Thoroughbred Owner Breeder

£4.95 JULY 2019 ISSUE 179

Best of British

Mark Weinfeld and Meon Valley Stud’s Classic season

PLUS

Skyline

New boutique consignor

Richard Hannon

07

‘I’d love to be champion again’

Harry Bentley

Driven to succeed in the saddle

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Without the support of your mares their success is all but a dream. www.juddmonte.com

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Welcome

Meon Valley’s Classic strike boosts British breeding

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£4.95 JULY 2019 ISSUE 179

Best of British

Mark Weinfeld and Meon Valley Stud’s Classic season

PLUS

Skyline

New boutique consignor

Richard Hannon

07

‘I’d love to be champion again’

Harry Bentley

Driven to succeed in the saddle

9 771745 435006

www.ownerbreeder.co.uk

Jul_179_Cover_v2.indd 1

Cover: Mark Weinfeld with Hippy Hippy Shake at his family’s Meon Valley Stud, which bred Oaks winner Anapurna, a daughter of Dash To The Top Photo: Denis Murphy

Jul_179_Editors.indd 1

Edward Rosenthal Editor

27/06/2019 17:50

t’s been a tough task for anyone taking on the might of Aidan O’Brien’s stable in this year’s domestic Classics. A Guineas double at Newmarket in May, with Magna Grecia and Hermosa, set a formidable tone for the rest of the campaign and while 86-year-old Kevin Prendergast came close to spoiling the party on Derby day with Madhmoon, Anthony Van Dyck’s late surge ensured the famous prize was heading back to Ballydoyle for a seventh time.

The Oaks also looked set to be claimed by O’Brien and the Coolmore trio of Smith, Magnier and Tabor with Pink Dogwood, until a filly named Anapurna decided enough was enough, stuck her head down under Frankie Dettori and battled her way to glory for the Weinfelds’ Meon Valley Stud.

A boutique operation with 35 broodmares, Meon Valley is no stranger to supplying top-class horses, the roll of honour featuring such illustrious names as Opera House, Lady Carla, Kayf Tara, Izzi Top and Speedy Boarding, a dual Group 1 winner in 2016. The latest stars are, of course, Anapurna and Telecaster, who represented the Weinfelds in the Derby, only to fluff his lines on just his fourth career start. There will be other days for him.

Still, two fancied Classic contenders on consecutive days is some accomplishment, a fact not lost on Mark Weinfeld as he looks forward to the rest of the season.

“It would have been unbelievable to have won both races,” Weinfeld tells Julian Muscat (The Big Interview, pages 40-44). “I don’t think any British owner-breeder has ever won both of the Epsom Classics in the same year – certainly not in the 20th century.

“But for an outfit of our size, with around 25 foals on the ground each year, it was quite something.”

Anapurna’s Oaks success also marked the first British Classic strike for Frankel. The Banstead Manor Stud resident is now one of the most sought-after stallions in the world and John Boyce’s fascinating analysis (Dr Statz, page 96) highlights his achievements during his first four seasons at stud.

Frankie Dettori, Anapurna’s jockey, enjoyed

a phenomenal Royal Ascot, ending the week as top rider with seven winners, which included a magical four-timer on Gold Cup day. It almost certainly would have been five winners but for a certain Harry Bentley, who conjured a late rattle from Biometric in the Britannia Stakes to chin the Italian on Turgenev and, likely, stop a few bookmakers from going out of business.

Bentley, a prodigious talent, has had something of a roller-coaster career thus far. However, he has become a far more consistent jockey over the past few seasons, aided by his blossoming association with the Ralph Beckett stable, and, given the right breaks, looks like a potential champion of the future.

“This is my tenth season riding and so much is about making contacts, riding for lots of stables

“Two Classic contenders in two days is some accomplishment” and striking up good relationships with trainers,” Bentley explains to Tim Richards (Talking To, pages 46-49). “They have to have faith in you, and you must respect them for that.

“I think my riding has probably improved over the years and the key is to try to keep on improving all the time.

“The Royal Ascot win was a big milestone after having a few rides there over the years and it was good to get the monkey off my back! I’m so pleased to have done it.

“I didn’t have any afterthoughts about [ending] Frankie’s winning run because we have to go out with the mindset that it’s the same as any other race and you’ve got to beat all the jockeys. I didn’t feel guilty, even though there must have been a few upset punters!”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 18:49

Contents

July 2019

104

50

14

News & Views

International Scene

ROA Leader

View From Ireland

Levy Board system outdated

5

Continental Tales

TBA Leader Breeders deserve funding

7

News Corky Browne bows out

10 26

Howard Wright Zimbabwe provides inspiration

28

2

The Big Picture From The Archives Chief Singer strikes in the July Cup

The Big Interview With Mark Weinfeld of Meon Valley Stud

Jockey Harry Bentley

Travel and lifestyle 36

30 32 34

Features

Talking To...

Racing Life Vichy delights and surprises

Around The Globe

At Royal Ascot and Epsom

Tony Morris Remembering Royal Palace

Fitzsimons and Swift team up

Mark Casse's memorable year

8

Changes News in a nutshell

Dermot Weld puts faith in youth

Skyline Thoroughbreds Newmarket's newest sales consignor

14 24 40 46 50

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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46

96

40

Features Sale Preparation Expert opinions

Fasig-Tipton

Racing ahead in Saratoga

Breeders’ Digest Focus on speed a concern

Sales Circuit

Latest reports from the ring

Caulfield Files

Celebrating Sadler's Wells

Dr Statz

Fantastic Frankel

The Finish Line

With top trainer Richard Hannon

Forum 54 58 63 64 74 96 104

Forum ROA Forum

Jackpot joy across the country

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76

TBA Forum

British-bred success celebrated

The Thoroughbred Club Superb offers for members

Vet Forum

Lower respiratory tract disease

84 93 94

Data Book European Pattern Results and analysis

98

Did you know?

Our monthly average readership is

20,000 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

3

27/06/2019 18:27

ROA Leader

Nicholas Cooper President

Levy Board trusted but its model is outdated T

o paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the Horserace Betting Levy Board have been greatly exaggerated.

For the Levy Board, apparently living on borrowed time for a number of years, and due for certain extinction less than a year ago, will now continue to perform its role of collecting money from the betting industry and distributing it to racing.

It has become a well-trodden path to say how the distribution of the industry’s funding was to be put into the hands of a new Racing Authority, while the collection process was to be carried out by the Gambling Commission, and how this never became law because a significant group of crossparty MPs and Peers decided that a Legislative Reform Order was not the right instrument to use to implement it.

It might seem strange that this rejection has been accepted with barely a peep of disapproval from racing.

There had, after all, been great support across the whole of racing for the new structure, which would have allowed the industry to decide on its own spending policy, unfettered by bookmaker interference.

So why this lack of reproach? Well, it has much to do with the fact that racing has learnt it must keep the government on-side. There is also general recognition that, whatever the criticisms of the Levy Board, it has always been and remains a safe pair of hands.

Neither is the board anything like as fractured and confrontational as it used to be. Many of us remember the times when the annual levy determination was often preceded by an almighty row between racing and bookmakers, and sometimes even the government of the day was dragged in to adjudicate.

We have, of course, seen what government support can do when the scope of the levy was widened to include those UK bets processed offshore and we remain alive to the possibilities of what might emerge from further legislative changes.

These will come only if we continue to impress on the government of the day that the racing industry is crucial both to the rural economy and to rural employment, that it represents the acceptable face of betting, that it creates the best possible welfare environment for both staff and horses and it is open and inclusive in embracing people of all social standings and minority groups.

By constantly pressing these arguments, while showing that racing is vulnerable not only to the effects of betting shop closures but also to a fluctuating source of income from the levy itself, can we hope to get the changes made

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that would allow us to rejuvenate levels of prize-money while injecting funds into self-help schemes.

Only recently we were disappointed to find levy yield dropping by £17m on the previous fiscal year’s £95m, reviving questions as to whether the gross profits system on which the levy is based is really fair to racing. Certainly, it was regarded as fair in 2001 when it was introduced, but the betting world has changed fundamentally since those days.

Then, the exchanges were barely on the horizon and nobody could have predicted the extent to which they would

“The betting world has changed fundamentally since the gross profits system was introduced” become so central to the whole betting system in this country, or how in the intervening years they would drive down the betting margins on which racing’s levy payments are based.

Even less could anybody have then predicted the way bookmakers would use horseracing as a loss leader on Saturdays and at big festival meetings to draw in new customers with money-back offers, thereby squeezing the margins on racing to next to nothing.

It is why serious discussion needs to be had on a return to a levy based on betting turnover rather than gross profits – or on some form of in-between hybrid system – to provide a much truer reflection of racing’s continuing worth to the betting industry.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 16:42

The Tin Man

9 races and £1,180,676 Qipco Champion Sprint Gr.1 • Diamond Jubilee Stakes Gr.1 32Red Haydock Sprint Gr.1 • bet365 Hackwood Stakes Gr.3 Weatherbys Hamilton Leisure Stakes L. (twice)

2019 has started well for FRED ARCHER RACING with the exciting three year old filly ARCHERS DREAM winning three races from three starts, including the Listed Cathedral Stakes at Salisbury.

In the past our Syndicates have ranged in price for a 10% share from £2,500 (LORD GEORGE) up to £12,000 (EXCELLED). A share in THE TIN MAN cost £10,800. Monthly fees are £360.

In 2018 FRED ARCHER RACING had nine individual winners from eleven horses. This Autumn we will be purchasing yearlings for the 2020 season and if you are interested in joining a FRED ARCHER RACING syndicate and would like to discuss this further please get in touch. jacko@fredarcherracing.com | Tel: 01638 664525 / 07780 915584 www.fredarcherracing.com

Fred Archer OB July 2019 f-p.indd 1

27/06/2019 09:16

TBA Leader

Julian Richmond-Watson Chairman

Levy money must be used to support breeders F

ollowing the Cheltenham Festival, where there was no British-bred winner in 28 races, and the Derby, in which only one horse with the GB suffix – third-placed Japan, who was bred and sold by Newsells Park Stud – finished in the first ten and the others filled two of the last three positions, it is hardly surprising that what appears to be a sorry situation is drawing comment from inside and outside the racing industry.

British racing relies to a significant extent on the goodwill of the government in supporting a levy on bookmakers’ gross profits. Presumably, in return it expects the money to be spent wisely across the board in support of the whole industry, a British industry that wherever possible should use a British-based product, rather than one that purchases the majority of its raw material, the horse, from foreign countries.

British breeders provide jobs and support many rural businesses in Britain. In addition, it goes without saying that every home-produced horse who races here provides work for trainers and jockeys and the teams behind them.

Horses bought abroad and raced in Britain contribute to the balance of payments deficit. It seems to make very little sense to have such an imbalance in trade when Britain has all the ingredients – ability, conditions, high health and welfare standards and a long tradition – to be able to produce good, even outstanding, racehorses.

However, there seems to be a noticeable element of hesitancy among British racing’s other individual constituents to support initiatives that use the betting levy to help those who support their own breeders. With this in mind, therefore, it is difficult to explain how only £150,000 out of an annual total levy income of around £80 million is directly spent on British breeders, through the Elite Mares’ Scheme for jumpers.

Even when the TBA has suggested that modest amounts of prize-money should be steered in the direction of supporting those who purchase racehorses bred in this country, support for the principle has not been unanimous.

Such a situation is unlikely to encourage breeders in Britain to believe the rest of the racing industry cares about breeding here.

Furthermore, some stakeholders appear to take for granted the substantial sum of well over £2 million that those breeders and stallion owners contribute to the sport in prize-money through the European Breeders Fund and direct sponsorship.

As I have pointed out before in this column, the French have built their racing industry on prize-money premiums and breeder support. It is consequently no coincidence that they bred and exported half of the Cheltenham Festival winners.

Much of the French premiums go directly to breeders, and

Jul_179_TBA_Leader.indd 7

many TBA members would have liked the board to go all out for substantial breeders’ prizes in Britain. It was not an unreasonable request, however we felt it would be a difficult objective to achieve in an environment where prize-money was limited.

However, we have to ask why breeders, who are the base and bedrock of racing, should continue to accept the crumbs from the dining table when the independent Economic Impact Study commissioned by the TBA demonstrated the precarious nature of so many British breeding operations.

We have not asked for prize-money to be used to support only British-bred horses. None of the participants loses out in the scenario we have proposed, so it is hard to understand why there would not be widespread support for the schemes we suggest.

“We need assurances about proper and meaningful financial support in future” The British breeding industry is an essential component of our sport and we need assurances about proper and meaningful financial support in future. A stronger domestically produced supply will benefit British racing, and we have a compelling argument for government support.

A direct approach for intervention would argue that some of the current levy income should be used to support a globalleading product that is at risk, that attracts substantial inward investment and underpins the performance of a number of closely-related British-based businesses. We believe there is a strong case for substantial sums to be directed to support breeding, with the benefits filtering through to all those employed, directly and indirectly, the trade balance and the rural economy the industry is so vital in supporting.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 16:10

News

Head lad Browne hands over the reins

N

icky Henderson will attempt to wrest the jumps trainers’ title back from great rival Paul Nicholls this season without the aid of his long-time right-hand man, Albert ‘Corky’ Browne.

Browne has been Henderson’s head lad since he started training in 1978 – during which time his guv’nor has been champion trainer on five occasions and, bar the Grand National, has won all there is to win – but has finally hung up his water bucket.

The 77-year-old is nothing short of a genius when it comes to horses’ wellbeing, and especially with tendons and limbs.

He served his apprenticeship in Ireland before moving to Britain in 1963, and the following year began working for Fred Winter, trainer of such greats as Bula, Crisp, Lanzarote and Pendil.

Henderson had been Winter’s assistant for the four years before he began training, and he took Browne along with him when starting out.

See You Then, Remittance Man, Long Run, Sprinter Sacre and Altior are just a handful of the numerous superstar horses to have graced the Henderson-

Corky Browne spent 41 years as head lad to trainer Nicky Henderson

Browne era, which has come to a close with the latter’s decision to call it quits.

“It’s about time,” said Browne. “I feel it’s the right time – to leave it to the young chaps, but I’ll miss it.

“In the last year I’d gone down to Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but I’ll be up to watch some schooling and see them work.

“It’s been a massive part of my life; 41 years I’ve been with Nicky and I’ve enjoyed every year, month and day.”

He added when speaking to the Racing Post: “The whole lot was special and things got bigger and bigger until it became the empire it is now. You’d never dream it would become this big, but it did – more than 3,000 winners.

“It started off with First Bout in the Triumph and See You Then in the

Quartet hit 1,000 wins

Champion Hurdle, which got the ball rolling at Cheltenham.”

Asked if he could pinpoint his favourite horse over the past four decades, he replied: “There were so many great ones it’s hard to pick, but I had a soft spot for My Tent Or Yours.

He got beat in some big ones but gave everything and was as honest as hell.

“And how could I pick the best? See You Then was a three-time Champion Hurdle winner, which is hard to beat, but we’ve had other winners of that, lots of Champion Chases and a couple of Gold Cups, so it’s difficult to pick.”

Also leaving Henderson’s employment is Altior’s work-rider, Toby Lawes. The 27-year-old will start training this year, taking over from David Arbuthnot at Andrew Wates’ Henfold House stables.

Danny Tudhope enjoyed a superb Royal Ascot after gaining his 1,000th career winner

A quartet of jockeys under both codes passed the magical 1,000-winner mark last month.

Danny Tudhope, 33, who enjoyed a stunning four-timer at Royal Ascot, headlined by the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes triumph of Lord Glitters, hit the milestone on Ingleby Hollow at Thirsk on June 3.

Paul Mulrennan, 37, like Tudhope based in the north and best known for his association with the Michael Dods-trained sprinting mare Mabs Cross, enjoyed his landmark success at Doncaster on June 16 aboard Camacho Chief.

On the jumping front, good friends Aidan Coleman and Sam Twiston-Davies both reached the thousand on the same afternoon at Southwell on June 23. Coleman, 30, struck first on Western Miller for trainer Charlie Longsdon before 26-year-old Twiston-Davies’ victory on the Dr Richard Newland-trained Nordican Bleue. Each jockey added another triumph for good measure to end the day on 1,001 NH winners.

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THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 16:55

Stories from the racing world

Trevor Jones The sport of horseracing lost one of its most talented and best-known photographers in June with the death of Trevor Jones. He was 72.

In a career that spanned four decades, Jones’s time with the Allsport photo agency saw him cover World Cup football and Wimbledon before he moved to concentrate on horseracing and bloodstock.

His innovative stallion photography diverted from the traditional posed shots to show stallions enjoying themselves ‘loose’ in the field.

A much-valued contributor to Pacemaker International for almost 20 years, Jones photographed big races all over the world and was engaged by the organisers of the Dubai World Cup at its inception in 1996 for several years.

Having moved to Newmarket with his wife Gill and set up his own agency, Thoroughbred Photography Ltd, Jones took on commissions at studs and was retained by Juddmonte Farms to showcase its exceptional roster of sires at Banstead Manor Stud – his image of Frankel looking out from his barn as George the cat meanders past is one of his most famous shots.

George Selwyn, a long-time colleague and friend, said: “Trevor was a big influence on me from the time he left the Allsport photo agency and became a freelance, concentrating on racing.

Trevor Jones’ (inset) picture of Sheikh Mohammed watching Dubai Millennium work

“Trevor and Gill used to hold a lunch for fellow snappers on the middle day of the July meeting, which was the best possible start to a day’s racing.

“I will always remember his picture

of Sheikh Mohammed watching Dubai Millennium working at Al Quoz before the Dubai World Cup in 2000.

“I was lucky to know and work alongside Trevor for many years. He will be greatly missed.”

PLUS 10 TO WIND DOWN Bonus scheme Plus 10 will not be open for foal registrations for horses born in 2019 and will cease to operate after 2021.

More than 1,700 bonuses totalling £17.5 million have been paid out since Plus 10 began. Funding for horses born in 2018 is already allocated and the scheme will continue to cover races in Britain and Ireland up to 2021, albeit at a reduced level.

The bonus structure will operate as follows:

• Total bonuses will reduce to £8,000/€10,000 per race

Jul_179_News.indd 9

• The foal registrant will continue to receive £1,000/€1,250 per race

• The yearling registrant will continue to receive £1,000/€1,250 per race

• The owner share will be reduced

by 25% from £8,000/€10,000 to £6,000/€7,500 and will be split as follows:

• The share received by the registered owner at the time of the horse’s win will be reduced to £5,625/€7,031.25, from £7,500/€9,375

• The owner registration fee of

£350/€437.50 will decrease to

£300/€375 to reflect this reduction, anybody who has already paid the owner registration fee will be contacted by Plus 10 and offered a refund or can choose to remain in the scheme on the revised terms

• The trainer, jockey and stable

staff elements will reduce from £500/€625 to £375/€468.75

This revised bonus structure will come into effect for 2018-born horses in races from January 1, 2020. All 2017-born horses will continue to compete for £10,000 bonuses in 2020.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 16:55

Changes

Racing’s news in a nutshell

People and business Jamie Osborne

Trainer suffers a fire at his Lambourn yard but while a bungalow was destroyed, all people and horses escaped unscathed.

Zac Purton

Becomes just the second rider to partner 1,000 winners in Hong Kong, following Doug Whyte.

Mark Brisbourne

Trainer, 62, sends out final runners, with his yard of nearly 30 years being sold; he saddled more than 500 winners.

Hayley Turner

Follows Gay Kelleway in 1987 as the second woman to ride a winner at Royal Ascot, on Thanks Be in the Sandringham Stakes.

Corky Browne

Jeremy Noseda

Classic-winning trainer quits the ranks after 23-year career; he struck at the highest level 14 times in all.

Lambourn legend who has been head lad at Nicky Henderson’s stable since 1978 calls it a day.

Olivier Doleuze

Matt Prior

Will take over as head of sales at Tattersalls Ascot and Cheltenham.

Retires from the saddle after 31-year career and 30 top-flight victories around the globe.

Perth Gold Cup

Historic nursery in County Limerick whose graduates include Last Tycoon and Immortal Verse to be sold at auction this month.

Bet365

George Boughey

Charlie O’Dwyer

BoyleSports

Kilfrush Stud

16-year-old son of former jockey Conor O’Dwyer rides his first winner when Roses Queen obliges at Fairyhouse.

Betting firm announces plan to move majority of its operations in Gibraltar to Malta due to Brexit concerns.

Irish-based bookmaker enters UK retail market for first time with purchase of Wilf Gilbert chain of shops in the Midlands.

Track’s annual highlight is renamed to honour its late boss Sam Morshead.

Hugo Palmer’s assistant trainer to set up his own operation in Newmarket.

ITV Racing

Posts highest peak viewing figure at Royal Ascot since 2012 – Dettori’s fourtimer on Gold Cup day saw 1.4 million people tune in.

People obituaries Sultan Ahmad Shah 88

Owned a number of high-class horses including Sri Pekan, Strategic Prince, Sri Putra, Berkshire and Quest For More.

Tim Jones 17

Student and promising rider who had worked for the Micky Hammond yard since the age of ten.

Willie Snaith 91

Outstanding and hugely respected racing and bloodstock photographer.

Luke Mullins 97

Former manager of Galway racecourse who was uncle to champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins.

Euclyn Prentice 28

Champion apprentice who went on to ride a Group 1 winner for the Queen on Landau in the 1954 Sussex Stakes.

American-based jockey, originally from the US Virgin Islands, who won 56 races, dies in a road collision in Kentucky.

Richard Barber 77

Willie Macauley 65

Leading racing and point-topoint figure in the West Country who saddled four winners of the Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase.

10

Trevor Jones 72

Manager of Burton Agnes Stud, which produced Ormonde Stakes winner Buccellati, who also acted as a steward.

Paul Makin 82

Australian owner whose outstanding runner Starcraft won five Group 1s, including the 2005 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 17:39

Changes

Racehorse and stallion

Movements and retirements

Sunday Sovereign

Became the first Irish-trained horse to run in the colours of King Power Racing before being moved to Britain.

World Of Trouble

Dual Grade 1 winner will stand at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms alongside his sire Kantharos at the conclusion of his racing career.

Blue Point

Godolphin’s son of Shamardal is retired after winning the King’s Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Eminent

Son of Frankel, successful at Group 2 level and placed in Group 1 company, is retired to stand at Brighthill Farm in New Zealand.

Horse obituaries Laraaib 5

Won four of ten starts for Sheikh Hamdan and Owen Burrows, notably the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes.

Beyondtemptation 11

Winner of 15 races – seven at Hexham – for Jonathan Haynes, who bred, owned and trained the mare.

Lady Kaya 3

1,000 Guineas runner-up who was heading to Royal Ascot as trainer Sheila Lavery’s flagbearer suffers fatal gallops injury.

Menifee 23

Dual Grade 1 winner who had stood in South Korea at the Korean Racing Association’s Jeju Stud Farm since 2007.

Grey Britain 5

Talented stayer for the John Ryan stable, winning five races including at Listed level and banking over £120,000.

Airlie Beach 9

Grade 1-winning hurdler for trainer Willie Mullins and owners Supreme Horse Racing Club and Kenneth Sharp.

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THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 17:39

C

M

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CM

MY

CY

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Wedgewood Estates OB Jul 2019 f-p.indd 2

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The Big Picture

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THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 17:47

Royal Ascot

Glitters edges thriller Lord Glitters enjoys Ascot and gained a deserved first Group 1 triumph in the Queen Anne Stakes. Geoff and Sandra Turnbull’s grey gelding was produced from off the pace by Danny Tudhope, pipping Beat The Bank (nearside) and One Master, to the delight of trainer David O’Meara (left).

Accidental Agent, the 2018 victor, disgraced himself and refused to race.

Photos George Selwyn

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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The Big Picture

Right on Point Godolphin’s Blue Point emulated Choisir in 2003 by taking both of Royal Ascot’s Group 1 sprints, the King’s Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes. A decisive win over Battaash in the King’s Stand was followed by a much closer call in the Diamond Jubilee, as Charlie Appleby’s charge (nearside) held off the late surge of Dream Of Dreams to score by a head under James Doyle. Blue Point was rewarded for his exceptional performances by being retired to stud and the son of Shamardal will take up stallion duties in 2019 – the location and fee will be announced later this year.

Photo George Selwyn

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Royal Ascot

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The Big Picture

Dettori calls tune The John Gosden-trained Stradivarius again proved himself the outstanding stayer in training with his second Gold Cup triumph in the silks of owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen. The victory was the fourth leg of an amazing four-timer for Frankie Dettori – who ended the week as top jockey with seven winners – pictured left with Nielsen and the Queen.

Photos George Selwyn

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Royal Ascot

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The Big Picture

Turner prize Thanks Be was 4lb out of the handicap in the Sandringham Stakes but a power-packed ride by Hayley Turner saw the three-year-old filly weave through the pack to take the prize for owner Emma Capon and trainer Charlie Fellowes. Turner became the first woman to ride a winner at the Royal meeting since Gay Kelleway scored on Sprowston Boy in 1987.

Photos George Selwyn

Andrew Balding and the King Power Racing team struck with Cleonte in the Queen Alexandra Stakes

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Royal Ascot

Aidan O’Brien produced a masterstroke in dropping Derby sixth Circus Maximus back to a mile in the St James’s Palace Stakes, scoring under Ryan Moore for owners Flaxman Stables and the Coolmore partners

Frankie Dettori puckers up to celebrate with Sir Michael Stoute after the victory of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild’s Crystal Ocean in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes

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The Big Picture

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Investec Derby

Van Dyck picture perfect at Epsom Aidan O’Brien supplied seven of the 13 runners in this year’s Derby, with Ryan Moore partnering favourite Sir Dragonet. In a tremendous finish, it was Anthony Van Dyck and Seamie Heffernan who came out on top, surging home up the rail to deny Madhmoon (blue and white) by half a length, ahead of O’Brien inmates Japan, Broome, Sir Dragonet and Circus Maximus. Derrick Smith, who owns Anthony Van Dyck in partnership with John Magnier and Michael Tabor, is pictured with Aidan and Annemarie O’Brien, Seamie Heffernan and groom Sumith Pathrannelage.

Photos George Selwyn

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From The Archives

Chief Singer rules at Newmarket The betting suggested the 1984 July Cup was a two-horse race between the four-year-old filly Habibti, winner of the race the year before, and three-year-old colt Chief Singer. Both runners were anchored at the back of the nine-runner field but with Habibti and Lester Piggott on his outside, Ray Cochrane had little choice but to make a daring run through the field on Chief Singer. The move worked a treat as Chief Singer found the gaps opening and sprinted away from his rivals, while Habibti failed to pick up when asked for her effort. Chief Singer, trained by Ron Sheather for Jeff Smith, scored by a length and a half from Never So Bold and Steve Cauthen, with the John Dunlop-trained Habibti finishing only sixth.

Photo George Selwyn

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Chief Singer on July 12, 1984

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Tony Morris

Stakes were always high with Royal Palace in town A colt who won the 2,000 Guineas and Derby and could have completed the Triple Crown in the St Leger but for a setback, Royal Palace will always be one of Tony Morris’ all-time greats

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n the immediate aftermath of Royal Palace’s victory in the 1966 Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot, I, as the Press Association’s junior reporter on the course, was told to find the colt’s owner-breeder, Jim Joel, and ask about future plans.

I suspect that my senior colleague, who sent me on the errand, knew that I was not going to learn very much, but I did at least gather a quote that I would never forget.

“You must ask the trainer,” he said, then added: “Mr Murless allows me to name my horses, but while they’re in his care he makes all the other decisions.”

As it turned out, the Murless decision in this case was that Royal Palace had done enough for the season. He had run only three times – down the field in the Coventry at Royal Ascot, then successful in the Acomb at York – before the Royal Lodge performance over which opinions were divided.

It was not hard to take a positive view about that second win.

He had missed the break, giving his rivals a six-length start, but he had made smooth progress to snatch the lead with two furlongs to run, and wound up with a length and a half to spare over his runner-up, the filly Slip Stitch, who had won her two previous races. What was more, Royal Palace covered the mile in a time that shaved four-fifths of a second off the previous record for a two-year-old at Ascot.

However, many felt that the 1966 Royal Lodge was not as competitive as some recent renewals of that contest, and while his parentage promised him adequate stamina for the following year’s Classic tests, it was a fact that his sire, the outstanding runner Ballymoss, had yet to get a colt of real distinction.

Whatever, there was never a chance that Royal Palace would head the juvenile Free Handicap. That accolade had to go to unbeaten – and barely tested – Bold Lad, who had been impressive in the Coventry, the Champagne and the Middle Park.

Paddy Prendergast regarded the son of Bold Ruler as the best two-year-old he had ever trained – quite a compliment from the man who had handled the likes of Windy City, The Pie King, Floribunda, Noblesse and Young Emperor.

Sure enough, Bold Lad was named champion of his crop, while Royal Palace ranked second – 3lb lower on official ratings, 4lb lower according to Timeform. Both authorities placed Ribocco, winner of the Observer Gold Cup, 1lb below Royal Palace.

For my money Bold Lad was too speedy to prove a factor beyond a mile, and could not even be guaranteed to last the Guineas distance. Of the other pair, I much preferred Ribocco, for the not entirely logical reason that I idolised his sire, Ribot, the undefeated dual Arc hero whose deeds at stud already seemed to suggest that he might prove in a league of his own in that role as well.

One of my colleagues at the PA was a fanatical follower of the Murless stable, regularly profiting from the successes achieved by inmates of the Warren Place yard, and he made sure everyone around him knew what a clever punter he was.

Jim Joel with Royal Palace, winner of the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse and King George during a golden period in 1967 and 1968

As he came from wealthy stock anyway, the bragging over the boosts to his bank balance struck the rest of us as quite unseemly and vulgar, so we were inclined to wish him a run of bad luck.

That would come in time, but meanwhile I was daft enough to present him with another substantial payday.

Over the winter there were obviously no Murless runners, but he was already thinking of the 1967 season, when he fancied that the master of Warren Place would saddle the winners of all five Classics, and he told a group of us in the pub that he was hoping a bookmaker would lay him 100-1 about the prospect. I knew that feat had never been achieved and pooh-poohed the very idea, suggesting that he would be lucky to win one.

I should have let it go at that, but the beer was speaking for me by that point, and the next thing I knew was that I’d rashly laid him 100-8 in pounds sterling about Murless winning one Classic.

I learnt my fate at the earliest opportunity, watching Royal Palace, as 100-30 joint-favourite, thwart Taj Dewan by a short-head in the 2,000 Guineas. My take-home pay then was about £15 a week. Months would pass before I could hope to settle the bet.

I cursed Royal Palace at the time, but if the photo verdict had gone the other way, it would have made no difference. The following day Murless’s filly Fleet won the 1,000 Guineas.

A month later came the Derby, a race I would always remember for a colleague’s statement that matched mine for rashness. Ribocco’s first three races that season had resulted in defeats at Newmarket, Chester and Lingfield, pathetic efforts that prompted The Observer’s Richard Baerlein to promise that

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he would jump off the Press Stand if the colt won the Derby.

Baerlein stood just a few feet away from me when the commentator noted that Ribocco was coming with a smooth run down the outside. A very public suicide seemed on the cards for several seconds until the challenge petered out and the Ribot colt wound up second. Royal Palace won, of course.

Royal Palace suffered setbacks after Epsom and he had still not recovered full fitness when the St Leger came along, missing his bid for Triple Crown glory. Ribocco’s victory at Doncaster naturally convinced most that he would have completed the Classic treble had he been able to meet the Leger engagement, but when he eventually made it back to the races, in the Champion Stakes, he could manage no better than third behind star miler Reform.

I am sure I did not appreciate Royal Palace fully in 1967, but who could when his year-older stable companion Busted was so obviously a dominant superstar performer? In 1968 Murless plotted a campaign for Royal Palace on similar lines to that of Busted in the previous year, and I was lucky to be present when he delivered three of his five victories in a flawless season.

He began with a smooth win in the Coronation Stakes at Sandown, then readily accounted for three rivals in the Coronation Cup. He had only one opponent in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal meeting and won without breaking sweat. But it was what he achieved afterwards, in the Eclipse and the King George, that would prove most memorable.

At Sandown we saw a rare clash of Derby heroes, with the latest, Sir Ivor, odds-on in spite of his defeat at the Curragh a week earlier. As it turned out, the Irish colt was below par again, and it was Royal Palace’s old rival Taj Dewan who proved a more potent threat. The verdict was just as in 1967’s Guineas

“I had come to love Royal Palace, for all his involvement in the worst bet I would ever strike” – a short-head win for the Murless colt, though all those connected with the French invader, including jockey Yves Saint-Martin, were deceived by the angle of the finish-line, and found it hard to accept defeat.

Royal Palace, like Busted before him, was supposed to end his campaign in the Arc, but neither made it to the Longchamp showpiece event. In Royal Palace’s case we knew his career was over when he returned to the winner’s enclosure after the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Halfway up the straight he was cruising, seemingly set for a ready victory, but a furlong from home he faltered, drifting left towards the stands, and at the finish he relied on his indomitable courage to preserve a half-length advantage.

He returned to scale very lame, the injury subsequently revealed as a torn suspensory in his near-fore. We cheered him as much for his gallantry as his class as he was led away for the last time. I had come to love Royal Palace, for all his involvement in the worst bet I would ever strike.

As for the colleague who profited from my folly, his luck ran out in 1969. We should have noticed that he had ceased to brag about his successful punting. On Eclipse day he was found dead in his flat.

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21/06/17 10:54

27/06/2019 15:06

The Howard Wright Column

Sweep of supermarkets might yield new sponsor

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Last month, following a further bout of hyperinflation that in a couple of months sent the new local dollar plummeting by at least 100% against the previously established US dollar, which remains the favoured currency, and a continuing desperate lack of foreign cash to pay for imported products, only one car was offered. Yet the crowd number still ticked over at more than 30,000, mainly drawn from Harare, which at the last count had a population of just over 1.5 million.

Imagine what attendance might be drawn if a similar concept was applied close by a city with a population of more

“Enormous passion and a rejuvenated business drive is sustaining the Mashonaland Turf Club’s efforts against all odds”

EQUINE PHOTOGRAPHY

than 8.7 million. That, incidentally, is the latest estimate from the Office of National Statistics for the number of people living in Greater London.

The biggest British supermarket chains of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are not especially noted for supporting racing, but I wonder if they have ever been approached with an idea on the lines of the OK Grand Challenge. If you don’t try, you don’t succeed.

ANDREW PHILIP

ere’s a turf trivia question that may fox all but those who qualify for the very largest size in anoraks: which racecourse outside Hanshin in Japan came closest to Epsom on Derby day for its paying attendance?

The answer is Borrowdale Park, which might not register on the radar for even the most sophisticated international racing follower, since it is the sole remaining racetrack in Zimbabwe, situated a few kilometres from the centre of the capital Harare. While Epsom’s overlords expressed themselves satisfied with a ticketed crowd of “around 36,000” for the world’s most illustrious Flat race, those at Borrowdale Park were delighted to welcome not far short of the same number for OK Grand Challenge Day. For the Mashonaland Turf Club, which stages racing at the excellent turf facility at Borrowdale Park once a fortnight, as long as fields for seven races fill, this was a welcome distraction from their uphill struggle to sustain the survival of Zimbabwe’s racing operation, which is hanging by a thread.

In a country beset by savage political upheaval and economic decline for three decades, Borrowdale Park stands alone after Ascot racecourse in Bulawayo closed in 2005 and its derelict buildings and tumbleweed were left as a testament to decay. The breeding industry, which once produced 400 locally-bred yearlings for an annual sale, has all but disappeared. Where once up to a dozen trainers plied their trade, just four remain, their numbers boosted only in the last few weeks by a new start-up operation.

Yet the enormous passion demonstrated by a band of owners who relish the social side of the sport and a rejuvenated business drive among a newer breed of stewards is sustaining the MTC’s efforts, almost against all odds.

While crowds normally rival the few hundred who turn up for a British all-weather meeting in mid-winter, two racedays at Borrowdale Park stand out – for Zimbabwe’s sole local Grade 1 event, the Castle Tankard, which in May staged its 57th renewal as southern Africa’s oldest sponsored race, thanks to support from the Delta Corporation under the banner of its Castle lager brand, and OK Grand Challenge Day. The latter is underpinned by a promotional concept that comes from left field, at least to those more accustomed to straightforward commercial race sponsorships, but it’s one which is so unusual that it may work in Britain.

The OK Group is Zimbabwe’s biggest supermarket operator, and to ensure shoppers participate fully in Challenge Day those who spend a minimal amount and retain their receipts can enter a raffle. The prizes are provided and paid for by OK’s suppliers in return for the guarantee of continued shelf space – a win-win situation all round, even if from this distance the principle appears to have an element of commercial coercion.

Cars resilient to Zimbabwe’s broken roads infrastructure have been the major draw, and such was the support from OK’s suppliers in 2018 that the racecourse infield played host to no fewer than 43 new vehicles. Since the winner of each has to claim the prize in person, the impact on crowd figures has been astounding, with estimates stretching from 50,000 to 80,000 at times.

Calvin Habib celebrates victory aboard Simona in the 31st edition of the OK Grand Challenge, the mare making it back-to-back wins

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View Fr m Ireland

CAROLINE NORRIS

Opportunity knocks for promising apprentices

Oisin Orr with Dermot Weld, who has used various riders since Pat Smullen retired

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or the first time in more than 30 years Curragh trainer Dermot Weld is without a stable jockey, but two clear leaders have emerged in the race to fill that void.

Since the retirement of Weld’s long-serving stable jockey Pat Smullen in early May, the trainer has remained fluid in his rider selection, offering notable opportunities to apprentices Ben Coen, Andrew Slattery and Oisin Orr, as well as established professionals Chris Hayes and Declan McDonogh.

Never before have Weld’s winners been spread across as many jockeys as they have in the first half of this season, and rarely has a trainer of Weld’s

quality been open to supporting so many young riders.

“I ride out at Mr Weld’s three days a week and I don’t think I’ve sat on a bad horse yet,” said 21-year-old Orr. “He’s using lots of riders at the moment – and it seems to be working. Chris [Hayes] is riding a good few of them, but there are plenty of opportunities after that.

“I suppose he just uses the best riders available, and if we go in and know the horses, that helps us get the rides. It’s open enough for us; if you get on with the horse you’ve more of a chance of riding it.”

What all these riders have in common is agent Kevin O’Ryan, who

also acted on behalf of Smullen and rode for Weld as an amateur. He has been associated with Rosewell House for decades. What does it take for an apprentice to get a chance with Weld?

First, they have to get his nod.

“They’d want to be good,” explained O’Ryan. “Dermot Weld has had two wonderful stable jockeys for nearly 30 years in Mick Kinane and Pat Smullen.

Pat’s not riding any more so he’s given Oisin a great chance.

“He’s already beaten last year’s total number of winners and is a very natural rider. He rides on instinct. He puts horses to sleep and he has a good clock in his head.”

The rider from County Donegal made an immediate impression on Weld last season when winning on his first ride for him; Sorelle Delle Rose, the 5-4 favourite for a fillies’ maiden at Gowran Park little more than a year ago.

He was a 5lb claimer at the time, but through this new partnership – added to the support he continues to receive from Eddie Lynam, David Marnane and Tony Martin – Orr rode out his claim in late May. With him every step of the way was also Smullen, who Orr says has been on-call for him throughout his time with Weld, including when he enjoyed his first ride abroad.

“I was going to Baden-Baden in Germany to ride Imaging and Pat Smullen told me before I went over that the whip rules were different,” explained Orr. “He said he thought that it was only five times you were allowed to hit them, and that if you do any more you would get disqualified and fined.

He said to check it up when I got there; he’d been there before, he knows the rules, so he wanted to make me aware of them.”

Orr added: “He would be around the yard a lot, and if ever I have a ride for Mr Weld, I’d give him a ring after the race. He can tell me if I went wrong, or what I did right. It’s been a big help.”

In Germany, Orr finished second on Khalid Abdullah’s four-year-old Imaging

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By Jessica Lamb

in a Group 2, having already won a Group 3 and Listed race in Ireland on the son of Oasis Dream.

“I enjoyed it,” he said. “The ground was as quick as I’ve ridden on since I started riding, but he ran a nice race, even though I’d say the ground probably went against him.

“They go hard there, and the horses that made the running the other day were outsiders of the field, so they stopped quick enough, the winner coming from last. It’s a different style of racing, but wherever you go, the best horse usually wins on the day.”

Could Orr see his career resurrecting this quickly after last year’s postchampion apprentice lull? No. But neither was he worried, maintaining confidence in his own abilities.

“If it goes a bit quiet, that’s the way it goes,” he said. “Did I panic? No, definitely not. In those situations just keep your head down and keep working.”

By the beginning of June, Orr had a 20% strike-rate for Weld, bang on par with the performances of Coen and Hayes, but the rider really standing out was teenager Andrew Slattery.

The 17-year-old rode a treble on Irish Guineas weekend, two wins coming for

CAROLINE NORRIS

“It’s unreal.

You wouldn’t imagine this could happen to you”

Andrew Slattery: has impressed Weld in the short time he has been riding for him Weld, who has given the Tipperary jockey only four rides. A cousin to Coen and son of trainer Andrew Slattery, the 7lb claimer is now favourite to take the 2019 apprentice title.

“It’s unreal,” said Slattery. “You wouldn’t imagine this could happen to you. I actually had never sat on a horse until I was 14, then I was going pony racing with my cousin Ben every Sunday and just got into it.

“Now I’m getting rides for the right people; Mr Oxx, Mr Stack and Mr Weld.

To get rides from them is a privilege and I hope it lasts.”

Boasting a 50% strike-rate for Weld, the chances are that it will, the trainer openly heaping praise on Slattery after his victory on Dalton Highway at the

Curragh. Weld was impressed with the research the rider had done on the horse and noted how easy it was to give him riding instructions.

“He’s a clever guy,” said O’Ryan, Slattery’s agent. “There’s something about Andy. He always wants to improve, he has no weight problems and his feedback is great.”

During their reigns with Weld, Kinane and Smullen were utterly dominant of his affections, riding more than 2,000 winners for him, leaving very few opportunities for others.

Yet in his retirement Smullen is giving back by his presence as a mentor. Rosewell House could well have just become the finest jockey school in Ireland.

In Brief From July 1 prize-money will be awarded down to sixth place in all Irish races.

The move comes from a commitment made in the Horse Racing Ireland budget to increase prize-money levels and improve distribution.

A total of €66.1 million – an increase of €2.9 million year-on-year – has been allocated, with large chunks going to marquee races at the redeveloped Curragh, Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival and the

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Punchestown and Galway festivals.

But there has also been €500,000 set aside for feature events at other racecourses.

The move to increase prize-money down to sixth place from a standard fifth will encourage more runners and help to offset some travel costs.

Galway racecourse has launched a singer-songwriter competition to celebrate the 150th Galway Races, which get under way later this month.

In partnership with Galway Bay FM, Galway is offering €1,000 in cash and the chance to perform live during the festival to one lucky artist.

Any genre of song can win, but it must be written in English or Irish and must include the lyric “150 years of making your hair stand on end”.

Entries close on July 9 and each of the ten finalists will be invited to take part in a live performance in Galway City in 1520 Bar on Quay Street on July 19. Judges will decide that night who wins the overall prize.

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Continental Tales

Fresh start for ex-British-based duo SWEDEN

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hen the Elzaam gelding Ching Ching Lor crossed the line in front at Bro Park racecourse near Stockholm on May 22, it meant that two expatriate Brits were up and running as they begin to make a fresh start in foreign pastures.

This was a first winner for Paul Fitzsimons since he took over the Swedish training licence from former Oxfordshire handler Hans Adielsson during the winter, and just a fifth (from only 22 rides) for Dale Swift since he returned to the saddle in Scandinavia at the turn of the year, having been forced into early retirement by weight problems in 2015.

Between them, Fitzsimons and Swift rode almost 400 winners on these shores, though their careers only briefly overlapped. Seven years the senior of the pair and now aged 40, Fitzsimons was just giving up when Swift had his breakthrough season in 2010.

Indeed, although his accent suggests otherwise, Fitzsimons is Irish rather than British – he ventured over from the Emerald Isle at the age of 17 to become an apprentice with Reg Akehurst. He stayed until 2017, when he packed his bags to get married to his Swedish-born partner Helene, and move into their newly-acquired nine-acre property in Skurup, half an hour’s drive from Jagersro racecourse in Malmo.

After hanging up his riding boots, Fitzsimons had a five-year stint as a trainer based at Saxon Gate Stables in Lambourn and went through the trauma of standing helplessly by as his long-term girlfriend Julia Tooth (daughter of successful owner Raymond Tooth) fought an ultimately losing battle against cancer.

Though he managed a perfectly respectable seven wins from 64 runners in 2014, his first incarnation as a trainer never really got off the ground and he called it quits a year later, unable to make ends meet.

He met Helene, who was riding out while qualifying to become a chiropractor, six months after Julia’s death and, in Fitzsimons’s own words, “she was a great friend and confidante, jollying me along” during his period of grief.

The couple have recently celebrated the birth of their first child Flora (who has touchingly been given the middle name Julia) and Fitzsimons envisages her growing up in Sweden.

Paul Fitzsimons and Dale Swift are making their marks in Scandinavia

“As much as I love the UK, I’m looking forward to reinventing myself in a new country,” he says. “Sweden is a bit like the UK 20 years ago.

“I hadn’t necessarily planned to train again but I really enjoy it. Hans [Adielsson] approached me in a roundabout way, saying he was going to retire.

“If a horse is decent it can make back its price tag inside the first year” “His owners are great and I’ve inherited some nice horses, so it was more a matter of him offering me an open door and I simply had to walk through it.”

Fitzsimons continues: “The racing is a

bit different and it’s taken me some time to get my head around it. We race largely on dirt, the pace is relentless, and your horses have to be really fit otherwise they’ll get found out, so I’ve had to adapt my style.

“Logistically it’s much easier than Britain, because you train and run at the racecourse, so you’re not sending two different horseboxes to opposite corners of the country on the same day. It’s competitive but the training fees are little more than half of what I used to charge in Lambourn and you can actually make money – if a horse is decent enough it can make back its price tag inside the first year.

“I did race-ride again for a few months last year but I don’t think that you can train and ride at the same time. I still ride most days and will sometimes partner a horse in its final piece of work, but I try to stay on the ground as much as possible and speak to my owners.

“I do miss the simplicity of riding. As a jockey you can just get off, explain your bit and walk away, whereas a trainer has to be thinking all the time, trying to get

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By James Crispe, IRB

Derby drama but without controversy SPAIN Hot on the heels of the disqualification drama in this year’s Kentucky Derby, which prompted lawsuits and a tweet from President Trump, the Spanish equivalent, the Derby Espanol, run on June 2, saw its first two placings reversed, with a locally-trained horse promoted at the expense of a French visitor.

Yet, in stark contrast to the shenanigans across the Atlantic, the decision of the Spanish stewards was accepted with good grace and technology, in particular the quality of the race replay video footage which is publicly available on Madrid racecourse’s excellent website, played a crucial role.

It also helped that the two jockeys involved, Jose Luis Martinez and Jaime Gelabert, were filmed together

smiling and embracing in the unsaddling enclosure shortly after the outcome of the enquiry was announced.

The story of the race was Axioco, ridden by Gelabert, hitting the front with two furlongs to run, immediately challenged by Martinez’s mount, Pedro Cara, the 6-4 favourite. Pedro Cara took a slight lead with a furlong to run but the margin remained tight until, under a firm, right-handed drive, he shifted left in the final 50 yards, squeezing Axioco up against the inside running rail.

The usual side-on race replay (available at hipodromodelazarzuela. es) makes the incident look relatively innocuous. But the website, which would put many of its British counterparts to shame, also posts head-on and overhead (slightly from behind, presumably filmed using a drone) shots of all its finishes, and in both instances one can clearly see a foul being committed.

The official winning margin was only a quarter of a length despite Gelabert having to take evasive action close to the winning line, so a disqualification was more than reasonable.

Beuzelin celebrates new chapter FRANCE Prix du Jockey-Club day at Chantilly on June 2 came to a rather surprising end when jockey Louis-Philippe Beuzelin performed a flying dismount having landed the final race on the card, a run-of-the-mill handicap.

His jubilation was not simply to celebrate victory but also to mark his delight at having been awarded a six-month licence to ride in Singapore, starting on July 1.

Featured in this column some three years ago, the 28-year-old former Sir Michael Stoute apprentice has not advanced his career since relocating to France in late 2011.

Indeed, in seven full seasons riding there, he has never improved upon the modest annual winners’ tally of 13 he achieved in his first full campaign.

Barbados-born Beuzelin is now leaving for the Far East, hoping that

a successful spell out there might gain him a chance to ride in nearby Hong Kong.

GEORGE SELWYN

inside a horse’s head – it’s like a game of chess and there are so many parts to the jigsaw.”

As for his link-up with Swift, Fitzsimons admits that they were only ever on nodding terms back in Britain, but when he heard from another expat jockey, Alan Wallace, that Swift was making a comeback in Scandinavia, he remembered what a strong jockey he had always been, an attribute that he feels is particularly important in dirt racing.

Swift agrees that dirt puts an onus on strength and fitness, for both horse and rider alike.

“They go so fast early on in dirt races out here, sometimes it’s not really race-riding, they just go flat out and the horse that stays the best wins,” says the Rochdale-born pilot.

“You need to try to get a little bit extra out of them in the last 200 metres when they are really tired and there are restrictions on your use of the whip – you can only hit them three times in Sweden and not at all in Norway.

“On my first week back riding here, I tried to drop one out but I simply got myself completely out of the race – you need to be close to the pace.”

Best known in Britain for his association with the flashy chestnut Top Notch Tonto, on whom he won a Group 3 and finished second in the 2013 renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Swift’s riding career seemed to have come to a premature end when he developed mental health problems as a result of his long-term battle with the scales.

He served one six-month BHA ban having tested positive for a prohibited substance in 2015, then announced his retirement when a second drug ban, for a metabolite of cocaine, was confirmed in April 2017.

“I’ve been living in Oslo since July last year and I’ve got the buzz for riding back now,” Swift revealed.

“Things went wrong for me when I lost my claim and at one point my weight shot up to 9st 11lb, I was having to lose eight or nine pounds in a few hours, I was flipping [inducing himself to vomit] and it fried my head.

“I wasn’t dedicated enough back then, I didn’t train hard enough. Now I ride out at least six lots a day and can eat properly and ride at 9st. I will go for a jog in a sweat suit but it’s very rare that I go in the sauna.

“I’m riding as second jockey to [13-time Norwegian champion trainer] Wido Neuroth. The lifestyle’s a lot better out here, there’s a lot of nice people, there’s not so much travelling, and I’d like to stay.”

Louis-Philippe Beuzelin: joyful leap

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Around The Globe

NORTH AMERICA

By Steve Andersen

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t seemed like a difficult sell at the time.

Sir Winston had finished ninth of ten in a maiden race on turf at Saratoga last summer when trainer Mark Casse turned to owner and breeder Tracy Farmer to offer perspective on the result.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but this horse has a lot of talent,” Casse told Farmer. “We have to get him figured out.”

By December, Sir Winston, the equine puzzle, had become Sir Winston the stakes winner, in the Display Stakes at Woodbine on his fifth career start. The 2019 season was eagerly anticipated only for the colt to lose his first three races from early February to early April in Graded events, failing to gain a berth in the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Yet there was another Classic awaiting Sir Winston. After a second in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 11, Sir Winston was aimed at the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 8. The colt who finished sixth and ninth in his first two starts gave the Kentuckybased Farmer his first Classic triumph with a 10-1 upset.

As for Casse, he has been collecting such milestones of late. On May 18 he won his first Classic with War Of Will in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

Winning two of the three races in the 2019 Triple Crown has become Casse’s finest achievement. He is well-known as a perennial leading trainer at Woodbine, near Toronto, Canada’s leading racetrack, and for training Tepin, the champion turf female of 2015 and 2016. Tepin won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016, her only start outside of North America.

The Triple Crown, though, are three races the American sports audience follows.

“Tepin was big,” Casse recalled a few days after the Belmont Stakes. “After a few days of thought, I went back and

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GEORGE SELWYN

Casse prepared to wait for wins Mark Casse: could have a personal-best season in 2019

said the Preakness was probably our defining moment. Belmont was sweet, also.”

War Of Will finished ninth of ten in the Belmont Stakes, having also finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby after a frightening incident on the final turn when Maximum Security drifted off the inside, forcing jockey Tyler Gaffalione to alter his running path on War Of Will.

Maximum Security finished first but was disqualified and placed 17th.

The incident was played seemingly a zillion times on television in the days after the race, revealing just how close War Of Will was to clipping heels with Maximum Security.

“I have always thought so much of War Of Will. It was great to see him win” “I’ve had a lot of different thoughts,” Casse said, reflecting on the Triple Crown series. “One word would be craziness. It’s been interesting.

“I’ve always thought so much of War Of Will. It was great to see him win and especially all he went through in the Derby.

“The Belmont was funny. I had mixed emotions. I was so excited for the Farmers and Sir Winston. I said to my wife, Tina, it’s like you have your two kids and one goes out and gets all the accolades and your other son is in the

background and his feelings are hurt.”

A week after the Belmont Stakes, Casse, 58, was back at his home in Ocala, Florida, preparing to spend the day watching his runners at four tracks in the United States and at Woodbine.

“We’re taking a weekend off,” he said.

The highlight for Casse of the June 15 races was March To The Arch’s win in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs. The victories in the lucrative Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes helped Casse’s stable amass earnings of more than $7.3 million through midJune, good enough to rank fourth in the nation behind leader Steve Asmussen, who had started twice as many horses with stable earnings of $12.5m.

Casse is unlikely to catch Asmussen, but continued success from his threeyear-olds could give him a career-best season, surpassing the $17.9m earned in 2016. Casse has runners in the right places. Purses have soared at Churchill Downs this year thanks to revenue from a track-owned slot machine operation and have risen at Ellis Park across Kentucky, where Casse will have horses this summer.

Casse plans to have a 30-horse division at Saratoga, which runs from July 11 to September 2.

The $1.25m Travers Stakes for threeyear-olds at Saratoga on August 24 is a goal for War Of Will, a colt with the credentials to take a leading role in an open American three-year-old division.

Both War Of Will and Sir Winston lost their first few starts, which was not a concern for Casse. Those early races were learning experiences, particularly for Sir Winston.

“He was not a superstar in the beginning,” Casse said. “He’s gotten better and better.”

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The Worldwide Racing Scene

I Am Invincible rapidly becoming just that

By Danny Power

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Am Invincible’s six-year transformation from a little-known stallion who commanded a discounted A$7,000 service fee to be Australia’s leading sire is complete.

The Yarraman Park Stud kingpin has been handed the biggest compliment of all as the chosen first mate for Winx while standing the 2019 season as the highest-priced Australian stallion after his fee was set A$225,000, plus GST. Arrowfield Stud’s headliner Snitzel (by Redoute’s Choice) is next on the highfee list at A$200,000.

Yarraman’s Harry Mitchell said I Am Invincible, despite the fee rise, is so popular that he could be covering treble his book, which will be restricted this coming spring to around 180 mares after averaging 210 mares in the past three seasons, when his fee rose from A$50,000 in 2016 to A$180,000 last year.

Mitchell said: “He’s going to cover some of the best mares in Australia. He’s come a long way since he served his first book of very average mares in 2010.

“I think we can justify his fee rise by the fact we are going to look after him a bit more and restrict his numbers.”

This Australian racing season, which concludes on July 31, has been a standout one for I Am Invincible’s progeny. He has sired 28 individual stakes winners, which is a record for an Australian stallion in a single season and two more than the previous record jointly held by the great Danehill, who posted 26 stakes winners in the 2001-02 season, and Danehill’s champion grandson Snitzel, whose progeny won 26 stakes races in 201617 and again in 2017-18.

I Am Invincible is a son of Ireland’s Invincible Spirit, who shuttled to Chatswood Stud, Seymour, for four seasons from 2003 to 2006.

Bred and raced by Queenslander Ray Gall, I Am Invincible was one of only 31 foals from Invincible Spirit’s first-crop born in 2004 and his only stakes winner from that batch, and one of only 12 Australian stakes winners from 255 foals,

of which 119 were born in 2007 when we Aussies finally woke to the value of the stallion who was standing for a fee of only A$10,000. By that time it was too late and Invincible Spirit’s owners decided to miss future shuttle buses.

The stallion, who retired from his injury-plagued racing career with a Group 3 and Listed race to his name – he was runner-up to Takeover Target at Group 1 level in Adelaide – has had to make it on his own. He mirrors other non-Group 1 winning stallions who have risen to the top off low bases, headed

by Arrowfield Stud’s Not A Single Doubt (by Redoute’s Choice) and Written Tycoon (by Iglesia), who stands at Woodside Park Stud.

I Am Invincible, who was bought for the price of a suburban house, has been a windfall for the popular Mitchell brothers (Harry and Arthur) of Yarraman Park Stud, near Scone, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. They share in the ownership of the stallion with Gall and a small syndicate of valued clients.

Not only are they reaping the rewards of the massive fee increase, but also there is a beaming smile on their bank manager’s face as he adds up the results of this year’s yearling sales; 110 I Am Invincible yearlings sold for a gross A$42 million, at an average of A$410,961. It’s only going to get better.

The Mitchells lost their other highprofile stallion Hinchinbrook (by Fastnet Rock) to a paddock injury last year, but have been able to replace him with I Am Invincible’s Group 1-winning son Hellbent, who in his first season last year covered 182 mares at A$25,000 and will cover a full book again this year.

“Hellbent took a while to let down but he’s looking like a real bull this year,” Harry Mitchell said.

“We can’t wait to see his foals because he was lucky enough to get some of the high-profile mares that were booked to Hinchinbook.”

There will be six sons of I Am Invincible at stud in Australia this year. The exciting Brazen Beau is the only one which has progeny racing. His oldest are finishing their two-year-old season and the Darley stallion has become hot property with breeders and yearling buyers. The others are Overshare (Spendthrift Farm, Victoria), Santos (Aquis Farm NSW), Super One (Newgate Farm, NSW), Kobayashi (Aquis Farm, Qld) and Hellbent.

For the Mitchells, the next aim is for I Am Invincible to topple Snitzel as Australia’s champion stallion (prize-money). He will finish just behind Snitzel, who is set for his third consecutive title win.

It would be an amazing achievement for the Mitchells and their boutique farm; before I Am Invincible arrived, the aim was simply to make wages.

Outstanding mare Winx will be covered by I Am Invincible this year

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BRONWEN HEALY

AUSTRALIA

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Racing Life

edited by Sarah Rodrigues

SOUPED UP Vichy’s elaborate skyline bears witness to the grandeur of its past

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terms of popularity and lucrativeness, to other great spa towns of the 19th century.

Naturally enough, further wealth flowed from the calibre of ‘water-takers’ that Vichy attracted and, over time, establishments aimed at keeping them entertained by evening - upscale restaurants, casinos and pleasure houses - were added to the mix. Its skyline, spiked with minarets and punctuated by domes, bears witness to this high-class past.

Thanks to its popularity with the past’s rich and leisurely, there’s much in the way of buildings and facades to be admired on a visit to Vichy: extravagant apartments and hotels were constructed to

XAVIER THOMAS

ocated just three hours from Paris by rail, Vichy had been known since Roman times for its mineral rich and thermal waters, running from its surrounding volcanic mass. After Napoléon III, France’s Emperor from 1852 to 1870, found that the condition of his rheumatism improved during a stay here, it became one of his favourite haunts thus upping its appeal to those looking for similar relief from aches and illnesses.

Never one to do things by halves, Napoléon III signed a decree supporting the town’s development, not only with his own leisure-taking in mind, but also with the intention of creating a rival, both in

accommodate sophisticated and demanding guests, boulevards, bearing Napoléon III’s name, recall his glory days - but the Boulevard des États Unis recalls it by way of outlandish architecture. It harks back to the anticipation of Napoléon’s 1862 arrival, during which time architects tried to out-do each other, designing Imperial chalets where Swiss elements, intended to honour Napoléon III’s exiled childhood in Arenenberg in Switzerland, combine bizarrely with American colonial plantation features.

Napoléon also stamped his mark on Vichy’s landscape, dykeing the River Allier’s riverbanks to create the 13-hectare (and not very imaginatively named) Parc Napoléon III, which he then filled with rare and exotic flora: more than 65 different species of tree can be found here today. The Church of Saint-Louis was also constructed, on Rue de Nimes in 1865, at his behest, complete with members of his family immortalised in the stained glass windows as saints.

The Vichy Casino - now a convention centre - with its elaborate stone facade that overlooks the Parc des Sources, was built by his order too; its glass canopy dates from later, being added in 1902.

As glorious and exuberant as the memory of those heady Napoléonic and aristocratic days is, Vichy isn’t without a darker past: it played a major role in the deportation of Jews under the leadership of Marshal Philippe Pétain in World War II

Grand facades hark back to the days when Vichy was a favourite with nobility and royalty

XAVIER THOMAS

CHRISTOPHE CAMUS

Vichy’s past – sometimes glamorous, sometimes chequered – means that there’s far more here for the visitor than its soup, including its famed soothing waters

Parc Napoléon III was created by dykeing the River Allier

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You can sample Vichy’s healing waters at the exquisitely designed Hall des Sources and the Hôtel du Parc, despite its elegant facade, is where the offices of France’s wartime Vichy regime were housed. Now privately owned property, Pétain’s apartment, on the third floor, is maintained and preserved by an organisation committed to his memory; elsewhere, there is, fortunately, little celebration of this history - but nor is there much recognition, other than a stone memorial in front of Le Parc des Sources commemorating the 75,721 Jews deported from France.

This period in time likely contributed to the decline of Vichy’s popularity as a place of indulgence; in any case, jet-setters and the upper classes had begun to favour France’s other upmarket destinations, such as the Riviera. Keen to reinvent itself, Vichy has, in recent years, highlighted its sporting offerings, with the Parc Omnisports, separated from town by Lake Alliers, hosting training for various national teams, including rugby, basketball and football. Golf is also a drawcard; Vichy’s 18-hole course dates back to 1908, making it one of France’s oldest.

It would be absurd for a destination so beloved by 19th century royalty and nobility to not have its own racecourse, and the Hippodrome de Bellerive has

been holding racing on the left bank of the Allier ever since 1875. The season runs from May to September, with hurdling and harness racing, as well as Flat racing contests; many races are held in the evening - and with two restaurants on site, it’s not unusual for racegoers to make an evening of the experience.

Of course, Vichy is still popular for the soothing properties of its waters, and there are a range of spa centres here, many of which offer long courses of treatment aimed at curing everything from rheumatism to skin disorders.

For those wanting merely to dip a toe, so to speak, into the concept of hydrotherapy, some establishments offer individual treatments from menus of massages and bathing experiences. It’s also perfectly possible to fill your own water bottle from a burbling spring, so that you can sip those healing waters at will: head to Hall des Sources, just north of Parc des Sources, where you’ll find a gracious pavilion of glass and metal.

Within this, each of Vichy’s six drinkable springs are available, quite literally, on tap, and can be tasted and bottled, with clearly labelled information on each one’s temperature (some are over 40°C!) and mineral content.

XAVIER THOMAS

XAVIER THOMAS

Vichy

Sunset over the River Allier Many beverages other than those famed and sulphurous waters are available in the area, but when it comes to eating and drinking, the town of Vichy is all but synonymous with Vichyssoise, a thick soup combining cream, leek, potato and chicken and traditionally served cold. Word has it that its true authenticity is only guaranteed by the presence of Vichy Célestins water, but it’s probably wise not to set too much store by this requirement, given that the creator of the soup was one Louis Diat, a French Chef working at the Ritz Carlton in New York in 1917 - not the likeliest of places for access to those waters.

For the sweeter of tooth, Vichy Pastilles are well worth a try - they’re a hard candy crafted from the town water’s mineral salts, and flavoured with mint, lemon and aniseed. They were, allegedly, a great favourite of Napoléon III’s wife Eugenie, although Vichy itself fell out of her favour when she discovered that Marguerite Bellanger, her husband’s mistress, was also, at his invitation, Vichy-bound - a blow that, understandably, not even a pastille was likely to sweeten… www.courses-de-vichy.fr

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The racing season runs from May to September at Vichy’s Hippodrome de Bellerive

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Racing Life

BAGGAGE CLAIMS This summer sees the launches of new colours and collections from premier luggage brand Briggs & Riley

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ngineered for Reality, Guaranteed for Life: that’s the promise that Briggs & Riley make to their customers, for whom the demands of travel require luggage that is not only functional and sturdy but also looks sensational: fit for luxury travel.

As of June, their best-selling Sympatico collection adds a rich plum version to its range, which is also available in Fire, Bronze, Matte Navy and Matte Black. The colour can be found in Harrods and John Lewis, as well as online and in additional stores across the UK. With travellers increasingly looking to reduce their airport time on short trips, swerving luggage belts and relying on cabin baggage to hold everything they require, Briggs & Riley’s innovative CX™ expansion-compression technology is a boon, providing up to 25% more packing space. With the zipperless technology, the hard-sided suitcases can be expanded and then compressed back down to original size once packed. Of course, this function is to be found across all four of the brand’s luggage sizes, which range from International and Domestic Carry-on, through to Medium and Large, with the added benefit of keeping packed clothes secure and contained, thus minimising movement and creasing.

Other benefits include the increased interior capacity and flat packing surface created by each case’s Outsider® handle, as well as built-in garment

The soft-sided collection is available in three colours, including navy

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holders, which will keep up to two suits or dresses looking pristine and wrinklefree. Smooth, judder-free movement is also ensured, with double spinner wheels, while security is a given with TSA locks.

The recently launched plum colour can also be found in Briggs & Riley’s brand new Rhapsody collection, which is also available, as of this month, in navy and black. The bags in this female-focused range are soft-sided and aimed at providing ‘female road warriors and the modern day power woman with sleek and high-performance travel companions to last a lifetime.’

Comprising a Crossbody bag, Essential Tote, Slim Business brief, two backpacks, a Cabin Spinner and a Tall Carry-on Spinner, each piece in the Rhapsody collection is aimed at streamlining and simplifying the experience of the busy modern woman, with organisational pockets and dedicated compartments for technology and personal items. Other crafty features include a slip-through back panel, facilitating transportation of two bags as one, and four double swivel spinner wheels, making navigation a breeze.

“Briggs & Riley has always been popular among both men and women; however, we were inspired to create a collection specifically tailored to our loyal female following,” explains CEO Richard Krulik. The new and elegant lightweight pieces have been conceived to colourcombine effortlessly with items in the hard-sided range, enabling stylish travellers to mix and match across collections.

Briggs & Riley is the only name within the luggage industry to offer a lifetime guarantee on repairing any functional aspects of its bags. Stringent testing ensures life-long performance, and customers are given an unconditional promise that if a bag is broken or damaged - even if that damage was caused by an airline - Briggs & Riley will repair it free of charge.

With its headquarters on Long Island, New York, Briggs & Riley collections can be found at high-end retailers across the globe, as well as online.

The Briggs & Riley Rhapsody

The new Rhapsody collection is inspired by and designed for the contemporary female collection is priced from £129; The Sympatico Plum collection is available from £449. briggs-riley.com

The Sympatico collection’s Outsider® handle maximises internal space

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Lifestyle

Medieval Jousting Week B

etween July 23 and 28, Arundel Castle in West Sussex will once again host the world’s longest jousting tournament, Medieval Jousting Week.

Stunt horses that have previously appeared in television shows such as Poldark, Peaky Blinders and Victoria will compete in a variety of challenges: as well as jousting, there will also be displays of hunting, sword-fighting and lance games.

Four international teams will take part, with home team England and long-standing contenders France joined by two new teams, Scandinavia and Australia. Jousts will take place twice daily.

This year’s Knight Marshal, or judge, Stacy Van Dolah-Evans, commented: “Medieval Jousting Week at Arundel Castle is one of the world’s premier jousting tournaments, which every

jouster aspires to win. To win it will take focus, determination and unparalleled skills on a horse. This last point is particularly important as the competitors will have never seen the horse they compete on prior to the event.”

Founded at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel, Arundel Castle is one of the largest and most complete castles in England. Throughout the year, it offers a calendar of historical events, complementing guided or solo tours of the rooms, including the Baron’s Hall, 14th Century Catholic Fitzalan Chapel, Regency Library and Victorian bedrooms. There’s also the opportunity to ascend the Norman Motte and Keep, and enjoy The Collector Earl’s Garden which was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales in 2008.

Tickets start at £12 for a child and £25 for an adult, arundelcastle.org

GLORIOUS GOODWOOD A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate

BAMFORD WATCHES

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he home of English sport for centuries, Goodwood is at the centre of this story, which details how a small hunting lodge became the iconic location for the globallyrenowned Festival of Speed, Glorious Goodwood and Goodwood Revival events.

The history of the site is inextricably intertwined with the tale of the Dukes of Richmond who were, variously, patrons of the arts, political influencers, royal confidantes, architectural innovators, horticultural enthusiasts and stewards of the community. Above all, they were passionate about the sports for which Goodwood is best known: horseracing, motor sports, foxhunting, cricket, shooting and golf. Drawing upon the wealth of the Goodwood archives, author James Peill vividly captures the character of each Duke and the wide-ranging impact they had on the Goodwood of today.

The broader context is a sweeping history of England, and one family’s role in it.

RRP £25 from Amazon and Waterstones

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he third timepiece in Bamford London’s signature Mayfair collection, the Mayfair Sport, is water-resistant to 10ATM, making it ideal for outdoor sports. It comes on a rubber strap with a unique wickerway function, while the LumiNova indices mean you can see the timepiece at any time of the day. Built around a steel core, the high impact polymer case and bezel come in a number of different colour options with a brand new dial and dial configuration, giving wearers the opportunity to express their personal style and taste.

RRP of £350 bamfordlondon.com

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The Big Interview Mark Weinfeld pictured with Anapurna’s dam Dash To The Top

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Mark Weinfeld

Peak of

SUCCESS Anapurna’s thrilling Oaks triumph was a fillip to British breeding, a first European Classic winner for prolific sire Frankel and a huge achievement by the Weinfelds’ Meon Valley Stud Words: Julian Muscat

DENIS MURPHY

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here can be several twists and turns during the course of a horse race, as Mark Weinfeld and his sister Helena Ellingsen would readily attest. Brother and sister ran the entire gauntlet in a roller-coaster 24 hours that separated the Derby from the Oaks.

The whole world knows that the Weinfelds’ Meon Valley Stud bred Anapurna, who won the fillies’ Classic, and Telecaster, who was fancied for the Derby but ended up trailing back through the field. Neither of those outcomes looked likely when the two horses reached the bottom of Tattenham Corner in their respective races.

“Turning into the straight in the Derby I thought we had a chance of being in the first three,” Mark Weinfeld says of Telecaster, who was travelling strongly on the heels of the leaders.

“But there was no petrol in the tank; it was disappointing.”

At the corresponding stage of the Oaks, by contrast, Anapurna was short of racing room. “I hoped we might be lucky enough to finish third,” Weinfeld relates. “But Frankie [Dettori] got a clear run and suddenly he burst through.

We couldn’t believe it; we floated home that evening.”

The first British Classic winner by Frankel, Anapurna is a first British

Classic winner in the family’s black and white-spotted livery since her fourth dam, One In A Million, landed the 1,000 Guineas 40 years earlier. A pleasing symmetry thus came to pass. One In A Million was among three yearling fillies bought by the Weinfelds’ late father, Egon, as potential foundation mares in 1977.

It’s the sort of continuity that has kept Meon Valley to the fore among Britain’s owner-breeders. Those three yearling fillies – Reprocolor and Odeon, in addition to One In A Million – were joined the following year by another, Home And Away. Remarkably, the blood of all four still courses through the vast majority of the 35-strong broodmare band today.

From them have spawned 20 individual Group 1 winners, which represents a strike-rate of one every two years. Many of them are racing royalty: the likes of Colorspin, Izzi Top, Lady Carla, Milligram, One So Wonderful, Opera House and the staying titans, Kayf Tara and San Sebastian.

Telecaster’s Dante Stakes triumph also registered the 1,000th winner bred by the nursery that sits on the chalk downs of Hampshire.

All of which has put the stud in an enviable position. Meon Valley is perennially among the leading vendors

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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The Big Interview ›› at the Tattersalls Book 1 Yearling Sale.

It will consign a herd of around 12 yearlings in October, but a closer look at its draft unveils a harsh truth.

The team will not include yearling siblings to either Anapurna or Telecaster. Nor are there foals from these mares grazing the paddocks. The dams in question, Dash To The Top and Shirocco Star respectively, have been beset by woes familiar to all breeders.

There will be no sales payday from them in each of the next two years.

Part of the reason Anapurna was retained by the stud was that Dash To The Top, a Listed winner who was second in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, has proved a difficult breeder. “Luca [Cumani, who trained Dash To The Top] always said she was a brilliant mare that we never saw the best of on the track,” Weinfeld, 64, says.

“She’s 17, so she is getting on a bit now. She is troubled by cysts, which we are going to try and treat this summer in the hope she can have one more go next year. She visited Muhaarar this time but no joy, I’m afraid.” It is the third

successive year Dash To The Top has failed to conceive.

Meanwhile, Telecaster’s dam Shirocco Star aborted to Frankel in 2018 before failing to catch when bred to Iffraaj later that year. “After that we

“It’s strange how some families can suddenly recycle and come back” had her cleaned up inside and have got her back in foal to Frankel,” Weinfeld relates.

A son of New Approach, Telecaster was offered at the 2017 yearling sales but failed to find a buyer. Meon Valley’s policy is to sell all the colts, yet despite his Derby lapse Telecaster is already

the most successful colt to race for the Weinfelds through their Castle Down Racing partnership.

It was a similar story with Shirocco Star herself. A sixth-generation descendant of Reprocolor, she was sent to the yearling sales in 2010 but returned home despite a modest reserve. Yet this particular chapter also had a happy ending. As with Telecaster, who is now worth considerably more than his 200,000-guinea yearling reserve, a leg in Shirocco Star is worth far more than the 50,000-guinea reserve placed on her.

That much was a given after Shirocco Star finished runner-up in the Oaks and its Irish equivalent in 2012 when trained by Hughie Morrison.

Her value will now have risen again: Telecaster is only her second foal.

Strange to relate, but a deal of Meon Valley’s success has emanated from horses that failed to sell. This serves to illustrate the fluctuations of fate’s fickle finger, which Weinfeld is quick to acknowledge has frequently pointed kindly in the stud’s direction.

The blood of Meon Valley’s four foundation mares still runs through the majority of the 35-strong broodmare band today

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Mark Weinfeld satisfaction when it comes right and you get a good horse like Telecaster. It vindicates what we’re doing and shows that the industry was wrong to reject him.

“But this happens to a lot of other studs. From our perspective, it’s important to have confidence in our stock. We stand by them. After all, if you’re not prepared to buy back a horse at a reasonable price, then why would anybody else want to buy it?”

Following Anapurna’s Oaks triumph, and with Telecaster to come, Weinfeld was out of bed at 5am on Derby morning. “I was box-walking,” he recalls.

“In the end we shouldn’t have gone to Epsom [Telecaster was supplemented five days before the race at a cost of £85,000], but it certainly made us proud to have won the Oaks and to have one of the Derby favourites.

“It would have been unbelievable to have won both races,” he continues. “I don’t think any British owner-breeder has ever won both of the Epsom Classics in the same year – certainly not in the 20th century. But for an

outfit of our size, with around 25 foals on the ground each year, it was quite something.”

It’s hard to remember a time when Meon Valley endured a spell in the doldrums. Mention this to Weinfeld, however, and it prompts a wince.

There are two facets in play here: the success of the stud’s graduates on the racecourse, and the prices fetched by yearlings at public auction. Weinfeld has experienced lulls in both, although needless to say, such ‘lulls’ are relative.

On the racing front, Weinfeld says: “It had gone a bit quiet for some years up to 2011, when [Gimcrack and Mill Reef Stakes winner] Caspar Netscher came along.

“Then we had Izzi Top and Jazzi Top, then Speedy Boarding who, like Anapurna, is from One In A Million’s family. It’s strange how some families can suddenly recycle and come back again.”

Weinfeld relates that the relative scarcity of Pattern-race triumphs over that period prompted some reevaluation of Meon Valley’s methods,

››

DENIS MURPHY

Against that, Meon Valley’s philosophy has always been to breed racehorses first and foremost. It sells the vast majority of its produce because bills must be paid, but the fact that Weinfeld is prepared to put unsold horses into training makes an attractive statement.

“Perhaps a lot of our best horses came back to us because many of them are late maturing,” Weinfeld says. “They don’t look the part so much when they go to the sales. The fact Telecaster didn’t race at two bears that out.

“So many people want earlymaturing two-year-olds that might win at Royal Ascot, and while they might also want to win the Derby, they aren’t necessarily prepared to buy a horse that’s bred to do it.

“It is not a very good year for us if we take home half a dozen from the sales,” he continues. “You could get a bit depressed if you were that way inclined, but we see it as another opportunity. We’re happy to put them into training.

“There’s a huge amount of

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The Big Interview consider it,” he reflects. “You might look into what you’re feeding, your grazing regimes and grass management, but you’re always fine-tuning that anyway.

“Perhaps it was even down to the choice of stallions,” he continues.

“You also have a few ideas about new things you might try, but there was no particular moment when we thought we’d make lots of changes. We always try and mate the best to the best and hope for the best. The best needn’t necessarily be the most expensive; it’s what’s best for the mare.”

The internal audit has to be more forensic where sales results are concerned. For all Meon Valley’s success, breeding horses is prohibitively expensive right across the scale, from stallion fees through to staff, equipment and state-of-the-art management techniques. Income streams are vital.

“The sales, like the business in general, can be a real roller-coaster,” Weinfeld avers. “We have had some really tough years where we’ve had to grin and bear it. We went through a period a few years ago when sales

“We always try and mate the best to the best and hope for the best” weren’t keeping up with the costs of running the stud.

“That makes you think about cutting the numbers back but that’s a tricky exercise. If you start thinking that way you’ll want to keep the best mares and send them to the best stallions, so you don’t actually reduce your costs that much.

“And just occasionally you might have an unraced mare with a nice pedigree and send her to a stallion who’s reasonably priced, and who subsequently comes good. All of a sudden that could be the horse which earns you a lot of money. Having these kind of horses in the pack can be quite useful.”

For most breeders, such a scenario would amount to an embarrassment of riches. For Meon Valley it has become almost par for the course.

Anapurna and Frankie Dettori (right) capture the Oaks at Epsom

GEORGE SELWYN

›› albeit subconsciously. “I suppose we did

Mark Weinfeld

‘Racehorses don’t drop out the sky’ John Gosden, who trains Anapurna, was doubly delighted to win the Oaks for the filly’s owner-breeders, Mark Weinfeld and Helena Ellingsen’s Meon Valley Stud. Together with his wife, Rachel Hood, Gosden knows the perils of breeding horses at first hand.

He believes owner-breeders are the most underrated entity within racing and pays the following tribute.

“Mark and Helena well understand the vicissitudes involved in breeding horses. Getting a mare in foal, raising that foal and rearing it to the point where it can go into training is a feat in itself. It is such a labour of love and passion, but it’s also a very tough thing to do. There is a lack of public awareness of this, which is sad.

“It’s a most precarious pastime.

Foals and yearlings can get injured, they can run into a fence, and the dream is dashed right there. If young horses survive that, breeders then send them to wicked people called trainers who undo half the good work they have already done, and then ring to say the horse is no good.

“A mistake the authorities make

in all racing jurisdictions is that they think racehorses just drop out of the sky, ready to roll. It’s just not like that; it’s extremely difficult to get a horse to the top level, as Mark and Helena have done so consistently over the years.

“From an owner-breeder’s perspective, winning a race like the Oaks is extraordinarily special. The significance is profound; just getting a homebred horse to win any kind of race is an achievement in itself. So many things can go wrong.”

That latter point was emphasised back in January, when Meon Valley Stud’s Snazzi Top, a promising threeyear-old daughter of Invincible Spirit and Group 1 winner Zee Zee Top, met with a tragic accident as she waited to join the rest of Gosden’s string at morning exercise.

“Something frightened her and she reared up, hit the wall of her box and that was that,” Gosden relates. “It was the sort of ill fate that comes out of the blue, and which owner-breeders have to contend with. Sometimes it can be such a cruel game.”

44 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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27/06/2019 17:55

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Talking To...

Happy as

HARRY

Harry Bentley was the jockey who derailed the Dettori juggernaut on Gold Cup day at Royal Ascot with his first winner at the meeting, another notable victory in a career that is taking off at home and abroad Interview: Tim Richards Photos: George Selwyn

Y

our last two seasons have been your best in terms of both winners and prize-money and you are currently close up in the jockeys’ championship. What has been the key to the best form of your career?

My agent Paul Clarke is representing me day-to-day talking to all the trainers and that is so important, having a good relationship with all the professionals.

This is my tenth season riding and so much is about making contacts, riding for lots of stables and striking up good relationships with trainers. They have to have faith in you and you must respect them for that. I think my riding has probably improved over the years and the key is to try to keep on improving all the time.

Unlike most of your colleagues you ride in Qatar, where you have been champion jockey six times, before the UK turf season begins. How did the Qatar link come about?

The Qatar link itself came as a result of me being in Dubai for the three previous winters. I went to Dubai when I was 18 and the wife of a friend was working in the Qatar Racing Club. My friend got in touch to say he thought there might be an opening for me in Qatar and that he would book my rides. They race there on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I finished

last on my first ride but kept going back and gradually gathered momentum riding for trainers Julian Smart and Jassim Al Ghazali. I ended up champion jockey and won their Derby in my first Qatar campaign and that was after starting when their season had been going for two months. I have returned every year since, live in Dubai and fly over to Qatar for the racing. Nowadays, because of political differences between Qatar and Dubai, I have to travel via Oman, which involves four flights a week and works out at about 100 a season for what should be a relatively short trip.

Your association with Ralph Beckett goes from strength to strength. Are you stable jockey and does it give you more confidence when attached to a powerful yard?

I am not the retained jockey as such but I do ride regularly for Ralph. Last season we struck up a good relationship and now he is the main trainer I ride for.

You have a chance of more rides being attached and riding out regularly for a big yard. In those circumstances, when you find yourself on a nice two-year-old in the morning, you know it’s quite likely you could be teaming up again at the races. I ride out twice a week for Ralph at Kimpton and also for George Scott in Newmarket, where I am based.

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Harry Bentley Jockey on the up: Harry Bentley feels he has improved over the past few years but knows he must continue to move forward

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Talking To...

Bentley and Biometric (left) get the better of Turgenev and Frankie Dettori in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot

››

You rode your first Royal Ascot winner on the Ralph Beckett-trained Biometric in the Britannia Stakes last month. What did it mean to you and, on the day, did you feel you’d upset everyone’s party by ending Frankie Dettori’s incredible winning run?

Obviously, it’s a big milestone after having a few rides there over the years and good to get the monkey off my back! A great feeling and I’m so pleased to have done it. Royal Ascot is our World Cup and the most important meeting of the year, possibly in the world and incredibly important to win there. But I didn’t have any afterthoughts about Frankie’s winning run because we have to go out with the mindset that it’s the same as any other race and you’ve got to beat all the jockeys. I didn’t feel guilty, even though there must have been a few upset punters! Frankie was absolutely fine and shook my hand in the weighingroom afterwards.

After spending so much time hunting with the Crawley and Horsham why did you choose the Flat over jumping?

My father was involved in the pointing world and also had jumpers. More than anything, my size, or lack of it, had a big say because I have always been very small. My parents aren’t very big either, so I knew I had the right genetics to be a Flat jockey; it would have been silly not to grab the opportunity. Of course, the

48

prize-money is more attractive than over jumps and, with luck, there should be fewer injuries.

Before leaving school at Eastbourne College, was there pressure on you to pursue a degree or further qualifications instead of your desired route into racing?

When I was doing my GCSEs I didn’t think there was any option other than to carry on to A-Levels and then university.

I had been riding out for Richard Rowe since I was 12 and afterwards for Gary Moore, who offered me my apprentice licence. I broached the subject with my parents, who said if I really wanted to be a jockey I must give it a shot and they would be right behind me. Dad used to drive me into work every morning at 5am for two years until I passed my test.

You spent three years working for Gary Moore. What did you learn in that time with the workaholic Moore dynasty?

The Moore family are workaholics and because I didn’t know any different, I thought their non-stop routine was the norm. All of them are incredible workers and as I was the ‘wannabe’ jockey, I had to show I wanted it and that meant working extremely hard to keep up with them. It was the best grounding possible and a big reality check. I was mucking out, feeding, riding out three or four lots, grooming and then going back in

the afternoon to pick bags of grass or dandelions for the horses in the evening.

If I moaned to one of the lads they’d tell me I was the apprentice and that’s what you have to do, crack on with it. After that, working in Dubai was like a holiday!

Ryan Moore gave you a life-changing tip while riding out one morning. Can you tell us about it?

On one of the rare occasions that I rode out with Ryan, I asked him if he thought it a good idea for me to go and work somewhere in the winter for more experience – America, perhaps. But Ryan reckoned that I would be lonely in America aged 18. He suggested Dubai to me, where he had worked for Satish Seemar and said that he knew someone in the office there. He mentioned this to his mum, Jayne, who ended up organising for me to go there for the winter, whereas originally I had intended to be away for only a month. I owe a lot to Gary and Jayne because most bosses would not let their apprentice go away for that length of time. They could not have been more supportive by introducing me to racing in the Middle East and at the same time looking after me when I came home.

Did you find the culture change from the Sussex hunting scene to racing in Dubai and Qatar a big challenge?

It was definitely a big change and

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Harry Bentley

“When I lost the job with Qatar Racing I knew it was the right thing for me as well” something totally new to me, particularly when you are used to the Sussex countryside and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by the amazing high-rise development that is Dubai. I hadn’t been long out of boarding school and it was a shock to the system, but in all the right ways.

Riding work round the racetrack was new to me, but there were a number of British jockeys out there and they helped me settle in. I embraced the whole new scene and really took it on board. I was the only UK apprentice there at the time. As the only claimer riding there I found myself getting six rides on a card, whereas in England I’d been getting a couple of rides a week.

That was a big change and I felt my riding improved as a result of all that extra racing experience. In England I had ridden 16 winners, but working for Satish Seemar I had 17 winners, including one at the Dubai Carnival. That did a lot for me, personally and professionally. Now, after going there for nine years, Dubai is like a second home.

What is your long-term riding plan?

My plan is to continue riding in England in the summer and spending winters in the Middle-East. I am only 27, relatively young with no ties at home and want to make hay while the sun shines. Basically, keep travelling until I have commitments.

That’s my intention.

In England, the racing is so relentless with so many fixtures and so much driving involved between afternoon and evening meetings. Whereas going away for the winter I am racing three or four days a week and riding out most mornings, but when I am not racing there’s no travelling. I am keeping busy with 400 rides a winter, but overall the racing is nothing like as intense as it is in the UK. I think that is quite good mentally as we keep racing and working but at a less hectic pace.

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Limato is the horse you are most associated with, having enjoyed two Group 1 wins on this talented performer.

What sets him apart from the rest?

He has been an important part of my career and gave me my two biggest wins in the July Cup and Prix de la Foret in 2016. In that respect he has been absolutely fantastic. He won a very, very strong renewal of the July Cup. That first Group 1 will always be very special.

Limato is still a highly talented horse and I’m sure there’ll be another good race in him this year. He’s one I’ll never forget.

It’s not always been plain sailing.

Your lucrative retainer with Sheikh Fahad Al Thani’s Qatar Racing ended in 2014, while you lost rides on the aforementioned Limato and top filly Lightning Thunder. How do you handle those situations?

It’s a setback that all jockeys have to deal with at some stage of their career, be it losing a job, a retainer or a ride. At the end of the day, those situations can prove testing and are never nice to cope with. Now I am older I can handle those challenging circumstances a bit better.

When I lost the job with Sheikh Fahad’s Qatar Racing, I knew in the back of my mind it was the right thing for me as well. I found it difficult being in such a position at that early stage of my career.

Qatar Racing had a lot of horses with different trainers, who didn’t necessarily want to use you when they had their own stable jockey.

Being young and inexperienced, a situation like that would inevitably sow seeds of doubt in your mind and get you wondering if you were good enough.

Then you’d begin to lose confidence in yourself. In any sport confidence is a massive asset. As soon as you start to lose that confidence your performance takes a hit. I suppose at the end of the day, rather than being an optimist or pessimist, I am a realist.

A recently published survey revealed that over 86% of jockeys are either experiencing stress, anxiety or depression. Has this happened to you and how could the situation be improved for jockeys?

I have not experienced depression, though I admit we do work in a stressful environment. Being a jockey is a stressful job for different reasons. You can go through a bad patch and think you’re never going to ride another winner, or keep finishing second. Those reverses can chip away at you. Maybe you’re not getting the rides you think you should

CLOSE UP AND… PERSONAL

My weakness is… over thinking. If I get beaten when I reckon I should have won I’ll dwell on it I am annoyed by… bad traffic Four dinner party guests…

James Hunt, Gordon Ramsay, Muhammad Ali and Ariana Grande Can’t get through the day without… my mobile phone Favourite song/artist… Kanye West

CLOSE UP AND… PROFESSIONAL

I dream of winning… the Derby My racing hero is… Frankie Dettori Favourite racecourse… Ascot Biggest lesson I’ve learnt… success is not final, failure is not fatal – so said Winston Churchill Racing has taught me… resilience be. All the time you are watching your weight – I’m lucky waking up 8st 6lb most mornings – and, on top of that, continually driving thousands of miles can get to you. But don’t misunderstand me, when the job is going well and you’re banging in the winners you realise what a great job it is to be working in one of the best sports worldwide.

Reducing our fixture list would relieve some of the pressure because there is an awful lot of racing, non-stop through the year. It has become relentless. Do we need Sunday racing? I don’t know. I am not sure what the answer is, apart from cutting down on the amount of racing, which will probably never happen.

You are known as something of a petrolhead. Have you driven racing/ rally cars?

I have never driven racing or rally cars but it’s something I’d love to do. If I had another chosen career it would be as a racing driver. I have been to the Goodwood Festival of Speed numerous times but I have never driven round the circuit, though I have to say that’s something I really want to do. All my driving at the moment is to and from the races in my BMW 5 Series.

What is your ultimate ambition as a jockey?

To ride English Classic and Group 1 winners and also do well abroad. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but I just want to be as successful as I possibly can.

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Skyline Thoroughbreds

Believe in

BETTER There’s a new sales consignor in town but one that already boasts considerable talent and experience Words: Nancy Sexton Photos: Amy Lanigan

L

aunching a bloodstock business has never been for the faint hearted, requiring as it does immense determination, passion and organisation.

But in the event that blend could ever be bottled up, then you would be well on the way to capturing the essence of Skyline Thoroughbreds, Newmarket’s youngest sales consignor.

Skyline Thoroughbreds might be a new venture but for any sales aficionado there is a very familiar face at the helm in Gerry Meehan, the former yearling manager of Newsells Park Stud, alongside fellow partners Simon and Dr Emma Capon. Last November, the Capons purchased Glebe

Stud in Cheveley from Julia Scott, thereby fulfilling a long held desire to operate out of Newmarket, and now eight months on, it is full steam ahead in preparation for the upcoming sales season.

It has been a rollercoaster six months for all involved. The team enjoyed a momentous day at Royal Ascot as owners of the Charlie Fellowes-trained Thanks Be, who provided Hayley Turner with a first winner at the Royal Meeting in the Sandringham Handicap.

Meanwhile, Glebe Stud has undergone a series of exciting enhancements, including a new fencing programme, construction of ten new stables, a new

Emma and Simon Capon purchased Glebe Stud late last year

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Gerry Meehan: an integral figure at Skyline

show area, and stud office.

“We bought the stud in November and it has been a huge project,” says Simon Capon of the 70-acre property. “It won’t stop here, but within the next couple of weeks everything should be as we want it for now.”

A number of good horses over the years have come off Glebe Stud, which is situated on a pocket of prime grazing flanked by Cheveley Park Stud and Darley.

And for the Capons, it constituted a particularly desirous package given its proximity to their own home in Cheveley.

“We both have backgrounds in horses, mainly showjumping, but we’d always been interested in racing,” says Emma Capon, whose father Tom Wilson, a lifelong racing enthusiast, bred Grade 1 winner Grand Couturier. “The plan was

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to have a farm of our own and have our mares at home. And we knew we wanted to live near Newmarket, so we looked for about four to five years. Then eventually we bought a house in Cheveley in the hope that something would come up in due course.

“Our house actually backs on to Glebe, so we’d seen it a lot out the back window.

But that’s all we really knew about it.

And to be honest, we never thought we’d get it – we thought if one of the big boys wanted it, we’d never be able to compete.”

She adds: “The property was sold in three lots and we bought two of them. And then we talked to Gerry and developed a plan. We knew we needed experience and expertise, and Gerry is held in such high regard across the

industry. That what makes it a viable proposition as a business, so we’re delighted he’s here.”

Emma Capon holds an MBA and a PhD in Business and Management, thereby placing her in an ideal position to take care of the stud’s business side.

As for Simon, the launch of Skyline Thoroughbreds marks the welcome culmination of a lengthy period spent gaining a varied grounding within the industry.

“I met Gerry through Newsells Park,” he says. “Emma’s dad, Tom Wilson, pinhooked two fillies out of Our Queen Of Kings [the first, a Nathaniel filly, doubled Wilson’s money as a 600,000gns yearling and turned out to be Listed winner Natavia] and that’s how the introduction came about. I had been working for a

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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Skyline Thoroughbreds

Skyline Thoroughbreds will be well represented at all the major British yearling sales this season, starting with the Goffs UK Premier Sale

›› large farming firm and he asked Julian

Dollar if I could have an interview for a job at Newsells.

“Afterwards, I worked a sales season for Tom Goff. I did every sale pretty much, including Keeneland, Deauville and Newmarket. I enjoyed that immensely and learnt an awful lot. Tom is a great guy, very knowledgable and was happy to share his knowledge – he introduced me to a lot of people who I wouldn’t have necessarily met otherwise. I remember spending a day at Keeneland with John Gosden and that was a real eye-opener.”

Not one to restrict his grounding just to bloodstock, Capon then went on to assist trainer Charlie Fellowes.

“I decided to have a peek into the training side of things with Charlie,” he says. “He suggested after I finished with Tom that I joined him to gain another perspective. And that was another eyeopener, a really good experience. And after that I was able to work another sales season with Tom.” For all that the original plan at Skyline was for the stud to also house mares, youngstock is now the true focus. In that, Skyline differs from many of its contemporaries, with the business model resting solely on a boutique yearling preparation service. In addition, they are happy to prepare stock slated to sell through outside consigners.

“We own a few mares in partnership with Harry McCalmont at Norelands Stud,” says Emma Capon, “and we board a couple at New England. We’ll continue to breed but this now is very much the focus – a weanling, yearling business.”

Enter Gerry Meehan.

“We knew that Gerry had always wanted to do something for himself,” says Emma Capon, “and we wanted to make

a business out of this place. Gerry is a partner in the business so we’re all in it – the commitment is there.”

Winner of the Stud Staff category within the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards of 2014, Meehan brings over 30 years of experience to the table, notably over 17 years of service at renowned nursery Newsells Park Stud, latterly as yearling manager. Newsells Park, of course, has long held a regular position among the leading consignors at the Tattersalls October Sale, notably as the vendor of ten million-guinea yearlings since 2013.

“It is a feather in our cap to have a filly going to Book 1 of Tattersalls” Meehan’s resume also includes stints at the Barnett family’s Fair Winter Farm, Cheveley Park Stud, Side Hill Stud and Coolmore, where he worked with the likes of Fairy King and Alzao.

“It was the size of Glebe really that dictated the route we took,” says Meehan of the decision to focus on youngstock.

“We want to raise them as naturally as possible, have them outside as much as possible. We only want 30 here. It’s a nice manageable number and means you can treat them individually, put your own stamp on them and get to know them.”

In the meantime, they plan to carefully build a team of sales staff. Meehan is regarded as one of the best when it comes to sales showing, and is under no illusion as to its importance in maximising a yearling’s value.

“That was my biggest thing when I was at Newsells – to make a couple of new show people every year,” he says. “But then it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. I don’t know why – like everything in this industry, it can be difficult to get youngsters of the right age involved in it. Unfortunately, I think it’s probably a dying art.”

On a bright June day, the final touches were being made to the composition of what the Skyline team believe are a smart debut group of yearlings.

The majority had already been confirmed for their respective sales, among them a mixture of homebreds and pinhooks belonging to the Capons and outside clients – it says a lot for their first season pinhooking together that one youngster, a filly from the first crop of Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Awtaad, will provide Skyline with a presence at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale. “It is a feather in our cap to have a filly going to Book 1,” says Meehan, “because that wasn’t in our mindset when we went out to buy foals. We didn’t go there with really deep pockets to buy.”

Before then, they are likely to be well represented at the Goffs UK Premier Sale.

A morning spent at the stud is enough to glean the determination of the Capons and Meehan in developing Skyline into one of the best in its field. The test of the sales season is still to come but this is an operation with the knowledge and drive to make Skyline a success, and ultimately keep Glebe Stud at the forefront of the British bloodstock scene.

52 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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GERRY MEEHAN

LOOKING FOR TOP QUALITY YEARLING PREP?

30 years’ experience with track record second to none.

Yearling Sales Manager at Newsells Park Stud, leading sales consignors at Tattersalls Book 1 & 2

Quality not quantity Specifically tailored individual care 70 acres of prime grazing Consigning at all European sales Also owners of THANKS BE, winner of Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot, 2019

Glebe Stud, Cheveley, Newmarket, CB8 9DF Gerry: 07803 803011 Simon: 07930 855345 office@skylinethoroughbreds.com www.skylinethoroughbreds.com

THE AGA KHAN STUDS Success Breeds Success

A Stellar week at Royal Ascot for

SEA THE STARS CRYSTAL OCEAN winner of the Group 1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes STRADIVARIUS winner of a 2nd Group 1 Gold Cup STAR CATCHER winner of the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes Congratulations to all the connections!

Fractional ad pages July 2019.indd 53

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Sales Preparation

Making moments

OF TRUTH

Methods may differ worldwide but the end goal is the same as consignors strive to have their yearlings peak at the right time Words: Amy Lynam All begins with feeding

Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency believes that feed is the most important element of the sales prep process.

“Our belief is that the most critical part of sales preparation is done on the inside through proper nutrition and a healthy gut,” he says.

Taylor Made switch horses from a pelleted ration to a sweet feed mix for this period.

“The prep feed has a higher fat content from oil and beet pulp,” he says. “This fat is good for adding weight, energy and a great haircoat. Our yearlings also get cooked flax seed on top of their grain. Most of them love this treat in the afternoon and it is another source of healthy fat to help them shine.”

Each farm reminds me that every horse is treated as an individual and their feeding regime is no different. In fact, Whatton Manor’s Ed Player cites changes to its feeding methods as a huge help in 2018.

“We changed our feed company to Saracen in 2017,” he says. “And I have

TATTERSALLS

T

he old saying “Fail to prepare and prepare to fail” is true in all walks of life, and most definitely applies to the preparation of yearlings for their commercial ‘moment of truth’ in the sales ring.

Methods differ from consignor to consignor and horse to horse, but one would imagine that certain trends prevail, particularly when it comes to their base, whether it be Europe, North America or the southern hemisphere. To examine the worldwide differences, or similarities, we spoke to leading international consignors and, from the very outset, the contrast is vast in the numbers each prepare for the yearling sales.

Of those asked, top Australian operation Arrowfield Stud leads the way at 230 yearlings each season, though it is not a million miles ahead of Kentucky’s Taylor Made Sales at 175. David Cox, who will consign solely as Baroda Stud for the first time this year, is next in line by consigning 100, the same number as St George Sales, although on average it preps 65 of those it offers.

La Motteraye, the up-and-comers of the French sales scene, quoted 60 or so yearlings, with an extra handful joining them at the sales ground. The same number was given by Cambridge Stud, Sir Patrick Hogan’s legendary New Zealand nursery recently acquired by Brendan and Jo Lindsay.

Whatton Manor Stud, which enjoyed perhaps a career-best sale at Tattersalls in 2018, preps 40 to 45 yearlings for sales in England, Ireland and France. Completing our analysis is Norelands Stud, which boasts a rich heritage of producing top class horses, and which focuses on quality at 20 to 25 yearlings annually.

Mark Taylor: believes feeding is the most critical element of sales preparation

to admit our feeding programme has become far more complex. Our yearlings get hugely different feeding programmes depending on lots of different factors and Polly Bonner of Saracen has been hugely helpful.”

Gwen Monneraye and Lucie Lamotte of La Motteraye place so much importance on feed that they have created their own mix.

“We have made a specialist feed with our nutritionist, who is also a vet and he is very dedicated to the farm,” says Monneraye. “The yearlings also have a lot of small meals throughout the day to prevent gastric problems.”

Baroda, meanwhile, caters to individual yearlings’ needs with various additions to its standard use of stud cubes, prep mix, cool feed and balancers.

“Some might need supplements, copper, calcium, and Transvite probiotics,” he says. “We also have to build up their immune systems as they will be going to sales complexes and travelling on lorries, etc, and so Equiton tonic, garlic and honey is used.”

Katy Smith, yearling manager at Cambridge Stud, is another who amends their feeding regime with added supplements.

“Additives for coat health such as Livamol, joint health and increased protein in Equi-Jewel and milk powder are added,” she says, “based on the condition of individual yearlings.” That’s not the only change, however, as she explains. “Due to them being stabled we increase the total amount of fibre in their diets both through hay and additional fibre in their evening feed,” she adds.

In contrast, Arrowfield concentrates

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BRONWEN HEALY

Arrowfield Stud in Australia preps around 230 yearlings annually

on increasing the level of protein in its yearlings’ diets to balance the increased workload, while St George Sales doubles the yearlings’ feed consumption.

Norelands Stud is another which “keep it simple” in the words of manager Matt Gilsenan, by increasing quantities in accordance with workload and uses hard feed, Karron oil and high-quality haylage.

Variety in exercise key

Physical exercise is another element which each consignor adapts depending on the individual, though all but one uses a combination of the horse walker, handwalking and lunging.

Unsurprisingly, facilities have a huge effect on the physical prep, as highlighted

by Baroda’s David Cox. “Handling is huge for us,” he says. “We are lucky to have two yards, as well as an isolation yard, so that we can prep the colts and fillies separately. This year, we will also be able to prep yearlings in the UK in a top farm in Warwickshire, which is a great addition to the consignment.”

Not far away, Norelands makes use of its beautiful surroundings in County Kilkenny.

“We try to hand-walk all yearlings a couple of days a week through the woods to teach them to drop their heads and this is fine until sales get close and they get fitter,” says Gilsenan. “As with putting them in driving reins and rollers, it’s labour intensive and so it’s a selective process.”

Katy Smith revealed an intriguing aspect to the yearling prep at Cambridge Stud. “These days I think we would be one of the few farms to not exercise our horses,” she says. “They get a good

Jul_179_SalesPrepv2.indd 55

“Some might need supplements, copper, calcium and Transvite probiotics” length of walk out to their paddocks and this is all they get. They obviously get parade practice, but they are not put on walkers or lunged, or introduced to tack. The horses are a blank canvas and what you see with them is what you get, natural muscle and all.”

Alhough Cambridge Stud recently changed hands, this practice remains true to the farm’s heritage, as Smith explains. “Most of the methods still used today at Cambridge Stud are the original methods; the old saying of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ being very true.”

Switching Stateside, both St George Sales and Taylor Made use swimming as part of the prep process. Mark Taylor explains that a huge part of the Taylor Made focus is keeping their horses happy and this begins at the start of the day.

“We actually meet the yearlings at the gate of their field with a bucket of feed to reward them for being at the gate each day,” he says.

The devil is indeed in the detail and Taylor lists other idiosyncrasies.

“After exercise each horse is curried

while they are still warm,” he says. “They will shed better with their elevated body temperature and the rub down is a type of massage which they enjoy. Then comes a quick hose down to remove any sweat and dirt. We try not to use soap on their coats more than once or twice a week because it tends to strip the coat of natural oil and makes them dull.”

That’s not all. “Late afternoon we go through and mud their legs with poultice,” says Taylor. “This helps keep their young joints cool and tight. It’s also the best fly repellant, which keeps them from stomping flies that can trigger epiphysitis and chipped hooves.”

The most common length of time to prep given by consignors was eight weeks, although some individual horses may differ. Some other farms spend ten weeks on prep, including Arrowfield and Whatton Manor, while La Motteraye alot this period to those yearlings entered in earlier sales. Taylor Made gave the longest period, allowing 90 days of prep for the Keeneland September Sale entries.

Internationalisation

Asked how the sales prep process has changed over the years, the majority of consignors cited increased standards across the board.

“The yearling prep has become a lot more professional over the last ten to 15 years,” says Lucie Lamotte. “The difference may be even greater in France, as since Arqana was created, a new generation of experienced people have arrived here with new methods and are very keen to prove we can also do a good job in France.”

Gwen and Lucie hit on an interesting point, in that in this new world of easy travel the bloodstock markets have merged - European breeze-up consignors source many of their yearlings in the US, while American agents often visit Europe to access new bloodlines, and so on. As each market aspires to attract the biggest buyers, they also must adapt to the expectations of those potential clients.

Another influence on the internationalisation of the industry is the travel of staff, who bring with them methods from their home place, and, in turn, learn new methods on their travels.

Archie St George of St George Sales is a perfect example of how international experience is worth its weight in gold, with the Kilkenny native growing up in the jump racing scene before studying at Cirencester in England. From there, he went on to work for ten years at Eaton Sales in Kentucky, where he now runs Brooklodge Farm with his wife Michelle.

››

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Sales Preparation

››

“Our methods have evolved over time, taking into consideration previous work experience and standard techniques used by many in the area,” he says. “We hope to provide a standard of excellence across the board while tailoring to the specific needs of each horse.”

Whatton Manor’s Ed Player is another who was, and still is, keen to learn from others.

“My father [Peter Player] has been prepping yearlings for longer than I have been alive so he has always had great methods in place,” he says. “Before I came back to the farm I did a season prepping yearlings at Lynn Lodge for Eddie O’Leary, where I learnt a huge amount. They were masters of prepping a very large number of yearlings to high standards with very few staff. They operated a hugely efficient routine and their horses always look great.

When I came back to Whatton my father and I tweaked how we did things; we continue to do this every year as we pick up new ideas. I am always fascinated to hear how other farms do things and try to take the best bits from all of them and mould them to our routine.”

And how have these various influences changed the finished article at the sales?

Baroda’s David Cox says: “I believe that yearlings tend to be more toned and muscled these days, which is down to advanced nutrition and the yearlings being fitter.”

Mark Taylor is in agreement. “I think the market now rewards a good sized yearling that moves really well and looks healthy with lean muscle,” he says. “This is what we are striving for.” That wasn’t always the case, as he explains: “If you go back to photos of yearlings from the early 1980s you will be shocked at how fat they look! Back then the market wanted them fat and that look was what sold.”

Cambridge Stud is a farm renowned for its rich heritage and Katy Smith

56

TATTERSALLS

BARODA STUD

David Cox (inset): looking forward to consigning around 100 yearlings this year through his Baroda Stud

Ed and Catherine Player: they remain open to new ideas at Whatton Manor Stud

doesn’t believe that the market requests necessarily benefit the animals.

“I think there has been an increase in the level in which the horses are exercised,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, they need to have a base fitness to be able to cope with the demand of the yearling sales, but sometimes I feel this is maybe taken too far. Some horses are basically broken in before arriving at the sales complex.

“They are young horses and sometimes it’s nice to see the horse as a horse. Maybe I’m wrong in that; that is what buyers are wanting these days – ready-made athletes who look ready to hit the track.”

Matt Gilsenan is another who mourns the changing demands of the market.

“The greatest challenge when prepping yearlings is that sales have become beauty pageants,” he says. “You need perfect x-rays and scopes for a yearling without a blemish, which is difficult after the first 18 months of its life, as they fight for supremacy and feed!”

Gilsenan, however, does have a suggestion as to why buyers are seeking the perfect specimen, saying: “We now mainly sell to agents, who struggle to overlook any faults as they are spending someone else’s money!”

The quest for perfection, just like with humans, now sees a growing number of thoroughbreds go under the knife, which is one of the biggest problems in the industry, according to Mark Taylor.

“When buyers come to the sale they will shy away from a horse with an inconsequential P1 chip in an ankle,” he says. “I would estimate that the number of yearlings which had joint surgery in 1985 was around 10%. My estimation is that in 2019 approximately 30% of yearlings have had a joint surgery. It could be higher than that.”

Surgery has a detrimental effect on a yearling’s routine, he explains, saying: “All these surgeries force the yearling to be locked up in the stall at some point between January and June of their yearling year. This is the prime time for them to be outside and not confined to a stall. This puts the horse behind and causes a slew of other issues related to stress and stall confinement. I wish the industry would move away from the emphasis on pristine vet reports.”

Arrowfield’s Paul Messara highlighted another challenge facing sales consignors. “The greatest challenge we face in sales prep is ensuring we have high quality leaders to show our horses in the best possible light at the yearling sales,” he says.

That view is echoed by Ed Player – a mountain of hard work can be undone at the sales without the right team. “It is crucial to get a great team of people to show them at the sales,” he says.

“Without this you have wasted 18 months of hard work getting them to the sale.”

Of course, it’s not just at the sales that staff play a huge role. “Luckily we have a fantastic team at home who are prepared to go the extra yard, whether that is changing rugs at 10pm or something similar,” he adds. “It is these things that differentiate your yearlings from others at the sales.”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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ARE YOU MAXIMISING YOUR SALES PREP TO ACHIEVE THE BEST RESULTS? • CORRECT SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT • MUSCLE AND TOPLINE • COAT CONDITION • TEMPERAMENT

GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR EXPERT TEAM FOR A NUTRITIONAL CONSULTATION: UK Thoroughbred Manager: Adam Johnson +44 7860 771063 Irish Senior Equine Nutritionist: Lorraine Fradl + 353 59 9775800

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Fasig-Tipton

Saratoga spa

EXCELLENCE The boutique sale in upstate New York is on the horizon and follows a record-setting season in 2018, while the race meeting is top-notch too

FASIG-TIPTON

Words: Lucas Marquardt

Saratoga’s sale ring draws a well-heeled, well-dressed crowd after the afternoon racing

S

ome 200 miles north of Manhattan sits Saratoga Springs, New York. It’s an unlikely place for America’s most important race meeting.

Historically a small resort town edging along the foothills of the Adirondacks and known for its mineral baths, Saratoga isn’t really near anything. The closest population centre, Albany, is a fraction the size of its downstate cousin, and summers there can be brutally hot and humid. But charm can still win out over convenience, and since Saratoga racecourse opened its doors in 1863, the track known simply as the Spa has become the most consequential showcase of racing in the country.

If the track can stake that claim, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, then, can boast of being the most consequential boutique sale in the US, and certainly the chicest. Every year on the first Monday in August, patrons leave the races a bit early, take an early dinner or drink and make the short trip across Union Avenue for the first of two nights of selling at Saratoga.

“It’s unlike anything else,” said prominent owner Jaime Roth, who, with her parents Larry and Nanci, operates LNJ Foxwoods. LNJ’s blue and gold colours have been carried by the American Grade 1 winners Constellation and Nickname, and this year’s breakout

sprint filly Covfefe. They recently hit a career-high as co-owners of the promoted Kentucky Derby hero Country House, and in Europe have campaigned the French Group winner Golden Valentine and promising three-year-old filly Golden Box. The Roths are relatively new to the business – they bought their first horse at Saratoga in 2013 – and had little knowledge of the track or city before that.

“I knew nothing about Saratoga,” said Roth. “I was surprised when I first went.

I thought, ‘I’ve missed all this?’ Saratoga is a great sale, a great track and a great town.”

Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning Jr echoes that sentiment.

“It’s the only sale in America that combines all the great elements of our sport,” he said. “It’s a sale that has produced world-class runners for almost 100 years, and there’s extraordinary racing that’s literally right across the street. Plus you have a community that totally embraces it all. You go to breakfast and you see three generations of families talking about who they like in the third. It’s an extraordinary combination of events, activities and culture. It’s a horse-enthusiast’s dream.”

Fasig-Tipton first began selling horses in Saratoga in 1920, and is coming off a record-setting season. Of the 216 horses through the ring in 2018, 170 sold for $62,794,000 - a new high-water mark.

The average of $369,376 was second highest of all time, while the median of $300,000 tied the previous record.

Eighteen yearlings brought $750,000 or more, led by a Medagalia d’Oro son of stakes winner Coco’s Wildcat

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GEORGE SELWYN

who sold for $1.35 million. West Point Thoroughbreds and partners purchased the Taylor Made-consigned colt.

Naturally, the sale’s success lies in great part in the horses it attracts. It isn’t that they’re just the best-bred yearlings.

It’s that they are the ones that came to hand quickest. There’s something to be said for the ugly duckling who blossoms late. But there’s plenty to be said, too, for that horse that started good… and stayed good. That’s the type that consignors bring to Saratoga.

“People don’t come here with average horses,” said Browning. “People come expecting quality and are willing to pay for it.”

Saratoga’s honour roll speaks for itself. The Triple Crown winner American Pharoah famously went unsold at $300,000 in 2013 when knocked down to Ingordo Bloodstock but bought back by breeder Zayat Stables.

America’s Queen of the Turf Tepin was a relatively modest $140,000 purchase who went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.

The great Songbird was a $400,000 yearling. Successful racehorses and exciting young sires Tonalist, Munnings, Constitution, Dialed In and Union Rags were all Saratoga grads.

Because of the prestige and history of Saratoga’s equine institutions – the sale and the track – a healthy, almost anachronistic, amount of respect is shown to the process. Men don suits and ties, ladies wear dresses. People look stylish as they enter the pavilion each evening, just as the sun begins to dip in the western sky, and out back there’s

Triple Crown hero American Pharoah was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2013

an air of excitement as onlookers drink champagne and watch the first horses begin to circle the recently renovated walking ring.

The scene evokes a bygone era, and Jaime Roth said bidding at Saratoga for the first time is a rush.

“You’re there in the pavilion and you feel important, sitting ringside,” she said.

“And there’s adrenaline, excitement, nerves.”

Asked if that feeling dissipates with each passing year, she laughed and said: “No no, it’s stayed with me. It’s so much fun.”

Roth said, as much as anything, it’s the Saratoga routines she’s fallen in love with.

“I don’t know about other people, but we go out for an early dinner, just my parents and [advisors] Jason Litt and Alex Solis, and we go over our shortlist and hone in on the ones we’re excited about,” Roth said. “We come up with some prices and then head to the sale.

And then it’s on, it’s game time. And you hope to walk away with maybe one or two of the ten you liked.”

Last year, LNJ’s purchases included a pair of $750,000 fillies. There was a Tapit half-sister to LNJ’s first Grade I winner, Constellation, and a War Front half-sister to Tepin.

Because Saratoga is small, with roughly 30,000 year-round residents, there’s a very integrated feel to

››

Group/Grade 1 stakes winners since 2015 offered at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale Name

Consignor

Purchaser

Price ($)

AMERICAN PHAROAH

Taylor Made Sales

Ingordo Bloodstock

300,000

AVENGE

Gainesway

Steven Young

650,000

BATTLE OF MIDWAY

Gainesway

Fox Hill Farm

410,000

BOLT D’ORO

Denali Stud

Ruis Racing

630,000

CALLBACK

Paramount Sales

Spendthrift Farm

CONSTITUTION

Vinery

Twin Creeks Racing

400,000

MOONSHINE MEMORIES

Lane’s End

Bridlewood Farm & MV Magnier

650,000

ROCK FALL

Woods Edge

Stonestreet Stables

250,000

RUSHING FALL

Taylor Made Sales

Mike Ryan

320,000

SIPPICAN HARBOR

Dromoland Farm

Gary Contessa

260,000

SONGBIRD

Hill ’n’ Dale Sales

Fox Hill Farm

400,000

STELLAR WIND

Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services

Vernan Lee Stables

40,000

STORMY LIBERAL

Dapple Stud

Not sold

165,000

TAPWRIT

Denali Stud

Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbreds & Robert V. La Penta

TEPIN

Select Sales

Robert E. Masterton

140,000

TONALIST

Sweezey & Partners

Not sold

195,000

Jul_179_FasigTipton.indd 59

375,000

1,200,000

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Fasig-Tipton You might see trainer Nick Zito buying pastries at Mrs. London’s on Broadway, or members of Team Coolmore getting dinner at Siro’s, the legendary restaurant located just behind the track.

Fasig has worked with the New York Racing Association, which runs Saratoga, to create further synergies between the sales company and the track, and with the town itself. Fasig now sponsors the Festival of Racing, held the weekend prior to the sale and highlighted by the Whitney Handicap and Test Stakes. This year’s three-day event also features two new races designed to draw heavy European participation, the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks and the $1 million Saratoga Derby.

“With the Festival of Racing in the days preceding the sale, you have one of the great weekends of racing in America,” said Browning. “NYRA and Fasig-Tipton have done a better job in the last decade working together to make Saratoga the highlight of people’s racing and sale year. We were always good neighbours, but we work much

LUCAS MARQUARDT

›› everything during the racing season.

Jaime Roth: has always felt ‘adrenaline, excitement and nerves’ at Saratoga sales

more closely now than we did 20 years ago.”

For the Roths, the attraction of Saratoga was so strong that Larry Roth and Jaime’s brother David joined in a

partnership to renovate and reopen the Adelphi Hotel on Broadway. The hotel has garnered rave reviews, as has its two restaurants, The Blue Hen and the steakhouse Salt and Char.

“Salt and Char is a great restaurant, whether you want to get steak or pasta,” said Jaime Roth. “The bolognese is awesome. And I’m a bit of a sushi snob, and they have really good sushi.”

There are changes afoot for the 2019 racing season at Saratoga. The meeting typically runs from the last week in July through the first week in September, but because of construction near Belmont Park, opens this year on July 11. As such, there will be no Monday racing during the meeting. Racing will operate on a Wednesday through Sunday schedule.

“I’ll be interested to see how that changes the flow on the first sale day, but we’re not expecting anything drastic,” said Browning.

For Roth, it’s just an opportunity to start her Saratoga experience early.

“It’s just nice to be around friends and family and familiar faces,” she said. “It’s kind of what it’s about up there.”

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THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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Breeders’ Digest

Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editor

Our bloodstock coverage this month includes Sales Circuit: Goffs UK Spring Sale hits ‘historic’ heights – pages 64-72 Caulfield Files: Sadler’s Wells making Epsom his own – pages 74-75 Dr Statz: Frankel emerging as leader of Galileo tribe – page 96

Galileo domination no surprise as the rest concentrate on speed

Jul_179_BreedersDigest.indd 63

COOLMORE

T

he constraints imposed by the commercial market are well known.

Unless a breeder possesses the means to play at the top of the market, speed is the trusted route when it comes to stallions and all the better if that comes aligned with two-year-old talent. And so we find ourselves in a position whereby an average sprinter can attract three times the number of mares as a truly talented middle-distance horse.

It’s understandable when the margins are so tight – the middle sector, fuelled by pinhookers, will always latch on to a fast, new horse, making it a safer bet in a market fraught with pitfalls.

But in turn, can any of us be surprised when the sport is then witness to a Derby such as last month’s renewal?

Much of the bloodstock narrative in the lead up to the race focussed on Galileo’s domination. To recap, the Coolmore phenomenon fielded six of the runners, including the eventual winner Anthony Van Dyck. Sons New Approach, Australia, Nathaniel and Noble Mission were also represented, as was his grandson Dawn Approach, whose son Madhmoon ran second.

It was a washout for the home defence as Irish colts filled the first six places.

Five of them, including the winner, were trained by Aidan O’Brien. For all that it was another remarkable training feat out of Ballydoyle, it wasn’t the kind of outcome capable of assisting a race struggling to hold its identity on a packed Saturday afternoon of sport.

It did, however, again serve as a reminder of the special place that the Derby continues to hold at Coolmore and Ballydoyle, as it has done since the days of Vincent O’Brien.

“That is why we run so many horses, we always feel they are bred, reared and we try and keep them sound to compete in this race,” commented Aidan O’Brien as he reflected on his seventh Derby winner.

“It is the ultimate test in every way, it tests their speed, their stamina and then their

Galileo: the Coolmore phenomenon dominated this year’s Epsom Derby

mentality as well.

“John [Magnier] always says it is the ultimate test of the thoroughbred and that is why we come here and try and compete every year.”

Unfortunately, it would seem that Coolmore and their associates are sadly becoming isolated in their view.

There were no shortage of opinions as to what might give the Derby a boost in the aftermath of this year’s race. Perhaps, for instance, it is time to look at a revision of the entry system, surely an outdated model given it persists in closing in December of a horse’s yearling year.

However, ultimately the issue rests on the reticence of breeders outside the large owner-breeder operations to produce a middle-distance horse.

MATCHBOOK EBF SERIES A WELCOME BOOST

To that end, it was good to see the Matchbook European Breeders’ Fund (EBF) Future Stayers’ Series so well received upon its launch at York recently.

The BHA and British EBF created a series of maiden and novice races for the staying-bred juvenile back in 2015 in response to a review by the British Horseracing Authority’s Flat Racing

Committee that highlighted a lack of opportunities for such types. The series was enhanced last year to cover the progeny of mares who have won over ten furlongs or more.

Now in the introduction of the Matchbook EBF Future Stayers’ Series, yet another boost is on the way.

Betting exchange Matchbook will match the EBF’s prize-money contribution and put in place a £100,000 bonus for any winner from the series who goes on to win a Group 1 as a three-yearold over ten furlongs or more in Britain and Ireland. Worth a total of £283,000, the series consists of 16 races, all with a minimum prize value of £14,000 over a minimum distance of seven furlongs, and runs from August to December.

“There is an increasingly worrying bias towards breeding and buying for speed,” said Kerry Murphy, Chief Executive of the EBF. “These races are programmed as ideal opportunities for our future middledistance and staying champions.

“The EBF are delighted to support these races and team up with Matchbook and the racecourses in ensuring that the funds provided reach those that produce the horses.”

On hand to promote the initiative at York was trainer Hugo Palmer. “This is really important for the industry. To have a series where there is an opportunity for stouter-bred horses to run for plentiful prize-money in the scheme in this country is a fantastic initiative,” he said. “It’s much easier to dream if you’ve won one of these races, and then you start dreaming about the bonus.”

The bonus is winnable, as highlighted by the fact that it would have been landed by Cracksman – himself successful in a sire-restricted race at Newmarket in October 2016 – had it been in operation.

Other graduates of the series include Line Of Duty, Stradivarius and Bangkok, and no doubt more in possession of similar talent will emerge when it kicks into gear again later this season.

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27/06/2019 16:21

Sales Circuit • By Carl Evans

‘Historic’ heights reached at Goffs UK Spring Sale A 15-year record for the most expensive jumper sold at auction was blown into history at this event by the sale of fiveyear-old Interconnected for £620,000.

The gelding’s buyer was property developer and racehorse owner Darren Yates, whose building interests went to another level in 1996 when he won more than £550,000 in an accumulator bet on Frankie Dettori’s seven Ascot winners. He has now parked his racing faith in Yorkshire trainer Philip Kirby, a farrier and former trainer of point-topointers, who has gained a growing reputation for skilful training, notably with the multiple-winning mare Lady Buttons.

Kirby and Yates made headlines earlier this year when securing Grand National hopeful Blaklion privately out of Nigel Twiston-Davies’ yard, and when

GOFFS UK/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs UK Spring Sale Horses-in-Training/Pointers

Interconnected will race for Darren Yates after setting a new sale record of £620,000

Goffs UK Doncaster Spring Horses in Training Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Buyer

Interconnected g (Network - R De Rien Sivola)

Grech & Parkin

620,000

Philip Kirby/Darren Yates

Lets Go Champ g (Jeremy - Dark Mimosa)

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

375,000

Roger Brookhouse

Mister Coffey g (Authorized - Mamitador)

Harry Whittington Racing

340,000

Tom Lacey

Lust For Glory f (Getaway - Maisie Presenting)

Grech & Parkin

235,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Kupatana f (Westerner - Kildea Cailin)

Grech & Parkin

210,000

Rathmore Stud

Skatman g (Mustameet - Maid For Action)

Baltimore House Stables (James Doyle)

170,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

Face The Odds g (Presenting - Miss Otis Regrets)

Ballyboy Stables (Denis Murphy)

165,000

Mags O’Toole/Noel Meade

Fakir D’Alene g (Cokoriko - Serbanne)

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

160,000

Aidan O’Ryan/Gordon Elliott

Mustang Alpha g (Stowaway - Tupia)

Moate Stables (Michael Goff)

135,000

Tom Malone/Jamie Snowden

Blossoming Forth f (Flemensfirth - Blossom Trix)

Poplar Cottage Stables (Philip Rowley)

130,000

Bobby O’Ryan/Ruth Jefferson

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2019

405

9,193,400

22,700

10,000

620,000

2018

315

6,303,550

20,011

12,000

280,000

2017

327

6,233,200

19,062

10,000

210,000

2016

249

4,734,000

19,012

10,000

290,000

2015

231

3,781,800

16,371

8,000

220,000

64 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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Stuart Parkin: the Grech & Parkin draft turned over £1,873,500 in total sales in Doncaster

Bromley, was responsible for selling Garde Champetre as part of its annual dispersal at this event. This year’s MiM draft, which was offered on day one, resulted in six lots changing hands for £330,000 with a high of £75,000, a useful contribution in terms of cash turnover and publicity for the event, but once again many of the big prices from the session were made by Irish pointto-pointers.

They were headed by four-yearold Lets Go Champ, a son of Jeremy offered by Donnchadh Doyle’s Monbeg Stables, and who made £375,000 – a

GOFFS UK/SARAH FARNSWORTH

that horse became injured, stepping up to pay £170,000 for Don Poli on the eve of Aintree’s great race.

This was the second time Interconnected had set a sales-ring record, for after bolting up in a Larkhill point-to-point in February last year he was sold by then owner Tom Lacey at the Cheltenham Festival Sale for £220,000, a sum which remains a beacon for a British pointer at public auction.

His latest valuation, which was also a record for any horse sold by Goffs UK (or its previous title of Doncaster Bloodstock Sales) pulled well clear of the 530,000gns (£556,000) paid in the old Doncaster ring by JP McManus for Garde Champetre in 2004, who went on to become a top-class cross-country performer.

Interconnected’s long-term goal is the Cheltenham Gold Cup, although he raced just once last season while under the care of Nicky Henderson. His return to the ring was due to the dispersal of the racing partnership between Stuart Parkin and Mike Grech, who put 28 horses through the ring on day two of this auction, and will follow up with more at Goffs UK’s August Sale.

All offered without reserve, the 28 turned over £1,873,500 at an average of £66,911, helping drive up the two-day sale’s aggregate figure by 88%. There were also rises of 44% in the average and 13% in the median.

The Million In Mind Partnership, piloted by David Minton and Anthony

GOFFS UK/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Overview and analysis of the latest events in the ring

Owner Darren Yates (left) with his new record purchase Interconnected

Jul_179_SaleCircuit.indd 65

record for a pointer at Doncaster – to a bid from racehorse owner Roger Brookhouse. Doyle had paid €90,000 for the gelding at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, a bold buy given the potential pitfalls that lay ahead in breaking, training, schooling and then racing over jumps for three miles. But it paid off when Lets Go Champ won at Bartlemy two weeks before the sale, setting his trainer up for a significant profit.

The Harry Whittington-trained bumper winner Mister Coffey, by Authorized, made £340,000 to Tom Lacey, while Blossoming Forth’s sale for £130,000 was a new record for a filly or mare sold at auction from the British point-to-point circuit.

No doubt trainer Philip Rowley would have liked her to have shown merit in something more competitive than a three-runner maiden race, but the market accepted she had won decisively, and she now continues her career under Rules with Ruth Jefferson.

Goffs UK catalogued an additional 119 horses for this ‘in-training’ auction, and with 85 additional sales the turnover rose 46%. The average gained 13%, but the median was cropped by 17% and the clearance rate dropped six points. It was a heady occasion, and one that could take some years to surpass.

Tony Williams, the company’s Managing Director, referred to “an historic day,” while Stuart Parkin, admitted the sale of Interconnected had been “surreal”. Hopefully it will not be long before he returns as a racehorse owner.

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Sales Circuit Britain’s only specialist sale of unbroken jumping stores cleared 80% of the 225 lots on offer and was gilded by the sale of four six-figure horses.

That was three more than in 2018, although none could match the £140,000 top price of 12 months earlier, the best for ten years at the event. It had been paid by Gigginstown House Stud for a Kayf Tara gelding now called Centurion Steel, who has run once, finishing unplaced in an Irish point-topoint.

Among the four from this year’s sale whose valuation breasted £100,000 it was no great surprise to see the name of stallion Getaway featuring twice. It was also there alongside the £105,000 joint-top lot, a gelding consigned by Ballincurrig House Stud on behalf of Willie Bryan and friends.

Ross Doyle bought this one in conjunction with trainer Colin Tizzard, while Olly Murphy teamed up with his father, bloodstock agent Aiden, to secure the sale’s other joint-best, a gelding by Yeats offered from Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm. The pair had been bought as foals at Tattersalls Ireland’s 2016 November Sale for €28,000 and €30,000 respectively.

Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls also left with a Getaway gelding, a £100,000 buy consigned by Tony Costello’s Treannahow Stables, and the same

GOFFS UK/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs UK Spring Store Sale

Trainer Olly Murphy teamed up with his father Aiden to buy this Yeats gelding for £105,000

buying team paid the identical sum for a Sholokhov gelding from Katie Rudd’s Busherstown draft.

The quartet all boasted good looks, scope and breeding, with the Yeats being a half-brother to Grade 1-winning hurdler Roksana and the Doyle-bought Getaway a half-brother to Scottish National winner Joe Farrell.

The Sholokhov was out of a half-sister to top-grade winner Yanworth, while the Nicholls-bought Getaway came from the family of Grade 2-winning chaser Calling Wild, who raced from the champion trainer’s Ditcheat stables.

Highflyer Bloodstock became leading buyers, securing 11 lots for £377,000, although the same agency teamed up to make joint-purchases with several trainers, including Alan King, with whom Highflyer gained an extra four horses for £136,000. Michael Moore’s Ballincurrig House Stud led consignors, trading 12 horses for just under £500,000.

In 2018 there were slight falls in the key figures, and that proved to be the case again, with turnover dipping 14% (13 fewer lots offered), the average by four per cent and the median by 13%. The clearance rate was down four points.

Goffs UK Spring Store Sale Top lots Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Buyer

G Yeats - Talktothetail

Oak Tree Farm

105,000

Olly Murphy/Aiden Murphy

G Getaway - Luck Of The Deise

Ballincurrig House Stud

105,000

Doyle/Tizzard

G Getaway - Crossbar Lady

Treannahow Stables

100,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

100,000

G Sholokhov - Maryota

Busherstown

G Milan - Baby Briggs

Rathturtin Stud

80,000

Allson (Sparkle) Ltd

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Shantou - Fine Fortune

Ballyreddin Stud

75,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

G Getaway - Classic Magic

Ballincurrig House Stud

65,000

Monbeg Stables

G Noroit - Visiorienne

Liss House

62,000

Aiden Murphy/Kim Bailey

G Kayf Tara - Aeronautica

Dauntsey Park

62,000

Fergal O’Brien Racing

F Getaway - Another Evening

Ballincurrig House Stud

62,000

Highflyer/N Henderson

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2019

179

4,737,800

26,468

21,000

105,000

2018

199

5,505,900

27,668

24,000

140,000

2017

209

5,951,500

28,476

23,000

100,000

2016

183

4,280,500

23,391

20,000

105,000

2015

198

3,858,850

19,489

14,750

80,000

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TALKING POINT • Richard Barber was not well enough to attend this year’s Spring Sale, and a few weeks after it was completed he passed away at the age of 77.

One of Britain’s greatest trainers of pointers, and a huge influence on countless people who spent time at his stables in Dorset, Barber sourced much of his raw material at Doncaster, the highlight being his 5,600gns store purchase See More Business. After Barber trained that horse to win two point-to-points he was sold again and moved to Paul Nicholls’ yard, from where he won a Cheltenham Gold Cup and two King George VI Chases.

Barber trained four winners of the Cheltenham Festival’s Foxhunter Chase, including Doncaster purchase Earthmover (7,500gns), and he guided five amateurs to 11 British point-to-point championships while they were first-choice rider at his stable. With some 1,000 winners he was a colossus of the amateur sport, and will be missed from the racecourse and sales ring.

• At every sale there are cases of ‘one that got away’, although it can take months or years to prove the case.

At Goffs UK’s Store Sale such an example came to light within 48 hours. The horse in question was a Kayf Tara filly who made £56,000, a not insignificant investment, but one that gained added value two days later when her

half-brother, Interconnected, smashed a long-standing sales record at the Horses-in-Training section of this Spring Sale.

Herefordshire trainer Tom Symonds, who is looking to expand the breeding side of his business, bought the filly, and while it would be natural for him to run her – and claw back some of her purchase price in prize-money and NH MOPs benefits – he can be patient and see how Interconnected’s career develops over the next 12 months from the yard of trainer Philip Kirby. It could be that Symonds’ filly will not need to race.

• Coolmore’s Grange Stud was dealt a blow in 2017 with the death of its emerging force in the stallion ranks, Fame And Glory as an 11-year-old. His progeny were proving popular at bloodstock auctions with trainers and the allimportant pinhookers who can be so influential.

Fame And Glory’s passing left a void to be filled, and another Grange Stud stallion has filled it. Now a 16-yearold, Getaway’s popularity has blossomed, and at this sale he was responsible for siring four of the top ten purchases. His 13 lots on offer all found a buyer at an average of almost £44,000, a very good return for any breeder who used him in 2015 at a fee of €3,500.

Fame And Glory was represented by 11 stores who sold for an average of £27,363.

Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

A new title, venue and breezing location, but more fine results at Ireland’s sole breeze-up auction, where 91% of the 196 horses offered found a buyer.

It was in August last year that a link between Martin Donohoe’s Goresbridge Horse Sales and Tattersalls Ireland was announced. It came ten years after Goresbridge had first held such a sale, but only a few months after a trying 2018 season for breeze-up specialists.

With trimmed-up catalogues and

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

This Lope De Vega colt turned a fine profit for Oak Tree Farm, selling for €175,000

Richard Brown: the Blandford Bloodstock agent landed four of the top ten lots

Jul_179_SaleCircuit.indd 67

circumspect appraisal of the horses selected to breeze, trade has been steadied this year, as reflected at this sale, which was moved to Fairyhouse.

It lacked a sky rocket to match the €315,000 Frankel filly who had headed trade at the 2018 edition – and, after being named East, won the Prix Thomas Bryon and was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf – and the top price of €175,000 would have been just the seventh highest 12 months earlier.

Without such big prices the average lost six per cent, but solid trade throughout the catalogue meant turnover dipped just one per cent and the median gained 12.5%.

Norman and Janet Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm consigned the sale topper, a Lope De Vega colt they had bought for €28,000 as a yearling. He was knocked down to Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown, acting for a client of John Gosden’s. Three lots by Lope De Vega

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Sales Circuit ››

were offered, selling for an average of €99,333, more than double his 2016 covering fee, while Blandford Bloodstock proved the leading buyer, leaving with passports for 11 horses costing a total of €835,000.

Other sires whose progeny were popular included Kingman, whose sole

the vendor of East 12 months earlier.

Walsh’s Greenhills Farm sold four horses for €245,000 at a very good average of €61,250, although topconsignor honours went to the bigger draft offered by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill. Its 15-strong consignment turned over €469,000.

representative, a filly, made €165,000 to a bid from BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe, and Night Of Thunder, who proved the pick of first-crop stallions.

His three lots averaged €64,333, a figure helped by a €130,000 colt who was sold to Curragh trainer Michael O’Callaghan, having been consigned by Katie Walsh,

Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale Top lots Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

C Lope De Vega - Legal Lyric

Oak Tree Farm

175,000

Blandford Bloodstock

F Kingman - Pure Excellence

Kilminfoyle House Stud

165,000

BBA Ireland

C Night Of Thunder - Martine’s Spirit

Greenhills Farm

130,000

Michael O’Callaghan

C Kodiac - Alexander Youth

Tally-Ho Stud

125,000

Blandford Bloodstock

F Dark Angel - Lethal Lena

Knockatrina House

125,000

Michael O’Callaghan/Moran Stud Farm

C Muhaarar - Tropical Paradise

Glending Stables

F Camacho - Thanks

Meadowview Stables

C Morpheus - Subtle Shimmer F Canford Cliffs - Pushkar C Lemon Drop Kid - Alec’s Moon

115,000

Blandford Bloodstock

100,000

Blandford Bloodstock

Skryne Stables

90,000

Kevin Ross Bloodstock

Skryne Stables

90,000

Blandford Bloodstock

Mocklershill

70,000

John Walsh Bloodstock/E Al Afoo

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2019

179

5,010,500

27,992

18,000

175,000

2018

170

5,054,900

29,735

16,000

315,000

2017

177

6,100,500

34,466

21,000

210,000

2016

183

5,289,500

28,904

16,000

270,000

2015

175

4,608,500

26,334

17,000

170,000

After a superb year for Tattersalls at the company’s Cheltenham venue there was an end-of-term feel about this singlesession event.

It was a last chance to shed a pointto-pointer or bumper horse, and while the right buyers were present they were not in the mood to make historical prices. Five horses had made £200,000plus at the auction a year earlier, but the top price on this occasion was £170,000.

It is easy to dismiss that as a runof-the-mill figure given the sums Irish pointers can achieve, but it was still a wonderful result for trainer Stuart Crawford, who had bought the horse in question, four-year-old Largy Fix, for €28,000 at the 2018 Goffs Land Rover Sale.

The son of Notnowcato followed the familiar pattern of winning a point-topoint, in his case at Loughanmore, and then being returned to the ring.

Mags O’Toole secured Largy Fix, and

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale

Largy Fix sold for £170,000, having cost Stuart Crawford €28,000 the previous summer

followed up with the £165,000 purchase of another four-year-old, French Dynamite, a son of former Haras Du Quesnay resident Kentucky Dynamite, and offered by pinhooking maestro

Donnchadh Doyle of Monbeg Stables.

O’Toole said both horses would be returning to Ireland.

Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls rarely leave Cheltenham sales without a

68 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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horse, and their £125,000 bid gained them Flash De Touzaine, who had been placed in a Killarney bumper. If that was proof that winning is not paramount to gaining a good price in the ring, the sixyear-old Royal Drumlee was evidence that a horse does not have to be four or even five to win friends.

Unraced as a four-year-old, he was placed twice in Irish points at five, but had won three on the trot since the turn of the year. That would be far too much exposure for most buyers

at this type of auction, but not for the American jumping market, which seems to prefer a horse with greater age and experience, and therefore likely to adapt to timber racing. Having failed to sell for €6,500 as a store in 2016, Royal Drumlee made £100,000 on this occasion to agent Hamish Macauley, acting for US trainer Leslie Young.

Sixty-four horses were offered, three fewer than last year, but the slightly smaller catalogue was not alone in pegging turnover back 34%. The

shortage of big prices put a 27% hole in the average price, but the median gained one per cent. All the other key indicators returned to 2017 levels.

At the sale’s conclusion Tattersalls Ireland’s Director of Horses in Training Sales, Richard Pugh, described the past year as “undoubtedly the best season to date on the track” for Cheltenham graduates, highlighted by Tiger Roll’s second Grand National triumph, but bolstered by Envoi Allen’s position as racing’s number one bumper performer.

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Buyer

Largy Fix g (Notnowcato - Fix It Lady)

Newlands Stables (Stuart Crawford)

170,000

Margaret O’Toole

French Dynamite g (Kentucky Dynamite - Matnie)

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

165,000

Margaret O’Toole

Flash De Touzaine g (Kapgarde - Narcisse De Touzaine)

Saunderscourt Stables (Liz Doyle)

125,000

Tom Malone /Paul Nicholls

Kakamora g (Great Pretender - Roche D’Or)

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

105,000

Gerry Hogan Bloodstock

Royal Drumlee g (Royal Anthem - Eveningofelegance)

Sean McParlan Racing

100,000

Hamish Macauley/Leslie Young

Timberman g (Califet - Millrock Lady)

Newlands Stables (Stuart Crawford)

87,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Kilconny Bridge g (Stowaway - Wattle Bridge)

Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe)

75,000

Anthony Honeyball

Don Diablo g (Flemensfirth - Tonaphuca Girl)

Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe)

70,000

Aidan O’Ryan/Gordon Elliott

Fantasia Roque g (Blue Bresil - Bible Gun)

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

70,000

Margaret O’Toole/Noel Meade

Tupelo Mississippi g (Yeats - Misleain)

Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe)

65,000

Phil Martin

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2019

46

2,341,000

50,891

45,500

170,000

2018

51

3,568,000

69,961

45,000

280,000

2017

46

2,281,000

49,587

41,500

130,000

2016

63

3,206,000

50,889

40,000

200,000

2015

43

2,459,200

57,191

35,000

200,000

BBAG May Mixed Sale

“A day for the industry” was how BBAG’s new managing director Klaus Eulenberger described this singlesession sale of breezers and other thoroughbreds.

If increased turnover is a guide it was also a good day for his company, for it rose 33% – the best for ten years – and while most vendors would have made little profit off an average price of just over €10,000, a seven per cent increase in that figure was a positive.

The catalogue had gained an additional 18 horses, but there were enough buyers to help the clearance rate gain a percentage point to reach 69%.

Racehorse owner Horst Pudwill will

Jul_179_SaleCircuit.indd 69

race the event’s top lot, a €58,000 two-year-old colt by Adlerflug who will go into training with Markus Klug, but the sale’s most active buyer was Irishman JD Moore, who accounted for seven lots, including three breezers.

They were headed by a €36,000 son of Rio De La Plata who was bought out of Con Marnane’s Bansha House Stables in conjunction with Lambourn trainer Harry Dunlop.

Dunlop went it alone to gain a threeyear-old Farhh gelding called Brighton Rock for €20,000, while his brother, Newmarket trainer Ed, teamed up with Moore to buy a Sea The Moon filly breezer for €10,000.

BBAG agent Richard Venn bought

breezing fillies by Kheleyf (€6,000) and Hot Streak (€7,000), while Peter and Antoinette Kavanagh’s Kildaragh Stud gained the Reliable Man three-yearold filly Dolores for €24,000 through Ronald Rauscher. A daughter of the Listed-winning mare Diatribe, Dolores was a half-sister to the German Group 3 winner Degas.

Bansha House’s six-strong consignment turned over €92,000, placing it second on the leading vendors’ table behind Gestut Gorlsdorf, while Newmarket-based Colin Huggan, no stranger to this sale, offered four breezers of which three found buyers.

They were headed by a €24,000 gelded son of Mastercraftsman.

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Sales Circuit ››

BBAG May Mixed Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

C Adlerflug – Meerschweinchen

Gestut Gorlsdorf

58,000

Horst Pudwill

C Silver Frost - Diamond In The Sky

Haras de Saint Arnoult

46,000

Stall Mandarin

C Thewayyouare - Brit Wit

Philip Prevost-Baratte

43,000

Frank Bierkämper

C Rio De La Plata - Relation

Bansha House Stables

36,000

JD Moore/Harry Dunlop

Itman 3 c (Soldier Hollow - Ivowen)

Gestut Auenquelle

28,000

Carmen Bocskai

F Kamsin - Zazera

Gestut Ohlerweiherhof

26,000

Mirek Rulec

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2019

67

697,600

10,411

5,500

58,000

2018

54

525,400

9,730

9,680

55,000

2017

43

413,200

9,609

9,860

43,000

2016

47

538,200

11,451

8,000

61,000

2015

44

569,900

12,952

10,500

61,000

Very strong trade at this two-day sale of unbroken stores, which included a record median, confirmed that the passion for top-level jump racing is galloping on strongly.

The first horse into the ring made €75,000, and that set the tone, although the €200,000 mark which had fallen four times in 2018 was not breached. In fact the sale’s most valuable lot, a €185,000 gelded halfbrother to smart hurdler Tombstone by Yeats, would have fared no better than fifth on the top-ten board 12 months’ earlier.

It was the strength of trade through the middle market which enabled turnover to soar past €15 million for the first time, gaining 13% on the 2018 aggregate despite a dozen fewer horses entering the ring. The average price went up six per cent, the median – which set a record for any store sale – by 20% and the clearance rate gained seven points to achieve 86%.

That clearance rate had been especially noteworthy during the upper-tier first session, at which 91% of horses found a new home.

Trainer Martin Brassil made the front-page headline on both days, initially when buying the sale-topping Yeats, who was consigned from Peter Molony’s Rathmore Stud, and then, on day two, gaining a €90,000 Beat

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs Land Rover Sale

Trainer Martin Brassil went to €185,000 for the sale-topping son of Yeats

Hollow gelding who proved the most revered element of the Part II section.

The owner or owners who will race the two horses were not revealed.

Agent Gerry Griffin has bought numerous horses over the years for Cumbrian trainer Nicky Richards, and the two men teamed up to secure a €180,000 son of Authorized offered from Hugh Bleahen’s Clifton Farm, while another buying duo who also featured heavily on day one was that involving agent Tom Malone and trainer Paul Nicholls.

They are no strangers to a six-figure horse, and at the sale’s first session they secured six lots at an average of €121,667. The sextet were headed by a €175,000 Fame And Glory gelding who was a half-brother to Grade 1 bumper winner Tornado Flyer and out of a halfsister to brilliant hurdler and multiple Grade 1 winner Hurricane Fly. This one was consigned by Pine Tree Stud, while Springhill Stud offered a son of Valirann who dropped to Malone and Nicholls for €155,000.

Colin Bowe offered that same sum

››

70 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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›› to buy a Flemensfirth gelding from

Michael Moore’s Ballincurrig House draft, a transaction which underlined the financial heights people will go to in a bid to win an Irish point-to-point. Not that a first prize of €1,000 is the goal, but the potential to sell such a horse on at a profit, and few can match Bowe’s ability in that regard.

County Wexford-based Bowe, Ireland’s multiple champion pointto-point trainer, confirmed the horse would be racing between the flags next year for a new syndicate. He bought seven horses for an average of €60,000, while the redoubtable Doyle brothers of Monbeg Stables, another leading Irish point-to-point pinhooking outfit, left with 26 lots at an average of €40,000. The pick of Monbeg purchases was a €110,000 Flemensfirth gelding from the family of top chaser Voy Por Ustedes. This one was consigned by Peter Nolan.

Highflyer Bloodstock’s investment in 33 lots put €1,265,000 into the till and resulted in that agency taking the

TALKING POINT • Trendsetter Tom Lacey, who over recent years has shown British yards how to pinhook a pointer the Irish way, bought two horses at this sale in 2018 for €132,000, but while present for the latest edition his name did not appear on the buyers’ sheet. In contrast the combination of Warwickshire-based Fran Nimmo and Charlie Poste – who have long named Lacey as an inspiration to their operation – upped their game. In 2018 they bought three horses for €68,000, but this time they invested in five for €130,000. The couple, who are marrying in September, have enjoyed two six-figure sales with UK pointers this year.

• In his end-of-sale statement Goffs’ Chief Executive Henry Beeby referred to the Highflyer Bloodstock team who had completed the sale as leading buyers.

The agency’s pulling power was evident in a Goffs photograph. It showed the team of David Minton, Anthony Bromley and Tessa Greatrex at the side of the ring with trainers Nicky Henderson, Ben Pauling, Charlie Longsdon, Oliver Sherwood, Lucy Wadham and Warren Greatrex. Beeby singled out Minton for special mention, referring to his 50 years as an agent and claiming ‘Minty’ had not moved from the ring during 11 hours of selling on day one, a feat of remarkable human endurance.

leading buyer role once more, while Nolan edged ahead of Ballincurrig House Stud to seal the position of leading consignor. Both turned over more than €1 million, with Nolan’s

36-strong draft realising €1,169,000 from the sale of 33 stores.

The leading sire by aggregate was the late Fame And Glory, whose 36-sold progeny turned over €1,519,500.

Goffs Land Rover Sale Top lots Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

G Yeats - Connaught Hall

Rathmore Stud

185,000

Martin Brassil

G Authorized - Fire Moon Julie

Clifton Farm

180,000

Nicky Richards

G Fame And Glory - Mucho Macabi

Pine Tree Stud

175,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Valirann – Brogella

Springhill Stud

155,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Flemensfirth – Hotline

Ballincurrig House Stud

155,000

Milestone Bloodstock

G Milan - Back To Loughadera

Ballyreddin Stud

150,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Martaline – Kendova

Moanmore Stables

135,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

G Martaline - Outre Mer

Ballyreddin Stud

115,000

Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock

G Flemensfirth - August Hill

Peter Nolan Bloodstock

110,000

Monbeg Stables

G Fame And Glory - Espresso Lady

Clifton Farm

110,000

Aiden Murphy/Olly Murphy

G Kayf Tara - Patsie Magern

Brown Island Stables

110,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Creachadoir - Petite Speciale

Glen Stables

110,000

Ed Cawley

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2019

419

15,312,000

36,544

30,000

185,000

2018

393

13,570,800

34,356

25,000

325,000

2017

380

12,270,500

32,291

28,000

175,000

2016

448

11,770,600

26,274

20,000

165,000

2015

437

11,722,500

26,825

20,000

155,000

Jul_179_SaleCircuit.indd 71

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

››

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Sales Circuit Goffs London Sale

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

This unique event was created as a sale of bloodstock with a social gathering on the eve of Royal Ascot, but those two roles seem to be flip-flopping.

The breezers who contributed to the early sales are long gone, the catalogue reduced in size, and turnover is a long way from the near £7 million which was spent in 2014 when the sale was founded.

In that year 51 lots were offered and 36 sold, yet at the latest edition just 22 lots were on the market, and ten were said to have sold for just over £3m.

Goffs’ Chief Executive Henry Beeby seemed unperturbed, admitting a higher clearance rate would have been preferable, but saying the occasion was a wonderful marketing opportunity for his company and the high-profile

The Goffs London Sale remains a unique event on the eve of Royal Ascot

sponsors who support the event.

It provided a chance to entertain international clients in Britain’s capital city, although after the glitz of this occasion some might find Kill in November quite an eye-opener.

There were sales too, headed by a transaction which saw Newmarket trainer David Simcock pay £520,000 for two-year-old Mohican Heights, a son of Australia who had won for Fozzy Stack’s stable on debut at Leopardstown ahead of this sale.

Holding a Chesham Stakes entry at the Royal meeting, he did not appear in person, but a film of his win was replayed on a big screen – this was the procedure for all the horses in training, although some mares and two unraced juveniles were present to give guests a taster of a traditional sale.

Three-year-old filly Pure Zen was knocked down to bloodstock agent Federico Barberini for £500,000, while the Andrew Balding-trained three-year-old gelding Le Don De Vie, who scored at Epsom on Derby day, made £460,000 to an offer from Matt Houldsworth.

He was acting for a client of trainer Hughie Morrison, namely Aziz ‘Ozzie’ Kheir, a partner in the same trainer’s Marmelo, who was second in last year’s Melbourne Cup. In time Le Don De Vie could tackle the same race.

Con Marnane, well known as a breeze-up consignor, appears to be moving his ship gently away from that area of the industry, putting more

TALKING POINT • At the 2018 edition of Goffs’ London Sale Thai businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha of King Power Racing bought six of the 13 lots who found a buyer.

One year on, and tragically after Srivaddhanaprabha had died in a helicopter crash, his bloodstock agent Alastair Donald was present, but not in buying mode.

Fortunately, King Power Racing remains very much in business under the eye of the founder’s family, and, as Donald put it, there was no need to invest when the operation already has a sizeable string of racehorses and breeding stock. emphasis on racing his homebred or yearling purchases and then putting them on the market.

His Haydock Listed winner Forever In Dreams, a three-year-old filly, made £430,000 to a bid from Phoenix Ladies’ Syndicate – an offshoot of Amer Abdulaziz’s Phoenix Thoroughbreds – and went on to run second in the Commonwealth Cup later that week at Royal Ascot.

Statistics at sales largely devoted to horses in training can swing around, but for the record the clearance rate remained at 45% for the second year, turnover was down 15%, although the average and median figures gained ten per cent.

Goffs London Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Buyer

Mohican Heights c (Australia - Mohican Princess)

Thomastown Castle

520,000

David Simcock

Pure Zen f (Zoffany – Dolce Attesa)

Ecurie Gianluca Bietolini

500,000

Federico Barberini

Le Don De Vie g (Leroidesanimaux – Leaderene)

Kingsclere Racing

460,000

Howson Houldsworth/Group 1 Bloodstock/Aziz Kheir

Forever In Dreams f (Dream Ahead - Dora De Green)

Bansha House Stables

430,000

Phoenix Ladies Syndicate

Real Appeal c (Sidestep - Runaway Sparkle)

Bansha House Stables

265,000

BBA Ireland/Yulong Investments

American Lady f (Starspangledbanner - Show Me Off)

Thomastown Castle

200,000

Maura Gittins

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2019

10

3,150,000

315,000

332,500

520,000

2018

13

3,710,000

285,385

300,000

720,000

2017

12

4,525,000

377,083

340,000

900,000

2016

28

5,593,000

199,750

135,000

1,300,000

2015

23

3,784,000

164,522

100,000

825,000

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© Zuzanna Lupa - Photomontage standup

AUGUST YEARLING SALE 17-19 AUGUST DEAUVILLE

340 yearlings by top class stallions including 140 by internationally acclaimed sires AMERICAN PHAROAH, CAMELOT, DANSILI, DARK ANGEL, DUBAWI, FASTNET ROCK, FRANKEL, GALILEO, INVINCIBLE SPIRIT, KINGMAN, KODIAC, LE HAVRE, LOPE DE VEGA, NO NAY NEVER, SEA THE STARS, SIYOUNI.

CATALOGUE AVAILABLE

CONTACT info@arqana.com - +33 (0)2 31 81 81 00

SOTTSASS, bought at the 2017 August Yearling Sale, winner of the 2019 Prix du Jockey Club Gr.1.

RACEHORSE PURCHASER AND RACING MANAGER

Group 1 winners purchased from 19,000gns 2019 Group Winner SAFE VOYAGE purchased as a yearling for £52,000 2019 Listed Winner SHENANIGANS purchased as a foal for €30,000 2019 Listed Winner EL ASTRONAUTE purchased as a breeze-up for £38,000 Yearling sales order book ‘OPEN’ Call now to discuss your next Winner RICHARD KNIGHT BLOODSTOCK AGENT tel: +44 7769 349240 email: richard@richardknightbloodstockagent.com web: www.richardknightbloodstockagent.com

Fractional ad pages July 2019.indd 73

www.arqana.com

t f i e l d Fa s e W rm r a F The team at the farm have started yearling prep for all major European sales. There is still space available, please get in touch to discuss your needs.

Far Westfield Farm is the perfect spot for summer layups.

Recent spelling horses include: Group II Winner - RAVEN’S LADY Group II Winner - PRINCE OF ARRAN 2019 Royal Ascot Winner - THANKS BE For information on rates or packages please contact: Roz Lloyd +44 (0)7748 541296 or email: office@farwestfield.com www.farwestfield.com

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER 73

27/06/2019 09:35

Caulfield Files

Sadler’s Wells making Epsom his own Anapurna follows Enable as another Oaks heroine inbred to the outstanding stallion

GEORGE SELWYN

I

n the build up to the Epsom Classics, the spotlight was understandably turned firmly in the direction of Galileo, the great stallion bidding for a tenth consecutive sires’ championship and 11th in all. After all, the 14-strong field for the Investec Oaks included two fillies by Galileo and three by his exceptional son Frankel, while two others had dams by the 2001 Derby winner.

Galileo’s dominance in mile-and-a-half Classics was even more obvious in the Derby. All but one of the 13 runners were members of the Galileo male line, with six sons of Galileo, five grandsons and one great-grandson. The single exception, Camelot’s son Sir Dragonet, has Galileo’s sister All Too Beautiful as his second dam.

Even so, I think that Galileo should share some of the Epsom limelight with his own extraordinary sire, Sadler’s Wells, whose unequalled tally of 14 sires’ championships was generally considered unapproachable until Galileo’s career gathered full momentum.

The fact that Sadler’s Wells and his sire Northern Dancer were both 26 when their final foals were conceived suggests that the 21-year-old Galileo still has plenty of mileage in him (the Return of Mares credits him with covering 164 mares at the age of 20 in 2018). That said, he is already credited by Equineline as having sired more foals than Sadler’s Wells, their respective totals standing at 2,749 and 2,259. In fact, their northern hemisphere totals are similar, as Galileo’s five years shuttling to Australia contributed around 585 foals towards his total.

Galileo has already comfortably overtaken Sadler’s Wells when it comes to number of Derby winners, with Anthony Van Dyck following in the footsteps of New Approach, Ruler Of The World and Australia as his fourth winner. Sadler’s Wells’s total stood at only two and it took him an unbelievably long time to get off the mark, with his first Derby winner – none other than Galileo – coming in 2001, 20 years after Sadler’s Wells’s birth. Then, like the proverbial London bus, another one arrived right behind, with High Chaparral taking the 2002 race.

They came from their sire’s 13th and 14th crops, but Sadler’s Wells had been knocking at the Derby door for a long time. In the 11 years from 1990 to 2000, Sadler’s Wells was responsible for five Derby seconds (Blue Stag, King’s Theatre, Tamure, Dushyantor and Daliapour), while

Classic scorer Anapurna is inbred 3 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells through Frankel

his son Saddlers’ Hall sired Silver Patriarch, the short-head second in 1997. Sadler’s Wells’s daughters also got into the act, producing City Honours and Sakhee, the runners-up in 1998 and 2000. In other words, Sadler’s Wells was associated with eight Derby seconds in 11 years. He also went close to winning the Derby in 2003, when The Great Gatsby led until the final 100 yards, and 2006, when Dragon Dancer went down by only a short-head to Sir Percy.

By the time Galileo provided that elusive first Derby success, Sadler’s Wells had already been represented by four winners of the Oaks (Salsabil, Intrepidity, Moonshell and Imagine) and was later to sire a fifth winner in Alexandrova. He had also been responsible for four victories in the Coronation Cup, over the Derby course and distance, thanks to In The Wings, Saddlers’ Hall, Opera House and Daliapour, and he was later to add Yeats and Ask to the list.

So it’s hardly a surprise that Sadler’s Wells’s descendants have continued to exert a powerful influence on Epsom’s three Group 1 races over a mile and a half.

Needless to say, Galileo hasn’t been the only son to make a considerable impact on the Derby. Montjeu, another of Sadler’s Wells’s brilliant mile-and-a-half performers, also sired four Derby winners, thanks to Motivator, Authorized, Pour Moi and Camelot. Pour Moi himself sired the 2017 winner in Wings Of Eagles, whereas Masar became the first grandson of Galileo to win in 2018. Altogether, the Sadler’s Wells

male line has been responsible for 12 of the last 19 Derby winners, while it was a daughter of Sadler’s Wells which produced the 2010 winner Workforce.

It is a similar story in the Oaks. Over the last seven years, victory has gone to three daughters of Galileo – Was, Minding and Forever Together – and now to three of his grand-daughters, in the shape of New Approach’s daughter Talent, the Nathaniel filly Enable and Frankel’s daughter Anapurna.

But it is here that the glory arguably needs sharing with Sadler’s Wells. The phenomenal Enable is inbred 3 x 2 to the 14-time champion sire and Anapurna is inbred 3 x 3, with her grandsires being Galileo and Montjeu. For good measure, there are also two (more remote) lines of Sadler’s Wells in the pedigree of Madhmoon, who failed by only half a length to take the Derby. Sir Dragonet, the Camelot colt beaten only threequarters of a length into fifth place, is inbred 3 x 3, via Montjeu and All Too Beautiful. Incidentally, another of Camelot’s smart sons, the ill-fated Sir Erec, is another inbred 3 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells, this time via Montjeu and Galileo.

The concept of combining Montjeu and Galileo first gained breeders’ attention when Teofilo’s son Parish Hall sprang a 20-1 surprise by defeating Power and Most Improved to win the 2011 Dewhurst Stakes.

This grandson of Galileo and Montjeu had shown with his debut win in early-April that combining these two great Classic influences needn’t result in a slow-

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Bloodstock world views maturing mile-and-a-half horse. All four of Parish Hall’s subsequent black-type successes were gained at around a mile and a quarter, not a mile and a half.

The number of horses inbred to Sadler’s Wells is sure to multiply as time pushes him further back in pedigrees.

Bearing in mind that Galileo had a fine record with mares by Sadler’s Wells’s three-parts-brother Nureyev, it is a little surprising that only one of his many Group/Grade 1 winners, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line Of Duty, has two lines of Sadler’s Wells, in the second and fourth generations. Another of his sons with 2 x 4 inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells was the smart Cliffs Of Moher, who was beaten only half a length in the 2017 Derby.

No doubt we are going to see more Classic performers like Anapurna. One of the problems breeders faced when

Frankel retired to Banstead Manor was that his grandsires, Sadler’s Wells and Danehill, were two of the most widespread influences in the Stud Book – a consequence of these two jointly dominating the leading sire’s title 17 times in an 18-year period.

Although inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells wasn’t particularly in vogue back in 2013, when Frankel covered his first mares, several breeders were prepared to try. As many as 17 members of this first crop had two lines to the great Coolmore stallion within four generations. Three of them – Eminent, Cunco and Last Kingdom – became Group winners, with Eminent (inbred 3 x 3) finishing fourth in the Derby before becoming a Group 2 winner.

(Incidentally, assessing Frankel’s effectiveness with Sadler’s Wells inbreeding isn’t made any easier when some of the horses, such as Cunco, are

also inbred to Danehill.)

Contingent, an impressive maiden winner from Frankel’s second crop, looked to have great potential until she met an untimely death. She was inbred 3 x 3. It is hard to say at this comparatively early stage whether inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells is a plus in Frankel’s progeny, but Eminent and Anapurna are proof that inbreeding 3 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells with Frankel can produce Classic contenders.

The similarly-bred Teofilo and Roderic O’Connor also have Group winners inbred 3 x 3 and 3 x 4.

Kitten’s Joy, who flies the flag for the Sadler’s Wells male line in Kentucky, has three Graded stakes winners inbred to Sadler’s Wells, including the Grade 1-winning turf horse Divisidero, so a second line of Sadler’s Wells could be useful to Kitten’s Joy’s European-based sons, led by Roaring Lion.

As someone who has regularly moaned about the reluctance of many commercial breeders to patronise middle-distance horses, I couldn’t help wondering whether this prejudice was a sizeable contributing factor to the lack of British-trained contenders for this year’s Derby.

It is certainly responsible for the lack of demand for potential stallions with middle-distance backgrounds. I was reminded of this when Roger Varian assessed Defoe in his Racing Post stable tour: “He was gelded at the end of last season as he didn’t look to be building a commercially attractive stallion’s profile,” Varian explained. “And it might elongate his racing career. He’s a good, solid horse and he’d be lovely to have around for another two or three years.”

This was a realistic assessment of a horse who had won the Geoffrey Freer Stakes over an extended 13 furlongs as a three-year-old plus the John Porter Stakes and Jockey Club Stakes over a mile and a half at the age of four. He has now won the Coronation Cup and the Hardwicke Stakes as a gelding.

Had he been a multiple-Groupwinning sprinter, stud owners would no doubt have been prepared to give him a chance as a stallion.

Unfortunately for Defoe, virtually his only chance of a stallion career would have been as a sire of jumpers – a career which has ultimately awaited several other Coronation Cup winners, such as

Jul_179_CaulfieldFilesV2.indd 75

GEORGE SELWYN

Case of Defoe highlights worrying middle-distance trend

Coronation Cup victor Defoe did not appeal as a commercial sire and was gelded

Yeats, Shirocco, Scorpion and Fame And Glory in recent years.

Once upon a time a stallion career overseas might have been an option, with the various Commonwealth countries happy to use colts which represented Europe’s best Classic bloodlines. Nowadays there is still strong demand from Australia for middle-distance stayers, but as racehorses, not stallions.

South America used to be another outlet, as was Japan, but at the time of writing there was only one European-raced stallion – Harbinger – among the top 25 Japanese stallions.

The southern hemisphere countries

largely seem happy for shuttle stallions to fulfil their need for different bloodlines, while other countries have economic problems which limit their spending power.

Maybe gelding will become an option for more horses which are thought unlikely to reach the highest level. Defoe is one of three 2019 Group 1-winning geldings, another being the Lockinge Stakes winner Mustashry, already a Group 3 winner when he was gelded in 2018. However, the Prix d’Ispahan winner Zabeel Prince was a once-raced maiden when he faced the unkindest cut of all.

We have also seen the gelded Aspetar take the Grand Prix de Chantilly.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER 75

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ROA Forum

The special section for ROA members

Jackpot joy at Haydock and Newton Abbot

Newton Abbot

Ice creams would have been the order of the day had Newton Abbot racecourse not provided excellent hospitality for members attending the ROA regional meeting on a gloriously sunny day on May 15.

This was the second of nine ROA Industry Ownership Days being held throughout the country this year, recognising the role of owners and promoting the thrill and accessibility of ownership.

Members who attended the regional meeting were hosted by Mick Fitzgerald. Guests were updated on topical issues and had the opportunity to raise questions on ownership matters before enjoying lunch in the Teign Suite, which offered superb views overlooking the racecourse.

ROA Chief Executive Charlie Liverton gave an update on industry issues.

These included fixtures and funding, the impact of FOBT legislation on media rights income and effect of the shift to mobile gambling, the future

Jared O’Sullivan with daughter Francesca presents the winning owners’ memento to Mick Fitzgerald representing Peter Taplin & Partner, owners of Earl Of Harrow

of the Levy Board, human and equine welfare, and the fixture list.

Members heard latest developments on the Industry Ownership Strategy, survey findings and progression of the Quality Mark initiative. Board member Paul Duffy gave an update on the role of the ROA’s Audit Committee.

During a forum session, members discussed prize-money levels, the transparent entries and declarations trial and the move of BHA accounts online.

Going reports featured prominently in discussions, with members voicing frustrations at the lack of accuracy and science applied to going reports and GoingStick readings which created wasted trips and incurred costly transport charges.

It was agreed that in this day and

age communication and technology should be able to provide a more reliable predictor of prevailing conditions, from an economic, environmental and welfare perspective.

Jonathan Geake provided members with an update on the work of Retraining of Racehorses.

The ROA-supported card featured an Owners Jackpot race. We were delighted to be able to award a £2,000 bonus to winning owners Andrew, Harry and Fern Leach, and also £500 as winning breeders. Winning trainer Sue Gardner is also a member of the ROA, her team therefore receiving £500 into the yard’s pool prize-money.

The next Industry Ownership Days and regional meetings will be held at Ripon on August 6 and Perth on September 9.

FIONA CRAWFORD

veryone should join the ROA!” This happy reaction came from John Collins, part-owner of Celsius, winner of the ROA Owners Jackpot race, on the opening day of Haydock Park’s three-day fixture on June 6, as the victory was rewarded with a £2,000 Owners Jackpot bonus.

The Owners Jackpot was the feature race of the third ROA Industry Ownership Day, where over 40 members attended a regional meeting before racing.

ROA Chief Executive Charlie Liverton gave attendees an update on industry issues, and members had the chance to raise points for discussion before enjoying lunch and the afternoon’s racing with our raceday host Mick Fitzgerald in the Davies Suite.

Topics raised by members on the day included the fixture list and lack of opportunities to run for lower rated horses, prize-money levels, prevalence of racecourse ownership groups and rules relating to runners in bumpers.

During the afternoon members got involved with judging best turned out awards and making presentations to race winners.

All qualified runners in the Owners Jackpot race on the day receive £250 towards travel expenses, proving it can pay to be a member.

JOHN GROSSICK

E

“

ROA members Wendy Carter and Anne Broom present the trophy to David Maxwell, winning rider and owner of Dolphin Square, and trainer Philip Hobbs

76 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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Around 30 members were on hand at Epsom for the annual pre-Derby Festival event, which featured a walk of the famous course

Memorable time at Breakfast With The Stars Epsom Downs on a sunny day is a pretty glorious place to be, and this was certainly the case on May 21 when 30 members enjoyed a memorable morning for the Breakfast With The Stars event.

The Royal Box provided a wonderful view of the Downs. Guests watched Oaks contender Tauteke work on the course with her lead horse Shagalla and viewed presentations and interviews with connections of intended runners heading to the Investec Derby Festival.

Members were able to visit The Gladiator Room, where winning connections are entertained, and the Galileo Room, where placed connections are entertained and media interviews are conducted.

After the tour guests were able to join a fascinating course walk hosted by Derby historian and Classic pedigree expert Michael Church. Michael’s explanation of the story of the naming of the Derby can be found on the ROA’s YouTube channel.

Trainers who submitted samples for analysis during the equine influenza outbreak in February have had their costs reimbursed in full by the Levy Board. Eligible claims included for the sampling kits, vets’ call out fees where incurred, charges for transporting the samples to the Animal Health Trust and other necessary costs.

All claims submitted have now been paid and the total amounts to around £115,000, covering 135 trainers.

Alan Delmonte, Levy Board Chief Executive, said: “We gave a commitment to make a contribution towards the costs incurred by the specific trainers required to submit samples by the BHA. Having budgeted around £100,000 for this unexpected call on resources, we

Jul_179_ROAForum.indd 77

DAN ABRAHAM

Levy Board to cover flu costs

Alan Delmonte: ‘necessity to be vigilant’

are pleased to have been able to meet the full costs involved.

“We have estimated that the six-day suspension of the racing programme led to levy yield falling by around £1.5

million, but the swift action taken by the BHA and others to contain and deal with the outbreak prevented the impact on the sport being more severe.

“The episode reinforces the necessity to be vigilant for signs of infectious disease and of the importance of continued high quality veterinary research, areas in which HBLB spends some £2 million annually.

“Separate from the trainers’ expenses for obtaining and sending in the samples, there were additional costs of around £150,000 for the scientific analysis and review of those and other samples by the AHT. “The £150,000 cost was met from the Equine Infectious Disease Service’s ringfenced central fund, to which HBLB, the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and racehorse owners contribute. This fund exists for the specific purpose of acting as a contingency in the event of disease outbreak.”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER 77

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ROA Forum

Upcoming events… three days of the popular week-long summer festival, on July 29, 30 and 31.

This is the 150th year of the festival, which attracts tens of thousands to Galway over the course of the week.

Members are able to take up to three guests with them. Badges for the marquee do not gain access to the racecourse. These must be purchased directly through Galway racecourse and are currently priced at €25.

The festival runs for seven days from July 29 to August 4, but please note this offer applies only for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the meeting. The marquee will be situated beside the Tote and Champagne Bar building. Members should show their Horseracing Privilege Card or PASScard to gain admission.

Members have access to the splendid owners’ and trainers’ garden area at Deauville

Deauville Festival facility

We are delighted to confirm that members visiting Deauville’s popular August Festival are once again able to book in to enjoy privileged access to the Jardin des Proprietaires, the owners’ and trainers’ garden area, on selected dates through a special reciprocal arrangement with France Galop.

This offer is available during the summer festival, taking place between July 27 and August 28, when members will be able to book access to the exclusive facility at the friendly, welcoming La Touques racecourse.

The dates include all weekends apart from during the Arqana Sales (see roa.co.uk for details). This is part of a collaboration between the ROA, France Galop and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners to offer reciprocal arrangements to our respective members. Up to eight places are available for ROA members.

To book places in the Jardin des Proprietaires, telephone the ROA or email info@roa.co.uk indicating how many places you would like and for which dates.

While access is not bookable during the Arqana Sales period, August 17-20, requests for those dates can be made direct to Le restaurant Panoramique at La Toque, or Le Jardin du Paddock outdoor restaurant, by

contacting reservationhippodrome@ lucienbarriere.com.

Glorious Goodwood

Members can still book tickets for the Richmond Enclosure at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, which is otherwise reserved for Goodwood annual members and owners and trainers with a runner. Tickets are priced at £89 per person. Junior badges are available for those aged 18-24 years, for £40.50. Please call the ROA office if you require any junior badges. Under-18s are free of charge, but we do need to know the age of the child to order the correct wristband.

On the opening day of the festival on Tuesday, July 30 the ROA will host a pre-racing drinks reception. Places can be booked in advance for this by contacting the ROA. The ROA car park label will not work over the Qatar Goodwood Festival, but members can purchase labels for Car Park 8 for £12 each.

Bookings can be made at www.roa. co.uk/events or by calling the ROA office.

York facility for members

A few places remain to access the ROA’s exclusive box and hospitality package at York on the opening day of the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival on Wednesday, August 21.

The package includes a County Stand badge, access to the facility in the Melrose Stand, lunch and afternoon tea, parking label and racecard.

This competitively-priced offer is available to members for £250 per person. Guest places are £300 per person, including VAT. Full details can be found at roa.co.uk/events

Galway Festival

ROA members visiting Ballybrit for the Galway races can enjoy access to the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners members’ facility for the first

Take advantage of the ROA’s facility at York on the first day of the Ebor Festival

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TRACK TALK soon, with a new two-storey trackside owners’ and trainers’ facility, which is due to be ready in the early part of the 2020 Flat season.

Industry Ownership Strategy

York’s Owners’ Club is a hit with members

York enhancements

The ROA is delighted to reveal some enhancements from one of our most popular Gold Standard Award holders, York. For the eighth year in succession, prize-money at the course has been increased, and now stands at £8.8 million for 2019. All fixtures have a prize fund of at least £125,000 and every race has a prize fund of at least £15,000.

Following feedback from ROA members and the ROA Raceday Committee, York has this year increased the complimentary lunch allocation for those with a runner, and now provide six lunches alongside the six owners’ badges. As in previous years, reservations for the lunch must be made in advance, after the 48-hour declaration stage, by completing and returning the lunch form that will be issued.

The Owners’ and Trainers’ Club, which is situated on the first floor of the Melrose Stand, now offers new touch screen televisions for instant replays of races, and the refurbished Princess Mary Suite (located above the County Stand entrance) can be used as an additional facility for owners’ luncheons.

William Derby, York’s Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course, said: “Everyone at York recognises the contribution of owners and horsemen

Jul_179_ROAForum.indd 79

to staging the very best in racing on the Knavesmire. We continue to invest in prize-money, in facilities for owners, horsemen and horses, and in the raceday experience to try to ensure connections have an enjoyable and successful day at York. We very much look forward to welcoming owners and their horses to York during the 2019 season.”

Catterick improvements

Catterick racecourse’s Flat season opened with fanfare on June 17, when the racecourse unveiled a £600,000 redevelopment of its parade ring, following the completion of the latest phase of its improvement programme.

The new facilities include an extended weighing room complex, with a warm-up and relaxation area for jockeys.

A new, enlarged parade ring provides improved viewing of runners, and a new winners’ enclosure has been incorporated into the parade ring, bringing winning connections into the heart of post-race activity in the area.

This is the second stage in a threephase development plan. The first stage, which opened last December, included the new main entrance, offices, saddling boxes and new horse box park.

The final stage of Catterick’s £3.5 million investment plan will begin

As reported in previous editions, the implementation of the new Ownership Quality Mark is progressing well across racecourses. The AA, which is conducting the assessments on our behalf, will have completed all 60 racecourse visits by the end of August.

The Ownership Quality Mark and the ROA Gold Standard Awards will run in parallel, and the reports compiled by the AA form a vital part of the Gold Standard judging process.

The Ownership Quality Mark assesses the quality of the key elements of the raceday experience for owners, and the delivery of them. The Gold Standard assessment process will expect excellence in these areas and will also reward where racecourses ‘surprise and delight’ and go above and beyond what owners would expect.

The ROA Raceday Committee will be completing its assessment visits by early October.

As well as these two key reports which will assist the Raceday Committee in deciding the 2019 ROA Gold Standards, another vital source of feedback and review that we rely on is feedback from members. The number of feedback forms received from members has increased year on year, which is really encouraging. We receive vital insights into the ownership experience via this route, and in turn this also allows us to identify trends and issues around the owners’ experience that we should be addressing with racecourses.

The big summer racing festivals are now upon us. We hope that you enjoy your raceday experience with a runner, whether it is at Newmarket, Goodwood or Brighton, and we want to hear from you. Just visit roa.co.uk/feedback and complete our very quick and easy online form.

As a ‘thank you’ each month, one contributor is picked at random to receive a £50 Marks & Spencer gift card. Last month’s lucky winner is Janie Blake, who owns three horses in partnerships trained by Richard Hughes, including Gold Filigree, who won at Ripon in May.

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ROA Forum

MAGICAL MOMENTS with ROA member Harry Leach

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oining the ROA just before Lapford Lan ran at Newton Abbot wasn’t the worst decision the Leach family has ever made.

Their seven-year-old homebred may have looked an outsider for the ROA Owners Jackpot Handicap Hurdle – and, indeed, he was to start at 40-1 – but trainer Sue Gardner believed signing up to the owners’ association was worthwhile, given the bonus of £2,000 on top of the prize-money for Lapford Lad’s race, while there was £250 travel expenses win, lose or draw.

As it turned out, Lapford Lad’s proud owners scooped the lot, the first prize in the race of nearly £5,000, the Jackpot bonus, travel expenses, a £500 breeder bonus, plus the same amount for the Gardner yard.

“It was the best day in racing we’ve had as a family,” says Harry Leach.

“Lapford Lad’s win was the first time the family colours have been carried by a homebred winner in National Hunt since the late 1970s, though we have only started trying again since we bred our first foal from Lapford Lad’s dam, State Of Grace, in 2010.”

Leach was born into horses and racing, as his great grandad trained point-to-pointers in the 1960s and 1970s, and while his grandad Arthur registered owner of Lapford Lad - was a farmer, his dad Andrew an engineer and he himself is an electrician, the family has always tipped away at breeding and owning racehorses.

Polecat was the family’s first mare, owned by Leach’s great grandad Edwin Pike and ridden by his great uncle Carly Pike. She was a top pointer and won under rules, but had only two foals, Lord Pole by My Lord, who won over hurdles, and Brother Pole, by Brother, the damsire of Desert Orchid.

Brother Pole, also owned and bred

by Edwin Pike, was trained by John Thorne in Bridgwater. He won multiple races over hurdles and fences, including at Cheltenham in 1972, and broke the two-mile track record at Wincanton.

The next to break it was Tingle Creek.

“It would be a dream to breed a Cheltenham winner, but I think we’re a

The Lapford Lad team: Harry Leach with Conor Shoemark, groom Lydia Svennson, dad Andrew and sister Fern after the seven-year-old’s 40-1 victory at Newton Abbot in May

long way from that!” says Leach.

Leach came by State Of Grace when he saw an advertisement for her. He couldn’t race her but Vauterhill Stud, where he worked, stood Arvico, who was to sire Lapford Lad. “Graham Heal and family, who own Vauterhill Stud, were so good to me while I worked there,” says Leach.

“My mare always went to one of his stallions. If it wasn’t for them, I certainly would not have been able to start breeding racehorses at 19.

“It’s always been a massive ambition to breed a winner and to say I’ve done it at 26 is a dream come true. It’s certainly not an easy road.

“With Lapford Lad, I was there for the mare’s covering, I pulled him out as a foal and Ied him up at Newton Abbot, so I’ve been involved every step of the way.

“He’s not the easiest horse, and Sue’s done a good job. She knows the time of day and we leave it to her really, choosing a rider, where he runs, etc. We like Newton Abbot and Exeter – where the new owners’ and trainers’ bar is excellent – but we’re laid-back and trust Sue to get on with it.”

To say the family has had to be

patient for a winner is something of an understatement – Harry’s dad, for example, bought a point-to-pointer as an unbroken two-year-old 16 or 17 years ago, and, while she did have three foals, they all died.

The family has had shares in a couple of horses who have won, but in terms of horses they have bred themselves, they have had to wait.

Lapford Lad was the third foal out of State Of Grace, with Leach admitting that “the first couple were useless”.

Lapford Lad, however, showed promise in an Exeter bumper on debut, so while his win at Newton Abbot two years later may have taken most by surprise, it wasn’t a complete shock to Leach, who had a bit on at 66-1.

“He’d shown that promise, and at Newton Abbot the other day it looked for the first time like he wanted to be there; it looked like the penny had dropped,” says Leach.

Of the ROA bonuses which made the triumph even sweeter, he says: “Sue said it was well worth joining and the travel allowance alone more or less covered the cost – she was right, for as luck would have it we got an extra

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£2,000 owner’s prize, an extra £500 as breeders, and the yard got £500 too. It was a good day!”

He adds: “The best bit about being an owner is winning, especially when you’ve bred the horse. You must be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day and with a moderate horse it can take a while for them to get competitive.”

Leach lives in Lapford – “we all do, and Lapford Lad has a big following in the village” – which is around half an hour away from Gardner’s Devon yard, and about 45 minutes from Newton Abbot.

He continues: “Last spring me and dad made the 500-mile round trip to Towcester, only for Lapford Lad to run out at the first! There has always been a family member there when he’s run, even if we feel he’s got no chance.

“I think the attachment of breeding him has probably kept us going with him because some of his performances on the track have not been great. Sue was always confident he’d be all right eventually. I’ve known the Gardners for a long time and learnt their judgement should always be respected.

“Work can sometimes get in the way, but they’re very good and let me have time off to go and see him run.

“I’m now an electrician by trade so can afford to have a slice of him, but I’m very, very fortunate as my grandad pays most of the training fees and dad has a share in Lapford Lad as well. I feel very lucky.”

Lapford Lad and the Leach family weren’t so lucky just a fortnight after his victory, for back at Newton Abbot and sent off favourite this time at 9-4 for a novices’ handicap hurdle under Sean Houlihan, the literal ups and downs of jumps racing were starkly illustrated by Lapford Lad falling at the sixth flight.

Fortunately, horse and rider were both okay – and they underlined the point when combining again a week later back at the same track to run out winners of a handicap hurdle, this time at the rather shorter price of 11-2.

The family also has an unraced five-year-old sister to their recent winner, likewise with Gardner, so hopefully not only can Lapford Lad go in again but their historic silks of mauve and black quarters, white sleeves and cap can also be carried to victory by his sibling.

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Horse Passport legislation requirements when transferring ownership Owners and trainers should be aware that it is now a legal requirement for owners to register their ownership of a horse, when they buy one or take over ownership, within 30 days of the transaction taking place. There is an exemption for horses racing under Rules, where trainers take care of the necessary administration.

This became a legal requirement from October 1, 2018 and is being enforced by Trading Standards. However, it is apparent that transfers of ownership have not been actioned in a number of cases when an owner sells their horse or a horse moves out of training.

Owners and breeders should therefore be aware of the following: 1. It has been a requirement of the Horse Passport Regulations since 2009 for all equine owners in Great Britain to register their ownership with the government-designated passport issuing organisation (Weatherbys) within 30 days of purchase.

2. From October 1, 2018 it became a legal requirement and is enforceable by Trading Standards.

3. The legislation also requires that a horse’s passport is returned to Weatherbys to be updated with the new ownership details. Racing ownerships have been granted an exemption; however, when a horse comes out of training this exemption no longer applies.

4. The owner of a horse in training should have previously registered their ownership with Weatherbys before the horse went into training, unless

they are the breeder, in which case the ownership is already correct.

5. When a horse comes out of training and the racing ownership is terminated, the Weatherbys ownership becomes the valid ownership recognised

by DEFRA and the Central Equine Database.

6. Even if a racing owner retains ownership of a horse after it finishes racing they will be required to register their ownership with Weatherbys if they haven’t already done so prior to the horse going into training (unless they bred the horse).

In summary, when a horse is in training the registered racing ownership takes precedence, but where it comes out of training it reverts back to the ownership detailed in the horse’s passport. It is here that details may need updating, e.g. if the owner while the horse was in training keeps the horse but didn’t originally register as the owner.

To update ownership information online (for horses not in training), see weatherbysgsb.co.uk.

In the case of a horse that dies or is euthanised the passport should be returned to Weatherbys, along with a note with the date of death within 30 days of the horse dying.

Any owners wishing to verify they are the recorded owner can check the ownership page of the horse’s passport.

If their name appears in there with the Weatherbys stamp to confirm it then they are the registered owner with the Studbook Department.

Diary dates and reminders JULY 2 ROA AGM and lunch JULY 3 Industry Ownership Day and regional meeting at Musselburgh JULY 12 Member visit to Animal Health Trust at Newmarket JULY 22 Visit to British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre, Halton, Lancaster and racing at Cartmel JULY 29–31 Access to AIRO facility on first three days of Galway Festival

JULY 30–AUGUST 3 Service to book Richmond Enclosure badges and hospitality package for Glorious Goodwood AUGUST 6 (EVE) Industry Ownership Day and regional meeting at Ripon AUGUST 21 Hospitality package and private box for members at York on opening day of Ebor meeting For more details or to book see roa.co.uk/events

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ROA Forum

MY DAY AT THE RACES with Markus Graff at Chester on May 7

M

arkus Graff has been involved in racing for many years, starting as an amateur jockey, where his rides included Drumroan in the 1981 Grand National. After retiring from race-riding he has owned racehorses both here and in his native Switzerland, enjoying Group success with the likes of Akbar and Darasim, as well as owning the dual Royal Ascot winner Oriental Fox. He currently has three horses in training with Mark Johnston, two of which are homebreds including his runner at Chester, Vivid Diamond.

least 20 minutes until we could pick up our tickets.

What were your thoughts on the location, comfort and provision in the owners’ and trainers’ facility?

Mark Johnston and I went to the owners’ and trainers’ restaurant. Again, there was a long waiting period just to get a table, then again another long waiting period in the queue for the self-service buffet. Since the clock was ticking because my horse Vivid Diamond was running in the 2.25 Cheshire Oaks, we decided to have only an appetizer and go for a relaxed main course after the race. The food, beverages and service were excellent.

How was the pre-parade ring/ paddock experience?

Perfect.

How did you find the facilities for owners’ viewing?

I followed the trainer to an elevated area inside the racetrack, where we could watch the race on the big screen and the final two furlongs live.

Were you able to review a replay of your race easily on course?

Yes, to my total satisfaction.

How were you treated as an owner on the day?

Markus Graff: familiar face in racing

The treatment was very good, but the queuing time should be reduced.

What was your overall lasting feeling of the day, based on your racecourse experience?

In spite of the heavy rain and the horse not performing as hoped, Chester, with its charismatic roman walls, is a unique place and I always enjoy my visits there.

HOW IT RATED Entry Viewing Atmosphere Owners’ facilities Food Overall score

★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ 20

Vivid Diamond (centre) at Chester

Did you receive any welcome information as an owner in advance of the raceday?

Yes, I was informed by email that I could make certain reservations. I didn’t use these services personally because my trainer, Mark Johnston, had his office take care of the necessary.

How was the experience of arrival at the racecourse, and collecting your owners’ badges?

Arriving at the racecourse was fine.

We then headed for the owners’ and trainers’ welcome desk, however it was so crowded we had to stand in line in the rain outside the building. It took at

News in brief Member visit to Weatherbys

Members have the chance to visit Weatherbys in Wellingborough, for a behind-the-scenes tour of the offices for an overview of their many roles within racing, followed by lunch. The morning visit takes place on September 10. For details and to book see roa.co.uk or contact the ROA office.

Fixtures to December

Programme Book 3, covering racing from September to December, will be published online on July 9. Registered owners can access fixture information

free online via the Racing Admin website in searchable format at racingadmin2.co.uk.

Detection times

The BHA provides information to Responsible Persons (trainers, owners and breeders) and their veterinary surgeons of detection times. From June 1 new detection times became effective for misoprostol and xylazine and there was an updated detection time for dantrolene. These and other detection time guidance can be found at britishhorseracing.com

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Figures for period June 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019

Flat Racecourse League Table Ptn Racecourse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Ascot York Epsom Downs Goodwood Newmarket Sandown Park Newbury Chester Doncaster Haydock Park Chelmsford City Ayr Musselburgh Pontefract Salisbury Ripon Hamilton Park Kempton Park Lingfield Park Thirsk Newcastle Carlisle Nottingham Wetherby Windsor Catterick Bridge Beverley Leicester Redcar Bath Yarmouth Ffos Las Brighton Wolverhampton Chepstow Southwell Total

Ownership

Avg racecourse spend per fixture (£)

Avg HBLB spend per fixture (£)

Avg owner spend per fixture (£)

Avg prizemoney per fixture (£)

Total no. of fixtures 2018-19

Total prize-money 2018-19 (£)

Avg racecourse spend per fixture 2017-18 (£)

Up/ down

I I JCR I JCR JCR I I ARC JCR I I I I I I I JCR ARC I ARC JCR JCR I ARC I I I I ARC ARC ARC ARC ARC ARC ARC

473,007 247,286 241,447 214,019 134,172 87,043 85,485 83,729 79,088 73,229 50,990 49,188 46,438 45,896 45,888 42,463 42,138 38,758 37,136 37,000 36,778 36,685 36,243 35,315 34,463 34,417 34,131 33,810 33,723 32,919 28,602 28,140 23,667 23,662 23,294 21,299 63,488

125,796 93,846 88,964 84,305 71,167 50,076 57,038 46,445 44,532 42,534 21,895 32,414 22,903 30,744 28,892 22,327 22,962 23,256 24,855 21,853 22,024 21,343 22,784 15,522 20,671 20,834 23,667 22,286 25,258 20,937 18,883 13,511 16,548 19,723 12,867 18,943 32,390

282,477 115,727 120,785 77,666 76,744 38,551 38,046 14,442 37,182 18,971 6,506 12,131 6,213 3,771 6,254 5,096 4,502 6,122 4,622 7,000 5,703 6,322 7,080 5,885 5,795 3,013 4,273 5,345 15,249 4,769 4,933 4,411 3,240 3,845 3,399 2,721 21,529

885,447 460,748 451,196 380,990 284,519 177,983 185,570 145,916 162,262 139,518 80,883 93,734 75,554 82,535 81,950 69,886 69,601 68,558 66,614 66,025 64,831 64,350 66,562 56,722 60,928 58,264 62,071 62,191 74,563 58,786 53,148 46,063 43,455 47,248 39,560 42,963 118,359

18 18 11 19 39 16 18 15 25 24 65 19 17 16 15 16 18 67 71 16 53 14 22 5 26 14 19 20 18 17 24 8 22 86 15 34 920

15,938,041 8,293,460 4,963,153 7,238,815 11,096,239 2,847,724 3,340,256 2,188,740 4,056,561 3,278,674 5,257,397 1,780,939 1,284,421 1,320,559 1,229,256 1,118,170 1,252,818 4,593,411 4,729,573 1,056,406 3,436,054 900,900 1,464,354 283,610 1,584,141 815,700 1,179,340 1,243,823 1,342,139 999,364 1,275,550 368,500 956,005 4,063,299 593,396 1,460,748 108,831,533

440,240 234,235 157,580 193,852 120,266 67,399 83,956 97,495 77,093 68,312 44,701 34,589 50,744 40,169 40,799 39,389 39,293 33,786 35,591 30,852 36,494 31,164 30,245 42,599 29,487 26,283 30,596 33,274 29,582 25,536 26,233 28,053 20,263 23,472 22,712 21,357 58,458

s s s s s s s t s s s s t s s s s s s s s s s t s s s s s s s s s s s t s

Jumps Racecourse League Table Ptn Racecourse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Aintree Cheltenham Ascot Sandown Park Haydock Park Kempton Park Newbury Ayr Kelso Doncaster Wincanton Newton Abbot Chepstow Perth Fakenham Exeter Cartmel Taunton Carlisle Newcastle Ludlow Market Rasen Stratford-On-Avon Wetherby Huntingdon Warwick Uttoxeter Hereford Hexham Ffos Las Musselburgh Catterick Bridge Leicester Plumpton Lingfield Park Fontwell Park Worcester Bangor-On-Dee Sedgefield Southwell Towcester Total

Jul_179_ROAForum.indd 83

Ownership

Avg racecourse spend per fixture (£)

Avg HBLB spend per fixture (£)

Avg owner spend per fixture (£)

Avg prizemoney per fixture (£)

Total no. of fixtures 2018-19

Total prize-money 2018-19 (£)

Avg racecourse spend per fixture 2017-18 (£)

Up/ down

JCR JCR I JCR JCR JCR I I I ARC JCR I ARC I I JCR I I JCR ARC I JCR I I JCR JCR ARC ARC I ARC I I I I ARC ARC ARC I ARC ARC I

290,331 270,179 172,193 112,571 103,797 66,594 60,084 46,465 42,137 41,470 38,414 37,475 36,209 36,167 35,771 34,628 34,595 33,559 32,898 32,880 32,638 32,242 32,208 31,977 28,411 28,366 27,887 27,427 26,573 25,841 25,448 25,392 24,001 23,511 22,477 22,137 21,816 21,485 19,530 18,678 0 46,322

145,939 122,532 92,522 95,888 89,152 65,662 71,308 39,474 35,729 44,224 36,090 29,011 35,133 33,765 22,326 32,051 30,100 21,856 36,371 31,407 29,631 29,163 22,363 31,930 26,597 31,653 28,884 25,737 20,530 24,629 24,643 23,818 29,306 24,729 21,819 19,923 23,884 21,085 21,132 20,484 0 36,791

79,305 70,669 19,766 19,776 19,050 10,500 16,696 12,082 5,986 6,522 6,417 0 9,687 4,514 0 7,418 5,549 5,920 7,318 5,757 4,742 5,777 4,635 6,295 5,547 6,903 7,011 5,975 3,028 5,852 3,404 2,819 4,206 4,746 4,839 3,466 4,358 4,064 3,341 3,855 0 9,066

515,575 464,005 288,856 234,347 223,881 143,173 149,566 101,867 85,995 94,852 81,454 66,485 81,030 75,029 58,096 74,097 70,244 61,336 84,482 70,461 67,304 67,398 59,206 70,559 61,871 67,046 63,781 59,140 50,131 56,322 53,951 52,030 57,513 52,985 49,135 45,527 50,058 46,784 44,003 43,017 0 93,060

8 16 8 9 9 12 11 13 14 11 15 19 15 15 12 15 9 13 12 12 17 22 19 14 19 18 25 9 16 12 11 8 9 16 6 24 20 15 19 18 0 565

4,124,600 7,424,083 2,310,850 2,109,122 1,902,993 1,718,072 1,645,224 1,324,277 1,203,933 1,043,375 1,221,813 1,263,219 1,215,449 1,125,434 697,158 1,111,453 632,200 797,364 1,013,781 845,528 1,144,175 1,482,757 1,124,912 987,833 1,175,542 1,206,833 1,594,525 532,256 802,095 675,860 593,460 416,237 517,617 847,763 294,810 1,092,648 1,001,161 701,755 836,061 774,299 0 52,532,523

286,217 267,292 156,372 112,263 101,536 54,338 31,448 43,899 41,974 37,957 32,831 27,636 31,415 85,960 33,521 31,930 31,062 28,711 33,124 28,490 54,338 28,060 31,749 30,264 25,874 31,755 25,077 30,230 25,195 24,394 21,324 24,089 25,874 20,415 41,974 21,411 22,059 20,742 18,569 17,924 23,909 45,161

s s s s s s s s s s s s s t s s s s t s t s s s s t s t s s s s t s t s t s s s t s

EXPLANATION The tables set out the average prize-money at each fixture staged by a racecourse over the last 12 months. They show how this is made up of the three sources of prize-money: 1. Racecourses’ contribution 2. Levy Board (HBLB) 3. Owners The tables also confirm the number of fixtures staged and the total amount of prize-money paid out by each racecourse throughout this period.

The racecourses are ordered by the average amount of their own contribution to prizemoney at each fixture.

This contribution originates from various sources including media rights, admission revenues and racecourse sponsors.

If a racecourse has increased its average contribution at each fixture compared with the previous 12 months, it receives a green ‘up’ arrow. If its average contribution has fallen, however, it receives a red ‘down’ arrow.

As these tables are based on the prizemoney paid out by each racecourse, the abandonment of a major fixture could distort a racecourse’s performance.

OWNERSHIP KEY JCR Jockey Club Racecourses ARC Arena Racing Company I

Independently owned racecourse

Gold Standard

Award

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TBA Forum

The special section for TBA members

The Mating Game Seminar

The expert panel at the TBA seminar give their views on stallion selection

S

electing the stallion to suit a mare is one of the biggest quandaries faced by breeders in pursuit of breeding the next champion, so it often helps to get some expert opinions to help make that selection process a little clearer.

In an effort to give some guidance to members on this subject, the TBA sponsored the ‘Mating Game’, organised and hosted by The National Stud on May 29. The programme consisted of expert speakers who advised members on the traditional methods versus the practical approaches of stallion selection.

The morning session kicked off with consultant and former Manager of The Royal Studs, Joe Grimwade, who provided an introduction to planning matings, highlighting some of the traditional pedigree selection methods including nicks, dosage and line breeding. The presentation included examples of well-known champion

racehorses, scrutinising their fivegeneration pedigree to understand what genetic factors might have influenced the success of the resultant progeny.

After an insight into the theoretical methods of stallion selection, Liam MacGillivray from Newmarket Equine Hospital provided a more practical approach to selection. From his own veterinary perspective, his talk centred on studies looking at conformation faults and how these can impact on future racing performance, with an emphasis on specific faults which are important to consider when selecting a mare or stallion.

After this introduction to the vital components of selection, bloodstock and pedigree consultant Michael Youngs provided an insight into his own selection methods which have seen him involved in the purchases and mating decisions of many top-class racehorses.

In the early part of his career,

Michael worked for Juddmonte’s pedigree department, studying Khalid Abdullah’s broodmare band and taking detailed notes of each mare in order to help recommend suitable matings.

His thorough knowledge of each mare, paired with the ability to understand how the strengths and weaknesses could be improved upon, led to numerous top-level successes for the operation including a decision which led to the breeding of top broodmares Hasili and Rainbow Lake, grandam of Frankel.

The afternoon was given over to a lively panel discussion chaired by Sam Bullard, TBA Board member and Director of Stallions at Darley, alongside well-known bloodstock journalist and writer Tony Morris, bloodstock consultant and breeder Martin Percival, with Michael Youngs completing the line-up. The discussion took questions from the audience covering a wide range of topics including seeking value in stallions and what more can be done to encourage the breeding of stayers.

The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association would like to thank the excellent speakers who shared their knowledge and experience generously with the audience, as well as the National Stud for organising the day.

The seminar was well-attended

AGM and Annual Seminar This year’s AGM and Annual Seminar will take place on Wednesday, July 17 at Tattersalls, Newmarket.

TBA members are invited to attend the day, which will commence with the AGM at 10.15am, when the results of the two Board member positions will be announced. The meeting will be followed by the TBA’s Annual Seminar, which will explore current industry challenges and opportunities, and how to respond to these to build a more resilient future for British breeders and the thoroughbred breed.

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Brexit, staff recruitment and retention, equine health and welfare, ownership models such as leasing and syndication, and the application of new technologies will be discussed by industry speakers including Nick Rust (BHA Chief Executive), David Sykes (BHA Director of Equine Health and Welfare) and Simon Cooper (Operations Director at Weatherbys).

The day is free for members to attend and to book your place, please visit the TBA website or contact the office on info@thetba.co.uk/01638 661321.

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Racecourse badge offers for breeders in July and August

Join us on July 16

Limited tickets left for the TBA Annual Flat Awards Dinner Tickets are still available for this year’s TBA Annual Flat Awards Dinner, which will take place in the stunning grounds of Chippenham Park near Newmarket on Tuesday, July 16.

The evening will showcase and celebrate British-bred success on the racecourse, and will commence with a drinks reception followed by dinner and the presentation of the awards.

Tickets can be purchased for £85 per person. For further information and to book a ticket, please visit our website at thetba.co.uk, email the office on info@thetba.co.uk or call 01638 661321.

Breeders can apply for two badges to watch horses they bred run at Goodwood and York

The TBA is delighted to confirm the following badge offers from Goodwood and York racecourses in continuation of their support of members: Qatar Goodwood Festival, July 30-August 3 TBA members who have bred a runner at the Qatar Goodwood Festival are invited to apply for breeders’ badges to attend the meeting.

Members can apply for up to two badges per horse entered. Applications will be required by midday on the day prior to the race and must be submitted via email (info@thetba.co.uk) with the breeder’s name, details of the horse, race entered and name of the person collecting the badges if not the breeder. Badges will only be issued

subject to the horse(s) being declared to run.

York Ebor Festival, August 21-24 York racecourse has kindly invited TBA members to apply for breeders’ badges for the York Ebor Festival.

Members can apply for up to two badges per horse entered, and badges will only be issued subject to the horse(s) being declared to run.

Applications must be made by midday on the day prior to the race and must be submitted by email to info@thetba. co.uk.

These offers are for TBA members only. If you would like more information on becoming a member to take advantage of these and other great benefits please contact the office.

Trip to Weatherbys On May 14 the TBA hosted the first regional day of 2019, which took place at the Weatherbys office in Northampton.

Members travelled from as far afield as Cornwall for an insightful and informative morning of presentations and talks by members of the team at Weatherbys.

Guests were given a fascinating insight into the role that Weatherbys plays, not only within the racing and breeding industry but also in the insurance, banking and publishing sectors.

With the digital age making online

processes quicker and faster for all, members were lucky enough to learn about many of the ideas currently being investigated. Using innovative ways to improve registration and traceability, Weatherbys proved it is at the forefront when it comes to using modern technology to assist owners and breeders alike.

Questions were plentiful with many breeders keen to make the most of this unique opportunity and following a delicious lunch, members departed having learnt that there certainly is much more to this company than previously imagined.

Members heard about Weatherbys’ vital role in racing administration

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TBA Forum

British-bred success celebrated at the NH Breeders’ Awards Breeders Keith and Jayne Sivills, Overbury Stud and Distillery Stud collected the most silverware on a night that celebrated British-bred success at the TBA’s fifth annual National Hunt Breeders’ Celebration Dinner, sponsored by Goffs UK. Host Nick Luck presided over the presentation of 14 awards at the Mount Pleasant Hotel near Doncaster, which included four usually presented at the TBA’s Annual Awards that takes place in July.

Robert Robinson of Distillery Stud collected a hat-trick of prizes for the success of his mare Whisky Rose, who not only produced the winner of the Peel Bloodstock Trophy for leading NH mare Misty Whisky but also One For Rosie, who landed the Shade Oak Trophy for leading novice hurdler.

Her progeny’s recent successes also earned her the Dudgeon Cup for NH broodmare of the year.

The popular Lady Buttons secured

Robert Robinson (r) receives the Shade Oak Stud Trophy from Peter Hockenhull (l)

Jayne and Keith Savills (right) receive the Mickley Stud Trophy from Richard Kent both the Mickley Stud Trophy for leading hurdler mare and the Overbury Stud Trophy for leading chase mare.

The winner of the Grade 2 OLBG. com Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle in January, the nine-year-old daughter of Beneficial also scored three other backto-back race wins in the 2018-2019 season for her owner-breeders Keith and Jayne Sivills.

Kayf Tara’s dominance of the domestic stallion ranks continued with a fifth victory in the Horse & Hound Cup (leading active NH British-based stallion, 2018-2019 individual chase winners), and an eighth consecutive win of the British EBF sponsored Whitbread Silver Salver (leading NH Britishbased stallion, 2018-2019 earnings).

The Overbury Stud resident was also responsible for the winner of the leading NH Flat Horse award (Distillery Stud Trophy) in Thyme Hill.

The Yorton Stud Trophy for leading novice hurdler mare went to

Fiona Deniff presents the Horse & Hound Cup to Simon Sweeting

Stud Staff Training - National Stud The National Stud is offering a series of courses aimed at improving employees’ skillsets and also to help employers to comply with legal obligations. More information on these courses, please contact the National Stud on 01638 663464 or email students@nationalstud.co.uk Thursday, July 4

Monday, July 22 Tuesday, July 23 Wednesday, July 24 Wednesday, July 24 Wednesday, July 24

Youngstock Development (at York racecourse) , PA1 Safe Use Pesticides, PA6 Hand Held Sprayer, Working at heights (1/2 day) Manual Handling (1/2 day) Emergency First Aid at Work (Equine Specific)

Thursday & Friday, July 25-26

Thursday, July 30

Tuesday, August 6

September 2-6

Chainshaw maintenance and cross cutting (2 days) Youngstock Development (at Harper Adams University) Emergency First Aid at Work (Equine Specific) Stud Secretaries & Stud Admin Course

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Dr Geoffrey Guy, the breeder of the unbeaten Honeysuckle, whose tally of victories this season included the G1

continued to dominate the NH stallion ranks through such progeny as Sizing John, Seeyouatmidnight, Midnight Shadow and Shades Of Midnight.

Bryan Mayoh (right) receives the Queen Mother’s Silver Salver from Julian Richmond-Watson

Lester Futter presents the Yorton Trophy to Doug Procter Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final.

Rory Bannerman collected the Midnight Legend trophy (leading hurdler), on behalf of the Potassium

Midnight Legend was posthumously awarded the Eric Gillie Ltd Trophy The final award, the Queen Mother’s Silver Salver, was presented to Dr Bryan Mayoh in acknowledgement of his significant contribution to the British NH industry. A successful NH breeder and stallion owner, Mayoh has also dedicated many hours to the development of TBA initiatives and policy for the long term health and

improvement of British NH breeding.

TBA Chief Executive Claire Sheppard said: “The NH Breeders’ Celebration Dinner has firmly established itself as a key event within the jump breeding community. The awards present a great opportunity for breeders to gather and celebrate their successes.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the TBA’s NH Committee, Nick Luck, Goffs UK, Racing TV and all of our sponsors for their ongoing support.”

LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ALL HORSE OWNERS Partnership who bred the Grade 2 William Hill Rendlesham Hurdle winner Shades Of Midnight.

Santini won the Beech Tree Stud Trophy (leading novice chaser), for owner-breeders Richard and Lizzie Kelvin-Hughes, whilst Thistlecrack was awarded the Highflyer Trophy as

TBA members are reminded that it is now a legal requirement that all horse owners register their ownership within 30 days of purchase with their passport issuing organisation. Weatherbys issues all passports for thoroughbreds registered with the General Stud Book.

This legislation applies to all equines and so TBA members are reminded to ensure that any other horses in their ownership are also up to date with the requirements.

Allan Munnis presents the Beech Tree Stud Trophy to Nicky Henderson

Please see below guidelines on the horse passport legislation requirements: 1. It has been a requirement of the Horse Passport Regulations since 2009 for all equine owners in Great Britain to register their ownership with the Government designated Passport Issuing Organisation (Weatherbys) within 30 days of purchase.

2. From October 1, 2018 this became a legal requirement and is enforceable by Trading Standards.

3. The legislation also requires that a horse’s passport is returned

Kathleen Holmes & The Potassium P’ship with the Midnight Legend Trophy

leading chaser, for breeders Robin and Scarlett Knipe.

Two special recognition awards were also presented at the event. Midnight Legend was posthumously awarded the Eric Gillie Ltd Trophy in recognition of his enduring legacy. The late sire has

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to Weatherbys to be updated with the new ownership details. Racing ownerships have been granted an exemption; however, when a horse comes out of training this exemption no longer applies.

4. The owner of a horse in training should have previously registered their ownership with Weatherbys before the horse went into training unless they are the breeder, in which case the ownership is already correct.

5. When a horse comes out of training and the racing ownership is terminated, the Weatherbys ownership (i.e. the ownership registered with Weatherbys before the horse entered training and was registered in the BHA database for racing purposes) becomes the valid ownership recognised by DEFRA and the Central Equine Database.

6. Even if a racing owner retains ownership of a horse after it finishes racing they will be required to register their continued ownership with Weatherbys - if they hadn’t already done so prior to the horse going into training (unless, of course, they bred the horse).

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TBA Forum

Wonderful visit to Whitsbury On Tuesday, June 4 members from the West Region were treated to a behind-the-scenes visit to the beautiful Whitsbury Manor Stud.

The morning started with refreshments in the stud office, after which the group were taken to view the four resident stallions with stud director, Ed Harper. The first to parade was the stud’s newest recruit Havana Grey, who covered his first book of mares this year. Showing himself impeccably to the guests, it was clear that the Group 1-winning son of Havana Gold had let himself down into an impressive looking sire.

Members then had the chance to view Due Diligence, the first son of War Front to stand in Britain. The champion three-year-old sprinter in Ireland has had an encouraging start with his first runners, including Good Vibes, who was a winner of the Listed Marygate Fillies’ Stakes in May. Next up to parade in the sunshine was Adaay, who is a dual Group 2-winning son of Kodiac and had his first foals sell last year for an impressive

Stallions were paraded for members at Whitsbury Manor Stud

average of £30,000 from just a £7,000 stud fee.

Last but certainly not least to parade was Showcasing, who has gone from strength to strength since retiring to stud in 2011. His son Advertise recently doubled his Group 1 tally in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Throughout the parade, Ed gave a fascinating insight into the decision to stand each of the stallions and why he thinks they will be successful at stud, as well as giving an interesting insight into each of the sires and the stud’s stallion management techniques.

Members were then given a tour of the covering shed, which was followed

Stud vet Charlie Pinkham in full flow

by an insightful talk by the stud’s vet, Charlie Pinkham of Pinkham Equine.

Charlie spoke of the causes of early embryonic loss in mares, which included both extrinsic factors such as nutrition and disease and intrinsic factors such as hormonal abnormalities and foal heat.

Following on from this, members were treated to a look at some of the stud’s exciting youngstock including foals by Showcasing, Adaay and Due Diligence. The tour concluded at the yearling yard and members were given a behind-the-scenes look at the yard and a parade of some of the stud’s yearlings.

Thoroughout the tour, Ed spoke of the techniques the stud uses during all stages of youngstock development, from foaling to yearling preparation.

Members were then treated to a delicious lunch at the Cartwheel Pub located in Whitsbury village.

The TBA would like to thank the team at Whitsbury Stud and Pinkham Equine for providing such an interesting and insightful day for members.

Diary Dates & Reminders Wednesday, July 3 South West Regional Day Estcourt Stud, Tetbury

Wednesday, July 17 TBA AGM and Annual Seminar Tattersalls, Newmarket

Thursday, July 4 ‘Youngstock and Development’ TBA/ National Stud Regional Course York racecourse

Tuesday, July 30 ‘Youngstock and Development’ TBA/ National Stud Regional Course Harper Adams University

Tuesday, July 16 TBA Flat Breeders’ Awards Dinner Chippenham Park, Newmarket

Monday, August 5 TBA North Regional Forum Ripon racecourse

Tuesday, August 6 Emergency First Aid at Work (Equine Specific) The National Stud Monday, September 2 - Friday, September 6 Stud Secretaries & Stud Admin Course The National Stud Wednesday, September 11 North Regional Day Mark Johnston Racing, Leyburn

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European delegates attend EFTBA AGM hosted by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association produced a paper on welfare matters which would be sent to the EFTBA secretariat, formalised as a template for EFTBA to be used by member states going forward.

In this changing political climate, the board agreed it should be more proactive in promoting all that is good about the industry and agreed to look at a communications strategy going forward. This will involve regular news feeds concentrating on good news stories. The uncertainty of BREXIT was discussed and the meeting unanimously agreed that irrespective of the outcome, the UK should remain an integral part of the EFTBA executive.

Twelve countries were represented at the EFTBA AGM in June

The Annual General Meeting of the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders’ Associations (EFTBA) was hosted by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association on June 25 and 26. Twelve countries were represented including Great Britain and delegates enjoyed a number of stud farm visits and two wonderful days racing at the new Curragh racecourse.

Veterinary items dominated the agenda and the EFTBA board was unanimous in its opposition to artificial insemination, embryo transfer and gene editing in the thoroughbred industry.

Vaccination of horses was discussed and the board agreed to write to sales companies urging them to ensure that unvaccinated horses, or those with incomplete, or out of date influenza

Wednesday, September 25 Scotland Regional Day and Forum Kinneston Stables and Perth Thursday, September 26 TBA East Regional Forum Newmarket racecourse

vaccine status, do not enter sales premises.

The meeting also felt that there was a need to increase the number of horses that are vaccinated against EHV infection. The differences in policy in relation to Regumate among EFTBA member countries were noted. The veterinary committee recommended that the EFTBA board should write to the racing authorities, calling for a uniformed approach to Regumate usage, with an awareness of its importance in the breeding sector.

The ever-increasing regulations and restrictions being imposed on the industry were discussed and our commitment to the welfare of the thoroughbred was highlighted. The French TBA advised it had recently

Further information on all TBA events can be found on the TBA website.

New Members Mr Peter Moule, Hertfordshire Nancy Sexton, Suffolk Mr Simon Cox, Staffordshire

Thursday, October 3 TBA West Regional Forum Salisbury racecourse Thursday, October 31 TBA South West Regional Forum Newton Abbot racecourse

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Mrs Dawn Fleming, West Sussex Linda Pile, Kent Mr Aidan Ryan, Hertfordshire Mr Kevin Morgan, Derbyshire Mrs Elizabeth Hewitt, Hampshire Mr Mark John Law, Norfolk

NHMOPS WINNERS 23/4/19 Sedgefield

ALDERCLAD MARES’ STANDARD OPEN NH FLAT RACE (CLASS 5) (CLASS 5) Winner: Ahorsewithnoname Owner: Mr Peter Alderson and Mr D. J Burke Bonus Value: £5,000

24/4/19 Taunton

C&S ELECTRICAL WHOLESALE/ EWDEN PALAZZOLI MARES’ NOVICES’ HURDLE (CLASS 4) Winner: Rose To Fame Owner: Jones Broughtons Wilson Weaver Bonus Value: £5,000.00

8/5/19 Newton Abbot

SKY SPORTS RACING ON SKY 415 MARES’ NOVICES’ HURDLE (CLASS 3) Winner: Sixty’s Belle Owner: Mr and Mrs Christopher Harris Bonus Value: £10,000.00

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TBA Forum

TBA VISIT TO COOMBELANDS AND SUSSEX EQUINE HOSPITAL Members watched David Menuisier’s string on the gallops, and below, Rob van Pelt enlightens his audience

Set in the picturesque South Downs hills our welcome to Coombelands by David Menuisier, Rob van Pelt (Sussex Equine Hospital) and the rest of the team could not have been warmer. An early start was rewarded by a warming cup of tea on arrival as David and Rob chatted informally with the group by the American barns and gave us a brief history of the stables.

Suitably refreshed, members headed up to watch a string of colts, led out by four-year-old History Writer on the onemile, warm-up track before heading up to watch them work on the rising six-furlong all-weather gallop.

From the perfectly placed viewing platform members were able to watch the string which included stable star Thundering Blue, Migration, Nuits St Georges, Edmond Dantes and Danceteria, winner of the Group 3 La Coupe at Longchamp on June 10.

Throughout the morning, David entertained the members with his commentary and shared many anecdotes and experiences with the group. He is not superstitious but when he goes racing always wears his lucky underwear, shirt and tie!

When asked if he thought that there should be a minimum height for a racehorse his response was that as long as he can see them when they run on grass and they don’t know they are small, then there is no limit! He also spoke candidly about the highs and lows of being a trainer and his ambitions for the future and growing his operation.

From the gallops members returned to the yard for a tour including the covered ride, equine pool and solariums. Rob van

Pelt said the pool is never heated as this can cause horses to tie up.

It is often used for aqua therapy for rehabilitation but never used for horses with back problems as it can compress the spinal column.

The covered ride has a cambered bend which is ideal for training horses heading to the USA, where their tracks are mostly the same and they can run them in both directions as part of their training. The final view of the horses at work was up on the mile all-weather gallop in ‘the Valley’ with Thundering Blue heading the line-up.

Last year proved to be a very successful season for David and his team and the TBA wishes them continued success in 2019.

From Coombelands the group headed for the Sussex Equine Hospital a few miles down the road in Ashington.

Taking five years from purchase to opening, the hospital was built using the vets’ extensive experience, taking influence from other hospitals that they had seen throughout their careers to make it a hospital which offers the best in equipment and care standards.

Members were welcomed with tea and cakes, served in the spacious interior winter trot up area so that they can trot the horses inside during bad weather.

Rob is just one of 27 vets working at the hospital plus nursing and ancillary staff, servicing an area which encompasses East and West Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.

As well as treating the inpatients the hospital provides an ambulatory service to studs, racing yards and other equine facilities. Unfortunately, Rob said that it

was evident the number of working studs had declined in recent years but that there has been an increase in the number of eventing yards, for example, which have taken their place.

The state of the art practice boasts CT and MRI scanners, their own laboratory where bloods can be processed within a day and virology lab. Members were keen to ask questions on all types of scanning methods. We were fortunate to be able to

watch a laser procedure being undertaken which was done with the horse standing in stocks. Standing surgeries, Rob explained, were definitely preferable to a horse having to be given an anaesthetic and with much less risk.

A hot topic for discussion was the recent Equine Influenza outbreak and Rob concurred that it was impossible to get every horse owner to vaccinate. They are always testing because the risk is always there but the vaccine definitely works. He compared it to tetanus, of which they still see a few cases each year; it is inexpensive to administer the vaccine but some still refuse to get it done.

Other facilities include isolation boxes for both quarantine horses and also those who have been scanned as they need to be kept away from others whilst the radiation level depletes. All areas, including operating theatres and pre/post op rooms, are monitored by CCTV 24 hours a day and live-in staff ensure that the facility is always manned. There is also an 80-seater lecture theatre, pharmacy and lodgings for interns and students.

David and Rob were able to join the group for a very enjoyable lunch at the Crown Inn at Dial Post, following which some of the members headed off to enjoy an afternoon’s racing at Fontwell Park.

Our thanks to the team at Coombelands and The Sussex Equine Hospital for their hospitality and time.

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INVESTING IN BREEDING & RACING – Training pathway

Many stud staff are keen to progress their careers and now have the opportunity to do so

Recent surveys have revealed that many stud staff are keen to seek career progression and training. To serve the need two one-day courses, free to TBA members, are being held at York racecourse on July 4 and Harper Adams University in Shropshire on July 30.

Identifying an appropriate time and suitable location to provide training and continuing professional development for stud staff is not easy, since horses require looking after day-in and day-out.

As soon as staff come out of the busy breeding season, sales preparation fast approaches, while fitting in holidays is an important factor between the two.

Balancing the need for training against the difficulties posed by timing and location has been an important factor behind the TBA’s decision to stage regional events, organised by the National Stud and funded by the Racing Foundation.

Going out to the regions means that stud staff based away from the east of England, which is traditionally well served with opportunities, can access training specifically framed from previous feedback.

Courses cover a wide range of topics and have been enthusiastically received by attendees in the past. Taking the events to venues such as Haydock and Exeter racecourses, which are well known and easy to reach, brings them as close to as many people as possible.

Caroline Turnbull, the TBA’s Education and Welfare Manager, explains: “Each year we pick a subject on which we

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want to focus and then construct a one-day course around it. Normally the topic suggestion comes from previous delegates.”

This year’s topic, which will be covered identically at each venue, centres on the developing youngster, and will be delivered by vets, farriers, nutritionists and stud management specialists. Individual presentations will deal with growth and development in the foal, including problems associated with growth, the role of the farrier in monitoring and correcting foal developmental abnormalities, feeding the foal to optimise growth and development, and managing paddocks to optimise growth and development.

Turnbull adds: “These courses are an excellent way of getting out to the regions for the benefit of more members.

They give delegates the opportunity to hear four presentations by expert speakers and meet other breeders and stud staff, as the chance for networking is an important part of the event.”

In addition to the one-day courses, the National Stud is staging more specifically targeted programmes during stud staff training week, which runs from July 22–27 at its Newmarket headquarters. These events offer training to industry staff, covering safe use of pesticides, hand-held spraying, working at heights, manual handling, equine specific emergency first aid at work, and chainsaw maintenance and cross cutting.

Tabbi Smith, the National Stud’s Training Director, explains: “We are

conscious that accessing these kind of skills is only possible at certain times for stud staff, and the majority of providers tend to service the agricultural industry, so winter is their preferred time for holding these courses. We may not be able to cater for everyone by introducing the ‘stud staff training week’ in lateJuly, but at the very least it is not in the breeding season or during the major sales.”

These short, practical skills courses come between the National Stud’s two residential courses – the Diploma in Stud Practice and Management course, which ends in June, and the TBA’s important new, nine-month Entry to Stud Employment Programme (E2SE), which starts in October and is backed by 50-50 funding from the Racing Foundation.

Expanded this year after completion of the initial two-year pilot, the E2SE course will now be part of the TBA’s breeding industry training pathway.

Caroline Turnbull says: “Taken overall, the pathway is about giving people who want to work in the bloodstock breeding sector a better sight of the way forward.”

The E2SE programme is recruiting strongly, with 14 of the 20 funded places already filled for October 2019, but Tabbi Smith stresses: “We’re going to hold a reserve list and start recruiting for 2020, because we can’t turn good people away, so we’ll front-load them on to the following year.”

• To enrol on or inquire about any courses, contact the National Stud online at students@nationalstud.co.uk

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Breeder of the Month Words Hyperion Promotions Ltd

Sponsored by

Manufacturers of

BREEDER OF THE MONTH – MAY

the stud’s 1,000th winner.

Egon Weinfeld died in 2013, leaving the stud, situated near Bishop’s Waltham in Hampshire, to his children, who race unsold colts like Telecaster under the Castle Down Racing banner.

In the aftermath of Anapurna’s success in the Oaks, winning trainer John Gosden was typically eloquent in stressing the vital role owner-breeders play in the sport.

“It’s important to note breeding horses is a nightmare,” said Gosden.

“It’s the toughest thing. My wife and I have tried and things go wrong all the time. For owner-breeders like Mark [Weinfeld] and Helena [Ellingsen] to breed an Oaks winner, having gone through all the nightmares – breeding, getting mares in foal – is a great test of faith and without them there would be no proper racing; we’ve got to remember that.

“It’s a testament to Mark and Helena and in a sense they’re the most important ingredient in this, along with the filly.”

Anapurna, Frankel’s first European Classic winner, is the second Oaks winner bred by Meon Valley, 23 years after Lady Carla’s success in the colours of Wafic Said.

She is, though, the first to carry the distinctive black silks with white spots of Helena Springfield Ltd, the family’s textile business. There have been several near misses along the way with Izzi Top finishing third in 2011 and Shirocco Star a neck second to Was in 2012.

“We’ve come close a few times but she’s really shown the way – it’s incredible,” reflected Mark Weinfeld.

“This is what we live for and this is what we dream about. When you think you start your matings four years before today, to see it actually reach fruition is an unbelievable feeling.”

He underlined Gosden’s point about

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DENIS MURPHY

MEON VALLEY STUD

Mark Weinfeld with Dash To The Top

the trials and tribulations of breeding by revealing Anapurna’s dam Dash To The Top (by Montjeu) had been barren for the last two years.

“There are huge downs and if you weren’t optimistic all the time, and were glass half-empty, you probably wouldn’t do it,” he added.

With the exception of two recent purchases, all of the Meon Valley mares trace back to four foundation mares purchased as yearlings by Egon Weinfeld on the advice of bloodstock agent Richard Galpin in the late 1970s.

One In A Million was purchased at the Tattersalls Houghton Sale in 1977 for 18,500gns. She won the 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes and bred Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Milligram, the great-grandam of Anapurna.

Reprocolor cost 25,000gns at the December Sales later that year and from her has descended a long line of champions including Kayf Tara and Opera House.

She is also the sixth dam of Telecaster (by New Approach out of Shirocco Star), who won the Group 2 Dante Stakes at York the day after his year older Dansili half-brother, Starcaster, became

SPECIAL MERIT AWARD – MAY

WHATTON MANOR STUD Salutare, the dam of Group 2 Dahlia Stakes winner Worth Waiting (by Bated Breath), is a Sadler’s Wells three-parts sister to the dam of Group 1 winner Journey, one of many highlights on Whatton Manor Stud’s roll of honour.

Journey and Cartier Champion Moonlight Cloud were bred for George Strawbridge. The Nottinghamshire nursery is also the birthplace of Hong Kong Group 1 winner and Epsom Derby runner-up Eagle Mountain, who was bred on behalf of James Wigan.

The Player family themselves campaigned Musicanna, a Group 1-placed daughter of Upend, who Henry Cecil trained to win the Group 3 St Simon Stakes.

In the 1980s Peter Player, who has also served as Chairman of the National Stud and Newmarket racecourse, began to transform the family-owned farm between Grantham and Nottingham into a successful breeding operation that is now home to around 50 mares, half of them family-owned.

Player’s son Edward moved back to Whatton 14 years ago after spells working for Rossdales and Eddie O’Leary.

He is now responsible for the day-today running of the stud, including the supervision of a large annual draft of yearlings to various sales rings.

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www.thethoroughbredclub.co.uk •

@TTC_GB

Upcoming badge offers for members

Tickets to Newmarket’s July Festival and the Qatar Goodwood Festival are among the exciting offers open to Thoroughbred Club members

T

he Thoroughbred Club is pleased to announce a number of exciting tickets offers for its members in

July.

The Coral-Eclipse, Sandown racecourse, Saturday, July 6 Members will have the chance to win two Grandstand and Paddock badges to the Coral-Eclipse.

To enter simply email info@thethoroughbredclub.co.uk with your name and contact details.

The July Festival, Newmarket racecourse, Friday & Saturday, July 12-13 Members will have the chance to win two Grandstand and Paddock badges to the Friday and Saturday of the Moet & Chandon July Festival, which will feature the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes and the Darley July Cup. To

enter the draw simply email info@ thethoroughbredclub.co.uk with your name and contact details.

Summer Mile Raceday, Ascot racecourse, Saturday, July 13 Members will receive half-price admission to the Summer Mile Raceday at Ascot. Half-price tickets can be purchased on the day from ticket office East following presentation of a valid TTC membership card.

QIPCO King George Weekend, Ascot racecourse, Friday & Saturday, July 26-27 TTC members have the opportunity to attend both days of the QIPCO King George Weekend at Ascot for half-price.

The meeting features the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, one of Europe’s premier mid-season middledistance championship races, as well

as champagne bars, live music and picnic areas. To purchase your halfprice tickets, please present a valid TTC membership card at ticket office East.

Members will also have the opportunity to win two free Grandstand and Paddock badges for the Saturday.

To enter the draw simply email info@ thethoroughbredclub.co.uk with your name and contact details.

Qatar Goodwood Festival, Goodwood racecourse, Tuesday & Wednesday, July 30-31 Members will have the chance to win two Grandstand and Paddock badges to the Tuesday and Wednesday of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, which will feature the Goodwood Cup and the Qatar Sussex Stakes. To enter the draw simply email info@ thethoroughbredclub.co.uk with your name and contact details.

Diary Dates and Reminders

New Members

Wednesday, July 3 Tour of Juddmonte’s Estcourt Stud, Tetbury

Monday-Friday, August 2-6 Stud Secretaries & Stud Admin Course – The National Stud

TTC would like to welcome the following members and look forward to meeting them at our events throughout the year:

Thursday, July 4 ‘Youngstock and Development’ Course – York racecourse

Wednesday, September 11 Visit to Mark Johnston’s Kingsley Park Stables

Jennifer Gates, Suffolk

Tuesday, July 30 ‘Youngstock and Development’ Harper Adams University

Wednesday, September 25 Visit to Kinneston Stables and Perth racecourse

Ben Wynne, Denbighshire

Tuesday, August 6 Emergency First Aid at Work (Equine Specific) – The National Stud

Further information on all TBA events can be found on the TBA website

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Shannon Stratton, Suffolk Mira Solanki, Lincolnshire Rory Brookes, Surrey Holly May Foster, Rutland Tristan Wootton, London

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Vet Forum: The Expert View

Lower respiratory tract disease The early identification and management of respiratory disease will minimise its impact on missed training days in the Flat racehorse

R

espiratory disease, after lameness, is the second most common cause of lost training days in the Flat racehorse. In a study undertaken by Dyson and colleagues examining a British population of Flat racehorses, they identified that up to 14% of training days are missed due to respiratory disease during the two-year-old year. With this significant impact on training, in addition to both the health and economic aspects, the early identification and treatment of respiratory disease is key.

Lower respiratory tract disease is defined as that involving the lungs and the trachea. Regardless of the causative agent, infection or inflammation involving either of these structures has the potential to cause poor performance and to limit athletic function. This article will look at some of the potential causes of lower respiratory tract disease as well as diagnostic, treatment and management strategies.

Why does it occur?

The incidence and prevalence of respiratory disease varies widely from year to year and between yards. Whilst the extent of this variation has not been well defined, we do appreciate a number of factors that contribute to the development and spread of respiratory disease in the young thoroughbred.

Respiratory disease is often first identified in association with the early mixing of young horses during the breaking-in process. This congregation of a large number of immunologically naĂŻve animals, all carrying their own particular collection of respiratory ‘bugs’, has the potential for the mass spread of respiratory disease. Couple this mixing of young horses with both the stress of the new environment and the pre-training process and it can be appreciated how easily and quickly pathogens can be spread from one horse to another and indeed throughout a whole yard.

Profuse nasal discharge, widespread coughing, elevated rectal temperatures, inappetence and dullness are frequent findings in this population.

By the time these young horses enter full training their immune systems will have already encountered a large number of both bacterial and viral pathogens.

Post-exercise tracheal endoscopy is used to diagnose respiratory illness They will have mounted an immune response to these pathogens and will have developed some degree of immunity to further infection. However, due to the stresses of full training these animals may experience immunosuppression and as a result develop low-grade respiratory disease. This may cause exercise intolerance and poor performance. The clinical picture of respiratory disease in the horse-in-training is usually less marked when compared with young horses. A disappointing piece of work, a hard blow, a poor recovery, coughing after exercise or low-grade nasal discharge are the most frequently reported clinical signs.

What causes it?

Bacteria, viruses and environmental allergens have all been identified as potential causes of lower respiratory tract disease. Bacteria and viral pathogens are most commonly spread directly between animals via respiratory secretions, whereas environmental allergens are present in the atmosphere and can be seasonal. These environmental allergens

can cause hypersensitivities and airway inflammation similar to that encountered with asthma in humans. Moulds, fungi and pollens, all found in the stable environment, have been described as contributing to these hypersensitivities.

Bacterial infection of the lower respiratory tract results in thickening and discolouration of the tracheal mucus as inflammatory cells pour-in to fight the bacteria. Thickened mucus impairs the normal respiratory defence mechanisms and the elimination of this mucus, containing the infectious agent, becomes difficult. Bacterial respiratory infections can occur as a primary disease process or can be secondary, following impairment of the respiratory system by a pre-existing viral infection.

Viral infections, such as influenza, equine herpes and many unidentified viruses, impair or destroy the respiratory defence mechanisms. Equine influenza virus impairs the muco-ciliary clearance; a natural mechanism by which foreign material is carried from deep within the lungs to the upper airway in order to

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By Deidre Carson MRCVS

By Stuart Williamson BVSc MRCVS non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to alleviate the inflammation. Mucolytics can be administered intravenously or orally to break up the excessive tracheal mucus and aid in its clearance. Saline nebulisers have gained popularity and work by breaking up excessive tracheal mucus, allowing it to be expelled from the respiratory tract.

Rest is also important. Continued exercise not only weakens the immune system and delays recovery from the illness, but also risks the spread of disease amongst healthy animals.

be expelled from the respiratory tract.

Equine herpes virus destroys some of the lymphoid tissue associated with the lower airways that has an important role in fighting off local airway infection. Once infected by the virus, the respiratory tract becomes more sensitive to bacterial infection and elimination of the bacteria becomes difficult. Bacteria subsequently colonise this immune-compromised tissue and cause further damage.

How can we diagnose it?

The diagnosis of respiratory disease involves recognition of the clinical signs discussed above in addition to respiratory tract endoscopy. Tracheal endoscopy, or ‘scoping’ is the most commonly employed method of diagnosing respiratory disease in the racehorse. This procedure is easily performed in the ambulatory setting, is economically viable and provides reliable results. Endoscopy enables visualisation of the lining of the trachea and allows the veterinary surgeon to identify excessive tracheal mucus. The level of mucus observed is graded from zero to five.

A grade zero indicates no evidence of tracheal mucus while a significant amount of tracheal mucus covering a large portion of the trachea would be consistent with a grade five. In addition, inflammation of the tracheal lining may be observed.

Instillation of sterile saline solution into the trachea via the biopsy channel of the endoscope allows for washing of the tracheal lining. Collection of this saline, now including tracheal secretions, allows for laboratory analysis of the tracheal mucus in order to identify the causative agent, further characterise the disease process and guide treatment.

How can we treat it?

Treatment is dependent upon a number of factors. Often, young horses with significant nasal discharge or coughing, but without an elevated rectal temperature or dullness will not be treated. These are animals that are not systemically unwell. They will be rested, monitored closely and allowed to overcome the disease naturally, building up their immunity in the process.

If the nasal discharge or coughing is accompanied by dullness or a significant elevation in rectal temperature then treatment is instituted with antibiotics.

For horses in full training, treatment is provided according to the laboratory results. Treatment is administered not only to control the respiratory disease before it impacts on the health of the animal, but also in an attempt to prevent spread of disease within the yard and to permit an

Fig 1 A significant amount of tracheal mucus (red arrow) lining the trachea

How can we prevent it?

Respiratory disease is inevitable within efficient return to full training. the racehorse population, with the mass Whilst antibiotic therapy forms the mixing of young horses and the training mainstay for the treatment of respiratory process. The challenge is to reduce the disease in the young racehorse, we must incidence of disease, and to efficiently obtain as much information as possible control the disease upon diagnosis in before treatment is initiated. Laboratory order to minimise the negative effects analysis of the tracheal wash sample can of underperformance and training days identify not only the causative bacteria missed. but also the antibiotics to which these As with many diseases of the bacteria are sensitive, and so guide racehorse, management and husbandry therapy. Figure 2 is a typical laboratory are central to the development and report obtained following the submission progression of lower respiratory tract ofthe a health tracheal washbut sample. disease. on of the animal, also in an attempt to prevent spread of disease within Vigilance is key with the close Whilst bacteria are return the most commonly monitoring of both rectal temperatures the yard and to permit an efficient to full training. identified causative agents for respiratory and coughing in addition to general Whilst antibiotic therapy forms the mainstay for the treatment of respiratory disease disease in the young thoroughbred, wellbeing, to allow for early intervention. in the young must obtain as much information beforewill limit significant consequences signifi cantracehorse, lower we airway inflammation or as possibleThis treatment is initiated. Laboratory analysis of the tracheal wash sample canon identify hypersensitivity without bacterial growth, thenot animal in question as well as only bacteria but also the antibiotics nonto which these stopping bacteria are spread to others within the andthe ancausative excessive amount of normal sensitive, andtracheal so guide therapy.

Figure is a typical laboratory report obtained infected mucus, are2. also regularly yard.

When suspicion of respiratory following the submission of aantibiotics, tracheal wash sample. observed.

Beyond additional disease exists, post-exercise tracheal therapies include corticosteroids and endoscopy should be performed.

Strategically planned vaccination programmes should be used to limit the viral influence on respiratory disease.

Vaccination against equine influenza virus is mandatory under the BHA rules of racing. Vaccination against equine herpes virus is regularly performed and has been reported to reduce levels of respiratory disease in some yards, although the benefits are not clear-cut.

Environmental factors must also be taken into consideration. Densely stocked, poorly ventilated barns with excessive dust levels, or humid barns, can all initiate and exacerbate airway inflammation and predispose to bacterial infection. Poor air quality will not only predispose to infection, but will also hinderfor recovery.

Fig 22 A typical laboratory reporttheindicating Fifure A typical laboratory report indicating cultured bacteria responsible summary, lower respiratory tract therespiratory cultured bacteria responsible for the disease (yellow arrow) in addition to thethe antibiotic sensitivityIn profile respiratory disease (yellowA arrow) in streptococcusdisease (red brace) that will guide treatment. beta-haemolytic (BHS) hasin the young thoroughbred is a widespread and multifactorial addition antibiotic been identifiedto asthe the bacteria involvedsensitivity in this case profile disease. Knowledge of the epidemiology (red brace) that will guide treatment. underlying its spread is necessary, in A beta-haemolytic streptococcus (BHS) addition to efficient intervention upon has been identified as the bacteria suspicion of the disease. involved in this case

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››

Dr Statz

John Boyce cracks the code

Frankel consolidating leading position among Galileo tribe T

GEORGE SELWYN

here are precious few stallions that can be relied upon to sire the winner of the Derby and Oaks.

Most don’t produce stock with the necessary aptitude, whilst only a handful get runners with the right combination of class and aptitude. It seems that most Derby and Oaks winners these days must have Galileo close up in their pedigree, or at least his dam Urban Sea, which then includes runners by Sea The Stars.

For all his dominance, Galileo is still in the process of overhauling his sire’s 288 stakes winners, although he has already passed Sadler’s Wells’ tally of Group winners and has sired an identical 72 Group 1 winners. But time alone will take care of these matters. The three core figures that demonstrate Galileo’s prowess as a sire are his number of stakes winners (266 from his crops conceived in Ireland), his percentage of stakes winners (16.8%), the quality of his stakes winners (115.1 for those with a Timeform rating) plus the sheer quality of his top ten horses, who have an average Timeform rating of 132.3.

When you add in the fact that Galileo’s stamina index is 10.9 furlongs, you can easily understand why he and his descendants take some stopping at Epsom. He, of course, won the Derby and he sired his fourth Derby winner this year, with Anthony Van Dyck following New Approach, Ruler Of The World and Australia. He’s also had three Oaks winners. His Derby-winning son New Approach has sired a Derby winner (Masar) and Oaks winner (Talent), while two other sons Nathaniel (Enable) and Frankel (Anapurna) have had Oaks winners.

Galileo’s half-brother, Sea The Stars, has also chipped in with a Derby-Oaks double with Taghrooda and Harzand for good measure. Whilst there is no sign of Galileo slowing down to any perceptible degree, we are always on the lookout for a dominant son to take over. Both Teofilo and New Approach were first out of the blocks, but Frankel has already overhauled New Approach’s 35 stakes winners and it’s odds-on that he will also surpass Teofilo (currently on 70 stakes winners) in the next few years.

If ever there was a racehorse that the bloodstock industry wanted to succeed at stud, it was Frankel. And he didn’t disappoint with his early runners. His first crop of two-year-olds made a big impression; at the end of his first year with runners, he already had six stakes winners on the board, which is the best total of any sire in the past 20 years and one that he currently shares with Oasis Dream and No Nay Never.

At the end of year two he was up to 20 stakes winners and well clear of any other sire at the same stage of their career. Dubawi had 18 by this stage and Frankel’s own sire, the great Galileo, had only nine. His phenomenal early pace continued through year three and by the end of 2018 he had sired 33 stakes winners, the same number that Dubawi had posted at the end of his third year. He is currently topping the table after year four, with 41 stakes winners. Moreover, Frankel’s prowess isn’t all down to

Anapurna: Classic winner for Frankel in the Oaks this year

96

Sires ranked by stakes winners after four years with runners

Sire

FRANKEL DUBAWI

SW

41 40

OASIS DREAM

36

SEA THE STARS

34

GALILEO

33

MONTJEU

33

SHAMARDAL

32

HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR

31

TEOFILO

29

LOPE DE VEGA

28

INVINCIBLE SPIRIT

26

ROCK OF GIBRALTAR

26

SADLER'S WELLS

24

MASTERCRAFTSMAN

23

ROYAL ACADEMY

23

ZOFFANY

23

DANSILI

22

DUKE OF MARMALADE

22

GENEROUS

22

DANEHILL

21

RED RANSOM

21

NEW APPROACH

20

PIVOTAL

20

his number of runners. His percentage of stakes winners at the end of each of his first three years were 12.5%, 15.6% and 15.9% – again the best of any sire in the modern era.

Frankel is currently sitting on 16.9% stakes winners, just ahead of his sire’s score. Although his 41 stakes winners (average Timeform rating of 114.3) are not quite as good as Galileo’s, they are as a group a very talented bunch, as very few sires can maintain an average rating of 114-plus for their stakes winners.

The task now facing Frankel is to find more championship horses just like Cracksman. So far, he’s had only one runner rated 125 or higher. By this point in his career Galileo had just sired his first Derby winner in New Approach, and Soldier Of Fortune, Teofilo and Sixties Icon had also surpassed the 125 mark.

However, it’s odds-on that Frankel will get there as his crops of 2018 and 2019 – conceived on the back of his first crop success – are perhaps his best ever. So expect an upsurge from Frankel in the coming years.

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Data Book • Analysis by Andrew Caulfield European Pattern 51 EMIRATES POULE D’ESSAI DES POULAINS G1 PARISLONGCHAMP. May 12. 3yoc. 1600m.

1. PERSIAN KING (IRE) 9-2 £308,865 b c by Kingman - Pretty Please (Dylan Thomas) O-GodolphinSNC/BallymoreThoroughbredLtd B-Dayton Investments (Breeding) Limited TR-A. Fabre 2. Shaman (IRE) 9-2 £123,568 ch c by Shamardal - Only Green (Green Desert) O-Wertheimer et Frere B-Wertheimer et Frere TR-C. Laffon-Parias 3. San Donato (IRE) 9-2 £61,784 b c by Lope de Vega - Boston Rocker (Acclamation) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-J. Hanly, A. Stroud & Skymarc Farm TR-Roger Varian Margins 1, Head. Time 1:38.98. Going Heavy.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 7 5 2 £724,041 Sire: KINGMAN. Sire of 8 Stakes winners. In 2019 PERSIAN KING Dylan Thomas G1, CALYX Observatory G3, NAUSHA Galileo G3, KING OF COMEDY Selkirk LR, PRIVATE SECRETARY Darshaan LR. 1st Dam: PRETTY PLEASE by Dylan Thomas. Winner at 3 in France. Dam of 1 winner:

2015: 2016:

2017:

Pretty Spirit (f Invincible Spirit) PERSIAN KING (c Kingman) 5 wins at 2 and 3 at home, France, Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains G1, Godolphin Autumn S G3, Prix de Fontainebleau G3.

Petite Folie (f Australia) unraced to date.

2nd Dam: Plante Rare by Giant’s Causeway. unraced.

Dam of PLANTEUR (c Danehill Dancer: Prix Ganay - Prix Air Mauritius G1, 2nd Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris G1, Prix d’Ispahan G1 (twice), Prix du Jockey Club G1, 3rd Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup G1 (twice)), PILOTE D’ESSAI (c Oasis Dream: Superior Food Pakenham Werribee Cup LR, Ballarat Cup LR) Broodmare Sire: DYLAN THOMAS. Sire of the dams of 5 Stakes winners.

PERSIAN KING b c 2016 Green Desert

Danzig Foreign Courier

Rafha

Kris Eljazzi

Zamindar

Gone West Zaizafon

Hope

Dancing Brave Bahamian

Danehill

Danzig Razyana

Lagrion

Diesis Wrap It Up

Invincible Spirit KINGMAN b 11 Zenda

Dylan Thomas PRETTY PLEASE b 09 Plante Rare

Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Palmeraie

Lear Fan Petroleuse

The only defeat in Kingman’s eight-race career was a rather unlucky second in the 2,000 Guineas behind Night Of Thunder, a colt he beat decisively on their other encounters. However, Kingman has made quick amends, with Persian King, a colt from his first crop, landing the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

This was the fifth consecutive victory from six starts for the strapping Persian King, who had travelled to Newmarket for the 2018 Autumn Stakes, in which he narrowly defeated the future 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia.

Persian King later ran second in the Prix du Jockey-Club over a mile and a quarter. His broodmare sire Dylan Thomas stayed a mile and a half well enough to win the Irish Derby, the King George and the Arc, and his dam, the lightly-raced Pretty Please, won over an extended mile and a quarter on her debut.

Persian King and his dam represent

one of the Wildenstein family’s best female lines, with Pretty Please being a three-parts-sister to the very successful Planteur. Although both were sired by sons of Danehill, Planteur’s sire Danehill Dancer was much speedier than Pretty Please’s sire Dylan Thomas. Even so, Planteur stayed well enough to finish second in the Prix du Jockey-Club and the Grand Prix de Paris, in addition to winning the Gr2 Prix Noailles and Gr1 Prix Ganay over an extended mile and a quarter. Plante Rare, the Giant’s Causeway mare responsible for Planteur and Pretty Please, visited Oasis Dream – a horse bred along similar lines to Kingman – to produce Pilote d’Essai, who enjoyed Listed successes over 11 and 13 furlongs in Australia.

Persian King’s fifth dam, the Listed winner Plencia, first found fame as the dam of Daniel Wildenstein’s brilliant filly Pawneese, winner of the Oaks, Prix de Diane and the King George in 1976. Unfortunately, Pawneese died without producing a single black-type performer, but her Gr3-winning half-sister Petroleuse became the dam of three Group winners, including Peinture Bleue, who in turn became the dam of Prix du Jockey-Club and Arc winner Peintre Celebre.

Petroleuse’s Lear Fan filly Palmeraie – the third dam of Persian King – produced the Group winners Pushkin, Place Rouge and Policy Maker, with Policy Maker being a multiple Gr2 winner who twice finished second in the Gr1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

52 EMIRATES POULE D’ESSAI DES POULICHES G1 PARISLONGCHAMP. May 12. 3yof. 1600m.

1. CASTLE LADY (IRE) 9-0 £257,387 b f by Shamardal - Windsor County (Elusive Quality) O-Godolphin S.N.C. B-Godolphin Management Company Ltd TR-H. Pantall 2. Commes (FR) 9-0 £102,973 b f by Le Havre - Leaupartie (Stormy River) O-Mr Gerard Louis Roger Augustin-Normand B-Franklin Finance S.A. TR-Jean Claude Rouget 3. East (GB) 9-0 £51,486 ch f by Frankel - Vital Statistics (Indian Ridge) O-East Partners B-Prince M. Bin Abdullah TR-Kevin Ryan Margins Nose, 1.5. Time 1:40.91. Going Heavy.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 3 3 3 0 £304,684 Sire: SHAMARDAL. Sire of 133 Stakes winners. In 2019 - BLUE POINT Royal Applause G1, CASTLE LADY Elusive Quality G1, MORGAN LE FAYE Lomitas G2, HAZAPOUR Daylami G3, SHAMAN Green Desert G3, SKARDU Iffraaj G3, TARNAWA Cape Cross G3, HARIPOUR Xaar LR, ICKWORTH Interprete LR, QUEEN POWER Unbridled’s Song LR. 1st Dam: Windsor County by Elusive Quality. unraced.

Own sister to RAVEN’S PASS. Dam of 2 winners:

2014: 2016: 2017: 2018:

TOP SCORE (g Hard Spun) 4 wins at 2 to 4 at home, UAE, Al Naboodah Goodyear Meydan Classic LR. CASTLE LADY (f Shamardal) 3 wins at 3 in France, Emirates Poule d’Essai des Pouliches G1, Prix de la Grotte G3.

ETON COLLEGE (c Invincible Spirit) winner at 2. (c Dark Angel)

2nd Dam: ASCUTNEY by Lord At War. 2 wins at 2 in USA Miesque S G3. Own sister to WORDS OF WAR. Dam of RAVEN’S PASS (c Elusive Quality: Sony Queen Elizabeth II S G1, Breeders’ Cup Classic G1, 2nd St

James’s Palace S G1, BGC Sussex S G1, Abu Dhabi Sorouh Prix Jean Prat G1, 3rd Darley Dewhurst S G1), GIGAWATT (c Wild Again: Miami Mile Breeders’ Cup H G3, 2nd Grey Breeders’ Cup S G2). Grandam of Doyouknowsomething, Timoneer.

Broodmare Sire: ELUSIVE QUALITY. Sire of the dams of 73 Stakes winners. In 2019 - ALAMPUR Catcher In The Rye G1, CASTLE LADY Shamardal G1, ROY H More Than Ready G2, EPAEPAEPA Public Purse G3, SUPER STEED Super Saver G3.

The Shamardal/Elusive Quality cross has produced: CASTLE LADY G1, GHIBELLINES G2.

CASTLE LADY b f 2016 Storm Cat

Storm Bird Terlingua

Mariah’s Storm

Rahy Immense

Machiavellian

Mr Prospector Coup de Folie

Helen Street

Troy Waterway

Gone West

Mr Prospector Secrettame

Giant’s Causeway SHAMARDAL b 02 Helsinki

Elusive Quality WINDSOR COUNTY b/br 09

Touch of Greatness Hero’s Honor Ivory Wand Lord At War

General Luna de Miel

Right Word

Verbatim Oratorio

Ascutney

Shamardal’s 2016 crop produced three Group winners in the early weeks of the 2019 turf season and each of the three was to perform with credit in one or other of Europe’s Guineas races. The Gr3 Craven Stakes winner Skardu came out best of the centre group when third in the 2,000 Guineas, the Gr3 Prix La Force winner Shaman tested Persian King when second in the Poulains and Castle Lady, winner of the Gr3 Prix de la Grotte, maintained her unbeaten record when she narrowly held off Commes to land the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

Shamardal sired Skardu from an Iffraaj mare from the Gone West male line and Castle Lady is out of a mare

by Gone West’s son Elusive Quality.

Although she never raced, Castle Lady’s dam Windsor County has the distinction of being a sister to the top-class Raven’s Pass, who followed up his success in the Gr1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with victory in the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on the all-weather. Their dam Ascutney, a Gr3 winner on turf as a two-year-old in the US, earned an Experimental Free Handicap rating of 115. This daughter of Lord At War was a younger sister to Words Of War, a tough mare who earned more than $680,000. Words Of War also shone as a broodmare, becoming the dam of the very smart E Dubai and the Gr1-winning No Matter What, whose tally of four Group/Graded winners included the champion European two-year-old filly Rainbow View and the Cambridgeshire winner Wissahickon.

Castle Lady’s fourth dam Right Word failed to win but she came from a family which has produced many good winners, including the Belmont Stakes winners Phalanx and Danzig Connection, and three of Right Words’ daughters have produced Graded winners, the other being her Red Ransom filly Word O’Ransom.

53 AL SHAQAB LOCKINGE STAKES G1 NEWBURY. May 18. 4yo+. 8f.

1. MUSTASHRY (GB) 6 9-0 £198,485 b/br g by Tamayuz - Safwa (Green Desert) O-Mr Hamdan Al Maktoum B-Shadwell Estate Co Ltd TR-Sir Michael Stoute 2. Laurens (FR) 4 8-11 £75,250 b f by Siyouni - Recambe (Cape Cross) O-Mr John Dance B-Bloodstock Agency Ltd TR-K. R. Burke 3. Accidental Agent (GB) 5 9-0 £37,660 b h by Delegator - Roodle (Xaar) O-Mrs R. F. Johnson Houghton B-Mrs F. M. Johnson Houghton TR-Eve Johnson Houghton Margins 2.5, 0.5. Time 1:35.80. Going Good.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-6 18 8 6 £501,183 Sire: TAMAYUZ. Sire of 21 Stakes winners. In 2019 MUSTASHRY Green Desert G1, GALLIC CHIEFTAIN Cacique G2, PRECIEUSE Pivotal G3.

1st Dam: SAFWA by Green Desert. Winner at 3. Dam of 5 winners:

2010: 2011: 2012: 2013:

2014: 2015: 2017:

(g Medicean) Munaaser (g New Approach) 3 wins, 2nd Abu Dhabi Championship G3.

RADHAADH (f Nayef) Winner at 3.

Broodmare.

MUSTASHRY (g Tamayuz) 8 wins at 3 to 6, 2019, Al Shaqab Lockinge S G1, Alan Wood Park S G2, Shadwell Joel S G2, Betfred Strensall S G3, Davies Insurance Gala S LR, 2nd Sky Bet and Symphony Strensall S G3, 3rd bet365 Earl of Sefton S G3.

LAAMATHEEL (c New Approach) Winner at 3 in France.

MOOJIB (g Dubawi) Winner at 4 in UAE. Rabaabah (f Shamardal) unraced to date.

2nd Dam: NASANICE by Nashwan. 1 win at 3. Dam of MARAAHEL (c Alzao: Hardwicke S G2 (twice), 2nd Juddmonte International S G1, 3rd Juddmonte International S G1, Emirates Airline Champion S G1, Vodafone Coronation Cup G1, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S G1, Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup G1), Huja (f Alzao: 3rd Touchdown in Malaysia Prestige S G3). Grandam of TAZAHUM, Alward. Third dam of MANIFOLD, Lisheen Castle.

Broodmare Sire: GREEN DESERT. Sire of the dams of 128 Stakes winners. In 2019 - MUSTASHRY Tamayuz G1, D’BAI Dubawi G2, ENDLESS DRAMA Lope de Vega G2, SHAMAN Shamardal G3, MIRAGE DANCER Frankel LR, REAL APPEAL Sidestep LR. The Tamayuz/Green Desert cross has produced: MUSTASHRY G1, BEST REGARDS G3, Reyaadah G3.

MUSTASHRY b/br g 2013 Gulch Nayef TAMAYUZ ch 05

Height of Fashion Bustino Highclere Nureyev

Northern Dancer Special

Allez Les Trois

Riverman Allegretta

Danzig

Northern Dancer Pas de Nom

Foreign Courier

Sir Ivor Courtly Dee

Nashwan

Blushing Groom Height of Fashion

Mathaayl

Shadeed Manal

Al Ishq

Green Desert SAFWA b 04

Mr Prospector Jameela

Nasanice

Sheikh Hamdan has never had cause to regret digging deep to buy the Queen’s champion filly Height Of Fashion, as she is ancestress of many good performers for Shadwell, including Classic winners. Now Sheikh Hamdan has won the Gr1 Lockinge Stakes with Mustashry, a homebred gelding inbred 3 x 4 to Height Of Fashion, via her top sons Nayef and Nashwan.

Mustashry plied his trade largely in valuable handicaps as a young horse, stepping into Group class only when he won the Gr3 Strensall Stakes in

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CAULFIELD ON PHOENIX OF SPAIN: “The Irish 2,000 Guineas winner is the fourth black-type performer out of Lucky Clio, who proved so disappointing her price fell from €130,000 as a yearling to 17,000gns” the August of his third season.

Gelded the following spring, Mustashry won a pair of Gr2 races as a five-year-old and has continued to progress at six, as he proved with his decisive victory over Laurens at Newbury.

The stallion career of Mustashry’s sire Tamayuz hasn’t been straightforward, as he has only 328 foals in his first eight crops – an average of 41 foals.

However, these crops have produced four Gr1 winners.

Mustashry’s predecessors were the Sprint Cup winner G Force (who proved infertile) and the fillies Precieuse (Poule d’Essai des Pouliches) and Blond Me (EP Taylor Stakes).

Tamayuz began his stallion career at €15,000 on the strength of victories in two of France’s top mile races, the Prix Jean Prat and Prix Jacques le Marois. Although his fee once fell to €8,000, it has revived to €12,500 in recent seasons. The Derrinstown Stud resident also has the attraction of coming from the same female line as Galileo and Sea The Stars.

None of Mustashry’s first four dams earned black type but all four produced at least one stakes winner and three of them produced Group winners. His dam Safwa is a half-sister to the tough Maraahel, a seven-time Group winner who was also placed in the Juddmonte International and the King George.

This is also the family of the speedy juvenile Gutaifan.

54 TATTERSALLS IRISH 2000 GUINEAS G1 CURRAGH. May 25. 3yoc&f. 8f.

1. PHOENIX OF SPAIN (IRE) 9-0 £209,009 gr c by Lope de Vega - Lucky Clio (Key of Luck) O-Tony Wechsler & Ann Plummer B-Mrs C. Faeste TR-Charles Hills 2. Too Darn Hot (GB) 9-0 £68,468 b c by Dubawi - Dar Re Mi (Singspiel) O-Lord Lloyd Webber B-Watership Down Stud TR-John Gosden 3. Decrypt (GB) 9-0 £32,432 gr c by Dark Angel - She’s A Worldie (Kodiac) O-P. Twomey B-Equine Origin Limited TR-P. Twomey Margins 3, 0.5. Time 1:36.52. Going Good to Firm.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 6 3 3 £335,742 Sire: LOPE DE VEGA. Sire of 57 Stakes winners. In 2019 - PHOENIX OF SPAIN Key of Luck G1, SANTA ANA LANE Fastnet Rock G1, ZABEEL PRINCE Unbridled’s Song G1, ENDLESS DRAMA Green Desert G2, SPANISH WHISPER Encosta de Lago G2, ARCHEDEMUS Peintre Celebre G3, SPANISH REEF Lemon Drop Kid G3, MIZLECKI Al Maher LR, NOOR SAHARA Van Nistelrooy LR, RAISE YOU Galileo LR, VEGA ONE Distorted Humor LR. 1st Dam: Lucky Clio by Key of Luck. Dam of 7 winners:

2009: 2010: 2011: 2012: 2013: 2015: 2016:

Kingsdesire (g King’s Best) 2 wins at 2 and 3, 3rd Stobart Barristers Dee S G3.

Lucky Beggar (g Verglas) 7 wins to 2019, 3rd CSP European Free H LR, coral.co.uk Rockingham S LR. WAR OF ART (c Tamayuz) 2 wins at 3.

Central Square (g Azamour) 3 wins at 4, 3rd Qatar Airways Royal Whip S G3.

KARISMA (f Lawman) Winner at 3.

GAME PLAYER (g Dark Angel) 3 wins at 3 and 4.

PHOENIX OF SPAIN (c Lope de Vega) Sold 220,000gns yearling at TAOC1. 3

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2017: 2018:

wins at 2 and 3, Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas G1, Tattersalls Acomb S G3, 2nd Vertem Futurity Trophy S G1, Howcroft Champagne S G2. (c Lope de Vega) (c Awtaad)

2nd Dam: Special Lady by Kaldoun. Dam of SPECIAL KALDOUN (c Alzao: Prix Daniel Wildenstein Casino Barriere G2 (twice)), Privalova (f Alhaarth: 3rd Prix Yacowlef LR) Broodmare Sire: KEY OF LUCK. Sire of the dams of 16 Stakes winners.

PHOENIX OF SPAIN gr c 2016 Shamardal LOPE DE VEGA ch 07

Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Helsinki

Machiavellian Helen Street

Vettori

Machiavellian Air Distingue

Lady Golconda

Kendor Lady Sharp

Chief’s Crown

Danzig Six Crowns

Balbonella

Gay Mecene Bamieres

Kaldoun

Caro Katana

Macedoine

King of Macedon Sainte Colere

Lady Vettori

Key of Luck LUCKY CLIO gr 04 Special Lady

With Lope de Vega’s fee raised from €12,500 in 2014 to €40,000 in 2015 following an impressive showing by his first two-year-olds, there was every reason to have high expectations of his 2016 crop – especially as it was by far his biggest crop to that point, at 150 foals. Sure enough, this crop is proving a rich source of black-type winners, totalling ten by late May 2019.

Among them are Newspaperofrecord, an impressive winner of the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Phoenix Of Spain. The latter sprang a 16-1 surprise when he led throughout to defeat Too Darn Hot by three lengths in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, with the 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia only fifth. The result suggests that Phoenix Of Spain has progressed from two to three, as he was second at two to Too Darn Hot in the Champagne Stakes and to Magna Grecia in the Vertem Futurity.

Phoenix Of Spain is the fourth black-type performer out of Lucky Clio, a Key Of Luck mare who proved so disappointing that her price fell from €130,000 as a yearling to 17,000gns as a three-year-old. To her credit, each of Lucky Clio’s black-type performers has a different sire and she has another potential stakes horse in her Dark Angel gelding Game Player.

Phoenix Of Spain’s second dam, Special Lady, was another non-winner but she was bred along similar lines to La Koumia, a Gr3 winner in France who later won the Gr1 Gamely Handicap in the US. Whereas La Koumia was by Kaldoun out of Sainte Colere, Special Lady was by Kaldoun out of a daughter of Sainte Colere. Special Lady was another who proved much more effective as a broodmare, her best effort being her Alzao colt Special Kaldoun, a multiple Group winner, including in two editions of the Gr2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein.

55 TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP G1 CURRAGH. May 26. 4yo+. 10f 110yds.

1. MAGICAL (IRE) 4 9-0 £212,613 b f by Galileo - Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt TR-Aidan O’Brien 2. Flag of Honour (IRE) 4 9-3 £68,468 b c by Galileo - Hawala (Warning) O-Mrs John Magnier,Mr M.Tabor & Mr D.Smith B-Barronstown Stud TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Mustajeer (GB) 6 9-3 £32,432 b g by Medicean - Qelaan (Dynaformer) O-Mr D. Spratt B-Shadwell Estate Co Ltd TR-G. M. Lyons Margins 7, 4.75. Time 2:13.85. Going Good to Firm.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-4 15 7 7 £1,411,168 Sire: GALILEO. Sire of 307 Stakes winners. In 2019 ANTHONY VAN DYCK Exceed And Excel G1, HERMOSA Pivotal G1, MAGICAL Pivotal G1, WALDGEIST Monsun G1, PLATINUM WARRIOR Clodovil G2, CONSTANTINOPLE Danehill G3, GREY LION Danehill G3, MIDTERM Oasis Dream G3, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE Danehill LR, CIRCUS MAXIMUS Danehill Dancer LR. 1st Dam: HALFWAY TO HEAVEN by Pivotal. 4 wins at 2 and 3, Boylesports Irish 1000 Guineas G1, Blue Square Nassau S G1, Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S G1, 3rd Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron S G1, Poule d’Essai des Pouliches G1. Dam of 5 winners:

2010:

2011: 2012: 2014:

2015:

2017: 2019:

FLYING THE FLAG (c Galileo) 3 wins at 2, 3 and 5 at home, UAE, eFlow ‘You First’ International S G3, 2nd Galileo EBF Futurity S G2.

JUST GORGEOUS (f Galileo) Winner at 3.

Broodmare.

HANOVER STREET (g Galileo) Winner over hurdles.

RHODODENDRON (f Galileo) Champion older mare in Ireland in 2018. 5 wins at 2 to 4 at home, France, Dubai Fillies’ Mile S G1, Al Shaqab Lockinge S G1, Prix de l’Opera Longines G1, 2nd Investec Oaks S G1, Qipco 1000 Guineas S G1, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf G1, 3rd Moyglare Stud S G1.

MAGICAL (f Galileo) Jt Champion 3yr old in Europe in 2018 (11-13f.). 7 wins at 2 to 4, Tattersalls Gold Cup G1, Qipco Brit.

Champions Fillies/Mare S G1, Coolmore Irish EBF Mooresbridge S G2, Breast Cancer Research Debutante S G2, Kilboy Estate S G2, Alleged S G3, 2nd Moyglare Stud S G1, Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf G1.

Heaven of Heavens (f Galileo) unraced to date. (c Galileo)

2nd Dam: CASSANDRA GO by Indian Ridge. 6 wins at 3 to 5 King’s Stand S G2, Tripleprint Temple S G2, 2nd Darley July Cup G1. Own sister to Grey Eminence. Dam of HALFWAY TO HEAVEN (f Pivotal, see above), TICKLED PINK (f Invincible Spirit: Connaught Flooring Abernant S G3, The Coral Charge Sprint S G3), THEANN (f Rock of Gibraltar: Cuisine de France Summer S G3), Fantasy (f Invincible Spirit: 3rd John Sisk & Son Round Tower S G3). Grandam of PHOTO CALL, LAND FORCE, BEST REGARDS. Third dam of Snazzy.

Broodmare Sire: PIVOTAL. Sire of the dams of 90 Stakes winners. In 2019 - DEFOE Dalakhani G1, HERMOSA Galileo G1, MAGICAL Galileo G1, MABS CROSS Dutch Art G3, PRECIEUSE Tamayuz G3.

The Galileo/Pivotal cross has produced: HERMOSA G1, HYDRANGEA G1, MAGICAL G1, RHODODENDRON G1, THE UNITED STATES G1, FLYING THE FLAG G2, GOSPEL CHOIR G2, FLATTERING G3, ORDEROFTHEGARTER G3, PEACH TREE G3, SILVER GALAXY G3, Tamarind Cove G3.

MAGICAL b f 2015 Northern Dancer

Nearctic Natalma

Fairy Bridge

Bold Reason Special

Miswaki

Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal

Allegretta

Lombard Anatevka

Polar Falcon

Nureyev Marie d’Argonne

Fearless Revival

Cozzene Stufida

Indian Ridge

Ahonoora Hillbrow

Rahaam

Secreto Fager’s Glory

Sadler’s Wells GALILEO b 98 Urban Sea

Pivotal HALFWAY TO HEAVEN b/br 05 Cassandra Go

Galileo’s daughters out of broodmares by Pivotal were in great form at the Curragh on May 26. The four-year-old Magical won her third Group race of 2019 – and defeated the Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour for the third consecutive time – when she landed the Gr1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Then Hermosa followed up her 1,000 Guineas victory with a much easier success in the Irish version. It is worth mentioning that Hermosa’s dam, Beauty Is Truth, has nine consecutive foals by Galileo, whereas Magical’s dam, Halfway To Heaven, has seven, the latest being a 2019 colt.

Although Magical was born as late as May 18, she became a Gr2 winner in the August of her two-yearold campaign, which also saw her beaten only a short head at Gr1 level.

She finally became a Gr1 winner in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at three, when she also gave Enable a fine race in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Halfway To Heaven’s previous foals

by Galileo include two other Group winners, the better of them being Rhododendron, whose exploits included Gr1 victories in the Fillies’ Mile, Prix de l’Opera and the Lockinge Stakes, as well as seconds in the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks.

Halfway To Heaven was also a Classic performer, winning the Irish 1,000 Guineas before proving she stayed a mile and a quarter with a victory in the Gr1 Nassau Stakes, even though her sire Pivotal and broodmare sire Indian Ridge were sprinters. Magical’s second dam Cassandra Go was a specialist sprinter, fast enough to win the King’s Stand Stakes, Temple Stakes and King George Stakes.

Cassandra Go’s Gr3-winning daughter Theann produced the American Gr1 winner Photo Call to Galileo and the 2018 Gr2 juvenile winner Land Force, and this is also the family of Cross Counter, winner of the 2018 Melbourne Cup. 56 TATTERSALLS IRISH 1000 GUINEAS G1 CURRAGH. May 26. 3yof. 8f.

1. HERMOSA (IRE) 9-0 £209,009 b f by Galileo - Beauty Is Truth (Pivotal) O-Mr M. Tabor, D. Smith & Mrs John Magnier B-Beauty Is Truth Syndicate TR-Aidan O’Brien 2. Pretty Pollyanna (GB) 9-0 £68,468 b f by Oasis Dream - Unex Mona Lisa (Shamardal) O-W. J. and T. C. O. Gredley B-Stetchworth & Middle Park Studs Ltd TR-Michael Bell 3. Foxtrot Liv (GB) 9-0 £32,432 ch f by Foxwedge - Bestfootforward (Motivator) O-Mr Martin S. Schwartz B-Northmore Stud TR-P. Twomey Margins 4, 1.5. Time 1:35.07. Going Good to Firm.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 9 4 4 £724,928 Sire: GALILEO. Sire of 307 Stakes winners. In 2019 ANTHONY VAN DYCK Exceed And Excel G1, HERMOSA Pivotal G1, MAGICAL Pivotal G1, WALDGEIST Monsun G1, PLATINUM WARRIOR Clodovil G2, CONSTANTINOPLE Danehill G3, GREY LION Danehill G3, MIDTERM Oasis Dream G3, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE Danehill LR, CIRCUS MAXIMUS Danehill Dancer LR.

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Data Book European Pattern 1st Dam: BEAUTY IS TRUTH by Pivotal. 3 wins at 2 and 3 in France, Prix du Gros-Chene- Mitsubishi Motors G2.

Dam of 5 winners:

2009:

2010:

2011: 2012: 2013: 2014:

2015: 2016:

2017: 2018:

FIRE LILY (f Dansili). 4 wins at 2 and 3, Jebel Ali Anglesey S G3, Ballyogan S G3, P. P. O’Leary Mem. Phoenix Sprint S G3, 2nd Moyglare Stud S G1, Total Prix Marcel Boussac G1. Broodmare.

THE UNITED STATES (c Galileo) 7 wins at home, Australia, Ranvet Rawson S G1, 2nd Longines Queen Elizabeth S G1, 3rd Ranvet Rawson S G1.

BUONARROTI (g Galileo) 3 wins at 2, 5 and 6.

Torrey Pines (c Galileo) Ring The Bell (f Galileo) ran once.

Broodmare.

HYDRANGEA (f Galileo). 4 wins at 2 and 3, Qipco Brit.Champions Fillies/Mare S G1, Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron S G1, 2nd Dubai Fillies’ Mile S G1, Moyglare Stud S G1, Prix de l’Opera Longines G1, 3rd Coronation S G1, Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas G1.

Adelphi (c Galileo) unraced.

HERMOSA (f Galileo) 4 wins at 2 and 3, Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas G1, Qipco 1000 Guineas S G1, Weld Park S G3, 2nd bet365 Fillies’ Mile S G1, Criterium International G1, 3rd Moyglare Stud S G1.

Salsa (f Galileo) unraced to date. (f Galileo)

2nd Dam: ZELDING by Warning. 3 wins at 2 and 3 in France Prix du Bois G3, 3rd Prix du Gros-Chene G2, Prix Robert Papin (Omnium de 2 Ans) G2. Dam of BEAUTY IS TRUTH (f Pivotal, see above), GLORIOUS SIGHT (f Singspiel: Prix du Top 14 Orange Prix Finlande LR, 2nd Poule d’Essai des Pouliches G1, 3rd Prix de Diane Longines G1). Third dam of Kilfrush Memories.

Broodmare Sire: PIVOTAL. Sire of the dams of 90 Stakes winners. In 2019 - DEFOE Dalakhani G1, HERMOSA Galileo G1, MAGICAL Galileo G1, MABS CROSS Dutch Art G3, PRECIEUSE Tamayuz G3.

The Galileo/Pivotal cross has produced: HERMOSA G1, HYDRANGEA G1, MAGICAL G1, RHODODENDRON G1, THE UNITED STATES G1, FLYING THE FLAG G2, GOSPEL CHOIR G2, FLATTERING G3, ORDEROFTHEGARTER G3, PEACH TREE G3, SILVER GALAXY G3, Tamarind Cove G3.

HERMOSA b f 2016 Northern Dancer

Nearctic Natalma

Fairy Bridge

Bold Reason Special

Miswaki

Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal

Allegretta

Lombard Anatevka

Polar Falcon

Nureyev Marie d’Argonne

Fearless Revival

Cozzene Stufida

Warning

Known Fact Slightly Dangerous

Zelda

Caerleon Mill Princess

Sadler’s Wells GALILEO b 98 Urban Sea

Pivotal BEAUTY IS TRUTH b 04 Zelding

See race 7 in the June issue.

57 COOLMORE PRIX SAINT-ALARY G1 PARISLONGCHAMP. May 26. 3yof. 2000m.

1. SIYARAFINA (FR) 9-0 £128,694 b f by Pivotal - Siyenica (Azamour) O-H.H. Aga Khan B-Haras De S.A. Aga Khan Scea TR-A. de Royer Dupre 2. Olendon (FR) 9-0 £51,486 ch f by Le Havre - Talema (Sunday Break) O-Gerard Augustin-Normand B-Scea Haras Du Ma TR-P Bary 3. Imperial Charm (GB) 9-0 £25,743 b f by Dubawi - Reem Three (Mark of Esteem) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum TR-Simon Crisford Margins 1, 0.5. Time 2:06.48. Going Good to Soft.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 3 3 3 0 £155,721 Sire: PIVOTAL. Sire of 150 Stakes winners. In 2019 AVILIUS Sunday Silence G1, SIYARAFINA Azamour G1, KEYSTROKE Selkirk G3, BRODERIE Hard Spun LR. 1st Dam: SIYENICA by Azamour. 2 wins at 3 in France, Prix de Bagatelle LR, 3rd Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein G2. Dam of 2 winners:

2015: 2016: 2017: 2018:

SINNARI (c Oasis Dream) 3 wins at 3 in France.

SIYARAFINA (f Pivotal) 3 wins at 3 in France, Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary G1.

Syrdarya (f Invincible Spirit) unraced to date. (c Golden Horn)

2nd Dam: SICHILLA by Danehill. 2 wins at 3 in France Prix Amandine LR. Dam of SIYOUNI (c Pivotal: Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium G1, 2nd Prix Jean Prat G1, 3rd Prix du Moulin de Longchamp G1), SIYOUMA (f Medicean: Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S G1, E P Taylor S G1, 3rd Etihad Airways Falmouth S G1), SAYANA (f Galileo: P.Maurice Zilber Fonds Euro.de L’Elevage LR, 2nd Investec Princess Elizabeth S G3, Prix Bertrand de Tarragon G3), SIYENICA (f Azamour, see above). Grandam of Breathtaking.

Broodmare Sire: AZAMOUR. Sire of the dams of 4 Stakes winners.

SIYARAFINA b f 2016 Nureyev

Northern Dancer Special

Marie d’Argonne

Jefferson Mohair

Cozzene

Caro Ride The Trails

Stufida

Bustino Zerbinetta

Night Shift

Northern Dancer Ciboulette

Asmara

Lear Fan Anaza

Danehill

Danzig Razyana

Polar Falcon PIVOTAL ch 93 Fearless Revival

Azamour SIYENICA b 10 Sichilla

Slipstream Queen Conquistador Cielo Country Queen

On a day when his broodmare daughters enjoyed a pair of Gr1 successes in Ireland, the 26-year-old Pivotal added another Gr1 winner to his impressive tally when his daughter Siyarafina landed the Prix Saint-Alary.

For a stallion who gained his major successes over five furlongs and never tackled more than six, Pivotal has sired a surprising number of Group winners which shone over a mile and a quarter or more. Many of his 30 Gr1 winners have done so, including Sariska (Oaks and Irish Oaks), Farhh (Champion Stakes), African Story (Dubai World Cup), Golden Apple and Megahertz (both winners of the Yellow Ribbon Stakes), Chorist (Pretty Polly Stakes), Izzy Top (Pretty Polly and Prix Jean Romanet), Buzzword (Deutsches Derby), Silvester Lady (Preis der Diana), Halfway To Heaven (Nassau Stakes) and Queen’s Jewel (Prix Saint-Alary), with the latest additions being the ex-French Avilius (Ranvet Stakes and Tancred Stakes in Australia) and Siyarafina.

A decisive winner over a mile on her first two starts, Siyarafina stepped up to a mile and a quarter and Gr1 company in the Prix Saint-Alary and landed the odds by a length. It can’t have taken much time to decide to send her dam Siyenica to Pivotal, as this daughter of Azamour is a half-sister to Pivotal’s excellent son Siyouni. This winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere now ranks as the highest-priced stallion ever to have stood in France. A Group-placed Listed winner over a mile, Siyenica is also a half-sister to the Gr1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Siyouma, who had been sold by the Aga Khan for €220,000 at Arqana’s 2011 December Sale.

Siyarafina’s second dam Sichilla won two of her three starts, including

the Listed Prix Amandine over seven furlongs. Her first four living foals have all become black-type winners, the fourth being her Galileo filly Sayana. Sichilla’s half-brother Slickly won at least one Group race in each of his five seasons in training, notably taking the Grand Prix de Paris and Prix du Moulin. The next dam Slipstream Queen was very well bought for the Lagardere studs for $110,000 at Keeneland’s 1995 January Sale. She was also the dam of No Slip, a Gr2 and Gr3 winner on turf in California. Slipstream Queen was closely related to Procida, winner of the Prix de la Foret and the Hollywood Derby in 1984.

58 PRIX D’ISPAHAN G1 PARISLONGCHAMP. May 26. 4yo+. 1800m.

1. ZABEEL PRINCE (IRE) 6 9-2 £128,694 ch g by Lope de Vega - Princess Serena (Unbridled’s Song) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-Roundhill Stud TR-Roger Varian 2. Study of Man (IRE) 4 9-2 £51,486 b c by Deep Impact - Second Happiness (Storm Cat) O-Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd B-Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd TR-P. Bary 3. Trais Fluors (GB) 5 9-2 £25,743 b h by Dansili - Trois Lunes (Manduro) O-Haras de Saint Pair Scea B-SCEA Haras de Saint Pair TR-A. Fabre Margins 0.75, 0.75. Time 0:20.00. Going Good to Soft.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 3-6 10 6 2 £233,251 Sire: LOPE DE VEGA. Sire of 57 Stakes winners. In 2019 - PHOENIX OF SPAIN Key of Luck G1, SANTA ANA LANE Fastnet Rock G1, ZABEEL PRINCE Unbridled’s Song G1, ENDLESS DRAMA Green Desert G2, SPANISH WHISPER Encosta de Lago G2, ARCHEDEMUS Peintre Celebre G3, SPANISH REEF Lemon Drop Kid G3, MIZLECKI Al Maher LR, NOOR SAHARA Van Nistelrooy LR, RAISE YOU Galileo LR, VEGA ONE Distorted Humor LR. 1st Dam: PRINCESS SERENA by Unbridled’s Song.

Winner at 4 in USA. Dam of 8 winners:

2005:

2008:

2009: 2010: 2011: 2013:

2014: 2016: 2018:

SERENA’S STORM (f Statue of Liberty) Winner at 2. Dam of RIZEENA (f Iffraaj: 5 wins at 2 and 3, Coronation S G1, Moyglare Stud S G1, 2nd Shadwell Fillies’ Mile S G1, Qipco Falmouth S G1, Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron S G1, 3rd Darley Prix Morny G1) PUISSANCE DE LUNE (c Shamardal) 8 wins at 3 to 5 in Australia, France, Blamey S G2, P B Lawrence J J Liston S G2, 2nd Makybe Diva S G1, Turnbull S G1, 3rd Makybe Diva S G1, NZ Bloodstock Memsie S G1, Turnbull S G1.

SERENE OASIS (f Oratorio) 4 wins at 2 and 3. Broodmare.

Majesty (g Shamardal) 5 wins, 2nd Takeover Target Pacesetter S LR. INVINCIBLE FRESH (g Footstepsinthesand) 5 wins.

ZABEEL PRINCE (g Lope de Vega) Sold 325,000gns yearling at TADEY. 6 wins at 4 to 6 at home, France, Prix d’Ispahan G1, bet365 Earl of Sefton S G3, Unitbet Doncaster Mile S LR, 2nd Shadwell Joel S G2.

PRINCESS DE LUNE (f Shamardal) Winner at 3.

QUEEN POWER (f Shamardal) 2 wins at 2 and 3, Haras de Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial S LR. (f Gleneagles)

2nd Dam: Serena’s Sister by Rahy. ran on the flat in USA at 2. Own sister to SERENA’S SONG. Dam of DOUBLES PARTNER (c Rock Hard Ten: American Turf S G2, 3rd Woodford Reserve Turf Classic S G1, Maker’s 46 Mile S G1), STORMY VENUS (f Stormy Atlantic: Northbound Pride S). Grandam of DON AMERICO, Izzie’s Halo, Americo’s Song, Dawly, Protective Shield. Third dam of Crystal Rosario.

Broodmare Sire: UNBRIDLED’S SONG. Sire of the dams of 123 Stakes winners. In 2019 - CAPEZZANO Bernardini G1, GIFT BOX Twirling Candy G1, ZABEEL PRINCE Lope de Vega G1, LONG RANGE TODDY Take Charge Indy G2, ELECTRIC FOREST Curlin G3, MAXIM RATE Exchange Rate G3, SIREN’S FURY Myboycharlie G3.

The Lope de Vega/Unbridled’s Song cross has produced: CONSORT G1, ZABEEL PRINCE G1.

ZABEEL PRINCE ch g 2013 Shamardal LOPE DE VEGA ch 07

Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Helsinki

Machiavellian Helen Street

Vettori

Machiavellian Air Distingue

Lady Golconda

Kendor Lady Sharp

Unbridled

Fappiano Gana Facil

Trolley Song

Caro Lucky Spell

Rahy

Blushing Groom Glorious Song

Imagining

Northfields Image Intensifier

Lady Vettori

Unbridled’s Song PRINCESS SERENA gr 99 Serena’s Sister

By the time he was four, Zabeel Prince had raced only once, when second in a Redcar maiden race, and he was gelded soon after that effort.

He therefore didn’t look like a future Gr1 winner, but he won three of his four starts as a four-year-old and then began his five-year-old season with a black-type success, in the Doncaster Mile. His breakthrough in Group company finally came at the age of six, when he has followed up his win in the Gr3 Earl of Sefton Stakes with a victory over five previous Gr1 winners in the Prix d’Ispahan.

Zabeel Prince’s win completed a fine weekend for Lope de Vega, sire also of the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain. The gelding’s dam Princess Serena was described as a poor maiden after five starts in Britain, but this daughter of Unbridled’s Song later won in the US. She has also done well with Lope de Vega’s sire Shamardal, producing Puissance de Lune, a dual Gr2 winner at up to a mile in Australia, and Queen Power, a Listed winner over ten furlongs in 2019.

Princess Serena is also the second dam of that high-class Iffraaj filly Rizeena, winner of the Gr2 Queen Mary and Gr1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Another Coronation Stakes winner from this family was Sophisticat, whose dam Serena’s Song was a sister to Zabeel Prince’s second dam Serena’s Sister. Serena’s Song was a wonderfully tough performer. After winning two Gr1 races as a juvenile, Serena’s Song did even better at three, when her remarkable total of nine Graded stakes successes included a Gr1 victory against the males in the Haskell Invitational.

Serena’s Song retired as a winner of nearly $3.3 million after 38 starts.

Serena’s Sister, though, ran only twice but made amends by producing the smart American turf colt Doubles Partner.

59 INVESTEC CORONATION CUP G1 EPSOM DOWNS. May 31. 4yo+. 12f.

1. DEFOE (IRE) 5 9-0 £252,360 gr g by Dalakhani - Dulkashe (Pivotal) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-Darley Stud Management Company Ltd TR-Roger Varian 2. Kew Gardens (IRE) 4 9-0 £95,675 b c by Galileo - Chelsea Rose (Desert King)

100 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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CAULFIELD ON ANAPURNA: “In becoming a Group 1 winner she is continuing the recent revival of the family descending from One In A Million, Meon Valley Stud’s famous foundation mare” O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Barronstown Stud TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Salouen (IRE) 5 9-0 £47,882 b h by Canford Cliffs - Gali Gal (Galileo) O-Mr H. Balasuriya B-Silvercon Edgerodge Ltd TR-Sylvester Kirk Margins 0.5, 5. Time 2:33.90. Going Good.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-5 17 8 6 £612,017 Sire: DALAKHANI. Sire of 56 Stakes winners.

1st Dam: DULKASHE by Pivotal. Winner at 3. Dam of 1 winner:

2014:

2016: 2017:

DEFOE (g Dalakhani) 8 wins at 2 to 5, 2019, Investec Coronation Cup G1, Dunaden Jockey Club S G2, Dubai Duty Free John Porter S G3, Betfred Geoffrey Freer S G3, Brit. Stallion Studs EBF Glasgow S LR, 2nd Bayerische Hausbau G. P. von Bayern G1, Longines Grosser Preis von Baden G1, Roaring Lion Jockey Club S G2, 3rd Tattersalls Gold Cup G1.

Ghanim (c Shamardal) unraced to date. (f Toronado)

2nd Dam: Saik by Riverman. unraced. Dam of Akira (f Acclamation: 2nd Platinum S LR, Vincent O’Brien Ruby S LR, corkracecourse.ie Navigation S LR) Broodmare Sire: PIVOTAL. Sire of the dams of 90 Stakes winners. In 2019 - DEFOE Dalakhani G1, HERMOSA Galileo G1, MAGICAL Galileo G1, MABS CROSS Dutch Art G3, PRECIEUSE Tamayuz G3.

The Dalakhani/Pivotal cross has produced: DEFOE G1, FANTASTIC MOON G3.

DEFOE gr g 2014 Shirley Heights

Mill Reef Hardiemma

Delsy

Abdos Kelty

Miswaki

Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal

Damana

Crystal Palace Denia

Polar Falcon

Nureyev Marie d’Argonne

Fearless Revival

Cozzene Stufida

Riverman

Never Bend River Lady

Close Comfort

Far North Caterina

Darshaan DALAKHANI gr 00 Daltawa

Pivotal DULKASHE br 09 Saik

One of the fascinating questions of 2019 is whether Pivotal can hold off the five-year younger Galileo to record his third consecutive title as champion broodmare sire. The Cheveley Park veteran has established an early lead, thanks largely to Hermosa, Magical and Defoe, with the last-named landing his first Gr1 success in the Coronation Cup – a race which was won in 2018 by Cracksman, another with a dam by Pivotal.

Unlike Cracksman, Defoe will not be retiring to stud, as this son of Dalakhani was gelded at the end of 2018, after four consecutive defeats.

He had earlier enjoyed Group success in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes, John Porter Stakes and the Jockey Club Stakes. None of his Group successes has been gained over a distance short of a mile and a half, which no doubt limited his appeal as a potential stallion.

Defoe is the tenth Gr1 winner by Dalakhani. He was conceived in 2013, with the mating no doubt prompted by the 2012 success of Fantastic Moon, another son of Dalakhani produced by a Pivotal mare. Fantastic Moon became the first two-year-old Group winner for his sire when he landed the Gr3 Solario Stakes. Defoe and Fantastic Moon represent 15% of Dalakhani’s

Jul_179_DataBook.indd 101

13 foals out of Pivotal mares. Defoe’s dam Dulkashe was sold by Darley for 90,000gns as a six-year-old in 2015.

It is easy to understand why Darley decided to cull her. Her only success had come in a mile-and-a-quarter handicap at Nottingham and her dam, the unraced Saik, had nothing better than a Listed-placed winner among her numerous foals. However, Defoe’s third dam Close Comfort was a half-sister to the Prix Morny winner Ancient Regime and the prolific Group-winning sprinter Cricket Ball, their dam being the Nunthorpe winner Caterina. Caterina was herself a half-sister to the Eclipse winner Scottish Rifle.

60 INVESTEC OAKS G1 EPSOM DOWNS. May 31. 3yof. 12f.

1. ANAPURNA (GB) 9-0 £297,728 b f by Frankel - Dash To The Top (Montjeu) O-Helena Springfield Ltd B-Meon Valley Stud TR-John Gosden 2. Pink Dogwood (IRE) 9-0 £112,875 br f by Camelot - Question Times (Shamardal) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Sweetmans Bloodstock TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Fleeting (IRE) 9-0 £56,490 b f by Zoffany - Azafata (Motivator) O-Mrs John Magnier,Mr M.Tabor & Mr D.Smith B-Mr F. Bermudez TR-Aidan O’Brien Margins Neck, 1.25. Time 2:36.00. Going Good.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 4 3 0 £324,164 Sire: FRANKEL. Sire of 41 Stakes winners. In 2019 ANAPURNA Montjeu G1, DREAM CASTLE Dubawi G1, OBLIGATE Oasis Dream G2, MASTER OF REALITY Darshaan G3, SENATOR Selkirk G3, ELARQAM Efisio LR, MEHDAAYIH Gone West LR, MIRAGE DANCER Green Desert LR, MISS FRANKEL Var LR, SUN MAIDEN Kingmambo LR. 1st Dam: DASH TO THE TOP by Montjeu. 2 wins at 2 and 3, EBF TSG IBM Hoppings S LR, 2nd Aston Upthorpe Yorkshire Oaks G1, 3rd Meon Valley Stud Fillies’ Mile S G1. Dam of 5 winners:

2007:

2008: 2011: 2013: 2015: 2016:

Dynasty (c Danehill Dancer) Winner at 2, 2nd Dylan Thomas EBF Tetrarch S G3.

DEEP SOUTH (g Red Ransom) 4 wins.

SEAGULL STAR (g Sea The Stars) Winner at 2.

Very Dashing (f Dansili) Winner at 3, 3rd Betfred EBF Hoppings S LR. Broodmare.

Fly To The Top (f Mastercraftsman) unraced.

ANAPURNA (f Frankel) 3 wins at 3, Investec Oaks G1, Racebets Oaks Trial S LR.

2nd Dam: MILLENNIUM DASH by Nashwan. 1 win at 3.

Dam of DASH TO THE TOP (f Montjeu, see above), DASH TO THE FRONT (f Diktat: Tweenhills Warwickshire Oaks S LR). Grandam of SPEEDY BOARDING, Holding Pattern. Third dam of Dashing Willoughby.

Broodmare Sire: MONTJEU. Sire of the dams of 81 Stakes winners. In 2019 - ANAPURNA Frankel G1, CLOUDS UNFOLD What A Winter G1, GLORY DAYS Red Giant G1, SOLEIL MARIN Kendargent G3, ALL ABOUT MAGIC Showcasing LR, KING DAVID Elusive City LR, VOLSKHA Le Havre LR.

ANAPURNA b f 2016 Sadler’s Wells

Northern Dancer Fairy Bridge

Urban Sea

Miswaki Allegretta

Danehill

Danzig Razyana

Rainbow Lake

Rainbow Quest Rockfest

Sadler’s Wells

Northern Dancer Fairy Bridge

Floripedes

Top Ville Toute Cy

Nashwan

Blushing Groom Height of Fashion

Milligram

Mill Reef One In A Million

Galileo FRANKEL b 08 Kind

Montjeu DASH TO THE TOP b 02 Millennium Dash

Having sired the Gr1 Japanese Oaks winner Soul Stirring in his first crop,

Frankel appeared to have a good chance of landing the Epsom Oaks with a filly from his third crop. Three of his daughters from this crop had performed well in the trials, notably Mehdaayih, a decisive winner of the Cheshire Oaks, and Anapurna, a six-length winner of the Lingfield Oaks Trial. Mehdaayih started favourite at Epsom but had little luck in running, whereas Anapurna stayed on dourly to snatch victory from Pink Dogwood.

Anapurna is now unbeaten in three three-year-old starts, having finished only ninth when she made her debut in an end-of-year novice race at Wolverhampton. In becoming a Gr1 winner she is continuing the recent revival of the family descending from One In A Million, one of the famous foundation mares at Meon Valley Stud. Although this family has often been overshadowed by the stud’s Reprocolor family, it still has a highly enviable record.

One In A Million won the 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes before becoming the dam of Milligram, who emulated her dam’s Coronation Stakes victory after finishing second to Miesque in the 1,000 Guineas and a short-head second in the Irish equivalent.

Milligram went on to become one of the few horses to defeat the great Miesque when they met again in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Although One In A Million produced only three daughters, another of them – Someone Special – produced three Group winners, headed by the Gr1 Juddmonte International heroine One So Wonderful.

Despite enjoying a lengthy broodmare career, Milligram proved much less effective as a producer, with none of her 11 foals managing to earn black type. However, she had seven daughters and two of them contributed to the family fortunes by producing smart daughters. One of them, Alligram, was responsible for the Gr2 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Kissogram, but the one which is keeping One In A Million’s name to the fore is Milligram’s Nashwan filly Millennium Dash.

In a brief career, Millennium Dash ran out a ten-length winner of a Bath maiden race and then ran respectably in Gr3 company, and she also had the attraction of being a close relative of the Gr1-winning One So Wonderful. Millennium Dash had only three daughters, the first being her Listed-winning Montjeu filly Dash To The Top and the second being her Listed-winning Diktat filly Dash To The Front.

Dash To The Front is now the dam of the smart Speedy Boarding, a Shamardal filly who won two Gr1 races in France, whereas Dash To The Top – who was Gr1-placed in the Fillies’ Mile and the Yorkshire Oaks – is the dam of Anapurna, a filly inbred 3 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells. Dash To The Front has also visited Frankel, producing the very useful Elwazir.

61 INVESTEC DERBY STAKES G1 EPSOM DOWNS. Jun 1. 3yoc&f. 12f.

1. ANTHONY VAN DYCK (IRE) 9-0 £921,538 b c by Galileo - Believe’n’succeed (Exceed And Excel) O-Mrs John Magnier,Mr M.Tabor & Mr D.Smith B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt TR-Aidan O’Brien 2. Madhmoon (IRE) 9-0 £349,375 b c by Dawn Approach - Aaraas (Haafhd) O-Mr Hamdan Al Maktoum B-Shadwell Estate Co Ltd TR-K. Prendergast 3. Japan (GB) 9-0 £174,850 b c by Galileo - Shastye (Danehill) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Newsells Park Stud Limited TR-Aidan O’Brien Margins 0.5, Nose. Time 2:33.30. Going Good to Firm.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 8 5 2 £1,175,594 Sire: GALILEO. Sire of 307 Stakes winners. In 2019 ANTHONY VAN DYCK Exceed And Excel G1, HERMOSA Pivotal G1, MAGICAL Pivotal G1, WALDGEIST Monsun G1, PLATINUM WARRIOR Clodovil G2, CONSTANTINOPLE Danehill G3, GREY LION Danehill G3, MIDTERM Oasis Dream G3, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE Danehill LR, CIRCUS MAXIMUS Danehill Dancer LR. 1st Dam: BELIEVE’N’SUCCEED by Exceed And Excel.

2 wins in Australia, Arrowfield Stud Blue Diamond Prelude (f) G3. Own sister to KUROSHIO and AGULHAS. Dam of 3 winners:

2010:

2013: 2014: 2016:

2019:

BOUNDING (f Lonhro) Champion sprinter in New Zealand in 2013-14. 8 wins in Australia, New Zealand, Sistema Railway S G1, 2nd Haunui Fm. Diamond Sires’ Produce S G1, New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas G1. Broodmare.

STREETS BETTER (g Street Cry) Winner in Australia.

Achieved (f Street Cry) ran on the flat in Australia.

ANTHONY VAN DYCK (c Galileo) 5 wins at 2 and 3, Investec Derby S G1, Galileo Irish EBF Futurity S G2, Japan Racing Association Tyros S G3, Racebets Derby Trial S LR, 2nd Goffs Vincent O’Brien National S G1, 3rd Darley Dewhurst S G1. (f Galileo)

2nd Dam: ARCTIC DRIFT by Gone West. 1 win at 3 in USA. Dam of KUROSHIO (c Exceed And Excel: Mitty’s Ian McEwan Trophy S G2), BELIEVE’N’SUCCEED (f Exceed And Excel, see above), AGULHAS (f Exceed And Excel: Redelva S LR) Broodmare Sire: EXCEED AND EXCEL. Sire of the dams of 36 Stakes winners. In 2019 - ALIZEE Sepoy G1, ANTHONY VAN DYCK Galileo G1, CROWN PROSECUTOR Medaglia d’Oro G1, BELLEVUE HILL Pierro G3, VIGOR WINNER Declaration of War G3.

The Galileo/Exceed And Excel cross has produced: ANTHONY VAN DYCK G1, MISSION IMPASSIBLE G1.

ANTHONY VAN DYCK b c 2016 Northern Dancer

Nearctic Natalma

Fairy Bridge

Bold Reason Special

Miswaki

Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal

Allegretta

Lombard Anatevka

Danehill

Danzig Razyana

Sadler’s Wells GALILEO b 98 Urban Sea

Exceed And Excel BELIEVE’N’SUCCEED b 05

Patrona

Lomond Gladiolus

Gone West

Mr Prospector Secrettame

November Snow

Storm Cat Princess Alydar

Arctic Drift

In early September last year, when writing the October magazine’s Caulfield Files, I reviewed the early stages of Anthony Van Dyck’s career.

I made a point of mentioning that this son of Galileo hadn’t been born until May 19, 2016 and had therefore been just under 26 months old when he gained his first win, at Killarney in July, and that the first of his two Group successes had come only 11 days later. I ventured the opinion that

THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER 101

27/06/2019 13:39

Data Book European Pattern Believe’N’Succeed’s name has the AUS suffix, her pedigree consists almost entirely of northern hemisphere bloodlines.

Her grandparents – Danehill, Patrona, Gone West and the sevenfurlong and mile-and-a-quarter Gr1 winner November Snow – were all American bred. So too were all eight of her great-grandparents, including Danzig, Lomond, Mr Prospector and Storm Cat. The Coolmore team would have needed no reminding that Galileo has established highly fruitful partnerships with mares by Danehill and Storm Cat. Galileo has now sired Gr1 winners from daughters of six different sons of Danehill, the others being Danehill Dancer, Desert King, Holy Roman Emperor, Mozart and Rock Of Gibraltar.

2015: 2016:

2017: 2018:

2nd Dam: Premiere Creation by Green Tune. 2 wins at 3 and 4 in France, USA, 2nd Prix Chloe G3, 3rd Del Mar Oaks G1. Dam of LEO’S STARLET (f Galileo: Prix Cleopatre G3, 2nd Prix de Malleret G2), ANABAA’S CREATION (f Anabaa: Prix Isonomy LR, 2nd Clement L Hirsch S G1, 3rd Montjeu Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary G1).

Grandam of CREATE A DREAM. Broodmare Sire: GALILEO. Sire of the dams of 146 Stakes winners. In 2019 - MAGNA GRECIA Invincible Spirit G1, SOTTSASS Siyouni G1, THE AUTUMN SUN Redoute’s Choice G1, WINNING WAYS Declaration of War G1, GHAIYYATH Dubawi G2.

The Siyouni/Galileo cross has produced: SOTTSASS G1, MAQSAD LR.

SOTTSASS ch c 2016

SIYOUNI b 07 Sichilla

CHANTILLY. Jun 2. 3yoc&f. 2100m.

Age Starts Wins Places Earned 2-3 5 3 1 £814,877 Sire: SIYOUNI. Sire of 30 Stakes winners. In 2019 SOTTSASS Galileo G1, ETOILE Authorized G3, MAQSAD Galileo LR, NICE TO SEE YOU Johannesburg LR, TERTIUS Shamardal LR. 1st Dam: Starlet’s Sister by Galileo. Own sister to LEO’S STARLET. Dam of 3 winners:

2014:

SISTERCHARLIE (f Myboycharlie) 7 wins at 2 to 4 in France, USA, Diana S G1, Beverly D S G1, Coolmore Jenny Wiley S G1, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf G1, 2nd Prix de Diane Longines G1, Belmont Oaks Invitational S G1.

Polar Falcon

Nureyev Marie d’Argonne

Fearless Revival

Cozzene Stufida

Danehill

Danzig Razyana

Pivotal

62 QIPCO PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB G1

1. SOTTSASS (FR) 9-3 £772,162 ch c by Siyouni - Starlet’s Sister (Galileo) O-White Birch Farm B-Ecurie Des Monceaux TR-J-C Rouget 2. Persian King (IRE) 9-3 £308,919 b c by Kingman - Pretty Please (Dylan Thomas) O-GodolphinSNC/BallymoreThoroughbredLtd B-Dayton Investments (Breeding) Limited TR-A. Fabre 3. Motamarris (IRE) 9-3 £154,459 b/br c by Le Havre - Thamarat (Anabaa) O-Hamdan Al Maktoum B-Shadwell Estate Co Ltd TR-F Head Margins 2, 2. Time 2:02.90. Going Good.

MY SISTER NAT (f Acclamation) 2 wins at 3 in France, Prix Bertrand de Tarragon G3, 3rd Shadwell Prix de la Nonette G2.

SOTTSASS (c Siyouni) Sold 276,760gns yearling at ARAU1. 3 wins at 2 and 3 in France, Qipco Prix du Jockey Club G1, Prix de Suresnes LR. Radiant Child (c Charm Spirit) unraced to date. (c Fastnet Rock)

Slipstream Queen Conquistador Cielo Country Queen Sadler’s Wells

Northern Dancer Fairy Bridge

Urban Sea

Miswaki Allegretta

Green Tune

Green Dancer Soundings

Allwaki

Miswaki Alloy

Galileo STARLET’S SISTER ch 09 Premiere Creation

France’s highest-priced stallion, Siyouni, may have suffered a disappointment when Maqsad ran below expectations in the Oaks but two days later his son Sottsass did the opposite, taking the Prix du Jockey-Club at 13-1 in record time.

The chesnut had won two of his four previous starts but had finished fifth on his only start in Group company.

Sottsass is Siyouni’s third French Classic winner from the stallion’s first five crops, following Ervedya (Poule d’Essai des Pouliches) and Laurens (Prix de Diane). Bearing in mind that Sottsass’ predecessors were sired at

only €7,000, this is an excellent achievement on Siyouni’s part. By the time Sottsass was conceived, Siyouni’s fee had risen to €20,000, and there is every reason to be excited about Siyouni’s subsequent crops, which were sired at €30,000, €45,000, €75,000 and €100,000.

While Siyouni clearly deserves plenty of credit for siring a colt as talented as Sottsass, he has to share the credit with the colt’s dam, Starlet’s Sister, whose first three foals have all proved well above average.

The first, Sistercharlie, sold for only €12,000 as a yearling but this daughter of Myboycharlie developed into a Classic-placed Gr3 winner in France before being transformed into a champion turf filly in the US. She recorded four Gr1 successes in 2018, including the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Next came Starlet’s Sister’s Acclamation filly My Sister Nat, winner of the Gr3 Prix Bertrand de Tarragon over nine furlongs, and Sottsass is the mare’s third foal.

As all three of these smart performers won beyond a mile, despite being by fast horses, it is fair to assume that there is plenty of stamina in Starlet’s Sister’s pedigree.

She is by the great Galileo and is a sister to Leo’s Starlet, winner of the Gr3 Prix Cleopatre over ten and a half furlongs and narrowly beaten in the Gr2 Prix de Malleret over a mile and a half.

Their dam, the Gr1-placed Premiere Creation, is also responsible for Anabaa’s Creation, who once went close to defeating the great Zenyatta in the Gr1 Clement L Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar. Starlet’s Sister, who was second once from four starts, may yet have more good winners to come. Her fourth foal, Radiant Child, a colt by Charm Spirit, sold for €400,000 as a yearling, and the mare also has a 2018 colt by Fastnet Rock.

GEORGE SELWYN

this late foal would continue to improve over the next year or two, only to see him round off his juvenile career with three consecutive defeats. Fortunately, his career is now back on the predicted upward trajectory, with a win in the Lingfield Derby Trial being followed by a courageous victory in a Derby nearly monopolised by descendants of Galileo.

At that time, Anthony Van Dyck was one of only three Galileo foals of racing age out of Exceed And Excel mares. Another of them was the Gr2 French winner Mission Impassible, a daughter of Exceed And Excel’s Nunthorpe winner Margot Did. Despite being out of a sprinter, Mission Impassible won the Prix de Sandringham over a mile. “This suggests,” I wrote, “that Anthony Van Dyck is more of a 2,000 Guineas candidate than a Derby possible, but there can be no certainty about this in view of Galileo’s feat of siring the Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco from an useful five-furlong specialist.”

Now Galileo has sired a Derby winner from the Australian-bred sprinter Believe’N’Succeed, a Gr3 winner over five and a half furlongs as a two-year-old. The mare was bought for a sale-topping A$1,100,000 at the 2014 Patinack Farm Dispersal.

The idea that this family was all about speed was reinforced by Believe’N’Succeed’s brother Kuroshio, who gained all three of his wins at around five furlongs as a two-year-old.

Believe’N’Succeed had already made a bright start prior to her sale, her first foal being the good racemare Bounding. A daughter of Lonhro, a champion performer at up to ten furlongs, Bounding had won four Group races at up to seven furlongs in New Zealand and Australia, notably the Gr1 Railway Stakes over six furlongs as a three-year-old. While

Sottsass and Cristian Demuro storm home to win the Prix du Jockey Club 102 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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Group 2 & 3 Results Date 01/05 01/05 01/05 01/05 01/05 01/05 04/05 04/05 04/05 05/05 05/05 06/05 06/05 06/05 08/05 09/05 09/05 10/05 11/05 11/05 12/05 12/05 12/05 12/05 12/05 15/05 15/05 16/05 16/05 17/05 18/05 19/05 19/05 19/05 19/05 19/05 19/05 19/05 20/05 20/05 23/05 23/05 24/05 25/05 25/05 25/05 25/05 25/05 26/05 26/05 26/05 30/05 30/05 01/06 01/06 01/06 02/06 02/06 02/06 02/06 02/06 02/06

Grade G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G2 G3 G2 G2 G3 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3

Race (course) Prix Greffulhe (Saint-Cloud) Prix du Muguet (Saint-Cloud) Longines Sagaro Stakes (Ascot) Merriebelle Pavilion Stakes (Ascot) pferdewetten.de Bavarian Classic (Munich) Prix Penelope (Saint-Cloud) Roaring Lion Jockey Club Stakes (Newmarket) Zoustar Palace House Stakes (Newmarket) Prix d’Hedouville (Parislongchamp) Carl Jaspers Preis (Cologne) Charm Spirit Dahlia Stakes (Newmarket) Coolmore Irish EBF Mooresbridge Stakes (Curragh) Prix de Guiche (Chantilly) Coolmore Irish EBF Athasi Stakes (Curragh) MBNA Chester Vase (Chester) Boodles Ormonde Stakes (Chester) Prix Texanita (Maisons-Laffitte) Homeserve Huxley Stakes (Chester) Racebets Chartwell Stakes (Lingfield Park) INS EBF Blue Wind Stakes (Naas) Comer Oleander Rennen (Berlin-Hoppegarten) Comer Amethyst Stakes (Leopardstown) Derrinstown 1000 Guineas Trial (Leopardstown) Derrinstown Derby Trial Stakes (Leopardstown) Prix de Saint-Georges (Parislongchamp) Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes (York) Tattersalls Musidora Stakes (York) Al Basti Dante Stakes (York) Al Basti Middleton Stakes (York) Matchbook Yorkshire Cup (York) Al Rayyan Aston Park Stakes (Newbury) Mehl-Mulhens Rennen (2000 Guineas) (Cologne) Derby Italiano Matchpoint (Rome) P.Presidente della Repubblica Biomedico (Rome) Coolmore EBF Juvenile Sprint Stakes (Naas) Goffs Lacken Stakes (Naas) Premio Carlo d’Alessio (Rome) Premio Tudini (Rome) Prix Corrida (Saint-Cloud) Prix Cleopatre (Saint-Cloud) Matchbook Brigadier Gerard Stakes (Sandown Park) Matchbook Henry II Stakes (Sandown Park) Kerrygold Gallinule Stakes (Curragh) Lanwades Stud Ridgewood Pearl Stakes (Curragh) Weatherbys Greenlands Stakes (Curragh) Armstrong Sandy Lane Stakes (Haydock Park) Armstrong Temple Stakes (Haydock Park) William Hill Bronte Cup Stakes (York) Wempe 1000 Guineas (Dusseldorf) Prix Vicomtesse Vigier (Parislongchamp) Prix du Lys (Parislongchamp) Geldermann Badener Meile (Baden-Baden) Prix du Palais Royal (Parislongchamp) P. der Annette Hellwig Silberne Peitsche (Baden-Baden) Investec Diomed Stakes (Epsom Downs) Investec Princess Elizabeth Stakes (Epsom Downs) Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft (Baden-Baden) Grand Prix de Chantilly (Chantilly) Prix de Sandringham (Chantilly) Prix du Gros-Chene (Chantilly) Derby-Trial - Fruhjahrs Preis (Baden-Baden) Prix de Royaumont (Chantilly)

Dist 10.5f 8f 16f 6f 10f 10.5f 12f 5f 12f 12f 9f 10f 9f 7f 12f 13f 6f 10f 7f 10f 16f 8f 8f 10f 5f 6f 10f 10f 10f 14f 12f 8f 11f 9f 6f 6f 12f 6f 10.5f 10.5f 10f 16f 10f 8f 6f 6f 5f 14f 8f 15f 12f 8f 7f 6f 8.5f 8.5f 11f 12f 8f 5f 10f 12f

Horse Roman Candle (GB) Plumatic (GB) Dee Ex Bee (GB) Calyx (GB) Django Freeman (GER) Cartiem (FR) Communique (IRE) Mabs Cross (GB) Petit Fils (FR) French King (GB) Worth Waiting (GB) Magical (IRE) Flop Shot (IRE) Happen (USA) Sir Dragonet (IRE) Morando (FR) Ilanga (FR) Forest Ranger (IRE) Pretty Baby (IRE) Tarnawa (IRE) Raa Atoll (GB) Hazapour (IRE) Hamariyna (IRE) Broome (IRE) Sestilio Jet (FR) Invincible Army (IRE) Nausha (GB) Telecaster (GB) Lah Ti Dar (GB) Stradivarius (IRE) Crystal Ocean (GB) Fox Champion (IRE) Keep On Fly (IRE) Stormy Antarctic (GB) Etoile (USA) So Perfect (USA) Assiro (GB) Buonasera (IRE) Morgan Le Faye (GB) Etoile (FR) Regal Reality (GB) Dee Ex Bee (GB) Constantinople (IRE) Beshaayir (GB) Mr Lupton (IRE) Hello Youmzain (FR) Battaash (IRE) Dramatic Queen (USA) Main Edition (IRE) Called To The Bar (IRE) Quest The Moon (GER) The Revenant (GB) Hey Gaman (GB) Namos (GER) Zaaki (GB) Anna Nerium (GB) Itobo (GER) Aspetar (FR) Obligate (GB) Inns Of Court (IRE) Accon (GER) Pelligrina (IRE)

Age 3 5 4 3 3 3 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 6 3 5 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 4 5 5 3 3 6 2 3 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 4 6 3 5 4 3 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 7 4 3 5 3 3

Sex C H C C C F C M C C F F C F C G F G F F C C F C C C F C F H H C C G F F C F M F C C C F G C G F F G C G C C G F G G F H C F

Sire Le Havre Dubawi Farhh Kingman Campanologist Cape Cross Casamento Dutch Art Makfi French Fifteen Bated Breath Galileo New Approach War Front Camelot Kendargent Penny’s Picnic Lawman Orpen Shamardal Sea The Stars Shamardal Sea The Moon Australia French Fifteen Invincible Spirit Kingman New Approach Dubawi Sea The Stars Sea The Stars Kodiac Rip Van Winkle Stormy Atlantic War Front Scat Daddy Declaration of War Zebedee Shamardal Siyouni Intello Farhh Galileo Iffraaj Elnadim Kodiac Dark Angel Kitten’s Joy Zoffany Henrythenavigator Sea The Moon Dubawi New Approach Medicean Leroidesanimaux Dubawi Areion Al Kazeem Frankel Invincible Spirit Camelot Soldier Hollow

Dam Holy Dazzle Plumania Dubai Sunrise Helleborine Donna Lavinia Mintaka Midnight Line Miss Meggy Mamie Zane Marina Piccola Salutare Halfway To Heaven Dancequest Alexandrova Sparrow Moranda Molly Mara Alava Premiere Danseuse Tarana Meetyouthere Hazarafa Hanakiyya Sweepstake Hideaway Girl Rajeem Nazym Shirocco Star Dar Re Mi Private Life Crystal Star Folegandros Island So Many Shots Bea Remembered Gagnoa Hopeoverexperience T’As d’Beaux Yeux Rosina Bella Molly Malone Milena’s Dream Regal Realm Dubai Sunrise One Moment In Time Bahia Breeze Chiloe Wigeon Spasha Anna Law Midnight Music Maine Lobster Perfect Hedge Questabella Hazel Lavery Arsaadi Namera Kesara Anna Oleanda Iowa Bella Qatara Responsible Learned Friend Anaita Pearls Or Passion

Broodmare Sire Sunday Break Anabaa Seeking The Gold Observatory Acatenango Zamindar Kris S Pivotal Orpen Halling Sadler’s Wells Pivotal Dansili Sadler’s Wells Oasis Dream Indian Rocket Big Shuffle Anabaa Gold Away Cape Cross Sadler’s Wells Daylami Danehill Dancer Acclamation Fasliyev Diktat Galileo Shirocco Singspiel Bering Mark of Esteem Red Rocks Duke of Marmalade Doyen Sadler’s Wells Songandaprayer Red Ransom Oratorio Lomitas Authorized Medicean Seeking The Gold Danehill Mister Baileys Docksider Shamardal Lawman Dubawi Woodman Unfuwain Rock of Gibraltar Excellent Art Dubawi Areion Sadler’s Wells Old Vic Lomitas Dansili Oasis Dream Seeking The Gold Dubawi Monsun

Index 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

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The Finish Line with Richard Hannon Richard Hannon enjoyed advantages not open to most new trainers when he took over the thriving operation built up over more than four decades by his father, Richard senior, but following a famous father can brings its own pressures.

In this case the transition was seamless, and little more than five years on he celebrated his 1,000th winner on Derby day when Anna Nerium won the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes.

Interview: Graham Dench

I

the Craven. Not long after that my first Classic runner was a winner too, when Night Of Thunder won the 2,000 Guineas, and only two weeks after that Olympic Glory won the Lockinge. The following month Toronado won the Queen Anne, and it was also the year of Tiggy Wiggy and Kool Kompany and other good horses like Estidhkaar and Ivawood. It was an unbelievable first year and I ended up champion trainer.

wanted to start training when I was 27 or 28, but I had to wait until I was 38. It would have been crazy to go it alone, though, and when the time came in 2014 I was very lucky that dad was still there to work with me and to act as a sounding board. We’ve had our rows of course, but never anything major. He’s been a great rock, and the owners love being around him as he’s got such wisdom and such good tales to tell. Some of them would sooner have five words from him than 20 minutes with me!

I must admit I didn’t see Night Of Thunder’s 2,000 Guineas coming at all. I didn’t see Billesdon Brook’s 1,000 Guineas coming either, to be honest, so I’m not much of a judge obviously!

Night Of Thunder was a complete shock and I wasn’t ready for it, but it was unbelievable, especially as he beat Kingman in a good Guineas. His first crop of two-year-olds are winning now, so that’s good to see. Billesdon Brook belonged to a lot of lovely people and it was probably life-changing for some of them.

The owners are a massive part of the whole set-up and we are lucky that many of them have become good friends. Anna Nerium’s owner Jeanette McCreery and Julie Wood are among those who have been with us for many years, and we are lucky to have some of the biggest owners, but we have to keep attracting new owners, too. King Power Racing have 20 with me now and are very good news as they are buying the sort of horses that can compete at the highest level.

The 1,000 has come quickly, but I’m not stupid enough to think it’s all me.

I had a massive head start and we’ve got a great team here. I’ve been lucky enough to train some great names for a lot of lovely people and I’m thoroughly enjoying it, but I think we’ve done well to maintain the pace we started out at in a sport that is ever changing, and changing fast.

GEORGE SELWYN

I was very lucky to get off to a great start; the first runner in my name was a winner and my first runner in a Group race was Toormore, who won

Anna Nerium (green) became Richard Hannon’s 1,000th winner at Epsom

It’s very competitive now, but I think that on the whole we’ve been pretty consistent. We’ve had Group 1 winners every year and ten of them in total. I’m told there have been 54 at Group level all told, and we’ve had five or six winners at Royal Ascot. We aren’t looking to expand any further in numbers, but we are making improvements to the set-

up all the time - building a new barn, so we no longer have to rent boxes, installing a water treadmill, making improvements to the office and to staff accommodation, and so on.

The emphasis in racing is no longer on fast two-year-olds and it now seems to be on mile, and mile and a quarter horses. We’ve had to shift with that.

We’ve been placed in more or less every Guineas we’ve run in and we’ve already had two Classic winners, and been second in three. We’ve had a second in a St Leger with Ventura Storm and a Group 1 win at a mile and a half with Pether’s Moon in the Coronation Cup, so that shows how we are adapting.

Dad had more than 4,200 winners and I think he started with only a dozen or so; I’ve been incredibly lucky by comparison. I hope that one day I might match his total if things continue to go well, but I don’t know about matching his four championships. I’d love to win another, and you have a chance while you can still get hold of some of those top horses, but it’s getting harder all the time.

I can’t be with the kids as much as I would like, but I go to their school events whenever I can. They are understanding about it, as is my wife Jemima, who is heavily involved in the set-up herself. Richard Hannon Racing has always been a very sociable set-up with pretty much an open house for any of our owners. It’s a good environment for the kids to grow up in, and the owners enjoy it that way too. Jack is five now and Eliza, who is mad about horses, is seven. I’d love to think they would follow me into racing, but I hope they won’t be waiting as long as I did to take over. I’d be in my mid-70s!

104 THOROUGHBRED OWNER BREEDER

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DAR17336 Owner Breeder full page ClearlyAmazing 1JUL19.qxp 20/06/2019 17:13 Page 1

CLEARLY In a Deauville deluge 20 years ago this summer, Dubai Millennium won his first G1, the Prix Jacques Le Marois. The breed – and his blood – have come a long way since.

He sired just 56 foals, yet his descendants include no fewer than 50 G1 winners. And counting.

Dubai Millennium’s son and heir is Dubawi, the only British stallion ever to sire 100 Group winners, the world’s best auction sire since 2015, and currently leading all comers as both the top sire of Stakes winners and the number one sire of Group winners in 2019.

DATA 16-6-19

Darley