horse that has evolved over millions of years as a prey animal, but as far as the horse-human relationship is concerned, a frightened horse is often a dangerous horse and therefore generally undesirable.

Behavioural issues seen in racehorses are often fear-related. Aggression, reluctance to go forward, or refusal to load may be mistakenly perceived as the horse being difficult, stubborn, or simply disobedient, when in fact it can be a direct consequence of fear.

What is fear?

In general terms, fear is an unconscious emotional response that alerts the body to avoid anything perceived to be potentially dangerous or painful. It is a hard-wired function of the nervous system designed to help an animal survive. When horses sense something they perceive as threatening, physiological changes occur in their body to prepare them for immediate action, also known as the ‘fight or flight’ response.

More specifically, fear is the feeling of being frightened in the presence of a trigger for that fear – perhaps a particular object, person, or sound. Fear could certainly be described as having different intensities, ranging from mild apprehension to terror.

Another aspect of fear is anxiety – the nervous anticipation of something that may happen in future, based on the memory of a previous fearful experience. A horse may

52 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

become anxious on seeing the horsebox after having had a difficult journey the last time they were transported. He has associated the horsebox with the traumatic experience and are anticipating something similar will happen again.

Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux has researched fear and memory in animals. He found that fear differs from other emotions as the memories are permanent. Even one bad experience can profoundly change a horse’s behaviour. Once frightened, a horse will be reluctant to try again. First impressions really do count.

Fear responses The horse’s primary reaction to danger is flight.

If startled, his immediate response is usually to escape to a safe distance from the perceived threat. This distance will vary depending on the experience of the horse and the severity of the situation, and could be as little as a few metres or as much as a kilometre.

But if fleeing isn't a possibility then other

“Intense fear is easier to recognise: nostrils flare, the whites of the eyes are visible, eyes roll, ears are laid back, the tail may be clamped down, and muscles can tremble”

behavioural reactions can occur. The horse may freeze, a response regularly attributed to him being stubborn or lazy. Or if cornered without an escape route a horse may choose to confront his fear and fight, but this is a last resort and unusual unless in extreme circumstances.

A frightened horse may also perform a ‘displacement’ behaviour. This is a normal behaviour occurring in an inappropriate context – he may yawn, paw the ground, play with the leadrope or bit, stick his tongue out, or shake his head if he is anxious and unable to escape the situation.

A horse yawning repeatedly while tied up to be shod may not be tired, but instead fearful about what is happening. As he is restrained and therefore unable to use his flight response, he performs an alternative behaviour to satisfy his drive to move. This displacement behaviour will reduce his stress in the moment and provide some relief from his anxiety.

Body language From an evolutionary perspective, prey animals need to convey alarm signals silently to others, or they risk alerting a predator to their presence and ending up as someone’s lunch. As a result, equine body language is extremely sophisticated and a horse’s posture, facial expressions, and behaviour are a complex means of communication.

Signs of anxiety can be difficult to identify in some horses because some warning signs are very subtle. The shape of the eye changes from being relaxed, soft, and round to having a clear, triangulated upper eyebrow with wrinkles above the eye. Tension in the face, a tucked chin, tight lips, the mouth clamped shut, and a

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 2

THE FEAR FACTOR

stiff body posture are also indicators of anxiety.

The heart rate will rise and breathing will become more rapid.

Intense fear is easier to recognise: nostrils flare, the whites of the eyes are visible, eyes roll, ears are laid back, the tail may be clamped down, and muscles can tremble.

The horse’s behaviour will also change and it will move more stiffly as it becomes anxious.

Jogging, spooking excessively, refusing to stand still, sweating, head tossing, tail swishing, snatching at the bit, or teeth grinding may all indicate fear. All of these fear indicators are regularly seen in the parade ring prior to a race.

Of course, bolting is the most extreme form of fear and horses may rear or buck in an attempt to get away from their handler or rider.

Nature vs nurture How much of a horse’s fear response is innate and how much is a result of environment, training, and experience?

This is a complex subject. One of the least studied areas of equine science is the heritability of behavioural traits. Horses are all

individual and what frightens one horse may not affect another. However, breeders do recognise that genetics plays an important role in a horse’s temperament and that certain personality traits may be passed down in specific breeds or bloodlines.

A French study looked at the influence of different genetic and environmental factors on personality traits in over 700 horses. The researchers found that genetic factors, such as the sire or breed, appeared to influence neophobic reactions (fear of something new), while management influenced the horses’s learning abilities or reactions to social separation.

Despite there being little scientific research on inherited behaviour patterns in horses, we can extrapolate from studies with other species.

A recent study in mice has shown that specific fears experienced by parents and grandparents in their lifetime can be inherited by their offspring. Mice were taught to associate the scent of orange blossom with a shock. When their children and grandchildren were presented with the scent, they exhibited a

startle response indicating fear, even though they had never encountered the smell before.

On an evolutionary level this makes sense: inheriting information from your parents’s experiences could be essential for survival. This is groundbreaking evidence and has important implications when considering which behavioural traits may be inherited when breeding horses.

The management of youngsters will also affect their subsequent behaviour as adults. If a dam is stressed while in foal this may affect the foetus, resulting in nervous offspring. If a foal is weaned abruptly or too early they will be more susceptible to separation anxiety and may also be fearful of humans.

Youngsters who are unable to interact and socialise normally with others will often be frightened of other horses, even to the point of becoming aggressive. Under-socialised horses are often more fearful of people, difficult to handle, and slower to learn than those raised with other horses.

A recent Polish study investigated the effects of transporting young Arab and thoroughbred

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 53

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 3

TRAINING racehorses to a new environment. Their heart rates were measured during routine tasks including grooming and when at rest, first in their home environment and then again three days after being moved to an unfamiliar training centre. The thoroughbreds all had higher heart rates than the Arab horses in the new environment, but they were also significantly higher when groomed. The researchers suggested young racehorses should not be groomed just prior to training, as this could raise their emotional arousal.

Harsh or coercive training methods will make horses fearful of trainers and their environment. Many horses have an understandable fear of whips, and even the sight of a whip in its environment can dramatically alter a horse’s behaviour.

Professor Paul McGreevy and his colleagues at Sydney University in Australia studied the use and misuse of the whip in racing. He states, “In evolutionary terms, the event closest to a whip strike would surely have been the moment a predator’s teeth or claws made contact with the fleeing horse’s hide. I believe that today’s horses are hard-wired to associate that unpleasant event with pure fear. When running away – the horse’s best hope of escape – doesn’t get rid of the aversive stimulus, the fear must only deepen and start to approach terror.”

Are horses affected by anxious people?

A number of studies have shown that horses are affected by the emotional state of the people around them. A study looking at 53 different pairings of horses and riders at an international dressage and show jumping competition found that horses can sense when a rider is anxious, and as a result can become

54 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

anxious themselves.

The riders were intentionally made anxious by being told falsely that their horse would be squirted with a water gun while they were riding. Although the horses were never actually squirted with water, the researchers found that the heart rates of both riders and horses were higher than they were when measured in a relaxed situation. Of course the horses in this situation had no reason to be nervous, yet they were clearly affected by the nerves of the rider.

The fallout It is natural for a horse to experience fear in dangerous situations, but excessive or prolonged fear can lead to a range of problems

for the horse and as a consequence for its owner, trainer, jockey, and groom.

A frightened horse can be dangerous in the moment because his focus will be on the feared stimulus, often to the point that he ignores everything else. As a result he may not follow jockey or handler instructions; his previous training can be temporarily forgotten and he will be at risk of injuring himself or anyone nearby.

A fearful horse is a tense horse, so physical performance may be impaired. Learning capacity is also reduced. Attempting to train an anxious horse can be a slow and inefficient process, and the horse may associate the training, environment, and people involved with the fear experienced.

Canadian equine behaviour consultant Lauren Fraser says: “If you are trying to do something with – or to – your horse that he finds unfamiliar, aversive, unpleasant, or scary he may indeed try to escape the situation.

If a horse is trying to flee a training situation, fight against the trainer, or freezes, it is a good indicator that training is happening too quickly, with too much physical or mental pressure for the horse. If this happens, slow down, back off, and change your approach. Lessons learned in fear are not the ones you want to stick. Compliant horses aren't necessarily confident horses – they are often just doing what they're told, because they've learned that any resistance is futile, painful, or scary.”

Fear wastes energy that could be better utilised in physical performance. In

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 4

THE FEAR FACTOR

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 55

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 5

TRAINING enrichment aids the treatment of numerous behavioural problems including excessive fear responses, whereas a lack of mental stimulation may actually increase fear behaviours and impair cognitive development. Having another relaxed, experienced horse present in a difficult situation can also calm a stressed horse significantly.

Horses must be gradually introduced to new experiences and not suddenly confronted with them. They would naturally learn that a novel stimulus is nothing to worry about via ‘habituation’ - simply getting used to it over time. This is a gradual process and as long as he is not frightened at any stage, the horse learns a stimulus is safe with repeated presentations. If, however, the horse starts to become more fearful of the stimulus, he may have become ‘sensitised’ - more frightened of the stimulus than on first presentation.

Horses may fail to perform well on race day because of the difference between the training and racecourse environments. Training the horse to habituate to what he will encounter in the race environment is vital. The

“Punishment is the wrong approach and will only increase the horse’s fear.

When forced to confront something it finds frightening the horse may become so stressed that it simply gives up” racing conditions, heightened emotional arousal is essential, but this state cannot be maintained for long and could impact on the horse’s ability to go the distance.

Fear is a very strong stressor, and repeated or prolonged stress can be extremely detrimental to a horse’s health. A number of hormones such as cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’, are released to help cope with stress. Chronic stress and the subsequent long-term release of cortisol has been implicated in many conditions, including reduced growth and reproductive capability, immunosuppression, laminitis, Cushing’s disease, a range of skin conditions, and the increased risk of gastric ulceration and colic.

Managing the fearful horse Fear can be a major problem with racehorses at home and at the track, but if you recognise the signs early then problems can be prevented from escalating.

Fear can successfully be managed and horses can learn to overcome their fears with training techniques and changes in day-to-day management, although memories of traumatic

56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

experiences will not be completely erased.

Therefore training should ensure that trauma is avoided.

Most cases can be very successfully resolved by the use of systematic desensitisation and counter-conditioning - behavioural techniques originally developed within human behaviour therapy. These processes work with the body’s physiological and psychological responses to reduce fear long term.

At all costs coercing the horse is to be avoided. Punishment is the wrong approach and will only increase the horse’s fear. When forced to confront something he finds frightening the horse may become so stressed that it simply gives up. Some trainers promote these techniques thinking they have solved the problem as the horse appears to be relaxed, when in fact the horse’s behaviour has been suppressed and the animal has entered a state of ‘learned helplessness.’ The horse may then go on to develop a conditioned fear of the trainer or training environment, and perform other stress behaviours.

Research has found that environmental

racecourse itself is an overwhelming environment. Proximity to strange horses and people, crowds, noise, flags, banners, and loudspeakers is a sensory bombardment with which even the most experienced horse may struggle to cope. Fear of this situation could be reduced by preparing the horse to deal with each stimulus systemically in a more relaxed environment. It will be difficult to deal with a fearful horse in the race environment, so preparation must be done at home.

Conclusion It is normal for a horse to experience fear in dangerous situations. The individual horse’s response to fear will depend on his genetic makeup, as well as weaning, management, training, and environment. Excessive or prolonged fear can cause a range of problems in training, handling, health and racing performance, but by taking steps to minimise the fear we can improve their health, reduce safety risks, and potentially produce better racehorses. n

FEAR TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:05 Page 6

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 57

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 1

TRAINING

58 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 2

YOGI BREISNER

YOGI BREISNER Taking racehorses back to school For anyone involved in the sport horse world, the name Yogi Breisner carries with it not just familiarity but the hallmark of excellence. The national coach and performance manager of the Great British three-day eventing team is not unknown in racing circles either, though his behind-the-scenes work in this field is not always widely recognised.

F

WORDS: EMMA BERRY PHOTOS: CAROlinE nORRiS, MATTHEW WEBB

OR National Hunt trainers, Breisner performs a vital supporting role in aiding recalcitrant jumpers and schooling young horses as they learn to cope with poles, show jumps, and eventually hurdles and steeplechase fences. And, as a former top-class rider and member of Sweden’s gold medal-winning eventing team, he is also perfectly placed to coach the two-legged members of the jumping community.“ When I first came to Britain I was based with [show jumping and eventing coach] Lars Sederholm at Waterstock House and he had some racehorses come in from trainers, mainly from Captain [Tim] Forster and the odd one from Nick Gaselee. I got stuck in and rode them,” says Breisner, who joined his compatriot in Oxfordshire in 1978.

“I was always interested in racing. I rode a bit as an amateur in Sweden and when I lived in Ireland I rode in the odd point-to-point – but I wasn’t terribly glamorous or successful!”

Success, however, did come his way on the international three-day eventing circuit, and his skills honed in the top competitions around the world, including the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, have informed a thriving secondary career as coach and advisor for both horses and jockeys. One trainer to have had a long-term association with Breisner is Henrietta Knight, who is famed for her approach of preparing

racehorses thoroughly, not just on the gallops but also in the school.

“Back in the early ’90s when Henrietta Knight trained point-to-pointers, I used to help her with them and when she took out the licence I got more involved and started to help a few more trainers around the Lambourn area,” recalls Breisner, who is now called upon by the likes of Nicky Henderson, Kim Bailey, Venetia Williams, and Jennie Candlish.

“They either send me horses or I go to see them on a one-off basis. Where I come in from a racing point of view is that I can take the experience of the jumping technique in the

“It’s worth pointing out that the National Hunt trainers have a very good way of training their horses and getting them to jump very well” event horses – the variety of the type of fences you jump – and use that to assist the racehorses in the development of their jumping technique.”

The coach is unequivocal in his praise of the standard of racehorse training in Britain and

Ireland and is keen to portray himself, modestly, as a support worker.

He says: “It’s worth pointing out that the National Hunt trainers have a very good way of training their horses and getting them to jump very well. Lots of them have a large number of horses and because of the time pressure they are under, with training in the morning and racing in the afternoon, when there is a horse who might need a little bit more time that’s often when I come in.

“I’m not necessarily the expert who is going to do the job better than the trainers but I have the time to do it. If I need to spend an hour or more training a horse to jump, I can do it but the professionalism of the training here and in Ireland is really high.”

The helping hand can be given at the trainer’s stables, while those horses needing a more intensive schooling period can be stabled at the Berkshire yard used by eventers Chris King and Laura Collett, the latter now being the regular rider of Kauto Star.

“The yard I use near Lambourn is run by two event riders and more often than not Chris will ride the racehorses. Because of my job and travelling around it doesn’t suit me to have my own place but I know that when a horse comes in Chris and Laura will take extremely good care of them.

“The basics are the same between eventing and racing. In racing you have much more forgiving fences but the horses are travelling

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 59

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 3

TRAINING

much faster, whereas in eventing you can take your time with the jumping and make up the time when galloping across country between the fences. But the balance and the rhythm are the same and the basic principles aren’t that much different.”

Breisner is not trying to reinvent the wheel when schooling young racehorses, adopting the traditional method of poles on the floor of a school followed by gradual progression to easily adjustable show jumps with fillers before flights of hurdles are tackled. What he returns to repeatedly in outlining his approach is the issue of confidence.

“In jumping, horses need to learn the language first and the grammar second,” he explains. “The first thing a young horse should learn is to go from A to B and to jump a fence that is in his way. I like to start off in trot because if a horse can come into a fence in a confident

and balanced way in trot and drop their head and neck, play with their feet in front of the fence and pop over the fence, it’s a development of the natural instinct, which is looking, adjusting, and jumping the fence.

“Then you can start cantering down to a little fence, and I would then bring in fillers so that a horse gets used to seeing different colours and fences. Only after that would I bring in hurdles, which would be in a school first of all because they are in an enclosed area where there are fewer distractions for a horse. By having show jumps you can put them up and down and if a horse makes a mistake and it worries him you can take them back down again to build up his confidence.”

Only once these basics have been mastered in the confines of a school would Breisner’s pupils progress to jumping hurdles and fences on open gallops or in company.

Yogi working with Dominic Elsworth at Henrietta Knight’s yard

60 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

He says: “I’m not that keen on sticking horses in behind to give them a lead straight away. I think it’s very important for a young horse to learn to face up to an obstacle and then go and jump it on his own and to build up confidence from the start. I always want it to be a happy experience for the horse – if they enjoy jumping and it’s part of having a great life then when they come on the racetrack it’s so much easier.

“Once they are enjoying it I would introduce other horses around them, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, sometimes alongside, so they get used to the different scenarios they might experience in a race. It’s very important that horses have jumped hurdles at a racing speed before they go into a race. Like most things in life, if you can’t do it slowly, you can’t do it fast.”

Breisner believes that horses come in three categories when it comes to jumping: the naturally gifted horses, the bad jumpers whose poor coordination leaves little hope for improvement, and those in between.

“The majority of horses sit in the middle category – they have a certain amount of natural ability and if you use that natural ability and work with it and develop it, you can make them better and better,” he says. “It’s amazing what you can do in a week to ten days. Horses have fairly intensive schooling when then come to me. They would jump nearly every day, sometimes two or three times a day.

“To begin with I was called in more for horses who didn't jump very well. Then gradually trainers also brought horses to me to teach them to jump. Sometimes they come straight from the sales or from a flat racing yard and spend a week or two with me. Sometimes it can be a hurdler that they want to go chasing and he

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 4

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 61

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 5

TRAINING comes to me to take it to the next step.”

Of course, horseracing always involves a partnership, that important dynamic between horse and rider, meaning Bresiner’s attention is never solely on his four-legged charges.

“It’s a very simple equation in that the rider’s responsibility is to allow the horse to use his natural ability to its maximum,” he declares. “As soon as you put weight on a horse it slows them down – the mere fact that you put a jockey on a horse’s back means that his ability is slightly diminished. Having said that, a horse in its normal environment wouldn’t naturally go out to run as fast as he’s able to run, unless he’s under threat. That’s where the rider comes in, because the rider will encourage him to go as fast as he can.”

Along with his responsibility for the coaching development programme for the British Equestrian Federation, Breisner has also been involved with the jockey coaching programme set up by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), which has recently been handed over to the British Racing School and currently has 112 young apprentices and conditional jockeys on its books, each assigned to one of its 20 coaches.

His appreciation of modern-day jump jockeys in particular is obvious as he selects a few of his favourites of the last few decades.

“Having been involved in a more serious way in National Hunt racing since the late 1980s, I would say over that period of time we have seen some outstanding jockeys. I can just about remember Fred Winter, and then John Francome, I think, changed the whole aspect of race-riding because he came from a show jumping background and used a lot of what he had learned from that in his raceriding.

“I think it’s very important for a young horse to learn to face up to an obstacle and then go and jump it on his own and to build up confidence from the start” “He acquired a finesse which was then taken forward by other jockeys like Richard Dunwoody and Adrian Maguire. At the same time you had people like Peter Scudamore and Steve Smith-Eccles, then AP McCoy, who took jockeyship to a completely new level.”

He continues: “I’m extremely privileged in

that I have my interest and work with eventing and the opportunity to work with some of the best event riders in the world, some unbelievably skilful horsemen. Then there’s my work in racing which includes doing the licencing courses at the British Racing School and working with all the young jump jockeys coming through. It’s great fun and I love every minute of it.”

Breisner’s association with Kim Bailey stretches back to the days of the trainer’s famous Champion Hurdle/Cheltenham Gold Cup double with Alderbrook and Master Oats, and he has played his part in the career of another more recent Gold Cup hero, Long Run, who is also a dual King George VI Chase winner and holds a special place in Breisner’s heart.

“Having worked with both Sam [WaleyCohen] and Long Run, what the horse achieved over the years gave me a lot of pleasure. Way back it was also great fun and a real privilege to work with both Master Oats and Alderbrook, and at that same Cheltenham meeting there were two other horses I’d done a lot of work with who also won, so it felt really good to have contributed,” he reflects.

“It’s not always about the big success stories though. Other times a horse might not even win a race but if he’s come to me with bad form figures and then goes on to complete his races that can be satisfying too.”

Most important of all, Breisner believes, is communication.

“To me it is teamwork – I get information from the trainer and jockey then do my bit and feed back information to them.”

One thing’s for certain: whether in the eventing or the racing world, it can never hurt to have Yogi Breisner on your team. n

Breisner worked with Long Run and and his rider Sam Waley-Cohen, seen here winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup over Denman and Kauto Star 62 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

EUROPEAN TRAINER ISSUE 45 YOGI_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:04 Page 6

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 63

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 1

VETERINARY

INFLUENZA Are we protecting our horses effectively?

The devastating flu outbreak that rampaged through the Australian horse population in 2007 was an important wake-up call reminding us that the equine influenza virus is an ever-present threat. In Europe and America, the economic losses and welfare impact of flu are minimised by vaccination, but still occasional outbreaks continue to occur.

WORDS: PROFESSOR CElia M MaRR, EDitOR, EquinE VEtERinaRy JOuRnal, nEWMaRkEt, SuFFOlk, uk PHOtOS: SHuttERStOCk, CaROlinE nORRiS, PROFESSOR CElia M MaRR

How do the flu vaccines work?

Vaccination stimulates the horse’s immune system to produce antibodies. These equine proteins recognise antigens, specific proteins on the surface of the virus. The antibody and antigen fit together, rather like a lock and key,

to prevent the virus from entering the cells in the horse’s respiratory tract.

Not only do these antibodies persist in the horse but the vaccine also stimulates an immunological memory. When the vaccinated horse meets the flu virus again, the immune

Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ) recently published a series of articles focussing on equine influenza offering views from virologists, drug regulators, sporting authorities and the animal health industry. In addition, flu researchers from the Irish Equine Centre in Kildare have shared important insights from their work on flu control in two recent research articles published in EVJ.

system recognises the antigens as similar to the vaccine and quickly mounts a protective response to attack the invading virus.

Virus strains Flu virus strains are named after two antigens on their surface, haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase. HA is responsible for entry into equine cells lining the respiratory tract while the neuraminidase is involved in virus replication. The equine flu viruses all belong to the H3N8 family. Humans are affected by flu viruses of other strains, but equine influenza poses no threat. Groups of viruses of closely related strains are called Clades and currently there are two Clades of equine influenza viruses circulating globally.

Constant evasive action by the flu virus

The flu vaccine stimulates the horse to produce antibodies that recognise the haemagglutinin proteins on the virus surface, represented here in green. These proteins are important for the process by which the virus gains entry to the horse’s cells. Antibodies against HA prevent the virus attaching to the respiratory tract and protect against infection. As the HA proteins mutate, they are less easily recognised by antibodies produced in response to outdated vaccines and vaccines containing old virus strains becomes less effective. (Diagram from Professor Paul Digard, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, EVJ DOI: 10.1111/evj.12148) 64 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Equine flu vaccines are all targeted at the HA protein. But the flu virus is smart, and through a process called antigenic drift, it is continuously mutating and changing the genes that code for the HA antigenic site. As these changes occur, the vaccine becomes ever less effective.

What’s the point in vaccination?

Flu causes nasal discharge, coughing, and fever. Vaccination can reduce the prevalence, severity and duration of these signs.

(Photo courtesey of Richard Payne, Rossdales Equine Hospital, Newmarket)

When an unvaccinated horse is infected with flu, first the virus invades the nasal passages and at this early stage, the horse begins to shed large amounts of virus and is highly contagious to other horses. Then, the horse develops clinical signs such as coughing, nasal discharge, and fever.

An EVJ study from French researcher Dr

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 2

INFLUENZA

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 65

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 3

VETERINARY LoĂŻc J Legrand showed that horses that had been vaccinated had lower incidences of fever and coughing when they did become infected by flu compared to unvaccinated horses in the same outbreak. This highlights a very important point: It is not realistic to expect vaccination to protect every single horse from ever becoming infected. Rather, the goal is that by vaccinating groups of horses, individual and herd immunity is boosted so that when horses do encounter the flu virus, they shed less virus (and thus are less contagious to others), clinical signs are less severe, and equestrian events are not at risk of cancellation due to influenza.

Management and environmental factors involved in flu outbreaks

Teasers come into direct contact with many mares and can easily spread the flu virus

The pattern of clinical signs seen in one Irish training yard affected by flu. The coloured boxes show where the horses developed clinical signs. In white boxes, the horses remained healthy although some either shed virus (denoted by suprascript 1 and 3) or mounted an antibody response to the virus (denoted by suprascript 2 and 3). Although the virus spread throughout the yard, there were clusters. Overall, the vaccination status of this group was high, with over 89% of horses having up to date vaccination records. The first case, which had not been vaccinated for 15 months, is indicated by the turquoise box. Horses that developed signs on Day 3 are indicated by purple boxes, Day 7 red, Day 8 yellow, Day 9 orange, Day 10 pink, Day 11 blue, and Day 19 green. The number in brackets indicates months since previous vaccination; U indicates those with unknown vaccination records. Recent vaccination helped minimise the effects of the virus: two of three horses that had not been vaccinated for more than 12 months showed clinical signs compared to 13 of 49 of those vaccinated within the last seven months. Of the four horses with unknown vaccination history, one showed signs, and two more mounted an immune response. E indicates empty boxes. (Diagram from Gildea et al, EVJ, DOI: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.2010.00333.x)

66 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

As part of a PhD project, Sarah Gildea from the Irish Equine Centre performed a major review of flu outbreaks on 28 premises across Ireland from 2007 to 2010 with the aim of identifying risk factors and improving control strategies.

Detailed investigations were conducted on 16 of these premises, and on 15 premises, flu came after the movement of horses. The only farm that did not have recent horse movement was immediately adjacent to another infected property.

The key risk factors for spread within premises were: l Housing type: the proportion of horses affected on a property ranged from 50% in horses at pasture, 54% in groups kept in individual stables, and 94% in groups kept in barns. l Teaser stallions: on stud farms, these are individuals that have close nose-to-nose contact with the largest numbers of mares, and therefore, if they do develop flu they are particularly likely to spread it. l Fomites and personnel: Dr Gildea was able to show that on two premises horses that had no direct contact with others became infected. This suggests that fomites such as stable equipment or even stable staff might play a role in spreading infection.

None of these premises had fully-up-to-date vaccination status in 100% of their horses, but in the most well-vaccinated yard 89% of the horses had had recent boosters. Vaccination status, number of years of vaccination, time since last vaccination, and age influenced the clinical signs, with younger horses being more likely to be clinically affected.

Gildea’s recommendations aimed at stopping spread on a premises are: l Isolation and clinical monitoring of new arrivals and horses returning from equestrian events; l Serological testing of new arrivals and vaccination as appropriate; l Vaccination of horses at six monthly intervals, especially young horses and teasers; l Maintenance of effective boundaries between equine premises;

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 4

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 67

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 5

VETERINARY trainers opting for the longer interval between the first and second vaccinations. In the 1989 flu epidemic in the UK poor responders were 15 times more likely to be the index case on a premises than horses with good vaccination responses.

Poor responders were also identified as highly susceptible to flu during outbreaks in Irish training yards in 2010 and 2012. The cause of poor responders is unclear, but this result is further evidence against prolonging the interval between vaccine doses.

Could vaccines be more up-to-date and effective?

Antibody levels in horses assigned to three different vaccination regimes were monitored for 45 weeks after the first dose. The response to vaccination was similar irrespective of the regime but periods when antibody levels were low were longer when horses were given their second and third boosters at the maximum interval allowed by the racing authorities (13 weeks and seven months, green line). Horses that were vaccinated at the minimum intervals (three weeks and five months, blue line) and those that were vaccinated in line with manufacturer’s recommendations (six weeks and five months, red line) were better protected. (Graph from Cullinane et al, EVJ, DOI: 10.1111/evj.12214) l

Avoidance of stabling in single air spaces.

Recommendations aimed at controlling flu once it is occurs on a premises are: l prompt isolation of suspected cases; l Rapid confirmatory diagnosis by RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction); l Booster vaccination following early diagnosis; l Implementation of strict biosecurity measures to avoid transmission by fomites, personnel, and contaminated vehicles.

How often should horses be vaccinated?

The racing authorities in France, the UK, and Ireland introduced mandatory vaccination in the early 1980s. These regulations appear to have been roughly modelled on experience with human vaccines rather than being evidence based.

Crucially, these recommendations do not correspond with those of the vaccine manufacturers.

Dr Ann Cullinane, Head of Virology at the Irish Equine Centre, looked at antibody levels in three groups of young horses. Group 1 received their first two doses of their primary course three weeks apart followed by their third dose five months later, i.e. with the minimal intervals permitted by the racing authorities.

Group 2 were vaccinated in accordance with the vaccine manufacturer’s data sheet and received two doses six weeks apart followed by a third five months later. Group 3 received the first two 13 weeks apart followed by a third seven months later, corresponding with the

68 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

maximum intervals by the racing authorities.

Overall, the horses vaccinated with the maximum vaccination intervals permitted by the racing authorities were less well protected than the horses vaccinated with the minimum vaccination intervals permitted and those vaccinated in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. However, the racing authorities’ recommendations do have the benefit that they allow some flexibility to target vaccination at times of anticipated increased risk (for example before sales or introduction to a training yard). But when such factors are not present, trainers should aim to use the shortest intervals rather than risk pushing out to the maximum allowed limit.

Poor responders Thoroughbred weanlings may not produce an adequate antibody level in response to the first dose of vaccine. In a previous study by the same research group, 79% of weanlings responded poorly to their first dose while in this study 50% of weanlings were poor responders. In the past, poor vaccine response has often been attributed to the effects of antibody the weanling acquires in its mother’s colostrum blocking the effect of the vaccine.

But in this study the highest incidence (76%) of poor responders was actually observed amongst yearlings and a few of the two- and three-year-olds also responded poorly to the first vaccine dose, indicating that the problem was not due to colostral antibody.

All the horses responded to the second and third vaccination but the failure to respond to the first dose is of concern particularly for

The flu virus’s ability to undergo antigenic drift means strains in flu vaccines go out of date. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is responsible for recommending suitable vaccine strains for inclusion in commercial vaccines, and its decision-making is informed by ongoing surveillance data provided by numerous centres across the globe. Viruses currently circulating are of the American lineage, Florida Clade 1 and 2.

There is one vaccine available within the United States that contains both these strains as recommended by the OIE in 2010. There are currently no equine vaccines available in Europe that contain both Clade 1 and Clade 2 equine influenza strains.

Vaccine strain is not the only factor that influences the effectiveness of any specific product. Vaccines with slightly older strain profiles do give some protection as antibodies can cross-react with newer strains and protection is not an ‘all or nothing’ phenomenon.

Compliance with sport regulators’ requirements is a powerful motivator to ensure vaccination takes place, but trainers should ensure they question their vets about whether the vaccine used in their horses is of the latest available strain profile. Commercial pressure will help encourage vaccine manufacturers to ensure that they are using the latest strains in their product if they see potential for return on the investment required to update vaccine strains. Human flu vaccines are updated every year, however, in defence of animal health industry, the regulations surrounding introduction of new animal vaccines in European are very arduous and time consuming, so this is not a simple matter.

There is a need to streamline the process to enable pharmaceutical companies to bring new equine flu vaccines with updated strains to market more efficiently.

An ongoing and collective effort from horse owners, trainers, vets, and the racing authorities to create demand for the best possible vaccines, together with action from both the animal health industry and the medicines regulators, will ensure that the evidence gleaned from recent research is translated into even more effective protection for our horses. n

FLU TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:22 Page 6

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 69

KAVANAGH TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:28 Page 1

INDUSTRY VETERINARY

BRIAN KAVANAGH A man with his finger on the pulse of racing If you need something done then ask a busy man, so it’s little wonder that Brian Kavanagh, CEO of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) since its inception in 2001, is in so much demand. Aside from his role with HRI, Kavanagh is also chairman of the European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF) and vice chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA). In his spare time he can be seen relaxing on the racecourse, hardly an escape from the day job. It’s probably safe to say that Kavanagh is rarely off duty.

WORDS: LISSA OLIVER PHOTOS: HORSE RAcIng IRELAnD (HRI)

70 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

T

ODAY we are in the ridiculously large boardroom of the HRI offices and it’s very easy to imagine the various representatives of the various racing industry groups seated at the very lengthy table that I certainly wouldn’t want to have to polish. Like the HRI subcommittees, it’s vast.

Yet, for all the officialdom, one length of the room is given over to windows and the view is of bronze racehorses in the garden and the Curragh beyond. We can just see the racecourse grandstand and Kavanagh tells me that morning meetings offer a backdrop of horses exercising on the famous Old Vic gallops. “We often sit and watch them,” he says casually. For all the paperwork entailed, his business is ultimately only about the racehorse and those charged with its care.

KAVANAGH TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:28 Page 2

TENDON BRIAN AND LIGAMENT KAVANAGH RESEARCH

On paper it would be hard not to describe Kavanagh as a dynamo, his recent presentations at the Asian Racing Conference in Hong Kong in May and, back in October, at the IFHA International Conference in Paris, being a case in point. Horseracing is his passion, so keeping a finger on the pulse, no matter where in the world it may happen to be, presents no problem. Yet in person, Kavanagh couldn’t be any more relaxed, giving the impression that time is plentiful and always having enough to spare for a chat or a general enquiry. He’s a family man, and family men are by nature and necessity successful jugglers.

At the Asian Racing Conference, Kavanagh was among those representing eight of the most significant and valuable race meetings in the world, sharing his strategies for success and approach in dealing with the many challenges faced in the inauguration of Ireland’s Champions Weekend. That he represented Ireland, at once one of the smallest nations represented and one of the world’s largest thoroughbred industries, says a great deal for

what he, and those who have gone before him, have achieved for Ireland. Any success for an individual racing industry is a knock-on success for the industry as a whole, so we have much to be grateful for.

“How important was the Asian Conference to the European industry?” I ask.

“The need for racing to be placed at the top of the sporting calendar and given its fair share of media space is very important,” he says.

“We’re famous for our breeding here in Ireland, but we lacked a showpiece race meeting at the end of our season. We’ve pulled together the best from existing meetings for one special weekend of racing.

“Promoting that showcase fully and ensuring its success is vital, but attending conferences is also a good opportunity to meet people and gain an insight into far away jurisdictions and listen to the problems they encounter. Often your own problems don’t seem so bad in comparison. Hong Kong in particular was perfect, it offered a good spread of speakers and an interesting programme.”

“That seems to sum up the international flavour of modern racing,” I note, “but how important is the globalisation of racing to individual racing nations?”

Brian Kavanagh with Siobhan Bulfin, sculptor of this bronze at HRI headquarters

Kavanagh is clearly a supporter of breaking down barriers and opening up a small racing nation to the opportunities the global industry can provide. “Ten years ago there were no Global Rankings,” he reminds me with enthusiasm. “Now Hong Kong, Japan, and South Africa have the three best horses in the current Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings list. Racing in Hong Kong is unique, but still, it’s full of familiar names and faces, both horses and people. It’s amazing the people you run into there and the number of horses who previously raced in Ireland or Britain.”

It’s a small world after all, but one of huge economic benefit when it comes to trading and competing. “As an industry we embrace the opportunities presented internationally, but the widespread travel of horses and jockeys must present its own challenges,” I suggest. While we merely complain, it’s Kavanagh’s role to resolve.

“We can never fully unite the racing world and should never want to,” he warns at once.

“Part of the appeal of racing is the unique characteristics of individual countries. The variety of tracks is what gives Ireland and Britain their appeal, just as other nations bring something else that is unique to the table. We can never make everything the same worldwide and still retain individual culture and history.

“That said, certain aspects do need to be unified. There are aspects that are very suited to

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 71

KAVANAGH TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:28 Page 3

INDUSTRY standardisation. Quarantine regulations, medication regulations, and the Pattern system do need to be standardised worldwide, and racing will benefit as a result.

“Racing has had a huge wake-up call,” he continues. “The recent cases involving misuse of drugs mean we are now fully aware of the issues surrounding drug use, but in the long term it is just one of the more fundamental global issues. Traceability of horses in and out of training is also a very big welfare issue, for example. It’s relatively easy in France, and here in Ireland, for horses coming into and out of training, while in the United States it’s much more fluid.”

“But doesn’t the use of medication depend a great deal on the training regime and environment, which must surely differ quite drastically from one country to another?” I wonder.

“It isn’t about individual countries enforcing rules,” Kavanagh explains. “It is about racing having fundamental principles. The two main issues currently are permitted race day medication and use of steroids. When it comes to global unification of medication regulations you have to be able to walk before you can run and the foremost single priority is the worldwide ban on steroids.

“Minimum trace thresholds and standardised withdrawal times are not too far away. A certain number of withdrawal times have recently been published by the IFHA and this will increase quite soon. Moves to standardise thresholds and testing is definitely a priority and some significant progress is being made.”

Racing is clearly a passion, but Kavanagh remains very relaxed and unflustered. There seems no one issue that stirs particular heat, and you can see that seated here at this board table, when it’s full, he can keep things balanced and get key issues addressed and resolved. “What are the other priorities close to your heart?” I ask.

He is quiet for some time and gives the question a great deal of thought. “The medication issue is far and away the most important change I would personally like to see implemented. And definitely the improved welfare of horses. I would like to see definite guidelines in place for their treatment after their racing career is over. This isn’t just a basic welfare issue addressing the fundamental rights of the horse, but a public image issue for racing and we need to be seen to be doing the right thing by the horse.

“The interference rule could also be standardised,” he continues, “and there is agreement in most cases, but I would love to get to a situation where a certain manoeuvre is deemed foul, no matter which country it is in.

There are a great many procedural issues that could be standardised and a lot of the basic day-to-day administration aspects.”

He certainly gives the impression that these ideals are a priority and the necessary

72 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

governing bodies are pressing forward for the hoped-for outcome within the near future, but then he warns, “We shouldn’t be naïve. There are standard rules worldwide in all other sports, but a lot of the rules are down to human nature and the way they are interpreted is key.”

Interpretation and argument can often be one and the same and I again ask if it’s Europe that appears to be making the demands and how this sits with the rest of the world.

“It’s not an issue of any individual country, but we all seek globalisation as a matter of routine. The national identity of each racing nation is understood, and globalised rules, when once in place, will have been arrived at through the agreement of everyone involved.

It’s not a question of one country being out of step or one country dictating to others. Racing is a global business and we have to set out our wares globally.”

I can immediately think of one country currently fighting a cause and appearing to be left out of the loop. “What about quarantine issues?” I ask. “How soon can we see the freer movement of South African horses?”

“The medication issue is far and away the most important change I would personally like to see implemented. And definitely the improved welfare of horses” “For the first time,” Kavanagh reveals, “through the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health), Government Chief Veterinary Officers around the world and racing authorities are now in partnership and working together to make the movement of high performance animals easier. Valuable high performance animals such as racehorses and show jumpers and eventers are now being recognised as distinct from livestock, and rules concerning their movement will be tailored specifically.

“There have been a lot of very important moves behind the scenes. A good recent example is how the industry came together over the proposed change in air transportation of pregnant mares. We were able to successfully lobby against the change, call upon the world’s leading veterinary experts to prove the existing regulations were appropriate in regard to the mare’s welfare, and very quickly and effectively prevent the proposed change in transportation rules. Had they been allowed to come into affect the inability to transport pregnant mares would have been disastrous for the industry, with a huge economic impact. The fact that we can very quickly come together and effectively

lobby reflects how well the various industry bodies work together and support and understand each other’s needs.

“The needs for standardisation are becoming more and more obvious and the IFHA has several regional sub-committees. But we all face the same challenges. I do travel a lot and it’s fascinating to see how other countries operate.

It’s very important for Ireland to be active internationally; we’re a small racing country and a big breeding country and trading country, and last year Irish trainers ran more horses abroad than any other European country. The Irish have always had an international focus through necessity.”

Which again draws my mind to another issue and a reminder that Kavanagh is also chairman of the European Pattern Race Committee. All of these issues are closely interwoven and the unification of rules is the essential binder, as Kavanagh points out: “In the future I believe that it will not be possible to offer similar blacktype in sales catalogues unless races are run under a single set of rules in regard to matters such as anabolic steroids. I’m very happy that we’re moving forward and dealing with the significant issues, in all jurisdictions, that need to be addressed.

The Pattern inspires different emotions – people feel there are either too many blacktype races or not enough. It’s encouraging to see tracks improving their programme. Improving prize money and the quality of racing increases the quality of horses in training. That’s the key cornerstone in the Pattern. You can’t be too mathematical and we work on a rolling average of ratings of the first four home, over a threeyear period. The issue we frequently run into is small fields, and the lower-rated horses finishing in the first four does drag ratings down.

“The two areas that seem to need special attention are stayers and sprinters, and the introduction of a new Group Three sprint at Naas for three-year-olds only has been very encouraging. It usually takes two or three years to establish a race like that and it comes at a good time for three-year-olds. Over all, the quality of Pattern races has tightened up and the ground rules generally allow one or two new Pattern races a year, particularly if some existing blacktype races are downgraded.”

My mind boggles at the communication needed between the authorities in various jurisdictions. How is this achieved?

“There is a great deal of communication between authorities, not only in thrashing out the international Pattern, but in every aspect of global racing,” Kavanagh agrees. “There is more and more coordination between national authorities and the uniting of the European marketing agencies is a very positive step.

Marketing Europe under the banner of Destination Europe to non-Europeans benefits us all. Non-Europeans can board their mares in Ireland, send them to stallions in Ireland, France or Britain, sell and purchase at the

KAVANAGH TRAINER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:28 Page 4

BRIAN KAVANAGH major European sales, and send their horses to trainers in Ireland, France, and Britain. We all benefit from each other’s success, and international investment in Europe benefits us all. Of course, HRI’s remit is still to promote Ireland and we don’t lose sight of that.

“Ultimately the aim is to link ‘Arc’ weekend, British Champions Day, and Irish Champions Weekend, and that’s the way forward. The challenge is to keep racing relevant to new generations. Lifestyles have changed these days and there’s now so much sport on TV, the current generation is spoilt for choice. We need to develop racecourse facilities and that’s a current priority for HRI. There is still a lot of work to be done so that we can continue to see European horses as the best in the world. It’s essential that racing retains that slot and appeal. Racecourses need to have a big crowd and a nice atmosphere.”

There is no doubt that Kavanagh is the right man for the job, sharing as he does the passion for racing that brings punters through the gates, which is obvious as he continues, “It’s a fantastic business and I consider it a privilege to work in the industry. Every morning is a new challenge and the passion of those at all levels stirs you. It’s lovely to be involved and to see it.

There’s hard work, but it’s an enjoyable role as well and there’s never a dull moment – most crises end up on my desk at some stage!

“The principle behind the establishment of HRI is to enable various representatives from every aspect of the industry in Ireland to sit around a table to thrash out and maintain the lines of communication, and that has worked unbelievably well. Every representative can see that we are all under pressure, and the structure allows consensus and a group approach to problem solving. It has evolved into having a lot of sub-committees and that would usually be a recipe for disaster, but the success of this format is that it buys people in and in fact the Government has recommended even more committees!

“People do pull together, and it never ceases to amaze me how willing our trainers and jockeys are to help out. All involved gain an insight into the structure of our industry. Quite often Board members are hearing the views of other sectors for the first time, from other angles of the industry. A trainer will sit on the committee and gain an understanding of how others view the business and their concerns and aims, in having to deal for example with the Tote, the foal levy, race sponsorship, the Irish Equine Centre, and a huge variety of issues. The Board members attend 25-plus meetings a year and are very committed; and it is a huge commitment for them.”

As those reading this conversation are largely trainers, I ask, “What is HRI and its foreign equivalent doing for trainers?”

“Trainers are under pressure in a hugely competitive environment,” Kavanagh concedes. “They’re watching their competitors working right next to them every day, which

can’t be easy. Trainers are concerned about opportunities for their horses, which is a constant issue, as well as ground management.

We’ve tried to directly fund drainage grant schemes for racecourses and to help racecourses improve owners’ facilities. We want owners to have a fuss made of them at the races. Prize money is a key issue, and making sure that the deductions from winnings are going to the right areas. Trainers are a resilient bunch and we try to do what we can to help them. We have great sympathy for them.”

“Returning to Irish Champions Weekend, what will that bring to Europe?” I ask.

“Irish Champions Weekend will feature 10 Group races, of which five are Group Ones, and will boost the appeal of the sport to a wider audience,” Kavanagh concludes. “It’s the biggest Flat meeting we’ve had and we have already had Japanese entries, which is excellent. It’s what has been needed for some time, because our Flat season petered out a bit and Irish-trained horses have been underpinning the foreign end-of-season races.

It’s a very exciting development and has put it

up there with the top festivals, and when we announced it in Hong Kong we got a very good response. There will be a strong tourism aspect running alongside it and Goffs will hold an elite sale of 25 horses at Leopardstown on the Saturday morning and there will be stable open days on the Curragh on Sunday, with shuttle buses bringing people from Dublin and the major hotels. We are selling the experience. It’s the variety and selection of racing we have in Ireland that’s the charm of Irish racing, in particular Festivals, such as Killarney in July.

No other country can offer that. This will be our showcase.”

We have jumped from promoting a couple of high profile races to medication issues and changes in the Pattern system, but in doing so it has become clear how concurrent each element is to the industry as a whole. One change leads to, and can only happen with, many changes. The calm, focused vision of Brian Kavanagh guides each strand and it seems safe to say there won’t be too many knots and entanglements to slow the process while he maintains a grip. n

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 73

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 1

ADVERTORIAL

Bedmax – designed to address equine health issues BEDMAX, made from renewable British timber was developed from extensive research and advice from leading racing trainers, equine vets and equestrian professionals.

Eliminating dust has been, and still is, our top priority in making BEDMAX shavings, we also design BEDMAX to help address other key issues that can threaten a racehorse’s health and race-fitness in the stable.

Two key features, timber type and flake size allow us to differentiate BEDMAX from other shavings on the market place.

We make BEDMAX from fresh, Birtish pine timber – 100% natural and uncontaminated. Pine is the only softwood whose antibacterial properties have been

proved to completely eradicate many strains of harmful bacteria, helping to create a naturally hygienic environment in the stable.

Approximately 70% of BEDMAX shavings in every bag are cut larger than any others we know of on the market, because large shavings: • create a deeper, more aerated bed • provide greater support under the weight of a resting horse • encourage horses to lie down and rest properly • offer more resilient support under the hoof, especially under the frog • provide better protection for joints when lying down or rolling The BEDMAX production process also enables us to control:

• Drying • Moisture content • Urine & Ammonia management • Quality and consistency Further details about BEDMAX can be found on www.bedmaxshavings.com To arrange a training session: Tel: 01668213467

VioVet – number one for online veterinary medicines and pet supplies NEW – Gastric ulcer treatment.

Peptizole, from Norbrook, is the latest product for then treatment of equine Gastric Ulcers. It contains Omeprazole, the same active ingredient as Gastrogard. Available as a paste in graduated syringe it will treat up to 700kg from a single syringe. It can be used for treatment of ulcers and as a preventative measure with a 1/4 dosage. Available with a prescription from online veterinary medicines retailer VioVet.co.uk. Priced at £138.50 per 7 syringes or single syringes for just £19.99 it can offer a very cost effective alternative to more expensive treatments.

Equitop Myoplast Horses in training have increased protein requirements. This is because amino acids are the building blocks for muscle development and repair, and the harder the exercise the greater this amino acid requirement.

The horse can synthesise some amino acids themselves (non-essential amino acids) but others must be provided in the diet (essential amino acids), however not all dietary protein

74 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

sources are the same.

Equitop Myoplast provides a superior profile of 18 essential and non-essential amino acids to support the efficient development and repair of muscle tissue.

The supplement is great for horses in intensive training, for developing young horses and sales preparation, and in horses returning to work after a training break or lay off. Order today from Viovet.

VioVet.co.uk VioVet.co.uk is the UK’s number 1-rated online retailer of veterinary medicines and pet supplies according to Trustpilot, the

independent consumer feedback site. Started by an entrepreneurial 16 year old school boy Luke Cousins, the son of a vet, just 8 years VioVet remain very veterinary focused and have a full time vet and two E-SQP’s on their staff . The company have shipped a remarkable 1.2 million orders in that time saving horse owners a small fortune along the way. They now have a number of household names amongst their customers. Delivery is FREE on orders over £29 and most items are delivered next day from stock. Simply ask your vet for a prescription and you may save up to 60% on normal veterinary prices. Look out for the voucher code in this edition of Trainer to save an extra 5% off your next order.

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 2

ADVERTORIAL

Steel Kings Extra Sound Plus – perfect for ex racehorses New to the Royal Kerckhaert Horseshoe Factory concave shoe program, is the Steel Kings Extra Sound Plus (ESP). Designed especially for ex racehorses as they start their new career as a riding horse.

Designed along the same lines as the bestselling Steel Kings Extra Sound training shoe, the Extra Sound Plus has the same easy to fit shape as the original Steel Extra Sound training plate. It also combines all the great features found in the Steel Kings ES, Radius clips, sole relief, boxed off heels, perfectly punched nail holes with the correct pitch and coarseness to match the feet of ex racehorses.

The hind shoes are left and right pattern, with the same easy to fit shape.

The wider outside heel with the narrower inside branch allows you to fit the shoes quickly and safely. The high quality steel and the extra thickness of the material makes this the first riding shoe produced especially for the exracehorse.

Once again the Royal Kerckhaert Horseshoe Factory wins the race to produce the perfect shoe for ex racehorses.

Available in Front & Hind sizes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. www.kerckhaert.com

European Trainer Suppliers’ Guide

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 75

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 3

ADVERTORIAL

BACK ON TRACK® WELLBEING FOR HORSE AND JOCKEY The Back on Track® range of high performance clothing and horse wear offers benefits, comfort and style for both horse and jockey.

Developed in Sweden, Back on Track products are widely used throughout Europe for performance horses and jockeys to support circulation and wellbeing, which can be particularly beneficial for athletes while travelling or during recuperation.

Back on Track garments incorporate their unique Welltex® fabric with infra-red technology. Ceramic particles are fused into the fibres of the fabric, causing heat to radiate back towards the body. This reflected long-wave heat increases blood circulation, relieves joint tension, improves performance and helps avoid injury. Worn next to the skin, the fabric delivers a comforting and relaxing sensation

European Trainer Suppliers’ Guide

76 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

combined with a lasting sense of wellbeing, while the quality and style of each item ensures that they also look great.

The Back on Track collection of underwear, wraps and braces offers benefits for riders who suffer the usual stresses and strains of riding and working with horses. Braces for neck, back, arms and legs compliment the range of underwear and wraps to meet the needs of the human athlete. The equine range of rugs, back pads and leg wraps provide the benefits of Back on Track products for your horses, increasing well-being, maximising training and performance and ensuring relaxed and supple muscles.

The Back on Track Mesh Rug is the optimal rug for those wanting to give their horse the Back on Track feeling all year round with a single rug. The thin fabric is covered by a mesh textile for maximum breathability. The rug can be used in the stable, during transport, under a rain rug or on a chilly day. The horse Mesh Rug has a fleece lining at the withers, double front fasteners and cross surcingle, a tail flap with tail strap and loops for the leg straps, ensuring a secure and well fitting rug.

The therapeutic effect of Back on Track Quick Wraps Royal can aid recovery after exercise and keep legs warm in the stable or whilst travelling and the carefully designed shape ensures that it sits neatly around the fetlock and down to the coronet. The soft wrap has an extra thick neoprene outer.

For more information visit www.backontrack.com/uk/home

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 4

ADVERTORIAL

Dormit Woodfibre – a market leader Berite Sawmill is based in South Cerney at the heart of the Cotswold Water Park. The Company operates within a 3.5 acre site and has been producing Dormit Woodfibre since it was first introduced specifically for use in equestrian arenas and gallops. The Dormit history dates back to 1974 when the original processing facility utilised mobile chipping and milling to create what was then a new concept in riding surfaces.

The Dormit name originates from the two original owners Timothy and Rodney and is simply their names spelt backwards! (TIM and ROD became DORMIT). Today, Dormit is still manufactured to the same consistent quality standards but the process is now integrated within the Berite sawmill facility.

Over the past 40 years Berite has grown rapidly to become one of the market leaders in woodfibre gallop surfaces and the

Company is highly regarded in the equestrian market as one of the leading suppliers. Our long-term experience in producing natural woodfibre riding surfaces means that we can be relied upon to maintain the highest quality standards and consistency of finished product.

Dormit Woodfibre is milled from chips produced from sustainable UK grown coniferous round logs. Bark content of around 5% is retained within the fibre as it is known to add to the structural performance of the surface as well as helping it to bed-in from the off. The absence of any bark within the product can result in a longer settlement period, and we have found that the use of pure debarked chips can result in a looser

surface in the period immediately following construction.

With precision screening and milling Dormit is graded to an 820mm particle size thereby removing any sawdust which can become airborne during the drier summer months, and can freeze in the winter.

In a recent survey we spoke to more than 220 trainers across the UK and we were very pleased to find that more than half still have a woodfibre gallop installed as part of their training programme.

One regular customer and trainer Andrew Balding from Park House Stables said, “There are very few things that can compete with a good woodfibre gallop. Our Dormit Woodfibre gallop complements our other training surfaces used.

“I am very happy with the quality of Dormit and the excellent service provided by the Berite team.”

Up until recently Berite Sawmills was owned in a joint partnership of nearly twenty years by Mr Keith Thornley and Mr Allan Jenkinson.

Following Keith’s retirement as owner and Managing Director earlier this year, the Company is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the A. W. Jenkinson Forest Products Group who remain fully committed to the long-term future of the Berite business and the Dormit brand.

For more details visit www.dormitwoodfibre.co.uk

European Trainer Suppliers’ Guide

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 77

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 5

STAKES SCHEDULES

STAKES SCHEDULES 2014 RACES Races are divided by distance and the relevant surface is indicated as follows: AWT - All Weather Track D - Dirt T - Turf European counties covered in this issue are: Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom. The indexes also include Grade 1 races from North America. Races highlighted in purple indicate the race is a Breeders’ Cup win and you’re in race.

CLOSING DATES Closing dates for all Irish races are set for domestic entry dates.

Please check International entry dates with the relevant issue of The Racing Calendar. The Italian authority (UNIRE) do not publish

closing dates for Listed races but we have been advised to set race closing dates ten days in advance of the race.

COPYRIGHT Under Copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. This includes but not limited to; photocopying for commercial redistribution and or facsimile recording without the prior permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the publisher.

DISCLAIMER Whilst every effort has been made to publish correct information, the publishers will not be held liable for any omission, mistake or change to the races listed in all published indexes.

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

GB GB IRE ITY FR GB FR GB JPN IRE FR GB GB GB IRE GB GB GB FR IRE ITY GB GB FR ITY GB ITY IRE FR

Sandown Park York Tipperary Naples Vichy Goodwood Deauville Goodwood Niigata Tipperary Deauville Newbury York York Curragh Beverley Doncaster Doncaster Longchamp Curragh Rome Ayr Ascot Longchamp Milan Newmarket Milan Dundalk Longchamp

Sprint St (Coral) City Walls Tipperary St Citta di Napoli Reves d’Or - Jacques Bouchara Molecomb St (Bet365) Cercle King George (Betfred) Ibis Summer Dash Abergwaun St La Vallee d’Auge St Hugh’s St (Bathwick Tyres) Nunthorpe St (Coolmore) Roses St (Julia Graves) Curragh St Beverley Bullet Sprint St (Betfred) Scarbrough St Flying Childers St Petit Couvert (Qatar) Flying Five St (www.bettor.com) Divino Amore Harry Rosebery St Rous (Albert Bartlett) Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (Qatar) Cancelli Cornwallis St (Dubai) Premio Omenoni Mercury St Criterium de Vitesse

GB

Newbury

World Trophy (Dubai Airport)

Turf Sprint

5f (1000m)

Class

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Gp 3 L L L L Gp 3 L Gp 2 Gr 3 L L L Gp 1 L L L L Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 3 L L L Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L L

6-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 25-Jul-2014 30-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 2-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 9-Aug-2014 16-Aug-2014 16-Aug-2014 23-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 11-Sep-2014 13-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 20-Sep-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 25-Oct-2014 29-Oct-2014

£60000 £40000 € 42500 € 55000 € 55000 £50000 € 52000 £100000 $371748 € 50000 € 55000 £25500 £250000 £50000 € 40000 £40000 £40000 £70000 € 80000 € 100000 € 41800 £40000 £45000 € 350000 € 41800 £37000 € 61600 € 40000 € 55000

3+ 3+ 2 3+ 2 2 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 2 2F 2+ 2 2 3+ 2+ 2 3+ 3+ 2 2 3+ 2+ 3+ 2 3+ 2+ 2

T T T T T T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T

1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000

£55000

3+

T

1030

Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gp 3

21-Sep-2014

Metres

Chantilly Chantilly

Arenberg Bonneval

Gp 3 L

SWE

Taby Galopp

Taby Open Sprint

GER SWE USA JPN GB GB

Hamburg Jagersro Calder Hanshin Newmarket York

Hamburg Flieger Trophy Zawawi Cup Princess Rooney H’cap CBC Sho July (Portland Place Properties) Summer St (Tyregiant.com)

10-Sep-2014 7-Oct-2014

15-Sep-2014

€ 80000 € 52000

2 3+

T T

1100 1100

SEK 400,000

3+

T

1150

78 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

2-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 7-Jul-2014 11-Jul-2014 12-Jul-2014

17-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 27-Jul-14 25-Jun-14 03-Aug-14 09-Aug-14 10-Aug-14 25-Jun-14 19-Aug-14 19-Aug-14 26-Aug-14 05-Sep-14 07-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 07-Aug-14 14-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 12-Oct-14 19-Sep-14 19-Oct-14

5.15

16-Sep-14

€ 55000 SEK 600,000 $300000 $371511 £60000 £60000

3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 2 C&G 3+ F

T D D T T T

1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200

5.5 5.5

21-Aug-14

5.75f (1150m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gp 3 Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gp 2 Gp 3

Closing

01-Jul-14 08-Jul-14 08-Jul-14

5.5f (1100m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 L

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

5.15f (1030m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore FR FR

Furlongs

5.75

18-Aug-14

6f (1200m) 6 6 6 6 6 6

07-May-14 03-Jun-14 22-Jun-14 28-May-14 05-Jul-14 03-Jul-14

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 6

STAKES SCHEDULES Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

GB IRE GB JPN IRE GB USA GB USA FR GB FR GER IRE GB GB GB GB IRE FR JPN GB FR GER IRE JPN GB GER GB GB GB ITY JPN JPN GB GB USA IRE ITY GB GB GB USA JPN FR GB IRE GB GB ITY GB FR FR GB ITY GB FR FR JPN JPN

Newmarket Fairyhouse Newbury Hakodate Naas Ascot Del Mar Goodwood Saratoga Deauville Chester La Teste de Buch Berlin-Hoppergarten Curragh Pontefract York Newmarket York Curragh Deauville Kokura Ripon Deauville Baden-Baden Curragh Sapporo Salisbury Baden-Baden Kempton Park Haydock Park York Milan Kokura Hanshin Ayr Newmarket Belmont Park Curragh Milan Newmarket Redcar Ascot Santa Anita Niigata Chantilly York Curragh Newmarket Doncaster Rome Newmarket Maisons-Laffitte Maisons-Laffitte Doncaster Rome Lingfield Park Fontainebleau Fontainebleau Kyoto Nakayama

July Cup (Darley) Belgrave St Rose Bowl St Hakodate Nisai St Sweet Mimosa EBF St Princess Margaret St (Juddmonte) Bing Crosby S Richmond St (Audi) Alfred G Vanderbilt H’cap Cabourg (Jockey Club de Turquie) Queensferry St Criterium du Bequet Hoppegartener- Flieger-Preis Phoenix Sprint St (Keeneland) Flying Fillies’ St (EBF) Lowther St Hopeful St Gimcrack St (Irish Thoroughbred Marketing) Renaissance St Prix Morny (Darley) Kitakyushu Kinen Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy 2013 Meautry (Lucien Barriere) Goldene Peitsche Round Tower St Keeneland Cup Dick Poole St (EBF) Kronimus-Rennen Sirenia St (Betfred Bonus King) Sprint Cup (Betfred) Garrowby Eupili Kokura Nisai St Centaur St Firth of Clyde St (William Hill-In The App Store) Cheveley Park St Vosburgh Invitational Blenheim St Criterium Nazionale Boadicea St (EBF) Two-Year-Old Trophy Bengough St (John Guest) The Santa Anita Sprint Championship (Ancient Title S) (Prov race date) Sprinters St Eclipse Rockingham (Coral.co.uk) Waterford Testimonial St Middle Park St (Vision.ae) Doncaster Ubaldo Pandolfi Bosra Sham St (EBF) Seine-et-Oise Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte Wentworth St (Betfred) Premio Carlo & Francesco Aloisi (Ex Umbria) Golden Rose St Contessina Zeddaan Keihan Hai Capella St

GB GB

Newbury Newbury

Hackwood St (Al Basti Equiworld) Mill Reef St (Dubai Duty Free)

IRE

Curragh

Anglesey St (Jebel Ali Stables & Racecourse)

Turf Sprint

Juv F Turf

Sprint

Sprint

6f (1200m)

Class

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Gp 1 L L Gr 3 L Gp 3 Gr 1 Gp 2 Gr 1 Gp 3 L L L Gp 3 L Gp 2 L Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 L Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gr 3 L L Gp 3 Gp 1 L L Gr 3 Gr 2 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gr 1 L L L L Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp3 L L Gp 1 L L L Gp 3 Gp 2 L Gp 3 L L L Gr 3 Gr 3

13-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 19-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 24-Jul-2014 27-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 3-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 7-Aug-2014 11-Aug-2014 11-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 22-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 26-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 1-Sep-2014 1-Sep-2014 1-Sep-2014 5-Sep-2014 5-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 11-Oct-2014 12-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 1-Nov-2014 5-Nov-2014 5-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 10-Nov-2014 16-Nov-2014 21-Nov-2014 21-Nov-2014 1-Dec-2014 15-Dec-2014

£500000 € 40000 £25500 $293564 € 54000 £50000 $300000 £75000 $350000 € 80000 £37000 € 55000 € 27000 € 60000 £50000 £150000 £40000 £200000 € 57500 € 350000 $371868 £30000 € 80000 € 70000 € 52500 $391646 £35000 € 25000 £40000 £250000 £37000 € 41800 $293713 $558347 £50000 £170000 $400000 € 40000 € 41800 £40000 £150,000 £70000 $250000 $930269 €88000 £45000 € 40000 £170000 £27000 € 41800 £30000 € 80000 € 190000 £40000 € 61600 £37000 € 52000 € 55000 $371285 $342015

3+ 3+ 2 2 3+ F&M 2F 3+ 2 C&G 3+ 2 3+ 2 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 2F 3+ 2 C&G 3+ 2 CF 3+ 2 3+ 3+ 2 3+ 2F 2 2 3+ 3+ 2F 2 3+ 2F 2F 3+ 2 2 3+ F&M 2 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 2 3+ 2C 2 2F 2F 3+ 2 3+ 2+ 3+ 3+ 2 3+ 3+

T T T T T T AWT T D T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T T T T T D T T T T T D T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T D

1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200

£60000 £65000

3+ 2

T T

1210 1210

€ 52500

2

T

1260

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 3 Gp 2

20-Jul-2014 21-Sep-2014

Metres

Furlongs

20-Jul-2014

Deauville Munich Maisons-Laffitte

Prix Maurice de Gheest Bayerischer Fliegerpris Saraca

Gp 1 L L

IRE FR FR GB GB FR JPN IRE GER GB IRE

Fairyhouse Longchamp Maisons-Laffitte Chester Newmarket Longchamp Chukyo Curragh Cologne Sandown Park Leopardstown

Brownstown St (Irish Stallion Farms EBF) Porte Maillot Amandine City Plate Superlative St (32Red.com) Roland de Chambure Procyon St Minstrel St Kolner Zweijahrigen Trophy Star St (EBF) Silver Flash St

11-Aug-2014 15-Sep-2014 20-Sep-2014

3-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 7-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 23-Jul-2014 25-Jul-2014 25-Jul-2014

23-Jul-14 06-Aug-14 16-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 23-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 20-Aug-14 25-Sep-14 07-Oct-14 07-Oct-14 30-Jul-14 21-Oct-14 26-Oct-14 16-Oct-14 16-Oct-14 04-Nov-14 10-Oct-14 11-Nov-14

15-Oct-14 29-Oct-14

6.05 6.05

15-Jul-14 30-Jul-14

6.3

15-Jul-14

6.5f (1300m) € 250000 € 25000 € 55000

3+ 3+ 2

T T T

1300 1300 1300

3+ F 3+ 3F 3+ 2 2 3+ 3+ 2 2F 2F

T T T T T T D T T T T

1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 3 Gp 3 L L Gp 2 L Gr 3 Gp 3 L L Gp 3

10-Jul-14 29-Jul-14 30-Jul-14 09-Jul-14 17-Apr-14 12-Jul-14 09-Jul-14 19-Aug-14 02-Jul-14 17-Jul-14 31-Jul-14 09-Jul-14 20-Aug-14 07-Aug-14 16-Jul-14 27-Aug-14 23-Jul-14 30-Aug-14 20-Aug-14 02-Sep-14 09-Jul-14 02-Sep-14

6.3f (1260m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore FR GER FR

Closing

07-May-14 08-Jul-14 13-Jul-14 11-Jun-14 18-Jul-14 22-Jul-14 18-Jul-14 26-Jul-14

6.05f (1210m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gp 3

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

€ 77500 € 80000 € 55000 £37000 £60000 € 55000 $342498 € 57500 € 25000 £30000 € 47500

6.5 6.5 6.5

17-Jul-14 03-Sep-14

7f (1400m) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

29-May-14 19-Jun-14 28-Jun-14 08-Jul-14 08-Jul-14 05-Jul-14 28-May-14 12-Jun-14 09-Jul-14 19-Jul-14 18-Jul-14

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 79

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 7

STAKES SCHEDULES Visit www.trainermagazine.com Country

Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

IRE GB GER GB GB IRE GB FR FR USA IRE GB GB GB FR GB GB FR GB IRE USA USA GB IRE IRE USA USA USA USA GER USA GER FR FR GB GB GB GB IRE IRE GB GB GB IRE GER GB GB GB FR FR FR IRE FR GB GB GB GB IRE GER GER IRE ITY JPN FR JPN JPN FR JPN

Leopardstown Ascot Munich Goodwood Goodwood Galway Goodwood Vichy Deauville Saratoga Tipperary Newmarket Newbury Newbury Deauville York York Deauville Goodwood Curragh Saratoga Saratoga Goodwood Curragh Tipperary Del Mar Saratoga Saratoga Saratoga Baden-Baden Del Mar Baden-Baden Longchamp Longchamp Doncaster Doncaster Doncaster Doncaster Curragh Curragh Newbury Newmarket Newmarket Curragh Cologne Newmarket Redcar Ascot Longchamp Longchamp Chantilly Dundalk Longchamp Newmarket Newmarket Newbury Newbury Leopardstown Hannover Hannover Leopardstown Milan Kyoto Maisons-Laffitte Kyoto Tokyo Fontainebleau Hanshin

Tyros St Winkfield St Dallmayr Prodomo Trophy Lennox St (Bet 365) Vintage St (Veuve Clicquot) Corrib EBF Oak Tree St Jouvenceaux et Jouvencelles Six Perfections Test El Gran Senor Sweet Solera St (Germanthoroughbred.com) Washington Singer St (Denford Stud) Hungerford St Francois Boutin Acomb St City of York St Calvados Prestige St (Whiteley Clinic) Debutante St (Keeneland) King’s Bishop St Ballerina St Supreme St (Greene King) Futurity St (Galileo EBF) Fairy Bridge Del Mar Debutante Forego Spinaway St Hopeful St Coolmore Stud Baden-Cup Del Mar Futurity Zukunfts-Rennen Pin La Rochette Sceptre St (JRA) Flying Scotsman Champagne St Park St Moyglare Stud St National St (Goffs Vincent O’Brien) Cup (Dubai Duty Free) Somerville St (Tattersall) Rockfel St (Shadwell) Park St (CL Weld) Kolner Herbst Preis Oh So Sharp St Guisborough St October St (Miles & Morrison) Prix de la Foret (Qatar) Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium Herod Star Appeal EBF St Saint-Cyr Challenge St Dewhurst St Radley St Horris Hill St (Worthington Highfield Social Club) Killavullan St Neue Bult Youngster Cup Neue Bult Stuten Sprint-Preis Knockaire St Premio Chiusura Swan St Miesque Fantasy St Keio Hai Nisai St Ceres Hanshin Cup

GB

Sandown Park

Solario St

IRE

Tipperary

Concorde St (Coolmore Stud Home of Champions)

ITY ITY ITY ITY GER ITY

Naples Rome Milan Rome Cologne Milan

Criterium Partenopeo Repubbliche Marinare V. Riva (ex del Dado) Rumon Winterkonigin Trial Coolmore

F&M Sprint

Sprint

Juv F Turf

Mile Juv Turf

7f (1400m)

Class

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Gp 3 L L Gp 2 Gp 2 L Gp 3 L L Gr 1 L Gp 3 L Gp 2 L Gp 3 L Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 L Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 3 L Gp 3 L L Gp 1 Gp 1 L L L Gp 2 Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L L L Gp 3 Gr 2 Gp 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 L Gr 2

25-Jul-2014 27-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 30-Jul-2014 31-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 2-Aug-2014 3-Aug-2014 3-Aug-2014 3-Aug-2014 9-Aug-2014 10-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 21-Aug-2014 23-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 29-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 2-Sep-2014 4-Sep-2014 4-Sep-2014 6-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 12-Sep-2014 13-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 20-Sep-2014 26-Sep-2014 27-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 4-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 7-Oct-2014 11-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 2-Nov-2014 2-Nov-2014 5-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 21-Nov-2014 28-Dec-2014

€ 47500 £30000 € 25000 £150000 £75000 € 55000 £60000 € 55000 € 55000 $500000 € 50000 £50000 £25500 £90000 € 55000 £60000 £100000 € 80000 £40000 € 95000 $500,000 $500000 £60000 € 95000 € 57500 $300000 $500000 $350000 $350000 € 25000 $300000 € 55000 € 80000 € 80000 £60000 £27000 £75000 £100000 € 300000 € 200000 £37000 £40000 £60000 € 55000 € 25000 £40000 £40000 £40000 € 300000 € 350000 € 55000 € 47500 € 55000 £100000 350000 £25500 £37000 € 47500 € 25000 € 25000 € 40000 € 61600 $558092 € 80000 $274148 $352473 € 55000 $635085

2 2 3+ 3+ 2 3+F 3+ F 2 2F 3F 2 2F 2 3+ 2 2 3+ 2F 2F 2F 3 3+ FM 3+ 2 3+ F&M 2F 3+ 2F 2 3+F 2 2 3+ 2 3+ F 2 2 C&G 3+ 2F 2 CF 3+ 2 C&G 2F 2F 3+ 2F 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 2 CF 2 2 3F 3+ 2 C&F 2F 2 C&G 2 2F 3+F 3+ 2+ 3+ 2F 2F 2 3F 3+

T T T T T T T T T D T T T T T T T T T T D D T T T AWT D D D T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400

2

T

1410

€ 65000

3+

T

1490

€ 41800 € 41800 € 41800 € 41800 € 25000 € 41800

2 2F 2C 2C 2F 2F

T T T T T T

1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3

31-Aug-2014

Metres

6-Oct-2014

80 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

21-Jul-2014 15-Sep-2014 22-Sep-2014 22-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014

Closing

18-Jul-14 21-Jul-14 18-Jun-14 30-Jul-14 25-Jul-14 26-Jul-14 27-Jul-14 26-Jul-14 26-Jul-14 03-Aug-14 05-Aug-14 12-Aug-14 30-Jul-14 12-Aug-14 15-Aug-14 17-Aug-14 31-Jul-14 19-Aug-14 17-Jul-14

19-Aug-14 17-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 07-Jun-14

16-Jul-14 07-Jun-14 16-Jul-14 21-Aug-14 21-Aug-14 06-Sep-14 07-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 23-Jul-14 29-May-14 29-May-14 14-Sep-14 20-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 24-Sep-14 24-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 30-Sep-14 29-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 05-Oct-14 17-Sep-14 30-Jul-14 21-Oct-14 21-Oct-14 21-Oct-14 15-Oct-14 15-Oct-14 21-Oct-14 03-Oct-14 17-Sep-14 16-Oct-14 01-Oct-14 01-Oct-14 12-Nov-14

7.05

26-Aug-14

7.4f (1490m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com L L L L L L

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

7.05f (1410m) £40000

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 3

Furlongs

7.4

28-Aug-14

7.5f (1500m) 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5

17-Sep-14

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 8

STAKES SCHEDULES Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

ITY ITY FR FR

Rome Pisa Deauville Deauville

Criterium Femminile Criterium di Pisa Luthier Miss Satamixa

FR GER GB FR GB GB GB GB FR IRE NOR FR GB FR GB GER JPN GB GB FR FR IRE GB GB IRE FR FR JPN IRE GB FR GER GB GB FR IRE JPN FR GER FR GB GB TKY ITY TKY FR GB IRE IRE IRE CAN FR GER GER JPN SWE

Deauville Hamburg Sandown Park Maisons-Laffitte Pontefract Newmarket Newmarket Ascot Chantilly Killarney Ovrevoll Vichy Ascot Chantilly Pontefract Munich Chukyo Goodwood Goodwood Deauville Deauville Cork Haydock Park Salisbury Leopardstown Deauville Deauville Niigata Killarney Goodwood Deauville Dusseldorf Salisbury Sandown Park Deauville Curragh Niigata Chantilly Baden-Baden Toulouse Haydock Park Haydock Park Veliefendi Milan Veliefendi Chantilly Doncaster Leopardstown Curragh Leopardstown Woodbine Longchamp Dusseldorf Munich Niigata Taby Galopp

Saint-Patrick Hamburger Stutenmeile Distaff St (Coral) Messidor Pipalong St Stubbs Falmouth (Etihad Airways) Summer Mile (Fred Cowley MBE Memorial) Prix Jean Prat Cairn Rouge Lanwades Fillies Stakes Jacques de Bremond Valiant St (EBF) Bagatelle Pomfret St Dallmayr Coupe Lukull Toyoto Sho Chukyo Kinen Sussex (Quipco) Thoroughbred St (Bonhams) Tourgeville Prix de Rothschild Platinum St Dick Hern (EBF) Sovereign St (totepool) Desmond St Lieurey Prix Jacques le Marois (Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard) Sekiya Kinen Ruby St Celebration Mile (Betfair) Criterium du F.E.E. Sparkassenpreis - Stadtsparkasse Dusseldorf Stonehenge St (EBF) Atalanta St Quincey (Lucien Barriere) Flame of Tara EBF St Niigata Nisai St La Cochere Darley Oettingen-Rennen Prix Millkom Ascendant St (Betfred) Superior Mile International Istanbul Trophy Bessero Pietro International Topkapi Trophy Aumale May Hill St (Barrett Steel) BC Juv Turf Trial (Golden Fleece St) Solonoway (Moyglare Stud) Matron St (Coolmore Fastnet Rock) Ricoh Woodbine Mile Prix du Moulin de Longchamp Junioren-Preis Grosse Europa-Meile Keisei Hai Autumn H’cap Lanwades Stud St

GB FR GER FR FR GB GB GB IRE ITY ITY

Sandown Park Longchamp Cologne Lyon-Parilly Saint-Cloud Newmarket Newmarket Newmarket Curragh Milan Milan

Fortune St Chenes Kolner Stutenpreis Criterium de Lyon Coronation Rosemary Joel St (Nayef) Royal Lodge St (Juddmonte) Beresford St (Juddmonte) Premio Sergio Cumani Premio Vittorio di Capua

Class

L L L L

7.5f (1500m)

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Metres

3-Nov-2014 8-Dec-2014 14-Dec-2014 29-Dec-2014

€ 41800 € 41800 € 52000 € 52000

2F 2 3+ 3+

T T AWT AWT

1500 1500 1500 1500

3 C&G 3+ F M 3F 3+ 4+ F&M 3 3+ F 4+ 3 CF 3+F 3+ 4+ 3F 3F 3+ 3+F 3+ 3+ 3 3 C&G 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ C&G 3+ 3F 3+ CF 3+ 3+ 3+ 2 3+ F 2 3+ F&M 3+ 2F 2 3F 3+ 3 2 3+ 3+F 3+ F&M 3+ C&F 2F 2F 2 3+ 3+ F 3+ 3 + CF 2 3+ 3+ 3-5 F&M

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

25-Jun-14 07-May-14 01-Jul-14 19-Jun-14 03-Jul-14 05-Jul-14 18-Jun-14 07-Jul-14 26-Jun-14 09-Jul-14 20-May-14 18-Jul-14 19-Jul-14 19-Jul-14 22-Jul-14 18-Jun-14 11-Jun-14 28-May-14 27-Aug-14 26-Jul-14 10-Jul-14 31-Jul-14 05-Aug-14 09-Aug-14 10-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 09-Jul-14 16-Aug-14 09-Jul-14 16-Aug-14 02-Jul-14 24-Aug-14 26-Aug-14 07-Aug-14 26-Aug-14 23-Jul-14

3+ 2 CG 3+ F 2 3F 3+ 3+ 2 C&G 2 3+ F 3+

T T T T T T T T T T T

1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

12-Sep-14 21-Sep-14 17-Sep-14

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13

Mile

Juv Turf F & M Turf Mile

Juv Turf

Furlongs

Closing

7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5

8f (1600m)

L Gp 3 L Gp 3 L L Gp 1 Gp 2 Gp 1 L L L L L L L Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 3 L Gp 1 L L Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gr 3 L Gp 2 L L L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gr 3 L Gp 2 L L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gr 3 L

3-Jul-2014 3-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 7-Jul-2014 9-Jul-2014 11-Jul-2014 12-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 15-Jul-2014 15-Jul-2014 25-Jul-2014 26-Jul-2014 26-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 31-Jul-2014 2-Aug-2014 3-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 6-Aug-2014 10-Aug-2014 15-Aug-2014 15-Aug-2014 16-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 22-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 30-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 1-Sep-2014 1-Sep-2014 4-Sep-2014 4-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 10-Sep-2014 13-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014

€ 55000 € 55000 £37000 € 80000 £40000 £40000 £160000 £100000 € 400000 € 50000 NOK 225,000 € 52000 £40000 € 55000 £45000 € 25000 $371808 £300000 £60000 € 55000 € 300000 € 40000 £47000 £62500 € 57500 € 80000 € 600000 $371868 € 40000 £100000 € 122000 € 35000 £26500 £60000 € 80000 € 50000 $293667 € 55000 € 70000 € 55000 £25500 £60000 €88000 € 41800 € 459000 € 80000 £70000 € 100000 € 200000 € 300000 CAN1,000,000+ € 450000 € 25000 € 55000 $372198 SEK 400,000

L Gp 3 L L L L Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 1

18-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 26-Sep-2014 27-Sep-2014 27-Sep-2014 27-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014

£37000 € 80000 € 25000 € 55000 € 55000 £40000 £100000 £100000 € 95000 € 61600 € 209000

16-Jul-14 02-Sep-14 02-Sep-14 07-Aug-14 07-Aug-14 21-Aug-14 07-Sep-14 09-Sep-14 07-Aug-14 03-Jul-14 28-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 03-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 06-Aug-14 18-Aug-14

15-Sep-14 03-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 21-Aug-14 29-Aug-14 29-Aug-14

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 81

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 9

STAKES SCHEDULES Visit www.trainermagazine.com Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

SWE

Taby Galopp

Swedish Open Mile

FR GB USA USA USA USA FR FR FR GB GER IRE ITY GB GB IRE GER GER IRE ITY ITY GB FR GB JPN FR FR GB IRE GB GB JPN GER ITY FR FR JPN JPN JPN FR FR JPN JPN

Longchamp Newmarket Belmont Park Belmont Park Keeneland Keeneland Longchamp Saint-Cloud Chantilly Newmarket Cologne Curragh Milan Newmarket Ascot Cork Baden-Baden Baden-Baden Naas Milan Milan Pontefract Nantes Doncaster Tokyo Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud Lingfield Park Dundalk Newmarket Newmarket Tokyo Frankfurt Rome Compiegne Toulouse Kyoto Tokyo Kyoto Chantilly Chantilly Hanshin Hanshin

Prix Daniel Wildenstein (Qatar) Sun Chariot St (Kingdom of Bahrain) Champagne St Frizette St First Lady S Shadwell Turf Mile Prix Marcel Boussac Thomas Bryon Ranelagh Autumn St Preis des Winterfavoriten Silken Glider (Staffordstown) St Gran Criterium Fillies’ Mile (Dubai) Queen Elizabeth II St (Quipco) Navigation St Winterkonigon Preis der Winterkonigin Garnet EBF St Premio Dormello Del Piazzale Silver Tankard St (EBF) Sablonnets Trophy (Racing Post) Saudi Arabia Royal Cup Fuji St Criterium International Perth Fleur de Lys St (EBF) Cooley EBF St Ben Marshall St Montrose St (EBF) Artemis S Hessen-Sprint Premio Ribot Isola-Bella Criterium du Languedoc Daily Hai Nisai St Musashino St Mile Championship Tantieme Isonomy Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Asahi Hai Futurity St

FR FR

Craon Craon

Criterium de l’Ouest Point du Jour

GER JPN USA USA USA USA USA USA GER GER

Krefeld Sapporo Del Mar Santa Anita Santa Anita Santa Anita Keeneland Keeneland Dusseldorf Krefeld

Meilen Trophy Elm St Clement L. Hirsch S The Frontrunner Stakes (Norfolk Stakes) (Prov race date) The Zenyatta St (Lady’s Secret) (Prov race date) The Chandelier St (Oak Leaf S) (Prov race date) Darley Alcibiades S Claibourne Breeders’ Futurity Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen

Juv Juv F Mile Juv F Turf

Class

8f (1600m)

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Metres

L

30-Sep-2014

SEK 400,000

3+

T

1600

8

01-Sep-14

Gp 2 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 3 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L L Gp 1 Gr 3 Gp 1 Gp 3 L L L L Gr 3 L Gp 2 L L Gr 2 Gr 3 Gr 1 L L Gr 1 Gr 1

5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 10-Oct-2014 11-Oct-2014 12-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 19-Oct-2014 19-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 21-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 31-Oct-2014 31-Oct-2014 1-Nov-2014 2-Nov-2014 2-Nov-2014 2-Nov-2014 3-Nov-2014 3-Nov-2014 4-Nov-2014 12-Nov-2014 16-Nov-2014 16-Nov-2014 24-Nov-2014 26-Nov-2014 26-Nov-2014 15-Dec-2014 22-Dec-2014

€ 200000 £160000 $400000 $400000 $400000 $750000 € 300000 € 80000 € 52000 £40000 € 155000 € 42500 € 209000 £170000 £1,000,000 € 40000 € 105000 € 105000 € 50000 € 88000 € 61600 £40000 € 55000 £200000 $391680 € 250000 € 80000 £40000 € 50000 £37000 £30000 $274148 € 25000 € 104500 € 52000 € 55000 $351753 $362311 $976929 € 52000 € 55000 $635154 $683899

3+ 3+ F 2 2F 3+ F&M 3+ 2F 2 3+ 2 2 2F 2 C&F 2F 3+ 3+ 2F 2 3+ F&M 2F 3+ 2 2 2 C&F 3+ 2 CF 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ F&M 3+ 2F 2F 3+ 3+ 3+ F 2 2 3+ 3+ 3+ 2 2F 2 No G

T T D D D D T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT AWT T T T T T T T T D T T T T T

1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

28-Aug-14 23-Jul-14

2 3+

T T

1650 1650

3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 2 3+ F&M 2F 2F 2 3+ 2

T D AWT D D D D D T T

1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore L L

9-Sep-2014 23-Sep-2014

Furlongs

F&M Classic Juv F&M Classic Juv F Juv F Juv

14-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 3-Aug-2014 28-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 4-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 10-Nov-2014

Jagersro

Margareta Wettermarks Minneslopning

L

6-Jul-2014

€ 70000 $342473 $300,000 $250000 $250000 $250000 $400000 $500000 € 55000 € 55000

York

Strensall St

Gp 3

24-Aug-2014

Fukushima Saratoga Curragh Curragh Del Mar Saratoga Monmouth Park Saratoga

Radio Nikkei Sho Diana St Kilboy Estate Meld St Eddie Read S Coaching Club American Oaks Haskell Invitational (INV) Whitney H’cap

82 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Classic

Gr 3 Gr 1 Gg 2 Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1

7-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 3-Aug-2014

01-Oct-14 01-Oct-14 01-Oct-14

29-Oct-14 12-Nov-14

8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5

21-May-14 11-Jun-14 25-Jul-14

18-Sep-14 18-Sep-14 13-Aug-14 20-Aug-14

8.6f (1730m) SEK 400,000

3+ F&M

D

1730

8.6

03-Jun-14

8.95f (1790m) £75000

3+

T

1790

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 JPN USA IRE IRE USA USA USA USA

13-Aug-14 17-Sep-14 09-Oct-14 16-Oct-14 25-Oct-14 26-Oct-14 28-Oct-14 28-Oct-14 17-Sep-14 22-Oct-14 03-Oct-14

8.5f (1700m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore GB

07-Oct-14 CLOSED 07-Oct-14 12-Sep-14 23-Jul-14 06-Aug-14 14-Oct-14 CLOSED CLOSED 14-Oct-14 19-Sep-14 19-Sep-14 15-Oct-14

8.25 8.25

Visit www.trainermagazine.com SWE

18-Sep-14 18-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 25-Sep-14

8.25f (1650m) € 55000 € 52000

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 2 Gr 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 3

Closing

$361861 $500000 € 100000 € 60000 $300000 $300000 $1000000 $1,500,000

8.95

19-Aug-14

9f (1800m) 3 3+ FM 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3F 3 3+

T T T T T D D D

1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800

9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

28-May-14 12-Jun-14 12-Jun-14 11-Jul-14

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 10

STAKES SCHEDULES Visit www.trainermagazine.com Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

DEN JPN JPN GB IRE FR USA FR NOR USA USA IRE JPN GER FR JPN GB USA ITY USA FR USA JPN GB JPN FR FR IRE ITY ITY FR JPN JPN JPN

Klampenborg Sapporo Niigata Salisbury Gowran Park Clairefontaine Del Mar Clairefontaine Ovrevoll Saratoga Saratoga Curragh Sapporo Baden-Baden Longchamp Hanshin Goodwood Santa Anita Milan Keeneland Maisons-Laffitte Keeneland Tokyo Newmarket Tokyo Longchamp Longchamp Leopardstown Rome Milan Marseille Borely Kyoto Tokyo Hanshin

Dansk Pokallob Queen St Leopard St Upavon St (EBF) Hurry Harriet EBF St Luth Enchantee Del Mar Oaks Pelleas Marit Sveaas Minnelop Personal Ensign Inv St F&M Classic The Woodward Dance Design St Sapporo Nisai St Berenberg Bank Cup Bertrand de Tarragon FEE Rose St Foundation St The Awesome Again St (Goodwood St) (Prov race date) Classic M.Se Ippolito Fassati Juddmonte Spinster S Distaff Le Fabuleux Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S (by invitation only) Mainichi Okan Darley St Fuchu Himba St Casimir Delamarre Conde Eyrefield St Premio Guido Berardelli Campobello Delahante Miyako St Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai St Challenge Cup

IRE

Gowran Park

Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Stud Fillies St

9f (1800m)

Class

Race Date

Value

L Gr 3 Gr 3 L L L Gr 1 L Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gr 3 L L Gr 2 L Gr 1 L Gr 1 L Gr 1 Gr 2 Gp 3 Gr 2 L Gp 3 L Gp 3 L L Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 3

4-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 11-Aug-2014 14-Aug-2014 14-Aug-2014 15-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 21-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 22-Sep-2014 25-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 6-Oct-2014 8-Oct-2014 12-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 19-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 2-Nov-2014 10-Nov-2014 10-Nov-2014 25-Nov-2014 14-Dec-2014

DKK 250,000 $342443 $391332 £41000 € 50000 € 64000 $300000 € 55000 NOK 1,300,000 $500000 $600,000 € 67500 $293715 € 25000 € 64000 $489672 £40000 $250000 € 41800 $500000 € 55000 $400000 $607118 £55000 $519023 € 55000 € 80000 € 40000 € 88000 € 41800 € 55000 $362311 $312578 $390663

Age

Surface

Metres

3+ 3+ FM 3 3+ F&M 3+ F&M 4+ F 3F 3 C&G 3+ 3+ FM 3+ 3+ F 2 3+F 3+ F 3F 3+ 3+ 3 3+ F&M 3 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ FM 3F 2 2 2 2 2 3+ 2 3+

T T D T T T T T T D D T T T T T T D T D T T T T T T T T T T T D T T

1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800

3+ F

T

1890

3+ FM 3+F 2 3+ 3F 3+ 3+F&M

T T T AWT AWT T T

1900 1900 1900 1900 1900 1950 1950

3+ F

T

1970

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3

22-Sep-2014

Arlington Park Hannover Bordeaux Deauville Deauville Longchamp Taby Galopp

Beverly D. St Grosser Preis der Metallbau Burckhardt GmbH Grand Criterium de Bordeaux Lyphard Petite Etoile Prix Dollar (Qatar) Stockholm Fillies And Mares St

GB

Goodwood

Nassau

F&M Turf

Gr 1 L L L L Gp 2 L

17-Aug-2014 22-Sep-2014 9-Oct-2014 3-Dec-2014 4-Dec-2014 5-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014

$750000 € 25000 € 55000 € 52000 € 55000 € 200000 SEK 400,000

3-Aug-2014

Gala St (Ambant) Hamburg Trophy Belmont Oaks Invitational Belmont Derby Invitational Delaware H’cap Neue Bult Stuten Meilen Cup Bavaria-Preis Tanabata Sho Steventon St (Sharps Brewery) La Pepiniere Prix Eugene Adam Hakodate Kinen Madame Jean Couturie Grand Prix du Lion d’Angers Vichy - Auvergne Lyric St (EBF) Grosser-Dallmayr Preis Psyche Kokura Kinen Prix Guillaume d’Ornano (Haras du Logis Saint Germain Gontaut-Biron (Hong Kong Jockey Club) Alabama Arlington Million XXXI Turf Secretariat Stakes Nonette (Shadwell)

L Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 L L Gr 3 L L Gp 2 Gr 3 L L Gp 3 L Gp 1 Gp 3 Gr 3 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 2

5-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 13-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 21-Jul-2014 23-Jul-2014 23-Jul-2014 24-Jul-2014 26-Jul-2014 28-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 11-Aug-2014 16-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 20-Aug-2014

25-Jun-14 25-Jun-14 08-Aug-14 08-Aug-14 07-Aug-14 08-Aug-14 13-Aug-14 24-Jun-14

24-Jul-14 23-Jul-14 16-Jul-14 22-Sep-14 19-Sep-14

18-Sep-14

03-Sep-14 12-Oct-14 03-Sep-14 09-Oct-14 21-Oct-14 26-Sep-14

01-Oct-14 15-Oct-14 29-Oct-14

9.4

14-Aug-14

9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5

26-Apr-14 10-Sep-14

28-Aug-14 08-Sep-14

9.85f (1970m) £200000

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Sandown Park GER Hamburg USA Belmont Park USA Belmont Park USA Delaware Park GER Hannover GER Munich JPN Fukushima GB Newbury FR Maisons-Laffitte FR Maisons-Laffitte JPN Hakodate FR Vichy FR Le Lion d’Angers FR Vichy GB York GER Munich FR Deauville JPN Kokura FR Deauville FR Deauville USA Saratoga USA Arlington Park USA Arlington Park FR Deauville

Closing

9.5f (1900m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gp 1

9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

9.4f (1890m) € 70000

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 USA GER FR FR FR FR SWE

Furlongs

9.85 09-Jul-14GB

10f (2000m) £37000 € 55000 $1000000 $1250000 $750000 € 25000 € 25000 $391486 £37000 € 64000 € 130000 $391461 € 55000 € 55000 € 80000 £40000 € 155000 € 80000 $391332 € 400000 € 80000 $600000 $1000000 $500000 € 130000

3+ 3+ 3F 3 3+ FM 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ 4+ F&M 3 3+ 3F 3 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3F 3+ 3 4+ 3F 3+ 3yo 3F

T T T T D T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T D T T T

2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

29-Jun-14 14-May-14

01-Jul-14 02-Jul-14 02-Jul-14 28-May-14 15-Jul-14 12-Jul-14 03-Jul-14 11-Jun-14 16-Jul-14 16-Jul-14 03-Jul-14 20-Jul-14 07-May-14 10-Jul-14 25-Jun-14 24-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 26-Apr-14 26-Apr-14 31-Jul-14

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 83

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 11

STAKES SCHEDULES Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

USA FR IRE JPN USA GER FR FR JPN FR IRE IRE IRE GB FR FR GB USA USA USA ITY FR GER JPN FR FR GB GER ITY SWE FR IRE GB CAN GER JPN IRE ITY ITY GB ITY JPN FR FR GB FR ITY GB JPN JPN JPN JPN

Saratoga Deauville Curragh Sapporo Del Mar Baden-Baden Longchamp Toulouse Niigata Marseille Borely Leopardstown Leopardstown Curragh Yarmouth Maisons-Laffitte Longchamp Ayr Belmont Park Belmont Park Santa Anita Rome Chantilly Hoppegarten Hanshin Longchamp Saint-Cloud Newmarket Munich Milan Taby Galopp Lyon-Parilly Dundalk Ascot Woodbine Baden-Baden Kyoto Leopardstown Rome Rome Newmarket Rome Tokyo Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud Doncaster Marseille Borely Rome Lingfield Park Fukushima Kyoto Chukyo Chukyo

Travers Prix Jean Romanet (Darley) Royal Whip St (Kilfrush Stud) Sapporo Kinen TGV Pacific Classic Sparkassen- Finanzgruppe Boulogne Occitanie Niigata Kinen Coupe de Marseille Kilternan St Irish Champion St Blandford St (Moyglare Stud) John Musker (EBF) La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte Prince d’Orange Doonside Cup (williamhill.com) Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational St Flower Bowl Invitational St Rodeo Drive St Archidamia Charles Laffitte Preis der Deutschen Einheit Sirius St Prix de l’Opera (Longines) Dahlia Pride Nereide-Rennen Premio Verziere (Memorial A. Cirla) Songline Classic Andre Baboin Carlingford St Champion (Quipco) E P Taylor S Baden-Wurttemberg-Trophy Shuka Sho Trigo St Conte Felice Scheibler Premio Lydia Tesio James Seymour Premio Roma Tenno Sho (Autumn) Solitude Criterium de Saint-Cloud Gillies St (EBF) Grand Prix de Marseille “G, Valiani (ex Buontalenta)” Churchill St Fukushima Kinen Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai St Kinko Sho Aichi Hai

GB GB

Sandown Park Windsor

Eclipse St (Coral) Winter Hill

GER GER

Krefeld Krefeld

Grosser Preis der Sparkasse Niederrhein-Pokal

GB GB GB

York Haydock Park York

York St (Sky Bet) Rose of Lancaster St (Betfred) International St (Juddmonte)

Classic

Turf

Classic F&M Turf F&M Turf

F&M Turf

10f (2000m)

Class

Race Date

Value

Age

Surface

Gr 1 Gp 1 Gp 3 Gr 2 Gr 1 Gp 3 L L Gr 3 L Gp 3 Gp 1 Gp 2 L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 L L Gp 3 Gr 3 Gp 1 L L L Gp 3 L Gp3 L Gp 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gr 1 L L Gp 1 L Gp 1 Gr 1 L Gp 1 L L L L Gr 3 Gr 3 Gr 2 Gr 3

24-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 31-Aug-2014 5-Sep-2014 7-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 12-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 18-Sep-2014 20-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 2-Oct-2014 4-Oct-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 10-Oct-2014 12-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014 15-Oct-2014 18-Oct-2014 19-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 2-Nov-2014 3-Nov-2014 3-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 9-Nov-2014 10-Nov-2014 10-Nov-2014 16-Nov-2014 17-Nov-2014 30-Nov-2014 7-Dec-2014 21-Dec-2014

$1,250,000 € 250000 € 95000 $636233 $1000000 € 55000 € 52000 € 55000 $391666 € 55000 € 100000 € 1000000 € 200000 £40000 € 80000 € 80000 £60000 $1000000 $600000 $250000 € 41800 € 55000 € 85000 $342758 € 400000 € 64000 £37000 € 25000 € 61600 SEK 400,000 €80000 € 40000 £1,300,000 CAN500,000 € 55000 $871592 € 40000 € 41800 € 209000 £37000 € 209000 $1292420 € 55000 € 250000 £40000 € 60000 € 41800 £45000 $390800 $312578 $585958 $341958

3 4+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 4+ 4+ 3F 3+ 3 3+ 3+ 3+ F 3+ F&M 3+ 3 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ FM 3+ F 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ F 4+ F 3+ F 3+ F 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3F 3+ 3 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3F 2 CF 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ F 3+ 3+ 2 3+ 3+ FM

D T T T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T D T T T T T D T T T T T D T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T T

2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000

£425000 £60000

3+ 3+

T T

2010 2010

€ 55000 € 55000

3 3+

T T

2050 2050

£100000 £60000 £750000

3+ 3+ 3+

T T T

2080 2080 2080

€ 25000 € 55000 € 52000 € 57500 € 80000 € 55000 € 80000

3+ 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ F 3 3+ F

T T T AWT T T T

2100 2100 2100 2100 2100 2100 2100

$500000 € 55000 £40000 € 400000 € 41800 £37000 € 55000 £60000 € 104500

3+ 3F 3 C&G 3F 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ F 3+ 3+

T T T T T T T T T

2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200

Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gp 1 Gp 3

6-Jul-2014 24-Aug-2014

18-Aug-2014 10-Nov-2014

Turf

27-Jul-2014 10-Aug-2014 21-Aug-2014

Dusseldorf Longchamp Strasbourg Dundalk Saint-Cloud Croise-Laroche Toulouse

Henkel-Trophy Liancourt Grand Prix de la Region d’Alsace Diamond St Flore Grand Prix du Nord Fille de l’Air

USA GER GB GER ITY GB GER GB ITY

Monmouth Park Hamburg Hamilton Park Dusseldorf Merano Windsor Baden-Baden Newbury Milan

United Nations St Hamburger Stutenpreis Glasgow St Henkel Preis der Diana German Oaks EBF Terme di Merano August St Baden Racing Stutenpreis Arc Trial (Dubai Duty Free) Premio Federico Tesio

L L L Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 3

4-Aug-2014 2-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 4-Oct-2014 31-Oct-2014 6-Nov-2014 12-Nov-2014

84 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Gr 1 Gp 3 L Gp 1 L L Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 2

7-Jul-2014 9-Jul-2014 19-Jul-2014 4-Aug-2014 16-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 7-Sep-2014 21-Sep-2014 22-Sep-2014

31-Jul-14 17-Jul-14 09-Jul-14 15-Aug-14 16-Jul-14

23-Jul-14 07-Sep-14 22-May-14 07-Aug-14 12-Sep-14 04-Sep-14 04-Sep-14 16-Sep-14

06-Aug-14 20-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 07-Oct-14 03-Sep-14 12-Sep-14 08-Sep-14 25-Sep-14 12-Oct-14 06-Aug-14 02-Oct-14 27-Aug-14 03-Sep-14 21-Oct-14 26-Sep-14 28-Oct-14 03-Oct-14 17-Sep-14 23-Oct-14 04-Nov-14

11-Nov-14 01-Oct-14 15-Oct-14 29-Oct-14 12-Nov-14

10.05 10.05

30-Apr-14 19-Aug-14

10.25 10.25

25-Jun-14 CLOSED

10.4 10.4 10.4

22-Jul-14 05-Aug-14 25-Jul-14

10.5f (2100m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Turf

Closing

10.4f (2080m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com GER FR FR IRE FR FR FR

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

10.25f (2050m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 1

Furlongs

10.05f (2010m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3 Gp 3

Metres

10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5 10.5

23-Jul-14

28-Aug-14 16-Oct-14 23-Oct-14

11f (2200m) 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

22-Jun-14 14-May-14 13-Jul-14

19-Aug-14 16-Jul-14 16-Sep-14 22-Aug-14

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 12

STAKES SCHEDULES Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Country Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

JPN ITY JPN GER GER JPN GER

St Lite Kinen Villa Borghese Memorial F. Cadoni All Comers Neue Bult Stuten-Steher-Cup Herbst Stuten Steher-reis Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup Grosser Dresdner Herbstpreis

Niigata Rome Niigata Hannover Hannover Kyoto Dresden

Breeders’ Cup

11f (2200m)

Class

Race Date

Value

Gr 2 L Gr 2 L Gp 3 Gr 1 L

22-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 6-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014 17-Nov-2014 20-Nov-2014

$509279 € 41800 $607290 € 25000 € 55000 $879240 € 25000

Age

Surface

3 3+ 3+ 3+F 3+ F M 3+ FM 3+

T T T T T T T

Visit www.trainermagazine.com ITY

Naples

Unire

L

22-Dec-2014

Siracusa

Francesco Faraci

L

9-Dec-2014

€ 41800

3+

T

Haydock Park

Lancashire Oaks (bet365)

Gp 2

6-Jul-2014

2250

€ 41800

3+

T

£90000

2300

Hamburg Roscommon Newmarket Longchamp Longchamp Newmarket Curragh Vichy Vichy Ascot Goodwood Ovrevoll Goodwood Newbury Cork Leopardstown Hoppegarten Saratoga York York York Saratoga Ovrevoll Clairefontaine Kempton Park Baden-Baden Veliefendi Craon Galway Saint Cloud Chester Woodbine Longchamp Longchamp Longchamp Taby Galopp

IDEE 145. Deutsches Derby Lenebane Princess of Wales’s St (Sportingbet.com) Thiberville Grand Prix de Paris (Juddmonte) Aphrodite St (Newsalls Park Stud) Irish Oaks (Darley) Hubert Baguenault de Puchesse Frederic de Lagrange King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Betfair) Gordon St (Neptune Investment Management) Oslo Cup Glorious St (Coutts) Chalice St (EBF) Give Thanks St (Irish Stallion Farms EBF) Ballyroan St Grosser Preis Von Berlin Sword Dancer Invitational St Great Voltigeur St (Neptune investment management) Yorkshire Oaks (Darley) Galtres St (EBF) New York Turf Writers Cup Scandic Norwegian Derby Grand Prix de Clairefontaine September St (Betfred) Longines Grosser Preis von Baden Bosphorus Cup Grand Prix de Craon Oyster St Tourelles Stand Cup (Stella Artois) Northern Dancer BC Turf Prix du Niel (Qatar) Prix Foy (Qatar) Prix Vermeille (Qatar) Stockholm Cup International

FR IRE FR SWE

Saint-Cloud Listowel Saint-Cloud Jagersro

Joubert Listowel Turenne Skanska Faltrittklubbens Jubileumslopning

GB GB USA GER JPN GB FR FR

Ascot Newmarket Belmont Park Cologne Hanshin Ascot Longchamp Toulouse

Princess Royal St Godolphin Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational St Preis von Europa Kobe Shimbun Hai Cumberland Lodge St (BMW) Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Qatar) Panacee

Turf

F&M Turf

Turf

Turf

11 11 11 11 11 11 11

Closing

09-Aug-14 20-Aug-14 24-Sep-14 03-Sep-14 01-Oct-14 12-Nov-14

11.25

11.5

11.9f (2380m) 3+ F

T

2380

Visit www.trainermagazine.com GER IRE GB FR FR GB IRE FR FR GB GB NOR GB GB IRE IRE GER USA GB GB GB USA NOR FR GB GER TKY FR IRE FR GB CAN FR FR FR SWE

Furlongs

11.5f (2300m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 GB

2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200

11.25f (2250m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore ITY

Metres

11.9

01-Jul-14

12f (1850m)

Gp 1 L Gp 2 L Gp 1 L Gp 1 L L Gp 1 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3 L Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gr 1 Gp 2 Gp 1 L Gr 1 L L Gp 3 Gp 1 Gp 2 L L L L Gr 1 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 1 Gp 3

7-Jul-2014 8-Jul-2014 11-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 20-Jul-2014 22-Jul-2014 27-Jul-2014 27-Jul-2014 31-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 2-Aug-2014 4-Aug-2014 6-Aug-2014 8-Aug-2014 11-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 21-Aug-2014 21-Aug-2014 22-Aug-2014 22-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 27-Aug-2014 7-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-2014 9-Sep-2014 9-Sep-2014 10-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014

€ 500000 € 40000 £100000 € 55000 € 600000 £40000 € 400000 € 52000 € 55000 £1000000 £75000 NOK 1,000,000 £60000 £40000 € 77500 € 57500 € 175000 $500000 £150000 £325000 £60000 $150000 NOK 1,200,000 € 55000 £55000 € 250000 € 306000 € 52000 € 50000 € 52000 £37000 CAN300,000+ € 130000 € 130000 € 350000 SEK 800,000”

L L L L

16-Sep-2014 18-Sep-2014 19-Sep-2014 26-Sep-2014

L L Gr 1 Gp 1 Gr 2 Gp 3 Gp 1 L

27-Sep-2014 27-Sep-2014 28-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 5-Oct-2014 6-Oct-2014 11-Oct-2014

3 CF 3+ 3+ 3F 3 CF 3+ F&M 3F 4+ 3 3+ 3 3+ 4+ 3+ F&M 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 C&G 3+ F 3+ F&M 4+ 3 3 3+ 3+ 3+ C&F 3+ 3+ 3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 3 CF 4+ CF 3+ F 3+

T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T T T T T T T T T

2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400

12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

€ 55000 € 42500 € 55000 SEK 400,000

3F 3+ 3 C&G 3+

T T T D

2400 2400 2400 2400

12 12 12 12

£40000 £40000 $600000 € 155000 $509273 £60000 € 4000000 € 52000

3+ F&M 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 No G 3+ 3+ CF 3+ F&M

T T T T T T T T

2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400

12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

02-Jul-14 18-Jun-14 05-Jul-14 20-Feb-14 15-Jul-14 12-Jun-14 16-Jul-14 19-Jul-14 11-Jun-14 25-Jul-14 03-Jun-14 27-Jul-14 29-Jul-14 03-Jul-14 03-Jul-14 21-May-14 02-Jul-14 25-Jun-14 16-Aug-14 24-Jun-14 19-Aug-14 02-Sep-14 18-Jun-14 07-Aug-14 03-Sep-14 09-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 28-Aug-14 18-Aug-14

12-Sep-14 25-Aug-14

21-Sep-14 21-Sep-14 02-Jul-14 20-Aug-14 29-Sept-14 15-May-14

ISSUE 46 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 85

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 13

STAKES SCHEDULES Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Country

Track

Race Name & (Sponsor)

Breeders’ Cup

IRE JPN CAN FR ITY FR GB GER ITY GB FR JPN FR

Curragh Kyoto Woodbine Longchamp Milan Nantes Newbury Munich Milan Kempton Park Lyon-Parilly Tokyo Toulouse

Finale St Kyoto Daishoten Pattison Canadian International Conseil de Paris Gran Premio del Jockey Club e Coppa d’Oro Grand Prix de la Ville de Nantes St Simon St (Worthington’s Champion Shield) Grosser Pries Von Bayern Falck G. Floodlit St Grand Camp Japan Cup Max Sicard

12f (2400m)

Class

Race Date

Value

L Gr 2 Gr 1 Gp 2 Gp 1 L Gp 3 Gp 1 L L L Gr 1 L

13-Oct-2014 14-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 20-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 2-Nov-2014 2-Nov-2014 6-Nov-2014 23-Nov-2014 1-Dec-2014 8-Dec-2014

€ 40000 $607118 CAN1,000,000 € 130000 € 209000 € 60000 £60000 € 155000 € 41800 £37000 € 52000 $2442708 € 60000

Age

Surface

3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+

T T T T T T T T T AWT T T T

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 FR FR FR FR FR FR JPN FR

Deauville Deauville Deauville Deauville Longchamp Deauville Tokyo Saint Cloud

Osaf Prix de Reux Prix de Pomone (Haras d’Etreham) Minerve Grand Prix de Deauville (Lucien Barriere) Prix Royallieu (Qatar) Vulcain Copa Republica Argentina Belle de Nuit

L Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 2 L Gr 2 L

11-Aug-2014 17-Aug-2014 18-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 5-Oct-2014 23-Oct-2014 10-Nov-2014 14-Nov-2014

€ 80000 € 130000 € 80000 € 200000 € 250000 € 55000 $538502 € 52000

Metres

2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400

Newmarket Chester Lingfield Park

Trophy St (Bahrain) Chester H’cap River Eden St (EBF)

Gp 3 L L

GB

Newbury

Geoffrey Freer St

GB FR IRE GB GB IRE GER IRE GER FR GB ITY ITY

York Longchamp Leopardstown Goodwood Goodwood Curragh Baden-Baden Curragh Dortmund Saint-Cloud Ascot Milan Rome

Silver Cup H’cap (John Smith’s) Maurice de Nieuil Challenge St Lillie Langtry St (Blackrock) March St Ballycullen St Preis des Casino Baden-Baden St Leger (Irish) Deutsches St Leger Scaramouche Noel Murless St Leger Italiano Roma Vecchia

11-Jul-2014 31-Aug-2014 31-Oct-2014

3+ 3+ F 3F 3+ 3+ F 3 3+ 3+ F

T T T T T T T T

17-Aug-2014

2500 2500 2500 2500 2500 2500 2500 2500

£60000 £37000 £40000

3 3+ 3+ F&M

T T AWT

2600 2600 2600

£60000

3+

T

2660

13-Jul-2014 14-Jul-2014 18-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 24-Aug-2014 1-Sep-2014 15-Sep-2014 22-Sep-2014 4-Oct-2014 4-Oct-2014 26-Oct-2014 10-Nov-2014

3+ 4+ 3+ 3+ F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 3+ 3+

T T T T T T T T T T T T T

2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800 2800

£40000 € 130000 € 40000 £60000 £40000 € 40000 € 25000 € 300000 € 55000 € 52000 £37000 € 61600 € 41800

Doncaster Doncaster

Park Hill St (DFS) St Leger (Ladbrokes)

Gp 2 Gp 1

12-Sep-2014 14-Sep-2014

Maisons-Laffitte Deauville Deauville Longchamp Curragh Longchamp Kyoto

Carrousel Michel Houyvet Prix du Kergorlay (Darley) Lutece Loughbrown St Prix Chaudenay (Qatar) Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger)

FR FR FR

Longchamp Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud

Gladiateur (Qatar) Prix Royal-Oak Denisy

L L Gp 2 Gp 3 L Gp 2 Gr 1

28-Jul-2014 18-Aug-2014 25-Aug-2014 8-Sep-2014 29-Sep-2014 5-Oct-2014 27-Oct-2014

£90000 £600000

3+ F 3 C&F

T T

15-Sep-2014 27-Oct-2014 14-Nov-2014

2920 2920

€ 52000 € 55000 € 130000 € 80000 € 40000 € 200000 $1091954

4+ 3 3+ 3 3 3 3 No G

T T T T T T T

3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000

€ 80000 € 250000 € 52000

4+ 3+ 3+

T T T

3100 3100 3100

Hamburg Sandown Park Goodwood Newmarket

Langer Hamburger Esher St (Coral) Goodwood Cup (Artemis) Rose Bowl St

L L Gp 2 L

GB

York

Lonsdale Cup (Weatherbys Insurance)

2-Jul-2014 6-Jul-2014 1-Aug-2014 26-Sep-2014

23-Jul-2014

€ 25000 £37000 £100000 £37000

4+ 4+ 3+ 3+

T T T T

3200 3200 3200 3200

£150000

3+

T

3280

Doncaster Nakayama

Doncaster Cup Stayers St

Gp 2 Gr 2

13-Sep-2014 7-Dec-2014

Longchamp Cologne

Prix du Cadran (Qatar) Silbernes Band des Rheinlandes

86 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 46

Gp 1 L

6-Oct-2014 13-Oct-2014

05-Jul-14 26-Aug-14 25-Oct-14

13.5

12-Aug-14

14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

08-Jul-14 26-Jun-14 12-Jul-14 26-Jul-14 19-Aug-14 17-Jul-14 20-Aug-14 22-May-14 30-Jul-14 26-Sept-14 26-Sep-14

14.6 14.6

06-Sep-14 23-Jul-14

15 15 15 15 15 15 15

19-Jul-14 12-Aug-14 31-Jul-14 21-Aug-14 23-Sep-14 28-Aug-14 CLOSED

15.5 15.5 15.5

28-Aug-14 09-Oct-14

16 16 16 16

25-Jun-14 01-Jul-14 26-Jul-14 20-Sep-14

£100000 $585958

16.4

17-Aug-14

18f (3600m) 3+ 3+

T T

3600 3600

Visit www.trainermagazine.com FR GER

13 13 13

16.4f (3280m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 GB JPN

01-Oct-14

16f (3200m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 2

17-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 24-Jul-14 07-Aug-14 28-Aug-14

15.5f (3100m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com GER GB GB GB

12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5

15f (3000m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 3 Gp 1 L

15-Oct-14

14.6f (2920m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore FR FR FR FR IRE FR JPN

31-Oct-14

14f (2800m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com GB GB

21-Oct-14 13-Aug-14

13.5f (2660m)

Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 L Gp 2 L Gp 3 L Gp 3 L Gp 1 Gp 3 L L Gp 3 L

Closing

07-Oct-14 03-Sep-14 02-Oct-14 09-Oct-14 19-Sep-14

13f (2600m)

Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3

12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

12.5f (2500m)

Visit www.trainermagazine.com GB GB GB

Furlongs

18 18

07-Sep-14 29-Oct-14

20f (4000m) € 300000 € 25000

4+ 3+

T T

4000 4000

20 20

28-Aug-14 01-Oct-14

STAKES SCHEDULES ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 22:00 Page 14

CROSSE EURO ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:23 Page 1

DAVID CROSSE VIEW FROM THE SADDLE

I

Is it time to make our Triple Crown more relevant?

T’S the greatest and toughest test exclusively for three-year-olds in European racing. The Guineas at one mile, the Derby at a mile and a half, and the St Leger at a mile and six furlongs – the last horse to win this triumvirate since World War II was Nijinsky in 1971, ridden by the great Lester Piggott and trained by Dr Vincent O’Brien.

Of the three races, the Epsom Derby is probably the ultimate test of the Classic generation due to the unique track. I've been lucky enough to ride over the course in a jump jockeys’ Flat race a couple of times and it's only when you walk and ride the course that you appreciate what it takes for a horse to win it. To me, it’s definitely the ultimate test of a racehorse.

I’m not saying the Triple Crown is the be all and end all but in the same breath it cannot be made irrelevant. Racing must do all in its power to keep it as important as it is. For example, Sea The Stars could have won the Triple Crown in his Classic year but his trainer John Oxx decided not to run in the final leg as it was considered too long. Maybe it was felt that the lack of speed connected with winning a St Leger would affect the horse’s reputation as a sire?

Has the St Leger become an afterthought because it’s run in September?

For some across Europe it may be hard to believe, but we’re still in the midst of the Triple Crown season in England. Deep down I’d love to be two stone lighter for the summer so I could ride in some of these races. But I’m watching from the sidelines and getting drawn in by the marketing that is taking over our major Flat races. Every race seems to be part of a series nowadays but I don’t get it. The one thing I do get is our Triple Crown.

Over in America their Triple Crown is billed as the ultimate test of a racehorse.

It is made up of three races over five weeks run in the same time span as between the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby – the Kentucky Derby, run over a mile and a quarter, the Preakness Stakes, run over the shorter distance of a mile and a three-sixteenths, and the last leg, the Belmont Stakes, run over a mile and a half. There has been no Triple Crown winner since 1978.

This year California Chrome won the first two legs of their Triple Crown.

Before the Belmont, the horse was a national news story almost daily leading up to the race.

California Chrome ran his guts out to finish fourth, and where after his previous two Classic wins co-owner Steve Coburn showed himself to be a gracious winner, this time was a very bad loser in his post-race interview,

which made the national news all for the wrong reasons.

One has got to ask however, would that happen in Europe? If an owner made a polarising comment after a Gold Cup or a Derby, would that make national news? Sure the trade press would cover it and maybe the odd back page but I can’t see it being a lead story on the evening news, not like in the USA. Is it because these races are run over such a short space of time that captivates its media over there?

This is where I feel we could change in Europe with an emphasis placed on the speed of our Guineas and the technically difficulty of the Derby and the grinding endurance of the St Leger.

The St Leger is the oldest classic in the world but is it time to change the month the race is run so we can then get the whole country behind our Triple Crown just like the Americans do? n

“If an owner made a polarising comment after a Gold Cup or a Derby, would that make national news? Sure the trade press would cover it and maybe the odd back page but I can’t see it being a lead story on the evening news, not like in the USA” 88 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 45

INSIDE back COVER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:15 Page 1

OUTSIDE BACK COVER ISSUE 46_Jerkins feature.qxd 30/06/2014 21:12 Page 1