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Cover: DavidHowdenwithsuccessful eventerMonbegWhisperatCornbury House,whichstagesitsHorseTrialsin September
Photo: BillSelwyn
There is something quite appropriate about Rachael Blackmore’s final winner being named Ma Belle Etoile – My Beautiful Star. In the world of jump racing, she blazed a trail and exhibited her talents season after season in a career that garnered any number of firsts for a female jockey.
Blackmore, who has retired from the saddle aged 35, will always be known as the first woman rider to win the Randox Grand National, her 2021 success on Minella Times in JP McManus’s famous silks taking the sport onto the front pages and making headlines around the world.
Her Cheltenham Gold Cup victory on A Plus Tard for Cheveley Park Stud was another breakthrough moment while Blackmore’s association with Kenny Alexander’s mare Honeysuckle yielded 13 strikes at the top level and featured consecutive Champion Hurdles. They were a match made in heaven.
The common denominator in all those successes was trainer Henry de Bromhead, whose faith in Blackmore was vindicated time and again on the big stage. While she had the obvious advantage of riding seriously talented horses, her nerve on the headline days was unrivalled – she could go toe-to-toe with any of her contemporaries and would often emerge victorious, the sign of an elite sportsperson.
Now racing must ask itself – where is the next Rachael Blackmore? Female professional jump jockeys are rare indeed but hopefully the accomplishments of a woman who won all the championship races at the Cheltenham Festival alongside the most famous jumps contest in the world will inspire others to give it a go.
Hollie Doyle is one of Flat racing’s biggest stars and the rider recently overtook Hayley Turner to become Britain’s most successful female jockey, with victory number 1,023 coming at Ascot on May 10 aboard Brindavan.
A British or Irish Classic success would undoubtedly take the multiple Group 1 winner’s profile to another level so let’s hope she gets the opportunities she deserves, this season or next.
Edward Rosenthal Editor
To my mind, horseracing’s trump card is men and women competing on an equal footing, which doesn’t happen in most other sports. But are we making enough of that point? Racing’s latest marketing campaign, initiated with a £3.62 million grant from the Levy Board, focuses on friends at the races and features the line ‘It was so nice to see the girls’ – surely that could have been extended to the actual participants?
Royal Ascot is on the horizon, with the world’s sporting press set to descend on the Berkshire venue later this month. In this issue, James Burn finds out why the five-day fixture is so irresistible to a global audience and overseas competitors, keen to experience a meeting that
“Racing’s trump card is men and women competing on an equal footing”
is truly like nothing else on the planet (Racing around the World, pages 20-23).
One man hoping to enjoy another special moment at the royal meeting is David Howden, who saw his mare Running Lion take the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes last year.
Howden, a huge supporter of Ascot with his insurance business being an official partner, looks to have another serious contender for top honours in the shape of homebred filly Flight, runner-up to Desert Flower in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket last month.
Marcus Townend caught up with the owner and breeder to hear about his passion for the sport, investment in eventing, and his aftercare initiative, which helps horses transition to a life beyond the racecourse (The Big Interview, pages 30-35).
As the government looks to raise funds, it has turned towards what perhaps is an easy target: the betting operators. The Treasury recently launched a consultation on gambling tax rates. Bets on sports, including racing, are subject to a lower tax rate, currently 15% of profits for bets placed both online and in betting shops. Bets placed online on casino games and slots are currently taxed on profits at 21%. The proposal is to harmonise the rates to make the Treasury’s life easier – in essence this really means increasing the 15% up to the online rate and maybe even beyond.
Anyone who has had to fill in a tax return will testify to the fact that the tax system is about as far away from being simple or harmonised as you can get; this is simply a way of raising more tax revenue. If this was to happen, it would have hugely damaging consequences for the financial viability of British racing.
It is difficult to quantify the cost if the rates were brought into line, but it is likely that an increase in the tax paid by the operators on their sports betting businesses could be as much as £175 million, with the share from racing contributing around £40m. Obviously, the operators have tools they can use to mitigate their tax burden. The sports betting product is more expensive when set against the very high-margin online casinos and slots. A levelling of the tax rate will inevitably drive business models towards their low-cost, highmargin products, which have much higher incidences of gambling addiction, and away from sports betting, thus reducing existing revenue streams for racing, namely levy and media rights.
In addition, a canny operator will look to squeeze existing sports betting margins, which would likely increase the move to blackmarket operators, with damaging consequences for both revenues and the safety of punters.
The BHA is leading the industry’s response to the consultation, which will conclude in July. The damage to the rural economy could threaten the 85,000 jobs and the £300m in tax revenues that British racing contributes and could continue to undermine our position as a leading racing nation in an increasingly competitive global environment.
We also need to offer workable alternatives that would benefit racing’s income. We still have the unresolved levy review and if there is a mutually beneficial change to the tax rates, the proposal may not be as scary as it seems. In the next ten weeks we will need to mobilise the lobbying resources at our disposal and make sure that we get our messages across whilst offering alternatives that could help the industry.
Whilst we continue to be battered by headwinds, there are many undeveloped opportunities that the industry has still not exploited. We are in essence a data-driven sport – form, ground, distance, running style, trainer form, and historical information are all used to inform and frame the betting markets. As an entire
industry, we also have detailed data on owners and racegoers, and the betting operators have further significant insights into what the same customers want. However, the siloed legacy approach and lack of output across the industry’s central data and technological capabilities means we remain in the Dark Ages when compared to most customer-facing businesses.
Your supermarket knows what you buy and what to sell you and your online retailer has sophisticated software to entice you and sell their products. The technology landscape is rapidly changing, with the use of AI now featuring heavily across many sports and businesses, and a step change is quickly needed if we are to catch up and compete.
“The damage to the rural economy could threaten 85,000 jobs and £300m in revenues”
An industry-led and well-resourced digital approach will quickly elevate the way the sport communicates, sells, recognises and rewards our customers. This in turn has the potential to unlock huge benefits for British racing in terms of driving engagement, retention and growth. Whatever the outcome of the various tax and levy discussions, it is incumbent on industry leaders to concentrate on securing the future racing product to bring about growth.
Finally, it was sensible of the BHA to reverse the rule cancelling certain races with less than four runners. Whilst the trial was an attempt to improve competitiveness and make racing more attractive, the current ground conditions were making the situation more difficult and created significant frustrations for participants. As owners know, anything that improves our chances of a win must be welcomed.
Dear Lord Allen,
Welcome to a great legacy industry that’s been around for over 300 years, generating more than £4 billion to the British economy annually, employing some 85,000 people, boasting some of the very best stallions in the world and all of which contribute to an industry that is genuinely world class in every part of delivery – but not its revenue!
Whilst you will need time to fully understand the complexities and confusions of British racing, the metrics surrounding falling betting turnover, lower attendances, a declining horse population and a collapsing foal crop will not escape you and demand that you hit the ground running to support all racing stakeholders in finding answers to the very real issues that will confirm a future whatever that may be.
To give yourself the best chances of success there are some immediate priorities. Firstly, the good news – the right structure is already in place for British racing to work effectively and to allow you to lead positively, but only if the right people occupy the right chairs around the various tables. Your BHA Board needs, therefore, to be completely independent; the principle of stakeholder representation has been tried and it’s clear it hasn’t worked. That’s no reflection upon those that occupy the seats, it’s more that the industry hats they wear cover their eyes and prevent a ‘seeing the wood from the trees’ approach. In any event, there is an important and more appropriate role for industry participation within the Commercial Committee and that’s where stakeholder influence should be directed and applied.
A strong, independent BHA Board with BHA executive representation alongside a commercially savvy group of independents will allow a robust decision-making process delivering in the best interests of racing, recognising the importance of medium and long-term planning rather than the short-term cul-de-sac view often occupied. You will not be popular with stakeholders all the time, but that won’t be anything new or of concern to you with your significant past experiences. Not taking this course will see the current behaviours that racing sees daily perpetuated at its cost.
The Commercial Committee has the potential to be an excellent platform for industry members to consider both opportunities and risks, with an agenda for delivering recommendations to your BHA Board. When agreement cannot be reached, as inevitably will be the case, then the decision process passes to the BHA Board. This alone will provide necessary incentive for the industry stakeholders to find agreed acceptable outcomes; the current process works for no-one.
The Commercial Committee requires review; it has been in place
Philip Newton Chairman
for three years and has served a purpose but not been effective. It has provided a start, though, and demonstrated potential – now representation needs consolidation, but who and how many?
For me, that’s simple – each stakeholder should have no more than three representatives, as should the BHA, and to complete a maximum number of 12 around the table add a Chair, while the betting industry should be included in that number.
The industry attitude to our customer, the betting industry, makes no sense and the continuing exclusion from any influence upon how British racing is shaped, marketed and communicated
“The principle of stakeholder representation has been tried and it’s clear it hasn’t worked”
seems like something from the Dark Ages. British racing is dependent upon betting turnover for its very existence and to ignore that importance by continuing betting’s pariah status encourages failure and denies opportunity.
Racing’s demographics are all in the wrong place and if any domestic progress is to be made, a younger audience needs urgent recruitment; the best and most immediately available route to that is through the existing betting audience and by forging a genuine partnership between racing and betting. Pick the low-hanging fruit!
Joined-up thinking, then, is required everywhere and you should be the catalyst to achieve this. It’s a big job, but you have had plenty of those. Engage with the industry and listen but follow your own counsel. As Jack Welch said, “Change before you have to” –certainly racing’s turn at this wheel is long overdue.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Newton
Hollie Doyle
Becomes the winning-most female jockey in Britain after victory number 1,023 on Brindavan at Ascot on May 10 saw her overtake recently-retired Hayley Turner.
Jody McGarvey
Popular jump jockey who enjoyed Grade 1 wins on Great Field, Skyace, Janidil and I Am Maximus retires from the saddle aged 34.
Derby runners
Final field will now be known a day earlier after the Jockey Club instigates 72-hour declarations for the first time in the race’s 245-year history.
Mickey Bowen
Succeeds father Peter at the family’s Haverfordwest stable and sends out his first winner, Gavin, at Ffos Las on May 6, partnered by brother Sean.
Mael Thibault
Appointed to Arqana’s bloodstock team, taking charge of inspections for Flat and National Hunt yearlings along with stores in France.
France Galop
Administrative council agrees to cut prize-money by €20 million per year due to falling betting turnover, though Group 1 Flat races will be unaffected.
Racecourse Media Group
Made payments totalling £113 million to its shareholder tracks, a sum collected from media and data rights revenues in 2024. RMG paid out £113.9m in 2023.
James Ewart
Trainer who sent out more than 250 winners from his base in the Scottish Borders will relinquish his licence and focus on his renewable energy company.
Kieran Shoemark
Group 1-winning jockey will no longer be first-choice for John and Thady Gosden, who will use the best available without having a retained rider.
This year’s jockeys’ competition will see the ladies’ team replaced by a team from Asia and feature Ryusei Sakai, rider of Saudi Cup victor Forever Young.
New competition will launch in 2026 with 12 top international riders who will be shareholders in the business and act as team principal for their franchise. Racing’s
Junior Alvarado
Jockey fined $62,000 and suspended for two days for striking Sovereignty eight times – two over the six-strike limit – when winning the Kentucky Derby.
James Doyle
Wathnan Racing’s retained rider returns to action following over a month on the sidelines with a broken collarbone – and promptly wins on Underwriter at Ayr.
Tattersalls
Extends its sponsorship of the Irish Guineas festival until 2028 with the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas offering total prize-money of at least €500,000.
Global Racing League
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint victor will stand at Riverstone Lodge in Australia when his racing career concludes. His debut fee is set at A$27,500 (£13,400).
Scalo
German Group 1 winner, sire of Deutsches Derby victor Laccario and now an established NH stallion, moves to Longford House Stud in County Tipperary.
Killer Ability
Son of Deep Impact, a Grade 1 winner in Japan, will begin his stallion career in India at Nanoli Stud near Pune for Equus and SKJ Thoroughbreds.
Rodney Baker 81
Devon trainer saddled his last winner in 2006, enjoying 83 victories in all, and helped Mick Channon launch his training career.
Henri Devin 71
Owner of Haras du Mesnil with wife Antonia, standing sires Turgeon and Doctor Dino, and producing top-level stars Ange Gabriel and Politologue.
Moon 15
Yorton Farm stallion, a Coronation Cup winner in his racing days for owner John Manley, sired talented hurdlers Lunar Discovery and Anneloralas.
Liberty Island 5
Top-class Japanese mare, winner of four Grade 1s for owner Sunday Racing Co Ltd and trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida, suffers a fatal injury in the QEII Cup at Sha Tin.
Matnie 18
Daughter of Laveron was an outstanding broodmare, producing multiple Grade 1 winners Brighterdaysahead, Mighty Potter and Caldwell Potter.
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£50M
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global totes betting into one pool 20+
£100K+
racing staff
£50K
World Pool Jockeys’ Championship charity prize
racecourses in UK & Ireland 9 pools in 2024
£455M
The chapter closed on one of horseracing’s most riveting stories last month when Rachael Blackmore announced her immediate retirement from race riding aged 35.
Blackmore had become one of the sport’s most popular faces during a sensational career that saw the dairy farmer’s daughter from County Tipperary reach the top of her profession, famously becoming the first female jockey to win the Grand National on JP McManus’s Minella Times in 2021.
Minella Times was trained by Henry de Bromhead, who put his faith in Blackmore as his first choice rider and was rewarded with a string of big-race successes. She guided A Plus Tard to victory in the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup – another first for a woman jockey – and took the 2024 Queen Mother Champion Chase on Captain Guinness, although the horse that she will always be most associated with is outstanding mare Honeysuckle, owned by Kenny Alexander.
Blackmore partnered Honeysuckle on all 19 appearances under Rules, winning 17 races, including 13 at Grade 1 level, four of those coming at the Cheltenham Festival. The duo recorded consecutive Champion Hurdle triumphs in 2021 and 2022 and claimed the Mares’ Hurdle in 2020 and 2023, the latter win on her final start.
Honeysuckle and Blackmore landed three straight Irish Champion Hurdles between 2020 and 2022, achieving the same feat in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle (2019-2021).
Having started out in the point-to-point world, Blackmore took her first professional ride in 2015 at the age of 25. Trainer Shark Hanlon spotted the potential in the young jockey and with his support she captured the conditional riders’ championship in Ireland in 2017.
Gaining rides for Michael O Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud saw Blackmore strike up a link with de Bromhead – the association would endure, and it yielded a double at the Cheltenham Festival in March with Air Of Entitlement (Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle) and Bob Olinger (Stayers’ Hurdle).
Blackmore enjoyed 18 Cheltenham Festival successes – a figure that places her in the all-time top ten at the meeting – and finished her riding innings with a haul of 33 Grade 1s. In total she had 564 wins over jumps in Ireland and Britain, plus another 12 on the Flat.
She said in a statement: “I feel the time is right. I’m sad but l’m also incredibly grateful for what my life has been for the past 16 years. I just feel so lucky to have been legged up on the horses I have, and to have experienced success I never even dreamt could be possible.
“I rode my first winner for Shark Hanlon, who then helped me become champion conditional. I will be forever grateful to Shark for getting behind me, supporting me and believing in me when it would have been just as easy to look elsewhere. He was the catalyst for what was to come.
“A conversation between Eddie O’Leary and Henry de Bromhead in a taxi on the way to Aintree took my career to a whole new level. Eddie got me in the door at Knockeen, and what came next was unimaginable: Honeysuckle, A Plus Tard, Minella Indo, Captain Guinness, Bob Olinger, Minella Times, among many others... all with one thing in common –Henry de Bromhead. He’s a phenomenal trainer, who brought out the best in me.
Without Henry, my story is very different.
“It is daunting, not being able to say that I am a jockey anymore. But I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the career l’ve had.
“To have been in the right place at the right time with the right people, and to have gotten on the right horses – because it doesn’t matter how good you are without them. They have given me the best days of my life and to them I am most grateful.”
De Bromhead, who admitted his surprise at Blackmore’s decision to retire, said: “As usual she’s timed it to perfection! She obviously gave it a lot of thought and I’m absolutely delighted for her.
“It’s incredible what she achieved – we were lucky to be there with her. [She had] natural ability but then knowing how hard you have to work to get to the top. She worked harder than everybody else and she got there.
“She had so many great attributes as a jockey and as a person. The best way to sum her up is she’s just pure class.”
A string of upsets at the Cheltenham Festival in March has helped the levy yield reach £108 million for 2024/25, £3m more than the 2023/24 figure of £105m.
With the levy collection method based on bookmakers’ gross profits, the failure of Constitution Hill, Jonbon and Galopin Des Champs to hit the bullseye at Prestbury Park saw bookies’ satchels bulging come the end of the four days, with a positive outcome for the sport’s income.
The year as a whole saw betting turnover on British horseracing decline further on the previous year.
Average turnover per race was down by about 8% on 2023/24, representing a 15% fall on 2022/23 and 19% on 2021/22.
Anne Lambert, Interim Chair of the Levy Board, said: “A yield of around £108m provides additional reassurance for the Board in considering spending decisions for 2026, with increases in 2025 having already been agreed. The Board’s cash position is currently healthy and we will be looking to make additional funds available next year, including for prize-money.
“However, we will exercise appropriate prudence in expenditure
decisions and maintain sufficient reserves as bookmakers’ increased profits are being generated from
falling turnover. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue in the longer term.”
British racing has launched a new marketing campaign under the title of ‘The going is Good’, which aims to showcase the sport as a unique day out with its tagline ‘Four million memories made every year’.
Great British Racing (GBR), horseracing’s promotional arm, has partnered with specialist sports creative agency Dark Horses, which has extensive experience in the sport, and the UK’s largest independent media agency, the7Stars, to take racing’s message to the masses.
The advertising-led campaign, funded by a £3.62 million grant from the Levy Board – the biggest single amount it has given to a promotion of this type – will run through to September and is designed to both
reactivate casual racegoers and attract new fans to racing by highlighting the reasons why it enjoys being the second most popular spectator sport in Britain.
Simon Michaelides, interim Chief Customer Officer of GBR, said: “We’re very excited by this fresh advertising approach to the sport, showcasing the experiences of 4.8 million existing racegoers to inspire more people to follow suit.
“The campaign has researched incredibly well with existing fans and potential new fans alike and we are confident that it will deliver strong results.”
GBR will be hoping its latest campaign performs better than the previous one, ‘Everyone’s Turf’, fronted by former Premier League footballer
Jermaine Jenas. The concept didn’t inspire the public to go racing and failed to reverse the decline in attendances when implemented in 2022. The new campaign began in May
Kentucky-bred RULING COURT (USA) won the first UK Classic of 2025, taking down top prize in the 2000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket.
Owner: Godolphin
Breeders: Nursery Place, Manfuso, and Wilhite Trainer: Charlie Appleby
A $150,000 Keeneland September graduate in 2023.
Ruling Court cost €2.3 million at the Arqana May Breeze-up Sale last year but even that figure could be seen as a bargain following his victory in the 2,000 Guineas. The US-bred son of Justify (white cap), trained by Charlie Appleby, showed dazzling speed and acceleration to see off favourite Field Of Gold (right) and stable companion Shadow Of Light under William Buick.
Photos Bill Selwyn
BY JAMES BURN
In terms of international triumphs at Royal Ascot, few can be more significant than Choisir’s remarkable blast from down under in 2003 despite the French perhaps laying a claim as pioneers thanks to 1866 Gold Cup winner Gladiateur.
Horses then were perceived to take their nationality from where they were bred, so Gladiateur, owned by Count Frederic de Lagrange but trained in Newmarket, was considered a French success.
More Gallic glory has followed and Italy had a Gold Cup hero when Botticelli obliged in 1955, but the turn of the millennium signalled an exciting time that would change the face of the royal meeting, which is said to have evolved from a four-day fixture in 1768, forever.
At its heart was the trailblazing Choisir, a hulking sprinter from Australia who became the first horse from outside Europe to etch his name on the honours board with victory in what was the King’s Stand before he sensationally followed up four days later in the Golden Jubilee, which is now the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee.
Two years after that ground-breaking
double, the Hong Kong-trained Cape Of Good Hope landed the Jubilee and more Australian revelry came via the iconic Takeover Target and Miss Andretti before the unheralded Wesley Ward made a name for himself with a string of speedballs, opening a door for US juveniles no-one knew existed.
Australian legend Black Caviar, the greatest horse from outside Europe to compete, provided another memorable – albeit nail-biting – moment for the meeting when she prevailed in the 2012 Jubilee, while top-class US mare Tepin took on the cream of Britain, Ireland and France’s best older milers and beat them in the Queen Anne four years later.
Ascot has also attracted runners from Bahrain, Japan, New Zealand, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa and the UAE since Choisir, so it’s no surprise the event, now a global brand, was last year carried by 31 broadcasters to 180 territories. That’s countries from the Baltics, Latin and South America and 48 in sub-Saharan Africa, while cruise ships and airlines also took the feed.
Nick Smith, Ascot’s Director of Racing and Public Affairs who joined the track in 2000, credits then-Chairman the Duke of Devonshire and Chief Executive Douglas
Erskine Crum, along with former Clerk of the Course Nick Cheyne, for laying the foundations of an international draw that still exists to this day.
“To them, it was clear the world was changing and we needed to move with it and play in that global arena,” he remembers. “They had some considerable early success with the likes of Choisir and we should probably have a statue of him at Ascot because, without him, I genuinely don’t know whether we’d be where we are now.”
What Royal Ascot is now is five days inked in the international calendar, which
has grown with the advent of ultravaluable slots in Saudi Arabia and Australia alongside more established dates such as Dubai World Cup night and the Breeders’ Cup, although not one of those possess the prestige, tradition and fashion found - and exported abroad - in Berkshire in the middle of June each year.
“It’s completely unique and we get so many overseas visitors within the sport,” Smith adds. “It’s a melting pot of the racing world in the parade ring and Car Park Two afterwards, a who’s who of the global racing industry. Even if trainers don’t have runners, they’re here, doing
business, looking at horses to buy, socialising.”
While Black Caviar, whose connections still attend the royal meeting every year without any formal interest in runners, was a big coup for Ascot, Winx was one megastar who got away and Hong Kong-based pair Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior – officially rated the best turf horses on the planet – will not make the trip this term.
Smith recognises that cash, for some, is understandably king, but does not feel the royal racecourse has reached its zenith or lost any lustre in the eyes of those abroad.
“It’s peaks and troughs,” he goes on.
“There have been huge peaks with great horses and a couple of winners, and a real international theme. Then you get lighter years, but we want the best horses with genuine chances running. It’s in no-one’s interests to have horses who won’t do any good. It’s not a numbers game; it’s a quality game.”
The headline names among this summer’s non-European entries for the early-closing Group 1s include Satono Reve and Asfoora, the heroine of last year’s King Charles III Stakes, which used to be the King’s Stand.
“Satono Reve is probably the best sprinter in Japan and the level of horse we’re delighted with, as is Asfoora, and obviously we’d liked to have seen Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior, but it’s a hard sell for those geldings,” Smith says, lamenting British racing’s funding system that does not allow it to compete with other jurisdictions.
David Hayes, who trains Ka Ying Rising, successful in 13 of his 15 starts and looking every inch the sport’s next phenomenon, is well aware of that.
“I would take a horse there in a heartbeat,” says the trainer, who has saddled three runners at the famous fixture. “Probably not a gelding because
Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) at Royal Ascot in 2019 and now bet into by countries as diverse as Canada, Jamaica, Estonia and Cyprus.
“We are delighted to provide a global tote offering for one of the world’s leading racing brands, Royal Ascot,” Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the HKJC and arguably racing’s most powerful administrator, said at the time.
It was no coincidence to Smith the HKJC chose Ascot for its launch and, as of February 23, Commonwealth Cup day in 2022 ranked fifth in terms of turnover with around £34.1 million in the all-time World Pool list, although days that bettered it
there’s not much upside in the prizemoney. It’s not on the cards for Ka Ying Rising because there’s no breeding value to add to him. He’ll go to Australia for the Everest, but, if he was a colt or a filly, it would be different. Because he’s a gelding though, there’s just not enough money to lure him there at this stage.”
Hayes, nonetheless, is smitten with the week his late father Colin – a legendary trainer in Australia – was also besotted by.
“Dad loved it,” he adds. “In his day, you didn’t travel horses, certainly not from Australia, but he loved going and dressing up and I think it would be on every trainer’s wishlist in Australia to have one good enough to go and compete.
“I’d always have Ascot on my mind. I’m training geldings in Hong Kong now so it’s not really on the agenda, but, if my boys in Australia had the right filly or entire, I’m sure they’d be there. It’s massive in Hong Kong and everyone tunes in. It’s part of the World Pool and we have our summer break when it’s on, so there’s no racing. It’s very popular and has a huge profile; it’s Melbourne Cup week on steroids!”
The World Pool alluded to by Hayes is an international co-mingling pari-mutuel product launched by the influential Hong
The royal presence is synonymous with the five days and the King and Queen enjoyed a winner in 2023 when Desert Hero and Tom Marquand captured the King George V Handicap
included more races and fixtures.
The attraction of Royal Ascot as a betting medium is further illustrated by three of its contests featuring in the top five World Pool races, headed by the 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, yielding a record £6.42m, the 2022 Coronation Stakes turning over £6.21m, and that year’s Platinum Jubilee Stakes producing £5.97m.
“It’s helped us increase prize-money and it was very telling, in terms of a global perception, the Hong Kong Jockey Club chose to launch on the first five days of Royal Ascot – they could have done that anywhere,” Smith reflects. “They wanted to go where it would give them the biggest global profile and chose us, which was a big endorsement.”
Overseas raiders help swell those pots, but Smith believes “international interest goes both ways and people are just as interested in seeing top European horses, who might travel overseas later, as they are horses from their own country”.
That is a view backed up by Jess Stafford, a familiar face to fans of the sport in Britain through her appearances on Racing TV who has fronted US coverage on FanDuel TV alongside Nick Luck.
“We put so much more emphasis into Royal Ascot than anything else and it’s not just the American horses that matter,” she says. “There’s an international appeal for the American viewers, which is far
greater than other meetings, and the Americans love the spectacle of it; it’s Downton Abbey meets the Kentucky Derby.”
Laying bare its appeal, Stafford, who has presented at the jamboree since 2019, adds: “The other 30-odd days of the year I present in Britain for FanDuel, we’d use cameras here and it gets streamed to America, but this is different and, for
“Americans love it – it’s Downton Abbey meets the Kentucky Derby”
instance, Scott Hazelton, who has been presenting for a while, comes over with camera operators.
“It’s the only event here they’d bring talent and additionals over for. Okay, they’d do it for Dubai, where a lot of American dirt horses run, but not the Arc.”
Last year, 37 media outlets from Europe and 34 from outside had an on-course presence and Smith continues: “In the last ten years, the number of
broadcasters and countries being represented in that format has spiralled.
The Green Channel will cover it for Japan and will be there all week, not just for Satono Reve.
“NBC, in the States, cover the whole week and broadcast the final day on network television, which is the equivalent of BBC1. In America it’s huge and particularly event-led with the royal procession, pageantry and outfits.”
Any analysis of Royal Ascot would not be complete without mention of the fashion that is showcased.
“It’s a massive part of it and we’ve done style guide launches in Dubai, Australia and America, but it’s everything, from the royal procession to the trophies being presented,” Smith explains, touching on the fascination the participation of the royal family brings. “It’s more relaxed in that it’s not an official engagement for the royal family, it’s an occasion they choose to be at and people from overseas love to see that.
“I think two of the biggest stories I’ve seen at Royal Ascot have been the late Queen winning with Estimate and the King and Queen winning with Desert Hero. That gets you on the front page of newspapers in Australia and America –they’re cut-through moments.”
And Smith, thanks to Choisir and many others from further afield, knows all about those.
2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court might descend from a line of high-class European horses but he is also another triumph for the family-run Kentucky operation Nursery Place
Words: Nancy Sexton
Some 4,000 miles away from Newmarket on the first Saturday in May, the 2,000 Guineas was being played out in a quiet corner of a Kentucky barn. There was a moment of pride and satisfaction for the Mayer family who brought Ruling Court into the world, then it was back to work with the mares, the day continuing in its usual rhythm at Nursery Place.
If nothing else was ever said about the Lexington farm, 2,000 Guineas day would be enough to encapsulate the operation and its ethos. Owned by the Mayer family since 1792, the land is today under the custodianship of John Mayer, who operates Nursery Place with sons Griffin and Walker. The method is very much a hands-on approach, aided by the fact that each of the 40 or so mares fall under some form of Mayer ownership. In a world where various outfits, particularly in Kentucky, are dealing with increasingly large numbers, it’s an old school method – but as any true stockman will tell you, one that will always stand breeders in good stead. Nursery Place is testament to that.
“I got to watch the race in the barn,” says John Mayer thinking back to 2,000 Guineas day. “We had three more mares to check with the vet but thanks to modern technology, we were able to watch it on the phone. It was a nice few minutes, special regardless of whether Ruling Court does anything else or not. And then we were back at it.”
There’s long been an international outlook to Nursery Place, enabled in part
by its appreciation of mares with a leaning towards turf. Ruling Court, as a son of the High Chaparral mare Inchargeofme from the extended family of fellow Derby hopeful The Lion In Winter, is
Ruling Court holds off Field Of Gold (far side) and Shadow Of Light to win the 2,000 Guineas
representative of that. Bred in partnership with Robert Manfuso and Jimmy Wilhite, the son of Justify is the third foal out of his dam, a Grade 3-placed three-time winner for connections.
“Tom [Goff] and Richard [Brown] have both helped me for years,” says Mayer. “I’ve always loved the old English families, the depth to them. To be fair you could buy a turf mare here much easier than a dirt mare. It’s changed so much recently because there’s a much better turf programme in America now.
“But I love those deep female families and with Inchargeofme, the family has been filling out around her. It’s a great family going back to some really good mares and there are a lot of fillies working around her so you also have the
opportunity for it to grow.
“I bought her in the Keeneland January Sale as a two-year-old. When I went to see her, I kind of fell in love with her. She’s just a picture for me of what a mare from one of those old English families should look like. She’s got the length, a beautiful head and eye, she’s correct and she’s grown up to be about 16.2 hands high so she’s a goodsized mare.
“Paul Shanahan was looking at her at Keeneland at the same time as me. I said to him, ‘Paul, where did all this come from’ because my impression of High Chaparral, Cape Cross [sire of granddam Inchmina] and Nashwan [sire of her third dam Incheni] was that they were solid types of horses. He said, ‘John, High Chaparral is out of a Darshaan mare and he was one of the
most beautiful horses you’ll ever see’. That comment stayed with me.”
Inchargeofme arrived at that January Sale in 2015 having not long before passed through the Tattersalls October Sale in Newmarket, where she had been bought back by breeder Gary Chervenell for 52,000gns. The fact, however, that there was plenty going on under her first dam Inchmina gave Nursery Place the impetus to follow her into the ring, where Mayer successfully bid $80,000.
“The Coolmore team owned a lot of those horses out of Inchmina,” he says. “Paul said that her brother Johann Strauss was meant to be a really nice horse but had issues – and he was Group 1-placed [when second in the Racing Post Trophy]. And the horse coming behind him was a
›› Camelot called Mythical. He was meant to be okay too and also ended up being Group 1-placed [when third in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud]. As I understood it, she’d been galloping a little bit at Blackwood Stables. But really it was kind of love at first sight.”
With the yearling sales having passed and a plethora of breeze-ups on the horizon, unnamed two-year-olds aren’t generally a common sight at those Kentucky winter breeding stock sales. The more cynical among us might look at such an entry with suspicion. But there were no such concerns with Inchargeofme; it was decided to try her on the track, for which connections were rewarded when she earned black type and banked nearly $140,000.
“I’m not a great guy to go to the races with them,” says Mayer. “But she was too athletic and so I thought I’m just going to try her. We sent her to Florida to pre-train and she looked there like she might be okay. We needed to be on a grass circuit so we sent her to Shug McGaughey and she showed some talent, winning at Delaware and Gulfstream. But then she needed some time out and we brought her back home.”
Inchargeofme had run fourth in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland during the spring of 2017. Armed with the knowledge that she was up to competing with credit at that level, Mayer opted to give her another try.
“I’d had a lot of luck with Charlie LoPresti,” he says. “Actually, my son Walker
worked with him when he had Wise Dan [American Horse of the Year]. The filly was starting to do really well at the farm, gaining weight and looking good, so I said to Charlie let’s send her back and try to get some black type. And she went on to run third in the Mint Julep – on the very same day as Justify won his Triple Crown.”
He adds: “It was a good race but she came back two weeks later and a was bit off. I said no problem, we’ll stop with her.
“I’d had some calls already about her and I thought she was worth a bit, so I thought let’s just put her in the sale at Fasig-Tipton and see where we are.”
Catalogued to the 2018 FasigTipton November Sale, a high-powered boutique affair that precedes the marathon Keeneland November auction, Inchargeofme returned home on a bid of $235,000.
“She went through and thank the Lord, we bought her back!” says Mayer. “Next day, Paul Shanahan was looking at some our foals over at Keeneland and he said, ‘You know, I really like that mare of yours. She’s pretty and I think she’d work well with Justify’. And so that’s what we did.
“We wouldn’t normally use a lot of
The emergence of Ruling Court is another feather in the cap for Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe and Valiant Studs’ remarkable family stemming from Miba and her granddaughter On Show.
The line has provided the Oppenheimer family with its share of highs for the best part of seven decades, starting with Miba, a 1962-foaled daughter of Ballymoss who won the 1965 Pretty Polly Stakes for Sir Philip Oppenheimer.
While one branch of the Miba line yielded the Group 1-winning siblings Summoner and Compton Admiral, Ruling Court is a descendant of Miba’s daughter African Dancer, whose accomplished three-year-old campaign in 1976 took in a win in the Park Hill Stakes and third in the Oaks. Incidentally, this same branch of the family is also responsible for The Lion In Winter, who could still take his chance against Ruling Court in the Derby for Aidan O’Brien.
The family owes much of its importance today to Miba’s daughter On Show, foaled in 1978 by Welsh Pageant. She won once at Nottingham for Harry Wragg but left behind three influential daughters in Balnaha (by Lomond), whose daughter Balisada
landed the 1999 Coronation Stakes for Oppenheimer, Waterfowl Creek (by Be My Guest), the dam of Lupe Stakes winner Maid Of Camelot, and Inchmurrin (by Lomond), the champion Italian threeyear-old filly of 1988.
Inchmurrin gained something of a fan following on the track in light of her diminutive stature. She was written up by Timeform as being “tiny, almost miniature” – yet she went on to win six races for Geoff Wragg led by the Child Stakes, then a Group 2 and run today as the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket. She was also second to Magic Of Life in the Coronation Stakes.
Inchmurrin left behind eight winners at stud including a top-notcher in Inchinor, another who was living proof that lack of size is not always a drawback when it comes to being a racehorse. Having found only Zafonic – twice his size – too good in the 1992 Dewhurst Stakes, the Roger Charlton-trained Inchinor enjoyed a good season at three when carrying the Oppenheimer colours to victory in the Greenham and Hungerford Stakes. Timeform described the son of Ahonoora as being “ponysized” but went on to say that “what he lacks in size is more than compensated
for by toughness and gameness”.
Inchinor later stood at stud in Newmarket and was just gaining recognition as a sire of note when dying at the young age of 13. Among the Group 1 performers he left behind were the aforementioned Summoner and Notnowcato.
Inchmurrin also foaled Listed winner Ingozi, subsequently the dam of Canadian Grade 1 winner Miss Keller and ancestress of St Leger hero Harbour Law, as well as Inchyre, the ancestress of King George winner Poet’s Word. Another daughter, Inchmahome, is also the granddam of The Lion In Winter.
It is another daughter, Incheni, from whom Ruling Court descends. By Nashwan, a horse who would have put size into the family, she was campaigned by the Oppenheimer family to win the Lord Weinstock Memorial Stakes at Newbury as a three-year-old. On the face of it, she was a disappointing producer at stud but her first foal, Inchmina, didn’t take long to remedy matters by producing the high-class Ballydoyle pair Johann Strauss and Mythical for Gary Chervenell. Now thanks to Inchargeofme, the family has truly returned to Group 1 heights.
freshman stallions – we used only two this year. I’ve chased the market with them before and it’s been good to me, but the reality is that there’s going to be only two or three good ones that come out of each crop. And you’re trying to take care of your mares the best you can. So we try generally to use stallions that produce racehorses. But in this case, using Justify early on worked.
“The first one that we had out of the mare was a very nice colt and he made $475,000 as a foal to MV Magnier. He went to Ireland but unfortunately got hurt as a yearling.
“After that horse sold so well, we thought we’d go back to Justify.”
The result was Ruling Court, a colt more in the elegant mould of High Chaparral than his rugged sire. Highly regarded at Nursery Place, he is an example of a horse becoming entangled in the market’s desire to adhere to a perfect vet report. Offered at Book 2 of the Keeneland September Sale, he was picked up for $150,000 by pinhooker Norman Williamson, for whom he went on to sell at Arqana the following May to Godolphin for €2.3 million – a record for a European breezer.
Just over two months later, he made a winning debut at Sandown for Charlie Appleby before running third behind The Lion In Winter in the Acomb Stakes at York. So far this year he is unbeaten in two starts, his win in the 2,000 Guineas having
preceded a bloodless victory in the Listed Jumeirah 2,000 Guineas on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan.
“Ruling Court was a better model than the mare’s first Justify,” says Mayer. “He is just a beautiful horse, truly one of the best we’ve had on the farm in a long time.
“We were going to put him in the November Sale as a foal but he had sesamoiditis and so we thought we’ll give him time and sell him as a yearling. But it didn’t get much better.
“It’s a great testament to giving them time. It was there in all four ankles. One of them was moderate and the rest very minor – but they were there. And he also had a little stifle lucency.
“It’s a great lesson for all of us. Those pictures are a moment in time right then, they don’t tell the true story of what can happen given time. But Norman’s vet said ‘it’s worth a punt’.
“I know you have to jump through the hoops with these horses but they’re young and a lot of these things can change – and for the better if given time.”
Inchargeofme has a yearling filly by Ghostzapper – incidentally the damsire of Justify himself – set to head to the Keeneland September Sale. Following her is a colt from the first crop of Up To The Mark, a champion turf horse by Not This Time who stands at Lane’s End Farm.
“The Ghostzapper filly is made more like the mare, she’s very nice,” says Mayer. “The Up To The Mark colt is more like Ruling Court. And the mare has gone back to Justify.”
There is undeniably pride in producing a horse like Ruling Court but it won’t change Nursery Place’s understated style. Despite the select numbers through its hands,
good horses come off the farm regularly, ranging from Kentucky Derby third Steppenwolfer to multiple Grade 2-winning miler Gotta Have Her and Wiseman’s Ferry, a high-class juvenile for Aidan O’Brien who later found fame as the sire of Wise Dan. The farm also housed Peter Robsham’s excellent producer Pretty Discreet, a Grade 1 winner herself who foaled the Grade 1 winners Discreet Cat and Discreetly Mine.
“We’ve had some good horses come off the farm but yes, Ruling Court means a lot,” says Mayer. “I can’t imagine doing
“We’re able to move horses around, rotate the land and let it rest”
all this and not foaling all the mares, not meeting the vet everyday, not walking the yearlings. That’s the beauty of the game, you can play it on so many levels, and it’s still very much a puzzle I enjoy playing every day.
“We’ve been able to do it all with our family. And the guys here at the farm have been here for a long time. One has been here 35 years and the newest guy came here five years ago. So it’s very much a hands-on deal.”
He adds: “My family came here from Virginia in 1792. It was the first tree nursery in the state – it’s always been called Nursery Place and there were always horses here.
“It’s in the middle of big hunt country and my grandfather was a Master of Hounds. He was a big believer in farming – cattle, sheep, corn, wheat. He said you never know what market is going to be good or bad but rarely are they all bad
at the same time. He farmed a pretty big operation, about 5,000 acres. That’s what I grew up doing. I love farming but I couldn’t figure out how to make a living from it while raising a family – and I hate saying that.”
Raising horses commercially was not then part of the operation but Mayer had an affinity for the animal, especially when it came to sport as a former polo player and steeplechase rider.
“When I got out of school, I worked for Ted Bates at Wimbledon Farm,” he says. “Ted was an incredible horseman. Back then they had over 140 mares there along with stallions like Relaunch, Sensitive Prince, Tim The Tiger – it was kind of the heyday.
“I did that for a year and then like most young men, thought to myself ‘I got this’, took 90 acres and started building a barn. But we’ve managed to keep it going. It’s good.”
Nursery Place today consists of 1,000 acres, ample room for the 44 mares and their followers.
“We’re able to move horses around, rotate the land and let it rest when it needs it,” he says. “It’s all about the land. I was always taught that if you want to know
your farm, you mow your farm.
“We plant 150 trees here every year. It really is a special place. You’re taking that last mare to the paddock in the morning, the sun is just coming up and I’m listening to the turkeys across the way.
“We know the year. We’re foaling and covering mares and then from 1 June we’ll start walking the yearlings, just easing them into it and getting them built up. It gives you a bit of time and if you can stay relaxed and don’t fall behind the ball, then the horses stay relaxed.
“I just want horses that have been here on the farm, ones that have been through the programme. And when you come to sell them, you know the horse – you’re asked a question at the sales and you don’t have to go to a book or ask someone else.”
As for Ruling Court, his career for Godolphin will continue to be celebrated from afar; the promise of Epsom or Royal Ascot won’t bring the family over to Britain, not when there are foals to monitor and yearlings to be walked.
“It’s never been an easy game anyway but it’s become a little more difficult,” he says. “These horses are gifts. I’d love to say ‘we did this’ and ‘we did that’ but they’re gifts. We just try to stay out of their way.”
David Howden
David Howden conquered the insurance world and is now making his mark in a multitude of sectors, including racing, breeding and eventing
Words: Marcus Townend • Photos: Bill Selwyn
Royal Ascot promises to be even more hectic than usual for David Howden. There will be four days at the most prestigious meeting of the British Flat season, hosting around 40 guests each afternoon, wrapped around a flying visit to Dublin on the Friday to watch the British & Irish Lions rugby team warm up for their summer tour to Australia with a dust-up against the Pumas of Argentina.
It is a dream agenda for any sports fan and that includes the man who has built one of the world’s most successful insurance companies, one of Ascot’s three official partners – Longines and QIPCO are the other two – as well as being principal partner and front-of-shirt-sponsor on the red shirts of the iconic rugby team.
There should be a sprinkle of runners and, with luck, maybe a winner to cheer on up the Ascot home straight.
The schedule would suit the stamina reserves of a contender for the Queen Alexandra Stakes but is unlikely to daunt 61-year-old Howden, who exudes an enthusiasm and energy that would impress
the Duracell Bunny.
As well as Ascot and the Lions, Howden now supports racing in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, via Victoria Racing Club, while his rugby involvement also includes grassroots investment with sponsorship of the famous Melrose Sevens and Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens tournaments plus – something he is particularly pleased about – the backing of the inaugural Women’s British Lions tour to New Zealand in 2027.
Literally closer to home, Howden has revived the Cornbury House Horse Trials to the universal acclaims of the eventing world, as well as launching young rider and horse talent academies.
Then there is the Thoroughbred Aftercare Programme (TAP), created by Howden to increase post-racing opportunities for the 7,500 thoroughbreds that leave the sport annually.
It is an exhausting list just to type and incontrovertible evidence that Howden is a man who doesn’t just talk about it – he does it.
Speaking at Cornbury House, the palatial 5,500-acre Oxfordshire working estate he leases from Lord Rotherwick and which is also home to a deer herd, a rare breed collection which includes Long Horn cattle, Hampshire Down sheep and Middle White pigs and hosts the annual Wilderness music and arts festival, Howden repeatedly returns to two words: create and build.
They encapsulate his business philosophy and are now driving a racing involvement that last year saw him win his first race at the royal meeting when the John and Thady Gosden-trained Running Lion captured the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes.
“If you can create opportunity out of adversity it makes you a better person”
Howden says: ‘‘The reception I got at Royal Ascot was phenomenal. I could hardly walk without someone stopping me, with loads of people I didn’t even know saying well done.
‘‘I run an insurance business, which I am equally passionate about, but racing is about the enjoyment. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to succeed – unless you have drive and ambition you are not going to get what you want. But it is definitely done for pleasure and excitement.
‘‘One of the wonderful things about horseracing is the number of people that are involved in success. When you win, you win with many. From David to the jockeys, trainers, your family and then the crowd.’’
David is David Redvers, who has been instrumental in Howden’s foray into the racing parish, which currently see him own 17 broodmares, nine foals, eight yearlings and 18 horses in training spread across Britain, Australia and Ireland.
The pair met in 2018 after Howden bought a lot at a charity event at the Dragon School in Oxford for a morning on the Newmarket gallops and day at the 2,000 Guineas.
The afternoon may have ended in disappointment for Redvers when Roaring Lion, owned by his boss Sheikh Fahad, was only fifth to Saxon Warrior in the Classic, but Howden, who was accompanied by
wife Fiona and daughters Jemima, Kitty and Talitha, was captivated.
The late Roaring Lion, who went on to finish third in the Derby before embarking on a Group 1-winning spree, was the sire Howden used after Redvers bought him Bella Nouf along with two other mares at the Tattersalls December Sale later that year. The result was Running Lion.
Howden recalls: ‘‘It was that weekend that we really got the hook for it. Roaring Lion has always been a horse that is special to me because he is part of the reason that I got into racing in the first place.
‘‘I love racing, but it is not my business, so it is very important to deal with someone who you like and have a good rapport with but also someone you can trust.
‘‘David absolutely fits the bill. He knows what I am trying to achieve and what I am
looking for. You build that relationship over time and having David’s Tweenhills Stud relatively close to here is nice because we can see the foals together.’’
Howden was not a complete racing novice before meeting Redvers. He was at school with trainer Emma Lavelle’s brothers, Edward and Jonathon. They used to take him racing while Howden’s sister Miranda always had an interest in horses even though his attention was more focused on motorbikes.
But one of Howden’s first brushes with the sport was not so positive.
‘‘I had a very early racing experience which was poor, to say the least, and my mother would probably categorise it even worse,’’ Howden says. ‘‘I did a bit of betting. I was clearly not very good at choosing my horses in those days and ran up a bit of a debt with the local bookies. I was probably
Running Lion was a Royal Ascot heroine for Howden in last year’s Duke of Cambridge
17 at the time.
‘‘It got to the point where it was not repayable, and I had to go cap in hand to my mother. I think my sister Miranda actually said, ‘You had better help him pay it off as I am not sure the bookie will leave him with all his fingers if he doesn’t settle his debt’.
Fortunately, his fingers remained intact but another far more serious fracture was one of two early-life experiences that had a profound effect.
The first was the death of his father when he was aged seven. With his mother facing crippling death duties, the family’s comfortable home in the south had to be sold before moving for a time to Thoralby in the Yorkshire Dales.
The second came on the sports field aged 15 when, playing rugby on the wing for his school, Howden broke his back.
He recalls: ‘‘I was a very keen rugby player and a high jumper. I got a bad tackle, hit the ground and broke my back. I was very lucky to have a very successful spinal-fusion operation in the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford, but it put paid to contact sports and really meant I did not want to go back to school because I was a lot better at sport than academia.
‘‘At the time it seems a bit of a disaster but when you look back you think it was quite formative, as was losing my father and things getting tougher.
‘‘If you can have setbacks and create opportunity out of adversity it makes you a better, stronger person. That entrepreneurial spirit of wanting to build your own business and create something all comes out of those early learnings.’’
With A-Levels shelved and university ambitions ditched, there was an interview
to potentially join the army, but ultimately Howden started work in the City at 16, joining Alexander Howden Insurance Brokers. It was not a family firm but had been originally set up by his great, great grandfather.
That was 1981. By 1988, Howden had set up his own firm. After being forced to sell that in 1991 by a majority outside shareholder, he then set up his current business in 1994 with ‘‘three colleagues and a dog’’.
Howden ended up with the dog when his first wife left him. It was a handsome Weimaraner called Flight, the name Howden gave his Ollie Sangster-trained filly who finished second in the 1,000 Guineas last month.
‘‘I went for a walk in Scotland in the mountains and thought about what I wanted to do,” he says, recalling the days ››
Last month David Howden went close to fulfilling one of his racing ambitions to breed a Group 1-winning filly when the Ollie Sangster-trained Flight finished runner-up in the 1,000 Guineas.
It was a second top-level near-miss after the John and Thady Gosden-trained Running Lion ran second in last season’s Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp.
‘‘Choosing the fillies and racing them, choosing the mares and the stallions, to me that is something you can get passionate about,’’ Howden says. ‘‘Having a horse you have bred is another level of excitement over a horse you have just bought.’’
Flight, who could have the Coronation Stakes on her agenda at Royal Ascot, runs under the Cornthrop Bloodstock banner, which is responsible for five of Howden’s 17 mares.
It is a partnership between Howden and friend Nick Wheeler, who established the Charles Tyrwhitt shirt company. The Cornthrop name is an amalgamation of their two homes, Cornbury and Tythrop.
Howden raced Flight’s dam Run Wild. He says: ‘‘I owned her in a Tweenhills syndicate. She was a phenomenal horse and
before he started his insurance company. “I thought I want to create something with a different DNA and culture and around the people in it. Employee ownership was the route.
‘‘Today we have around 22,000 employees and 6,000 of those have equity in the business. We are one of the UK’s biggest employer-owned businesses and that culture of building something and people being involved takes us back to the breeding because I like that creation of things, of people being part of it and the feeling you are building something.’’
One thing Howden has certainly built is a strong relationship with Ascot since his company became an official partner in 2021.
In fact, he has become one of the stand-out sponsors of the sport outside of its traditional constituencies of bookmakers and bloodstock-related businesses.
He believes, for a partnership to be truly authentic, you must be fully immersed in it, hence he will be in Australia for the duration of the Lions tour.
Howden says: ‘‘I talk with the Lions about how we need to earn the right for our name to be on the jersey. If you are a rugby fan and you have Howden on there that’s okay, but if you think Howden has nothing to do with rugby and doesn’t care, it is almost more irritating than it is pleasurable.
“The same thing goes for racing. Yes, I am passionate about it so hopefully people believe I am genuine when I am sponsoring it, but for the business there must also be a financial reason to do it.”
convincingly won the 2020 Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket in Covid year.
‘‘We took her to Royal Ascot but she wasn’t ready for it. She was a bit highly-strung and never achieved what she should have, so I said to Nick when the syndicate ended that we should buy her.
‘‘Flight’s 1,000 Guineas run was so exciting. She was 28-1 so we had realistic expectations but hopefully now we can have an exciting summer with her.’’
Flight is by Siyouni. Light, her two-year-old half-sister by Night Of Thunder, is also in training with Sangster.
Bella Nouf, one of Howden’s foundation mares and dam of Running Lion, has a two-year-old Frankel colt in pre-training with Roger Marley and is in foal to Camelot.
He has a clutch of colts in partnership with Sheikh Fahad and China Horse Club, including the Andrew Balding-trained three-year-old Gladius, a winner on debut at Kempton in April.
Howden’s horses in training also include two jumpers with Ben Pauling, Bad and Davidoc, and a point-to-pointer with Phil Rowley, plus two horses in Australia.
Howden believes his background gives him a clear insight into what a sponsor wants, something he is not convinced all British racecourses grasp.
He has used this insight to attract a wide-ranging array of big-name backers not necessarily associated with equine sport to the Cornbury House Horse Trials, including Accenture, Aston Martin, Bank of America, Jetfly, JP Morgan, Mishcon de Reya, Novidea and The White Company.
Howden says: ‘‘I have the advantage of
“Ascot is the pinnacle of racing and we are the pinnacle of insurance”
being passionate about the sport, be it racing or eventing, but also being a businessman. Having that double lens allows me to think what it is I want to get out of sponsorship.
‘‘Maybe a bookie just wants their name up there as much as possible but for a lot of sponsors it won’t be about that. It will be about the experience, how they associate with another brand.
‘‘Is it a brand they like to be associated with? Lots of things that are very different from just a placard somewhere.
‘‘At Cornbury House Horse Trials, we
said, ‘Let’s have the most amazing, beautiful tents with wonderful fire-cooking, food from our farm, and all the fun of it so if you are not into eventing you are still having a great time’.
‘‘What’s the experience you are going to give your sponsors that they are going to say this is something special? I think racing needs to learn that lesson.’’
Howden’s satisfaction with his official partnership with Ascot and Royal Ascot can be measured by the fact that an agreement has been signed to extend the arrangement for another five years from 2026.
His company hosts conferences at the track and takes 4,500 employees to its two-day Christmas jumps fixture.
Howden continues: ‘‘Ascot is a fantastic British business, I would say it is the pinnacle of racing and we believe we are a great British business, the pinnacle of insurance. We are also an international brand in 55 countries around the world and Ascot is a very international brand. Anyone you want to talk to around the world will have heard of Ascot.
‘‘Royal Ascot is without doubt one of the ultimate corporate hospitality invitations you can get. If you invite a husband and wife to Royal Ascot, they are probably going to want to come. So, for the business that is really good.
‘‘When Royal Ascot is on, we run adverts but we don’t run Howden-only adverts, we run Howden and Ascot adverts. We are talking about that connection. It is not just us sticking our name on Ascot. We are embedded in a proper partnership.
‘‘I have had some really good feedback with people saying it is nice to see a British company and, to be blunt, not just another bookie getting behind racing.’’
Howden, whose company recently launched the Stud Employee Accident Benefit Scheme in association with the TBA, would now like to see the racing world get behind TAP, created to improve the transition of horses bred for racing into both competitive and leisure riding once their career in the sport is over.
It is a passion project for both him and daughter Jemima, a TAP trustee and now a full-time event rider who delivered one of her father’s proudest sporting moments when winning the CCI2*-S class event at Cornbury last year.
Launched in December 2024, TAP offers nationwide education and practical support to help new thoroughbred owners, tackling common misconceptions about
the breed as well as subsidising training opportunities.
A national network of 16 TAP coaches is now in place, with over 190 training days and 2,000 training opportunities across the UK annually.
Howden says: ‘‘If you are the son or daughter of an eventer or the son or daughter of a trainer, you don’t need help. It is all obvious to you. But there’s a huge amount of people out there who love the equine world and who don’t have that privilege.
‘‘We work very closely with organisations like Retraining of Racehorses, but I wanted to do something that was very specific around practical training.’’
Standing alongside TAP, Cornbury House Horse Trials will also host the inaugural Thoroughbred Eventing Challenge when £50,000 will be up for grabs, a prize put up by Howden’s friend
Jayne McGivern, owner of Dash Grange Stud.
Howden says some of Britain’s best-known event riders have their eye on the prize for the novice level class and hopes breeders, owners, trainers and racing fans will attend, especially to watch the concluding showjumping section of the event on September 12.
‘‘Anybody can win it. You just must be a thoroughbred registered with British Eventing and qualified to compete at a novice level,’’ Howden says.
‘‘I am sure lots of top riders are pretty sure they are going to win. Oliver Townend has told me a few times, ‘I am going to have that prize David’, and I am sure Laura [Collett] is keen too.
‘‘I am really trying to get TAP out into the racing world, saying, ‘Come on, get involved, what else can you do practically to help with this issue?’ I think it is being well-received.
‘‘I can see how you can expand and take it into other areas, do more around prize-money for ex-racehorses.’’
There is a similarity between how Howden operates his business and how he sees TAP. Both centre around empowerment and an opportunity to build and create, those two little words again.
He adds: “Like all these things, it takes a community of people to make a difference. It is no good one person or five. We must do things collectively and that collaboration is important.”
Regardless of whether it’s the Flat or jumps, Highflyer Bloodstock is never far from the action under both codes
Words: Tom Peacock
Anthony Bromley can only shrug his shoulders at the irony. As an up-and-coming bloodstock agent he couldn’t catch a break at buying a Flat horse but instead became the undisputed powerbroker behind the biggest names of the modern jumping era.
Now, through strange quirks of fate and fashion, he is managing something close to the best of both worlds, remade as an identifier of bargain two-year-old talent yet still centre stage at Cheltenham or Punchestown.
If the journey has meandered, there has
at least been a constant in his professional life. David Minton, with whom he departed a splintering British Bloodstock Agency to found Highflyer Bloodstock, has not only been a mentor and business partner but equally someone far too easily characterised as a dyed-in-the-wool National Hunt man.
“Minty was a Flat agent and did a lot of big stuff,” Bromley says.
“He was one of the early agents for Cheveley Park Stud and bought Centurius, the brother of Grundy for a fortune, a record European price.
“In the 70s, 80s, you couldn’t make a business out of the jumps market, there wasn’t enough value in the horses or enough going on. Minty used to always say his heart was in the jumps but the business side had to be Flat.”
Bromley, 56, whose parents Bill and Di Bromley ran Wood Farm Stud, has worked with his family friend since leaving school in 1987 and followed him to the BBA.
He was allowed to learn his trade and was supported by the agency in reconnaissance trips to France to look for young jumps prospects, an edge being exploited at the time by Martin Pipe.
“I remember I couldn’t get a deal done for ages but suddenly, after trying and trying, I think the first horse I bought was for Captain Tim Forster of all people,” he recalls.
“He was very poorly at the time, under treatment, but we got him on a flight to Paris, took him to the Aga Khan’s place and got him a nice horse called Lannkaran.
“When I said to people it was quite simple to do, I think they thought if poor
Anthony Bromley: agent has enjoyed top-flight success under both codes
old Captain Tim could do it… once it started, it snowballed.
“You could quantify some of the form with Martin Pipe’s horses, and when we went on our own in 2001, we’d had a lot of big French winners. Katarino won a Triumph Hurdle, Makounji had done well, Cenkos was an early one who was good for Andy Stewart. We were rolling.”
With Bromley developing links with many of Paul Nicholls’ owners and likewise Minton with Nicky Henderson, they would use the invaluable French network of the late David Powell to sign up a stream of Hall of Fame horses, from Kauto Star, Master Minded and Big Buck’s to Long Run, almost like shelling peas.
“There weren’t loads of players with big money to spend and you could feel pretty confident there were horses that had raced a number of times at Graded level, it was just a question of getting a price everyone agreed to,” he says.
“It wasn’t rocket science in some ways but it’s not to be underestimated what David brought to the table. We also had
clients that came with us, it was a yes or a no while you were on the phone.”
He sums up those unprecedented times. “I remember the Cheltenham Festivals in 2009 and 2010, Highflyer had sourced ten winners each time. You know it wasn’t easy but you probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now.”
Bromley reckons that was about the time that habits began to turn.
Emboldened Irish buyers wanted a piece of the French market and would go in hard for once-raced horses, just as they would for a point-to-point or bumper winner back home. The figures soon rivalled those he might offer for a proven Grade 1 horse like a Kauto Star.
Many more that might have raced are now bought from the field in France to be offered at store sales making, in Bromley’s view, his old hunting ground of middle-tier competition in the provinces somewhat weaker.
“The top, at Auteuil, is still very good,” he says. “The winners there are making huge bids but there also quite a lot more
owners who are passionate and wealthy in their own right, just like we have, so there aren’t as many for sale.
“I remember being there in early September. As soon as something wins one of those good three-year-old races that’s owned by a trainer, it’s like piranhas. One poor fella was just jumped on by about 20 English, French and Irish agents, demanding a price. You name it, we’ll find someone for it.”
For all that the operation would still purchase the odd Flat yearling for clients, Highflyer’s reputation for National Hunt excellence could be difficult to shrug off.
Bromley linked up with John Best for a time, even finding the 2007 juvenile Nunthorpe Stakes winner Kingsgate Native for just 20,000gns at the old Doncaster St Leger Sale.
“It opened no doors whatsoever,” he laughs. “In fact, the next season John did his own buying!”
Instead, it was a far older acquaintance that provided the necessary breakthrough. Minton adored the late David Nicholson, ››
staying with him for 34 consecutive Cheltenhams, and Bromley bonded with his long-time assistant Alan King, who was of a similar age.
The pair had bought some useful Flat horses together, such as Trouble At Bay and Salsalino, although they were overshadowed by Voy Por Ustedes and My Way De Solzen in King’s golden era of jumpers.
“It went quiet on the Flat for a while and then we resurrected it,” he says. “We couldn’t afford the form horses and we’d wondered if we could buy dual-purpose types at the breeze-ups.
“Chatez was the first one I bought when we came back to them, for about 20 grand off Thomond O’Mara’s Knockanglass, who later sold us [Group 1 staying star] Trueshan. It worked, it really did. Master Blueyes won an Adonis, Tritonic was really good at both; Trueshan only didn’t go jumping as he ended up being too good.
“Now, we’ve found the owners have quite enjoyed the Flat and we’re quite relaxed about the types we buy, they don’t have to make a jumper.”
Bromley has still continued to shop at the breeze-ups for King, who finds it more manageable to start receiving two-yearolds just as his jumpers are going out to summer grass. Another development, though, has been more significant to this latest chapter of his career.
“I think the success I had with Eve Johnson Houghton has catapulted me further because Kingy would still connect me to jumpers,” he explains.
“People still think of me just buying a
big slow horse like Trueshan as a Flat horse but Eve has showed we could buy fast sprinters like Chipotle, who won a Windsor Castle and cost ten grand.”
Bromley thanks the late syndicator Henry Ponsonby for that particular introduction.
“Henry was my biggest promoter,” he says. “He could exasperate you at times but we got on great and once he left me to
my own devices a bit, it went a lot better.
“He kept telling anyone that would listen, TV interviews, or a quote, that I was the best kept secret in Flat racing. He was a very sweet man and it was a very sad day when we lost him.
“Eve would say, ‘I don’t use agents, Dad and I do it,’ and Henry kept pestering her. One season, her best two would have been cheaply bought ones that I’d done
for Henry and, grudgingly, we did a sale together.
“I didn’t know what type of horses she liked, but I worked out which ones she was coming back to off my list, so I could put a tighter list to the next one. We don’t have much budget but she’s a great judge. I’m the blunt instrument and she fine tunes it. She’s also a good trainer, which is a massive help, and that makes you look better as a buyer.”
Bromley, who has also sparked a recent partnership with the Phil Cunningham and Richard Spencer axis, has found he sticks to similar principles with buying under each code.
Just as he would blanche at purchasing an Auteuil maiden winner for telephone numbers, so too is he pragmatic at the breeze-ups. He studies the recorded times but primarily so he can scratch the very fastest clockers from his list as they would be out of his price range.
Assessing the animal itself, across each auction, is his biggest interest.
“Perhaps I just look at it from a different angle,” he says.
“I’m one of the earliest agents at a sale
“I enjoy the logistical challenge of the Flat yearling game”
and I do annoy the likes of Bill Dwan at Castlebridge because I’m always asking when I can start seeing them. I don’t think I’ve got any master eye at it, but I put the legwork in.
“There are obviously a lot more Flat sales about, so you do get more choice –jumps is more concentrated and the stores are very well picked over – and it’s maybe harder to nick one these days.
“Sometimes I scratch my head as to why Flat yearlings can be so cheap but it can literally be just fashion of stallion. It is the same for foal sales over jumps but when you get to the store stage, the jumping people are after an individual.
“I think possibly that’s why I’m sourcing more of an athlete. I’ll forgive pedigree for the individual, I think. Maybe that’s what I’ve learned can cross over, it must do, as I’ve had quite a lot of success with cheap horses on the Flat.”
All but a few agents tend to specialise on one side or the other but none of this
‘Ying and the yang’
With their Shropshire family links going back generations, Anthony Bromley and David Minton’s bond is pretty much unbreakable.
This is not to say it is without its disagreements. Bromley remembers, for instance, trying to put the brakes on starting the Million In Mind trading syndicate in the early 90s.
Just when the avuncular, vastly popular Minton had began purchasing horses, Bromley became concerned his boss had nowhere near the number of prospective members as he believed he had recruited on the back of a sociable York Ebor meeting.
“Minty’s great for ideas, not so good on much written down,” Bromley remembers fondly.
“But he bought Beauchamp Grace, she won her first four juvenile hurdles and was favourite for the Triumph Hurdle.
“David Nicholson found us loads of people, then the second year Mysilv won the Triumph and it just took off.
“We were the ying and the yang, really. Minty is always very optimistic and I’m always the worst-case scenario, the half-empty bottle.
“But it’s worked well over the years and I’ve learned so much from him. We’re still doing the stores together, which are his favourite.”
As store season approaches, they will work them along with Highflyer’s third member, Tessa Greatrex.
“There could be 500 horses, a lot to
is to say Bromley has disappeared from jumping. He oversees the ‘Double Green’ string of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, who were happy to pay €155,000 for the Aintree Manifesto Novices’ Chase winner Impaire Et Passe but are generally quite circumspect in their buying and have a nursery system in operation in Ireland and France.
A mid-March double, with that team’s Jasmin De Vaux joined by Caldwell Potter for Nicholls and a syndicate including Sir Alex Ferguson and the late John Hales, meant that Highflyer purchases have now won more than 100 Cheltenham Festival races since the team’s genesis.
Ask Minton about which side he prefers and you would undoubtedly receive the same emphatic answer as it ever was. Yet when it was posed to Bromley, we should hope the response doesn’t turn his old friend apoplectic.
get seen,” Bromley says.
“Other agents get people to have first looks but we’ve got three really senior agents that are our first lookers. We’ll then look at the picks of the others in each of the barns, so you get it done quite quickly.”
Despite the trio acting for different trainers or owners, Bromley says that clashes are surprisingly rare.
“We’ve worked so closely together for so long, we know what we all like, and what their clients like,” he adds. “There might be no point showing this one to Minty and Nicky Henderson, but maybe Kingy and I should, or Tess has had a lot of success with Westerner, the likes of Cole Harden, so she’d better see that one.
“With stores there’s always another one round the corner. There’s no point falling out over one.”
“Different times of year I’d answer differently, I think it’s literally like that,” he says after a pause.
“The jumps, I’m more involved in the Grade 1s still, so jumps at heart but I thoroughly enjoy the logistical challenge of the Flat yearling game. It’s a puzzle to be unravelled in my mind.
“I can see why the late, great [BBA agent] Joss Collins loved the Flat yearlings. He’d follow the sun, to New Zealand or South Africa, just to do more yearling sales, and he absolutely hated the horses in training sales as he had to trust too many people.
“I couldn’t understand his addiction to the yearling sales at the time, I was the bookish, form man and loved the horses in training, but now it’s flip-flopped, gone full circle.
“I’m much keener on trying to unearth an unbroken gem.”
Gaurav Rampal wears many hats in the industry, whether it be bloodstock agent, shipper or auctioneer.
Regarded as one of India’s leading agents, he is a regular face at European sales, particularly at Tattersalls for whom he acts as Indian representative. Only last month his bloodstock work covered a deal with Australian agent David O’Callaghan to acquire Japanese Grade 1 winner Killer Ability for stud duty at Nanoli Stud in India.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Rampal is also the brainchild behind ‘The Horseman Way’, a programme that uses horses to foster leadership skills within the working – particularly corporate –world. Fully fledged in India with the help of various stud farms, it is now on the verge of a launch in this part of the world aided by the assistance of Eileen Harte of Keith Harte Bloodstock. Aside from buying and selling thoroughbreds, Harte has branched out into mentorship roles herself, nurturing young talent and coaching people within the equine industry through her own ‘Therapeutic Coaching’ venture.
Launching ‘The Horseman Way’ to a British audience is the logical next step, especially in light of the momentum behind it in India where it has been in operation for just over two years.
In a nutshell, the programme consists of a workshop for a maximum group of 12 people hosted in an outside space using several activities that requires interaction with horses. As perceptive animals, the idea is that horses provide participants with intuitive feedback.
Literature on the programme outlines that “unlike traditional coaching methods, where feedback is often subjective or abstract, horses give clear, real-time responses that are free of bias”. It goes on to say: “This direct feedback helps leaders understand how they are perceived by others and enables them to make conscious, impactful changes in their leadership style”.
Rampal takes up the story. “I’m not from a horsey world and initially it was a struggle to make a living in bloodstock, so I survived by teaching,” he says. “And I began to think that a lot
of this could be taught better by using horses.
“It took me about ten years to build the programme. We use three locations mainly around Delhi and Pune, and some stud farms in India have partnered as infrastructure – they believe in it and have seen the results.
“The participants interact with horses and they learn a lot metaphorically. We work with three
horses who are roaming the space. We call this ‘unbridled transformation’. For example, a bridle is used to control the horse and where there is control, there is fear and mechanics. And if you extrapolate these traits in an organisation or relationship, then there is a forced way of leadership.
“A workshop consists of around eight activities. Others in the group observe and give feedback – you might be thinking one thing about your actions but the others might be thinking very differently about it.
“For these horses to co-operate with you, what comes into play is your true presence. The horse is a flight animal, hardwired to run for survival. Humans are predators, hardwired to hunt for survival. It’s the only combination of a prey and a predator that shares a trusted bond. Horses pick up on emotions so through them we work on emotional intelligence, which is much needed in leadership. Empathy
comes out powerfully in this because it requires you to think from a horse’s perspective. How is the horse going to react? Then you have to move to a situation where you deprioritise from yourself and move over to the horse. Because when you are conflicted, horses usually avoid you.”
He adds: “There is an interesting study using a model by Albert Mehrabian that says 93 per cent of effective communication is non-verbal. Working with horses is obviously working non-verbally. So it’s how you are presenting yourself, your empathy, your compassion. Extrapolate these things and that’s where people start to freely express in an organisation – and that’s when creativity and innovation comes in.”
There is weight to the idea that such an approach has the potential to be more beneficial than ever before, given we’re in an era that is heavy on technology and is likely to become more reliant on artificial intelligence.
“We make a strong claim,” says Rampal. “With The Horseman Way, we are working in a space that is plugging in the gap being created by technology and AI, namely the loss of meaningful human connection. When humans feel seen and understood, they are in a good space to work. There is a massive economic impact to this; according to the State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report from Gallup Inc., the cost of disengaged employees in the world amounts to $8.8 trillion.”
Each participant receives a detailed analysis following the workshop as well as a brief follow up in the immediate days after. “The reaction of the horses, feedback of the team, interactions with the team and self feedback –a combination of all of that,” says Rampal.
Rampal’s association with Keith and Eileen Harte is a lengthy one that stems from his use of their Braintree base as a quarantine facility. Eileen’s experience in the coaching world, which has taken in a position as mentor with Women in Racing alongside the launch of her own coaching business, made her an obvious candidate to take on the challenge of introducing the
Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editor
programme to a British audience.
“I knew about the method and had helped a friend who was training in it but it was new for me,” she explains.
“But then I realised that I’ve been using it all my life without knowing it.”
The programme has been trialled in Britain for the past year but is now not far off from being launched officially.
“We’ve taken our time to set it up so it’s done properly,” she says.
“We are registering with Equestrian Assisted Services [a membership body that supports human and equine participants across education, therapy and other therapeutic activities]. There are a lot of programmes out there but not so many to cater for the management bespoke corporate teams. This programme suits everybody in a corporate situation – but it can also be tweaked. It’s impossible to attend one of these sessions without learning a new skill or something about yourself that will help in the office.”
Although many of these workshops are held in a bloodstock environment, the time hasn’t come yet for it to be exposed to the racing or bloodstock industry – for now at least.
“It would be wonderful to bring it into the bloodstock world,” says
“It’s impossible to attend one of these sessions without learning a new skill”
Harte. “The feedback we’ve had from participants with equestrian knowledge is that it’s just as transformative. They go in with a perception of how they’ll
interact with the horses, and sometimes there’s an overconfidence or an ego there, and it’s never how it works out. Speaking personally, I would have been one of those people and it’s certainly changed the way I deal with horses on a day to day basis. You just look at them differently and inward at yourself differently.”
In the meantime, coaching is keeping Harte busy day-to-day. In keeping with other walks of life, the idea of incorporating such programmes into different aspects of the industry has grown in popularity in recent years –and Harte’s own experience is reflective of its increasing importance.
“The sessions are really a form of emotional intelligence reboot,” she says. “It’s become really busy, which is great. But it’s about the next generation really. They understand the importance of support and communication in the office, and the importance of empathy as a leader.”
Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent referred to a properly smashed glass ceiling when reflecting on the first sale of a £1 million horse at Doncaster.
Changing hands during Europe’s oldest breeze-up auction, the colt at the centre of this groundbreaking moment was a son of Mehmas consigned by Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm and knocked down to Godolphin. Mehmas’s masters, the O’Callaghan family of Tally-Ho Stud, will have been as proud as the parents of a star pupil by the sale’s conclusion, for progeny by their stallion set record prices on no fewer than three occasions during the one-day auction.
It was mid-morning when a Mehmas filly consigned by Kilminfoyle House Stud created a new high for the sale when bought by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for £650,000. Little more than half an hour later a Cheveley Park Stud-bred son of Mehmas consigned by Tally-Ho was sold for £720,000 to Anthony Stroud representing Godolphin, and then, late in the session, Doncaster’s first seven-figure colt gave the Goffs team a result that will live long in their memories.
It would have been an added high for auctioneer Henry Beeby – who is also CEO of Goffs – had he been able to share the moment with his father, Harry, who had been a driving force in the development of the company’s UK division primarily while it was named Doncaster Bloodstock Sales. In Kent’s
post-sale summary he said the late Chairman, who died in October 2021, had dreams that his company would sell a Derby winner and a £1m horse. The search for a Derby winner continues, but the £1m monkey has been shed and sent to the jungle of bloodstock sales history and statistics.
Not that this auction relied solely on Mehmas and his triumphant trio to carry it, for a Kodi Bear colt from Woodlands Lodge – and yet another big-money buy for Godolphin –achieved a sum of £500,000, which equalled the sale’s previous high, and there were record figures across the board. Turnover of nearly £12m was up for the third year running and 12 per cent ahead of the aggregate in 2024, while the average gained 35 per cent at £84,272 and the median rose four per cent at £37,500.
Kent was happy to emphasise the sale’s ability to produce Royal Ascot winners and said that had been a factor in pulling together a global set of buyers, and he also thanked the vendors who entered some quality two-year-olds. It is a chicken-and-egg situation in which well-heeled buyers will only attend if they sense some stars are available, and by the same
token vendors will only present jewels if they feel the right buyers will be present. On this occasion the two entities came together.
Walsh was happy to say the top lot, who had been foaled by the stakesplaced Shamardal mare Rapid Reaction, was not hers and that she had been asked to consign him by a Scandinavian/Eastern European syndicate who had bought him for €140,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale.
The Tally-Ho-consigned £720,000 colt was foaled by Pivotal mare Boost, a winning daughter of champion two-year-old filly Hooray, while the £650,000 Mehmas filly who now holds the number one position as the most valuable of her sex to sell at Doncaster, was bred at Newsells Park Stud out of the unraced black-type producer Atlantic Drift. Michael Fitzpatrick had bought the filly under his J C Bloodstock banner for £82,000 at the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale.
While that was a very notable pinhooking triumph for Fitzpatrick, a better one – and certainly more romantic – revolved around the £500,000 Kodi Bear colt who had
been bought by Danielle and Johnny Hurley as a yearling at the Orby Sale for just €9,000. The Hurleys, whose Woodlands Lodge operation is based in County Cork, compiled a team of just four breezers for this year’s round of auctions.
Blandford Bloodstock became the sale’s leading buyer through ten purchases for a total sum of £2.6m while Tally-Ho Stud’s sizeable draft resulted in 15 sales for nearly £1.8m and meant that farm took leading vendor honours.
Mehmas had numbers on his side and took the position of top sire, although with his 14 sold lots making an average of £262,500 – off an advertised covering fee of €50,000 –he deserved it.
Statistics
Sold: 140 (83% clearance)
Aggregate: £11,798,000 (+12%)
Average: £84,272 (+35%)
Median: £37,500 (+4%)
Top lots Sex/breeding
C Mehmas - Rapid Reaction
C Mehmas – Boost
F Mehmas - Atlantic Drift
C Kodi Bear – Legitimus
F Sioux Nation - Restless Endeavour
A week after enjoying a rousing breeze-up sale in Doncaster, Team Goffs was in action at Punchestown where this sale took place midway through the Festival.
With a quality catalogue dominated by Irish point-to-pointers, it too produced buoyant trade, underlining the message that whatever the type of horse – be they foals, breezers, breeding stock or jumpers – there is strong demand and good prices to be gained for quality stock. On this occasion it also resulted in a rare and wonderful 100 per cent clearance rate, albeit such specialist, post-racing auctions are kept tight on numbers.
This one involved 24 lots who generated nearly €4.1m in turnover, up 40 per cent. The average price gained five per cent at £170,625 while the median rose 16 per cent to €162,500.
The star act, and one that was
widely predicted, was the choicelybred seven-year-old Aurora Vega, a daughter of Walk In The Park and brilliant racemare Quevega. Like her dam, Aurora Vega has benefited from being under the care of Willie Mullins, who trained her to win a Grade 1 mares’ hurdle at Fairyhouse in April for her owner-breeders, the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate. Headed by Ger O’Brien, it had bought Quevega as a filly after she had won over jumps in France and is now breeding from her, but with several of her daughters on the ground they felt able to part with this prized asset.
She was duly knocked down for £450,000 to Gerry Aherne, a member of the Coolmore Stud team and who fended off interest from Mullins and his advisor Harold Kirk.
The conveyor belt of talent which has steadily flowed from the stable of Minella Hotel’s John Nallen gained another profitable result when Minella Machine was sold to agent Mags O’Toole for €350,000. A four-year-old son of Blue Bresil, Minella Machine had been bought for €62,000 at last year’s Goffs Arkle Sale and then been trained by Nallen to win a Curraghmore point-to-point on debut.
m
Noir 4 g Cokoriko - Fleur De Sel De Re
A busy day at the Park Paddocks sales venue saw 162 breezers and 94 horses in training walk the ring.
Neither section would pretend to be from the top echelon, but the trade for breeze-up two-year-olds proved steady enough and there was good trade for horses who scored on looks, breeding and their ability to gallop. In his closing statement, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony referred to a record number of horses who sold for 50,000gns or more (42) and also to the median mark of 30,000gns, which matched the previous best and was up 11 per cent. He could also have made mention of the four points rise in clearance rate to 80 per cent.
Thwarted on Aurora Vega, Mullins and Kirk bought Johnny Fogarty’s Dromahane debut winner Wyoming Line for €275,000. A son of top French jumps sire Doctor Dino, he had been picked up by master pinhooker Walter Connors in France for €47,000 as a foal, but failed to sell when reoffered as a store. Fogarty’s winner-finding Wexford stable gave the horse’s profile an improved complexion and Connors was in profit.
Fogarty does not race-ride – he’s too tall – but others among his point-to-point training and trading colleagues combine riding and training to good effect, with few better than Rob James. He rode the Alan King-trained Baron Noir to win that afternoon’s bumper on the Punchestown card – runner-up El Cairos had been knocked down for €200,000 at this sale 12 months earlier – and then sold four-year-olds Lazare De Star and Princess Day for €190,000 and €170,000 to O’Toole and Tom Malone respectively. On Baron Noir he carried the colours of the Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate, named after the former jump jockey who was joined at the ring by his business ally Dave Crosse.
Fehily and Crosse have tapped into a successful form of racing ownership and become frequent buyers at sales of this type. On this occasion they left with six horses costing a combined sum of €900,000 and headed by four-year-old Midtown Manhattan, a winner for Colin Bowe’s stable when making a successful point-to-point debut, and duly sold for €205,000.
Statistics
Sold: 24 (100% clearance)
Aggregate: €4,095,000 (+40%)
Average: €170,625 (+5%) Median: €162,500 (+16%)
Taking a minor dip was the average price, which was clipped six per cent. Eleven breezers had made a six-figure sum in 2024, compared to eight at the most
recent edition.
Top-lot pride went to a Calyx filly who will join Yorkshire-based trainer Richard Fahey after being knocked down to Middleham Park Racing. Vendors Don and Paul Commins of Albany Stud bred the filly out of Lamsa, an Invincible Spirit filly bought for just 3,200gns in 2016 as a twice-placed four-year-old. Off that investment her stock did not have to sell for big money to make her a wise investment, but after some reasonable sales the winners started coming and resulted in the six-figure pay-out for which every breeder dreams.
The dreams for Middleham Park must now include Royal Ascot, and the same syndication operation gained another fast breezer who could head to that meeting
with its purchase of a Havana Grey filly for 100,000gns. David and Mick Easterby will orchestrate the next stage of the filly’s career after she was bought out of Jerry Horan’s Ballynure Park Stud.
Horan had bought the filly after she failed to sell as a yearling at Book 2, but after a haematoma was cleared up she made big strides. Horan and partners Tradewinds Stud also gained 75,000gns for a Sottsass filly bought at Baden-Baden for €22,500, but this was one of many excellent pinhooks.
Michael and Stephen Byrne of Knockgraffon Stud sold a Ten Sovereigns colt on behalf of breeder Michael Downey for 150,000gns, and they also gained 92,000gns for a Lope Y Fernandez filly bought for a humble 8,000gns at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale. The Byrnes left Newmarket as leading vendors at the sale after gaining 362,000gns and clearing their draft of four breezers.
Mehmas can do no wrong in the minds of breeze-up buyers, and one of his sons made 145,000gns after being consigned by Gary Halpin and Sean Davis of GS Bloodstock. The buyer was Libyan Omar
Esmil Ghrghar.
Twelve months ago a dispersal of stock owned by John Dance gave the Horses-inTraining section a handy injection of talent, and without such a draft trade on this occasion was less bouncy. Dance’s draft accounted for 53 sold lots, boosting the catalogue size to almost 200 horses, by far
• Much is made of the importance to horseracing of leading owners such as Godolphin, Shadwell, Coolmore, Juddmonte, and, increasingly, Amo Racing. Yet at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, buyer Tom Palin of syndication specialists Middleham Park Racing unintentionally reminded us that multimember operations are significant too. After buying two fillies for a combined 255,000gns, he revealed: “That brings us up to 134 horses for around 1,200 clients.”
That is a lot of horses who contribute to the livelihoods of 11 trainers (according to Middleham Park’s website) and their staff, not to mention other beneficiaries such as feed merchants, farriers, vets, transporters and sales companies.
This would be a good year for Middleham Park to find some big-race winners for it has reached the landmark of being 30 years old.
Top lots Breeze-Up
Sex/breeding
F Calyx - Lamsa
the biggest in the sale’s fairly brief history. Last year’s 142 offered lots returned to a more typical 94 at the latest edition with the result that turnover was almost certain to fall and duly dropped 30 per cent to just over 1.4m gns. The average was down 46 per cent at 16,776gns, while the median lost 60 per cent at 8,750gns. Horses in
HIT statistics
Sold: 86 (91% clearance)
Aggregate: 1,442,700gns (-30%)
Average: 16,776gns (-46%)
Median: 8,750gns (-60%)
Breeze-Up statistics
Sold: 129 (80% clearance)
Aggregate: 5,045,500gns (+1%)
Average: 39,488gns (-6%)
Median: 30,000gns (+11%)
C Ten Sovereigns - Impressive Victory
C Mehmas - Orange Blossom
C Havana Grey - Mandaza
F Coulsty - Pacolita
Top lots HIT Name/age/sex/breeding
Bloodstock
Veblen Good 3 g Starspangledbanner - Pious Alexander Consign
Cast Party 3 f Sea The Stars - Fabulist
Close Envoy 3 g Lope De Vega - Living In The
Omar Esmil Ghrghar/Global Equine
Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock
Stroud Coleman Bloodstock
training sales are prone to wild swings in the figures due to variations in the quality of stock from one year to the next, and whereas six horses sold for a six-figure sum at last year’s sale, just one eased into that territory at the latest staging.
The horse who made that valuation, three-year-old Veblen Good, was bred at Mountarmstrong Stud and raced for that establishment’s O’Callaghan family as a two-year-old when he won at Wolverhampton from Karl Burke’s Yorkshire stable. Having been gelded in the autumn he ran a fine race when a close second to an unbeaten rival on his season’s debut, prompting Burke to ensure he returned to his yard with a bid of 110,000gns and a new ownership plan in mind.
In a shrinking world, it is no surprise when Australian interests make a mark at European auctions, as they have at this sale in recent years. The second highest valuation was made by the Sea The Stars filly Cast Party, who entered the ring as a Southwell winner for John and Thady Gosden and was knocked down to agent Matt Houldsworth for 90,000gns on her way to a place with Queensland trainer Stuart Kendrick.
Seven days before this sale, one of its graduates, Godolphin’s Ruling Court, won the 2,000 Guineas, which was a timely flag for an auction that barely needs one.
It should be pointed out that Ruling Court was a bit special for he cost €2.3m, a European record for a breezer and one that meant he was in a rarefied bubble that only very few buyers could afford.
Whether his Newmarket win counted for anything when trade opened at this one-day sale of breezers is hard to judge, but trade rose again, keeping it at the head of European sales of its type and providing another rousing set of figures for Arqana and its clients.
Turnover of €27.5m was up 25 per cent, there was a 22 per cent improvement in the average figure which inched past €200,000 for the first time in the event’s history, and the median jumped 20 per cent, figures which keep the sale a shortneck ahead of the Tattersalls Craven Sale, which this year also enjoyed a big rise in the figures.
If Ruling Court influenced any owner to invest at the latest sale it will have been the man who pays his
training fees, Sheikh Mohammed of Godolphin, and he certainly made his presence felt once again when purchasing three lots for a combined sum of just over €3.5m. The trio were headed by a €1.9m Night Of Thunder
colt who headed trade and created a memorable pinhook for Cormac Farrell. Under his Curragh-based CF Bloodstock banner he had bought the same horse for 90,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale. This
colt received a timely boost of sorts, for it will have been no harm to his valuation that paternal half-sister Desert Flower had landed the 1,000 Guineas just ahead of the sale in the colours of Godolphin.
The dam of any top lot is worth a mention, and in the case of this €1.9m beauty especially so, for he was the final foal of Date With Destiny, a one-off mare being the sole progeny of the brilliant Guineas winner George Washington. Date With Destiny, who was owned by Newsells Park Stud, died last year at the age of 16 having foaled Group 3 winner Beautiful Morning and three other successful foals.
Four horses sold for a seven-figure
sum, with three making exactly €1m.
The first was a first-crop colt by Maxfield – a son of Street Sense standing at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Kentucky – and who was sold to Godolphin by Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm. Williamson had bought his horse for $70,000 as a Keeneland September yearling – he also sold Ruling Court last year.
Anthony Stroud bought both seven-figure lots for Godolphin, but he also purchased a €1m filly by Sioux Nation for Bahraini client KHK Racing, in the process generating a huge mark up for Roderic Kavanagh’s Glending Stables, which had bought her for €48,000 at Arqana’s V2 yearling sale.
Coolmore’s MV Magnier had been
• Anthony Stroud believes a review is needed of the way in which online buyers at Arqana make bids.
Speaking at the company’s breeze-up sale and after a ten-minute duel with an online bidder for a €1m Sioux Nation filly, Stroud said: “It was a very protracted bidding session. I think the fact that online bidders are able to go up in numerals of ten thousands when the price is over half a million needs to be reviewed. It’s very difficult for the auctioneers and it slows the whole auction down.”
• Given inflation you would expect a bloodstock auction’s key figures to rise over a ten-year period.
Yet the rise in credibility and popularity of breeze-up sales – carried on a stream of superb racecourse results – can be gleaned from looking at Arqana’s statistics. Ten years ago the average price of horses sold at its annual one-day breeze auction was €92,000. This year that figure has risen 120 per cent to just over €203,000, while in the same period the median has doubled from €60,000 to €120,000.
Not that 2015 was a poor year for Arqana breezers – in fact it was a record year.
Turn the clock back further – to 2005 – and the same auction managed an average of nearly €21,000 and a median of €16,000. Steady rises have followed in almost every year since, even the Covid-hit 2020 sale.
A remarkable success story for the world of breeze-ups.
Top lots
Sex/breeding
C Night Of Thunder - Date With Destiny
C Maxfield - American Victory Oak Tree Farm
F Sioux Nation – Brioniya Glending Stables
C Siyouni – Soteria
C Blue Point - Glowing Star
C Wootton Bassett – Zargos
F Mitole - Vigui’s Heart
C Justify - Oaks Lily
C Practical Joke – Untraveled
C Night Of Thunder - Last Waltz
Kerri Radcliffe: came away with a Justify colt destined for the US at €725,000
thwarted on the top lot, but left with a prized Siyouni colt who completed the line-up of millionaires. Willie Browne’s Mocklershill sold this one having bought him for €290,000 at Arqana’s October Sale.
Other big-money buys included a €900,000 Blue Point colt from Yeomanstown Stud and sold to Godolphin, plus an €820,000 son of Wootton Bassett who joins Ed Walker after being bought by Ed Sackville. Roger Marley sold this one via his Church Farm Stables.
Mocklershill ended the sale as leading vendor by aggregate having traded 12 lots for just over €2.9m, while Blandford Bloodstock was the leading buyer with ten purchases valued at slightly more than €3.7m. The pick on price was an €800,000 filly by Spendthrift Farm stallion Mitole.
Statistics
Sold: 138 (86% clearance)
Aggregate: €27,569,500 (+25%)
Average: €202,700 (+22%)
Median: €120,000 (+20%)
Godolphin
Stroud Coleman
Mocklershill Stables 1,000,000M V Magnier
Yeomanstown Stud
Church Farm Stables
Tally-Ho Stud
900,000 Stroud Coleman Bloodstock
820,000 SackvilleDonald
Blandford Bloodstock
Lynn Lodge Stud 725,000 Kerri Radcliffe
Moanmore Stables
Mark Grant
650,000 Godolphin
550,000 Blandford Bloodstock
Goffs UK Spring Store Sale
Store buyers gained their first dibs in the sweet shop at Doncaster in mid-May when Goffs UK staged this one-day auction.
Licensed trainers, their agents and the all-important point-to-point handlers/pinhookers prowled the grounds turning over prospects like beachcombers among rock pools, and while the day finished with no sense of booming trade the figures revealed a perfectly acceptable set of results. A slimmed-down catalogue, aimed at bringing quality to the fore, resulted in lower turnover, but a three per cent rise was achieved in the average price of £26,346, while the median was unchanged at £20,000.
Soaring stores were largely absent, with just one of the embryonic jumpers changing hands for a sixfigure sum – which compares to five last year – but that put the increased average price into an even better light. In a market where quality counts more than value, and a store short of size or pedigree power can be friendless, the bigger pool of talent to be found in June at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale and Goffs Arkle
Sale lay on the horizon as auctions no buyer would want to miss.
Add in Tattersalls Ireland’s July Store Sale and that is three opportunities for Irish pinhookers – particularly those who train pointers with a view to reselling after a run or two – to buy fresh stock in their back yard. Purchasing such horses in
Doncaster results in costs to get them home, costs which have risen since Brexit and which one member of their trade put at the best part of £1,000.
All the key members of their profession were in South Yorkshire, and some bought stores, but they found prices strong enough and were not keen to go one bid over.
• One day after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the first significant trade deals with Europe since Brexit came a Goffs press release with a similar announcement of détente.
It revealed a new partnership for its London Sale with France Galop, the regulator, organiser and promoter of horseracing across the Channel under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of the Budget and Ministry of the Interior. Starmer and others who voted for Britain to remain in Europe would surely have been impressed that a sale held in the centre of Britain’s capital city, in the grounds of Kensington Palace no less, should have cut a deal with an organisation that has such close ties to the French government.
Of course, Goffs is an Irish company (albeit with a UK division), and so forming a tie with a French entity, when both have headquarters within the European Union, can be viewed as friendly cooperation. What the British Horseracing Authority or Horse Racing Ireland make of it is unknown, but Goffs pointed out the French connection among buyers and vendors at the London Sale; last year’s £5m top lot, Sparkling Plenty, was offered by her French owner-breeder.
The deal will see Goffs sponsor the Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly in July.
A daughter of elite sire Doctor Dino took top-lot honours when changing hands for £120,000 to a bid from ambitious trainer Olly Murphy, a man who knows that you cannot win it if you ain’t in it. Having saddled a personal best 141 winners during the 2024/25 jumps season, he strides forward with Willie Mullins, Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls in his sights, and he said: “Like a football team, if you do well in the league you hope to do well in the transfer market.”
The daughter of Doctor Dino he purchased with his father, Aiden, was offered by Lakefield Farm’s John Bleahen, whose regular shopping trips to France – usually with brothers Niall or Hugh – had resulted in buying the
filly out of a field as a yearling.
Former jockey Jerry McGrath works the world of jump racing auctions with the energy of ambitious youth and he ended the sale as leading buyer with four gains for £240,000. The pick on price was an £85,000 Walk In The Park gelding offered by Willie and Mandy Bryan of Shropshire’s Worthen Hall Stables, although McGrath also invested £80,000 in a son of Order Of St George from Hegarty Bloodstock. The latter store was set for a place alongside the top lot at Murphy’s Warwickshire stables.
Dorset trainer Anthony Honeyball’s £85,000 bid secured a Passing Glance gelding from Will Kinsey’s Peel
and Olly Murphy
Bloodstock – Kinsey had bred and sold the same horse as a foal for €20,000, but happily consigned him again for the syndicate who bought him at that stage and had enjoyed a “right touch” – while two first-time consignors left with smiles after successful ring debuts.
Dash Grange Stud, which is home to Golden Horn’s owner Jayne McGivern, gained £75,000 for a son of Nathaniel bought by Megan Nicholls for father Paul, and £34,000 for a Jukebox Jury gelding bound for Murphy’s yard, while Luci Hughes sold a Crystal Ocean gelding for £56,000. Leading up for Hughes was her husband, three-time champion jump jockey Brian, whose father, also Brian, bred the horse at the family farm in Northern Ireland. Ryan Mahon bought this one for Dan Skelton.
*A summary of the horses-intraining and point-to-point sessions of Goffs UK’s Spring Sale will appear in the July issue.
Statistics
Sold: 133 (75% clearance)
Aggregate: £3,504,000 (-20%)
Average: £26,346 (+3%)
Median: £20,000 (0%)
The prominent role played in Europe by US-based Justify in recent seasons prompted me to wonder which American sire has the best record in Europe this century. Gone are the days when many of Europe’s top racehorses carried a USA or CAN suffix. In the 30 years from 1968 to 1997, no fewer than 15 Derby winners carried such a suffix headed by the likes of Sir Ivor, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Roberto, The Minstrel, Golden Fleece and Nashwan. In contrast, only two of the 25 this century – Kris Kin and City Of Troy – were bred in America.
Thanks in large part to Sadler’s Wells and his stallion descendants, Europe has become practically self-sufficient at providing its own Derby winners. However, the emergence of Justify, with the considerable backing of Coolmore’s European broodmare band, as a potent source with the necessary class and stamina to win top middle-distance races promises to add further to the successes of Kentucky-based stallions in European classics.
Since 2000 not many US stallions have been able to build sufficient representation to be judged fairly and Justify is a case in point with just 61 runners so far. In the same period only Giant’s Causeway, Street Cry, War Front, Johannesburg, Kitten’s Joy and More Than Ready have had more than 200
runners. And it is War Front that leads the group with 41 stakes winners (including 23 Group/Graded winners) from Street Cry and Giant’s Causeway. However, the current leader by stakes winners to runners is Justify with a strike rate of 16.4 per cent, which puts him close to the Galileo, Frankel and Dubawi stratosphere.
“War Front proved that it was possible to be effective in two regions”
The question now being asked of Justify is can he serve two distinct sets of breeders? Will major winners in Europe inevitably detract from his chances to produce top dirt runners? US breeders experienced this very issue in the recent past when Coolmore bought into Claiborne Farm’s War Front. This son of Danzig proved that it was possible to be just as effective in two regions – at least statistically
speaking. The Coolmore machine were very successful with War Front in Europe and produced all seven of his Group 1 winners here.
In all, War Front has sired 13.9 per cent stakes winners to runners in Europe and it is this son of Danzig that sets the standard for Justify and others to emulate. If, after nearly 300 of his runners have competed, Justify is still ahead of War Front, as he is now, he will have done extraordinarily well. It is also worth mentioning that his Groupwinner-to-runners score stands at 7.8 per cent, which is also just behind the big three European heavyweights.
Let’s not forget that War Front sired 18 further top-level winners outside of Europe and his stakes-winner-to-runner output stands at 13.6 per cent for North America. On the face of it this is a great accomplishment in its own right. In fact, no other American sire retired to stud this century can match it, and his 8.1 per cent Graded winners is only topped by the brilliant Gun Runner’s 8.5 per cent. Also, given the different black-type opportunity levels in each region, War Front’s 13.6 per cent in America is perhaps an even greater achievement than his European accomplishments.
In the case of Justify, we can already argue that he is more effective in Europe than America, siring ten stakes winners at a rate of 16.4 per cent from
runners, which places him right alongside Galileo, Frankel and Dubawi and ahead of War Front. Assessed by Group winners to runners, Justify’s 11.5 per cent score is level with Galileo and currently better than Frankel and Dubawi. That’s how good he is in Europe at present.
In America, meanwhile, whilst Justify is still an excellent sire with nearly ten per cent stakes winners from runners, there are 14 other stallions who have retired this century with higher scores, topped as I have already mentioned by War Front’s 13.6 per cent. And there are 20 sires with a better Graded winnerto-runner score than Justify’s 4.3 per cent. We may have to concede that the dams of his European runners are in all probability better-bred as a group than those producing all his American
starters, but the point still stands and if anything his European stats could be enhanced further given the colossal degree to which Coolmore and other major European breeders have supported him in the past few seasons.
The 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court is Justify’s 16th Group or Graded winner and eighth at the top level, which are at present split evenly between Europe and the US.
Given his meteoric start at stud, it is surprising that Ruling Court is Justify’s first and only Group or Graded winner so far from his third crop, having delivered eight in his first and seven in his second. However, we know that this is a common phenomenon for practically all commercial stallions these days. His first two crops are from books with 169 and 134 stakes horses or
producers respectively, while his third contained 97 and his fourth just 72. Since then he has impressed to such an extent that his tally of stakes horses and producers covered has climbed back to 130 in 2023 and 182 last year.
It might come as a surprise that Justify’s sire Scat Daddy is so high on our list. His untimely death meant he had barely more than 100 runners in Europe, but his tally of 16 stakes winners at 15.5 per cent from runners is outstanding, even more so when it includes two successful sire sons in No Nay Never, who is on course to be Europe’s best source of juvenile speed this century, and Sioux Nation. Through Justify and No Nay Never, Coolmore have surely succeeded in preserving the Scat Daddy and Johannesburg line long into the future.
Godolphin’s remarkable early May weekend, during which Sheikh Mohammed’s operation won the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas alongside the Kentucky Oaks and Derby, has set a bar for excellence that will be hard to rival for years to come.
The Coolmore team has pulled off the Guineas double on three occasions over the past decade, but you have to go back to 1952 to find the last owner, Calumet Farm, who landed both the Kentucky Oaks and Derby (courtesy of Hill Gail and Real Delight) in the same year. As for the Classic quartet, that sweep is unprecedented.
Between them, the winners are illustrative of the investment and different means by which Sheikh Mohammed has pursued success.
The 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court is the most expensive breeze-up horse ever sold in Europe, having cost €2.3 million out of last year’s Arqana May Sale. From the same nursery, Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm, that supplied Godolphin with its champion two-year-old Native Trail, he’s presented Coolmore with a superb advert with which to promote Justify; it wasn’t that long ago that Godolphin viewed Coolmore stallions as a no-go area.
Now in Ruling Court, they are in charge of a particularly valuable representative for Justify; while he is the second British Classic winner in as many years for his $250,000 sire after City Of Troy, more sobering is the fact that he is also the only Group/Graded stakes winner so far out of the stallion’s 2022 crop of 122 foals.
Later that same Guineas evening at Churchill Downs, homebred Sovereignty handed Godolphin a most coveted victory in the Kentucky Derby, powering through the slop to deny favourite Journalism. In the process, he provided his sire Into Mischief with a third win in the race after Authentic (2020) and Mandaloun (2022), enough to bring him level with the record held jointly by Virgil, Falsetto, Sir Gallahad III and Bull Lea, the last stallion to achieve the feat back in 1957.
Perennial champion sire Into Mischief is the king of Spendthrift Farm, his career having been developed off an early fee of $7,500 to today’s current high of $250,000. However, Darley deserve to take great pride in the fact that Sovereignty is yet another top-flight performer out of a
mare by its former flagship Kentucky stallion Bernardini, who has rapidly become one of North America’s premier broodmare sires. His dam Crowned, who died last year, joined Darley at a time when the operation was on a drive to target Bernardini’s progeny and indeed it took a bid of $1.2 million from John Fergsuon to secure her when she came up for sale as a yearling.
Bred by Betty Moran’s Brushwood Stable, Crowned was out of the 2007 Spinster Stakes heroine Mushka, a first-crop Grade 1 star for Empire Maker, but never made it to the track. Sovereignty is the best of her three foals by Into Mischief and is followed by a yearling colt by Nyquist, the mare’s final foal.
Crowned’s yearling purchase arrived during a period of major expansion for Godolphin, a move which took in the acquisitions of stallions such as Medaglia d’Oro, Street Sense and Hard Spun during the late 2000s.
Also added into the mix was the 2008 acquisition of the Stonerside Farm stock, which reaped an immediate reward in the form of Raven’s Pass. It is that particular package, originally cultivated to great effect in the US by Robert and Janice McNair, that sits behind Godolphin’s Kentucky Oaks heroine Good Cheer, appropriately the result of the Medaglia d’Oro - Street Sense cross. Both stallions
today remain stationed in a veteran capacity on Darley’s roster.
Medaglia d’Oro, who was also represented during that same weekend by the Grade 1 Turf Classic winner Spirit Of St Louis and Grade 2 scorer Nitrogen, joined Darley in 2009 from the short-lived Stonewall Stallions operation on a valuation reportedly in the region of $40 million. Now 26, the son of El Prado is still popular at a fee of $75,000.
Meanwhile, 1,000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower, by Kildangan Stud’s Night Of Thunder and out of Promising Run, is representative of yet another differing investment route as a direct descendant of American blue hen Somethingroyal via a family branch purchased out of Brazil.
Somethingroyal, the sixth dam of Desert Flower, produced two exceptional colts for her breeder Christopher Chenery’s Meadow Stud in Sir Gaylord and Secretariat. Sir Gaylord, by Turn-To, was the champion North American three-year-old of 1962 and later sired 1967 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Sir Ivor, while Secretariat remains revered by some as the best horse to grace North America by virtue of his Triple Crown success, capped by that 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes. At stud, he became a particularly effective broodmare sire, a role in which he was seen to good effect via stallions of the ilk of A.P. Indy, Gone West and Storm Cat.
Somethingroyal also produced the Grade 1-winning filly Syrian Sea.
The line responsible for Desert Flower, which stems from Swansea, a 1963-foaled Turn-To full-sister to Sir Gaylord, was not so productive until it reached Brazil. It was there that Swansea’s granddaughter Arbulus, by Liloy, produced Group 1 winner Aviacion (by the Shirley Heights stallion Know Heights) alongside a pair of Group 3 winners, Persane and Cerutti.
Several shrewd North American operators have long been well attuned to the durability and class that can be offered by the South American breed. Aviacion is one such example. She joined Darley’s Kentucky arm during the late 2000s and not long after produced Promising Run to Hard Spun. In keeping with several by her sire, Promising Run went on to advertise him to good effect on turf in Britain where she won six races from two to five years for Saeed bin Suroor, including the 2015 Rockfel Stakes and a trio of Group 2 races in Dubai.
Desert Flower is only the second foal out of Promising Run after Solario Stakes winner Aablan. Emerging with credit in this instance is the mare’s sire Hard Spun. One of the last sons of Danzig at stud, Hard Spun remains a very capable sire despite
having swung in and out of fashion over the years. He has a handful of sons at stud in Kentucky but it is as a broodmare sire that he is now starting to come into his own. At the time of writing he had 54 stakes winners to his credit in this department, led by Jeff Smith’s multiple Group 1 scorer Alcohol Free, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic (a leading young sire), high-class Japanese performer Danon Smash and now Desert Flower.
Desert Flower, of course, is yet another feather in the cap for Night Of Thunder, the 2014 2,000 Guineas winner and currently Dubawi’s leading son at stud. She leads the way among four stakes winners from his current crop of three-year-olds, bred in the first year that his fee leapt to €75,000 from €25,000. The quartet also comprises Juddmonte’s exciting filly Sunly, who captured the Listed Prix de la Seine at Longchamp on the same day as Desert Flower’s success at Newmarket, Coolmore’s now-retired Fairy Godmother, who looked a Group 1 winner in waiting when taking last year’s Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Listed scorer Tuscan Hills.
That fee hike for 2021 was indicative of a start that consisted of first-crop stars such as Highfield Princess (Prix Maurice de Gheest, Nunthorpe Stakes, Flying Five
French racing lost a valuable friend last month with the death of Henri Devin aged 71.
French bloodstock in particular has been the richer for the involvement of Devin alongside his wife Antonia at their Haras du Mesnil.
It was there that Devin, a breeder with a keen understanding of stock and bloodlines, developed Doctor Dino into a premier jumps stallion, so desirable that the son of Muhtathir today is fully booked on an annual basis at a fee of €24,000 – the highest figure ever commanded by a National Hunt stallion in France.
The Mesnil stallion roster is generally select in numbers but in turn that allowed Devin to throw his weight behind its incumbents. For example, not everyone would have cultivated Kaldounevees to such a high degree.
A Group 3-winning son of Kaldoun who stood early on for just Fr15,000, Kaldounevees rewarded Devin’s patronage by producing Terre A Terre, winner of the Prix de l’Opéra and Dubai Duty Free Stakes, and
Ange Gabriel, winner of the Hong Kong Vase and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. That success inspired some of the larger operations to take a chance on Kaldounevees, among them Godolphin for whom he sired the Group 2-placed Antiquities, subsequently the dam of its Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Victor Ludorum.
In typical Mesnil style, Kaldounevees’ daughters have been employed to great effect with Doctor Dino, to whom they have produced the high-class Flat performers Golden Legend (Group 3 winner), Rose Jaipur (Listed winner) and Physiocrate (second in the Prix de Diane). Each were Mesnil homebreds trained by their son Henri-Francis.
Devin also enjoyed great success with Turgeon, who was the world’s oldest active thoroughbred stallion when he died aged 33 in 2019. He was an excellent sire of jumpers, represented by the likes of Exotic Dancer, Pic d’Orhy and Ma Filleule.
More recently, Mesnil launched Champion Stakes winner Bay Bridge,
Stakes and Prix de l’Abbaye) and Thundering Nights (Pretty Polly Stakes). While his second and third crops (which remains headed by a pair of Listed winners in Tacarib Bay and Mystery Night) failed to keep pace with that bright start, matters have changed considerably since then.
His fourth crop boasts a current star in Choisya, winner of the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland, while his fifth contains Economics, last year’s Irish Champion Stakes winner who remains in training with William Haggas this season.
Economics is a particularly important member of Night Of Thunder’s Group 1winning sextet as the group’s sole male representative. Broken down, the stallion’s record consists of 39 stakes-winning fillies against 22 stakes-winning colts, so there is something of a filly bias – for now at least.
One interesting horse who could assist Economics in helping to alleviate that is Amo Racing’s Tuscan Hills, last year’s Listed Silver Tankard Stakes winner who wasn’t disgraced when midfield on his return in the Dante Stakes at York. Interestingly, he carries inbreeding to Urban Sea, a pattern found in eight of Night Of Thunder’s stakes horses overall, among them Isaac Shelby, Thunder Kiss, Mauiewowie and Night Tornado.
who covered over 100 mares in his first season last year, and Telecaster, winner of the Dante Stakes. The latter, a son of New Approach, is more of a dual-purpose proposition but he has several Flat winners to his credit from his first crop of three-year-olds. They include the highly-tried pair Cortolla and Quinteplus; true to form, they are Mesnil homebreds out of mares by Kaldounevees and are trained by Henri-Francis Devin.
Words: Laura Steley
As foaling units around the country close for the 2025 season and paddocks are filled with mares and foals happily living out, the question of whether we are doing all we can to support these foals during this rapid stage of development must be given due thought. Whether your establishment is producing youngstock to race or ultimately sell, the aim will be the same – to raise healthy, sound foals with the appropriate body weight for their conformation.
The precocious nature of the horse means foals are able to stand and be ready to move at speed within the first few hours of life. Their limbs may be around 90% of their adult length, however bone mineral content and body weight are around 17% and 10% respectively. This alone highlights the delicate balance required for optimal growth and bone development.
The equine skeletal system consists of approximately 205 bones and has many pivotal roles within the body, such as providing attachment points for muscles, protecting vital organs, storage and release of minerals, and production of red blood cells via bone marrow. It is one of the hardest bodily tissues and needs to be resilient and tough. This requires both rigidity and elasticity.
Around 30% of a mature horse’s bone consists of collagen, which provides flexibility. The remaining 70% consists of minerals, of which calcium is the most noteworthy. Although on the exterior bone looks to be ‘lifeless’, it is a very dynamic and complex tissue which is continuously remodelling throughout a horse’s life. Bone is always working – the entire calcium content of the skeleton is replaced every 200 days! The ability to store minerals is essential, for example, a lactating mare can call on calcium reserves for her milk if her diet is lacking. No other bodily tissue is capable of such vast growth and absorption, thus allowing for outstanding repair (if damaged) and adaptation to stress (exercise). The four
main types of bone are long, flat, short, and irregular.
In the unborn foal there are two main processes of ossification (bone formation): intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification. For this topic, we are more interested in endochondral ossification, which takes place predominantly in the long bones, such as the femur, cannon and tibia. In the embryo, bone begins as soft cartilage; osteoblasts then invade the cartilage and lay down the hard bone matrix. Mineral salts are placed into the matrix – this process is called calcification, which is usually complete in most bones prior to the foal being born. Once formed, the bone grows in both diameter and length.
The increase in bone length occurs via growth plates, which are two narrow
“Calcium and phosphorus are essential in building healthy, strong bones”
bands of cartilage. The side of the plate closest to the end of the bone will continually grow cartilage. The other side of the plate, closest to the shaft of the bone, will continually attract osteoblasts which in turn convert to bone. Over time, the osteoblasts catch up with the cartilage and once the bone is the required length (not diameter) the growth plate will close.
Growth plates will close at differing times; the lower radius and ulna, carpal, short pastern, long pastern, fetlock and lower cannon will close by or around the age of two years. The coffin bone is already fused/closed at birth. Although the cannon bone will stop growing in length at around two years of age, it will continue to increase in diameter
until approximately six years old – this is also true of some other bones.
Louise Jones, nutritionist at Connolly’s RED MILLS, explains: “At birth, the foal has only 17% of its total BMC [bone mineral content], rising rapidly to 68% at six months and 76% by 12 months. The total mature BMC is often not reached until the horse is six years of age. By comparison, a horse can reach up to 94% of its mature height and 65% of mature weight by 12 months.”
The closure of growth plates is affected by sex hormones. Colts and fillies will grow at similar rates until puberty (2-3 years old), where, in colts, testosterone inhibits plate closure, allowing the individual to continue growing. Oestrogen does the opposite and promotes the closure of plates, slowing fillies’ growth down.
Having considered the careful balance and intricate process of healthy bone formation, it is clear to see how issues can sometimes arise whilst raising our thoroughbred youngstock. It is widely accepted that controlled exercise alongside balanced nutrition is important for the development, strength and remodelling ability of bone in the young horse.
Mechanical loading strengthens bone during growth, therefore the appropriate amount of exercise during a horse’s early years has been shown to have lifelong benefits on skeletal strength and resistance. The formation of functional bone in young horses requires the delivery of the right material in the right proportions. If any factor is disturbed, the possibility of poorly formed or abnormal bone exists. The essential nutrients for bone health are protein, minerals including calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and vitamins A, D and K.
The bony matrix of which minerals are deposited onto is made from the protein collagen. Protein is also essential in the development of joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscle. When it comes to protein, quality, not just quantity, is vital. Protein is made up of non-essential and essential amino acids;
the latter cannot be made in the body and must be provided in the diet. Good quality protein is rich in essential amino acids such as lysine and methionine, and it plays an important role in the development of strong, healthy bones in young horses.
It had long been believed that an excess of protein in the diet could be a determining factor in the development of developmental orthopaedic diseases, but current scientific research indicates this is not the case. We do know that an inadequate supply of these limiting amino acids will have adverse effects on bone development. Forage alone, particularly preserved forages such as hay or haylage, are unlikely to provide youngstock with sufficient levels of high-quality protein. Consequently, a suitable hard feed will be required to ensure optimal provision of essential amino acids in the overall diet.
It is a well-known fact that the minerals calcium and phosphorus are essential in building healthy, strong bones. They work in conjunction for bone mineralisation and therefore
the ratio between the two is very important. Jones explains: “Imbalances in the Ca:P ratio can result in the removal of calcium from the skeleton and may lead to bone demineralisation. The minimum Ca:P ratio in the diet should be 1.5:1, with the ideal ratio being at least 2:1 for young horses.
“It is important to note that adding other feedstuffs, such as chaffs or cereals, to the horse’s feed can alter the Ca:P ratio in the overall diet. For example, adding oats, which are high in phosphorus, will reduce the calcium to phosphorus ratio and this may adversely affect calcium absorption. On the other hand, including some alfalfa, which is high in calcium, can help to increase the Ca:P ratio if required.”
Another noteworthy mineral involved in bone formation, as well as joint and connective tissue development, is Copper. It is integral in the production of the enzyme Lysyl oxidasem. This enzyme is responsible for the crosslinking of collagen and therefore formation of new bone via the collagen
matrix. Zinc is similarly involved in cartilage production and conversion. Studies have indicated increased bone mineral density in horses supplemented with zinc (fed within a balanced mineral package) compared to unsupplemented horses. Similarly to protein, forage is often low in copper and zinc. One of the most useful, albeit sometimes over looked tool is forage analysis. If you can routinely test your forage and pasture it will provide you with the full nutritional picture for any horses in your care. These results can then be analysed and taken into consideration by your nutritionist when deciding on a concentrate feed.
There are many different vitamins and all play critical roles in a horses overall bodily health. The three main vitamins known to contribute to bone health are A, D and K. Jones “Vitamin A is involved in the development of osteoblasts – the cells responsible for laying down new bone—whilst vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption. More recent research has also shown that feeding vitamin K improves ››
›› the production of osteocalcin, the hormone responsible for facilitating bone metabolism and mineralisation. Furthermore, research in two-year-old thoroughbreds suggests that feeding vitamin K may help increase bone mineral density and thus potentially be beneficial for decreasing the incidence of sore shins. Although standard feed manufactures include vitamin A and D in their feeds, a few also now include vitamin K.”
The delicate balance between skeletal development, muscle mass, and bodyweight in the early years makes it one of the most common times for skeletal abnormalities to occur. Such abnormalities are classified as developmental orthopaedic diseases (DODs); this umbrella term came around in the mid 1980s to encompass all orthopaedic problems seen in the growing youngstock and includes epiphysitis, congenital or acquired flexor limb deformities, osteochondrosis dissecans and ‘wobblers’. These conditions can affect bone strength and quality and, ultimately, soundness. Thoroughbreds are at an increased risk of DODs due to their comparatively fast growth rates.
DOD is often caused by one or a combination of factors:
- Genetics will play a role in determining an individual’s nutrient absorption capabilities and growth rates.
- Poor conformation will predispose a foal to developing certain DODs, due to incorrect loading through the limbs etc.
“Keep meal sizes small and split the daily ration into as many feeds as possible”
- Incorrect nutrition, whether excessive or inadequate, will have a detrimental effect on a youngster’s growth rate and skeletal soundness. Exercise and trauma often go hand in hand; an overweight foal with restricted exercise is equally at risk as is a lighter foal with increased exercise opportunity, e.g. concussion from hard ground.
Horses fed on high-starch diets, often seen during foal sales prep, are high risk. A diet high in starch will create an increased glycaemic response, thus interrupting glucose and insulin metabolism. Starch in higher levels is not easily digested, which will only add to the already hard working and developing digestive system of the youngster. Research suggests that large meal sizes with higher starch levels will increase the likelihood of growth complications.
When trying to control starch intake, it is wise to choose a cube rather than a mix which can then be used in conjunction with a stud balancer. Always keep meal sizes small and split the daily ration into as many feeds as possible.
Genetically prone fast-growing horses are often at greater risk, as bone density is thought to be decreased under faster growing conditions, as opposed to a slower growth rate. Clearly, we cannot alter genetics, but we can make sure we are as informed as possible. Where possible, records could be kept and consulted regarding the offspring of that particular mare. Over a period of time, correlations could become apparent.
Horses that have not been receiving ››
›› a steady supply of correctly balanced nutrients, for example a foal which had been on restricted exercise and feed before being turned out onto spring grass, are at risk. Growth rates will have slowed down originally, but once restrictions are lifted and their nutrient intake increases, compensatory growth will occur. Ideally, any change in management, whether exercise, nutrition or both, should be managed in a conservative manner.
Horses receiving a high-calorie diet, with increased energy intake, are also at risk. This scenario will increase growth rates, sometimes to an unnatural level resulting in complications. This isn’t always related to any hard feed they might be consuming. Some mares produce calorific milk for much longer than others; this coupled with a particularly hungry foal and/or lush pasture could
be enough to put them in the danger zone. This is especially true if the diet is lacking in some nutrients but proving excess of others. It is thought that a high-energy diet accompanied by an inadequate supply of minerals often results in developmental problems. A stud balancer will provide all the essential nutrients and trace minerals, without excess calories.
Try to avoid feeding high-energy diets that could cause faster than optimal growth rates. For foals at foot that seem to be doing slightly too well, consideration can be given to a marginally earlier weaning date, following discussion with your vet. If pasture is particularly lush, attempt to restrict any at-risk overweight foals for short periods of the day and offer a lower calorie forage, such as hay, whilst still ensuring adequate fibre intake. Implementing a regime to routinely
monitor a foal’s condition and body weight is pivotal. Growth charts are particularly useful alongside condition scoring by eye/feel. This will provide the best chance of either avoiding growth abnormalities altogether or minimising the severity of them. It is unrealistic to expect a foal’s growth rate to be completely smooth throughout, but if we can avoid any significant changes, it is of enormous benefit.
Due to the multifactorial nature of DODs, it is impractical to completely eradicate them. In fact, a study carried out on thoroughbreds in Ireland showed that approximately 70% of horses showed some sign of DOD, with 11% requiring treatment. That said, there are many management and nutritional considerations which will help. They may not always be that easy to incorporate into a busy stud farm regime, but they are absolutely worth it.
Build topline and muscle defnition this sales prep season
Readily available amino acids to support muscle development in combination with vitamin E for challenged immune systems, and B-vitamins to support appetite and form.
WHEN TO USE:
> In yearlings struggling to build topline
> When sales prep period is shortened or limited
> When appetite decreases with increased workloads
> For horses off-form or struggling to recover from exercise
UK: Adam Johnson T: +44 7860 771063
Ire: Lorraine Fradl T: +353 87 2575398
Email: info@foranequine.com www.foranequine.com
OATAALIN mix is designed to give your horse the best performance, energy and shine, as well as contributing to the avoidance of stomach ulcers in horses in training.
OATAALIN mix is designed to give horses the best of whole natural foods in three key grains: the digestibility and energy of Oats, the Calcium & Vitamins and buffer to acidity in Alfalfa.
Linseed aids skin & coat condition and is antiinammatory with slow release energy.
• Superior Rolled Oats from Highclere Estate
• Pelletised Alfalfa
• Micronised Linseed
“At Highclere we have been feeding OATAALIN to our thoroughbreds. Highly palatable, its excellent qualities are reected in the shine of their coats, their energy levels and their relaxed attitudes.”
Richard Hannon Jr., Pink Lily’s trainer, commented:
“Pink Lily when she came in she looked great, she has managed to put on all that weight over the winter and looks better than ever. She is a month further ahead than most of mine in her coat and I am looking forward to running her. Very happy with her indeed!”
...Highclere Castle Gin is delighted to be the Premium Gin sponsor at Newbury racecourse in 2025. Highclere Estate premium oats are part of the botanicals making our gin one of the smoothest on the market.
I’ve loved getting my feet under the table, as well as being out and about meeting ROA members on racecourses, and I can’t wait to get stuck into the challenges ahead while continuing the fantastic work already underway at the ROA, writes Bobby Burns, new Head of Business Development at the ROA.
Since starting on April 1, I’ve been working closely with Louise Norman and the brilliant team here to get settled in and gain a clearer picture of everything that goes on behind the scenes.
Before joining, Louise and I spoke about the idea of launching a monthly blog. Don’t worry, this won’t be a dry list of what I’ve been up to. Instead, it’s a chance to share some insights, stories and themes that have come from meeting ROA members and owners on course.
Each blog will also explore a theme. This month’s theme is presence. It’s something that perhaps hasn’t always been as strong as it could be, and we believe it’s vital that members feel they can easily reach us, share their
thoughts, and know we’re here on their behalf.
After studying politics at university, both undergrad and postgrad, I worked in press offices at Amazon and Deliveroo. But I soon realised my heart lay in sport. That led me to bookmaker Fitzdares, where I spent five brilliant years and discovered my passion for racing.
Now, I’m thrilled to be starting this next chapter with the ROA, a role that gives real purpose to my passion. I’m fully committed to this amazing sport and to doing what I can to support and improve it for owners.
Outside work, I also run a small syndicate called Cotswolds Racing. Our first horse, Smile John Boy, is currently enjoying his summer break from training with Ben Pauling, and we hope to see him make his debut under Rules this autumn.
A big part of my role involves travelling the length and breadth of Britain to meet as many members and owners as possible. Which brings me back to presence. One thing that’s already stood out is how much our
Lorraine Southern has been crowned the 2024/25 National Hunt Ten-toFollow League winner. Sound familiar? That’s because it is the third year in a row Lorraine has triumphed!
From an unpromising position at Christmas time, she amassed a whopping 740 points mainly thanks to the exploits of Jonbon, Galopin Des Champs and Lossiemouth, holding off the challenge of NH Also Rans – who were far from it! – on 672 points.
Lorraine said: “I can’t believe I have won the title for the third time! Just before the Festivals started, I was in 16th place, so to win again was completely unexpected.
“The competition from other members was really tough but last season I thought that Inothewayurthinkin was capable of winning the Grand National, so I included him in my stable, but he ended up winning the Gold Cup instead! That put me back in with a chance. Some of my other selections also came good at the Festivals to make it a really exciting end to the season.
“I would like to thank the ROA for organising this competition between the members – it really makes the season exciting.”
Congratulations to Lorraine, who once again wins £100.
members value seeing someone from the ROA on course, someone who’s there to listen, engage, and represent them.
In just the last couple of weeks, I’ve visited several racecourses across the north and Scotland, with plenty more to
www.roa.co.uk • 01183 385680 • info@roa.co.uk
come. You can see where I’ll be next via our new webpage, where you can also book a time to meet me – see www.roa.co.uk/bb. I’ll also be popping up in the Inside Track email.
I’m really looking forward to meeting more of you soon. If you see me on course, please do come and say hello, I’m keen to hear your views, and my door is always open.
Keep an eye out for this blog each month. We’re going to have some fun with it and more importantly we’ll use it to shine a light on the issues that matter most to you – the owner.
Bobby will be available at the following meetings if members would like to catch-up on anything ownership or ROA-related:
• Monday, June 2 – Windsor (Eve)
• Tuesday, June 3 – Southwell
• Thursday, June 5 – Uttoxeter
• Friday, June 6 – Epsom
• Thursday, June 12 – Chelmsford
• Monday, June 16 – Windsor (Eve)
• Tuesday, June 17 – Royal Ascot
• Wednesday, June 18 – Royal Ascot
• Thursday, June 19 – Royal Ascot
• Friday, June 20 – Royal Ascot
• Saturday, June 21 – Royal Ascot
• Thursday, June 26 – Nottingham
Further details on Bobby’s whereabouts can be found at www.roa.co.uk/bb
Inothewayurthinkin earned points with his Cheltenham Gold Cup win
ROYAL ASCOT DISCOUNT
Tuesday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 18
50% discount on Royal Ascot tickets for both the Tuesday and Wednesday for the Queen Anne Enclosure, with a maximum of two tickets per booking.
ROYAL ASCOT HOSPITALITY
Tuesday, June 17 – Saturday, June 21
Discounts on various hospitality options throughout the week at Royal Ascot.
RACING STAFF WEEK
Saturday, June 21 – Friday, June 27
Celebrate stable staff with a week of activities with Racing Welfare, including stable staff races at Ayr (21), Newbury and Newton Abbott (24), and Nottingham (26).
CHAPEL DOWN WINE AND DINE TOUR
Thursday, July 3
Explore the state-of-the-art winery and discover the craftsmanship behind Chapel Down’s renowned wines – with a tasting and lunch after.
RACING WELFARE CASTLE TO ABBEY CHALLENGE
Sunday, July 6
Experience 22 miles of Yorkshire’s dramatic coastline and raise money for Racing Welfare (see main story on page 65)
GLORIOUS GOODWOOD –RICHMOND ENCLOSURE
Tuesday, July 29 – Saturday, August 2
Exclusive opportunity for members to book Richmond Enclosure badges for all five days of Glorious Goodwood.
GLORIOUS GOODWOOD HOSPITALITY
Tuesday, July 29 July –
Saturday, August 2
Access to hospitality packages at Glorious Goodwood, with discounts on their most popular packages.
RACING WELFARE CARLISLE RACEDAY
Monday, August 4
More money-raising activities, this time at Carlisle’s evening meeting.
NATIONAL RACEHORSE WEEK
Saturday, August 23 –
Sunday, August 31
Now staged in the school holidays, the annual celebration of the racehorse gives plenty of opportunities to visit stables and meet the stars of the sport.
RACING WELFARE HAYDOCK RACEDAY
Friday, September 5
Racing Welfare’s annual raceday to raise funds for the charity.
RACING WELFARE MALTON OPEN DAY
Sunday, September 7
Experience all that goes on behind the scenes at a racing yard in the morning and then head to York racecourse to enjoy an afternoon of racing.
DONCASTER HOSPITALITY PACKAGE
Friday, September 12
Located in a private section within the centre-course marquee, the package includes a three-course meal and inclusive drinks package.
NEWMARKET OPEN WEEKEND
Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21
There is racing on the Saturday and many of the town’s yards open to the public on Sunday morning. The afternoon action includes a Shetland Pony Grand National, racing personality show-jumping and parade of retired racehorses.
MORGAN TOUR FOLLOWED BY RACING AT CHELTENHAM
Friday, October 24
Join a guided factory tour and witness the craftsmanship behind every Morgan sports car. After the tour, we will head to Cheltenham for a fantastic seasonal opener at the home of jump racing.
DAYLESFORD STUD AND FARM SHOP TOUR
Thursday, November 20
Visit Lady Bamford’s Gloucestershire stud and famous farm shop.
ROA HORSERACING AWARDS
Thursday, December 4
Celebrate the fantastic achievements of both the human and equine stars of 2025 at our glittering awards ceremony.
This month ROA members have the opportunity to bid on a luxury tailoring experience with Fielding & Nicholson – voted the number one tailoring studio in London 2025 – coupled with afternoon tea and drinks at the worldfamous Savoy Hotel, where the winning bidder and their significant other can peruse the Fielding & Nicholson showcase in the grand foyer.
Following afternoon tea, guests will be driven to the Mayfair showroom, where there will be unlimited champagne available. As part of the package, you will have a VIP measuring and wardrobe consultation with an expert tailoring consultant, all fittings, advice and in-person fittings. Every imaginable element of the garment can be customised to make a uniquely
styled piece, whether you choose a bespoke business, casual or dinner suit. Each bespoke suit or two-piece is individually crafted and stitched with unlimited personalisation and fittings.
Your new garment comes with a five-year guarantee, so if you lose (or put on) weight, tear a sleeve or wear away any area of the suit, amendments will be carried out free of charge.
Kindly donated by Fielding & Nicholson, this package raises crucial funds for Racing Welfare, helping the charity to continue to provide its work in supporting the workforce of British horseracing, right from their recruitment into the industry and through into retirement.
To secure this lot, place your bid at www.bidtogive.co.uk before June 27.
“It doesn’t come easy putting one foot in front of the other,” admits Hannah Sheppard, who had to painstakingly learn to walk again following a fall from a horse at work, but thanks to support from Racing Welfare, she has miraculously now completed a half marathon in aid of the charity which helped her get back on her feet.
Hannah, 28, a work rider from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, ran the Bath Half Marathon on Sunday, March 16 in aid of Racing Welfare, which organised and funded specialist rehabilitation support after she sustained a traumatic brain injury when the horse she was riding spooked and reared, resulting in a fall.
Unconscious and fitting, Hannah was put into an induced coma at the training yard, airlifted to hospital and spent many weeks in intensive care before going to a brain injury unit for rehabilitation. “I didn’t get on there well – I was getting so depressed and it wasn’t helping my recovery,” Hannah said. “I begged my parents to get me out of there and that’s when they got in contact with Racing Welfare to help.”
Racing Welfare arranged
assessments and funded a course of intense rehabilitation, which included physio, neuropsychology and occupational therapy which helped her learn to walk, talk and dress again. At a later date, the charity also arranged and funded a secondary course of intense rehab, aimed at enabling Hannah to live more independently, which even helped her to get back driving.
Hannah said: “It was amazing to be able to be at home and receive rehab as an outpatient, as I’d got in such a bad place with my mental health in hospital. The funding support from Racing Welfare was as much of a relief for me as it was for my parents, as they were really struggling with the situation too.
“I wanted to do something to raise money for Racing Welfare. I’ve never run in my life. I think my family thought – you’re crackers! It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve done since I started walking again, just mentally and physically very hard. Having the finish line in sight was very emotional. Racing Welfare have done so much, and they’re still supporting me now.”
If you’d like to help the charity continue to provide life-changing support to people working in the racing industry like Hannah, you can get involved in the charity’s flagship fundraising event of the year – the Racing Welfare Castle to Abbey Challenge.
Taking place on Sunday, July 6, this breathtaking 22-mile trek along Yorkshire’s dramatic coastline starts at Scarborough Castle and completes at Whitby Abbey.
Keen to get behind the event and help raise vital funds for Racing Welfare, a number of racing personalities have already shown their support and signed up. Andrew and Anna Lisa Balding were among the first. They explained why they were so keen to get involved, saying: “We are thrilled to support this event. Racing Welfare do such a great job helping us support our staff and we are delighted that this day falls on a Sunday, which means we can dig out our walking boots and head north to help raise some funds.
“Yorkshire is a favourite place of ours and the route sounds suitably challenging! We are hoping to be joined by friends, colleagues and owners… a few of whom have already leapt at this opportunity of a brisk stroll in the countryside.”
Others who have signed up include racing presenters Josh Apiafi and Vanessa Ryle, and Newmarket-based trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy – all
of whom are no stranger to a Racing Welfare challenge and are regular supporters of the charity. Emma Lavelle and Andrea O’Keeffe have also vowed to lace up their walking boots and take on the trek.
Racing Welfare’s Chief Executive, Dawn Goodfellow, said: “It’s fantastic to see the racing industry coming together to take part in what promises to be an epic and rewarding challenge, in God’s own country! This represents our only mass participation fundraising event of the year, and at a time when charitable funds are increasingly harder to secure, we are relying more than ever on public support.
“This challenge is your chance to make a difference while embracing Yorkshire’s wild and wonderful landscape. Please do get involved and sign up, enjoy some fantastic camaraderie and team spirit, stunning scenery, and importantly help us to raise much-needed funds. Racing Welfare has been supporting racing’s people for 25 years, and with your help we can keep providing that crucial support, now and into the future.”
Those interested are urged to sign up now to benefit from an early-bird offer with the first 50 places available for £30 per person, rising to £39 per person thereafter. The sponsorship target is just £300 each.
To sign up for the challenge or to find out more about Racing Welfare’s work, go to www.racingwelfare.co.uk.
On some World Pool days in the UK, Tote-sponsored owners will again be asked to carry the World Pool logo on the chest of their silks instead of the Tote logo. The Tote logo will remain in place on the collar.
There will always be a member of the valet team on hand to make the relevant changes in the weighing room on the raceday, therefore no further action is required by owners or trainers ahead of the event.
The World Pool fixtures this year are as follows:
• Betfred Derby Day, Epsom –Saturday, June 7
• Royal Ascot –Tuesday, June 17
• Royal Ascot –Wednesday, June 18
• Royal Ascot –Thursday, June 19
• Royal Ascot – Friday, June 20
• Royal Ascot – Saturday, June 21
• QIPCO King George Day, Ascot – Saturday, July 26
• Qatar Goodwood Cup Day, Goodwood – Tuesday, July 29
• Qatar Sussex Stakes Day, Goodwood –Wednesday, July 30
• Qatar Nassau Stakes Day, Goodwood – Thursday, July 31
• Sky Bet International Stakes Day, York –Wednesday, August 20
• Sky Bet Yorkshire Oaks Day, York – Thursday, August 21
• Sky Bet Nunthorpe Stakes Day, York – Friday, August 22
• QICPO British Champions Day, Ascot – Saturday, October 18
The Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park on Saturday, July 5 will also be included on a worldwide hybrid card.
We all dream of standing in the paddock ahead of a big race at the Cheltenham Festival or Royal Ascot and increasingly shared ownership is making this dream a reality.
Syndicates and racing clubs are also being embraced by many sole owners who see them as a chance to diversify their ownership interests and make new friends with a shared interest.
Back in March, Wendigo finished a fine fifth in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. He is owned by a syndicate operated by Racing Club, whose founders started the business in September 2023 with the aim of creating affordable racehorse ownership and a hope that they could attract new people into racing.
Racing Club operate some syndicates with as few as five shares per horse, but Wendigo is owned by one of their micro-syndicates which have 2,000, 3,000 or 4,000 shares and annual costs between £25 and £100.
Richard Jaques, co-founder of Racing Club, commented: “To be able to say that you have had a runner at the Cheltenham Festival is amazing and the engagement from shareholders in the weeks before Cheltenham built the excitement to fever pitch.”
Cheltenham, along with many other racecourses, offer syndicates and racing clubs the opportunity to take syndicate badges rather than the traditional
owner badges. These allow syndicates to swap lunch and access to the regular owners’ and trainers’ lounge to get more owners into the racecourse.
Often, a syndicate lounge with tea and coffee is made available to allow syndicate owners to get together and socialise before and after their race. This option enabled Racing Club to have 20 shareholders in the syndicate lounge at Cheltenham and the majority of those also had access to the parade ring.
Cheltenham also provided discounted admission to other shareholders and with many others already attending as annual members or Festival regulars, around 400 shareholders were at the track to watch Wendigo in action. Racing Club also set up a ‘watch party’ away from the course where another 120 shareholders gathered to enjoy the afternoon’s racing together.
Richard was at Cheltenham with the shareholders there and noted: “Cheltenham looked after us well, with good facilities and great viewing over the track from their syndicate lounge.”
A big part of the experience of ownership is hearing from the trainer ahead of the race and you might think that this would be an issue with only a few people allowed into the parade ring. This was overcome when all owners were invited to an area ahead of racing where they were joined by trainer Jamie
Snowden, who spoke openly about the horse’s chances and posed for selfies.
Syndicates are always looking for ways to engage with owners that are unable to come to the races and Racing Club is no exception. Wendigo’s owners received email and video updates ahead of the race along with photos and videos from the racecourse posted to a WhatsApp group on the day, so everyone got to hear the jockey’s prerace briefing and post-race feedback.
Wendigo running a big race and finishing fifth in the Grade 1 was the icing on the cake for his shareholders, who have plenty to look forward to. Richard said: “Wendigo is now on his summer holidays in the field with as many carrots as he can eat and a sea view! I think that he will strengthen and grow again, and he is already quite a big horse, so he seems destined for novice chasing.
“I think he’s now at the level where we’ll have to target the top novice chases and long-term let’s hope that he can take his shareholders back to the Festival again in March.”
The excitement and thrill of ownership that Wendigo’s shareholders experienced at Cheltenham will surely be replicated for syndicate shareholders, lucky enough to have runners at this summer’s big Flat racing festivals. Fingers crossed that one or more will be able to celebrate a winner!
A new exhibition of the work of acclaimed artist Nichola Eddery opens on June 16 at the Osborne Studio Gallery in London. Entitled ’Silks, Horses and Hounds’ it will be her fifth solo show and her first for nine years, drawing inspiration from classical sculpture, great sporting artists of the past, and her own family’s long history in racing.
The opening of the exhibition coincides with Royal Ascot week and among the 25 original works on show are Eddery’s stunning depictions of jockeys wearing the silks of some of racing’s leading owners, together with beautiful new paintings of dogs and pieces inspired by her surroundings in Newmarket.
Eddery, whose father Pat was champion jockey on 11 occasions, has further immersed herself in the Sport of Kings through her role as artist in residence at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket.
Her studio at the museum looks out on to the courtyard of the historic Rothschild Yard, now home to former racehorses, and is just metres away from Palace House, home to one of the finest collections of British sporting art.
The exhibition also features a series of paintings of sighthounds, a favourite breed of Nichola’s due to their athleticism and statuesque quality and for which again she was inspired by the past.
Located on Motcomb Street in Belgravia, the Osborne Studio Gallery exhibition ‘Silks, Horses and Hounds’ runs from Monday, June 16 through to Saturday, July 5.
We have created a new page on our website to help members target more lucrative races for their horses. Series and bonus races are staples of weekday racing, but how do you qualify for a potential big payout for a series final? Our interactive tool aims to make the process easier.
The page is a filterable view of the Racing Calendar, designed to highlight upcoming race and fixture series along with GBB races.
You can streamline results for Flat and National Hunt races, and by series. All races can then be sorted by date order, distance, rating band, age or value.
There is also a helpful explainer as to what is involved in each series and when the final will take place.
To view go to www.roa.co.uk/search.
A big thank you to all ROA members who took the time to complete our recent ownership survey. We were delighted with the strong level of response and are grateful to everyone who shared their experiences and views on racehorse ownership.
The insights gathered will help deepen our understanding of owners’ and members’ attitudes, the challenges they face, and opportunities. It will also help guide how the ROA represents owners within the industry and inform future thinking around the membership experience.
Research agency Cognition is currently conducting followup interviews with selected respondents, and a full analysis of the findings will be delivered to us shortly. We look forward to sharing key insights and takeaways soon.
The tables below compare average prize-money values by class of race offered by racecourses at core fixtures between January and May this year.
We have highlighted the top ten racecourses in Britain with the highest average prize-money per race at core fixtures in Classes 4 and 5, separated into two-year-old and three-year-old and upwards races on the Flat, and hurdles and chases at National Hunt fixtures.
Naturally, prize-money is an important part of the decision of where to run your horse(s). The information included here may help owners and trainers with that decision.
ITBA held a webinar titled ‘Managing your Mental Health and Developing Resilience’ as part of the Ask The Expert series. The webinar recording is available to watch back – please email hmarks@itba.ie.
Resilience is having the capacity to change your behaviour in response to stress before the change becomes obvious or difficult. You can identify the stressors before they can affect you.
Name It to Tame It
This is a technique that involves noticing and labelling emotions as they’re happening. Identifying an intense emotion (‘naming’) decreases stress and anxiety (‘taming’) in the brain and the body that that emotion is causing. Vocabulary is important, e.g. “I am feeling anxious/nervous/scared …” versus “I am …”). You are feeling something, but you are not only that emotion at that particular time.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
This technique is to help you stay in the present moment. You can’t affect the past and you can’t predict the future, all you can control is the present moment. It is good to ease your state of mind in stressful moments:
• Acknowledge 5 things that can see around you
• 4 things that you can touch or feel
• 3 things that you can hear
• 2 things that you can smell
• 1 thing that you can taste
If things don’t go your way, it is easy to get caught in a cycle of negative thoughts. You give energy and power to things outside your control. This technique allows you to focus on what is within your circle of control. Ask yourself, ‘what is worrying me?’, ‘what is in my control?’, ‘what matters most to me and what can I do about it?’ This helps direct your energy and thoughts into positive, practical and actionable emotions. Focus on what you can control and plan ahead – thoughts, emotions, actions.
Taking time out for self-care can seem counterintuitive at first but it really boosts productivity in the long run. Rest and relaxation help restore energy, creativity and focus. When you are physically and mentally refreshed you’re more likely to be efficient and effective in your job
Focusing on gratitude helps shift attention from stress and negative
thoughts to positive experiences. This fosters a mindset of appreciation. This is a good tool to use during times of stress, disappointment or frustration to help counter negative thoughts patterns. It is useful to use at the start or the end of each day, and you can list three things you are grateful for. It can be helpful to write these down.
A growth mindset is where people believe that the most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. The love of learning and developing resilience is essential for great accomplishment.
Be aware of your thoughts and belief. You can adapt and choose your mindset. Adapt and move out of your comfort zone and make huge changes:
• Acknowledge your effort – tried, made mistakes…
• Be careful of your language – the power of YET… ‘I can’t do that YET’. You give yourself the power to develop
The skill is within you to develop a Growth Mindset:
• Know you have overcome previous challenges and reflect on them
• Focus on actions and process
• Learn from adversity, setbacks and failure, they are just springboards for the next thing
• Flexible and adaptable mindset
• Good self-awareness and managing your emotions – ‘Naming it to tame it’
• Use your psychological strengths. Magnify your strengths and coping skills
Developing a positive mindset and resilience is ongoing. When it gets tough it is important to not give up. Fail and fail forward. Everyone has the will to win, very few have the will to prepare to win. That is what makes the difference. The above are useful skills to help deal with stress and develop a positive mindset. If you are struggling and you need help there are a number of options available, you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
USEFUL RESOURCES www.mind.org.uk for free ideas to help relax
Smiling Mind App with free mindfulness exercises Horse Racing Ireland Industry Assistance Programme available via https://www.equuip.ie/ industry-assistance-programme
The business of bloodstock can be as complex as the sport itself. From income tax and VAT to capital gains and inheritance planning, getting it right means working with specialists who understand the industry.
At Streets Bloodstock we provide specialist tax and accounting services tailored to thoroughbred breeders, racehorse owners, and bloodstock investors.
Whether you need help with:
Structuring your bloodstock business – trade vs. hobby, partnerships and companies
Treatment of VAT – Racehorse Owners VAT Scheme, reclaiming VAT on purchases
Navigating capital gains and inheritance tax – preserving wealth and succession planning
Managing international sales and cross border tax
We are here to help…
With specialist experience in the bloodstock industry, we ensure your tax and nancial matters are as well-managed as your horses.
he 2025/26 tax year is now underway and with the prospect post-election Budget later this year, racehorse owners, breeders and stud farms would do well to take stock of the current nancial and tax landscape. What may feel like a ‘hobby’ to some is increasingly viewed by HMRC through a commercial lens and that means greater scrutiny and fewer allowances for mis-steps.
One of the less headline-grabbing impacts of recent tax policy has been the freezing of personal tax allowances and thresholds. The personal allowance and higher-rate threshold have been held in place despite in ation, meaning more income is being dragged into higher tax bands. For breeders and sole traders running small equine enterprises, this can result in an unexpected increase in income tax or national insurance liabilities.
Those drawing income through dividends, such as company owners, have also seen cuts to the tax-free dividend allowance, reducing its bene t and requiring closer integration of business and personal tax planning.
On a more positive note, there are generous capital allowances available for qualifying investment in plant, equipment and property improvements. For studs and training yards, this includes:
•Full expensing: 100% relief on qualifying capital expenditure on items such as horse walkers, tractors and stable equipment.
•Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA): relief spread over 33 years for new-builds, stable blocks or yard refurbishments.
These reliefs support long-term investment in infrastructure but care is needed to separate qualifying from non-qualifying costs.
When selling horses or bloodstock, how the gain is taxed depends on whether the activity is considered a trade. Trading pro ts are subject to income tax or corporation tax, while one-o disposals may be treated as capital gains, potentially bene ting from CGT exemptions or lower rates.
However, the breeding of horses or systematic sale of yearlings is more likely to be considered a trade. The distinction is vital for e ective planning.
Importantly, HMRC typically considers racehorse ownership –where there is no commercial breeding or systematic trading – as being outside the scope of income tax and capital gains tax altogether. As a result, ensuring clarity over which horses are owned for racing versus those held for breeding or resale purposes
Inheritance tax and the rural business is essential. Accurate records of horses entering and leaving training,including dates and purposes, are critical in demonstrating the non-commercial nature of ownership and safeguarding this tax treatment.
For family-run studs and rural breeding operations, Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning remains a key issue. Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) can signi cantly reduce or eliminate IHT on qualifying assets but only where business and land use conditions are met.
Stud farms that include both trading and investment activity, for example renting out land or property, must take particular care. A poorly structured estate could face a large IHT bill where reliefs were assumed but not actually available.
Racehorse ownership is about passion but increasingly it must also be about planning. With the right structures, timely advice and awareness of current tax rules, owners and breeders can protect their income, minimise liabilities and make the most of reliefs available. As always, speaking with a specialist adviser who understands the bloodstock world can make all the di erence when it comes to crossing the nish line nancially unscathed.
Celebrating British-bred successes from the 2024 Flat season, tickets are on sale for this year’s Flat Breeders’ Awards Evening, sponsored by Watership Down Stud, which will take place on Wednesday, July 9 at Chippenham Park.
Scheduled the evening before the July Festival, the event will be hosted by Gina Bryce and tickets, which can be purchased via the events section of the TBA website, are priced at £85 per person.
Breeders, owners, trainers, stud staff and enthusiasts will enjoy a champagne
provided by Newsells Park Winery, a two-course dinner with wine sponsored by Chasemore Farm, followed by the awards ceremony.
A total of 13 awards will be presented during the evening, including the prestigious Andrew Devonshire and Dominion Bronze awards along with the TBA Stud Employee Award, sponsored by
The TBA is holding an educational event on Thursday, July 17 at the Granary Estates in Woodditton, near Newmarket.
Named ‘Nature or Nurture’, the event will explore influences on foetal and foal development, such as genetic predisposition, epigenetics, environmental factors and management practices in shaping the health, performance and future potential of thoroughbreds as athletes. An exciting panel of speakers has been assembled who are all experts in their fields, including Jessica Lawson, Andy Dell, Niamh Lewis and Rebecca Mouncey.
Breeders will learn about the link between mid-to-late term pregnancy loss and levels of inbreeding; whether congenital musculoskeletal disorders are influenced by gestational exposures or genetic markers; and how the expression of the foal’s genes can be altered whilst still in utero. There will be plenty of thought-provoking subject matter to inform, challenge or support existing management practices on the stud farm and with the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers.
New England Stud with a £2,000 first prize and a perpetual Charlie Langton Bronze. The TBA would like to thank all the sponsors, including Watership Down Stud, Newsells Park Winery, Chasemore Farm, Tattersalls, the British EBF, Blue Diamond Stud, Streets Chartered Accountants, BBA Shipping and Barton Stud for their support of this event.
The event includes lunch and refreshments and is free of charge for TBA members and Access subscribers to attend, but places will need to be
reserved via the events page on the website. For non-members, tickets will cost just £60 and include a one-off 12-month subscription to TBA Access
Both NH statistical stallion awards are headed towards Simon Sweeting’s Overbury Stud for the first time since 2020, with Golden Horn the name of honour for the Whitbread Silver Salver for the first time and Schiaparelli on the Horse & Hound Cup.
Whitbread Silver Salver
Awarded to the leading active Britishbased stallion by prize-money in Britain and Ireland, Golden Horn achieved his first sires’ championship.
The Overbury Stud resident experienced a marvellous Cheltenham Festival with his daughter Golden Ace, who had previously won the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton, crossing the line a nine-length winner of the Champion Hurdle and adding just over £250,000 to her sire’s tally. Later in the week in the Triumph Hurdle, he supplied the first and
third home, Poniros and East India Dock, respectively. The former was making his hurdling debut whilst the latter had won a pair of Grade 2s at Prestbury Park over the winter.
His son Nemean Lion was in fine form for connections winning three races, including a valuable conditions contest at Windsor and the Grade 2 National Spirit at Fontwell.
It wasn’t just over hurdles that his progeny excelled during the 2024-25 season. The Gary Moore-trained Mark Of Gold was in fine form, winning three times, including the Grade 2 Noel Novices’ Chase at Ascot before Christmas and the Josh Gifford Novices’ Chase off top-weight at the seasonending meeting at Sandown Park.
He also garnered a Grade 1 placing when third in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase.
Thinking about breeding your first thoroughbred or already an experienced breeder?
Wherever you are on your journey, the TBA is here to support you every step of the way.
As a TBA member, you’ll unlock a wide range of benefits that can save you hundreds of pounds each year — including:
• Discounts on the Great British Bonus (GBB)
• Free professional advice from
leading industry experts
• Racecourse badges to watch your homebreds in action
Our popular regional days and educational events offer opportunities to connect, learn, and stay informed.
Members also receive fortnightly newsletters packed with veterinary updates, key diary dates, and the latest industry news.
Monsun’s multiple Group 1-winnning son Schiaparelli was once again awarded the Horse & Hound Cup, winning the prestigious prize for the fifth season in a row, continuing a run of success for Overbury stallions for this award going back to the 2014-2015 season.
Awarded to the leading active Britishbased stallion for number of individual chase winners in Britain and Ireland, his daughter Marsh Wren was unfortunately only seen once in the season. A Listed winner last term as a novice, the mare, bred by the late Renee Robeson, was impressive in the Listed Bud Booth Mares’ Chase at Market Rasen.
Numitor has been a flagbearer for his sire over the past couple of seasons and the 11-year-old won all three of his completed starts during the season in veterans’ races. Veterans’ qualifiers at Wincanton and Cheltenham were won in gritty fashion, as was the veterans' handicap chase at Ascot in late March.
TB-Ed is our digital education hub, where you can find free, flexible online courses designed by industry leaders — perfect for breeders at every level.
Visit our website for exclusive member resources, downloadable templates and pay for subscriptions and events through our secure payment portal.
The office is open daily from 9am to 5pm and the knowledgeable team at Stanstead House are always on hand to help with any questions you may have.
Fresh off the back of a pair of Group 2 wins in Dubai in the Cape Verdi and Balanchine, Rabbah Bloodstock’s homebred mare Choisya took her form to new heights at Keeneland in the middle of April in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes. Having travelled smartly, she went for home with two to run and had too much in hand for a first top-level win.
With spring in full swing, trials time proved to be a feast for the Juddmonte team on either side of the English Channel. A Listed winner late last term, Better Together (Oasis Dream) reappeared in the Prix Imprudence, her fourth Deauville start from as many runs, and scored comfortably.
The following weekend at Newbury and it was the turn of Jonquil. Making his first start for Andrew Balding, he recorded a length and a half win in the Greenham Stakes, later running a fine second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.
The next week and the Nell Gwyn Stakes went to the Dubawi filly Zanzoun, who had broken her maiden at the third time of asking last November at Southwell. On the Rowley Mile she skipped clear in the final furlong.
Another British-bred filly to taste success in a Classic trial was the Plantation Stud-bred Duty First, a daughter of Showcasing, who made quite the impression in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes at Newbury.
Away from the Guineas trials there was a hard-fought win for Kirsten Rausing’s homebred Almeric in the Feilden Stakes at Newmarket. The son of Study Of Man proved too strong for his seven rivals. Miss Rausing also bred Alalcance, trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in Australia, who was an impressive winner of the Chairman’s Quality.
Staying in Britain and there were Listed wins for the Hascombe and Valiant Studbred Glittering Legend (Too Darn Hot) in the Burradon Stakes at Newcastle on Good Friday, for the Godolphin homebred Military Order (Frankel) on Easter Monday in the Magnolia Stakes at Kempton Park, and a maiden stakes triumph for Postponed’s daughter Ambiente Amigo in the Nottinghamshire Oaks.
At the Curragh in the Alleged Stakes, the Moyns Park Stud-bred Galen fended off useful rivals for his maiden Group win. French black-type contests appeared to be the domain of the British-bred at times through the month. On the opening day of the season at Longchamp, the Al Asayl-bred Map Of Stars followed up his previous month’s stakes win with victory in the Prix d’Harcourt, whilst the same day the Godolphin homebred Cualificar won the Prix la Force. The son of Lope De Vega followed up in the Prix de Guiche.
The next weekend at the Paris track and the British-born Aga Khan homebred Zarigana, a granddaughter of the brilliant Zarkava, won the Prix de la Grotte. She was later awarded the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches on the disqualification of Shes Perfect.
The Wertheimer brothers’ colt, Uther, a half-brother to last season’s Grand Prix de Paris hero Sosie, captured the Prix Noailles, going away at the line.
Having failed to see out the seven furlongs at Leopardstown in late March, the Andrew Bengough and Partners-bred Arizona Blaze, a son of Sergei Prokofiev, was far too classy for his rivals in the Prix Sigy at Chantilly, winning by over two lengths in the 1,300m speed test.
Imad Al Sagar’s Blue Diamond Stud has sent some useful horses to France and Burhan became the first stakes winner
of the new association when scoring in the Prix du Pont Neuf. A couple of days later and the late Aga Khan’s silks were successfully carried by Surabad (Bated Breath) in the Prix de l’Avre.
There was a maiden stakes win for Daydream Express, a Kingman filly bred by Apple Tree Stud, in the Stuten-Meile at Hoppegarten, whilst at Klampenborg in Copenhagen, the Sun Bloodstock-bred Hans Andersen (Frankel) won the Danish Jockey Club Cup.
In the UAE on Dubai World Cup evening, Dubawi’s nine-year-old son Dubai Future was an impressive winner of the Dubai Gold Cup for Godolphin, whilst at nearby Abu Dhabi, Stormy Ocean (Frankel), bred by Newsells Park Stud and Partners, won the Abu Dhabi Championship.
Over obstacles and Wellington Arch put up an impressive performance to win the William Hill Handicap Hurdle on the second day of the Grand National meeting. The six-year-old was bred by Caroline George. The second British-bred winner at the meeting came in the very last race, the Grade 2 Weatherbys-sponsored bumper, which saw the Rowland Crellin-bred Green Splendour strike for the Willie Mullins team.
Romeo Coolio provided his dam Miss Bailly with a first Grade 1 winner earlier this campaign and Ascending Lark, bred by Will Kinsey, ended her season winning the Listed Killashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. Her win means that Miss Bailly’s first two runners are both stakes scorers.
On mares’ day at Cheltenham in the middle of the month there was Graded success over hurdles for the Niarchos Family-bred Lagoon Nebula, a daughter of Ulysses, in the Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. Results up to and including April 30.
TB-Ed is excited to announce the launch of ‘Weaning the Thoroughbred Foal: Key to Successful Rearing’, a new online course available exclusively on the TBA’s digital education hub.
The course provides in-depth guidance and options on one of the most critical stages in a young horse’s development. Weaning is a major milestone that can impact a foal’s health, behaviour and long-term development.
This course explores the key questions such as when is the right time to wean? What are the different weaning methods? And how can we
Wednesday, July 9
Flat Awards Evening, Chippenham Park, nr Newmarket
Celebrate the success of all Flat breeders from the 2024 season in the stunning surroundings of Chippenham Park on the evening before Newmarket’s July Festival kicks off.
Thursday, July 17
Nature or Nurture – TBA Educational Event, Granary Barns, Woodditton
Join us for an educational day which will explore influences on foetal and foal development and includes an
minimise stress for mare and foal?
With a focus on welfare and practical application, Weaning the Thoroughbred Foal can be accessed anytime and completed at your own pace – perfect for busy breeding industry individuals.
Weaning the Thoroughbred Foal is free for TBA members and costs £95 for non-members. Log in to TB-Ed to access the course. TBA members should ensure they use the same email as their TBA membership when signing in to TB-Ed to access this, or any other, course or content.
Contact tbed@theTBA.co.uk for more information.
The TBA has engaged Su Corrin of Jenadco to provide health and safety guidance and support to members. Su is an award-winning OSHCR registered health and safety practitioner with over 25 years of experience working across a range of sectors in the UK in some of the most high-risk industries, including media, broadcast and events. She has specialist experience and knowledge of the equestrian industry including the health and wellbeing challenges arising from working with horses. Su offers pragmatic, cost-effective health and safety management solutions for organisations of all sizes that are legally compliant and contribute to a positive health and safety culture. Su will be available to Full TBA members for an initial telephone consultation lasting up to 30 minutes. Any subsequent work required by members will be charged for via individual engagement with Jenadco. Members who require health and safety support should contact the TBA in the first instance who will then pass on their contact details to Su, who will respond direct to members. Jenadco operates across the UK and can offer flexibility for activities outside of the normal 9-5 (including weekends and evenings) where required.
expert set of speakers. Lunch and refreshments provided.
Monday, September 1
AGM, Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket
The 108th Annual General Meeting of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association will be held at the Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket CB8 8JL. Further details to be released.
For more information regarding events, as well as to see when regional events have been fixed, either contact the office or check out the regular e-bulletin emails.
Wellington Arch’s battling success in the Grade 3 William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Aintree’s Grand National meeting took an eventful chapter in Caroline George’s racing journey to its greatest height so far.
Jonjo and AJ O’Neill’s son of Blue Bresil is one of seven winners out of eight runners produced by George’s mare Moyliscar and the fourth to achieve black type.
Moyliscar was once trained by George’s husband John, father of leading National Hunt trainer Tom, at the family farm in Slad before the couple moved to Cornwall to begin breeding jumps horses 20 years ago alongside keeping a herd of Dexter cattle
“My mum bred her out of a mare, Annie Kelly, that David Minton bought for her,” George explains.
“She’d had a few fillies and and she asked if I’d like a yearling, which was Moyliscar. We first sent her to Dick and Anne Lalor in Ireland, who got her ready for point-to-points.
“She ran in a couple but sadly got cast and never really recovered from that. At the time we were living in Down Farm, where Tom was starting training, but John had taken out a permit for a previous horse and we trained her for a while from the two stables we had.
“We knew she had a lot of ability but couldn’t get it out of her as she wasn’t quite right. Mary Bromiley [equine physiotherapist] said the best thing to do was put her in foal, and that’s where we started.”
The Georges have kept the project small-scale, usually with just a couple of broodmares, and do the majority of the work themselves, using Chris Dudfield’s Natton House and Jess Westwood of Molland Ridge for help at times. Wellington Arch was sold as a foal for €30,000 through Little Lodge Stud at Tattersalls Ireland.
“I couldn’t have done this without the help and advice from John and the everyday help of two part-time girls, Rachel and Natalie,” she continues.
Moyliscar’s other major success stories have been Wellington Arch’s full-brother, the Grade 2-placed Pembroke, and half-brother Fighting Fit (by Kayf Tara), who is a six-time winner for Philip Dempsey and JP McManus in Ireland.
“To date they’ve won 28 races between them and the month Moyliscar died foaling she had three individual winners,” says George.
“What a success she’s been, and we were thrilled for everyone when Wellington Arch won at Aintree. Tom has always said it’s the mare that brings out the star. You can spend a lot of money on stallions but not hit it off unless you’ve got a mare that’s got it.”
The Georges raced one of the daughters, Miss Night Owl, another by Pitchall Farm’s Midnight Legend, who won three hurdles and was Listed-placed over fences. She was intended as Moyliscar’s heir at the farm and although they lost her prematurely, there are succession plans in place.
“The line is keeping going,” George continues. “Miss Night Owl had four foals and her first one, a five-year-old called Game On, won at Downpatrick recently, and we’ve got a fouryear-old by Linda’s Lad called Moyanna at a pre-training yard. We intend to keep her to breed from.
“Another mare, Burton Ash, had bred a couple of nice winners in Secret Edge and Pure Bliss before she came to us. We’ve bred Jasmine Bliss, who has done very well with Harry Derham and will hopefully go novice chasing next season.”
The George training name has slipped into a third generation, with Tom’s son Noel having quickly reached the top echelon in France in his partnership with Amanda Zetterholm, and there is a sense of pride felt further to the south-west.
Caroline, nee Hoare, is also continuing a personal link as two of her sisters have bred many winners including combining with Jwala, winner of the 2013 Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
“I am glad in some way that I have kept the tradition going,” she says.
“John was in the army so he rode when he could and it’s interesting that he basically started the dynasty by having a permit.
“When Tom wanted to start training we moved to a dairy farm and the last horses it had on it were plough horses! So it’s a lovely place to raise them, they seem to have good bone and we try to keep them out as much as we can. Then they don’t pick up any bad habits either.”
The Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Education Team is made up of a National Development Officer (NDO) and a dedicated network of Regional Development Officers (RDOs) based throughout the UK. Our mission is ambitious but essential: to provide educational opportunities for anyone who may come into contact with a former racehorse and create more safe routes for horses transitioning out of racing.
One of the key reasons former racehorses can find themselves in vulnerable situations is simply a lack of understanding of their core needs. Owners and handlers often do not have the knowledge or experience needed to care for and retrain a horse coming out of racing. By increasing awareness and improving access to education, we aim to reduce the number of horses needing charitable intervention. Put simply: the more informed and confident the owner, the better the outcome for the horse.
We run a wide range of activities, from mounted clinics and residential camps to unmounted community events focused on welfare and support. Some of our key unmounted events include:
• Introduction to Owning a Former Racehorse Days
• Racing Insight Days
• Realistic Retraining Demonstrations
These sessions are designed to offer both current and prospective owners an unfiltered look into the retraining journey. Attendees have the opportunity to engage with experts, ask questions, gain practical advice and build a support network.
We also collaborate with equestrian colleges to deliver either hands-on retraining demonstrations or classroombased discussions on RoR’s work and the wider racing industry.
As we plan for the future our top priority is ensuring that educational support is accessible to all – no matter where they are in the country. For 2025, we are focused on standardising our educational offerings across all six regions. This means that every member, regardless of location, will have access
to in-person ‘first step support’ – crucial guidance for owners helping their horse transition out of racing and into a successful second career.
We’re also expanding our reach by developing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities specifically tailored to former racehorses. These are aimed at equestrian professionals such as coaches, farriers, and bodyworkers. So far, two of our formats – Realistic Retraining Demonstrations and Racing Insight Days – have been officially endorsed for CPD by national governing bodies. By offering CPD opportunities for equestrian professionals, we aim to build a wider network of well-informed coaches, farriers, and bodyworkers that former racehorse owners can confidently turn to for expert support.
they provide valuable information for all about the practicalities of retraining and the importance of horse welfare throughout their lives. We have a wide variety of attendees, from current
owners of former racehorses to coaches, judges, racing professionals and everything in between!
We would encourage all racehorse owners to attend; safeguarding your horse’s future has never been more important, and these events will help build knowledge, networks and understanding of life after racing.
June 21
Introduction to Owning a Former Racehorse at New Beginnings (East Yorkshire)
August 6
Introduction to Owning a Former Racehorse at Godolphin Lifetime Care (Newmarket)
August 25
Racing Insight Day at Paul Robson Racing (Northumberland)
September 11
Racing Insight Day at Mike Smith Racing (Ayrshire)
For further information on our events see ror.org.uk.
We’ve only gone and done it again. Something juicy is coming your way soon…
Graham Dench asks our jury the big questions: What impact is climate change having upon your job/business and what can
“ James Wigan Owner-breeder
night. One might possibly plant more shelter belts for them too, to provide shade from the
You need to preserve your grass and not allow it to get mown down by sheep at the beginning of the year and then scorched in the heat, but as a stockman it’s not dramatically
We want nice grass for mares and foals to be turned out in, and there’s less of it when it’s very dry, so it can become quite difficult if you are a busy public stud with a lot of mares visiting, and for that reason a lot of stallion studs don’t take boarders – mares have to walk in. In the old days they mostly would have boarded there, so I should think that’s an area where climate change has had an impact. They don’t have the acreage to have an enormous number of mares boarding through the summer as they would run out of grass. ”
Nick Patton Managing Director of Jockey Club Estates
“
We are governed by the weather, as are our farming friends, and although the introduction of artificial surfaces has made a big difference, wax surfaces ride better when they are damp. During long dry spells you tend to get more kickback so in a perfect world they need water and careful maintenance. Non-wax surfaces, woodchips, sands and carpet fibre need a lot of water to ride well and getting enough of it on them can be a challenge.
At Newmarket our water comes from a borehole which feeds a reservoir at the bottom of the Rowley Mile, and we take water from there for the horse walks, the racecourse and the Watered Gallop. But in the last decade or so there have been times when we’ve used the whole of our extraction licence, so we are looking at how we can harvest water by collecting it from our buildings, car parks and so on to re-use on the gallops, and hopefully extend our reservoir.
I really do believe that water is going to
become our most precious commodity, so water security, water harvesting and water storage have become absolutely critical. On the eastern side of the country we are prone to more extreme weather patterns – whether it’s wet, dry, hot or cold. We’ve had them all in the past, of course, but they seem to be going on for longer now and when we do get rain it tends to all come at once, which brings its own problems.
Every organisation needs to look at its environmental and social governance very closely, and if horseracing wants to be around in 50 or 100 years, we really have to show our worth to the communities we operate within.
It’s taken a while, and I wouldn’t have said this probably even six months ago, but environmental sustainability is now being taken very seriously by the industry. There’s a lot more going on, and we have good people in the right places.
”
Ed Arkell Director of Racing at Goodwood
The real problem with climate change for a racecourse is that everything is becoming so unpredictable. From a clerk’s point of view the less stable weather and the lack of those more temperate seasons we used to be familiar with makes turf management difficult, and from a commercial point of view, unpredictable weather isn’t good for customers who are considering
So far as turf management is concerned, you are either getting no rain at all for weeks or even months – Goodwood this year had 25mm from March 1 to mid-May, compared to 287mm in 2024 – or you are getting 50mm in one go. As you can imagine, long periods of either very wet or very dry and warm weather have a huge impact upon the decisions we are making.
Intensive watering is incredibly labour intensive
on the grounds team, and we all know that water is becoming a scarce resource, not just because of climate change but because of increasing population and the fact that we have quite significantly depleted the underground aquifers which supply the boreholes. As they become more depleted it becomes more difficult for the water companies to allow ourselves and other industries to keep extracting water, because at the end of the day we have to accept that making sure people have water to drink is more important than supplying racecourses with industrial quantities of water.
Like other racecourses, we are maximising the effectiveness of the water we are putting on by using wetting agents, which effectively glue water particles to soil particles and help to flush excess water through the soil profile, and they do make a noticeable difference.
We also water at night, and in cooler conditions where possible. We’ve also put in a lot of automatic pop-up sprinklers on the bends. They are much less labour intensive and by using them at night you are losing very little moisture through evaporation.
Ed Walker Lambourn trainer
I tend not to worry about things that I can’t control, but there are areas in which it’s impacting trainers and the main one is that the British climate has become less predictable.
This spring was unusually dry, and it was a real pain that we couldn’t use the grass gallops. Because we are on chalk downland here, we only really use them in early spring and autumn but we missed that opportunity completely this year. It’s good to get them on grass before their first outing of the season, and I think the fact that they had missed out on it showed in some of ours. We also missed the grass gallops when it came to educating two-year-olds. Also, we’d normally have our soft-ground horses ready early, and then we’d give them a break in the summer, but they all missed their opportunity this spring. Rain will come and they will have their day, but it’s less predictable than it once
was. Luckily we don’t have many that need it soft, and the tracks do such a good job these days that on the whole it’s safe ground – or at least it is while they can continue to extract sufficient water.
All that dust and airborne pollen around the yard and gallops isn’t helpful to the horses’ airways either. There’s just been nothing to damp it down, and although we haven’t had a problem as such, there might have been a few more giving the odd cough through respiratory irritation. When we turn horses out it’s more for their brains than to get good grass, so that’s not the problem to us that it might be to studs, but we do use locally grown hay –sourcing good-quality hay at a time when the farmers are struggling like they are now might become more difficult. I dare say that the dry weather will have an impact upon the cost of feed too in due course.
CHAPEL DOWN WINERY AND TOUR (V*)
Thursday 3 July
A guided tour of the state-of-the-art vineyard and winery followed by a three-course lunch at The Swan.
GLORIOUS GOODWOOD - RICHMOND ENCLOSURE
Tuesday 30 July - Saturday 3 August
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DONCASTER RACES HOSPITALITY (V*)
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MORGAN MOTOR TOUR AND RACING AT CHELTENHAM (V*)
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ROA HORSERACING AWARDS
Thursday 4 December
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Undefeated G1 1,000 Guineas heroine
Deser t Flower, G1 Jenny Wiley winner
Choisya – they’re among 11 Stakes winners for Night Of Thunder in 2025. Only his sire, Dubawi, has more.
He’s also the leading European sire at the breeze-ups in 2025 –ahead of Dubawi and Too Darn Hot in second and third – with the €1.9m sale-topper at Arqana.
€150,000 Oct 1, SLF Kildangan Stud, Ireland
