Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder

 

Incorporating

£4.95 | July 2016 | Issue 143

Reflected glory Can top-level triumphs on track help boost the value of fillies at auction?

Plus • Henry Candy’s patient approach reaps rewards • Robert Havlin relishing his role as a team player • Tony Morris salutes the Aga Khan’s Derby desire

07

9 771745 435006

www.ownerbreeder.co.uk

34088_5DerbyWnrs_TBOB_DPS_July16.qxp_TBOB 16/06/2016 16:59 Page 1

come With good reason, the Derby has ce ing ra to be known as the stallion defin ostle. ~ …In Galileo, it has the perfect ap

~

e 2016

Julian Muscat, RACING POST, 2 Jun

• AUSTRALIA • CAMELOT • CANFORD CLIFFS • DYLAN THOMAS • EXCELEBRATION • FASTNET ROCK • FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND • GALILEO • GLENEAGLES • HENRYTHENAVIGATOR • • HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR • IVAWOOD • KINGSTON HILL • MASTERCRAFTSMAN • MOST IMPROVED • NO NAY NEVER • POUR MOI • POWER • REQUINTO • ROCK OF GIBRALTAR • • RULER OF THE WORLD • STARSPANGLEDBANNER • THEWAYYOUARE • WAR COMMAND • ZOFFANY •

34088_5DerbyWnrs_TBOB_DPS_July16.qxp_TBOB 16/06/2016 16:59 Page 2

The five Epsom Derby winners at Coolmore (from left to right): CAMELOT (Montjeu), AUSTRALIA (Galileo), GALILEO (Sadler’s Wells), RULER OF THE WORLD (Galileo) and POUR MOI (Montjeu)

Contact: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Tel: +353-52-6131298. Fax: +353-52-6131382. Christy Grassick, David O’Loughlin, Eddie Fitzpatrick, Tim Corballis, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne, Mathieu Legars or Jason Walsh. Tom Gaffney, David Magnier, Joe Hernon or Cathal Murphy. Tel: 353-25-31966/31689. Kevin Buckley (UK Rep.) Tel: +44-7827-795156.

E-mail: sales@coolmore.ie Web site: www.coolmore.com All stallions nominated to EBF.

Hawkbill takes flight at Royal Ascot Team Godolphin’s Hawkbill, by 5x Champion Sire Kitten’s Joy, delivers a tour de force in the Tercentenary Stakes (G3) for venerable international horseman Sheikh Mohammed. The flashy chestnut colt, bred by Helen K. Groves Revokable Trust and consigned by Gainesway to the Keeneland September Yearling sale, was hammered down at $350,000 with John Ferguson signing the ticket.

Originally pointed for the French Derby (G1), Hawkbill travelled supremely well to the wire in the mile and a quarter contest, outgaming his stablemate, with much left in the tank. This marked the fifth win in a row for the talented Godolphin colour bearer.

Kitten’s Joy is known by the company he keeps ...

World Class.

2016 Stud Fee: $100,000 S&N 6915 Harrodsburg Road | Nicholasville, KY 40356 (859) 887-3200 | Fax: (859) 885-2666 | www.ramseyfarm.com LGB, LLC 2016 / Photo: Racing Post



WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR Publisher: Michael Harris Editor: Edward Rosenthal Bloodstock Editor: Emma Berry Designed by: Thoroughbred Group Editorial: First Floor, 75 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LS Tel: 020 7152 0209 Fax: 020 7152 0213 editor@ownerbreeder.co.uk www.ownerbreeder.co.uk @OwnerBreeder Advertising: Giles Anderson Tel: 01380 816 777 USA: 1 888 218 4430 Fax: 01380 816 778 advertise@anderson-co.com Subscriptions: Keely Brewer Tel: 020 7152 0212 Fax: 020 7152 0213 subscriptions@ownerbreeder.co.uk Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder incorporating Pacemaker can be purchased by non-members at the following rates: 1 Year 2 Year UK £55 £90 Europe £66 £105 RoW £99 £154 Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder incorporating Pacemaker is published by a Mutual Trading Company owned jointly by the Racehorse Owners Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association is a registered charity No. 1134293 Editorial views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the ROA or TBA ABC Audited Our proven average monthly circulation is certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation at 9,340* *Based on the period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014.

Racehorse Owners Association Ltd First Floor, 75 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LS Tel: 020 7152 0200 Fax: 020 7152 0213 info@roa.co.uk www.roa.co.uk Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stanstead House, The Avenue, Newmarket CB8 9AA Tel: 01638 661 321 Fax: 01638 665621 info@thetba.co.uk • www.thetba.co.uk

Incorporating

£4.95 | July 2016 | Issue 143

Reflected glory Can top-level triumphs on track help boost the value of fillies at auction?

Plus • Henry Candy’s patient approach reaps rewards • Robert Havlin relishing his role as a team player • Tony Morris salutes the Aga Khan’s Derby desire

07

9 771745 435006

www.ownerbreeder.co.uk

Cover: Dougie Costello enjoys his Group 1 Commonwealth Cup victory at Royal Ascot on Quiet Reflection Photo: George Selwyn

Follow us on... @OwnerBreeder

EDWARD ROSENTHAL

Rain and mud fails to dampen the Royal spirit T he sight of mud-splattered runners at Royal Ascot, following a period of heavy rain that produced conditions in Berkshire better suited to the National Hunt sphere, added an unusual twist to the five-day spectacular. Despite this, I believe that this year’s meeting was the best I have ever seen. As well as a popular winner for The Queen, there was a cascade of outstanding stories from the week’s racing – captured superbly by George Selwyn – and it started with the very first race, the Queen Anne Stakes.

American-trained mare Tepin is a superstar at home but the task of running a straight mile at Ascot on testing going, without the aids of Lasix or her usual nasal strip, under a jockey making his British debut, looked daunting, to say the least. In seeing off all challengers with a performance that displayed class, guts and determination, we should be in no doubt that the daughter of Bernstein is a truly special animal.

Tepin’s compatriot, Lady Aurelia, is trained by Wesley Ward, who has singlehandedly changed the perception of British racing in the States. His latest star two-year-old delivered an astonishing front-running effort to win the Queen Mary Stakes under a jubilant Frankie Dettori, who exclaimed that he had never experienced anything like it before. Certainly not on a juvenile – although I remember a filly called Lochsong being pretty good on her day…

Adam Kirby has not always enjoyed the best of luck at Ascot, having been strongly criticised at the 2015 Royal meeting for his riding of Postponed, which led to him losing the ride on the subsequent King George winner, yet surely he is now in love with the place.

A treble, including a Group 1 double on My Dream Boat and Profitable, was an outstanding return – yet his best result of the week was the news that he had become a father, with his baby, Charlie, born whilst daddy was booting home a big-race winner.

The thought of missing the birth of your first child would be unthinkable for most men in Kirby’s position,

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

yet it shows the kind of sacrifices elite sportsmen must – or are prepared to – make in order to succeed at the highest level. Certainly there would have been no shortage of takers had Kirby opted not to take his rides.

Having made his name over jumps, Dougie Costello would have found the wet surface at Royal Ascot no bother whatsoever, and he duly delivered the perfect ride on the Karl Burke-trained filly Quiet Reflection to beat the boys in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup and secure his biggest prize on the Flat.

Quiet Reflection, an inexpensive breeze-up purchase, produced the kind of result that the TBA and BHA will hope entices more people to look favourably on fillies at the sales, explained in this month’s feature entitled ‘This Filly Can’ (pages 52-56).

Robert Havlin has spent a long time chasing a Royal Ascot winner – 25 years or so – and it arrived this year on Ardad, trained by his boss John Gosden, in the Windsor Castle Stakes. That wait made the result all the sweeter and Julian Muscat’s outstanding interview with the Scottish rider (pages 5862) delves deeper into his transformation from wild child to model professional.

The words model professional could have been coined for trainer Henry Candy, who also struck gold at this year’s Royal Ascot with his ace sprinter Twilight Son, galvanised by Ryan Moore to edge a thrilling finish to the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Candy, this month’s ‘Talking To’ (pages 46-51), may have been training racehorses since 1973 yet he has not been training the same type of racehorse for all those 43 years. When the traditional owner-breeder stopped supplying the homebred middle-distance pedigrees that could win King Georges and Eclipses, the trainer decamped to the sales ring for something swifter and eminently more affordable.

His success with the likes of Eveningperformance, Kyllachy, Airwave, Amour Propre, Markab, Limato and now Twilight Son shows his remarkable ability to adapt as required to a changing bloodstock world.

“With Adam Kirby we saw the kind of sacrifices elite sportsmen must make to succeed

”

3



CONTENTS JULY 2016

16

58

NEWS & VIEWS

7 9 10 12

ROA LEADER SP system outmoded

TBA LEADER Genome testing under microscope

NEWS Twilight fixtures axed

CHANGES Your news in a nutshell

34

TONY MORRIS

36

HOWARD WRIGHT

The Aga Khan top of the pile

BHA must review behaviour

INTERNATIONAL SCENE

38

VIEW FROM IRELAND

40

CONTINENTAL TALES

43

AROUND THE GLOBE

Gavin Cromwell’s dual role

Silvery Moon draws crowds

Steve Asmussen on the up

The Queen, Sir Michael Stoute and Olivier Peslier enjoyed Royal Ascot success with Dartmouth

4

July_143_Contents_Contents 24/06/2016 18:23 Page 5

46

40

FEATURES

FORUM

16

THE BIG PICTURE

80

THE THOROUGHBRED CLUB

32

FROM THE ARCHIVES

82

ROA FORUM

46

TALKING TO...

88

TBA FORUM

52

COVER STORY THIS FILLY CAN

93

BREEDER OF THE MONTH

New initiative from TBA and BHA

94

VET FORUM

From Epsom and Royal Ascot

Troy at Goodwood in 1978

Exciting new chapter for Archie Watson

Abandonments trigger payouts

National Hunt breeders honoured

Trainer Henry Candy

Shadwell for Awtaad

Limb abnormalities in young foals

58

THE BIG INTERVIEW With jockey Robert Havlin

DATA BOOK

65

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

98

EUROPEAN PATTERN

103

STALLION STATISTICS

70

Breeding industry focus

SALES CIRCUIT Jet Setting takes off in London

The latest winners

Galileo in Classic form

77

CAULFIELD FILES

96

DR STATZ Analysing sires’ stock at two and three

9,340

104

24 HOURS WITH...

Can other magazines prove theirs?

Major Lionel Holliday’s Hethersett

Owner Ronnie Arculli

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Our monthly circulation is certified at

5



ROA LEADER

NICHOLAS COOPER President Racehorse Owners Association

Time to say goodbye to system from bygone age SPs returned from often sparsely-populated tracks are no longer credible

I

n these computerised days, it is extraordinary that bookmakers persist with an antiquated and outmoded Starting Price system that relies on taking sample prices from on-course bookmakers.

The SP is linked to bookmakers’ gross margin and, when you consider that racing’s central funding is currently based on 10.75% of that gross margin on horseracing bets, you see that it does have quite a lot to do with the levels of prize-money for which we are racing.

How much more rational it would be if the betting industry adopted the logical approach of determining the SP according to the actual amount of money bet on a race, the vast majority of which comes from off-course punters.

When you think what it’s like at ordinary weekday meetings, especially in the winter, with low attendances and often very small sums bet on-course, and then consider how it affects the comparatively huge sums of money being bet off-course, you have to wonder how this has gone on for so long. If ever there was a case of the tail wagging the dog, this is it.

As it is now, on-course bookmakers take the Betfair price and offer a fraction less on their boards, so one could argue there is a greater off-course element being reflected in the SP than is bet on the racecourse.

Nonetheless, it is a convoluted system whose roots were planted long ago when, proportionately, much more betting actually took place on the racecourse.

When this subject has been raised before the notion of making the SP reflect the volume of money bet was rejected by so-called punter representatives who claim bookmakers would use it to exploit punters. However, we never hear an outcry from disgruntled punters when ‘industry’ SPs are returned after big betting events, such as Arc day at Longchamp and the Breeders’ Cup. With digital technology, it would be so easy for the major bookmakers to get together with Betfair and agree on a system where horseracing bets are sent to a central

database after each event. Pre-set margins would be deducted and the SP would be determined from the amount bet on each horse. It would be ready at the touch of a button after each race.

Punters would not lose out because those who were looking for the ‘value’ would continue to take a price from any number of bookmakers offering differing odds and those who continued to bet at SP would not be aware of any difference.

We know the major bookmakers would immediately be aghast at the idea of sharing information with their rivals. But this doesn’t have to happen.

Under the current system, the Starting Price Regulatory Commission is an organisation that ensures the integrity of SPs. The new system would require a similar organisation with a similar remit. Acting above the individual bookmakers, the commission would ensure the system worked properly without giving away any of the detail, but at the same time making the overall total amount bet on each race known publicly.

It would therefore be an excellent move for racing because at once the industry would know how much money was bet on an individual event and this would provide invaluable information for building the race programme – far better than the bits of data that currently trickle through from some bookmakers.

As I have said, this might be an issue for those representing punters who would be suspicious of bookmakers exploiting the new system, but there is a natural link between betting margins and volumes.

Bookmakers are only too well aware that setting margins too high in their favour would inevitably have an adverse effect on volumes in the long term.

Members of the betting industry are usually very good at knowing what is best for them. They should give this proposal serious thought because the current system is a relic of a bygone age.

“With digital

technology it would be so easy for the major bookmakers to get together with Betfair

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

”

7

The TBA: lobbying for members’ interests A growing area of the TBA’s work is in the field of political lobbying and monitoring. A wellresourced TBA can make a considerable difference to the economic and financial situation for British breeders. We are here to protect your interests and our recent successes on your behalf include: · Basic Farm Payment eligibility for stud farms in England · Retention of the Tripartite Agreement for the free movement of Thoroughbreds between the UK, Ireland and France · Retention of Notifiable Disease Status for CEM and EVA, protecting our international trade position · Equine ID and Zootechnical issues – safeguarding the status quo for our equine passports and Thoroughbred breed practices.

With your support we have identified the following issues for breeders and we will therefore be closely monitoring: EU Animal Health Regulation; EU Welfare Strategy; Activities relevant to EU campaigning groups; Availability of vaccines for EHV protection; Stud Farm Rating revaluations due in 2017.

thetba.co.uk

l

01638 661321

l

info@thetba.co.uk

 

TBA LEADER

JULIAN RICHMOND-WATSON Chairman Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association

Genome testing review a key resource for breeders Important to ensure benefits and information become openly available

O

ne of the hottest discussion topics among breeders is genome testing, which the TBA has been monitoring for some time and figured prominently at our annual seminar last month.

It will be reviewed at the AGM in Newmarket on Tuesday, July 5, along with developments in the fillies’ racing programme, of which more later.

Early this year the TBA board decided to take a more pro-active stance on genome testing, and commissioned Dr Peter Webbon, who is well known through his work for the BHB and Animal Health Trust, to lead a team to assess and report on progress in this field, with the intention of providing an objective view on what is available, how useful it is and what other potential uses might be forthcoming from further research.

That genome testing is back under the microscope is the result of recent headlines sparked by publicity from 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold’s Myostatin test to assess whether he would stay the Derby trip.

I cannot imagine that many were surprised by the result.

Galileo Gold’s connections decided to miss the Derby, and after running second in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, he beat a top-class field in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

But the test referred only to a speed gene, one very small part of the horse’s genetic make-up, which in most cases merely confirms what one might expect to be the case.

Prof Max Rothschild, who spoke at our seminar, is clear about how complicated the equine genome is to work with, and that it will take many years and many sample tests to make real progress, but I have no doubt that progress will be made and that in time we will see positive health benefits for the thoroughbred industry.

However, the TBA has a duty to see that, as far as possible, the benefits that flow from increased information and objective assessment are shared

openly between vets and breeding experts and become available to every breeder. We will work with the international thoroughbred breeders’ organisations to advance that objective.

Breeders take account of genes, and the supposed traits that go with them, in every mating decision, just as they consider other important factors, such as racing ability, conformation, soundness and even colour.

Determining racing ability is why we breed and race the thoroughbred, so the recent BHA review of Flat racing opportunities for fillies and mares was welcome.

The TBA and BHA have worked together to highlight the progress made in supporting the race programme for fillies and mares, which not only shows a 40% increase in the number of races available for females in the last ten years, but also growth of 650 in the number of fillies rated 85 and above in the same period.

The early stages of the report highlighted gaps in the race programme and the BHA is working with us to address this.

The EBF-supported Breeders’ Series is one of a number of welcome incentives that have flowed from the work.

The campaign that has evolved from the report, using the slogan #thisfillycan, aims to raise awareness among buyers, agents, owners and trainers that fillies are well worth buying (see feature pages 52-56). They have numerous opportunities on the racecourse, earn the same or more than their male counterparts and have a re-sale value at the end of their racing careers.

The fact that Class 5 fillies’ maidens are also eligible for the Plus 10 bonus should make everyone focus more on the female of the species at the sales.

I am excited by this report and would like to thank the BHA’s racing department for its hard work in distilling the statistics. The real test, though, will be for all of us involved in breeding and racing to carry the campaign forward and prove that fillies are worth more at the sales and that #thisfillycan.

“Breeders take account of genes, and the supposed traits that go with them, in every mating decision

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

”

9

 

NEWS Stories from the racing world

Twilight fixtures scrapped by BHA British racing’s Authorised Betting Partner policy has influence on 2017 planning

T

he 2017 fixture list will be shaped partly by the Authorised Betting Partner initiative, with twilight fixtures cut and evening meetings increased.

High street giants Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and Betfred do not have ABP status, as a result of which they will suffer through the loss of twilight meetings, which are betting-shop friendly.

Evening meetings are less so – but they are said to be more popular with punters online, and digital-facing bookmakers like Bet365, Sky Bet and BetVictor, who do have ABP status, will benefit from the fixture changes.

There will be a net increase of around 12 meetings in 2017 – there were 1,482 fixtures programmed this year – and BHA Chief Operating Officer Richard Wayman said the shift to online betting had to be borne in mind when compiling next year’s schedule.

“Historically, the fixture list had been organised around the Levy Board’s fixture criteria, which has been driven solely by the requirements of the betting shops,” he said.

“While retail betting remains important, with less than half of betting activity through

that channel, using the fixture list to create further growth in remote betting makes perfect sense.

“It also means racing is delivering its commitment to ABPs, where three of the top five remote players are making voluntary contributions to British racing.”

He continued: “It’s difficult to quantify the precise impact of initiatives on retail firms owing to a lack of available data, but betting shops will certainly benefit from an additional dozen fixtures that we’ll be creating.”

The changes focus on fixtures on Thursdays and Fridays between September and early April.

Wayman added: “In practice, this will involve starting around 30 fixtures an hour or so later than is currently the case.

“We’ll also stage a fixture on every Saturday evening through the year, which will mean filling a few remaining blank dates in the winter, as well as introducing incentives to improve the quality of racing on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

“It would not be unfair to say our fixture list has remained pretty static for some time, and

2017 fixture list key points • Net increase of around 12 fixtures • Twilight cards moved into evenings on Thursdays and Fridays • An evening meeting every Saturday • Additional Friday evening fixtures, worth at least £75,000, in height of summer • Code breaks, with no Flat fixtures on Sundays during the winter and a Flat-free Sunday each month during the summer • Geographical clashes removed where possible • Funding incentives for tracks to improve quality of midweek and Sunday racing, subject to Levy Board agreement for the sport to flourish it has to evolve. The agreed changes for 2017 show the direction of travel that, in partnership with racecourses and horsemen, we can build on in future years.”

The BHA hopes to publish the fixture list next month.

There will be more evening racing next year, at the expense of twilight meetings

10

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_News_v2_Owner 24/06/2016 18:02 Page 11

Nominations open for 2017 Awards

Russell Baze has retired aged 57 with just the 12,844 victories to his name

Baze and Toomey bow out The final win tally of legendary jumps jockey Sir Anthony McCoy – 4,358 – over a 23-year career was incredible and hugely impressive, but a more recent retirement from the saddle knocks that figure into a cocked riding hat.

Russell Baze won very few big races, but he won a heck of a lot of races, the 57year-old finally calling time last month on a simply amazing career, after no fewer than 12,844 victories, amassed since 1974, when he rode his first winner aged 16.

Baze went on to have another 53,500 rides, the vast majority away from the limelight. He had 5,765 winners at just one track, Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay area.

He accumulated 54 riding titles at Golden Gate, and 40 at Bay Meadows – he would almost certainly have had more there had Bay Meadows not shut in 2008.

Baze retired at the top of the winningmost riders’ standings, but Brazilian legend Jorge Ricardo, with whom Baze traded the world-record leadership several times, is around 200 winners behind him and would appear likely to overhaul Baze, injury notwithstanding.

Baze retired as he had spent his career, with little fanfare. “I didn’t want to make a big fuss,” he said. “I did exactly what I wanted to. I didn’t retire until I was ready to retire.”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

He added when asked about the likelihood of Ricardo regaining top spot: “More power to him.”

There was also a significant retirement from the saddle last month much closer to home, significant not because of the number of winners – there were just 54 of them – but because the rider concerned had been pronounced clinically dead for six seconds and given a 3% chance of survival by doctors after a terrible fall at Perth in July 2013.

Brian Toomey, the jockey in question, made a miraculous recovery to be passed fit by the BHA to resume his career two years later.

However, a perhaps understandable lack of support from owners and trainers, no doubt concerned for Toomey’s wellbeing, meant that his comeback was not the success he would have liked or deserved and Toomey took the decision to retire after partnering City Dreams at Stratford. Very sadly his last mount suffered a fatal injury when brought down.

“I’m going back to Ireland to hopefully get some support as I would dearly love to stay in racing,” said Toomey.

“I was wishing for the fairytale ending but it was not to be. When everything has died down and I can reflect properly on what has happened it might just sink in how lucky I have been just to be here.”

The British Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards, initiated to recognise and reward the hard work of the stud and stable staff employees within racing, are now in their 13th year. They are run by the British Horseracing Authority and generously sponsored by Godolphin in association with the Racing Post.

There is over £120,000 in prize-money available to the winners and runners up, who will be revealed during the evening Awards ceremony held on Monday, February 20, 2017 at the Jumeirah Carlton Towers in London. This year the nomination period will open earlier to encourage an even higher number of nominations and one of the worthy finalists and their yards or studs will be taking home up to £40,000.

Anyone can nominate and there are six categories, including the Rory MacDonald Community Award. This award, in conjunction with Racing Welfare, was launched last year to reward the unsung community heroes – those not necessarily employed as stud and stable staff but that work tirelessly behind the scenes for the good of our industry, whether it be supporting its equine or human participants during or after their careers.

Nominations can be made online at www.britishhorseracing.com/awards

Gemma Hogg, Employee of the Year in 2016, with her boss Micky Hammond

11

 

Racing’s news in a nutshell PEOPLE AND BUSINESS Hayley Turner Awarded an OBE as the most successful female jockey in UK racing history; Turner, 33, will come out of retirement to ride at the Shergar Cup.

Michelle Payne Melbourne Cup-winning rider has abdominal surgery after sustaining an injury in a fall at Mildura racecourse in Victoria.

Yarmouth Royal Ascot Will be televised live in the US from 2017 as part of multi-year agreement with NBCUniversal, including 15 hours of coverage across the five days.

Ladbrokes Coral Merger moves closer as Competition and Markets Authority says new business would need to sell around 400 betting shops for deal to proceed.

Tony Martin Trainer loses the patronage of owner Gigginstown House Stud, as does Sandra Hughes; Eddie O’Leary says the operation is a “results-based business”.

June 8 sees racing return to the venue for the first time since September, following £300,000 worth of remedial work to the straight course.

Wexford racecourse Track receives no future Flat fixtures from Horse Racing Ireland, joining Punchestown, Kilbeggan and Downpatrick as a jumps-only track.

Adrian Nicholls 34-year-old retires from the saddle due to lack of opportunities; he partnered Regal Parade to Group 1 wins in the Sprint Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest.

Joseph O’Brien Qatar Racing entrusts €165,000 twoyear-old breeze-up purchase at Goresbridge with newly-licensed trainer, who says he is “privileged”.

Jonathan Moore Rebecca Curtis signs up Irishman as her stable jockey. Moore rode 17 winners in Ireland last season when based with Noel Meade.

Cathy Gannon

Jockey who has suffered more than her fair share of injuries, set for two months on the sidelines after stalls incident at Lingfield left her with five broken toes on her left foot.

David Armstrong

Hennessy Gold Cup

Moves his string from Richard Fahey, who trained Group 1 winners Mayson and Garswood, to David O’Meara, Brian Ellison, Michael Dods and Ann Duffield.

Newbury chase will continue with its famous sponsor for another year to mark a 60-year association; there is no deal in place beyond that.

Also...

Sammy Jo Bell A fractured pelvis, sustained in a parade ring fall, will keep the talented young rider out of the saddle for a few months.

12

David Noonan, who joined the professional jump jockey ranks in December, is crowned champion amateur. Chief Executive of Racing Victoria Bernard Saundry will step down at the end of the year. He has worked at the organisation for 14 years. Conditional jockey Kieron Edgar, 22, leaves David Pipe to join the Harry Fry stable. This year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita on November 4-5 will be the richest ever run, worth $28 million, with the Classic pot increasing by $1m to $6m. Rupert Trevelyan, the Jockey Club’s Regional Director for the London region – responsible for Epsom, Kempton and Sandown – is stepping down after seven years with JCR. Taunton joins the Racecourse Media Group stable of courses so coverage will switch from At The Races to Racing UK from May next year.

Sectional timing at every Irish track will begin from January 1 next year; courses will be visited for GPS and radio surveys under an SIS initiative. Channel 4 attracts a peak Derby audience of 1.4 million for its final Epsom broadcast, marginally down on last year’s figure of 1.47 million. Justin Wadham, solicitor, ROA Council member and husband of trainer Lucy Wadham, is elected to Newmarket Town Council for the first time.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

>>

July_143_Changes2pp_Layout 1 24/06/2016 18:08 Page 14

RACEHORSE AND STALLION MOVEMENTS AND RETIREMENTS Covert Love Top-class filly for the Hugo Palmer stable, winner of the Irish Oaks and Prix de l’Opera last year, is retired aged four due to a leg injury.

Kotkikova

Mongolian Khan

JP McManus buys five-year-old daughter of Martaline, winner of the Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, and sends her to Nicky Henderson.

Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand secures right to stand son of Holy Roman Emperor, a three-time Group 1 winner. His fee is NZ$10,000.

Vancouver

Dandino

Jet Setting

Group 2 winner in Britain, also successful in America and Australia, will stand at Bombora Downs in Victoria; the son of Dansili’s fee is set at A$5,000.

Coolmore-owned sprinter is retired before running for new handler Aidan O’Brien and will return to Australia to stand at stud in New South Wales.

Daughter of Fast Company, this year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine, tops the Goffs London Sale when selling to China Horse Club for £1.3 million.

Muhaarar Holy Roman Emperor Son of Danehill will stand southern hemisphere season at Aquis Farm in Queensland.

Deningy Godolphin purchases two-year-old son of Sepoy, second on his debut at Ascot in April, and moves him to Charlie Appleby from David Evans’ stable.

Ned Stark Talented chaser sells for £70,000 at Goffs’ Spring Sale at Doncaster and will be trained

by Gordon Elliott, having previously been in the care of Alan King.

PEOPLE OBITUARIES Archie O’Leary 86 Owner of a number of top jumps horses with wife Violet, including Florida Pearl, Missed That, Cooldine, Golden Silver and Abbyssial.

Hans Eisel 94 Leading owner-breeder in Germany who operated as Gestut Haus Hahn, his best horses were Savio and Ammonias.

John Waldron 71 Retired GP from County Galway was the breeder of Faugheen, winner of seven Grade 1s to date including the 2015 Champion Hurdle.

14

Shadwell Stud announces that their newest recruit will cover to southern hemisphere time after showing excellent fertility with his first book of mares.

HORSE OBITUARIES American Post 15 Winner of three Group 1s for his owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah and sire of Robin Of Navan, winner of the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Not For Love 26

Leroidesanimaux 15

Son of Mr Prospector was the damsire of California Chrome, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup.

Top-class turf performer in America, the son of Candy Stripes, based latterly at Lanwades Stud, is the sire of outstanding runner Animal Kingdom.

Guy Fawkes 3 Promising gelding bred and owned by The Queen suffers a fatal injury in the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot.

Ortensia 10 Australian sprinter won the 2012 Nunthorpe Stakes having previously won Group 1s at home and in Dubai; she produced two fillies at stud.

Society Rock 9 Dual Group 1-winning sprinter for the James Fanshawe stable who stood at Tally-Ho Stud in Ireland, where he retired in 2014.

Intikhab 22 Son of Red Ransom, a Group 2 winner for Godolphin, and sire of outstanding fillies Snow Fairy and Red Evie.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_BigPic-Mindingv2_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:28 Page 16

THE BIG PICTURE

July_143_BigPic-Mindingv2_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:28 Page 17

INVESTEC OAKS

MINDING JUST MARVELLOUS Prior to bidding for a British Classic double not all had gone well for Minding at the Curragh, where she banged her head leaving the stalls and suffered a narrow defeat. It was far from plain sailing at Epsom as well, for she experienced a tricky passage through the race, but Ryan Moore stayed cool in the saddle to win the contest for a second time and provide trainer Aidan O’Brien (below) with a sixth Oaks success Photos George Selwyn

July_143_BigPic-Harzand_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:25 Page 18

THE BIG PICTURE

July_143_BigPic-Harzand_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:25 Page 19

INVESTEC DERBY

HARZAND STARS The Aga Khan’s famous silks were carried to a fifth Derby victory courtesy of Harzand, who emulated his sire Sea The Stars to land the world’s most famous Flat race. It was a first strike in the Epsom Classic for trainer Dermot Weld and jockey Pat Smullen, who drove Harzand to a length and a half success over favourite US Army Ranger.

The Queen (left) presented the successful owner-breeder with his trophy Photos George Selwyn

 

THE BIG PICTURE

POSTPONED DELIVERS The pressure was on Postponed and jockey Andrea Atzeni in the Group 1 Coronation Cup on Derby day, as the duo were strongly fancied to extend their winning streak to five, and they did not let down their fans, the five-year-old running out a hugely impressive four-and-a-half-length victor over Found. Trainer Roger Varian and owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid (below) were equally delighted Photos George Selwyn

July_143_Big_Picture_Postponed_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:29 Page 21

CORONATION CUP

July_143_Big_Picture_Tepin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:31 Page 22

THE BIG PICTURE

TEPIN BOWLS ’EM OVER Nothing was right for her – the ground was soft, the track straight, and she could not run on Lasix or wear a nasal strip. Yet American ace Tepin was still too good for her dozen rivals in the Queen Anne Stakes, getting Royal Ascot 2016 off to a fabulous start for trainer Mark Casse (left), owner Robert Masterson and jockey Julien Leparoux, the mare defeating Belardo by half a length Photos George Selwyn

July_143_Big_Picture_Tepin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:32 Page 23

ROYAL ASCOT

   

THE BIG PICTURE

PACO’S BOY TAKES GOLD The St James’s Palace Stakes was billed as the battle of the three Guineas winners from Britain, Ireland and France. Indeed they filled the first three places, yet it was Paco Boy’s son Galileo Gold that proved superior on the day under a fine ride from Frankie Dettori, defeating The Gurkha (purple) by a length and a quarter, with Awtaad (blue and white) a half length back in third. Galileo Gold will next be seen in the Sussex Stakes at the Qatar Goodwood Festival on Wednesday, July 27, the race sponsored by his Al Shaqab Racing owners who include Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, pictured with Dettori and trainer Hugo Palmer, collecting his trophy from Prince Harry (right) Photos George Selwyn

July_143_Big_Picture_GalileoGoldV3_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:34 Page 25

ROYAL ASCOT

   

THE BIG PICTURE

GEORGE THE FIRST Stepping up considerably in distance he may have been, but Order Of St George started hot favourite for the showpiece race at the Royal meeting, the Gold Cup. He justified his billing with a devastating burst to put the race to bed and score comfortably under Ryan Moore, the pair three lengths clear of Mizzou. It is not out of the question that Order Of St George could try to emulate four-time winner Yeats, also trained by Aidan O’Brien and owned by Coolmore Photo George Selwyn

July_143_Big_Picture_OrderOfStGeorge_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:36 Page 27

ROYAL ASCOT

  

THE BIG PICTURE

July_143_Big_Picture_Dartmouth_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:38 Page 29

ROYAL ASCOT

DARTMOUTH HITS BULLSEYE A winner for The Queen at Royal Ascot is always special, and such a moment arrived this year in the Hardwicke Stakes when Dartmouth, partnered by Oliver Peslier, provided the monarch with a 23rd success at the meeting, albeit having to survive a stewards’ enquiry in defeating Highland Reel by a head. Her Majesty was able to celebrate the victory with her son Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, and racing manager John Warren (below) Photos George Selwyn

  

THE BIG PICTURE

BOY, WHAT A WEEK! A Royal Ascot treble, with Group 1 wins aboard My Dream Boat (main image) for Paul and Clare Rooney (above) in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Alan Spence’s Profitable (top) in the King’s Stand Stakes, made it an unforgettable week for Adam Kirby, who also celebrated the birth of his first child with partner Megan Evans

July_143_Big_Picture_BestOfRestV2_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:44 Page 31

ROYAL ASCOT

Clockwise from top: French raider Qemah takes the Coronation Stakes under Gregory Benoist; Luke Morris enjoys his debut Royal Ascot strike on Prince Of Lir, trained by Robert Cowell, in the Norfolk Stakes; Lady Aurelia and Frankie Dettori blow their rivals away in the Queen Mary Stakes for US handler Wesley Ward; the Andre Fabre-trained Usherette and Mickael Barzalona win decisively in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes for Godolphin

Photos George Selwyn

 

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The story behind the photo The 1978 Lanson Champagne Stakes at Goodwood was fought out by Troy and Ela-Mana-Mou, two colts that would go on to make their mark at the highest level.

Troy was owned in partnership by Sir Michael Sobell and his son-in-law Arnold Weinstock and bred by their Ballymacoll Stud in County Meath, Ireland which they had purchased in 1960 for £250,000.

His two-year-old triumph at Goodwood for the Dick Hern/Willie Carson partnership, when he proved two and a half lengths too good for Ela-Mana-Mou and Greville Starkey, was followed by a three-year-old campaign that marked the son of Petingo as a truly special talent. Troy claimed the Sandown Classic Trial and Predominate Stakes before slamming his rivals in the 200th Derby, defeating Dickens Hill by seven lengths, with his old adversary ElaMana-Mou, the 9-2 favourite, back in fourth.

He went on to capture the Irish Derby before stepping up against the older generation for victories in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot (won a year later by Ela-Mana-Mou) and Benson & Hedges Gold Cup at York, now the International Stakes.

Retired after finishing third to Three Troikas in the 1979 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Troy was syndicated for a then-record £7.2 million. Sadly he lasted only four seasons at stud before succumbing to acute peritonitis in 1983.

Photo George Selwyn

July_143_FromTheArchivesV2_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:52 Page 33

T R O Y, J U LY 2 7 , 1 9 7 8

 

THE MAN YOU CAN’T IGNORE COMMENT

Tony Morris The Derby does not have the profile it used to, partly due to the wreckers that moved it to Saturday from Wednesday, but it is still the event racing professionals covet the most

34

GEORGE SELWYN

I

was brought up in an era when the Derby was rightly regarded as one of the two greatest fixtures in the sporting calendar, rivalled in its appeal only by the FA Cup Final.

It merited that distinction by virtue of the fact that virtually throughout its long history it had ranked as the most important event in a sport that claimed the attention of all levels of society – so important that every other nation where the sport flourished had established its own counterpart contest.

Recognition of the Derby’s lofty status as representing the very best of horseracing was strongly expressed in the media, which provided extensive coverage and celebrated it with appropriate front-page treatment. It was no longer customary for Parliament to shut up shop for Derby day, as it had for a long period in the 19th century, but it was impossible to be unaware of what was happening on Epsom Downs on that special day of the year.

Things have changed – to a considerable extent because of the crass decision to switch from a Wednesday, when it could, and often did, dominate the news agenda, to a Saturday, when it would inevitably have to compete for media attention with so many other summer weekend events. Did the wreckers never consider the possibility that the move might result in the race’s relegation to a much lower public profile, with miserable viewing figures on a minority TV channel?

I fell in love with racing as a pre-teenager, the Derby quickly becoming the chief focus of my interest, but I can’t imagine any of today’s 12year-olds following in my footsteps while newspapers routinely neglect the sport and fail to recognise the special significance of the race that has mattered more than any other for nigh on two and a half centuries. In 2016 I saw numerous references to the Derby as ‘the greatest Flat race in the world,’ a description which instead of promoting it actually insulted it. The very idea that there might be a race over obstacles to compare with it is preposterous.

But some of us know what the Derby really means, and for those professionally involved there is no doubt about it. It is the race that every breeder, owner, trainer and jockey wants

A thrilled Aga Khan leads in his fifth Derby winner, Harzand, ridden by Pat Smullen

to win, and the connections of this year’s winner were swift to acknowledge it. In the case of the Aga Khan, Harzand’s owner/breeder, the victory was an achievement he had registered on four previous occasions, each one providing the spur to make repeated efforts to match the feat, while for trainer Dermot Weld and jockey Pat Smullen it was the realisation of long-nurtured dreams, adding success in the greatest race to career CVs that had hitherto seemed incomplete.

Twist of fate It is remarkable to reflect that the Aga Khan, who will turn 80 in December, became involved in racing and breeding solely by mischance. He professed neither knowledge nor interest while his grandfather and father occupied prominent positions in the thoroughbred world. HH Aga Khan III had raced three Derby winners – yearling purchase Blenheim (1930) and the

homebred pair Bahram (1935) and Mahmoud (1936) – before the birth of his grandson, and there would be two more in My Love (1948), owned in partnership with his breeder Leon Volterra, and Tulyar (1952), who was registered as bred by the Aga and his son, Prince Aly Khan.

On the death of Aga Khan III in 1957, his grandson, not yet 21, was named to succeed him as spiritual leader of the ten million-strong Ismaili community; Aly maintained the family’s connection with the Turf. But in May 1960 Aly was killed in a car crash, which left his son as owner of one of the leading thoroughbred operations in the world, with dual Classic winner Petite Etoile among the horses in training.

There were decisions to make. Should the 23year-old Aga Khan IV continue with a family enterprise that had been nurtured successfully over nearly 40 years, or should he disperse the stock? It seems likely that the performances of THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_Tony_Morris_Owner 24/06/2016 16:08 Page 35

the horses in training made the decision for him.

Inside the first three months of his ownership, Charlottesville won the Prix du Jockey-Club and Grand Prix de Paris, Sheshoon took the Gold Cup and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Petite Etoile landed the Coronation Cup, and Venture was successful in the St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes. The deeds of the horses inherited from his father and grandfather made him France’s leading owner in 1960. In Britain, where he had limited representation, he ranked fifth.

After a banner year for the stud, it was clear the Aga had taken over a going concern, so it made sense to persevere, but there was a lot for the novice to learn about the business of racing and breeding. Many doubted he would stay the course, finding the same sort of enthusiasm that had characterised the involvement of his forebears. In fact, it soon became obvious he relished the challenge, and that, for him, it was less about upholding a family tradition than striving to match and exceed the achievements of his father and grandfather. He owned a fiercely competitive streak, and proved every bit as shrewd as them in his dealings as he pursued an expansionist policy.

The first runner of real distinction bred by the Aga was Silver Shark, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye as a two-year-old in 1965, soon to be followed by Zeddaan and Kalamoun, father and son heroes of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains. His top performer in the 1970s was not one he bred, but was out of a mare he had bred and sold; that rarity was Blushing Groom, a champion two-year-old and crack miler bought as a foal for 16,000gns. Favourite for the 1977 Derby, he finished third to The Minstrel.

By the end of the 1970s the Aga’s bloodstock holdings had grown enormously. A scheduled auction of the stock from the late Mme Dupre’s Haras d’Ouilly was abandoned a few days before the due date, when it was announced the Aga had bought the lot by private treaty. He did a similar deal to take over what was left of the bankrupt Marcel Boussac’s formerly all-conquering stud. A few years later the few mares remaining in Brook Holliday’s ownership joined the fold. While some in the industry queried the method in such apparent madness, the Aga argued that such transactions enabled him to tap into the accumulated wisdom of breeders who had competed at the top level over several generations. Those deals brought so much success to the expanded empire that nobody queried the similar deal that brought the Jean-Luc Lagardere mares into the broodmare band early in this century.

It is evident now that for all the achievements of Aga Khan III, his successor has comfortably surpassed them. The former bred only three Derby winners, one of those in partnership, whereas his successor’s score is five, one short of the record held since 1831 by the 3rd Earl of Egremont. Shergar (1981), Shahrastani (1986) and Kahyasi (1988) all hailed from families developed in the old Aga’s time, while Sinndar (2000) had his roots in the Boussac stud and Harzand traces to a root in the Holliday band.

My research persuades me that Harzand is the 85th individual Group 1 winner bred by the Aga. Totting up the tally of individual Pattern and Graded winners proved rather more arduous and time-consuming, and I wouldn’t swear to it that the 246 I found constitute an entirely accurate total. It hardly matters, as there will be plenty more to come. The Egremont record might yet be under threat.

“By the end of the

1970s the Aga’s bloodstock holdings had grown enormously”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

35

 

HOWARD WRIGHT COMMENT

The penchant for reviews within horseracing is not helped by personnel changes – you never know who is going to knock at the door and when

Examine this, examine that

I

f in doubt, set up a review. If in trouble, appoint a committee to review the review.

If in deeper trouble, the best advice – not always taken – is to stop digging, jump out of the hole and wave a white flag. The BHA has run the full gamut of experiences since Steve Harman became Chairman in July 2013 and Nick Rust joined as Chief Executive in January 2015.

Two newcomers to the inner circles of British racing politics, and twice the temptation to want to examine and re-examine anything and everything that lives and breathes, even if it is standing still quite comfortably and doing nobody much harm.

Having been a trustee of one small component of the industry, the Northern Racing College, for a quarter of a century, I have experienced at first hand the dangers and implications of review. The arena in which the NRC works, principally education and training of stable staff, has been the subject of inquiry by the central authority and others for at least half that time.

The biggest problem, and the most debilitating for those working at the sharp end, is that each review involves a new set of people who have to be given a history lesson before they can even begin to understand the nuances of how things work. The short-term result is inevitable uncertainty.

The BHA’s review of education and training has, thankfully and finally, produced a strategy, although some practitioners still look for reassurance that a dreaded knock on the door from yet another investigating team is not imminent.

The feeling is probably shared by the BHA’s handicappers, whose practices came under scrutiny several years ago in a review that seems to have been quietly ditched. For fear of disturbing the peace, I will leave someone else to uncover the whereabouts of any conclusions.

Other BHA reviews to last the course have, perhaps not unnaturally, had mixed results, starting with benefits that have flowed from an overhaul of General Instructions, particularly those relating to medical provision on racecourses.

Reviews of the whip rules and then antidoping measures that chiefly concern anabolic steroids got there in the end, but not before upsetting various involved parties. In the first

36

case the jockeys were placated by an early intervention from then-new Chief Executive Paul Bittar, but doubts still exist about the total efficiency of the regulations, while in the wake of the second, several breeders remain unsure about unintended long-term consequences and have fought to stay out of all-embracing registration requirements.

“The BHA has run the full gamut of experiences since Steve Harman and Nick Rust joined”

The jump review, whose committee members must have filled a small church hall whenever they turned out in force, still has a long way to go to fulfil its 41 recommendations, but as the BHA Annual Report for 2015 – published in the first full week of last month and the first such

document for five years – points out, three initiatives are up and running.

Then there is the integrity review, which was started in June 2015, had its completion overseen by new BHA Director and former Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, was published in March and immediately ran into a storm whipped up by the Jim Best case.

A commentary in the Annual Report describes the integrity review as “a substantial piece of work in which we consulted with more than 100 individuals from racing and the betting public, and subjected our findings to robust, external challenge by a panel of leading experts from the fields of sport, regulation and also our own industry.”

Given that level of input and scrutiny, it seems most odd to a complete outsider that what appears to be a fundamental error of judgement, based solely on perception, was not properly questioned, leading to the Appeal Board upholding Best’s claim and parties with vested interests being able to force the BHA on to the back foot in the public relations arena.

In the meantime, the original premise of the Best case has been submerged by the furore, which may not end in a rehearing, if one is advisable and whether it even takes place.

The review of the whip rules got there in the end, though the journey was tortuous

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

RACE THE BEST WITH THE BEST At Home & Abroad Irish Trainers Excel At The Highest Level Winning 190 British Races Worth €10.9 million in 2015 Contact Aidan McGarry, Racehorse Ownership Manager, at T:+353 45 443000 E: amcgarry@itm.ie W: www.itm.ie/owning

OWNER BREEDER MAG A4.indd 5

16/06/2016 14:57

 

VIEW FROM IRELAND

By JESSICA LAMB

Cromwell sticking to gameplan Trainer is making a success of career but determined to continue work as farrier

38

CAROLINE NORRIS

F

Gavin Cromwell (right), pictured with Barry Geraghty and Frank Berry, captured two Grade 1s in 2016 with outstanding four-year-old filly Jer’s Girl (below)

climate is so tough for new trainers that he could not rely on his own string for an income.

“I wouldn’t have survived training horses without being a farrier,” he said. “That keeps the whole thing afloat. I won’t be giving it up in the immediate future. I’m certainly not able to step back – I enjoy going out to the yards anyway.

“I’ve been doing it for over 20 years and it’s through being out and about in the yards that I’ve built up the fantastic team of staff and owners. I wouldn’t be a trainer without being a farrier.”

Without a comprehensive programme for jumping mares, he might not be a trainer either.

Cromwell sent out eight horses to win 17 times over jumps last season – six of them were female and eight of their 13 wins came against their own sex, including Jer’s Girl’s two Grade 1s.

She is a perfect example of a filly benefiting from the programme improvements, as ownerbreeder Eugene Bourke put her in training only when he couldn’t sell her.

Would McManus have then bought her if he couldn’t see the potential of two Grade 1 wins?

“I always loved the idea of having one for JP,” Cromwell said, reflecting on McManus’s purchase of his star filly in March. “But to have one like that for him and for her to go out and win two Grade 1s straight away.

What can I say?

“She’s in Martinstown Stud on her break now and will

stay hurdling next year. We haven’t discussed what her plans are but she will stay over hurdles for now.”

At Galway this month, Cromwell will have several of his talented mares in action, with 2014 Irish Cambridgeshire winner Sretaw back from injury, Punchestown Festival winner Elusive Ivy freshened up, and the Casamento two-year-old Pandagreen on an upward curve.

Meanwhile, in the sales ring, although the extra day added on to the Goffs Land Rover Sale proved somewhat of a flop, its silver lining was that it was topped by a Presenting filly who was knocked down for €57,000. Even better, a Robin Des Champs filly made the sale’s top ten, going to Willie Mullins for €85,000.

That is the first filly to ever make the top ten lots at the Land Rover Sale, and only exceptional pedigrees have made the top ten at Tattersalls’ Derby Sale, such as a fullsister to Moscow Flyer and a half-sister to Fota Island.

The jumping filly is no longer the forgotten asset.

CAROLINE NORRIS

arrier-trainer Gavin Cromwell has become a dream case study to promote the benefits of Horse Racing Ireland’s continued improvements to the fillies’ and mares’ jumping programme.

Cromwell, a farrier for the past 20 years, began dabbling in training horses nearly ten years ago, but did not see it as more than a hobby until last year. Results poured in with wins in point-topoints, on the Flat and over jumps, and that included a first win for the filly that has become his stable star, Jer’s Girl.

This year she showed enough in her first Grade 1 against males to be purchased by JP McManus and went on to win two Grade 1 mares’ novice hurdles, both of which did not exist before the ITBA began lobbying for maresonly Grade 1s in 2012.

Without these upgrades, McManus is unlikely to have seen the worth of purchasing the fouryear-old, Cromwell would have no star owner and no Grade 1 winners in his yard, and he wouldn’t be starting to call himself a trainer.

“Everybody dreams of expanding, getting bigger and getting better horses,” he said. “I’m not sure what I thought when I started. I was just a farrier who trained a few horses. Then last year we trained 22 winners and this year Jer’s Girl happened. I suppose I am a trainer now!”

Ironically, with 20 in training and plans for a team of 30 to be in during the winter, Cromwell finds numbers – and juggling with his primary career as Gold Cup-winning trainer Gordon Elliott’s farrier – easier to manage than when he had half as many horses.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easier when you’re bigger, but it justifies employing staff,” he explained. “I was trying to ride out a few myself every day before; I was nearly busier then than I am now.

“Now we have a better system, with me spending time in the yard in the morning as much as I can and then going to Gordon’s.

“I have a couple of lads that work for me in the farriery business and have got great staff in the yard, Claire O’Brien in particular; she’s been with me for five years and has been working in racing for the best part of 30 years. I trust her and that gives me freedom. I’m splitting my time about 50-50 but I could never stop working as a farrier.”

There is no option when you are a farrier to just lead a team, Cromwell explains, in the same way that a dentist can’t own a dentistry and not practise as a dentist.

Gold Cup-winning trainer Elliott is Cromwell’s main client and he believes that the current

July_143_View_From_Ireland_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:46 Page 39

Galway will race from brand new French starting stalls at this month’s festival, as Horse Racing Ireland completes their 2016 roll-out of upgrades.

The first instalment of these new stalls was at the Curragh last September. This year they have also been implemented at Navan and Gowran Park, with HRI planning to furnish up to three more courses next year.

Sharleen O’Reilly, HRI Racing Operations Manager, said: “I am delighted with the roll out of the new Fornells starting stalls. They have undergone extensive testing and have been wellreceived by the jockeys and trainers over the past few months.

“This modernisation process has allowed HRI to replace our oldest Metropolitan stalls. The intention is that all our older sets of starting stalls should be replaced on a phased basis over the next three years.”

The length of this project is due to the

CAROLINE NORRIS

State-of-theart stalls for Galway

Racing at the Galway festival this month will be from brand new starting stalls

long manufacturing process. It takes several months for each set of stalls to be produced in France by Fornells and they are then transported to Ireland and assembled at the courses.

The key benefits versus the old Metropolitan stalls previously in use are

that they have bigger bays, non-invasive tyres to protect surfaces, and a strong, quiet release system, featuring a single button to open all gates simultaneously.

They also come with a cut-off switch to enable a race to be started manually in the event of a system failure.

The Irish Injured Jockeys Fund’s Corinthian Challenge Charity Race Series kicked off at Naas on Royal Ascot trials day in May and will continue at the Curragh on Irish Oaks day, where the challenge riders will race over the Irish Derby course.

This initiative is set to raise a minimum of €120,000 for its cause as each of the 12 riders are required to raise a minimum of €10,000 to participate.

It highlights how monumentally far the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund has come since launching as an umbrella group for Ireland’s four racing charities in October 2014.

That was one year on from one of the greatest days I have personally ever experienced in racing; the Jonjo Bright and JT McNamara fundraiser at Limerick, a day when the whole of racing, from champions to newcomers, turned out and €809,000 was raised for the Emergency Jockeys Fund – the charity providing for the two paralysed riders.

With people like RTE anchor Tracy Piggott, and Qatar Racing’s Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, signed up to ride in the first edition of this charity race series, it should reach its target and be confirmed for a second series in 2017.

That’s two years where the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund will gain €120,000 in funding from an entertaining, engaging initiative that it has created from scratch, even giving it its own website.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

CAROLINE NORRIS

Irish Injured Jockeys Fund in the spotlight

Sheikh Fahad is part of the Corinthian Challenge initiative

39



CONTINENTAL TALES Y

Putting the buzz back into racing New Champions League series and remarkable horse make waves

FRANK NOLTING

GERMAN

By JAMES CRISPE, INTERNATIONAL RACING BUREAU

Silvery Moon’s colourings are more Ayrshire cow than racehorse but there is more to him than looks – he has winning talent too

G

erman racing is not exactly awash with money at the moment – hence a prestigious Group 2 race, like May’s Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft, offers a first prize of less than £30,000 – yet people in high places are doing their best to promote the sport to as wide an audience as possible.

One of the prime movers behind this public relations push is 44-year-old Eckhard Sauren.

The one-time wunderkind of the financial markets is Chairman of the Sauren Group, the leading independent specialist provider of qualitative fund analysis. He also happens to be a big racing fan.

President of Cologne racecourse since 2010, Sauren has been enjoying a good run as an owner of late thanks to the international exploits of Diplomat, winner of the Group 2 Premio Presidente della Repubblica in Italy, and Rogue Runner, successful in the Qatar Derby.

He is also one of the driving forces behind two current promotional campaigns – the nascent German Racing Champions League and the ongoing career of Europe’s most successful ever coloured racehorse, Silvery Moon.

The initial German Racing Champions League began in early May with the running of the Gerling-Preis. It links 11 of the nation’s top middle-distance races, including all seven of its Group 1 events, at six different racecourses.

Using a 10-6-4-2-1 points scoring system, it will provide a running tally of the year’s top horse, trainer and jockey, with the champions

40

being crowned following the running of the final Champions League leg, the Grosser Preis von Bayern, in Munich on November 1.

“We wanted to make things easy for people – most of whom do not know the difference between a Group 1 and a Listed race – to recognise the very top races and to see who is the best trainer, jockey and horse,” Sauren explains.

“The Champions League has been designed to give both three-year-olds and older horses a chance of winning. We have tried to include a variety of racecourses and make it run through as much of the season as possible, from May to November.

“After much discussion, it was decided that the lack of a big marketing budget meant that the winners should each receive a speciallydesigned glass trophy, worth over €1,000, rather than any extra cash, as the races are already worth €2.3 million (£1.7 million). It was hoped that the honour of winning the Champions League would still make it a worthwhile goal.

“The new concept has already opened some marketing and press relations doors and we have had plenty of interest from magazines and television.”

By the light of the Silvery Moon A more tangible media buzz has been created by the exploits of Silvery Moon, a remarkablelooking five-year-old horse trained by Mario Hofer.

He is white with brown spots (like an Ayrshire cow), has differently coloured eyes, and carries the specifically-commissioned matching white and brown spotted silks of ‘Paint Horse Stable’, an ownership partnership between Sauren, Prince Franz von Auersperg and Hofer.

His victory in a nine-furlong handicap at Cologne on June 6 took his career record to three wins and 16 places from 35 starts and his fame continues to spread – his Facebook page has received more than 7,000 likes.

“I first bought into him for a bit of fun, after Mario had told me that he could run a bit,” Sauren reveals. “But his participation definitely brings people to the races – it’s difficult to put a figure on it but it could mean as many as 1,000 extra people through the gate.

“There is a completely different atmosphere when he runs, everyone enjoys seeing a dappled horse compete against normal horses and he is always heavily backed.

“What makes it even better is that Silvery Moon is such a great character. He seems to love kids and having his photo taken. When he wins it’s amazing, people are crying and shouting – it’s like he’s won the Derby.”

Sauren is aware of a similar phenomenon in Japan, where a coloured four-year-old filly called Buchiko has accumulated earnings of over £330,000 in winning four of her 13 starts.

“It’s my dream to stage an international match race between them,” Sauren admits, “but first I need to find a sponsor!”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

SPA

July_143_Continental_Tales_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:56 Page 41

Portuguese Flame lights up Guineas

IN

Perhaps inspired by Leicester City, the Classic races staged around Europe this spring have produced a constant theme of underdog triumphs as inexpensive horses – many deemed surplus to requirements by previous owners and trainers – have been transformed into top-class performers.

The 2,000 Guineas hero Galileo Gold cost a relatively modest €33,000 (£27,500) as a yearling, but pride of place in this series of cheaply-bought thoroughbreds repaying a modest initial outlay many times over is Jet Setting, the Fast Company filly who cost just £12,600 when bought out of Richard Hannon’s yard at Tattersalls last October.

She has since gone on to win the Irish 1,000 Guineas for new trainer Adrian Keatley, beating the mighty Minding in the process, and fetched £1.3 million when reoffered at Goffs.

In purely monetary terms, the best value twoyear-old in training purchased last season came in France: a Lawman colt named Dicton. He was snapped up by the expat Italian now training in Chantilly, Gianluca Bietolini, for just €22,317 (£17,300) after winning a claimer for Freddy Head at Saint-Cloud in October.

Racing right through the winter, Dicton won five of his next six starts, including a Listed and a Group 3, before finishing third in both the French 2,000 Guineas and Derby. When lucrative owners premiums are added, he has amassed an incredible €558,557 (£410,704) in prize-money in just eight months since changing hands – a 25-fold return on that initial investment.

However, neither Jet Setting nor Dicton is the cheapest Classic winner bought last autumn.

That honour falls to Flanders Flame, a Dutch

LITHUA

A NI

Flanders Flame: bargain buy

Art gelding who walked into Tattersalls’ Newmarket sales ring last October having accumulated a princely £361 from five juvenile starts for Richard Fahey, achieving a paltry BHA handicap rating of 54.

Unsurprisingly, the hammer came down with the bidding having got no further than 2,000gns and Flanders Flame was off to Portugal, to join trainer Helder Pereira. The Iberian climate seems to have agreed with him as, racing exclusively in Spain, this son of an unraced own sister to Lahaleeb – a Group 2 and Grade 1 scorer on different sides of the Atlantic when trained by Mick Channon – has made supernatural improvement.

Midwinter victories at La Zarzuela, in Madrid, and Dos Hermanas, in Seville, were followed by a scarcely believable front-running triumph in the Spanish 2,000 Guineas.

This may not have rivalled Jet Setting’s defeat

of Minding in terms of prestige, yet while Jet Setting prevailed by a mere head, Flanders Flame put a remarkable seven and a quarter lengths between himself and his nearest rival, and that margin would have been greater had Ricardo Sousa not spent much of the final furlong stood up in his irons gesticulating wildly to the dumbstruck crowd.

The extent of Flanders Flame’s superiority may owe a great deal to the extremely soft ground in Madrid that day. Nevertheless, as the first ever Portuguese win in a Spanish Classic, this was still a genuinely ground-breaking result.

There is some stamina in the winner’s pedigree – on his dam’s side at least – but he was denied the chance of a second Classic as, unlike the Guineas (which became open to geldings in 1992), the Spanish Derby is still restricted to colts and fillies. A step up in trip is being planned as Flanders Flame is set to return to La Zarzuela for the Gran Premio de Madrid over an extended mile and a half on June 29.

So the Spanish Guineas was dominated by the Portuguese. But, by a strange coincidence, the French 2,000 Guineas had a distinctly Spanish flavour.

Its runner-up, the Simon Crisford-trained Group 3-winning juvenile First Selection, was bred by Spaniard Gonzalo Ussia Figueroa.

However, Figueroa will have viewed the race with mixed feelings. Two years ago he sold First Selection’s dam for only €10,000 to, of all places, Libya. Despite numerous enquiries, he has been unable to trace her and buy her back.

The Gurkha, winner of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, also has a Spanish connection. His dam, Chintz, was bred by Felipe Hinojosa prior to being sold to Coolmore as a yearling for €250,000.

Appetite is there but facilities lacking

Cutbacks in government subsidies mean that thoroughbred racing is struggling to maintain a toehold in Lithuania, despite the best efforts of local enthusiasts, in particular members of the National Horse Racing Club and its secretary, Aidas Savickas.

According to no less an authority than the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, horseracing in this part of the world dates back as far as the ninth century. But it ground to a halt completely in the mid-1980s when Lithuania was still part of the old Soviet

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Union, and did not get going again until 2007.

It has experienced fluctuating fortunes since then, and suffered another low in 2015 when only nine Flat races were staged. This year things are going better, with the four-race fixture at Raseiniai (near Kaunas) on Saturday, June 4 being the third meeting of the season.

“Raseiniai is the only turf course that we possess, but it is only 1,200 metres [six furlongs] around with just a 200 metres straight, which makes it quite dangerous

and not really suitable even for training,” Savickas explains.

“The sand track there is wider but that surface is too deep for thoroughbreds. For thoroughbreds trained here to reach their full potential, we really need a turf course with a straight of at least 400 metres.”

There is an appetite for racing among Lintuania’s population, however. One of last year’s fixtures attracted a crowd of around 1,000 and the biggest trotting race in the country pulled in 16,000 people the last time that it was staged.

41

Don’t throw your 20% away - reclaim it!

• WEATHERBYS VAT SERVICES is the market leader in providing comprehensive VAT advice for Racehorse Owners.

• We provide a straightforward route to claiming back your racing related VAT making ownership less expensive.

• We deal with all of your paperwork and correspondence to ensure you get the very most out of the Owners’ VAT Scheme.

• Save up to £3,700 per horse, per year for as little as £105 per quarter with WEATHERBYS VAT SERVICES.* To subscribe please call VAT services on +44 (0)1933 440077 or email vat@weatherbys.co.uk

Sanders Road

Wellingborough

Northamptonshire

NN8 4BX

Email: vat@weatherbys.co.uk

Telephone: + 44 (0)1933 440077

www.weatherbys.co.uk *Charging structure applies

JOB INFO

VAT A4 Advert.indd 1

PRODUCTION

21176

Software:

Client:

Weatherbys

Print Process:

Project:

Brand Guidelines

Colours:

File Name:

21176 Weatherbys_Standard_Identity_CMYK.ai

Artworker:

Andrew

Date:

12.03.2015

Date Revised: – Version No:

01

APPROVAL

AI CC

Job No:

Substrate:

Production Manager:

Print scale:

Mark Tosey

Sign:

100%

Date: Designer Responsible: Ann Marshall Sign: PANTONE PANTONE PANTONE PANTONE 165 545 165 545

Finishes:

PMS XXX

PMS XXX

PMS XXX

PMS XXX

Non-printing:

XXXXX XXXXXXXXX

INFO XXXXXXXXX

Date: Account Manager:

CUTTER

Sign: Date:

Lucy Rankin

09/12/2015 16:41

 

AROUND THE GLOBE THE WORLDWIDE RACING SCENE

NORT H A MER ICA

by Steve Andersen

Asmussen now on upward curve

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

PA

I

n August, trainer Steve Asmussen will be inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, the latest accomplishment in a career that includes more than 7,300 wins from a stable that has developed two Horses of the Year.

Such details will be part of the bronze plaque recognising Asmussen’s achievements.

The latest milestone was Creator’s victory in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York on June 11, a Classic triumph that provided Asmussen with a definitive highlight for the first half of 2016.

What has happened away from the racetrack in the last year has been equally as important for Asmussen, the 50-year-old brother of the famous retired jockey Cash.

Steve Asmussen did not appear on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2014 and 2015 after the organising body removed his name from consideration while the stable was under investigation by racing authorities in Kentucky and New York for allegations of animal abuse. The charges were part of an undercover investigation conducted by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 2013.

Asmussen was exonerated by Kentucky officials, and received a $10,000 fine for a medication violation by New York authorities as a result of the investigation. With those cases behind him, Asmussen was placed back on the ballot for the Hall of Fame and was inducted. Trainers are eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after their first win.

On a more personal level, Asmussen’s wife, Julie, underwent treatment for throat and neck cancer last winter. In March, she was told by doctors that she was free of the cancer.

Then came the win by Creator, the first Belmont Stakes title for Asmussen, who was raised in Laredo, Texas. In the minutes after the race Asmussen had a look on his face of both elation and relief. Finally, the focus surrounding him was about racehorses.

“It’s the best feeling right now,” he said later that evening. “The great thing about racing is you have a bad day, bad week, bad month, and they don’t put you behind the gates. They line you up even and give you a chance to prove yourself.

“Being a victor of the Belmont Stakes will look good on the plaque.”

Creator, who races for WinStar Farm of Kentucky and celebrity chef Bobby Flay,

Creator (green cap) edged out Destin in the Belmont Stakes to provide trainer Steve Asmussen (left) with a third victory in a Triple Crown race

developed quickly through the spring. By top American stallion Tapit, Creator needed six starts to beat maidens, finally doing so in February at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. The colt won the $1m Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn in April in his second start in a stakes.

Creator had a rough journey in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Down on May 7. He was bounced around in the 20-horse field and finished over 18 lengths behind Nyquist, the champion two-year-old male of 2015.

Asmussen and WinStar Farm President Elliott Walden made plans for Creator to skip the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21,

which was won by Derby runner-up Exaggerator. Nyquist could only finish third in the Preakness, ending any chance for a Triple Crown winner this year. Nyquist was taken out of consideration for the Belmont Stakes in late May after being diagnosed with an elevated temperature.

His absence made Exaggerator the Belmont favourite. Creator was 16-1 and closed from tenth under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr to win the race by a nose over Destin.

For Walden, a narrow win in the Belmont Stakes was a familiar feeling. As a trainer in 1998, his Victory Gallop edged Real Quiet by a nose, preventing a sweep of the Triple Crown.

Creator was Asmussen’s third win in a Triple Crown race. Curlin won the 2007 Preakness Stakes, two years before the filly Rachel Alexandra won the same race. Curlin was Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008, while Rachel Alexandra earned the title in 2009.

Creator will have a chance in the second half of the year to prove he too is championship material.

>> 43

July_143_AroundtheGlobe_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:02 Page 44

AROUND THE GLOBE

AUS TRA L IA

by Danny Power

The Victoria Racing Club (VRC), owners of the Melbourne Cup, has moved one of its iconic races, the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes, a ten-furlong weight-for-age contest, from the first day of the Flemington carnival to the fourth day, the second Saturday.

Not only has it been moved, but also it has lost its name – it is now to be called the Emirates Stakes.

The move and renaming has caused considerable debate and some consternation in Australia – and it’s all Dermot Weld’s fault.

The Mackinnon Stakes, named after a former VRC Chairman, Lachlan Mackinnon, has been sitting beautifully as the understudy to the Group 1 Victoria Derby on opening day of Cup week since 1869 – although it was named the Melbourne Stakes until 1936 – it’s only eight years younger than the Melbourne Cup. It had nestled in beautifully as the perfect ‘pipe-opener’ for Australia’s best stayers, along with our top middle-distance weightfor-age horses, three days before the Melbourne Cup. Usually 80% of the field back-up in the Cup. The great, and late, Bart Cummings won 12 Melbourne Cups and most of his best winners ran in the Mackinnon. His last champion, So You Think, won the Mackinnon in 2010, a week after winning his second Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, and then Cummings ran him three days later on the Tuesday in the Cup, when he finished third behind the French horse Americain.

The last horse to win the Mackinnon and the Cup in the same short span was Cummings’ Rogan Josh in 1999.

But it was the Irish wizard Weld who changed it all and caused the Mackinnon to lose face on a day that is regarded as the best raceday on the Australian calendar.

He turned up to Flemington with Vintage Crop to win the Melbourne Cup in 1993.

The chestnut gelding hadn’t raced since winning the Irish St Leger at the Curragh 45 days earlier. Laughable, muttered the Aussies – that’s not how you win the Melbourne Cup. He won’t be rock-hard fit enough against the Aussie stayers trained under the Cummings way of

44

BRONWEN HEALY

Mackinnon name and slot change

In 1993 Vintage Crop and Michael Kinane showed the Aussies you could win the Melbourne Cup without running in the Mackinnon; the race has now been moved

tough, consistent racing.

Vintage Crop brained his rivals, most of whom had raced three days earlier in either the Mackinnon or the Group 3 Hotham Handicap, as per the rules set down by Cummings and those before him.

Weld changed the thinking of the Aussie trainers. In 1995, Doriemus won the Cup – trainer Lee Freedman’s third of five – without running on Derby day, and even Cummings skipped the Mackinnon with his 1996 winner Saintly.

In recent years, as the influx of marauding raiders from Europe and Japan try for a little pot of Aussie gold at the end of a 3,200metre long rainbow grows to nearly 20, the poor Australian-bred stayers are struggling to find a place in the field.

And along the way the Mackinnon Stakes lost its mojo. The once much-sought after race, worth $A1 million, became a bit-part player on Australia’s biggest racing stage.

Most of the best middle-distance horses had run a week earlier in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley and most trainers were reluctant to back up, while the best Cup horses no longer raced on Derby day – only a few stranglers desperate to win the Mackinnon to get an exemption and a start in the Cup. In the end, the VRC bowed to pressure and logic. Final day has already been well branded by the VRC’s major sponsor, Emirates Airlines, as Emirates Stakes day, so the switch was confirmed in early June before release of the fixture details for the Melbourne spring carnival.

The Emirates Stakes remains, but in the disguise of the Mackinnon Stakes, with an upgrade to $2m. The race now sits perfectly two weeks after the $3m Cox Plate, so most of the Cox Plate contenders will be expected to run. It adds up to a $5m lure in 14 days for the best middle-distance horses.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:41 Page 46

Henry Candy: trainer has a reputation for pessimism – but he would describe it as realism and adds that “a good horse will always get me excited”

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:42 Page 47

TALKING TO...

HENRY CANDY

Candid Candy still

AMBITIOUS He might identify John Cleese as the actor to play him on screen, yet there is nothing faulty about towering trainer Henry Candy, who has adapted to racing’s changing trends and skyhigh sales prices to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive at the highest level

By Tim Richards • Photos George Selwyn

I

n the 1980s, Master Willie and Time Charter were two top-notch middle-distance performers for your stable. Now you are better known for your handling of sprinters, exemplified by current stars Limato and Twilight Son. What prompted the change of emphasis?

It just happened. In those days most of the good horses were homebreds and now there are fewer and fewer people breeding their own, so we had to go to the sales much more. The cheaper horses at the sales are the sprinters. Well-bred middle-distance horses cost an absolute fortune and I just wasn’t in a position to be spending that sort of money.

It wasn’t a voluntary choice, just the way things went. We have a few syndicates and plenty of partnerships, which have played a big part in replacing the owner-breeder and they provide a lot of fun for a lot of people.

There must be a very different training schedule for stayers and sprinters. Which do you enjoy training most, and why?

In the old days middle-distance horses used to be worked over a mile and a quarter, maybe even a mile and a half. Now with the modern trend nothing works much more than seven furlongs. Obviously the sprinters wouldn’t work more than five furlongs, often less. But there isn’t the huge difference there used to be. The change in training those middle-distance horses dawned on me when Martin Pipe won the Grand National with Miinnehoma, largely off a five-furlong allweather gallop. Suddenly it made you realise as long as the horse was fit, the rest was down to nature. That might be a slight THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

exaggeration, but not much. Basically, a horse is bred to get a distance, the genes will decide what distance it is going to stay and, as long as you can produce it fit, you’ve done the job. I have absolutely no preference over handling middle-distance horses or sprinters; anything that can give you a little bit of excitement and can get its head in front.

and it’s probably taking a chance on animals which people with a lot more money and freedom of choice would not take a chance with. I think it would be tremendous fun and very exciting to be buying in the top league, but I’d be wanting to do it for somebody who really had so much money they would not be overly concerned, otherwise it would be huge pressure. But it’s not going to happen.

“There is an awful lot

Which horse has given you the most pleasure to train, and why?

Time Charter, who was a funny little thing by an unfashionable sire and the family hadn’t really got going when she came in.

She showed an awful lot of speed from the start over five furlongs. She was hugely progressive all the way through and as tough as nails with that spark of brilliance, which you don’t often come across in a small yard like ours. She could quicken up and leave the others for dead. I suppose the fact that she was so unfashionably bred, a tremendous character, very tough mentally and physically, and went on for years made her such a pleasure to train.

of luck involved in buying horses. I probably take chances that others wouldn’t” You have been quoted as saying: “I do love buying horses for nothing.”

What is the key to finding bargains – such as Airwave (12,000gns) and Amour Propre (1,500gns) – at the sales and do you fancy buying at the top end, such as Tattersalls Book 1?

There is an awful lot of luck involved. Amour Propre was a funny little horse with slightly crooked legs. Corrybrough, who is from the same family, had just won a maiden for me at Windsor by three lengths and looked like being a black-type horse, which he duly was and swayed me towards Amour Propre. That was ‘insider-trading’, if you like!

Airwave was by Air Express who was an unfashionable sire. I think it is largely luck

You took over from your father, Derrick in 1973. You have followed in his successful footsteps with all the trademarks of the traditional English trainer. What were the biggest lessons you learned from your father?

Trying to cover all aspects of training as properly and thoroughly as you could, especially where stable management is concerned. Though I have to say that’s changed dramatically since my father was training, particularly in the way we now

47

>>

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:42 Page 48

HENRY CANDY >> provide

ventilation in the stables for the modern racehorse. In my father’s day everything was shut up and when you went in to muck out in the morning you could hardly breathe for the smell. Nowadays horses seem to need every tiny bit of ventilation they can get.

My father was always very patient, letting the horses come along in their own time and not forcing them, and that certainly rubbed off on me. I was seven or eight years as his assistant following stints with Tommy Smith in Sydney and Mick Bartholomew in Chantilly. Tommy Smith was a very, very hard man and got through horses at a great rate. He trained them hard. Mick, a secondgeneration Frenchman, was very much an English type of trainer. They both provided a good grounding for me.

packing up. I’m far too obstinate! Various horses kept us going; Always Friendly was pretty good, Eveningperformance was a brilliant sprinter, Crystal Hearted earned a run in the Derby, and Gorse was below everybody’s radar because he did most of his winning in France, Germany and Ireland, and they were Group races. We may not have had the numbers and it was a struggle at times. I used to farm but don’t do it myself any more because the place isn’t big enough to warrant the purchase of modern machinery, so it is now done under contract.

Twilight Son (green and white) sticks his neck out to edge a tight finish to the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June under Ryan Moore. Candy also trained his sire, Kyllachy (below), to win the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York in 2002

Can you recall the outstanding racing memory of your youth?

It was when I was with Mick Bartholomew in France; he had a runner at the Epsom Derby meeting and I flew over with it. And we just happened to have Sea-Bird (trained by Etienne Pollet) with us on the plane, which was an amazingly rickety old Bristol Freighter with the rivets falling out. You could actually look through the rivet holes and see daylight outside. It was a pretty unusual way of travelling, to say the least!

“To be at Epsom for

Sea-Bird’s Derby was something I’ll never forget. He made it look so easy” The French lads hadn’t had much experience of England so I tried to make sure the trip went as well as possible for them. But it didn’t start very smoothly as our horse became unruly on take-off. We found ourselves doing a circuit and landing quickly again before we could calm him down, and then taking off a second time. That was quite an experience on its own. But to be at Epsom to witness Sea-Bird’s Derby was something I’ll never forget. His victory was one of the most amazing things I have seen. He made it look so easy.

The 1990s were a lean period for the Candy stable. Did you ever feel like quitting and doing something else – or going back to farming?

I never gave a thought to the possibility of

48

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:42 Page 49

You must have been delighted with Twilight Son's victory in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot...

Yes, it was a great result as earlier in the season our horses had been getting to the furlong-pole and not going any further.

Twilight Son is as tough as old boots and it was certainly an exciting race. All being well, he will go for the July Cup at Newmarket.

Limato, who missed Royal Ascot, could go for the July Cup or the Summer Mile at Ascot, depending on the ground.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Does your wife, Ginny play a part in the business, particularly at the sales?

Yes, a huge part. She is brilliant with the owners, particularly when they come to visit us. She looks after the lads, most of whom are Indian, and nearly all of them live on the place and they love doing their own cooking.

Ginny provides all the food for them and she oversees the hostel. She is also a tremendous help at the sales, where we bounce ideas off each other and she gives me a colossal bollocking from time to time! She has a

proper horse background, having done eventing and competed at Badminton, amongst others. We have never used an agent for buying.

Now in your fifth decade of training, what has struck you as the most significant change in the thoroughbred during that time?

They are frighteningly less robust and unable to stand the work that they would have been asked to do 30 years ago, never mind 50 years ago. Their legs and feet are nothing like

49

>>

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:43 Page 50

HENRY CANDY

Star duo lit up the 1980s Time Charter and Master Willie were two outstanding middle-distance performers for Henry Candy in the 1980s. Time Charter, a daughter of Saritamer who raced for her owner-breeders the Barnett family, was the top-rated three-year-old of 1982 and the leading older female in 1983 and 1984.

Candy says: “Personally, I consider Time Charter’s 1982 Oaks as her greatest moment. It was a fantastic performance.

She was proving herself at that stage, which made it very special for me, even more so than her victory in the King George the following year.

“We had deliberated long and hard whether to give her any Classic entries. Her final two-year-old win in a Goodwood nursery wasn’t a Classic-winning performance really. But we decided to take the chance and put her in the Classics and it came off, which was fantastic for all of us.

“The most exciting day was probably her Champion Stakes when Billy Newnes had a typical red-headed, Liverpudlian rush of blood to the head and barged his way through. Realising he was going to end up in the stewards’ room, he gave Time Charter a kick in the belly and they won by seven lengths in tremendous style. That was

>>

as strong as they used to be; also they are much more prone to wind problems and any kind of disease. They are far harder to keep sound.

There is absolutely no way horses can stand the roadwork they used to do in winter and the distances they worked in summer during the time when my father was training.

Nowadays many of the mares are just not up to scratch. People see the headlines of the yearling sales results, only a tiny percentage of which make a profit. But the figures look very exciting and prospective breeders with a mare think ‘Let’s give it a go, get her in foal, sell it, get her in foal, sell it’, and so on. As I’ve said, the modern trend is for far less owner-breeding with far more emphasis on the sales and generally the mares are not good enough.

You are famously pessimistic about your runners. Why? Are you still ambitious?

I don’t believe I am pessimistic, I think I am realistic. I probably come across as extremely pessimistic. Tim Forster was assistant to my father just before I was and he was probably the most pessimistic man in the world. Maybe I learnt a bit from him. You don’t want to raise owners’ hopes too much, though of course we all have expectations. I am still fiercely ambitious and a good horse will always get me excited.

50

pretty special, too, as was her win in the King George at Ascot. Her greatest attribute was her attitude, a real will to win and always so honest.”

Master Willie also raced for the Barnett family and excelled as a four-year-old, winning the Jockey Club Stakes, Coronation Cup and Eclipse in 1981.

“Master Willie possessed unbelievable toughness and laziness,” Candy recalls.

“As a two-year-old he couldn’t even walk or trot and there was always a gap in the string back to him, stumbling around. He was totally bone idle. So we decided to take him to Newbury to try to wake him up with a run and he broke the track record!

“He would have been unbeaten at two had he not been disqualified in York’s Acomb Stakes. It was just that Willie Carson was a better actor in the stewards’ room than Philip Waldron.

“Master Willie was fantastic at three. If he hadn’t been ill and confined to his box for the fortnight leading up to the Derby he’d have won, rather than finished second to Henbit. He went on to win the Benson & Hedges at York and the following season the Coronation Cup and Eclipse.”

Is the expansion of all-weather racing good for the sport? Does the expanding, and at times, lopsided fixture list need re-planning, and how can it be improved?

It is tremendously useful that you can go on racing through the winter and therefore educate horses who haven’t got themselves ready in time to run on the grass. Also it’s of great benefit for a lot of Flat jockeys who don’t get smart jobs abroad in winter, so now they can continue feeding their wives and families through the winter, rather than having to find a job abroad.

The all-weather provides plenty of opportunities. An awful lot of fillies can now win the most appalling races on very kind allweather surfaces, whereas there is no way they could have won a race on summer ground against better opposition on the turf. I remember Noel Murless saying when the watering of racecourses was mooted: ‘There’ll have to be another breed.’ His view was that if they couldn’t race on un-interfered summer ground then they weren’t worth persevering with. So what he’d have said when half a dozen all-weather tracks were introduced I shudder to think.

Unfortunately, the powers that be have granted the racecourses the right to choose

pretty much when they race. And there is nothing the BHA can do to alter that fact, as I understand it. You can only hope there will be more co-operation from the racecourses to work with Race Planning, who seem to get blamed for an awful lot of things over which they have no control. But it is crazy when on Fridays and Saturdays you have six meetings because you do struggle to find jockeys to ride your horses.

Also, from the point of view of running the yard, if you have horses going off in four or

CLOSE UP AND...

PERSONAL My guiltiest pleasure is… chocolate I relax by… watching sport Four dinner party guests…

Nelson Mandela, Judi Dench, Brian Johnston and Katherine Jenkins The trait I most deplore in others… laziness Actor to play me on screen…

John Cleese

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_TalkingTo_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 15:43 Page 51

HENRY CANDY

Sweet moment: Candy trained Time Charter to win the 1983 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, defeating Diamond Shoal and Sun Princess

five different directions you’re left with virtually nobody at home. It would be much better if we could have the races spread more evenly through the week, though I do understand the weekends are when the public can go racing.

You were nearly 40 years without an all-weather gallop but had one put in two years ago. Has it proved a boon?

It has been a huge help. When we were using the grass during very wet spells it was a full-

CLOSE UP AND...

PROFESSIONAL Biggest regret… failing to beat Sir Mark Prescott when his Pivotal caught Eveningperformance on the line in the 1996 Nunthorpe Favourite meeting… Glorious Goodwood Alternative career… estate management, especially designing shoots I deal with pressure by… ignoring it My racing idol is… Vincent O’Brien

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

time job putting it back, taking six or seven hours’ manual labour. Now, having the carpet gallop, it takes ten minutes to run a roller up and down. The surface, made up of chopped up carpet, is becoming very popular and a lot of people have been to look at ours. It is a fraction of the cost of any other all-weather, with the possible exception of woodchip, and a far better surface than woodchip. It is the lowest cost and the lowest maintenance of allweathers.

Has training and stable management, with the ever-increasing load of paperwork, changed a great deal in your 43 years with a licence? If so, how have you adapted?

Obviously it has with the enormous amount of paperwork involved. Forty or 50 years ago you just got a licence and got on with it, but there are so many more rules and regulations now. My father had a secretary who did a few hours in the morning and that was it; now we have a long-suffering secretary who is very full-time indeed. In the old days we had a head lad who rode out every single lot as well as carrying out the head lad duties. Now our head lad never rides out; he is full-time with the vets and involved with all the paperwork because there has to be a record

kept of absolutely everything. If one had 300 horses, staff in the stables would have increased sixfold compared to what we have here with only 60 horses. You just have to employ more people to do what is necessary.

Tell us about your passion for Labradors and gun dogs. Do you breed them and why are they so special in your eyes?

It all happened rather by mistake. About 30 years ago one of my Labradors got some poison, sadly died and I said I wouldn’t have any more dogs. Then somebody gave me a rejected Labrador puppy, which turned out to be an exceptional dog. People who saw him working sent bitches to him and we kept keeping the odd puppy in lieu of stud fees, ending up with six or seven Labradors. They all worked together and were brilliant when I was shooting. Now we have two semi-retired Labradors.

I trained them to sit down and stay where they’re told for literally hours on end, so they fit in perfectly with my routine. When they come up on the gallops with me you could forget about them and they’d still be sitting there hours later. They are amazingly amenable dogs. I love them.

51

 

#THISFILLYCAN

Of course

SHE CAN Despite increasingly plentiful opportunities for fillies on the racecourse, they still struggle in the sales ring, which is something a new campaign by the TBA and BHA is aiming to redress Words Emma Berry • Photos George Selwyn

W

hile it may be more pronounced in National Hunt breeding than on the Flat, there’s no doubt that a great proportion of breeders greet the arrival of a filly foal with less glee than that of a colt. For commercial breeders, it comes down to a matter of simple mathematics: colts are worth more than fillies at the sales.

The balance of the sexes in training stands at around 60% colts to 40% fillies.

Admittedly, some fillies from the very best families may not ever be put into training, but this practice is rare. More frequently, breeders either opt not to send ‘lesser’ fillies to the sales, knowing that the cost of preparing and consigning them can sometimes be greater than the price they fetch in the ring, or they struggle to find a place for them at sales as demand for places has risen in line with the growing foal crops.

Encouragingly, however, the results of a recent review by the BHA, prompted by the TBA’s identification of a number of initiatives to potentially benefit the industry, show how short-sighted it is for buyers to overlook fillies when shopping for yearlings. The challenge now for both organisations is to change the perception of buyers.

Jet Setting has been the poster girl for inexpensive fillies this year – inexpensive, that is, until she sold for £1.3 million at last month’s Goffs London Sale. That, however, was after she had previously fetched €7,000 as a foal and 12,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale after several placed efforts as a two-year-old.

Not even a crystal ball could have predicted the level of improvement shown by the mud-loving daughter of Fast Company, whose subsequent fairytale victory in the Irish 1,000 Guineas for trainer

52

Adrian Keatley and Equinegrowthpartners Syndicate has been one of the feelgood stories of the racing season.

But Jet Setting is far from the only filly to have transformed from a relatively bargainprice youngster to a highly desirable commodity. At this year’s Royal meeting, Showcasing’s daughter Quiet Reflection, trained by Karl Burke and partnered by Dougie Costello, gave the boys a beating in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup. Quiet Reflection’s two appearances at Goffs

“By highlighting the

opportunities for fillies, and their earning potential, we hope to close the gap” (Doncaster) saw her sell for £32,000 (yearling) and £44,000 (two-year-old).

At 16,000gns, Mecca’s Angel was the cheapest representative of the six offspring by her sire Dark Angel sold at Tattersalls October Book 2 back in 2012, when bought by her trainer, Michael Dods. A Listed and Group 3 victory at three, followed by her triumph in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes last year, mean she is now a valuable broodmare prospect, and indeed some reflected glory has already been felt when her breeder, Yeomanstown Stud, sold her yearling sister last year for 825,000gns in October Book 1.

Success tends to beget success, and fillies closely related to these Group 1 winners will need no advertisements should they themselves come up for sale. For many other less well connected females who also deserve a chance to improve their own pages on the track, it’s not always easy for their breeders to convince potential buyers to take that chance. This is why the BHA’s Director of International Racing and Racing Development, Ruth Quinn, is keen to improve market perception in this regard.

She says: “Despite equal numbers of fillies and colts being born each year, by the time horses are registered in training, the split between fillies and colts is more commonly 40/60.

“Further, we have 1,296 more colts in training today than ten years ago, but only 227 more fillies, albeit we are seeing a significant uplift in the quality of fillies, particularly those rated 85 and above.

“By highlighting the significant opportunities available to fillies, and their overall earning potential, we hope to close the gap by positively changing the perceptions of breeders, owners and trainers to realise that fillies can be an excellent prospect on the racetrack, which can only benefit all corners of the industry.”

These are not empty words. Over the last ten years there has been a 40% increase in the number of races programmed on the Flat exclusively for fillies and mares (and similar promotion has taken place in the National Hunt sphere), with a total of 694 being staged in 2015. As Quinn indicates, during that time the number of fillies rated 85 or above has increased by 58%, though the number of fillies in training has not increased anywhere near as much as the colts.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

>>

July_143_ThisFilly_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:30 Page 53

This filly can and she did: Quiet Reflection, beaten only once in seven starts, en route to winning the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot

July_143_ThisFilly_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:31 Page 54

# T H I S F I L LY C A N >>

One reason for this may be the increasing desire – often through necessity – of some owners and trainers to win early with a horse in the hope of selling on to markets such as Hong Kong, where a €12,000 yearling who wins at Royal Ascot can become a six-figure prospect overnight, as was the case with last year’s Chesham Stakes winner Suits You. A small proportion of these colts may become stallions but, broadly speaking, fillies offer far better residual value than colts and, as the BHA’s study shows, once they get to a rating of 75 or beyond also have better earning potential on the track.

In addition to the recent launch of the marketing campaign under the tagline #thisfillycan, the BHA, in partnership with the TBA, has also introduced a number of other recent initiatives to help to improve the interest in fillies at the sales.

These include the European Breeders’ Fund Fillies’ Series, with generous backing from the EBF and a finals’ day at Newmarket in the autumn, as well as the introduction of two new

Mecca’s Angel, a 16,000-guinea yearling purchase, scorches home in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes

July_143_ThisFilly_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:31 Page 55

# T H I S F I L LY C A N fillies’ Listed races at Ayr and Bath, and the inclusion of 230 races for two- and three-yearold fillies under the Plus 10 bonus scheme.

“The TBA is delighted the BHA undertook a thorough situation analysis of the landscape for fillies and mares, which is so important to us breeders. Some of the findings are fascinating and in some cases surprising,” says TBA Chairman Julian RichmondWatson, who oversees the Plus 10 scheme.

“As custodian of the thoroughbred, the TBA has a duty to ensure that the fillies’ and mares’ programme is as robust and testing as possible, while ensuring that as many as possible of the better quality females have opportunities to race and compete in this country where hopefully, when they retire, they will reside at stud.

“The review proves the opportunities are there and that the quality of fillies is improving, so it is now up to us to change perceptions about fillies and mares; their racing suitability, their residual value and the opportunities that exist for them.”

>>

July_143_ThisFilly_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:31 Page 56

# T H I S F I L LY C A N

Architecture, a £26,000 yearling, chases home Minding to take second in the Oaks

>>

Trainers have been quick to digest and welcome the report and the hope now is that they can begin to convince owners to buy fillies at least in equal numbers to colts.

Dual Oaks-winning trainer Ralph Beckett says: “The review revealed several surprising findings. Firstly, that once rated 75 and above fillies earn more prize-money on average each season than colts; and secondly, that the programme did not need a wholesale rebalance to even out opportunities for fillies

“We’re not saying

‘breed more horses’ but we are looking to make the most of the population we have” and mares, more that it needed adjusting here and there. I think that the review has achieved its aim, and we can look forward to the result of its recommendations.”

Ed Dunlop has also handled the careers of two Oaks winners, but is aware that not all fillies can reach those dizzy heights. He adds: “I believe there are now more opportunities for fillies and mares, and especially so for the fillies working their way towards Listed class.

We won one of the new EBF fillies’ handicaps with Sagaciously recently, who is a four-yearold filly rated 90 and she picked up just short of £13,000.”

His Newmarket colleague William Haggas hopes that the report’s findings may encourage more breeders to retain fillies, but from the commercial aspect says: “It should

56

also enhance the sales of fillies at all levels.

The opportunities which will be available should be a boost for owners, breeders and trainers alike and I am, and will be, fully supportive of this welcome initiative.”

The BHA report indicates the median price for fillies at last year’s sales was £11,800. A mere snapshot of the yearling sales, focusing on the three main books of the 2015 Tattersalls October Sale, gives an interesting overview of different levels of the market.

At the top end – Book 1 – fillies with the stellar pedigrees bought as long-term prospects by wealthy owner-breeders outsell the colts. In Book 2, there was more than double the number of colts sold than fillies for an average of 64,151gns, compared to 57,380gns. In the tougher market of Book 3, where many smaller breeders find their stock, there was an even split between the sexes on numbers catalogued, with the colts’ average standing at 14,772gns and the fillies’ at 11,443gns.

Louise Parry, who bred Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Saoire at her Pembrokeshirebased Pantycoed Stud and sold her as a foal for just 4,000gns, is another to welcome the

drive behind fillies at the sales.

She says: “It sounds like a really good initiative and I’m delighted to hear that the BHA and TBA are being pro-active. Fillies are fantastic value for a smaller trainer – not just in their earning potential but the residual value as a broodmare if they show ability.

“My one concern as a small breeder is that it is becoming harder even to get a filly into sales. I don’t blame the sales companies – they are running a business and they realise that there is more interest in the colts – but it is becoming more of a worry as the foal crops are getting bigger again.”

TBA Board member and owner-breeder Philip Newton has worked closely with the BHA on the fillies’ report and in devising the marketing strategy which will be rolled out as the autumn yearling sales approach. He agrees with Parry about the need to promote the positives of buying a filly.

“If we can change the perception of fillies as a racing product and modestly improve their value, this can and will have a positive effect upon the breeding industry and the supply line to the racetrack,” says Newton.

“We are not saying ‘breed more horses’ but we are looking to make the most of the population we have, and changing the perception of fillies at the sales and as a racing entity is the best start. A third of the racing product – 1,500 foals annually – are produced by small breeders, many of whom lose money. They are vital to our racing programme and, while subsidies are not the way forward, we need to ensure a sensible price for the product and that alone will make our industry more sustainable.”

He continues: “This study has demonstrated the opportunity for fillies and mares. Not only is it a statement of a commitment to continuing to develop the quality, but also an opportunity to change perceptions at trainer, owner and breeder level. If we can achieve this it’s a win-win.

“The TBA and the BHA have already committed to this programme, which has been a joint initiative and shows what we can do when we work together.”

TATTERSALLS OCTOBER SALE 2015 BOOK 1 Colts Fillies

No. sold

Average (gns)

Top price (gns)

220 152

215,377 232,641

1,250,000 2,100,000

493 188

64,151 57,380

725,000 370,000

243 240

14,772 11,443

70,000 115,000

BOOK 2 Colts Fillies

BOOK 3 Colts Fillies

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

DÉJÀ VU It was déjà vu all over again for Champion Sire Kitten’s Joy. This week it was Sheikh Hamdan. Last week it was Sheikh Mohammed. This week it was Chantilly. Last week it was Royal Ascot. This week it was a $675,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase bred by Dixiana. Last week it was a $350,000 yearling purchase bred by Helen K. Groves and consigned by Gainesway. This week it was Taareef who won the Prix Daphnis (G3) by three quarters. Last week it was Hawkbill who landed his fifth straight in the Tercentenary Stakes (G3).

The French call it crème de la crème, we call it the cat’s meow.

World Class.

2016 Stud Fee: $100,000 S&N 6915 Harrodsburg Road | Nicholasville, KY 40356 (859) 887-3200 | Fax: (859) 885-2666 | www.ramseyfarm.com LGB, LLC 2016 / Photo: SCOOP DYGA



THE BIG INTERVIEW ROBERT HAVLIN

Journeyman

ARRIVES He may have shown a wild side in his youth but Robert ‘Rab’ Havlin has developed into an accomplished horseman and a key figure at the stable of champion trainer John Gosden; a first Royal Ascot winner was just reward for one of the sport’s most loyal jockeys Words Julian Muscat • Photos George Selwyn

P

atience reaps its rewards, never more so than in the case of Robert Havlin.

For many years a caterpillar, he has emerged from his chrysalis to take flight. The jockey who once seemed permanently grounded is now stretching his wings, enjoying the vista from on high. It is a sight many thought would never come his way.

It is all the more rewarding for the fact Havlin, 42, is approaching the career veteran stage. Most of the journeyman apprentices he rode with two decades ago have been and gone. Youth’s impetuousness has given way to measured appreciation. Life is thus all the sweeter for one able to appreciate it in a way that once would have been beyond him.

The Scotsman has, in fact, been posting decent numbers for some time now. Last year was his best yet, with 73 winners from more than 500 rides. But his metamorphosis came into sharper focus recently at Royal Ascot, where he rode his first winner aboard Ardad, trained by John Gosden, in the Windsor Castle Stakes.

It took him a few days to realise the significance of the achievement. “Everyone in the yard was buzzing and I really felt that,” he says. “Obviously I felt good myself; I hadn’t ridden one before and I was aware of it, but seeing all those happy faces made me realise how special it was.”

Havlin enjoyed it all the more for having friends around him with which to share the moment. Companionship is something he has always savoured, although in truth, it was nearly his undoing in his early years.

58

To appreciate this, you have to rewind the clock 20 years, when Havlin was the stable apprentice at Manton. Peter Chapple-Hyam’s successful tenure was coming to an end and there was discord among the staff that the best of patron Robert Sangster’s racehorses were being sold off for profit.

In these circumstances, to have a pub within the grounds of Manton’s sprawling acres was well-intentioned but misguided.

Havlin well remembers the legacy inherited

by Gosden in late 1999, when he succeeded Chapple-Hyam at the storied estate.

“I used to be the first

one in the pub, so I always got on with the lads. I was enjoying life too much” “Some of the lads would be drunk when they came into work on a Monday morning and they were already on their last warning,” he recalls. “They knew John’s good side so they’d go into his office and say: ‘Guv’nor, I think I have a drink problem.’ And John would say: ‘OK mate, well done for admitting it. Now let’s get you some counselling to help you back on your feet.’”

Havlin maintains he was never that bad. “I think there were times when John wanted to say to me I needed some help, but I got a bit older and wiser and helped myself,” he relates.

“I used to be the first one in the pub, so I always got on with the lads. I was enjoying life too much, I think.”

Gosden’s recollections are broadly similar, although he remembers their initial encounter with particular clarity. “The first time I met him, his BMW was lying on its side in a hedge,” Gosden relates with a chuckle. “He’d climbed out of the passenger side and I remember telling him it was best to leave the car where it was at that time of the night. Like a lot of young people, he had his wild side.

There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Nevertheless, nights of revelry served to make Havlin lose focus at a critical stage in his apprenticeship. He started promisingly enough, riding 32 winners in 1996 and 15 in each of the next two years, but quickly tapered away.

“I never actually rode out my claim,” he reflects. “I was four winners away from it, but by then I’d lost a bit of interest. I went through those wild years and didn’t really get my head around it for a while afterwards.”

Havlin loved Manton. He relished the embrace of Chapple-Hyam’s gregarious regime. He felt part of a family he never really had; his parents divorced before he was three years old. He also cherished the paternal influence Gosden exerted on his rudderless life, so when Gosden announced he was moving to Newmarket in 2006, Havlin sensed THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

>>

July_143_Havlin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:52 Page 59

Robert Havlin: hard work on the gallops has been rewarded with quality rides on the racecourse

July_143_Havlin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:45 Page 60

R O B E R T H AV L I N >> the ground shifting under his feet.

“The boss told me he wasn’t in a position to offer me a job, but that if I ever moved to Newmarket, I should give him a call,” Havlin reflects.

After some soul-searching, he decided to up sticks. He was somewhat suspicious of change, partly because he felt comfortable in the Manton community, but Gosden was true to his word. The change made Havlin realise opportunity was slipping away.

“The thing about the boss is that he really cares about his staff,” Havlin says. “I’d seen that at Manton; sometimes I used to think that he cared too much, if anything. But when someone puts their neck on the line for you,

“The boss really cares about his staff.

Sometimes I used to think he cared too much, if anything”

you don’t want to let them down.

“I really felt that strongly,” he continues. “I was on the mat a few times in my younger

days and I’ve had my bollockings on the way back from the races. The boss would say the famous phrase: ‘Be in my office at 12 o’clock,’ but that was a good thing. You realised he cared about you off the track as well as on it.”

This, of course, was a two-way street. In return for his patience, Gosden received the counsel of a fine judge, a rider with the rare ability to relax headstrong horses, not to mention those difficult, cussed, troubled thoroughbreds who have no prospect of fulfilling their potential without learning to cooperate.

Havlin acquired this valuable skillset in his mid-teens, when his mother dragged him out of bed early on Saturday mornings and took

July_143_Havlin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:45 Page 61

R O B E R T H AV L I N

At Royal Ascot in June, Havlin got the leg up on Frankel’s son Cunco (left), finishing a fine third in the Chesham Stakes, and enjoyed his first winner at the meeting on Ardad in the Windsor Castle Stakes (above)

him to John Wilson’s yard at Cree Lodge, in the shadow of Ayr racecourse.

“It was funny, really,” Havlin says. “My father also wanted to be a jockey but he never told me about it. He spent a year with Dave Thom but then went back to Scotland because he was homesick.”

Havlin joined Wilson full-time on leaving school, by which time he’d already experienced things other wannabe jockeys would rarely encounter. Together with a few kids from his council estate, he spent evenings after school working for the local horse dealer, Alex White.

“He had coloured ponies arriving from Ireland twice a week and we would break them in one day,” he says. “I had a good few slaps from Alex. All the kids thought I was crazy back then but it probably stood me in good stead.”

Whatever lessons he learnt, Havlin has since morphed into a pivotal member of Gosden’s staff. He is instrumental in taking much of Clarehaven’s nascent talent forward towards their races.

61

>>

July_143_Havlin_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:46 Page 62

R O B E R T H AV L I N >>

He rode Golden Horn in his work ahead of last year’s Dante and told Frankie Dettori he was aboard the wrong horse (Jack Hobbs) in that race. Ask him for the best he had ridden and he tempers his reply in nominating Kingman. “It’s probably because I rode him every day,” he says. “He was a phenomenal horse; he had everything.”

Havlin always bestrode top-class horses at home but he is now riding a better calibre of horse on the racecourse. He has long since shed the tag of capable deputy, as evidenced by a Royal Ascot triumph that jostles for CV space with his winning rides in the Derby Italiano and Oaks d’Italia, not to mention a smattering of Pattern-race triumphs in Britain.

Yet he remains at heart a team player, one happy to defer to Dettori on the big days even if he might have done most of the legwork. He admits there have been times when others have encouraged him to loosen his ties with Gosden in the quest for greater personal recognition. The prospect has never appealed.

“I like being part of something,” he says.

“There’s not a lot of loyalty in this game and you can’t expect a different person to be loyal to you every year. You see kids today going to stables and not getting rides, then hopping over to someone else, and again the next year.

How are they going to cope when they have a bad year?

“Sometimes you might wonder why you’re not jocked up on some of John’s horses and then, when they don’t run well, you think: ‘I’m glad I wasn’t on those.’ But that’s John, trying to protect you. When you’re younger you don’t see it that way. It’s only when you sit back and look at the big picture that you realise it.

“Loyalty is something you build over years and years, and I just love where I am now,” he continues. “As long as it keeps going, it’s more than enough for me. The top jockeys go to big meetings like Royal Ascot under a lot of pressure, whereas I don’t. Ardad was a 20-1 chance. I’d love to win a Classic one day – and you never know, that might just happen, but the main things is that I’m working for a great boss.”

He is also in a great place in his private life.

Towards the end of the year he will point himself down a straight course with pews either side of him instead of running rails. He plans to marry Kelly, his partner of seven years, and with whom he has two daughters: India, aged 4, and Lucia, 2.

For Havlin, the emotional journey is almost complete. All that remains is for him to savour the remainder of a professional career rendered all the more rewarding for it coming to him so late in life. His is a refreshing story within the debris of shattered dreams so prevalent among those for whom success came too soon.

62

Successful partnership: Havlin and Gosden have worked together for 18 years

‘Rab is a fine rider and very popular’ The alliance of John Gosden and Robert ‘Rab’ Havlin is now into its 18th year.

“Because of his qualities he became an integral part of my team,” the trainer says of Havlin. “He is a very fine rider and an extremely good work rider, which are two different things.

“He is also very popular with the rest of the staff and he has no airs or pretensions about him. All of which makes him a key player here.”

In the early years Havlin was involved with breaking in the annual yearling intake but that lapsed with the advent of winter racing on the all-weather, which saw him increasingly in demand. His volume of rides rose from 495 in 2006 to 695 in 2007, when he rode 50 winners for the first time.

The fixture list’s expansion also brought him greater opportunities. “It is not satisfactory for a jockey to meet his horse for the first time in the paddock before a race,” Gosden says.

“There is racing everywhere all at once nowadays and Rab brings continuity. He knows the horses from having ridden them at home, which is so important, so he gets a lot more opportunities now. He also

discusses the horses and their idiosyncrasies with Frankie [Dettori]. It’s no good finding out about those halfway through a race.”

For all that, Havlin has another asset in which Gosden sets great store. “He has always had a strong work ethic, which you need where he grew up,” he says. “There’s no substitute for hard work and he has been very dedicated.

“They joke in the yard is that when he arrives in the mornings he tacks up Frankie’s horse,” Gosden continues. “You can depend on Rab. He is always there on work mornings, which is crucial. He did all the main work aboard Kingman and Golden Horn.”

The two men who met in such inauspicious circumstances have become friends while maintaining strong professional bonds. “It’s important to be able to have a laugh and a joke when you’re seeing a lot of each other,” the trainer says.

“But like everything else in life, if you’re working hard and having success, it is fulfilling and exciting.”

Havlin is certainly enjoying the fruits of his labour.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

CC3019 TOB July - MUHAARAR (SH Mares) pref_Layout 1 17/06/2016 16:31 Page 1

Champion Sprinter & Multiple Gr.1winner

MUHAARAR (Oasis Dream X Tahrir) AVAILABLE TO COVER SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE MARES IN THE UK Call the nominations team for more details

Discover more about the Shadwell Stallions at www.shadwellstud.co.uk Or call Richard Lancaster, James O’Donnell or Rachael Gowland on

01842 755913

Email us at: nominations@shadwellstud.co.uk

Australia 2016 STALLION ROSTER

Jimmy Creed

Can The Man

Distorted Humor – Hookedonthefeelin, by Citidancer

Into Mischief – Smolensk, by Danzig

$8,800 inc. GST

$3,850 inc. GST

Warrior’s Reward

Hampton Court

Medaglia d’Oro – For All You Do, by Seeking the Gold

Redoute’s Choice – Roses ‘n’ Wine, by Broken Vow

$11,000 inc. GST

$8,800 inc. GST

The Breeders’ Farm www.spendthrift.com.au Garry Cuddy ph +61 410 451 595 Email: gcuddy@spendthrift.com.au

166551-Spendthrift-stallions-TBOwnerBreeder.indd 1

Earn a lifetime breeding right.

Josh Rix Ph +61 499 880 855 Email: jrix@spendthrift.com.au

6/17/16 11:51 AM

 

FOCUS ON...

Southern Hemisphere Breeding

The export of horses from Britain and Ireland to Australia is a fairly recent and lucrative moneyspinner for some owners and undoubtedly on the minds of many purchasers as far in advance as the yearling sales, when it’s not uncommon for a youngster to be vetted to Hong Kong standards.

However, the breeding industry picked up on the value of the southern hemisphere long before the influx of the GB suffix down under, writes Lissa Oliver

Origins Adam Sangster, owner of Swettenham Stud Australia, recalls one of the earliest ventures in shuttling a European stallion to the southern hemisphere, not surprisingly by his late father Robert, who was a pioneer. Why leave a stallion unused for the summer and autumn, he reasoned, when a second stud season is available? Trailblazing stallion Gay Fandango didn’t quite set a precedent, as Sangster relates, the unfortunate headlines greeting his arrival declaring “Fandango Gay!”, but his inability to perform did nothing to deflate the popularity of shuttling stallions.

Most studs today keep their stallions busy for two breeding seasons in the one year.

“Dad shuttled a lot of stallions to Lindsay Park Stud and then later on Coolmore and Darley used our operation as a springboard,” Sangster explains. “Dad wanted to get the class horses down there, because a lot of good horses at the time were being gelded and their bloodlines lost, so he wanted to introduce new bloodlines.”

Shuttling a stallion is a decision not without its risks. To limit physical and mental stress, it’s common for the stallion’s own stallion man to ‘shuttle’ along with him and take care of him at both studs, a practise adopted by Coolmore Stud. A less obvious obstacle, however, is a difference in success and popularity from one hemisphere to another.

Galileo, for example, shuttled to Coolmore Australia from 2002 to 2006, covering highclass books of mares but failing to ignite the imagination of Australian breeders. He nevertheless sired 540 Australian foals, of which 424 ran and 275 won, 26 stakes winners among them, though only Linton, Sousa and Niwot scored at the highest level. The reverse could be said of High Chaparral, however, who enjoyed instant success in the southern hemisphere and sired the champions So You Think (ten Group 1 wins in both hemispheres) and Dundeel (six Group 1 wins).

Contrasting tastes Looking at the leading 20 sires in Australia for 2015, the only two European representatives are Dubawi and the late-lamented High Chaparral, at 15 and 12 respectively. Teofilo, Holy Roman Emperor and Oratorio are the only other European shuttlers to appear within the leading 40 sires.

Topping the lists are Fastnet Rock and Exceed And Excel. Interestingly, with an average of 230 runners in 2015 per stallion, given their popularity at home, Dubawi has

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Choisir’s son Olympic Glory has been well supported by breeders in Australia been represented by 92 runners and Teofilo by 76.

Contrast this to the British listings, where Galileo topped the 2015 table and had 785 runners, with Dubawi in second and represented by 613 runners. Teofilo was seventh in the lists and had 641 runners. With far fewer runners here than in Australia, Fastnet Rock and Exceed And Excel stood at tenth and 13th respectively.

The ideal southern hemisphere type “We very much look for speed horses,” advises Sangster. “In Australia 75% of the prize-money is geared towards 25% of races, commercially we’re all looking for the Holy Grail – a Group 1-winning two-year-old who becomes a stallion.

“If you want a stallion to work in the southern hemisphere you have to get the support of breeders. Toronado, for example, has fantastic muscle definition and had speed and his foals are the type Australian breeders are attracted to. John Warren always said he’s the right type of horse for Australia and he was right – Toronado covered 174 mares this year – and I’m very grateful to him. Equiano we pushed very hard to Australian breeders and his figures have increased as a result; last season he covered 220 mares.

“Australian breeders want to see results in the commercial market and the trainers who are buying them want to have two-year-old winners,” Sangster points out. “Breeders come and have a look at the stallions, they don’t just

book a mare in, and they are very particular.

That’s why the market is so good, because they’re so selective. If you have the right horse, he’ll be in vogue.”

Al Shaqab Racing’s multiple Group 1winning sprinter-miler Olympic Glory is another European who was very well supported in Australia in 2015 and will serve his second book of mares at Arrowfield Stud this year. Arrowfield Stud Chairman John Messara says of the stallion roster: “These 12 stallions represent the

Robert Sangster was a pioneer in the field of shuttling stallions

65

>>

July_143_AdFeature_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 17:19 Page 66

FOCUS ON... >>

S OUT HE R N HE MIS PHE R E BRE E D ING Lancaster points out: “Any mares will be subject to the same rigorous selection procedure that we employed for his first northern hemisphere book and we hope that this presents an opportunity to attract more top mares to Muhaarar.” The champion sprinter’s northern book included 80% stakes winners in his 125 mares.

best lines of Danehill and the best outcross options we can source for Australian and New Zealand breeders.”

Olympic Glory is, of course, by Choisir, who is no longer available to European breeders.

Reverse shuttles While shuttling from Europe to Australia and New Zealand is a well-trodden path, the reverse shuttle is only just catching the imagination of northern hemisphere breeders, with Encosta De Lago, Redoute’s Choice, Fastnet Rock and Exceed And Excel the high-profile established trailblazers. Darley included both hemispheres for the first seasons of their newly-retired Australian racehorses, such as Helmet, Sepoy and Hallowed Crown.

Foxwedge, the highest-rated son of Fastnet Rock, who had Helmet behind him on two occasions, is another Australian freshman to be introduced to northern breeders and has been standing at Whitsbury Manor Stud. He is typical of the powerful sprinter so coveted in Australia.

His first northern crop are two-year-olds this year and Seafront became his first European-bred winner in April, while in June the Australian-bred filly Volpe Veloce became his first stakes winner, so he is making equally prominent progress in both hemispheres.

The Wesley Ward-trained juvenile Star Empire also made an impressive winning debut at Belmont Park in May, to give Foxwedge his second winner and provide across-the-board wins on three continents.

Foxwedge remained at his Australian base of Newgate Farm this year. Ed Harper, Director of Whitsbury Manor Stud, pointed out that the son of Fastnet Rock has shuttled for the last three years, serving six books of mares. “We decided to give him a break, as he’s done six seasons in three years,” explained Harper. “We’re hoping his first two-year-olds go well this year and then we can bring him back a fresh horse for next year. We certainly intend on having him for the next couple of seasons.”

Bloodlines flow

Richard Lancaster: demand from breeders led to a change in policy

a select number of mares during the southern hemisphere breeding season. Richard Lancaster, Shadwell’s Stud Director, pointed out the advantage of serving and exporting mares, rather than shuttling stallions.

He said: “Muhaarar has had a great start to his stallion career showing excellent fertility, he has had a great first season with a high percentage of mares in foal and I believe he has the looks and confirmation to make a great impact as a sire. With most of his book scanned in foal and following interest from some valued Australasian and South African breeders, we made the decision to allow Muhaarar to cover some mares to southern hemisphere time.

“As I am sure many breeders are aware, it is not Shadwell policy to shuttle our stallions; there was however, interest from some prominent southern hemisphere breeders, which prompted us to let him cover some mares to southern hemisphere time.”

This opens up the international stallion market to South African-destined mares, as well as South American and Australasian, and

Last year, America’s Spendthrift Farm, owned

by B Wayne Hughes, also announced that its roster of 15 stallions, headlined by leading sire Malibu Moon, would be available to southern hemisphere time. The newly-established Australian branch of Spendthrift has already purchased property in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges earlier this year and installed a stallion roster for the coming breeding season.

Spendthrift Australia’s General Manager Garry Cuddy says of the rapid expansion: “Mr Hughes sees great opportunities in Australia and it really is a case of no time like the present.”

Meanwhile, the South African company Cape Thoroughbred Sales recently took a calculated financial risk by importing 19 northern hemisphere-bred mares in foal to southern time, to introduce otherwise unavailable bloodlines to the South African yearling market next year. This is a practise already adopted in Libya, with Al Shaab Stud investing heavily in Australia and Britain and later re-selling yearlings and mares at an annual mixed sale.

The result of Cape Thoroughbred Sales’ venture is so far looking satisfactory, an unraced Galileo mare out of an Australian Group 1placed Danehill mare, now in foal to the South African Champion sire Captain Al subsequently selling to Lammerskraal Stud for £142,000, as the first of the mares go to auction.

It would seem that by careful consideration and utilisation of two breeding seasons, the marketplace is unlimited.

Staying at home An alternative to shuttling, particularly with such valuable sires as Sea The Stars and Frankel, is making stallions available for covering to southern hemisphere dates from their European base, the mares then flown out in foal. However, with transport costs around £25,000 and insurance a significant amount, it’s for the highend market only.

From 2014 Sea The Stars covered a limited book of mares at his home base at Gilltown Stud in Ireland during the southern hemisphere breeding season (July to December) following considerable interest from many Australian breeders. Frankel has also been available to a limited book of mares to southern hemisphere time and the first Frankel yearling sold in that hemisphere topped the New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale early this year.

Muhaarar is another stallion who will be working all year from his European base, Shadwell making the freshman sire available for

66

Shadwell’s Muhaarar, with Ron Lott, will cover to southern hemisphere time

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

TORONADO OUTSTANDING FIRST FOALS Vivid Blue 16 (Haafhd x Vivianna) Bay Colt 08/04/16 bred by Mr Tony Webb

dam a winning half-sister to multiple Graded Stks winner DIAMOND DIVA

Just With You 16 (Sunday Break x Texaloula) Bay Colt 25/02/16 bred by SCEA des Prairies dam a full-sister to FRANKYFOURFINGERS Gr.2

Plumba 16 (Anabaa x Featherquest) Bay Colt 11/03/16 bred by Al Shaqab Racing

dam a winning full-sister to PLUMANIA Gr.1, and a half-sister to BALLADEUSE Gr.2

Shingueti 16 (Desert Style x Spain)

Bay Filly 10/02/16 bred by SCN Ecurie de Castillon/ SARL Mandore Agency dam a half-sister to MYASUN Gr.3

Red Blooded Woman 16 (Red Ransom x Maskaya) Bay Filly 22/04/16 bred by Mr B H Farr dam a half-sister to Gr.1 placed DRUMBEAT

Amberley Heights 16 (Elnadim x Fawaayid) Bay Filly 21/03/16 bred by Elaine Chivers

dam a winning half-sister to GREEN LADY L.

ENQ: Jake Warren 01635 253 212 | 07730 272 895 Brian O’Rourke 01638 675 929 | 07789 508 157

  

BREEDERS’ DIGEST

By EMMA BERRY, Bloodstock Editor

Our bloodstock coverage this month includes:

• Sales Circuit: A Classic knees-up at Kensington Palace as Jet Setting is sold – pages 70-74 • Caulfield Files: Harzand prompts memories of the ill-fated Hethersett – pages 77-78 • Dr Statz: How stallions’ stock improve between the ages of two and three – page 96

Sires’ championships start to take shape

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

A less familiar name in this sphere is the former Dewhurst winner Xaar – currently enjoying his retirement at Aston Upthorpe Stud – whose daughter Hazariya is responsible for the Derby winner, Harzand. He’s far from just a one-horse wonder, however, as his 33% strikerate for the season testifies. Group 3 winner Eastern Impact, an entrant for the Darley July Cup, is out of the Xaar mare Kate The Great, whose Dark Angel three-year-old Miss Katie Mae was runner-up in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes last season and won the Listed Alywow Stakes at Woodbine in June for Graham Motion.

Farther afield, Xaar’s Australian daughter Condesaar is the dam of Group 1 Sires’ Produce winner Yankee Rose, who was only narrowly beaten for second in the Golden Slipper.

Up and coming The list of first-season sires seems to get longer and longer each year and this season’s bumper crop has so far offered plenty of hope and entertainment. At the time of writing, Frankel’s 80% strike-rate, with two stakes-placed Royal

GEORGE SELWYN

I

t’s hardly headline news that Galileo is leading the European sires’ table, but while last year he was given a good run for the title, at least in the earlier part of the season, by Dubawi, in 2016 his progeny have already earned twice as much prizemoney as that of his nearest pursuer.

Following him in the list is none other than his half-brother Sea The Stars. Siring the Derby winner always helps to swell the coffers – especially in the year that the grand old race offered a record £1,545,000 – but what is particularly impressive about Sea The Stars’ record this year is his winning strike-rate of almost 48% at the time of writing. His offspring may have earned half as much money as Galileo’s but then he has had just less than half the number of runners.

The Darley duo of Dubawi and Shamardal continue in their consistent high-flying manner and both occupy top five slots, while leading the charge for France is Haras de la Cauvinière’s Le Havre. Thanks to Avenir Certain and La Cressonniere, the son of Noverre has achieved the possibly unique feat of siring two fillies to have completed the Poule d’Essai des PoulichesPrix de Diane double in his first three crops.

Lope De Vega is capitalising on a great start with his first runners in 2014, when he was leading first-season sire, and currently sits in the top ten along with the perennially popular Invincible Spirit and Kyllachy. The latter’s representative Twilight Son provided one of the highlights of Royal Ascot when landing his second Group 1 victory in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes for British owner/breeders Godfrey and Caroline Wilson.

Just outside the top ten and worthy of note is Footstepsinthesand, who never fully gets the credit he deserves, but boasts an impressive strike-rate just shy of 40% this year.

Galileo is also dominating the broodmare sires’ table, currently out-ranking his own sire Sadler’s Wells and Danehill, thanks in no small part to his Classic representatives in this field, Galileo Gold and La Cressonniere.

Almanzor: a first-crop Classic winner for his French-based sire Wootton Bassett

Ascot juveniles, is of course the stand-out, but other young bucks acquitting themselves well include the Redoute’s Choice stallion Elzaam at Ballyhane Stud, with seven winners from 18 runners, while Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Power boasts an even more impressive strikerate of over 50% with eight winners from 15 runners, including the Ballydoyle Listed winner Peace Envoy. Power’s fellow Coolmore sire Requinto didn’t have as large a first crop as some of his contemporaries but, a good two-year-old himself, and out of the lightning-fast mare Damson, he’s made a decent start with six winners from his first 11 runners.

In France, Le Havre’s stud-mate Rajsaman leads the freshmen with four winners and plenty will be expected of the son of Linamix who covered the biggest book in the country on his retirement. At the other end of the scale, the Listed-winning sprinter Captain Chop retired to Haras des Faunes, the base of his owner/breeder Alain Chopard and, though the eight-year-old son of Indian Rocket has only 14 named juveniles, five of them have already run and two have won. The good prize-money on offer in France means that Captain Chop is only narrowly behind Frankel on the European firstseason sires’ table.

Following the French success story of Kendargent, the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Wootton Bassett, who was bred in Britain by Colin and Melba Bryce at Laundry Cottage Stud, has made a similarly impressive start to his stud career from only small books of mares in his early years at Haras d’Etreham. Siring the Prix du Jockey Club winner Almanzor in his first crop means that he is currently ahead of Zoffany on the second-crop sires’ table, making great inroads with his relatively few representatives.

Among his 18 runners this year are eight individual winners.

Cristina Patino’s Elusive Pimpernel, who stands at the Irish National Stud for the paltry sum of €1,000, is another stallion who should go into the notebooks in this regard. He can of course boast the great Snow Fairy as one of his mates, but Elusive Pimpernel is holding his own from limited support and currently has a 45% strike-rate with nine winners from 20 runners.

69



SALES CIRCUIT

By CARL EVANS and EMMA BERRY

A Classic heroine up for sale provides midsummer highlight at Goffs London

SARAH FARNSWORTH AND EMMA BERRY

Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Jet Setting snapped up by China Horse Club for £1.3m

John Kilbride and Adrian Keatley, left, watch with interest as Jet Setting is sold to Michael Wallace of the China Horse Club

Goffs UK London Sale The sale like no other bounced back to the form of its sparkling inaugural year with the unique selling point of a recent Classic winner among its 50 catalogued lots. The Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Jet Setting duly became the night’s star turn, selling to the China Horse Club for £1.3 million ahead of her run in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot just four days later.

The China Horse Club’s representatives Michael Wallace and Eden Harrington had jetted in from New York and Shanghai respectively, emphasising the international draw of the Royal meeting and the associated cache for Goffs’ eve-of-Ascot auction, which posted its highest figures for median and average and equalled the record top price set

by Cappella Sansevero two years previously.

The second-highest price of the evening was given for Dee Stakes winner Viren’s Army, who has joined the Godolphin fold after Jono Mills went to £700,000. The

70

Goffs UK London Sale Top lots Name/Age/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Buyer

Jet Setting (Fast Company – Mean Lae)

Adrian Keatley Racing

1,300,00

China Horse Club

Viren’s Army (Twirling Candy – Blue Angel)

East Everleigh Stables

700,000

John McCormack

Lundy (Fastnet Rock – Princess Janie)

Carriganog Racing

400,000

Ger Hourigan

Lady Penko (Archipenko – Hespera)

Castlebridge Consignment

360,000

Ballylinch Stud

Great Page (Roderic O’Connor – Areeda)

East Everleigh Stables

300,000

Peter & Ross Doyle

2C Siyouni – Olympic Skater

Church Farm Stables

200,000

Michael O’Callaghan

Big City Dreamin (Iqbaal – Terrifany)

Cromwell Bloodstock

200,000

Sol Kumin

Dainty Dandy (Dandy Man – Pinewoods Lily)

Helmsley Horse Racing

200,000

Hurun Report

Justice Frederick (Lawman – Sheer Spirit)

Carriganog Racing

200,000

Colin Harris

Shadow Hunter (Arcano – Sweet Irish)

Charnwood Stables

180,000

Sun Stud

Comparative figures Year

Offered

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2016

41

28

199,750

135,000

5,593,000

1,300,000

2015

41

23

164,522

100,000

3,784,000

825,000

2014

51

36

192,222

120,000

6,920,000

1,300,000

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_Sales_Circuit_Sales 24/06/2016 17:55 Page 71

Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale

SARAH FARNSWORTH

The Donohoe family’s Goresbridge Sales Company has tapped into a fertile seam by staging Ireland’s only breeze-up auction.

Year on year the one-day sale grows in size – turnover in 2011 was little more than €1.5m, this time it was €5.2m, or a 231% increase in six years – and is apparently coping with the increased numbers. An additional 30 horses may have been a factor in a fall back in clearance rate (from 86% to 79%), yet Goresbridge still managed to sell an additional eight lots.

With no fewer than nine six-figure horses, three more than in 2015, turnover went up 15% while the average rose 10% (those two figures had risen 31% and 20% respectively last year), although the median dipped 6%.

It seems consignors and buyers have confidence in the product, helped by results on the track – the day after this event one of its 2015 graduates, Blue De Vega, finished placed in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. He had been bought in the ring by trainer Michael O’Callaghan, but after a couple of runs sold to Qatar Racing.

It was perhaps no surprise, therefore, that Sheikh Fahad and his racing and bloodstock manager David Redvers were at this event and spent freely, buying four horses for €420,000.

The pick on price, a €165,000 son of Requinto, was the day’s outstanding pinhook, for he had been bought for €3,000 at Goffs February Sale just three months earlier –

Five-year-old Lady Penko sells in foal to Golden Horn for £360,000 to Ballylinch Stud

return was a handsome profit for his former owners, Middleham Park Racing, which also sold Great Page for £300,000. A Group 3 winner at two for Richard Hannon, the daughter of Roderic O’Connor ran in the Sandringham Handicap 48 hours later and was one of 18 horses catalogued for the sale with a Royal Ascot entry.

The Joseph O’Brien-trained juvenile Lundy will eventually continue his racing career in Scandinavia after selling to Danish owner/trainer Flemming Velin through Ger Hourigan for £400,000, while Justice Frederick, who became O’Brien jnr’s first winner on June 6, has switched to the Newmarket stable of Paul d’Arcy after being bought by English owners Colin and Jan Harris.

Less than 24 hours before the great American filly Tepin took Ascot by storm in the Queen Anne Stakes, her owner Robert Masterson supplemented his string by purchasing the 90-rated winner Ikerrin Road through agent Deuce Greathouse for £160,000.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale Top lots Sex/Breeding

Vendor

C Shamardal – La Belle Dane (Danetime)

Mocklershill

Price (€) 270,000

Buyer BBA Ireland

C Requinto – Primeshade Promise (Opening Verse)

Knockanglass Stables

165,000

David Redvers

C Invincible Spirit – Dffra (Refuse To Bend)

Oghill House Stud

160,000

Global Equine

C Kyllachy – Super Midge (Royal Applause)

Grove Stud

155,000

Global Equine

C Pivotal – Asaawir (Royal Applause)

Gaybrook Lodge

150,000

Alex Elliott

C First Defence – La Rignana (Galileo)

Brown Island Stables

150,000

Doyle/Al Shaqab

F Dark Angel – Hucking Hot (Desert Prince)

Horse Park Stud

135,000

David Redvers

F Sir Prancealot – See Nuala (Kyllachy)

Tally-Ho Stud

110,000

Stroud/Coleman

C Kodiac – Sutton Veny (Acclamation)

Tally-Ho Stud

100,000

C Paddy Oprado – Rapid Decision (Stravinsky)

Friars Lough Stables

85,000

David Redvers Lau Pak Fai Pete

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

2016

183

5,289,500

28,904

16,000

Top Price (€) 270,000

2015

175

4,608,500

26,334

17,000

170,000

2014

160

3,514,700

21,967

14,000

125,000

2013

135

2,404,501

17,811

13,500

145,000

2012

137

1,826,200

13,330

9,500

100,000

71

>>

July_143_Sales_Circuit_Sales 24/06/2016 17:55 Page 72

SALES CIRCUIT >> credit

SARAH FARNSWORTH

to Thomond O’Mara for spotting, buying and then consigning the colt as a breezer from his Knockanglass Stables.

Heading trade, however, was a €270,000 son of Shamardal consigned by the king of the breeze-up ring, Mocklershill’s Willie Browne, and bought by Eamonn Reilly of BBA Ireland. The same horse had changed hands for 30,000gns as a yearling.

Goffs UK Spring Sale

There has been some juggling with this event in recent years, but the 2016 format put the key pieces in an order everyone understood

Moanmore Stables’ Great Pretender gelding co-topped the stores’ day at Doncaster

Goffs UK Spring Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Le Prezien (Blue Bresil – Abu Dhabi)

Million In Mind

Price (£) 290,000

Buyer

The Organist (Alkaadhem – Go On Eileen)

Million In Mind

260,000

Frank Berry

Espoir De Teillee (Martaline – Belle De Lyphard)

Moate Stables

220,000

Roger Brookhouse

Minella Warrior (King’s Theatre – Bobbi’s Venture)

John Nallen

180,000

Jill Lamb

Calino D’airy (Anzillero – Monita D’airy)

Monbeg Stables

150,000

H Kirk/ W Mullins

3G Great Pretender – La Pelodette

Moanmore Stables

105,000

Tom Malone

3G Robin Des Champs – Mardi Roberta

Kirriemuir Stud

105,000

Gerry Hogan

Ravenhill Road (Exit To Nowhere – Zaffarella)

Newlands Farm

100,000

Phil Martin

Instant Replay (Fruits Of Love – Ding Dong Belle)

Monbeg Stables

90,000

Brian Ellison

3G Kapgarde – Tango Princess

Lakefield Farm

85,000

Aiden Murphy

Frank Berry

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

2016

432

9,014,500

20,866

14,000

Top Price (£) 290,000

2015

413

7,628,550

17,865

12,000

220,000

2014

417

7,086,800

16,994

11,000

140,000

2013

340

4,977,200

14,638

9,000

105,000

2012

382

5,144,850

13,468

8,000

140,000

Tattersalls Ireland May Sale, Cheltenham

and which maximised potential for vendors and buyers.

Stores were offered on day one, while a shortened day two comprised the pick of jumping horses-in-training – including the annual Million In Mind draft – plus a group of selected recent winners and placed horses from the point-to-point and bumper fields.

Day three continued with another round of in-training jumps horses.

The figures suggest the system worked, and Goffs UK’s anecdotal feedback was also positive. Turnover for stores was up by 11%, despite 16 fewer horses being offered, while the average and median were up 20% and 33% respectively. The three key figures for horses in training also showed very healthy rises of 25%, 16% and 25%, while an overall clearance rate of 85% illustrates demand for unbroken potential, for proven quality but with youth on side, and for older horses destined to enter the point-to-point sphere.

Youth and talent was typified by the Million In Mind consignment, which is assembled, raced and then sold off each year by the Highflyer Bloodstock agents David

Top lots Name/Breeding

Vendor

Redhotfillypeppers (Robin Des Champs – Mhuire Na Gale)

Monbeg Stables

Price (£) 200,000

Buyer Kirk/Mullins

Lough Derg Spirit (Westerner – Sno-cat Lady)

Ballyboy Stables

190,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Secret Investor (Kayf Tara – Silver Charmer)

Monbeg Stables

175,000

Malone/ Nicholls

Super Follo (Enrique – Summer Belle)

Monbeg Stables

150,000

O’Toole/ Meade

Drovers Lane (Oscar – Minnie Turbo)

Ballyboy Stables

135,000

Rebecca Curtis

One More Hero (Milan – Classy Society)

Ballyknock Stables

100,000

Tom Malone

Minella Rebellion (King’s Theatre – Afdala)

Ballyboy Stables

90,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Searching For Gold (Gold Well – True Britannia)

Monbeg Stables

88,000

Highflyer/Longsdon

Westendorf (Coroner – Two Of Each)

Ballyregan Stables

85,000

Jonjo O’Neill Racing

Glen Rocco (Shirocco – Adees Dancer)

Glenview Stables

80,000

N Gifford

Five-year tale Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

63

3,206,000

50,889

40,000

200,000

2015

43

2,459,200

57,191

35,000

200,000

2014

55

2,401,000

43,655

35,000

130,000

2013

58

2,360,500

41,100

29,000

140,000

2012

62

2,228,700

35,947

21,500

155,000

72

Top Price (£)

SARAH FARNSWORTH

Year 2016

Anthony Bromley oversees the Million In Mind draft, which provided the top lot

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_Sales_Circuit_Sales 24/06/2016 17:55 Page 73

SALES CIRCUIT

Tattersalls Ireland May Sale, Cheltenham

BBAG Spring Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

Tryst (Kamsin – Tamaja)

NSN European

61,000

HFTB Racing

A Sunday Dream (Kamsin – Activa)

S Audorsch

43,000

Stall Bambi

Escadron (High Chaparral – Estefania)

Gestut Ebbesloh

34,000

T J Bloodstock

My Winner (Wiener Walzer – Miss Antonia)

L Messmann

30,000

Michael Figge

F Canford Cliffs – Atlantide

Rennstall Geisler

28,000

Detlef Odenthal

Lost Angel (Dark Angel – Lan Fei)

Bansha House Stables

26,000

Franceschini B/s

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2016

47

538,200

11,451

8,000

61,000

2015

44

569,900

12,952

10,500

61,000

2014

49

548,600

11,196

7,500

40,000

2013

45

595,300

13,229

3,500

180,000

2012

48

435,400

9,071

3,750

70,000

Goffs Land Rover Sale Top lots Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

G Walk In The Park – Autorite (Roakarad)

Liss House

165,000

H Kirk/W Mullins

G Flemensfirth – Day’s Over (Overbury)

Kilmoney Cottage Stud

110,000

Aiden Murphy

G Shantou – Sparkling Sword (Broadsword)

White Horse Stud

110,000

Ian Ferguson

G Flemensfirth – Alleygrove Lass (Alderbrook)

Glenvale Stud

110,000

Alan & Ann Potts

G Yeats – Hataana (Robellino)

Ballincurrig House Stud

100,000

Joseph O’Brien

G Flemensfirth – Kestral Heights (Eagle Eyed)

Landscape Stud

100,000

Margaret O’Toole

G Robin Des Champs – Rowlands Dream (Accordion)

Clanville Stud

95,000

Aidan O’Ryan

G Shirocco – Gaye Sophie (Environment Friend)

Glenvale Stud

87,000

Gordon Elliott

G Network – Promo d’Alienor (April Night)

Galbertstown Stud

87,000

Henry de Bromhead

F Robin Des Champs – Dare To Venture (Darazari)

Mount Rivers Bloodstock

85,000

H Kirk/W Mullins

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2016

448

11,770,600

26,274

20,000

165,000

2015

437

11,722,500

26,825

20,000

155,000

2014

418

11,557,000

27,648

22,000

200,000

2013

408

7,725,150

18,934

14,000

215,000

2012

369

5,519,200

14,957

12,000

150,000

Minton and Anthony Bromley. From their draft came the top two lots, the five-year-olds Le Prezien and The Organist – the former was runner-up to top-class Yorkhill in a Grade 1 hurdle at Aintree, while the latter was a Listed winner over hurdles at Doncaster and had been about to add a similar prize at Cheltenham when falling at the last just a month before her ring appearance.

Frank Berry, racing manager to JP McManus, bought both horses – it was THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

interesting to see Kerry Lee, after a stellar first year with a licence, taking the underbidder’s role for the top lot – while Roger Brookhouse, a leading buyer of Irish pointers in recent years, was on hand to land the pick of their number, a group that dominated the top-ten board. This was Espoir De Teillee, who had fallen on his only start when about to win a race at Athlacca just before the sale.

He made £220,000, a big increase on the €28,000 he cost as a store when bought by trainer Michael Goff.

This event completed a year of trade by Tattersalls Ireland at its Cheltenham venue and saw business return some excellent figures after a blip at the April auction.

That sale will live on in the memory for John Ferguson’s Bloomfields dispersal, but also for a drop in prices for Irish pointers – only one of their number crept into six figures.

However, a new rival sale at Aintree, and a lack of opportunities to run such horses due to heavy ground and abandoned fixtures was a plausible reason for the downturn, and at the May Sale trade was back on track.

Tattersalls Ireland knows it has no monopoly on Irish pointers and bumper horses with fresh form, for Goffs UK has upped its game with its Aintree introduction and a revamped Spring Sale at Doncaster, but Cheltenham has a cache which is handy to have on your side.

The May Sale can also now boast not one but two fillies who have set a record for a point-to-point mare. Twelve months ago Robert Waley-Cohen’s purchase of Theatre Territory for £200,000 set a new mark, and this time it was the turn of Redhotfillypeppers to match that sum.

Theatre Territory joined Nicky Henderson’s stable and was subsequently placed in a couple of bumpers, but in the past year the man with the Midas touch when it comes to mares has been Willie Mullins. His Annie Power and Vroum Vroum Mag have been invincible, while Apple’s Jade has added to the stable’s Grade 1 haul, and in Redhotfillypeppers he has a recruit whose size and athleticism suggests she is going to be a feature over fences, quite apart from what she can do over hurdles.

Her new owner was not disclosed by Mullins’ agent, Harold Kirk, who did the bidding, and while Rich Ricci or Gigginstown House Stud would be obvious candidates, that might not prove to be the case on this occasion.

A €29,000 store, Redhotfillypeppers won a point at Necarne for Donnchadh Doyle’s Monbeg Stables before being reoffered and becoming one of six horses to make a sixfigure sum on the day (the same number as in each of the past two years).

Doyle sold three of the six, while Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables sold two from that select group in partnership with Pat Coffey, a County Tipperary dairy farmer who buys stores to sell after a run or two in points.

The figures were headed by an 89% clearance rate, which was all the more meritorious given that 71 horses were offered, up from 58 in 2015. Turnover rose 30% and the median 14%, although the average fell back 11% – it had leapt by 31% 12 months ago.

73

>>

July_143_Sales_Circuit_Sales 24/06/2016 17:55 Page 74

SALES CIRCUIT >>

BBAG Spring Sale

Save at the Sales!

Kamsin, Germany’s champion three-year-old in 2008, the year in which he won the Deutsches Derby, has the sort of pedigree which should see him make a mark as a sire.

A son of Samum, his CV now includes a one-two at this mixed auction, thanks to Tryst, a two-year-old colt who breezed impressively before being knocked down for €61,000 – the same sum had headed trade 12 months earlier – and a filly called A Sunday Dream, who made €43,000.

The top lot’s buyer was bloodstock agent Holger Faust, a member of the family which runs Gestut Karlshof, the breeders of Kamsin – he stood at Karlshof in his first season, then moved to Gestut Rottgen before taking up residence at Gestut Ohlerweiherhof for the 2016 covering season. Faust said Tryst would race for a new partnership that will include his family’s stud, and will join Cologne trainer Henk Grewe, while A Sunday Dream was knocked down to Stall Bambi.

Con Marnane of Bansha House Stables had sold the top horse at this event in 2015, and he returned with four more breezers who all found new homes, albeit their average figure was the workingman’s price of €12,750

Goffs Land Rover Sale

With National Hunt auctions now at the forefront of the minds of Owners, Breeders and Trainers as they begin to prepare for next season – we are now offering an amazing

25% discount on the standard rate of commission for anyone who buys or sells a National Hunt horse through Racing FX, until 6th September 2016.

To find out how Racing FX can save you money please call +44 (0) 207 321 5666 Racing FX is the trading name of Currency Wire Limited, a company authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) www.fca.org.uk under the Payment Services Regulations 2009 to carry out payment services.

Registration Number: 530005. Currency Wire is a regulated company, incorporated under the Companies act 1985 since August 2010, Company Number: 07334869. Currency Wire is registered as a Money Service Business with HM Customs and Revenue (HMRC) MLR Number: 12692783. Currency Wire is registered by the Information Commissioner’s Office under the 1998 Data Protection Act. ICO Registration Number: Z3561724.

74

Goffs’ major sale of jumping stores was converted from a two-day sale to one of three, but, in terms of figures, it achieved the same result.

Part 1, for the cream of the crop, took up the first two sessions and resulted in an additional 57 three- and four-year-olds being offered to the market. Turnover rose 9%, but the increased numbers and steady, but not explosive trade, meant the average and median marks fell back by 6% and 12% respectively.

Once the third day was added the figures were more or less on a par and just 29 additional horses had walked the ring, leading some to question whether the extra session was justified. The clearance rate of 84% was slightly down, but still meritorious.

Goffs’ Chief Executive Henry Beeby acknowledged that larger foal crops, and therefore sales catalogues, were an issue, but did not hold back from adding that uncertainty over Britain’s future within the EU was a factor in prices for the very best lots.

In six months’ time some of the horses on offer at this sale will have been broken, ridden away and raced, their merits laid bare, and they will be available for purchase at auction or privately – regardless of Brexit.

Half a dozen horses realised a six-figure sum during Part 1, headed by a son of Douvan’s sire Walk In The Park. This three-year-old gelding joins Douvan at Willie Mullins’ Closutton yard after being knocked down to Harold Kirk.

Of greater novelty value was the sight of Aidan O’Brien’s fledglingtrainer son Joseph pitching in with a €100,000 bid that secured him a gelding by Yeats from Michael Moore’s County Cork-based Ballincurrig House Stud.

Moore’s operation was the leading consignor, offering 18 and selling 16 lots, while the blossoming Monbeg Stables duo of Donnchadh and Sean Doyle were leading buyers, taking 29 horses for €715,000, but at an average of just €24,655 and with a high of €45,000. Given their success in turning these raw youngsters into winning pointers with fat valuations it is interesting to note the limit they place on buying.

Ireland’s current champion trainer of pointers, Colin Bowe, bought ten horses, the most expensive of which cost €62,000.

As is usually the case, the demand for geldings far exceeded that for fillies. From 459 geldings offered, 396 sold for an average of €26,274, against an average price of €16,013 for fillies (75 offered, 52 sold).

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Clean hay means healthier horses.

That’s pure Horse Sense.

Haygain’s patented system is the only scientifically proven method for purifying hay.

Our unique steaming technology significantly reduces the amount of respirable dust and pathogens in hay and haylage that contribute to respiratory disorders.

For a healthier horse, make Haygain part of your feeding routine.

T : +44 (0) 333 200 5233 www.haygain.com

TOP-NOTCH BENEFITS FOR OWNERS ROA membership is the equivalent of just 63p* a day but the benefits are immense l

SIS sponsorship (worth an average of £4,000 against ownership costs alone – annually per horse)

l

Free racecourse admission and priority car parking (worth over £200 a year)

l

Automatic third-party insurance (worth £290 a year)

l

BHA 20% fee discounts (worth £55 on average)

l

Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder magazine (worth £55 for 12 issues)

Plus much more

Join over 7,500 owners today. Call 020 7152 0200 or visit roa.co.uk *£230/365 days - £0.63 Terms and conditions may apply to benefits

Untitled-2 1

10/06/2016 10:50



CAULFIELD FILES ANDREW CAULFIELD REPORTS ON THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD

Holliday and Hethersett loom large in the pedigree of Harzand Derby winner evokes memories of unlucky Epsom faller for major owner-breeder

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

ROUCH WILMOT

A

s Harzand gallantly repelled US Army Ranger’s challenge to land the Derby, the son of Sea The Stars revived memories of a life-changing moment for me.

His third dam, Hazy Idea, is a daughter of Hethersett, a colt I saw as a boy on my first ever visit to the races. Although I struggled to see all the action from the packed enclosure on the inside of the York track, I still vividly remember seeing the dark bay Hethersett and the flashy chesnut Miralgo whizz past me at the end of the 1962 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

The nod favoured Major Lionel Holliday’s Hethersett, who was on a mission to restore his reputation. Hethersett had started favourite in a 26-strong field for the Derby, following an easy victory in the Brighton Derby Trial, but disaster struck as the packed field raced downhill towards Tattenham Corner. The top miler Romulus clipped heels and fell, bringing down Hethersett and five others. Hethersett fell heavily, suffering some bad cuts, and had to be let down for a while to recover. Consequently, he probably wasn’t at his fittest when he ran badly on firm ground when he finally reappeared in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.

Fortunately for Hethersett the ground was on the soft side at York, and again at Doncaster for the St Leger. Pulling over his rivals with three furlongs still to race, Hethersett soon quickened away to score impressively by four lengths. In the process he provided the young Dick Hern with the first of his many British Classic wins.

Sadly Hethersett failed to win again in four further starts, though he was second in the Champion Stakes at three and in the Jockey Club Stakes and Coronation Cup at four.

Perhaps he wasn’t helped as a four-year-old by having a new trainer (who was sacked by the cantankerous Major Holliday at the end of the year).

Even so, there was good reason for thinking that Hethersett had the makings of a classic sire.

In addition to being good enough to be rated 134 by Timeform, he was a very eye-catching individual, with a beautiful head.

The Bloodstock Breeders’ Review stated that “there was little dispute that the outstanding horse in the paddock [before the Derby] was Hethersett.” Timeform was also impressed,

Hethersett, favourite for the 1962 Derby, was brought down at Tattenham Corner

describing him as a handsome, deep-bodied, full-quartered colt, and a game one.

His pedigree was equally impressive. His sire Hugh Lupus had won the Irish 2,000 Guineas by four lengths at three and the Hardwicke Stakes and Champion Stakes at four. This son

“Hethersett sired only

79 foals in three crops but did so well that his legacy included 15% stakes winners” of Djebel also had an interesting pedigree, in that he was inbred 2 x 3 to the outstanding French stallion Tourbillon and 4 x 5 x 3 to Tourbillon’s grandsire Bruleur. Perhaps this inbreeding was something of a hindrance to Hugh Lupus as a stallion, as his fertility wasn’t

good, but he also sired a 1,000 Guineas winner in Pourparler. It is worth adding that the Arcwinning filly Coronation V, a filly inbred 2 x 2 to Tourbillon, famously failed to produce a foal.

Hethersett came from the female line which was the basis of much of Major Holliday’s success – and he was so successful that he notched up three titles as leading owner in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hethersett’s fourth dam, Lost Soul, had been purchased by Holliday for 4,000gns in 1936. I’ve no idea what that equates to in today’s values, but it must have been a substantial sum, as only two mares made more than Lost Soul at the 1936 December Sales. She had been placed in two important handicaps, the Victoria Cup and the City and Suburban. Lost Soul was to produce a string of very useful winners, but it was her Windsor Lad filly Phase who developed into a blue hen for Holliday. Phase enjoyed a wonderful partnership with Nearco, producing Netherton Maid (runner-up in the 1947 Oaks), Neasham Belle (winner of the 1951 Oaks), Narrator (Champion Stakes and

77

>>

July_143_Caulfield_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 18:14 Page 78

>>

Coronation Cup), No Pretender (Oaks Trial) and None Nicer (1958 Yorkshire Oaks).

Netherton Maid also enjoyed considerable success as a broodmare, including with Hethersett’s dam Bride Elect. A daughter of the 2,000 Guineas winner Big Game, Bride Elect was fast enough to win the Queen Mary Stakes and finish second in the Cheveley Park, even though she was out of the Oaks second.

In addition to Hethersett, Bride Elect produced very smart sons in Proud Chieftain and Royal Prerogative, the latter a highly successful stallion in South Africa. One of her daughters, Ambrosia, became the dam of Hard Fought (Prince of Wales’s Stakes) and another, Prudent Girl, did even better, becoming the dam of Providential (Washington DC International) and Play It Safe (Prix Marcel Boussac).

As a dedicated fan of Hethersett, it came as a considerable blow when he died in August 1966 at the age of only seven. Stallions in the 1960s weren’t asked to cover a lot of mares and Hethersett started with a book of 32.

Consequently he is credited with only 79 foals from his three crops.

I was left wondering what might have been had Hethersett lived longer (just as I was in later years after the death of Troy and the disappearance of Shergar). Hethersett did so well that his legacy included 15% stakes winners. They featured the likes of Blakeney (Derby), Rarity (who went so close to beating Brigadier Gerard in the Champion Stakes), Highest Hopes (Prix Vermeille), Heathen (Greenham Stakes), Dalry (Horris Hill Stakes), Hether (Prix Penelope), Hibernian (Blandford Stakes) and Harzand’s smart third dam, Hazy Idea.

I’m sure Major Holliday would have been proud of the part Hazy Idea has played in Harzand’s story. She was inbred 3 x 3 to Phase’s daughter Netherton Maid, so could be said to embody all that was good about the Holliday breed. Hazy Idea had been an admirable racehorse. Precocious enough to win her first three starts as a two-year-old, she ended the year with a Timeform rating of 118, having finished fourth in the Group 1 Criterium des Pouliches.

She trained on well and was rated 115 at three. After winning the March Stakes over a mile and three-quarters, she finished fourth in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak and a close second in the Group 3 Prix de Royallieu.

Despite having won over six furlongs at two, she stayed well.

Hazy Idea came into the Aga Khan’s studs in the late 1980s, as part of a small group of Holliday broodmares. Already the dam of the high-class Hittite Glory (1975 Middle Park Stakes), she produced Harzand’s second dam, Hazaradjat as her final foal, at the grand age of 22 – reminding us that you dismiss the progeny of veteran proven broodmares at your peril.

78

EMMA BERRY

CAULFIELD FILES

Society Rock while in training with James Fanshawe, following Deacon Blues

Society Rock’s passing a great sadness It was unwelcome news that that tough sprinter Society Rock has died at the age of nine, after just three seasons at Tally-Ho Stud.

Although he won only six times from 23 starts, he had an uncanny knack of winning when it really mattered – in the £250,000 Tattersalls Timeform Millions Sprint as a juvenile, in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee at four and the Group 1 Sprint Cup at five. He also picked up more than £275,000 as a sixyear-old, to boost his career earnings past the £1,000,000 mark.

Sod’s Law dictates that he is bound to make his mark as a sire of two-year-olds and sprinters, as does the fact that he shares the same sire – Rock Of Gibraltar – as Mount Nelson, an inexpensive stallion who keeps coming up with talented performers, despite

lukewarm support. The Newsells Park stallion enjoyed a rewarding few weeks in late May and early June, with four individual stakes winners.

Pick of the bunch was Highlands Queen, winner of the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre.

Although Mount Nelson’s 2013 crop numbers only 53, it also contains Boscaccio, winner of a Listed trial for the Deutsches Derby, as well as the useful Palawan.

Two of Mount Nelson’s older daughters, Maleficent Queen and Elbereth, also won Listed races over a mile and a quarter, adding to his sire’s pleasing collection of talented fillies and mares, which also features Purr Along, the Classic-placed Volume, Emerald Star, Holy Moly, Black Cherry and Special Meaning.

Shamardal a serious sire by all measures Lope De Vega, a member of Shamardal’s first crop, enjoyed a Group 1 double in June, thanks to Belardo and Jemayel, in the process reminding us once again of Shamardal’s potential as a sire of sires.

There is mounting evidence, too, that Shamardal’s broodmare daughters are also destined to become valuable commodities.

The Darley stallion enjoyed his first Classic success in this role when the progressive Awtaad proved too strong for Galileo Gold in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. Another of Shamardal’s daughters is responsible for Gifted Master, who was gaining his fifth consecutive success when he comfortably won the Group 3 Pavilion Stakes. There should be more smart winners to come, as the two-year-olds out of Shamardal mares include a 575,000gns colt by Invincible

Spirit out of the Listed winner Dark Promise.

It is worth adding that Gifted Master’s dam, Shobobb, never raced and that Awtaad’s dam Asheerah won only one of her 13 starts (though she was runner-up in a Listed race).

It mustn’t be forgotten that Shamardal’s eldest daughters are only nine years old, so are still at a considerable numerical disadvantage against their more established rivals. The Racing Post’s statistics after the Derby meeting showed that they had had only 19 runners in 2016 in Britain and Ireland, compared to 102 for Galileo, 140 for Danehill, 156 for Pivotal and 213 for Sadler’s Wells. It will be a few more years before Shamardal’s daughters are in full production, but then their number of runners will rise exponentially.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER



HOUGHTON BLOODSTOCK MAKING YOUR BLOODSTOCK DREAMS A REALITY

The Perfect Preparation for your Yearlings, Foals & Mares Taking orders now for all the major European Sales following fantastic results in 2015 including joint top price ever at Doncaster Premier

Contact: Robin Sharp; T: 01638 563238 or 07850 661468 Malcolm Bryson; T: 07711 160856 E: info@houghtonbloodstock.co.uk • www.houghtonbloodstock.co.uk Fox Farm, Barnardiston Road, Hundon, Suffolk, CO10 8EL

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

79

  

By Lydia Symonds

Archie Watson’s bright future His apprenticeship took him to South Africa and America before returning to work for William Haggas in Newmarket – now 27-year-old TTC member Archie Watson is looking forward to starting a new chapter as a trainer at Saxon Gate Stables in Lambourn

H

ow are you feeling about joining the ranks of the great young trainers we have in Britain?

It gives me confidence when I see the likes of Hugo Palmer and Ed Walker doing so well having only just started in the last five years, but this also hopefully gives owners confidence to send young trainers horses as well. I am just really looking forward to getting started now.

You’ve had plenty of experience in the industry. What first inspired you to get involved in horseracing?

I was taken racing to Cheltenham at the age of seven and saw One Man win; I was well and truly bitten by the bug and ever since have dreamed of being a trainer. We lived a couple of villages away from Lambourn at the time and when I was old enough, around 13, I started riding out mainly for Charlie Morlock. I also rode out for other trainers like Alan King and Paul Webber, to gain as much experience as possible.

Growing up near Lambourn, most of your experience at a young age was with National Hunt yards. What set you on your path to the Flat?

I did some work for Johnny Peter-Hoblyn at Shadwell Stud, then through Johnny met Tom Goff and Richard Brown at Blandford Bloodstock and did as many sale seasons for them as I could. It was through that I discovered my love of bloodstock and pedigrees, and that’s really where I took more interest in the Flat.

You’ve already worked extensively in the international horseracing industry; what drew you to the global scene?

After school I decided to go to Edinburgh University to read history, but having spent more time in the Kentucky sales ring then in a lecture theatre, I left after a year after I was offered the job to be Alec Laird’s assistant in South Africa. I thought that I would have bitten someone’s hand off to get that job if I

80

Archie Watson is hoping to make his mark as a trainer from his Lambourn base

was just out of university, so I decided to take it then and not finish my degree.

I learned so much out there. I arrived having not had an assistant’s job before, and I was only 21. But I was sent down

“At 21 it was

daunting to be in charge of a yard but it was my opportunity and I learned a lot” to Durban with five of the best horses and I was based there for the season and we grew quite quickly to a 34-horse satellite yard, which I ran for Alec.

Of course I found it very daunting at first, but it’s the sort of opportunity that places like America and South Africa can afford you and you quickly become solely responsible for a string of horses.

You learn a lot very quickly – it was a very steep learning curve.

So you weren’t tempted to stay abroad?

Following two seasons working for Laird, I spent six-months with Simon Callaghan in California. While I was over there I saw the job at William Haggas’ come up and I applied for it. I was over the moon when I found out he wanted to see me and I was there for four seasons.

What did you learn during your time at Somerville Lodge stables?

It has been the most amazing experience. I’ve had the chance to work with a huge number of quality, well-bred horses and it’s just been fantastic.

William and Maureen are such an extraordinary team. The way they run the yard, everything is done right and no corners are cut.

It has taught me the importance of discipline and showed me how I would like to run my yard and the right way to run a successful business. William does so well with all types of horses as well.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_ThoroughbredClub_Owner 24/06/2016 17:02 Page 81

www. thetho ro ug hb red club . co . uk •

@T T C_ GB

You’re a member of TTC. Why did you think it was important to be part of the club?

The TTC can give young people with an interest in the industry a fantastic insight into different aspects of it through the organised tours and visits to studs and training yards. It also allows people to see what other young people are doing and how it isn’t impossible to get where you want to be.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to make their way in the industry?

The most important thing is get your head down and work hard. People are always willing to help you. You’ve got to think that everybody who is doing well has been in the same position as you at some point. I’ve always found that everyone is very helpful. You’ve got to be patient as well, these things don’t happen overnight. I’ve been working with horses for the best part of 15 years and I only now feel ready to start on my own.

Finally, where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

I’d like to be training successfully and giving owners a good experience.

Obviously I hope to still be loving it myself.

Newmarket’s July Course stages top-class racing in a beautiful setting

EXCELLENT ACTION TO ENJOY AT NEWMARKET RACECOURSES Don’t miss out on these fantastic offers from Newmarket – visit our website for all the details and to book your tickets.

Moët and Chandon July festival, July 7-9 – Grandstand and Paddock Enclosure entry, including a racecard, for just £15 (normally £26.50) Discover Newmarket exclusive July week tour, July 8 – Visits to the gallops, trainer’s yard and behind-the-scenes tour of the racecourse, only £15 The Cambridgeshire meeting, September 22-24 – Grandstand and Paddock Enclosure entry, including a racecard, for just £10 (normally £19.50) Dubai Future Champions Festival, October 7-8 – Grandstand and Paddock Enclosure entry, including a racecard, for just £10 (normally £19.50)

KING OF ARTS

King Of Arts (right) in action on the Newmarket gallops

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

The Thoroughbred Club’s threeyear-old in training, King Of Arts, has now had three runs in maidens and will be targeting handicap races in due course.

The son of Excellent Art made his first two appearances on Wolverhampton’s Tapeta surface and had his first race on turf at Newmarket’s July Course on June 18, finishing ninth. King Of Arts is still learning but coming along nicely for trainer David Simcock.

Members are invited to attend his races and will have access to owners’ badges and the facilities for owners. Keep an eye out for our next announcement on when he runs and come along and see King Of Arts in the parade ring and on the track racing in our TTC colours.

81

 

ROA FORUM The special section for ROA members

Compensation scheme comes to fore

Action from Windsor, where the ROA Raceday Curtailment Scheme kicked in when racing was abandoned on May 9

Summer isn’t the time of year one necessarily associates with racing being abandoned, but two incidents in May and another two in June were a reminder of the unpredictability of the British climate.

The late abandonment of racing at Windsor and Leicester during May and at Thirsk in June triggered compensatory payments to 116 members through the ROA raceday curtailment scheme.

The scheme, arranged through the ROA’s insurance agents Weatherbys Hamilton, responds to situations where racing is cancelled after the first race has been run.

In the case of Windsor, racing was Galway: very popular festival

abandoned after the third race when rain caused the ground to become slippery and unsafe for horses and jockeys on the top bend.

Leicester’s abandonment on May 31 after two races had been run was also due to rain causing safety concerns.

The abandonment of turf races at Lingfield Park after the first race was run on June 7 affected owners with horses in the next three races. While the abandonment didn’t trigger the scheme as racing resumed on the allweather, in recognition of the frustration for members affected the ROA made an ex-gratia payment of £100 to those owners who would

Galway marquee for members The Association of Irish Racehorse Owners operates a members’ facility for five of the seven days of the popular Ballybrit festival, and have kindly extended an offer for ROA members to join them. Last year over 140,000 revellers made the pilgrimage to Galway over the week, making the option of a marquee invaluable.

Monday, July 25: First race 5.10pm, last race 8.15pm. Gates open at 2pm.

Tuesday, July 26: First race 5.05pm, last race 8.15pm. Gates open at 2pm.

Wednesday, July 27 (Galway Plate day): First race 3pm, last race 7.10pm. Gates open at noon.

Friday, July 29: First race 5.05pm, last race 8.25pm. Gates open at 2pm.

Saturday, July 30: First race 2.35pm, last race 5.55pm. Gates open at 11.30am.

82

have qualified.

Payments are automatically made to owners of qualified declared runners, so long as 51% is owned by ROA members.

A total of £13,800 has been paid out to members following four abandonments this year where the scheme responded. Along with ex-gratia payments for Lingfield qualifiers, in total £15,700 has been credited to members affected by abandoned meetings this year.

Thanks are due to Weatherbys Hamilton for their assistance in making payments swiftly to affected members under the terms of the raceday curtailment scheme.

Badges for the marquee do not gain access to the racecourse itself. Admission badges must be purchased direct through Galway racecourse and are currently priced at €20.

Please note that the offer does not include Thursday or Sunday of the meeting.

The marquee will be situated at the back of the main Tote windows and close to the Ladbrokes marquee. Complimentary snacks and refreshments will be available in the facility.

Admission to the AIRO marquee will be granted on production of a valid ROA Horseracing Privilege Photocard. The AIRO has generously extended this offer so that members can take up to three guests into the AIRO marquee.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_ROA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 16:20 Page 83

www.roa.co.uk

Racing to School run popular and valuable learning days that get young people interested and enthusiastic about our sport

ROAcing to School event for Sandown You’ll have no doubt seen the excellent work the charity Racing to School is doing at racecourses around the country to help schoolchildren with their education and improve their knowledge of the sport. The ROA is teaming up with Racing to School to create a special free ROAcing to School event on Saturday, August 20 at Sandown racecourse.

Their practical, lively approach enriches a range of National Curriculum subjects,

sparks interest in the sport of horseracing and opens minds to the many different career opportunities within the industry.

Children will be given a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes to normally restricted areas of the racecourse during the morning activities. Children and young people under the age of 18 are welcome to attend this event, which is best suited to those in Year 5 and above.

Parents, grandparents and carers are

Owners Jackpot in July

welcome to attend the morning session with the charity’s education team, or are free to drop off and collect children.

To register an interest in attending this fun and educational morning that gives a real insight into racing, please email the number and ages of the children interested to dbowen@roa.co.uk Places are limited and will be allocated randomly. More information on Racing to School is available at bhest.co.uk/racing_to_school

Michelle Cousins’ Pink Ribbon won a June Jackpot

The ROA Owners Jackpot swag bag will be working its way around the country this month, with four races carrying a bonus of £2,000 during July.

To qualify, horses need to be owned by ROA members. Horses owned jointly qualify provided 51% of owners are ROA members. In a racing partnership, both nominated partners need to be members of the ROA. ROA Owners Jackpot races in July July 5

Uttoxeter

2m4f

Class 4 4yo+ 0-115 Mares’ Handicap Hurdle

July 13 Lingfield

1m2f

Class 6 3yo+ 0-60 Handicap

July 19 Musselburgh

1m1f

Class 6 3yo+ 0-65 Handicap

July 28 Stratford

2m61/2f

Class 5 4yo+ 0-100 Handicap Chase

Details of future races can be found in the Jackpot section on the ROA website at roa.co.uk THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

83

July_143_ROA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 16:20 Page 84

ROA FORUM

TRACK TALK

The latest news from the UK’s racecourses

GEORGE SELWYN

The summer is here – and so are the offers

The Stewards’ Cup is one of the highlights of Glorious Goodwood, and there is plenty on offer for owners with a runner

Summer is here, and therefore so is the racing festival, and none are bigger than the Newmarket July and Qatar Goodwood festivals. Racing at Newmarket moved to the Adnams July course on June 17, and continues the historic town’s celebrations for their 350th anniversary.

The Moet and Chandon July Festival takes place over July 7-9, and will commence with a special running of the Newmarket Town Plate. The racecourse is delighted to continue the rolling out of JCR’s

‘TV in a Card’, presented to all winning connections and which enables them to replay their race instantly, and as often as they please.

Last year’s Qatar Goodwood Festival saw the introduction of an owners’ restaurant, which is now a permanent feature of the raceday experience. Sponsored by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, the restaurant is located on the Solent Lawn in the Richmond Enclosure, and owners with a runner will be entitled to four complimentary lunches. A

further four lunches are available to purchase, prior to the 48-hour declaration stage, and full details on this, and all other aspects of the owners’ experience at the festival, are available in the booklet that is sent to the lead owner of each horse at the six- or five-day entry stage.

Goodwood would also like to remind owners that hotel space is at a premium in West Sussex in late July/early August, and they strongly recommend making reservations well in advance of the festival.

ARC syndicate policy trial

The intention is that more partnership members will be able to enjoy the thrill of watching their horse race, and the trial will allow the ROA and ARC to better understand the demand for complimentary admission at this level of ownership. The results of this trial will also assist racing’s stakeholders in their work on the BHA’s Ownership Pillar.

The ROA’s Chief Executive, Charlie Liverton, said: “We believe this is a positive initiative and welcome ARC’s commitment to supporting syndicates and encouraging their members to come racing. We very much hope syndicate managers will work with ARC and the ROA team to help communicate the offer to their members.

“We will share the findings of this trial with the BHA as part of the industry’s collaborative work under the Ownership Pillar.”

Ascot increase RBSO badges

The face of ownership in Britain is changing and, with it, the number of partnership-owned horses is growing.

Arena Racing Company (ARC) has recognised this and has introduced a pioneering trial at Lingfield Park and Royal Windsor racecourses, which commenced on June 1.

Current policy is for partnerships of all sizes to receive eight owners’ and trainers’ badges. This will continue, with the addition of syndicate managers now being able to request up to 20 additional complimentary admission badges (Premier badges at Lingfield, and Club badges at Windsor). These additional badges will not grant access to the owners’ and trainers’ facilities to ensure that all other owners can continue to enjoy their raceday experience in comfort.

84

A small number of forward-thinking racecourses generously offer ROA members whose cards are activated for the Racecourse Badge Scheme for Owners (RBSO) two complimentary badges on participating days – one badge for them, and one for a guest.

The ROA is delighted to announce that another course has joined Epsom, Hamilton Park, Newbury, Sandown and Windsor racecourses – ROA Gold Standard Award holder Ascot.

On participating Ascot racedays, ROA members racing under the banner of the RBSO will receive two complimentary King Edward VII badges per cardholder. Details of participating fixtures will be emailed to ROA members who have supplied their email address to receive bulletins.

We sincerely thank all courses that make this generous offer.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_ROA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 16:21 Page 85

w w w. r o a . c o . u k

Diary dates and reminders Nottingham personalised swing badges Owners lucky enough to have a runner in any of Nottingham’s three Listed races, or the Colwick Cup Handicap this season, will receive an extra special owners’ badge. These will be personalised to display each owner’s racing colours, their name and that of their horse, and the date and name of the race.

Feedback monthly winner Would you like to assist in selecting the racecourses that deliver excellence in the owners’ raceday experience? The ROA Raceday committee takes account of members’ feedback when judging the annual Gold Standard Awards.

Members are encouraged to take the time to complete the online Racecourse Feedback questionnaire when having a runner. The form takes just minutes to complete, and can be found in the Raceday section of the ROA website at roa.co.uk.

Each member who submits feedback is

entered into a monthly prize draw to win £50 of John Lewis vouchers. This month’s winner is Lesley Sinden, who owns horses in several syndicates including Heart of the South and Middleham Park.

JULY 13

Chester placed connections

Galway Festival

Lingfield Park regional meeting

JULY 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 Access to AIRO members marquee

Last year the ROA revealed that their Large Racecourse of the Year, Chester, had taken the much-appreciated step of entertaining the connections of all second-, third- and fourth-placed horses. We are delighted to announce that this generous offer has been improved upon further, and as well as their complimentary glass of champagne whilst watching a re-run of their race, owners of placed horses will now receive a USB stick in a Chester-branded leather pouch, which contains a copy of their race.

The USBs will also be made available to the placed connections at Chester’s sister track, Bangor. We are sure this lovely offer will be well received by all.

JULY 26-30 Badge service and hospitality package Glorious Goodwood

AUGUST Racing at Deauville

AUGUST 9 Chepstow regional meeting

OCTOBER 6 Ayr regional meeting

OCTOBER 15 British Champions Day, Ascot

NOVEMBER 4 Warwick regional meeting

NOVEMBER 15 Nichola Eddery private view Osborne Studio Gallery

DECEMBER 1

GEORGE SELWYN

ROA Horseracing Awards Further details and how to book for ROA events can be found online at www.roa.co.uk, by emailing info@roa.co.uk or by calling the office on 020 7152 0200

Owners of horses placed at Chester will receive a recording of the race as a gift

News in Brief...

Lingfield regional meeting The ROA is hosting a regional meeting at Lingfield Park on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 13.

Local members will have been sent an invitation to attend this informal gathering before racing, and to join the ROA for lunch and the afternoon’s racing in a private facility.

Regional meetings provide an opportunity for members to be updated on the latest topical racing issues to discuss ownership and ROA matters.

Members who are interested in attending should email Sarah Holton at sholton@roa.co.uk or call the ROA office on 020 7152 0200.

Next SIS scheme Over 1,500 horses are sponsored each year by SIS through the ROA

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

owner-sponsorship scheme.

The next scheme begins on July 1. Schemes run for 12 months and enable owners to register for and reclaim VAT on their ownership costs.

To apply to join the scheme, or to renew sponsorship for a further year, fill in the online form at roa.co.uk or contact Sarah at sholton@roa.co.uk or call the ROA office.

Reviewing races The ROA website has a handy guide showing where races can be reviewed online. This includes an excellent portal on The Jockey Club website which houses a library of Jockey Club Racecourse fixtures. Go to www.roa.co.uk and then Resources, Becoming an Owner, Racing Replays.

85

July_143_ROA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 16:22 Page 86

ROA FORUM

M AGICAL M OM E NT S

GEORGE SELWYN

with ROA member Graham Paver

Graham Paver, pictured at Royal Ascot with wife Sue, was a winner on Oaks day with Imshivalla, seen here romping home

Graham Paver’s email address has the word ‘slowhorses’ in it. But while he admits to a couple of disappointments, he confesses he is actually a very lucky owner.

“I retired at 50, with thoughts of my dad, who suffered a heart-attack at 52 and never got to enjoy the free time he deserved. It was just an off-the-cuff email address I gave IT when they were setting me up with a private address,” Paver explains. “As it happens, since it was set up my horses have got quicker!”

Paver caught the racing bug off his father, who got into owning and breeding, and his first horse was a homebred of his father’s, Plenty Cried Wolf.

“He won a claimer at Haydock after my dad died, and it was a very special, poignant occasion as I was there with my wife and two children,” recalls Paver.

It was not to be his only magical moment as an owner, far from it, for after a break of a couple of years he re-entered the ranks when Richard Fahey bought Extraterrestrial at the horses in training sale for him for £18,000.

“Richard still says it was one of the best buys he’s ever made,” says Paver. “He won seven for me and was placed numerous times, including at Ascot and Goodwood.

He was a real star.

“In 2009 he’d finished second in the Spring Mile at Doncaster, and a month later

86

we went to Newbury for the Spring Cup. I had a decent bet, he won, and we floated back on the train on a cloud of vintage champagne!”

Paver then teamed up with an old friend, who he had been out of contact with for 20 years, Grant Henderson, to share a horse with John Quinn.

The horse in question, Veiled Applause, also proved a shrewd purchase, winning six times and being placed frequently, as did Hotham, a great buy in fact at £13,000 and who won eight times for Paver and Henderson, with lots of places.

“Hotham was a real old character and well-known in the north,” says Paver. “He was a real good solid horse to own, like a few of mine.

“I’ve been a very lucky owner, managing to pick the right sort of horses, for not a lot of money, to give enjoyment and pleasure.

Runners at decent tracks and on Saturdays is what you want.”

Only recently, on Oaks day at Epsom no less, Paver was again on cloud nine thanks to Imshivalla, who gained her eighth win for her partners on that big stage in the tenfurlong handicap, while she has been placed nine times too.

Imshivalla is trained by Fahey, and Paver says: “I have been with Richard for 12 years and it’s a great place to be an owner. Richard is a straightforward guy and I will always

have a horse there.”

Noel Wilson, meanwhile, has saddled Ghostly Arc and Our Place In Louie for Paver in 2016, having handled Hotham previously, and the owner added: “Noel is also a very nice bloke, and a very good horseman. He’s not had much luck but has two or three nice horses at the moment and hopefully he can turn the corner.”

Paver, who lives in York and earned his crust with the family business Pavers Shoes, currently owns “one horse outright, plus two half-shares, a third and a sixth”, and he operates towards the end of the spectrum he feels could do with a lift.

“Smaller owners aren’t going to make money, but a bit more prize-money at lower levels would help towards covering costs,” says Paver, who also feels that at some racecourses owners could be better appreciated.

The memorable days out and enjoyment he gains from ownership – along with the statistics and numbers that are an integral part of racing and which he gets a kick out of – more than balance any negatives, however.

Paver, who likes a round of golf, claims it took him “four minutes to get comfortable” with retirement, and after being just as quickly into the swing of ownership he is still (mainly!) hitting the fairways and avoiding the rough.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_ROA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 16:22 Page 87

w w w. r o a . c o . u k

Flat Racecourse League Table Ptn Racecourse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Ascot York Goodwood Epsom Downs Newmarket Chester Newbury Doncaster Sandown Park Haydock Park Chelmsford City Musselburgh Ayr Ripon Pontefract Salisbury Wetherby Lingfield Park Newcastle Thirsk Hamilton Park Beverley Carlisle Leicester Kempton Park Nottingham Ffos Las Windsor Bath Yarmouth Redcar Catterick Bridge Wolverhampton Chepstow Brighton Southwell Total

Figures for period June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016

Ownership

Avg racecourse spend per fixture (£)

Avg HBLB spend per fixture (£)

Avg owner spend per fixture (£)

Avg prizemoney per fixture (£)

Total no. of fixtures

Total prize-money (£)

Avg racecourse spend per fixture 2013-14 (£)

Up/ down

I I I JCR JCR I I ARC JCR JCR I I I I I I I ARC ARC I I I JCR I JCR JCR I ARC ARC ARC I I ARC ARC ARC ARC

389,607 192,928 171,251 136,951 110,933 89,808 70,610 68,822 58,751 52,377 41,115 38,887 37,460 35,327 33,383 32,977 32,373 31,339 30,716 27,753 27,746 26,066 25,306 24,510 24,423 24,231 22,888 21,885 21,011 19,876 19,666 19,269 18,321 18,036 16,322 10,635 49,034

138,546 99,127 91,652 78,609 79,975 43,211 58,722 57,720 50,718 43,121 19,128 19,365 35,940 23,901 32,749 28,745 1,040 24,160 22,889 18,897 19,393 21,119 16,153 21,333 21,125 21,489 13,170 20,016 14,012 31,117 19,167 18,349 19,862 14,474 15,678 24,844 32,951

239,054 110,891 60,623 92,922 98,289 10,043 38,390 33,082 23,740 18,234 4,980 5,363 11,071 4,852 3,730 5,449 3,937 4,088 7,886 5,639 3,907 3,445 4,326 5,040 4,300 5,707 3,391 4,954 3,367 6,084 11,528 2,767 3,370 3,223 2,658 2,521 19,882

767,206 403,652 323,526 308,483 289,196 143,395 168,222 159,875 133,584 114,479 65,257 63,614 84,647 64,080 69,862 67,296 38,000 59,671 61,645 52,289 51,046 50,880 45,786 51,053 49,918 51,654 39,449 47,053 38,480 57,077 50,361 40,385 41,591 36,358 34,658 38,000 101,995

18 17 19 11 39 15 16 23 16 23 60 16 17 17 16 16 5 90 13 16 18 20 14 22 57 22 7 29 22 3 18 17 97 16 23 39 887

13,809,712 6,862,090 6,146,994 3,393,310 11,278,662 2,150,924 2,691,550 3,677,121 2,137,343 2,682,070 3,915,392 1,017,832 1,439,000 1,089,360 1,117,786 1,076,738 190,000 5,370,350 801,384 836,616 918,822 1,017,607 641,000 1,123,175 2,845,349 1,136,398 276,140 1,364,551 846,550 171,230 906,500 686,538 4,034,314 581,732 797,130 1,482,000 90,513,269

362,607 173,694 92,791 118,973 92,349 85,222 68,131 65,294 56,289 48,048 37,212 40,296 132,514 32,654 31,415 28,045 31,086 29,692 23,401 28,552 23,047 22,982 20,960 21,158 21,904 20,953 24,490 19,993 18,700 16,119 17,723 17,457 16,066 13,579 13,053 10,620 42,669

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

Up/ down

Jumps Racecourse League Table Ptn Racecourse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Aintree Cheltenham Ascot Haydock Park Sandown Park Newbury Kempton Park Ayr Newcastle Kelso Cartmel Doncaster Chepstow Wincanton Ludlow Newton Abbot Stratford-on-Avon Perth Wetherby Market Rasen Musselburgh Fakenham Taunton Uttoxeter Bangor-on-Dee Warwick Carlisle Huntingdon Exeter Leicester Hexham Fontwell Park Ffos Las Southwell Lingfield Park Catterick Bridge Worcester Sedgefield Plumpton Towcester Total

Ownership

Avg racecourse spend per fixture (£)

Avg HBLB spend per fixture (£)

Avg owner spend per fixture (£)

Avg prizemoney per fixture (£)

Total no. of fixtures

Total prize-money (£)

Avg racecourse spend per fixture 2013-14 (£)

JCR JCR I JCR JCR I JCR I ARC I I ARC ARC JCR I I I I I JCR I I I ARC I JCR JCR JCR JCR I I ARC I ARC ARC I ARC ARC I I

249,381 234,698 139,862 95,225 94,827 56,101 48,608 41,260 33,912 33,371 30,788 30,154 29,800 28,588 27,808 27,798 26,564 25,587 24,976 23,696 23,094 22,971 22,635 20,333 20,076 20,074 19,976 19,925 19,528 18,171 16,434 16,335 16,276 16,238 15,855 15,689 14,892 14,889 14,186 13,936 37,053

131,882 115,233 86,051 78,929 86,945 78,430 59,635 38,295 41,652 27,037 19,328 44,404 38,554 31,574 27,175 28,909 17,697 25,640 26,602 22,213 33,896 23,721 25,134 25,157 20,708 30,072 27,123 22,259 29,770 26,219 18,643 23,480 24,298 19,584 26,864 25,998 21,933 20,842 23,146 21,039 34,686

70,571 61,573 19,014 16,784 16,507 20,946 10,140 12,896 8,416 2,908 5,118 8,385 8,277 5,310 4,791 0 3,651 2,781 4,652 4,344 5,136 0 5,339 5,934 4,626 5,573 4,204 4,543 5,185 4,546 3,030 3,361 3,906 3,733 3,348 2,917 3,761 3,142 3,350 3,551 8,163

452,021 411,504 247,427 191,405 200,500 157,477 119,537 92,452 83,980 63,816 55,234 83,360 76,631 65,636 59,773 56,707 47,911 54,008 56,330 50,462 62,776 46,692 53,107 51,695 45,409 57,414 52,557 47,005 55,420 48,936 38,293 43,177 44,480 39,665 46,067 44,834 40,701 39,427 40,681 38,692 80,271

8 16 8 9 9 10 13 11 8 13 8 12 14 14 15 16 15 14 15 23 10 12 13 24 14 17 13 18 16 10 14 21 10 21 6 10 20 20 15 9 544

3,616,168 6,584,067 1,979,413 1,640,613 1,804,503 1,574,775 1,553,978 1,016,973 671,839 829,606 441,868 1,000,318 1,072,828 918,910 896,600 907,311 718,672 756,115 844,950 1,160,628 627,762 560,310 690,392 1,240,680 635,732 976,038 683,238 846,084 886,722 489,356 536,100 906,709 444,800 832,962 276,400 448,339 814,028 788,541 610,221 348,231 43,632,777

245,508 223,142 135,525 98,706 96,862 45,631 50,823 31,902 21,606 29,390 27,417 27,022 25,177 26,585 26,487 20,895 22,930 25,741 24,479 22,236 26,507 24,183 15,750 17,761 18,958 21,988 20,352 19,749 20,007 12,844 16,942 15,597 17,717 12,389 13,076 15,602 13,712 13,773 14,044 11,532 34,212

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

EXPLANATION The tables set out the average prize-money at each fixture staged by a racecourse over the last 12 months. They show how this is made up of the three sources of prizemoney: 1. Racecourses’ contribution 2. Levy Board (HBLB) 3. Owners The tables also confirm the number of fixtures staged and the total amount of prize-money paid out by each racecourse throughout this period.

The racecourses are ordered by the average amount of their own contribution to prizemoney at each fixture. This contribution originates from various sources including media rights, admission revenues and racecourse sponsors.

If a racecourse has increased its average contribution at each fixture compared with the previous 12 months, it receives a green ‘up’ arrow. If its average contribution has fallen, however, it receives a red ‘down’ arrow.

As these tables are based on the prize-money paid out by each racecourse, the abandonment of a major fixture could distort a racecourse’s performance.

OWNERSHIP KEY JCR Jockey Club Racecourses

ARC Arena Racing Company

I Independently owned racecourse Gold Standard Award

87

 

TBA FORUM The special section for TBA members

JUMP BREEDING’S BIG NIGHT

The 2016 winners at the TBA National Hunt Celebration Dinner gather for group recognition after collecting their trophies

As the National Hunt world gathered in Doncaster for the Goffs UK Spring Sales, the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association celebrated a remarkable year for British National Hunt breeders at the TBA NH Breeders’ Celebration Dinner.

The event, generously sponsored by Goffs UK and held at the Mount Pleasant Hotel near Doncaster, saw nine awards presented to British breeders in recognition of their success during the 2015-16 National Hunt racing season.

The award winners were decided by a secret ballot of the TBA NH Committee, who voted from the three nominees within each category.

Committee members were asked to select the horse whose results during the season had, in their opinion, most enhanced the prestige of British NH Breeding.

Master of Ceremonies Nick Luck led guests through each award, listing those shortlisted before revealing the winners.

TBA Chief Executive Louise Kemble reflected on an enjoyable evening, saying: “The event was a resounding success and the TBA would like to congratulate all of the evening’s winners and nominees.

“The 2015-16 racing season has been extremely successful for British breeders and it is especially pleasing to see the top three earning positions filled by domestic-bred horses. The TBA would also like to thank all award sponsors and supporters, including Goffs UK and event host Nick Luck.”

88

Pitchall Trophy for leading Chaser CUE CARD Shade Oak Trophy for leading Hurdler THISTLECRACK The Mickley Trophy for leading Novice Chaser BLAKLION Highflyer Trophy for leading Novice Hurdler YANWORTH Yorton Trophy for leading NH Flat Horse BALLYANDY

Roland Crellin accepts Cue Card’s award from David and Kathleen Holmes

Overbury Trophy for leading Chase Mare KAYFLEUR Birch Farm Stud & DGS Horse Transport Trophy for leading Hurdles Mare FLUTE BOWL Beech Tree Trophy for the leading Novice Hurdles Mare BRIERY QUEEN Mill House Trophy for leading NH Flat Mare KAYF GRACE

Blaklion’s breeder Mary Morrison with Nicky Henderson at the presentation

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_TBA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 14:56 Page 89

www.thetba.co.uk

Bill Bromley accepts Yanworth’s award from son Anthony and Tessa Greatrex

Peter Hockenhull presents the Shade Oak Trophy to Scarlett Knipe for Thistlecrack

Nick Luck with Jeremy Hinds of Pleasure Palace Racing, breeder of Ballyandy

Charlotte and Debbie Potter accept Kayf Grace’s trophy from Juliet Minton

David Sherlock presents Peter Hockenhull with Flute Bowl’s trophy

Simon and Helen Plumbly, breeders of Briery Queen, with Allan Munnis, left THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Overbury Stud’s Simon Sweeting presents Kayfleur’s award to trainer Henry Daly

89

July_143_TBA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 14:56 Page 90

TBA FORUM

How business rates affect you Bill Simpson, consultant to the TBA has been looking into the issue of business rates and Rateable Values on Stud Farms and Racing Yards for many years. Here, he sheds some more light on how it will affect your business...

The Valuation Office is currently undertaking a rating revaluation of all commercial property in England, which will come into effect on April 1, 2017. Each property will then be given a new rateable value to determine the business rates payable. These surveys are carried out two years prior to any implemented changes, meaning that any adjustments you will see will be a reflection of the values of 2015.

The last revaluation was carried out in 2010, so the current rates you pay now are based on the rental values of 2008.

Stud farms, however, appear in a valuation category all by themselves. The Valuation Office collates the data from occupiers of the property through return forms; these forms are analysed to establish current rental market levels and will then be used to calculate any necessary changes.

Occupiers of stud farms will then receive a draft publication which will be ready by October 2016. This should explain how their current values have been calculated. Any errors can then be addressed and the VO can be notified.

Once the new rateable value has been agreed, it then will be left to the government to announce the multiplier (rate in the pound) value. It currently stands at 50p. A property given, for example, a rateable value of £12,000 would mean the actual rates payable would be £6,000 per annum based upon the 2010 values.

The multiplier will be announced, along with provisions for a transition relief (providing a cushion in the event of a large increase in rates), and the current small business rate relief, provided to those with a rateable value below

Stud farms have their own valuation category when it comes to rates

£12,000 before April 1, 2017. ● Bill Simpson has recently helped TBA member Mr J Wills with the impending changes by calculating an estimate of his new rateable value. He was then able to advise Mr Wills of the council reliefs for small businesses available to him after these new rates have been calculated. This means he will be able to substantially reduce the amount paid to HMRC. Mr Wills said: ‘‘I am incredibly grateful to the TBA for the help and backing they have provided in this instance and the expert opinion I have been able to receive as part of my membership.’’

The Valuation Office has a useful website to check what your property’s current rateable value is based on. By going to the valuation office agency website and selecting ‘business rates’, then finding your property and inserting your postcode, it will show your current rates based on the number of stables, gallops, etc, at the yard in question.

If you have any issues regarding the question of rates, please contact Bill Simpson at Tyto Consultancy on 01488 685111, or alternatively email tyto@btconnect.com.

TUESDAY, JULY 5

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27

TBA Annual General Meeting,

South West Regional Course,

Newmarket

Exeter racecourse

TUESDAY, JULY 5

MONDAY, AUGUST 1

Annual Awards Dinner, Newmarket

Scotland Regional Day, Dumfriesshire

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 North Regional Day,

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20

North Yorkshire

South Regional Course, Plumpton College

SUNDAY, JULY 24 NH Foal Show, Bangor-On-Dee racecourse

90

RoR Final The Frogmore arena at Royal Windsor Horse Show hosted the RoR/TBA Retrained Racehorse Championship Final on May 12.

The class was won by Jenny Cowan and French-bred Mokum (Octagonal ex Back On Top), a winner on four occasions over chase fences for Worcester trainer Tony Carroll.

Just 12 weeks previously Jenny had given birth to her daughter, which almost made her decide against competing at Windsor – so it was fortunate that she did!

Don’t miss out 99th TBA AGM – Jockey Club Rooms

TBA diary dates

North Seminar, Haydock racecourse

Jenny Cowan with Mokum, after winning the RoR/TBA Championship Final

NEW MEMBERS Emily Oppenheimer, London Emma Ryan, Norfolk Tim Donworth, Ireland

The 99th AGM of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association will be held on July 5 at 10.30am. The meeting will be held in the Jockey Club Rooms, 101 High Street, Newmarket. Members attending are invited to a light lunch with board members.

TBA ‘Stars Of Tomorrow’ Foal Show – Bangor-On-Dee racecourse The TBA ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ National Hunt Foal Show, held at Bangor-on-Dee racecourse, is accepting entries until July 4. If you wish to exhibit your foal and you haven’t already entered, please make sure you get your entries into Stanstead House before the closing date.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_TBA_Forum_Owner 24/06/2016 14:57 Page 91

w w w. t h e t b a . c o . u k

BHA Graduate Grace Pugh joins the TBA team The TBA is once again supporting the BHA Graduate Programme and will be joined by Grace Pugh from July 11 for an extended placement until November. Grace has recently graduated from the Royal Agricultural University with a degree in International Equine and Agricultural Business Studies. She has extensive experience in breeding and racing, having previously attended the British Racing School, and spent time with Jamie Lloyd, Tom George and Gill Duffield.

She has a particular interest in attracting young people to the industry, which makes her well-suited to the placement at Stanstead House, where one of her main roles will be to assist with the organisation of The Thoroughbred Club careers course on November 14 and 15 at Tattersalls. Grace’s position has been cofunded by the Racing Foundation and during her time with us she will get a thorough grounding in the wide range of activities conducted at the TBA.

The Foal: from weaning to sales The first 2016 TBA-sponsored course held in collaboration with the National Stud attracted 34 delegates who spent the day learning about the crucial period in a foal’s life between weaning and the sales.

Topics covered included nutrition and veterinary care, farriery, the weaning process, preparation for sales and the sales process itself, and were delivered by experts Louise Jones, Jennie Henderson, Andrew Biddle, Brendan Boyle, Liz Clarke and Simon Curtis. Delegates had the chance to ask questions and were enthusiastic in their feedback, describing the day as informative and enjoyable, and being beneficial for the small and large breeder.

Regional Courses The TBA and National Stud are running two regional courses at Plumpton College on July 20 and Exeter racecourse on July 27, which have been co-funded by the Racing Foundation under its Pro-Active Funding Initiatives programme which provides education opportunities for those working on studs and in racing yards.

These are free to TBA members and cover the following topics: nutrition for breeding stock, parasite control, broodmare management and bio-security on the stud farm. To book and for further information please contact Leaya Slater at the National Stud. Telephone 01638 675930 or email Leaya@nationalstud.co.uk.

New signing Grace Pugh

TBA-sponsored point-to-point results

ROGER HARRIS

Garthorpe in Leicestershire played host to the TBA Mares’ Race at the Melton Hunt Club meet. Scoring by an impressive 32 lengths, She’s Real, the odds-on favourite, made it the fourth TBA Mares’ Race’ race she has won for trainer Helen Connors and owner John Chatfeild-Roberts. She’s Real was ridden again by John’s son Tom, who proved what a successful combination they are together in a TBA-sponsored race at Mollington last month.

Sunday, May 15 saw TBA Mares’ Races run at both ends of the country. Barachois Silver, a 12-year-old mare trained by Joan Hollands and ridden by Miss Rachel McDonald, took the TBA Mares’ Race’ for owner Mr Jim Pate at the Hexham (Border) meet. She scored easily with a five-length victory, over Chip N Pin. Meanwhile at Bratten Down (Devon), Marlpit Oak landed the TBA Mares’ Race’ for trainer and owner James Young. A daughter of Midnight Legend, she is a four-time winner out of the mare Lonicera. She was ridden to victory on the day by Dan Sansom.

Fakenham Chairman Nigel Savoury receives the award from Jane May

Fakenham award

TBA Representative Fiona Denniff presents the prize to Tom Chatfeild-Roberts

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Fakenham racecourse has received the National Hunt Mares-only Racecourse Award and a £750 contribution from the TBA towards prize-money for their efforts in staging one of the highest ratios of mares’ races per fixture.

Fakenham featured in the top 13 racecourses in the country offering more opportunities for females to race, something the TBA is championing in a bid to raise awareness of the benefits of filly and mare ownership.

91

 

TBA FORUM

Regional visit to Lady Bamford’s Daylesford Stud A couple of giant JCB tractors tow a party of 60 or so TBA members round an idyllic stud which affords a magnificent vantage point from which to view proceedings.

The clue is in the tractors as this is Lady Bamford’s Daylesford Stud, midway between Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire and Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire. The stud comprises 18 post-and-rail paddocks and in all 125 acres varying from typical Cotswold brash to heavy clay.

One moment it’s a woodland glade with buttercups and daisies, the next is a view across open, gently undulating countryside. The entire estate runs to 1,750 acres, with an additional 600 rented acres, with the picturesque River Evenlode running though the middle.

Our host on an overcast day on June 7 was Stud Manager Charlie Brewer, who has been with Lady Bamford since she started the stud about 14 or 15 years ago. His team of helpers, all wearing maroon tops to match their employer’s racing colours, did a marvellous job holding individual animals at each port of call on the grand tour.

The TBA visit came just three days after the stud’s latest homebred star Wings Of Desire had finished fourth in the Derby. The Dante Stakes winner, who vied for favouritism at Epsom, is just the latest of her classic protégés, following her 2009 Oaks and Irish Oaks heroine Sariska, and Star Of Seville, successful in the 2015 Prix de Diane.

Last season was certainly a tour de force for their owner-breeder as her representatives also included Eagle Top, beaten a whisker in the

CLASSIFIED

It was a joy to see some of Lady Bamford’s broodmare band

92

Moving around the Daylesford Estate was easy for members

King George, and Mr Singh, who was one of the market leaders for the St Leger – both are still in training.

All of this makes Carole Bamford the most successful owner-breeder in the country when one considers the number of mares involved. Of course, her broodmare band has grown out of all recognition and currently stands at 31. The queen bee is Sariska’s half-sister Gull Wing, dam of The Lark, Eagle Top and Wings Of Desire, all by Sariska’s sire Pivotal.

Unfortunately neither Sariska (whose statue presides over the main yard) nor Star Of Seville had returned home from covering. The former has been visiting Invincible Spirit and the latter is in Japan after an assignation with Deep Impact. Of all the beautifully bred yearlings on view, Sariska’s Frankel colt has a bit to recommend him!

However, it’s worth remembering that the acquisition of Maycocks Bay (the now retired dam of Sariska and Gull Wing) as a yearling was not on the recommendation of her bloodstock adviser Hugo Lascelles or her manager for that matter, but upon Carole Bamford’s own instinct – and what a star foundation mare she has proved.

The TBA visit to Daylesford concluded with a splendid lunch at The Glasshouse, part of Lady Bamford’s famed organic shop complex. Here was the opportunity for a little retail therapy to end a thoroughly enjoyable day.

With grateful thanks to all who made it possible, this outing certainly helped to underline the sort of benefits that go hand in glove with TBA membership.

EQUESTRIAN PROPERTY

EQUESTRIAN PROPERTY

CONSULTANCY SALES VALUATIONS LEASES Rothsay House, 124 High Street Newmarket CB8 8JP 01638 667118 • info@keylocks.com www.keylocks.com

To advertise here from just £95 (ex VAT) please call Anderson & Co on +44 (0)1380 816777 THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

 

BREEDER OF THE MONTH

www.thetba.c o.uk

Words Alan Yuill Walker Sponsored by

Manufacturers of

BREEDER OF THE MONTH – May 2016

SPECIAL MERIT – May 2016

Joan Niven Homebred winners are much the most rewarding and, when they represent the underdog, that’s the icing on the cake for many people.

Joan Niven, an octogenarian from Carnoustie on Tayside, is the breeder of Group 2 Yorkshire Cup hero Clever Cookie, owned and trained outside Malton by her son Peter. The stable star, this game eight-year-old gelding, is now one of the most popular horses in training.

As a longstanding district commissioner for the local pony club, it was Joan Niven who instilled Peter with a love of horses and riding. He and his two elder brothers were brought up at Pitlivie, the family farm in Angus, and today both Hugh and Frank farm on an extensive scale along the picturesque east coast of Scotland.

“It’s my mother and sister Diana who have always looked after the mares and young stock,” explains Peter. “They have done all the work, although, because of the distances involved in visiting stallions, the mares usually foal away.”

Peter is one of a very select band of jockeys to have achieved 1,000

GEORGE SELWYN

Shadwell Estate Company Runner-up with Massaat in the 2,000 Guineas, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum gained due compensation in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh, when the Kevin Prendergast-trained Awtaad prevailed over Massaat’s Newmarket conqueror Galileo Gold. Both are homebred colts and first foals.

As all the sheikh’s bloodstock come under the Shadwell Estate umbrella, it is difficult to differentiate between animals bred and reared at Shadwell, his Norfolk headquarters, or the equivalent Irish establishment, Derrinstown Stud in Co Kildare, formerly the property of Arkle’s owner, Anne, Duchess of Westminster.

Awtaad (by Cape Cross) is out of another homebred, Asheerah, one of four stakes-placed half-sisters. Going back to an own-sister to Seattle Dancer, this is an all-American distaff family, to which Nasheej belongs. This Richard Hannon snr-trained filly won the May Hill Stakes and was Group 1-placed three times, including a third in the 2006 1,000 Guineas.

Asheerah has a two-year-old filly by Lawman named Aneen, a stable companion to Awtaad, a yearling filly by Tamayuz and a colt foal by Cape Cross. She was recently scanned in foal to Golden Horn.

Clever Cookie: one of the most popular horses in training

winners over jumps, despite a constant battle with his weight. Retained

by Mary Reveley, he partnered Clever Cookie’s dam Mystic Memory to six of her eight hurdle victories for the Cleveland stable.

Originally raced by her breeder, Peter Goulandris of Hesmonds Stud in East Sussex, Mystic Memory left Peter Walwyn to join Sir Mark Prescott, for whom she won a three-year-old maiden at Redcar when claimed for £9,600. The filly then proceeded to score on ten other occasions for the Carnoustie Racing Club. “This comprised some of my relations as well as assorted friends,” says Peter.

Clever Cookie, who won the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester last year, when he was runner-up in the British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot, also has five victories under National Hunt rules to his credit – two bumpers and three hurdles.

As a son of the sprinter Primo Valentino, it is surprising that Clever Cookie stays so well, but both his sire and dam come from strong middledistance distaff families. Primo Valentino’s grandam Connaught Bridge won the Yorkshire Oaks, and Mystic Memory is closely related to Italian Derby hero My Top. Clever Cookie is Mystic Memory’s final offspring. “He was foaled when she was 19 and she’s still alive and well aged 27,” says Peter. Meanwhile, his mother has retained Clever Cookie’s half-sisters Mystic Glen and Simply Mystic. The latter’s first foal Simply Rouge won a bumper last year at Market Rasen, so hopefully there is plenty more success to come.

CALPHORMIN

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

93



VET FORUM: THE EXPERT VIEW

By DEIDRE CARSON BVSc MRCVS

Limb abnormalities in young foals Newborn foals can be affected by a range of defects, many of which will correct naturally while some will require intervention by a vet or farrier

N

ature designed foals to be able to get to their feet quite quickly after birth and be ready to run away from predators at a very young age. Their limbs are relatively long compared to their height and it can be both entertaining as well as concerning to watch a newborn thoroughbred struggle to its feet for the first time. I often imagine trying to get that wet, spindly-limbed bundle of cuteness back inside the mare! Rather amazingly, most of a thoroughbred foal’s growth in height occurs in the first six months of life and if there are problems with any of the limbs, it is imperative to recognise this and act accordingly.

Unfortunately, quite a number of foals are born with limbs that are not quite as straight as they should be. In the majority of cases, these conditions don’t affect the foal’s ability to stand or eventually race because they improve with age or following some not-too-invasive veterinary or farriery intervention. Occasionally, however, the abnormality might be life-limiting or require more invasive therapy. The important thing is to recognise at as early an age as possible that the limb(s) is/are abnormal and to determine the optimum treatment and best time for that treatment. The conditions described here are some of those which might be present at birth. More than one condition might occur in the same foal.

Hypoplastic bones Premature or dysmature foals might be born with hock and knee bones (the cuboidal bones) which have failed to ossify (turn to bone) before birth. These soft bones appear rounded or even absent on xray and might be unable to support the weight of the foal, even when very young. In many of these cases, even if the foal’s limbs look reasonable at birth, as the foal grows the hocks and knees ‘collapse’ – even if supported with splints or bandages – and the foal may require euthanasia.

Angular limb deformities These are when the limb deviates from a straight line when viewed from the front or behind. One or both of the knees or hocks or one or more of the fetlocks might be affected.

Valgus deformity is when the limb below the affected joint deviates to the outside (laterally).

Varus deformity is when the limb below the

94

Figure 1 Carpal valgus deformity makes a foal look knock-kneed

affected joint deviates to the inside (medially).

For example, carpal valgus is essentially knockkneed appearance (see Figure 1) and carpal varus is similar to being bow legged.

There are several ways to try to treat these deformities, but the choice will depend largely on the severity and site of the deformity. Varus and valgus deformities of the fetlock must be dealt with within the first month of life as the growth plates here close very early. Gentle but targeted rasping of the hoof or the application of a composite hoof extension can be very effective for angular deformities of the fetlock but should be initially undertaken before the foal is two weeks old (see Figure 2). In severe cases, a screw might need to be inserted across the growth plate on the convex side to allow the other side to ‘catch up’ (see Figure 3). Abnormalities of the knees and hocks can be left longer but should not be ignored in the first few weeks of life if they are not improving or if getting worse.

As for fetlock angular deformities, carpal angular deformities require a minimum of level trimming but the use of extensions can encourage correction without the need for surgery. If the deviation is severe or not improving with age, a periosteal strip can be performed on the concave side of the lower radius or tibia (usually by around three months of age) or a screw or screws and wire inserted on

Figure 2 Adding a hoof extension to a foal can help to correct limb deformity

the opposite side. Shock wave treatment is used in some cases where this is available and is believed by many to be effective.

Varus and valgus deformities are often complicated by rotation of the limb inwards or outwards from above or below the knee. A

Figure 3 In extreme cases a screw can be inserted to the growth plate

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

July_143_Vet_Forum_Owner Breeder 24/06/2016 16:56 Page 95

Figure 4 Slight outward rotation of the limb often corrects with age

degree of inward rotation occurs with growth and broadening of the chest and the slight outward rotation often seen in very young foals is normal and will correct with age (see Figure 4). More severe rotations are difficult if not impossible to correct and harm might be done if correction is attempted. Usually, once the angular deformity has corrected, the rotation will also improve to an extent, or become much less obvious.

Contractures When a joint is bent more than it should be in the normal direction of movement, the condition is called a contracture. The contractures we see most commonly at birth affect the knees, fetlocks and coffin (coronopedal) joints. A mild knee (carpal) contracture will cause the foal to be ‘over at the knee’ when standing and both knees are usually affected.

These foals usually grow straight (or at least straighter) as long as they are not over-exercised in the first few weeks of life. More severe carpal contractures might require application of adjustable splints to try to ‘stretch’ the structures at the back of the knee (see Figure 5). Affected foals might be unable to stand unassisted and tire very quickly. Some of these do not respond to treatment. Very severe carpal contracture can cause dystocia (difficult foaling) and usually necessitates euthanasia of the foal.

Fetlock contractures tend to be more amenable to treatment than carpal contracture.

If the foal is able to stand without knuckling over at the fetlock, its own body weight will often be enough to correct the contracture.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Figure 5 A marked carpal contracture or ‘over at the knee’

However, if it knuckles forward or is unable to stand, the limb will need to be supported in a more normal position by the use of splinting material. This must be removed at least daily so that the limb can be reassessed and to try to avoid pressure damage to the skin. A large dose of oxytetracycline is also often given as it has the effect of ‘relaxing’ the tendons.

Corono-pedal contractures (See figure 6) cause the foal to stand on tip-toe or even on the front (dorsal) surface of the hoof. These can be very difficult to correct and must not be ignored.

Again, with these, if the dorsal hoof wall is vertical or better, the foal’s own weight will probably help the correction.

However, if there is no improvement in the first 24 hours or the hoof is worse than vertical, a rigid dorsal splint will need to be applied. The toe is then wired into the splint to pull it into a more normal position, and oxytetracycline is usually given. The wire might need to be adjusted as the foot position improves.

Figure 6 A corono-pedal contracture or ‘ballerina syndrome’

is to ensure that they are getting adequate but not excessive nutrition, that they are not overexercised and that the heels (and if necessary the fetlocks) are protected from abrasion by bandaging. It is important to check for any other abnormality which might be contributing to the problem (e.g. severe windswept limbs, see below).

Windswept hindlimbs Affected foals have hindlimbs which are ‘bent’ sideways virtually parallel to each other, e.g. they will have a hock varus on one limb and a hock valgus on the other. It is thought that these abnormalities occur because of the way the foal was lying in the uterus before birth. These usually improve with age but might need assistance such as extensions or remedial trimming as they grow. Occasionally, a severely windswept foal will be so badly affected that the spine is also involved, In these cases, euthanasia might be the only option.

Slack/weak joints

Not all bad news

Another abnormality seen at birth is excessively slack or weak joints. Premature, dysmature or weak foals might be born back at the knee or very dropped on their fetlocks (slack pasterns).

In severe cases, the toes will be flipped into the air and the foal will walk on the fleshy part of the heels or the fetlock. Many of these foals usually improve very quickly after birth as they strengthen, but occasionally a foal will remain weak and slack in the pasterns, particularly behind. These can be difficult to treat – and some don’t get better – but the important thing

While this might read like a list of potential disasters, many of these limb abnormalities are manageable and respond, at least in part, to judicious management and foot care as the foal grows. However, don’t leave it to chance. Seek professional advice as soon as the problem is noticed. Even if immediate interference is not required, you will have had an initial assessment against which the foal’s progress can be monitored.

All figures courtesy of Rossdales LLP.

95

 

DR STAT JOHN BOYCE CRACKS THE CODE

Sophomore improvers and shakers The late Aussie Rules shines among ranks of staying sires, while Oasis Dream is speed king

I

n this month’s column I wanted to look at how the stock of sires improve between two and three. As ever there are caveats, not least the quality of mares they cover. Lesser stallions attract lesser mares, while their bettercredentialed counterparts enjoy the luxury of great quality. Is it any wonder that we end up consigning most stallions to the scrap heap?

There is also the unavoidable fact that sprinters and stayers behave quite differently, with sprinters tending to be much more exposed at two. This is becoming more and more the case in recent years. In this day of specialisation, it is less and less likely that a horse can win the Coventry at two and Derby at three. Even our big owner/breeders are utilising speed-orientated stallions more frequently. Well, who can blame them? If they crave success at Royal Ascot, which everyone clearly does, then the stock of speedier sires will be of interest to them.

There is also a downside. These fast-maturing two-year-olds are less likely to make giant strides between two and three. So there are now fewer and fewer racehorses bred to be equally capable at two and three. The same is true with potential Derby winners. Trainers worry less about unearthing whatever juvenile potential they may possess, particularly if it in any way might jeopardise their charge’s Classic season. This year’s leading Derby protagonists bear this out.

To make sense of our rankings, which are restricted to sires that have at least 100 juvenile runners, I have split the sires into two broad groups depending on their runners’ average winning distance at age three and up. We can see an unmistakable pattern emerging, in that the best speed sires improve their stock by around 5lb while the elite staying sires go beyond 9lb. In fact, the lower down the distance spectrum a stallion is, the less improvement there will be between two and three.

There are three stallions on our staying sires’ table that show a 9.2lb increase in their stock’s form from two to three. Whereas Galileo and Dubawi are no surprise to anyone, Danehill’s son Aussie Rules – who died in February but still has two crops of youngsters to feature at the sales – might raise a few eyebrows. The obvious difference is that there is a 10lb+ difference in the average rating of Aussie Rules’ two-year-olds and those by Galileo and Dubawi. Incidentally, Galileo’s great sire Sadler’s Wells posted 82.5 for his juveniles and 92.1 for his three-year-olds.

That’s a difference of 9.6lb. Danehill, meanwhile, had an average of 82.7 for his youngsters and 89.2 for his Classic generation, a 6.5lb difference.

96

Staying sires ranked by average Timeform rating at two Name

Sire

Galileo Dubawi Shamardal New Approach Dansili Teofilo Iffraaj Lawman Holy Roman Emperor Rock Of Gibraltar Mastercraftsman Medicean Sir Percy Nayef Aussie Rules

Sadler’s Wells Dubai Millennium Giant’s Causeway Galileo Danehill Galileo Zafonic Invincible Spirit Danehill Danehill Danehill Dancer Machiavellian Mark Of Esteem Gulch Danehill

Our top speed sire by juvenile class is Oasis Dream, whose three-year-olds as a group move up by 5.5lb to keep him on top by his three-yearold average too. The only others that can muster a 5lb+ increase among the speed sires are Pivotal (5.6lb), Dark Angel (5.4lb) and Clodovil (5.2lb).

Among the ultra speed sires, those whose stock post an average winning distance with their three-year-olds and older progeny of less than seven furlongs, Pastoral Pursuits does best with 3.1lb uplift in form, followed closely by Exceed And Excel with 3lb. However, the average youngster by Darley’s Exceed And Excel is 5.1lb better that those by the National Stud stallion.

Two brothers that are showing very similar traits are Invincible Spirit and Kodiac. Both have runners with similar average winning distances, 7.3 for Invincible Spirit and 7.1 for Kodiac.

AWD

AvTFR at 2

AvTFR at 3

Diff

10.9 9.0 8.0 9.4 9.3 10.0 8.1 8.5 8.0 8.9 9.8 8.9 10.3 9.6 9.2

82.3 80.4 79.1 78.9 77.1 76.7 76.6 75.0 74.9 74.8 74.3 73.7 72.5 72.2 70.4

91.5 89.6 87.2 86.2 85.7 84.3 81.0 79.0 79.9 80.6 80.7 78.9 78.9 79.8 79.6

9.2 9.2 8.1 7.3 8.6 7.6 4.4 4.0 5.0 5.8 6.4 5.2 6.4 7.6 9.2

These sires have identical improvement margins of 3.6lb. It is clear Invincible Spirit has so far enjoyed far richer opportunities than his younger brother. Now that Kodiac has earned better quality mares in recent seasons, it will be interesting to see if he can close the 4.7lb gap in their average juvenile rating.

The father and son team of Acclamation and Dark Angel appear to be going their separate ways. The Dark Angels (7.7f) clearly stay better than those by Acclamation (7.1f) and, more importantly, they are open to a good deal more improvement from two to three. Two sons of Invincible Spirit that are behaving quite differently are Lawman and Zebedee. The Lawmans are stouter and show far more improvement from two to three than those by Zebedee, who seem simply to be best at two.

Speed sires ranked by average Timeform rating at two Name

Sire

Oasis Dream Invincible Spirit Pivotal Exceed And Excel Acclamation Dark Angel Dutch Art Footstepsinthesand Kodiac Clodovil Kyllachy Pastoral Pursuits Zebedee Camacho Tagula

Green Desert Green Desert Polar Falcon Danehill Royal Applause Acclamation Medicean Giant’s Causeway Danehill Danehill Pivotal Bahamian Bounty Invincible Spirit Danehill Taufan

AWD

AvTFR at 2

AvTFR at 3

Diff

7.7 7.3 7.8 6.8 7.1 7.7 7.5 7.9 7.1 7.6 6.6 6.8 6.9 6.8 7.1

79.7 79.5 77.9 76.8 76.0 75.6 75.6 75.3 74.8 73.3 72.9 71.7 71.5 70.9 69.8

85.2 83.1 83.5 79.8 78.5 81.0 80.4 79.0 78.4 78.5 75.4 74.8 71.4 72.9 71.8

5.5 3.6 5.6 3.0 2.5 5.4 4.8 3.7 3.6 5.2 2.5 3.1 (0.1) 2.0 2.0

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER



Order your copy today!

Call 01380 816777 or order online at trainermagazine.com/book

The social, educational and professional club for young people

Membership Benefits Include All Of The Below From Only £35 Behind the scenes TTC Events

Discounts with TTC Raceday Benefits at Ascot Racecourse & Newmarket Racecourses

Watch our TTC Horse in Training

Follow our TTC Broodmares and their foals

TTC Careers Course & other educational opportunities

Blogs, webinars & vlogs with exclusive website member access

Annual subscription to Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder magazine

Annual Thoroughbred Stallion Guide

01638 661321, info@thethoroughbredclub.co.uk, thethoroughbredcub.co.uk

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

97



DATA BOOK ANALYSIS BY ANDREW CAULFIELD

European Pattern 45 AL SHAQAB LOCKINGE STAKES G1 NEWBURY. May 14. 4yo+. 8f.

1. BELARDO (IRE) 4 9-0 £198,485 b c by Lope de Vega - Danaskaya (Danehill) O-Godolphin & Prince A A Faisal B-Ballylinch Stud TR-Roger Varian 2. Euro Charline (GB) 5 8-11 £75,250 b m by Myboycharlie - Eurolink Artemis (Common Grounds) O-Team Valor B-Exors of the Late Mr B. J. Liversage TR-Marco Botti 3. Endless Drama (IRE) 4 9-0 £37,660 b c by Lope de Vega - Desert Drama (Green Desert) O-Sheikh Khalifa,Sheikh Suhaim/QRL B-Knocktoran Stud & Bluehorse Breeding Ltd TR-G. M. Lyons Margins 1, Neck. Time 1:38.10. Going Good.

Age 2-4

Starts 15

Wins 5

Places 6

Earned £772,643

Sire: LOPE DE VEGA. Sire of 16 Stakes winners. In 2016 - BELARDO Danehill G1, JEMAYEL Homme de Loi G1, FRENCH FERN Strategic G2, VERY SPECIAL Danehill G2, SANTA ANA LANE Fastnet Rock G3, FORT DEL ORO Redback LR, STEEL OF MADRID Royal Applause LR. 1st Dam: Danaskaya by Danehill. Champion 2yr old filly in Ireland in 2002. Winner at 2, 2nd Peugeot Lowther S G2, 3rd betfair Cheveley Park S G1. Dam of 4 winners: 2005: KAYD KODAUN (f Traditionally) 2 wins.

Broodmare.

2006: Liaskaya (g Dalakhani) unraced.

2007: BERLING (g Montjeu) 7 wins to 2015 at home, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Hesteforsikring Scandinavian Open C’ship G3, Marit Sveaas Minnelop G3.

2009: SMOKY HILL (g Galileo) 2 wins at 3 and 4 in France.

2010: Diamond Sky (f Montjeu) 3rd Keeneland Debutante S G2. Broodmare.

2011: French Painter (c Sea The Stars) 2012: BELARDO (c Lope de Vega) Sold 77,429gns yearling at ARAU1.

Champion 2yr old colt in Europe in 2014.

5 wins at 2 and 4, Dubai Dewhurst S G1, Al Shaqab Lockinge S G1, Denford Stud Washington Singer S LR, Betway Doncaster Mile S LR, 2nd Qipco Queen Elizabeth II S G1, 3rd Dubai Challenge S G2.

2013: Portland Street (g Dream Ahead) in training.

2015: (c Nathaniel) 2nd Dam: MAJINSKAYA by Marignan. 3 wins at 3 in France Prix des Tuileries LR, 2nd Prix de Psyche G3.

Dam of MODEEROCH (f Mozart: Tyros S LR, Knockaire S LR, IrishStall.Farms EBF Fairy Bridge S LR, 2nd Robert H Griffin Debutante S G2), Danaskaya (f Danehill, see above), Chinese Whisper (c Montjeu: 2nd El Gran Senor S LR, 2nd Prix La Force G3, 3rd Gran Criterium G1). Grandam of Drumbeat, California, Ashoka.

Broodmare Sire: DANEHILL. Sire of the dams of 319 Stakes winners. In 2016 - BELARDO Lope de Vega G1, PRIZED ICON More Than Ready G1, TURN ME LOOSE Iffraaj G1, EXOSPHERE Beat Hollow G2, FAATINAH Nicconi G2, SOLICIT Street Cry G2, VERY SPECIAL Lope de Vega G2.

The Lope de Vega/Danehill cross has produced: BELARDO G1, VERY SPECIAL G2.

BELARDO b c 2012 Shamardal LOPE DE VEGA ch 07 Lady Vettori

Danehill DANASKAYA gr 00 Majinskaya

98

Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Machiavellian Helsinki Helen Street Machiavellian Vettori Air Distingue Kendor Lady Golconda Lady Sharp Northern Dancer Danzig Pas de Nom His Majesty Razyana Spring Adieu Blushing Groom Marignan Madelia Nijinsky Makarova Midou

Lope de Vega has been successfully following in the footsteps of his sire, the redoubtable Shamardal. On the racecourse both father and son were successful in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the Prix du Jockey-Club and now there are clear signs that Lope de Vega’s stallion career is going to follow a similar trajectory to that of his sire.

Although Shamardal’s fee was listed as private in 2016, it had risen to €70,000 by 2015, having been as low as €20,000 in his fourth and fifth seasons in 2009 and 2010. Similarly Lope de Vega’s fee had to be reduced as he reached the traditionally difficult period of a young stallion’s career, standing his third and fourth seasons at €12,500. Fortunately his early crops made such an immediate impact that his fee soared to €40,000 in 2015 and then to €45,000 a year later. Another rise could be imminent, as he has been represented by a handful of smart performers during the spring of 2016, including the Gr1 winners Belardo and Jemayel. Another of his Group winners, Very Special, won the Gr2 Cape Verdi and Gr2 Balanchine in Dubai.

Belardo’s record has been somewhat mixed since he emulated Shamardal’s win in the Dewhurst Stakes, but he claimed a second Gr1 success when he finished strongly to land the Lockinge Stakes. It will not have escaped anyone’s notice that both Belardo and Very Special are out of daughters of Danehill. They come from a sample of nine foals bred this way, of which six have started and five have won.

Lope de Vega is inbred 3 x 3 to the champion two-year-old Machiavellian.

He has seven distant lines to Almahmoud, four of them through Natalma and three of them to Cosmah, via her son Halo. Four of these lines come through Machiavellian’s dam Coup de Folie, who was inbred 3 x 3 to Almahmoud through Cosmah and Natalma.

Significantly, Belardo’s broodmare sire Danehill was inbred 3 x 3 to Natalma and there is a third line to Natalma in the pedigree of Belardo’s dam Danaskaya.

Danaskaya, like Belardo, was bred

by Ballylinch Stud, who acquired the colt’s second dam Majinskaya for 190,000gns in 1997. Earlier that year Majinskaya had overcome the handicap of a June birthday to become a Group-placed Listed winner over a mile and a quarter.

Majinskaya’s sire Marignan ended his stallion career covering jumping mares in Ireland but he possessed a tremendous pedigree. His sire Blushing Groom won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, whereas his dam Madelia won both the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane. Marignan inherited enough of his parents’ talent to take second place in the 1992 Prix du JockeyClub. Another daughter of Marignan is the dam of the very smart Gailo Chop.

Majinskaya did well, too, with three black-type performers to her credit.

Modeeroch, her filly by Danehill’s son Mozart, earned a Timeform rating of 112 and Danaskaya was second in the Gr2 Lowther Stakes and third in the Gr1 Cheveley Park Stakes.

Belardo’s fifth dam, Midget, won the 1955 Cheveley Park, plus the Prix de la Foret and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. This family also gave us Ma Biche (another Cheveley Park winner who later took the 1,000 Guineas) and the fast Kistena (Prix de l’Abbaye).

46 POULE D’ESSAI DES POULAINS G1 DEAUVILLE. May 15. 3yo. 1600m.

1. THE GURKHA (IRE) 9-2 £231,081 b c by Galileo - Chintz (Danehill Dancer) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Chintz Syndicate TR-Aidan O’Brien 2. First Selection (SPA) 9-2 £92,449 b c by Diktat - Villa Sonata (Mozart) O-Mr Abdulla Al Mansoori B-Mr D. Gonzalo Ussia Figueroa TR-Simon Crisford 3. Dicton (GB) 9-2 £46,224 b c by Lawman - Saying (Giant’s Causeway) O-Mr Robert Ng B-Wertheimer et Frere TR-Gianluca Bietolini Margins 5.5, Nose. Time 1:36.97. Going Good.

Age 3

Starts 3

Wins 2

Places 1

Earned £237,141

Sire: GALILEO. Sire of 231 Stakes winners. In 2016 MINDING Danehill Dancer G1, THE GURKHA Danehill Dancer G1, THE UNITED STATES Pivotal G1, BEACON ROCK Danehill Dancer G3, BONDI BEACH Danehill G3, FOUND Intikhab G3, MIDTERM Oasis Dream G3, MIZZOU Darshaan G3, PHOTO CALL Rock of Gibraltar G3, US ARMY RANGER Dalakhani G3.

1st Dam: CHINTZ by Danehill Dancer. 2 wins at 2, C L Weld Park S G3. Dam of 3 winners: 2011: ILLINOIS (c Galileo) Winner at 2.

2012: Queen Nefertiti (f Galileo) Winner at 2, 3rd Irish Stall. Farms EBF Brownstown S G3.

2013: THE GURKHA (c Galileo) 2 wins at 3 at home, France, Poule d’Essai des Poulains G1.

2015: (f Galileo) 2nd Dam: GOLD DODGER by Slew O’ Gold. 2 wins at 3 and 4 in France Prix de la Pepiniere LR. Dam of CHINTZ (f Danehill Dancer, see above). Grandam of DUPLICITY. Broodmare Sire: DANEHILL DANCER. Sire of the dams of 57 Stakes winners. In 2016 - MINDING Galileo G1, MUSIC MAGNATE Written Tycoon G1, THE GURKHA Galileo G1, HAWKSMOOR Azamour G2, BACIAMI PICCOLA Equiano G3, BEACON ROCK Galileo G3, SUYOOF Magic Albert G3.

The Galileo/Danehill Dancer cross has produced: MINDING G1, THE GURKHA G1, WEDDING VOW G1, Alice Springs G1, BEACON ROCK G2, QUEST FOR PEACE G2, Criteria G2, Lahinch Classics G2, BE MY GAL G3, KISSED BY ANGELS G3, RECORDER G3, Kingston Jamaica G3, Noble Galileo G3, Queen Nefertiti G3, INDIAN MAHARAJA LR, KIND OF MAGIC LR, Facade LR, Felix Mendelssohn LR, Seussical LR.

THE GURKHA b c 2013 Nearctic Natalma Bold Reason Fairy Bridge Special Mr Prospector Miswaki Hopespringseternal Lombard Allegretta Anatevka Danzig Danehill Razyana Sharpen Up Mira Adonde Lettre d’Amour Seattle Slew Slew O’ Gold Alluvial Shirley Heights Brooklyn’s Dance Vallee Dansante Northern Dancer

Sadler’s Wells GALILEO b 98 Urban Sea

Danehill Dancer CHINTZ b 06 Gold Dodger

Only a month ago, in the notes on Minding’s 1,000 Guineas victory, I updated my prediction that Galileo’s partnership with Danehill Dancer mares may one day match the stallion’s outstanding results with daughters of Danehill. Even so, another update is urgently required, following the further Classic successes of Minding in the Oaks and

by The Gurkha in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

The figures now stand at 44 starters from the partnership’s 69 foals of racing age, of which 31 have won. The total of black-type winners has now risen from eight to ten (14%), the two newcomers being Beacon Rock (Gr3 Gallinule Stakes) and The Gurkha, who graduated from a wide-margin maiden race victory to take the French 2,000 Guineas by more than five lengths. Another necessary footnote is that Galileo’s best son Frankel got off the mark as a stallion by means of Cunco, a colt with a dam by Danehill Dancer and with 3 x 3 inbreeding to Danehill.

Minding has shown that this cross can produce a Gr1 winner over a mile and a half, and Quest For Peace has won at up to a mile and threequarters, while Beacon Rock and Be My Gal are Group winners over a mile and a quarter. The Gurkha must also have prospects of staying beyond a mile, even though his dam Chintz did her winning over seven furlongs at two. Timeform described her as a free-running sort who barely stayed a mile.

However, The Gurkha’s second dam, Gold Dodger, was a Listed tenfurlong winner and had plenty of stamina in her pedigree. Her sire Slew o’Gold won two editions of the Jockey Club Gold Cup over a mile and a half and her dam is Shirley Heights’ notable daughter Brooklyn’s Dance, whose efforts over middle distances included a win in the Gr3 Prix Cleopatre and a close second in the Prix de Royallieu.

Brooklyn’s Dance is best known as the dam of Arc winner Solemia (like The Gurkha, sired by a son of Sadler’s Wells). Brooklyn’s Dance also did very well with Sadler’s Wells, producing the smart colts Prospect Park and Prospect Wells, second respectively in the Prix du Jockey-Club and Grand Prix de Paris. Brooklyn’s Dance is also the third dam of Prix Marcel Boussac winner Silasol.

The Gurkha’s fourth dam Vallee Dansante had the distinction of being a half-sister to the Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Green Dancer. One of Vallee Dansante’s half-sisters, Irish Valley, was to become the dam of top juvenile Alhaarth and second dam of 2,000 Guineas winner Makfi.

Brooklyn’s Dance was the third daughter of Vallee Dansante to produce a Gr1 winner, as Krissante produced the Grand Criterium winner Okawango and the unraced Funsie became the dam of Derby winner Authorized.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER



Caulfield on The Gurkha: “He must have prospects of staying beyond a mile. His second dam, Gold Dodger, was a Listed ten-furlong winner and had plenty of stamina in her pedigree”

47 PRIX POULE D’ESSAI DES POULICHES G1 DEAUVILLE. May 15. 3yo. 1600m.

1. LA CRESSONNIERE (FR) 9-0 £189,066 b f by Le Havre - Absolute Lady (Galileo) O-Mr G. Augustin-Normand B-Franklin Finance TR-Jean Claude Rouget 2. Nathra (IRE) 9-0 £75,640 b f by Iffraaj - Rada (Danehill) O-Mr Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah B-Pier House Stud TR-John Gosden 3. Qemah (IRE) 9-0 £37,820 b f by Danehill Dancer - Kartica (Rainbow Quest) O-Al Shaqab Racing B-Ecurie Cadran, SCEA Bissons & SAS IEI TR-Jean Claude Rouget Margins 1, Head. Time 1:36.00. Going Good.

Age 2-3

Starts 6

Wins 6

Places 0

Earned £272,078

Sire: LE HAVRE. Sire of 14 Stakes winners. In 2016 LA CRESSONNIERE Galileo G1, ZGHORTA DANCE Anabaa G3.

1st Dam: Absolute Lady by Galileo. Own sister to PARIS WINDS. Dam of 1 winner: 2011: Annoville (f Le Havre) ran on the flat in France.

2012: Saon (c Le Havre) ran on the flat in Germany.

2013: LA CRESSONNIERE (f Le Havre) 6 wins at 2 and 3 in France, Prix Poule d’Essai des Pouliches G1, Prix La Camargo LR, Prix Herod LR, Prix Isonomy LR. 2014: Tonneville (f Air Chief Marshal) unraced to date.

2015: Gratot (c Le Havre) 2nd Dam: LIL’S JESSY by Kris. 4 wins at 2 and 3 Shadwell Stud Nell Gwyn S G3. Dam of PARIS WINDS (f Galileo: Revidere S, 2nd Beautiful Pleasure S LR, Mariensky S LR, 3rd Irish National Stud Blandford S G2) Broodmare Sire: GALILEO. Sire of the dams of 49 Stakes winners. In 2016 - GALILEO GOLD Paco Boy G1, LA CRESSONNIERE Le Havre G1, VANQUISH RUN Deep Impact G2, DARTMOUTH Dubawi G3, KHUSOOSY Hard Spun G3, ZHUKOVA Fastnet Rock G3.

over middle distances in the French Provinces, she never managed to finish closer than fourth (when beaten a length at Clairefontaine).

However, Absolute Lady has a talented sister in Paris Winds. Groupplaced over a mile and a quarter in Ireland, Paris Winds was transferred to the US, where she became a stakes winner over an extended mile.

Paris Winds was quite speedy for a daughter of Galileo, no doubt because her dam, the Kris mare Lil’s Jessy, won the Gr3 Nell Gwyn Stakes before running respectably in the 2001 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

There are plenty of other Classic connections further back in La Cressonniere’s female line. Her fourth dam, Light O’Battle, had the distinction of being a sister to Highclere, winner of the 1,000 Guineas and Prix de Diane for the Queen. Highclere is best remembered as the dam of Height Of Fashion, dam of the 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Nashwan and second dam of the 1,000 Guineas heroine Ghanaati.

Remember, though, that Highclere was also the second dam of Wind In Her Hair, a Gr1 winner who has found lasting fame as the dam of the sensational Deep Impact.

La Cressonniere’s third dam, the Mill Reef mare Lobmille, was a sisterin-blood to Rise And Fall, dam of the Gr1 Lockinge Stakes winner Fly To The Stars and second dam of the Coronation Stakes winner Fallen For You. Lobmille was also bred along similar lines to Highbrow, second dam of Coronation Cup winner Ask.

LA CRESSONNIERE b f 2013 Noverre LE HAVRE b 06 Marie Rheinberg

Galileo ABSOLUTE LADY b 06 Lil’s Jessy

Blushing Groom Rahy Glorious Song Danseur Fabuleux Northern Dancer Fabuleux Jane Konigsstuhl Surako Surata Jefferson Marie d’Argonne Mohair Northern Dancer Sadler’s Wells Fairy Bridge Miswaki Urban Sea Allegretta Sharpen Up Kris Doubly Sure Mill Reef Lobmille Light O’Battle

Although Le Havre appeared to find the trip a bit sharp when a staying-on second in the 2009 Poule d’Essai des Poulains, his daughters are having no such problems in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. Avenir Certain, a member of his first crop, triumphed in the 2014 race and now La Cressonniere has taken the 2016 prize, to improve her record to six wins from six starts.

Le Havre, of course, went on to take the Prix du Jockey-Club over ten and a half furlongs, while Avenir Certain progressed to take the Prix de Diane over a similar distance. There should be no worries about La Cressonniere’s ability to shine over a mile and a quarter, as she is out of a mare by Galileo, a considerable influence for stamina. This mare, Absolute Lady, was well removed from Classic standard. In six starts

48 POUR MOI COOLMORE PRIX SAINT-ALARY G1 DEAUVILLE. May 16. 3yof. 2000m.

1. JEMAYEL (IRE) 9-0 £105,037 ch f by Lope de Vega - Nawal (Homme de Loi) O-Al Shaqab Racing B-S. F. Bloodstock LLC TR- J-C Rouget 2. Camprock (FR) 9-0 £42,022 b f by Myboycharlie - Camporese (Sadler’s Wells) O- Ecurie Du Grand Chene B-Mlle M Sundstrom TR-Mme Pia Brandt 3. Hawksmoor (IRE) 9-0 £21,011 b f by Azamour - Bridal Dance (Danehill Dancer) O-Mr Chris Humber B-Tenuta Genzianella TR-Hugo Palmer Margins Head, 1.5. Time 2:07.93. Going Good.

Age 2-3

Starts 5

Wins 2

Places 2

Earned £134,571

Sire: LOPE DE VEGA. Sire of 16 Stakes winners. In 2016 - BELARDO Danehill G1, JEMAYEL Homme de Loi G1, FRENCH FERN Strategic G2, VERY SPECIAL Danehill G2, SANTA ANA LANE Fastnet Rock G3, FORT DEL ORO Redback LR, STEEL OF MADRID Royal Applause LR. 1st Dam: Nawal by Homme de Loi. 2 wins at 2 in France, 3rd Prix d’Aumale G3. Dam of 8 winners: 2000: (c Run Softly) 2001: Sagitta Ra (f Run Softly) 2 wins at 3 and 4 in USA, 3rd Honeymoon Breeders’ Cup H G2.

Broodmare.

2002: Kool Ray (c Mazel Trick) unraced.

2004: MAST TRACK (c Mizzen Mast) 6 wins at 3 to 5 in USA, Hollywood Gold Cup S G1, 3rd Pacific Classic S G1. Sire.

2005: HAWSER (c Hussonet) 2 wins at 5 in USA. 2006: ALWAYS AUDITIONING (f Mizzen Mast) Winner at 3 in USA. Dam of READY TO ACT (f More Than Ready: 3 wins at 2 and 3 in USA, Keeneland Select Beaumont S G2) 2008: VEGAS TRIP (f Aldebaran) Winner at 4 in USA. Broodmare.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

2009: 2011:

All Navy (c Mizzen Mast) ran on the flat in USA. REDBROOK (c Raven’s Pass) 2 wins at 3 in France, Prix du Pont-Neuf LR. LA DOROTEA (f Lope de Vega) 2 wins at 3.

JEMAYEL (f Lope de Vega) Sold 79,365gns yearling at AROCT. 2 wins at 2 and 3 in France, Pour Moi Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary G1, 2nd Prix des Reservoirs G3.

Lipstick Rose (f Dream Ahead) unraced to date.

49 TATTERSALLS IRISH 2000 GUINEAS G1 CURRAGH. May 21. 3yoc&f. 8f.

Broodmare Sire: HOMME DE LOI. Sire of the dams of 13 Stakes winners.

1. AWTAAD (IRE) 9-0 £125,735 br c by Cape Cross - Asheerah (Shamardal) O-Mr Hamdan Al Maktoum B-Shadwell Estate Co Ltd TR-K. Prendergast 2. Galileo Gold (GB) 9-0 £41,912 ch c by Paco Boy - Galicuix (Galileo) O-Al Shaqab Racing B-Mr B. O’Rourke TR-Hugo Palmer 3. Blue de Vega (GER) 9-0 £19,853 b c by Lope de Vega - Burning Heights (Montjeu) O-QRL,Sh Khalifa,Sh Suhaim,M Al Kubaisi B-Gestut Ammerland TR-M. D. O’Callaghan Margins 2.5, 4.25. Time 1:45.26. Going Yielding.

JEMAYEL ch f 2013

Age 2-3

2012: 2013:

2014:

2nd Dam: Lute String by No Lute. Dam of Nawal (f Homme de Loi, see above)

Shamardal LOPE DE VEGA ch 07 Lady Vettori

Homme de Loi NAWAL b 94 Lute String

Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Machiavellian Helsinki Helen Street Machiavellian Vettori Air Distingue Kendor Lady Golconda Lady Sharp Alleged Law Society Bold Bikini Ballymore Our Village Epona Luthier No Lute Prudent Miss Targowice Tarlace Alace

In the notes on Belardo’s Lockinge Stakes success, I point out how Lope de Vega owes two of his leading winners to concentrating on the descendants of that remarkable mare Almahmoud. However, the success of his daughter Jemayel in the Gr1 Prix Saint-Alary is a reminder that Lope de Vega is by no means dependent on this type of strategy. The filly’s dam Nawal doesn’t possess a single line to Almahmoud, with Northern Dancer and Halo being notable absentees from a pedigree whose only distant duplications are to those great stallions Ribot and Bold Ruler.

In winning the Saint-Alary at 14-1, Jemayel inflicted the first defeat on the favourite Camprock and showed that she is well suited by a mile and a quarter. Whether she will stay much further is open to debate. Her dam Nawal was a useful two-year-old in France, where she once contested the Prix Marcel Boussac, but she did most of her racing at up to a mile. She was even tried over five and a half furlongs after her transfer to the US. Nawal’s sire Homme de Loi stayed better, winning the Grand Prix de Paris during its days over a mile and a quarter, and so did Nawal’s previous Gr1 winner, the Mizzen Mast colt Mast Track, winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup in track record time. Nawal’s other stakes winner, the Raven’s Pass colt Redbrook, has raced exclusively up to a mile.

Lute String, the second dam, was a daughter of No Lute, winner of the Gr1 Prix Lupin over an extended mile and a quarter, but she was also a halfsister to the speedy Kenbu, runner-up to Arazi in the Gr1 Prix Morny.

Stamina was no problem for Oats, another smart member of this family.

This grandson of Jemayel’s fourth dam Alace was third in the Derby and fourth in the St Leger.

Starts 5

Wins 4

Places 1

Earned £170,621

Sire: CAPE CROSS. Sire of 110 Stakes winners. In 2016 - AWTAAD Shamardal G1, MOONLIGHT MAGIC Lammtarra G3, ALWAYS SMILE Dubai Destination LR, MISTER UNIVERSE Selkirk LR. 1st Dam: Asheerah by Shamardal. Winner at 3, 2nd Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil S LR. Dam of 1 winner: 2013: AWTAAD (c Cape Cross) 3 wins at 2 and 3, Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas G1, Power EBF Tetrarch S LR. 2014: Aneen (f Lawman) unraced to date.

2015: (f Tamayuz) 2nd Dam: ADAALA by Sahm. 3 wins at 2 and 3 Kilboy Estate S LR, 3rd Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial G3. Own sister to Biggerbadderbetter. Dam of Aaraas (f Haafhd: 2nd Irish StallionFarms EBF Blue Wind S G3), Alshahbaa (f Alhaarth: 2nd Silver Flash S G3), Daymooma (f Pivotal: 2nd Irish Stallion Farms EBF Cooley S LR), Asheerah (f Shamardal, see above) Broodmare Sire: SHAMARDAL. Sire of the dams of 4 Stakes winners. In 2016 - AWTAAD Cape Cross G1, GIFTED MASTER Kodiac G3.

AWTAAD br c 2013 Northern Dancer Pas de Nom Sir Ivor Foreign Courier Courtly Dee Lorenzaccio Ahonoora Helen Nichols Balidar Balidaress Innocence Giant’s Causeway Storm Cat Mariah’s Storm Machiavellian Helsinki Helen Street Mr Prospector Sahm Salsabil Riverman Alshoowg Ghashtah Danzig

Green Desert CAPE CROSS b/br 94 Park Appeal

Shamardal ASHEERAH b 08 Adaala

Back in 1987, at the Hermitage Farm dispersal, the 18-year-old My Charmer was sold for $2,600,000, with the veteran mare’s price reflecting the fact that she had been represented by an American Triple Crown winner in Seattle Slew, a 2,000 Guineas winner in Lomond and a record-shattering yearling in Seattle Dancer. My Charmer’s filly foal by Nijinsky – a sister to the dual Gr2 winner Seattle Dancer – was also offered and it took a near-record bid of $2,300,000 from Shadwell to secure her.

Named Ghashtah, the Nijinsky filly never raced and Shadwell has had to wait a long time for a major return on its substantial investment. Indeed Shadwell could have been forgiven had they decided to weed out most of this family from its illustrious stud book.

Ghashtah produced only two winners from 12 foals, the saving

99



DATA BOOK STAKES RESULTS

European Pattern grace being that one of these winners became the dam of the 1,000 Guineas third Nasheej. One of the non-winners was Ghashtah’s Riverman filly Alshoowg, who also retired unraced. Alshoowg made amends by producing a much tougher filly in Adaala, to Shadwell’s royallybred Sahm.

Adaala numbered a Listed win over nine furlongs among her ten starts as a three-year-old and she has kept up the good work by producing blacktype performers as her first four foals.

One of them, her tough Shamardal filly Asheerah, has now returned the family to Classic glory by means of her first foal, the Cape Cross colt Awtaad. Incidentally, Asheerah is bred along similar lines to this year’s Gr1 Blue Grass Stakes winner Brody’s Cause, as he is by Shamardal’s sire Giant’s Causeway out of another daughter of Sahm.

The very progressive Awtaad was gaining his fourth consecutive victory from five starts when he comfortably defeated the 2,000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold to take the Irish equivalent. He has yet to tackle more than a mile, but he should eventually stay a mile and a quarter, as he is by the sire of two Derby winners and his dam Asheerah stayed a mile and a quarter. What’s more, his first four dams were all sired by stallions which stayed at least nine furlongs.

Poignantly, Awtaad’s Classic success came just a couple of months after Cape Cross was forced into retirement by failing fertility at the age of 22.

50 TATTERSALLS GOLD CUP G1 CURRAGH. May 22. 4yo+. 10f 110yds.

1. FASCINATING ROCK (IRE) 5 9-3 £108,456 b h by Fastnet Rock - Miss Polaris (Polar Falcon) O-Newtown Anner Stud Farm B-Newtown Anner Stud TR-D. K. Weld 2. Found (IRE) 4 9-0 £34,926 b f by Galileo - Red Evie (Intikhab) O-Mr M. Tabor, D. Smith & Mrs John Magnier B-Roncon, Wynatt & Chelston TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Success Days (IRE) 4 9-3 £16,544 gr c by Jeremy - Malaica (Roi Gironde) O-Mr Robert Ng B-Mr R. Ng & Mr D. Farrington TR-K. J. Condon Margins 3.75, 1.5. Time 2:20.72. Going Yielding to Soft.

Age 2-5

Starts 14

Wins 8

Places Earned 2 £1,143,488

Sire: FASTNET ROCK. Sire of 95 Stakes winners. In 2016 - FASCINATING ROCK Polar Falcon G1, HEROIC VALOUR Nassipour G1, AMICUS El Moxie G2, FIRST SEAL Scenic G2, ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN Peintre Celebre G2, MISSROCK Strategic G3, ZHUKOVA Galileo G3, BEWHATYOUWANNABE Beautiful Crown LR, KAEPERNICK Stravinsky LR, SERENE MAJESTY Lonhro LR, SOMEHOW Sadler’s Wells LR, TENERIFE SONG Rainbow Quest LR, TRES ROCK GLORY Monsun LR. 1st Dam: MISS POLARIS by Polar Falcon. 2 wins at 3 and 4. Own sister to EURO FALCON. Dam of 3 winners: 2008: SECRETSUBSTITUTE (g High Chaparral) Winner at 3.

2009: QUICK JACK (g Footstepsinthesand) 6 wins, Guinness Galway H. Hurdle G1.

2011: FASCINATING ROCK (c Fastnet Rock) Jt Champion older horse in Europe in 2015 (9.5-10.5f.), Jt Champion older horse in Ireland in 2015. 8 wins at 3 to 5, Tattersalls

100

2013: 2015:

Gold Cup G1, Qipco Champion S G1, Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S G3, So You Think EBF Mooresbridge S G3, P W McGrath Memorial Ballysax S G3, KPMG Enterprise Kilternan S G3, Heritage S LR, 2nd Tattersalls Gold Cup G1, 3rd Camelot EBF Mooresbridge S G3.

Newcross (c Cape Cross) unraced to date. (f Rock of Gibraltar)

2nd Dam: SARABAH by Ela-Mana-Mou. 1 win at 3.

Dam of EURO FALCON (c Polar Falcon: Sandbahn G. P. Deutschen Buchmacher LR), Saratov (g Rudimentary: 3rd Breckenbrough Racing Acomb S LR), Mangusta (f Shareef Dancer: 3rd Nereide Rennen LR), Basbousate Nadia (f Wolfhound: 3rd ABN Amro Futures Ltd Dragon S LR). Grandam of MANOU. Broodmare Sire: POLAR FALCON. Sire of the dams of 35 Stakes winners. In 2016 - ALWAYS IN CHARGE Captain Al G1, FASCINATING ROCK Fastnet Rock G1, ISFAHAN Lord of England G3.

FASCINATING ROCK b h 2011 Danzig Danehill Razyana FASTNET ROCK b 01 Royal Academy Piccadilly Circus Gatana Nureyev Polar Falcon Marie d’Argonne MISS POLARIS b 01 Ela-Mana-Mou Sarabah Be Discreet

Northern Dancer Pas de Nom His Majesty Spring Adieu Nijinsky Crimson Saint Marauding Twigalae Northern Dancer Special Jefferson Mohair Pitcairn Rose Bertin Junius Querida

Although Fascinating Rock had had more than a length to spare over Found when they finished first and second in the Champion Stakes, it was Found who started a very hot favourite when the pair continued their rivalry in the Gr1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. The odds reflected the fact that Found had turned the tables in the Gr3 Mooresbridge Stakes in the interim but she arguably enjoyed a fitness advantage over Fascinating Rock on that occasion and it was Fascinating Rock who again came out on top when it really mattered. The ground for the Tattersalls Gold Cup was soft enough to force the withdrawal of The Grey Gatsby and Time Test, but plenty of give in the ground clearly brings out the best in Fascinating Rock. All eight of his victories have been gained when the going was softer than good.

Fascinating Rock has won at up to a mile and a half, even though he has a champion Australian sprinter as his sire and a Sprint Cup winner as his broodmare sire. However, his sire Fastnet Rock has numerous good Australian winners which stay better than he did and the colt’s broodmare sire Polar Falcon stayed a mile well enough to win the Lockinge. Polar Falcon’s fast son Pivotal often sires progeny which shine over middle distances, often on soft ground.

Fascinating Rock’s dam Miss Polaris stayed a mile and a quarter and his next dam, Sarabah, was a mile-and-a-quarter winner by the stamina-packed Ela-Mana-Mou. Sarabah had a smart half-brother in the miler Gothenberg, by the sprinter Polish Patriot.

Fascinating Rock’s third dam, the French seven-furlong performer Be Discreet, was a half-sister to Kirov Premiere. This Sadler’s Wells mare won four times at up to a mile and a half in Ireland before being transferred to the USA, where she won the Gr3 Rutgers Handicap on turf. Kirov Premiere was later sold to Japan, when she produced the top filly Cesario, winner of the Japanese Oaks before switching continents to win the American Oaks.

Fascinating Rock’s fourth dam Querida was a half-sister to Chief Singer, an outstanding winner of the July Cup and Sussex Stakes, and his fifth dam is Pia, a remarkably tough and versatile performer who shone over sprint distances at two before winning the Oaks and the Park Hill Stakes at three.

51 TATTERSALLS IRISH 1000 GUINEAS G1 CURRAGH. May 22. 3yof. 8f.

1. JET SETTING (IRE) 9-0 £125,735 b f by Fast Company - Mean Lae (Johannesburg) O-Equinegrowthpartners Syndicate B-P. Kelly TR-A. P. Keatley 2. Minding (IRE) 9-0 £41,912 b f by Galileo - Lillie Langtry (Danehill Dancer) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Now Or Never (IRE) 9-0 £19,853 b f by Bushranger - Queenofthefairies (Pivotal) O-Now Or Never Partnership B-Tally-Ho Stud TR-M. D. O’Callaghan Margins Head, 10. Time 1:42.46. Going Yielding to Soft.

Age 2-3

Starts 9

Wins 3

Places 4

Earned £165,563

Sire: FAST COMPANY. Sire of 4 Stakes winners.

In 2016 - JET SETTING Johannesburg G1, DEVONSHIRE Trans Island G2, VAL NANDA Xaar LR. 1st Dam: MEAN LAE by Johannesburg. Winner at 3.

Dam of 1 winner: 2012: Saphira Silver (f Verglas) 2013: JET SETTING (f Fast Company) 3 wins at 3, Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas G1, Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial S G3, 3rd Prix Herod LR. 2014: (f Fast Company) 2015: (f Fast Company) 2nd Dam: PLUME ROUGE by Pivotal. 2 wins at 2 and 3 IrishStall.Farms EBF Fairy Bridge S LR. Broodmare Sire: JOHANNESBURG. Sire of the dams of 15 Stakes winners. In 2016 - JET SETTING Fast Company G1, COLLECTED City Zip G3, ROYAL TITHE Show A Heart G3, COOL CHAP High Chaparral LR, SEVENTH HEAVEN Galileo LR, VERO DA VINCI Peintre Celebre LR, ZARANTZ Choisir LR.

JET SETTING b f 2013 Danehill Danehill Dancer Mira Adonde FAST COMPANY b 05 Zafonic Sheezalady Canadian Mill Hennessy Johannesburg Myth MEAN LAE b 06 Pivotal Plume Rouge Classic Fan

Danzig Razyana Sharpen Up Lettre d’Amour Gone West Zaizafon Mill Reef Par Excellance Storm Cat Island Kitty Ogygian Yarn Polar Falcon Fearless Revival Lear Fan Miss Boniface

Europe’s various Guineas races have provided a couple of examples in recent years of how rapidly fortunes can change for the better. Makfi’s success in the 2010 2,000 Guineas

came little more than six months after he had been sold, unraced, for 26,000gns, and now the Irish 1,000 Guineas has fallen to Jet Setting, roughly seven months after she had been sold for as little as 12,000gns.

Jet Setting had been a close second in two of her four starts before her sale, but she earned black type a few weeks later for her new connections and is now a winner of three of her four starts in 2016.

Appropriately, she also won the Gr3 Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial.

Her sire, the inexpensive Fast Company, now ranks as the fourth son of Danehill Dancer to have sired a Gr1 winner. The previous three – Choisir, Mastercraftsman and Monsieur Bond – all have at least a pair of Gr1 winners to their credit and Mastercraftsman’s contribution includes the Classic winners The Grey Gatsby and Kingston Hill. We have also seen a daughter of Danehill Dancer produce Minding, winner of the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks on either side of her close second to Jet Setting in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

If you look at the Racing Post’s ratings, only Choisir and Mastercraftsman were rated higher among Danehill Dancer’s progeny than Fast Company. He had indeed looked highly promising at two, when he easily won his first two starts before running New Approach to half a length in the Dewhurst Stakes.

Those efforts were in 2007 and it wasn’t until 2011 that Fast Company made his debut at a fee of €5,000 at Rathasker Stud. Unfortunately, he had been unable to race in 2008, 2009 or 2010, but he hadn’t been forgotten and his first crop numbered 98 foals.

He wasted little time in proving his worth, with Baitha Alga winning the Gr2 Norfolk Stakes in 2014, and this first crop also contained the Irish 1,000 Guineas third Devonshire and the Group-placed Fast Act. Jet Setting is the best winner from a smaller second crop. Fast Company was switched to England in 2016, but will now return to Ireland, to stand at Kildangan Stud, as part of the Darley Club. The fact that Jet Setting cost only €7,000 as a foal is an indication that her family hasn’t been shining at Group level in recent generations. She is the first winner out of Mean Lae, a Johannesburg mare whose only win in 15 starts came over seven furlongs over Dundalk’s all-weather track.

Mean Lae’s half-sister Plume Rouge (by Pivotal) was a Listed winner over seven and a half furlongs.

However, Jet Setting’s fourth dam, Miss Boniface, was smart, as she showed by finishing fourth in the Irish Oaks after winning the Gr2 Ribblesdale Stakes.

52 PRIX D’ISPAHAN G1 CHANTILLY. May 24. 4yo+. 1800m.

1. A SHIN HIKARI (JPN) 5 9-2 £105,037 gr h by Deep Impact - Catalina (Storm Cat) O-Eishindo Company Limited B-K K Eishindo TR-Masanori Sakaguchi 2. Dariyan (FR) 4 9-2 £42,022

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER



Caulfield on Fascinating Rock: “He has won at up to a mile and a half even though he has a champion Australian sprinter as his sire and a Sprint Cup winner as his broodmare sire”

b c by Shamardal - Daryakana (Selkirk) O-H.H. Aga Khan B-Hh The Aga Khan's Studs Sc TR-A. de Royer Dupre 3. Silverwave (FR) 4 9-2 £21,011 b c by Silver Frost - Miss Bio (River Mist) O-Hspirit B-Mlle M-L Collet, J Collet & Mme M Collet TR-P Bary Margins 10, 1.75. Time 1:53.29. Going Heavy.

Age 3-5

Starts 12

Wins 10

Places Earned 0 £2,367,613

Sire: DEEP IMPACT. Sire of 84 Stakes winners. In 2016 - A SHIN HIKARI Storm Cat G1, DEE MAJESTY Brian’s Time G1, MAKAHIKI French Deputy G1, REAL STEEL Storm Cat G1, SINHALITE Singspiel G1, AMBITIOUS El Condor Pasa G2, DECIPHER Dubai Millennium G2, MOUNT ROBSON Mr Greeley G2, SATONO ALADDIN Storm Cat G2, SMART LAYER White Muzzle G2, VANQUISH RUN Galileo G2.

1st Dam: CATALINA by Storm Cat. 3 wins at 2 and 3 in USA. Dam of 7 winners: 2000: SAN JUAN GIRL (f Pleasant Colony) Winner at 3 in Japan. Broodmare.

2004: A Shin P C (c Fusaichi Pegasus) 3 wins at 2 and 3 in Japan, 3rd Fuji-TV Sho Spring S. (Gns Trial) LR. 2005: A SHIN GOOD CHIEF (c Mr Greeley) Winner at 2 in Japan.

2006: A Shin Cool D (f Distorted Humor) 12 wins at 4 to 6 in Japan, 3rd Ladies’ Prelude LR. Broodmare.

2008: A SHIN SHARAKU (c Taiki Shuttle) 14 wins at 3 to 8, 2016 in Japan.

2010: A Shin Finesse (c Special Week) ran on the flat in Japan.

2011: A SHIN HIKARI (c Deep Impact) 10 wins at 3 to 5 in France, Hong Kong, Japan, Prix d’Ispahan G1, Longines Hong Kong Cup G1, Mainichi Okan G2, Epsom Cup G3, Miyakooji S LR, Ireland Trophy LR. 2013: A SHIN TWINKLE (f Deep Impact) Winner at 3 in Japan.

2nd Dam: Carolina Saga by Caro. unraced. Dam of SIR BEAUFORT (c Pleasant Colony: Santa Anita H G1), Carolina North (c Far North: 4th Lamplighter H G2). Grandam of Sparkling Ava, Ms Forte. Third dam of TRAFFIC CHIEF, SAVANNAH CANON, Sweet Lorena, Bernardita, Nedjma. Fourth dam of YOU LUCKIE MANN. Broodmare Sire: STORM CAT. Sire of the dams of 191 Stakes winners. In 2016 - A SHIN HIKARI Deep Impact G1, REAL STEEL Deep Impact G1, WEEP NO MORE Mineshaft G1, BLOFELD Quality Road G2, SATONO ALADDIN Deep Impact G2.

The Deep Impact/Storm Cat cross has produced: A SHIN HIKARI G1, AYUSAN G1, KIZUNA G1, LACHESIS G1, REAL STEEL G1, HIRABOKU DEEP G2, SATONO ALADDIN G2, PRODIGAL SON G3, Langley LR.

Steel, conqueror of Euro Charline in the Gr1 Dubai Turf in March, and A Shin Hikari, who trounced several of Europe’s best older horses in the Gr1 Prix d’Ispahan. Only time will tell whether the ease of A Shin Hikari’s win owed anything to the very heavy ground at Chantilly, but the progressive Japanese colt is certainly no soft-ground specialist, as he won the Gr1 Hong Kong Cup on good ground and has also won Graded stakes races on fast ground in Japan.

It is probably more than just coincidence that A Shin Hikari and Real Steel are both out of mares by the champion American stallion Storm Cat. The 2013 Japanese Derby winner Kizuna, who travelled to France to win the Gr2 Prix Niel and to finish fourth in the Arc, is another Deep Impact with a dam by Storm Cat. The Deep Impact-Storm Cat cross now has 40 foals of racing age.

Thirty-seven have started, 31 have won and an impressive eight – 20% – are black-type winners. They also include Ayusan (Gr1 Japanese 1,000 Guineas), Lachesis (Gr1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup), Hiraboku Deep (Gr2 TV Tokyo Hai Aoba Sho) and Satono Aladdin (Gr2 Keio Hai Spring Cup in 2016). Real Steel’s three-year-old brother Prodigal Son is another potential Graded winner for this cross, as he was beaten only five lengths in the Japanese Derby, and A Shin Hikari’s sister, A Shin Twinkle, won at the third attempt in April.

A Shin Hikari’s dam Catalina gained all three of her victories in the US in sprints on dirt tracks. However, she is a half-sister to Sir Beaufort, winner of the Gr1 Santa Anita Handicap over a mile and a quarter.

The third dam, Key To The Saga, was a Gr3-winning daughter of the smart Sea-Bird filly Sea Saga. Key To The Saga was also a great granddaughter of Lea Lark, ancestress of numerous other Gr1 winners, including the European winners Miswaki, Lacovia and St Nicholas Abbey.

53 INVESTEC OAKS STAKES G1

A SHIN HIKARI gr h 2011 Halo Sunday Silence Wishing Well DEEP IMPACT b 02 Alzao Wind In Her Hair Burghclere Storm Bird Storm Cat Terlingua CATALINA 94 Caro Carolina Saga Key To The Saga

Hail To Reason Cosmah Understanding Mountain Flower Lyphard Lady Rebecca Busted Highclere Northern Dancer South Ocean Secretariat Crimson Saint Fortino II Chambord Key To The Mint Sea Saga

The 2016 season has seen Deep Impact sire the first, second and third in both the Japanese 2,000 Guineas and Japanese Derby, thanks to the efforts of Dee Majesty, Makahiki and Satono Diamond. However, the Shadai stallion’s growing reputation as one of the world’s elite stallions probably owes more to the international efforts in 2016 of Real

EPSOM DOWNS. Jun 3. 3yof. 12f.

1. MINDING (IRE) 9-0 £269,373 b f by Galileo - Lillie Langtry (Danehill Dancer) O-Mr D. Smith, Mrs J. Magnier, Mr M. Tabor B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt TR-Aidan O’Brien 2. Architecture (IRE) 9-0 £102,125 b f by Zoffany - Brigayev (Fasliyev) O-Lael Stable B-Mr M. Passamonti TR-Hugo Palmer 3. Harlequeen (GB) 9-0 £51,110 b f by Canford Cliffs - Aurelia (Rainbow Quest) O-Mrs S. Brandt B-Richard Moses Bloodstock TR-Mick Channon Margins 1.75, 8. Time 2:42.60. Going Good to Soft.

Age 2-3

Starts 8

Wins 5

Places Earned 3 £1,073,689

Sire: GALILEO. Sire of 231 Stakes winners. In 2016 MINDING Danehill Dancer G1, THE GURKHA Danehill Dancer G1, THE UNITED STATES Pivotal G1, BEACON ROCK Danehill Dancer G3, BONDI BEACH Danehill G3, FOUND Intikhab G3, MIDTERM Oasis Dream G3, MIZZOU Darshaan G3, PHOTO CALL Rock of Gibraltar G3, US ARMY RANGER Dalakhani G3.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

1st Dam: LILLIE LANGTRY by Danehill Dancer. 5 wins at 2 and 3, Coronation S G1, Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron S G1, 3rd Moyglare Stud S G1. Dam of 2 winners: 2012: KISSED BY ANGELS (f Galileo) Winner at 3, Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial G3.

2013: MINDING (f Galileo) Champion 2yr old filly in Europe in 2015. 5 wins at 2 and 3, Dubai Fillies’ Mile S G1, Moyglare Stud S G1, Investec Oaks S G1, Qipco 1000 Guineas G1, 2nd Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas G1, Breast Cancer Research Debutante S G2.

2014: How (f Galileo) 2015: (f Galileo) 2nd Dam: Hoity Toity by Darshaan. unraced. Dam of LILLIE LANGTRY (f Danehill Dancer, see above), COUNT OF LIMONADE (c Duke of Marmalade: Dubai Duty Free Celebration S LR, 3rd Jebel Ali Anglesey S G3, Airlie Stud Gallinule S G3). Grandam of MASTER APPRENTICE. Broodmare Sire: DANEHILL DANCER. Sire of the dams of 57 Stakes winners. In 2016 - MINDING Galileo G1, MUSIC MAGNATE Written Tycoon G1, THE GURKHA Galileo G1, HAWKSMOOR Azamour G2, BACIAMI PICCOLA Equiano G3, BEACON ROCK Galileo G3, SUYOOF Magic Albert G3.

The Galileo/Danehill Dancer cross has produced: MINDING G1, THE GURKHA G1, WEDDING VOW G1, Alice Springs G1, BEACON ROCK G2, QUEST FOR PEACE G2, Criteria G2, Lahinch Classics G2, BE MY GAL G3, KISSED BY ANGELS G3, RECORDER G3, Kingston Jamaica G3, Noble Galileo G3, Queen Nefertiti G3, INDIAN MAHARAJA LR, KIND OF MAGIC LR, Facade LR, Felix Mendelssohn LR, Seussical LR.

2013: 2014: 2015:

HARZAND (c Sea The Stars) 3 wins at 3, Investec Derby S G1, P W McGrath Memorial Ballysax S G3.

Haripour (c Shamardal) unraced to date. (f Fastnet Rock)

2nd Dam: HAZARADJAT by Darshaan. 2 wins at 2 and 3. Own sister to Hashar. Dam of HAZARIYA (f Xaar, see above), HAZARISTA (f Barathea: Irish StallionFarms EBF Blue Wind S G3, 3rd Darley Irish Oaks G1, Aston Upthorpe Yorkshire Oaks G1), Hidden Brief (f Barathea: 3rd Prix Petite Etoile LR). Grandam of HAMAIRI, HANABAD, HUMPHREY BOGART, Handazan, Maryellen’s Spirit. Third dam of SEAL OF APPROVAL, GALE FORCE, PURE POETRY, Instance.

Broodmare Sire: XAAR. Sire of the dams of 18 Stakes winners. In 2016 - HARZAND Sea The Stars G1, YANKEE ROSE All American G1, ADJUSTED Montjeu LR, THE ALFONSO Magnus LR, VAL NANDA Fast Company LR.

HARZAND br c 2013 Green Desert Cape Cross Park Appeal SEA THE STARS b 06 Miswaki Urban Sea Allegretta Zafonic Xaar Monroe HAZARIYA b 02 Darshaan Hazaradjat Hazy Idea

MINDING b f 2013 Northern Dancer Sadler’s Wells Fairy Bridge GALILEO b 98 Miswaki Urban Sea Allegretta Danehill Danehill Dancer Mira Adonde LILLIE LANGTRY b/br 07 Darshaan Hoity Toity Hiwaayati

Nearctic Natalma Bold Reason Special Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal Lombard Anatevka Danzig Razyana Sharpen Up Lettre d’Amour Shirley Heights Delsy Shadeed Alathea

See race 40 in the June issue 54 INVESTEC DERBY STAKES G1 EPSOM DOWNS. Jun 4. 3yoc&f. 12f.

1. HARZAND (IRE) 9-0 £876,170 br c by Sea The Stars - Hazariya (Xaar) O-H.H. Aga Khan B-His Highness The Aga Khan’s Studs S.C. TR-D. K. Weld 2. Us Army Ranger (IRE) 9-0 £332,175 b c by Galileo - Moonstone (Dalakhani) O-Mrs John Magnier,Mr M.Tabor & Mr D.Smith B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Idaho (IRE) 9-0 £166,242 b c by Galileo - Hveger (Danehill) O-Mr M. Tabor, D. Smith & Mrs John Magnier B-Hveger Syndicate TR-Aidan O’Brien Margins 1.5, 1.25. Time 2:40.00. Going Good to Soft.

Age 2-3

Starts 4

Wins 3

Places 0

Earned £907,173

Sire: SEA THE STARS. Sire of 25 Stakes winners. In 2016 - HARZAND Xaar G1, CLOTH OF STARS Kingmambo G2, MEKHTAAL Silver Hawk G2, ASTRONEREUS Surako G3.

1st Dam: HAZARIYA by Xaar. 3 wins at 3, EBF Athasi S G3. Dam of 5 winners: 2007: HAZARAFA (f Daylami) 2 wins at 3, Go Racing in Kildare Finale S LR. Broodmare.

2008: Haziyna (f Halling) 2 wins at 3, 2nd Irish Stall.

Farms EBF Give Thanks S G3. Broodmare.

2010: HARASIYA (f Pivotal) 2 wins at 2, Silver Flash S G3, 2nd Keeneland Debutante S G2, 3rd Moyglare Stud S G1.

2011: HAZARABA (f Oasis Dream) Winner at 3.

Danzig Foreign Courier Ahonoora Balidaress Mr Prospector Hopespringseternal Lombard Anatevka Gone West Zaizafon Sir Ivor Best In Show Shirley Heights Delsy Hethersett Won’t Linger

The exceptional Urban Sea ranks as one of the few mares to have produced two winners of the Derby and these two winners – Galileo and Sea The Stars – are busily reinforcing her impact on this great race. Galileo has already enjoyed Derby success with New Approach, Ruler Of The World and Australia, and this time he and his famous half-brother were jointly responsible for half of the 16 contestants. This octet proved dominant, supplying first, second and third, and on this occasion it was Sea The Stars who triumphed, with Harzand holding off Galileo’s sons US Army Ranger and Idaho.

Sea The Stars has only three crops aged three or over, all sired at a fee of €85,000, but Harzand’s predecessors include an impressive Oaks winner in Taghrooda, a runaway German Derby winner in Sea The Moon, a Derby third and Irish Derby second in Storm The Stars and a Prix du Jockey-Club second in Shamkiyr. No wonder Sea The Stars’ 2016 fee was €125,000.

It is relevant to Harzand, who ran only once at two, that Sea The Stars’ Timeform rating soared from 109p as a two-year-old, when he was a Gr2 winner, to an enviable 140 at three.

Taghrooda also ran only once at two, winning a maiden race, and Sea The Moon was another once-raced twoyear-old winner. Storm The Stars didn’t win, despite showing distinct promise, in two juvenile starts and Shamkiyr was second on his only start. The clear message is that Sea The Stars’ progeny are likely to need a bit of time.

One interesting aspect of Sea The Stars’ record is that even a racehorse as exceptional as this isn’t immune to

101



DATA BOOK STAKES RESULTS

European Pattern

55 INVESTEC QUEEN ELIZABETH CORONATION CUP G1 EPSOM DOWNS. Jun 4. 4yo+. 12f.

1. POSTPONED (IRE) 5 9-0 £226,840 b h by Dubawi - Ever Rigg (Dubai Destination) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-Ashcroft Stud Farm LLP TR-Roger Varian 2. Found (IRE) 4 8-11 £86,000

102

b f by Galileo - Red Evie (Intikhab) O-Mr M. Tabor, D. Smith & Mrs John Magnier B-Roncon, Wynatt & Chelston TR-Aidan O’Brien 3. Roseburg (IRE) 5 9-0 £43,040 ch g by Tamayuz - Raydaniya (In The Wings) O-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum B-Mrs B. Cosgrove TR-Roger Varian Margins 4.5, 1.25. Time 2:43.50. Going Good to Soft.

Age 2-5

Starts 16

Wins 8

Places Earned 7 £3,815,645

Sire: DUBAWI. Sire of 110 Stakes winners. In 2016 POSTPONED Dubai Destination G1, SAFETY CHECK Royal Academy G2, DARTMOUTH Galileo G3, JOURNEY Montjeu G3, RASEED Fantastic Light G3, SHEIKHZAYEDROAD Highest Honor G3, SO MI DAR Singspiel G3, TIME TEST Dansili G3, AMAZONA Monsun LR, GM HOPKINS Lomitas LR, SKIFFLE King’s Best LR, THE BLUE EYE Cherokee Run LR. 1st Dam: EVER RIGG by Dubai Destination. Winner at 3. Dam of 1 winner: 2010: Neamour (f Oasis Dream). Broodmare.

2011: POSTPONED (c Dubawi) Sold 360,000gns yearling at TAOC1. 8 wins at 2 to 5, 2016 at home, France, UAE, Investec Queen Elizabeth Coronation Cup G1, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S G1, Longines Dubai Sheema Classic G1, Neptune Great Voltigeur S G2, Qatar Prix Foy G2, SkyCargo Dubai City of Gold S G2, EBF Stallions Glasgow S LR, 2nd bet365 Gordon Richards S G3, 3rd Tattersalls Gold Cup G1, Hardwicke S G2, Novae Bloodstock Insurance Craven S G3, Tercentenary S G3.

2013: Avoidable (g Iffraaj) 2014: God Given (f Nathaniel) unraced to date.

2015: (c Makfi) 2nd Dam: BIANCA NERA by Salse. Champion 2yr old filly in Ireland in 1996. 3 wins at 2 Moyglare Stud S G1.

Dam of Bite of The Cherry (f Dalakhani: 2nd Golden Square Centre Chester H LR, Stowe Family Law LLP Grand Cup LR), Pietra Dura (f Cadeaux Genereux: 2nd Victor McCalmont Memorial EBF S LR). Grandam of ROBIN HOODS BAY, TURNING TOP. Broodmare Sire: DUBAI DESTINATION. Sire of the dams of 17 Stakes winners. In 2016 - POSTPONED Dubawi G1, SILENT SEDITION War Chant G3, THE JULIET ROSE Monsun G3, ALWAYS SMILE Cape Cross LR, SMUGGLER’S MOON Danehill Dancer LR.

once in eight starts and gained his finest victory over a mile at four.

Dubai Destination’s progeny tended to stay better than he did, establishing an average winning distance of 9.9 furlongs. One of his best stayers was Postponed’s dam Ever Rigg, who showed surprising stamina to win a 12-furlong maiden early in her three-year-old season. I say surprising because Ever Rigg’s dam Bianca Nera was a fast daughter of the seven-furlong specialist Salse.

After a debut victory over five furlongs, Bianca Nera landed the Gr2 Lowther Stakes over six and the Gr1 Moyglare Stud Stakes over seven.

Bianca Nera’s half-sister, the very useful two-year-old Hotelgenie Dot Com, produced the dual Gr1 mile winner Simply Perfect (Fillies’ Mile and Falmouth Stakes).

Their dam, Birch Creek, failed to win, even though she was beaten little more than a length in the Gr3 Premio Royal Mares over a mile. Postponed’s fourth dam, the speedy two-year-old Deed, also produced a Gr3-winning sprinter in Great Deeds, but his fifth dam Aurorabella was a sister to the Goodwood Cup winner Double Bore.

56 PRIX DU JOCKEY CLUB G1 CHANTILLY. Jun 5. 3yoc&f. 2100m.

1. ALMANZOR (FR) 9-2 £630,221 b c by Wootton Bassett - Darkova (Maria’s Mon) O-Ecurie Antonio Caro B-Haras D'Etreham TR-Jean Claude Rouget 2. Zarak (FR) 9-2 £252,132 b c by Dubawi - Zarkava (Zamindar) O-H.H. Aga Khan B-S C H H The Aga Khan's Studs TR-A. de Royer Dupre 3. Dicton (GB) 9-2 £126,066 b c by Lawman - Saying (Giant’s Causeway) O-Mr Robert Ng B-Wertheimer et Frere TR-Gianluca Bietolini Margins 1.5, 1.75. Time 2:11.62. Going Soft.

POSTPONED b h 2011 Dubai Millennium DUBAWI b 02 Zomaradah

Dubai Destination EVER RIGG b 05 Bianca Nera

Seeking The Gold Mr Prospector Con Game Colorado Dancer Shareef Dancer Fall Aspen Shirley Heights Deploy Slightly Dangerous Dancing Brave Jawaher High Tern Mr Prospector Kingmambo Miesque Alleged Mysterial Mysteries Topsider Salse Carnival Princess Carwhite Birch Creek Deed

The early part of 2016 proved pretty much a benefit for Galileo, but the ease with which Dubawi’s son Postponed won the Coronation Cup suggests it could be a different story during the rest of the season. The five-year-old has now won his last five starts to boost his earnings towards the £4 million mark, thanks largely to his victories in the 2015 King George and the 2016 Sheema Classic.

All five of these victories came over 12 furlongs, despite his pedigree not being steeped in stamina. Although Dubawi’s record included a third in the Derby, he was beaten eight lengths and never tackled more than a mile in seven other runs. Similarly, Postponed’s broodmare sire Dubai Destination ran beyond a mile only

Age 2-3

Starts 7

Wins 5

Places 1

Earned £707,217

Sire: WOOTTON BASSETT. Sire of 1 Stakes winner.

1st Dam: Darkova by Maria’s Mon. unraced. Dam of 1 winner: 2013: ALMANZOR (c Wootton Bassett) Sold 79,365gns yearling at ARAU1. 5 wins at 2 and 3 in France, Prix du Jockey Club G1, Prix de Guiche G3, Gd. Criterium de Bordeaux HK Jockey Club LR, 3rd Prix de Fontainebleau G3.

2014: Troarn (f Wootton Bassett) unraced to date.

2015: (c Falco) 2nd Dam: DARKARA by Halling. 4 wins at 3 and 4 in France Prix des Tourelles LR. Broodmare Sire: MARIA’S MON. Sire of the dams of 23 Stakes winners. In 2016 - ALMANZOR Wootton Bassett G1, USHERETTE Shamardal G2, SANTILLANO Easing Along G3.

Only one colt prevented the Aga Khan from recording a magnificent Derby-Prix du Jockey-Club double and His Highness must have found it all the more galling that this particular colt – Almanzor – is out of a mare which was sold by the Aga Khan Studs for only €16,000 as an unraced three-year-old in 2011.

Almanzor is the first foal of Darkova, a daughter of Maria’s Mon (sire also of the dam of Air Force Blue). Darkova is out of Darkara, a Halling mare who became a Listed winner over a mile and a half, having earlier scored twice over 15 furlongs.

Darkara’s stamina helps explain why Almazor, a son of Wootton Bassett, is so well suited by distances around a mile and a quarter. Wootton Bassett, who has the sprinters Iffraaj and Primo Dominie as his sire and broodmare sire, was at his best as a two-year-old. After collecting a lot of money in sales-linked races, he showed he stayed seven furlongs when successful in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on very soft ground.

Darkara had a distinguished halfsister in the Group-placed Darinska, who found fame as the dam of that top-class miler Darjina. This winner of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix du Moulin was sired by Zamindar, whose brother Zafonic is the grandsire of Wootton Bassett.

Almanzor’s female line has been one of the most successful in the Aga’s stud book. His fifth dam is Darazina, who, together with her dam Djebellina, was part of a large parcel of Marcel Boussac bloodstock acquired by the Aga. Almanzor is the fourth Classic winner from this family, following Darjina, Daryaba (1999 Prix de Diane) and Darsi (2006 Prix du Jockey-Club). Daryaba was out of Darazina’s very useful daughter Darata, while Darsi was out of Darashandeh, a mare very closely related to Almanzor’s third dam, the Group-placed Daralbayda. This is also the family of the high-class four-yearold Dariyan.

The sad aspect of Almanzor’s story is that Wootton Bassett has so few progeny. His first crop, which includes Almanzor, numbers 21 foals and his second contains only 18. However, France-Galop credits him with 39 foals in 2015 and the Haras d’Etreham website says he has covered a total of more than 150 mares in the last two years, so he is going to have more ammunition in the near future.

ALMANZOR b c 2013 Gone West Zaizafon Nureyev Park Appeal WOOTTON BASSETT b 08 Dominion Primo Dominie Swan Ann Balladonia Chief’s Crown Susquehanna Days Gliding By Majestic Light Wavering Monarch Uncommitted Maria’s Mon Caro Carlotta Maria Water Malone DARKOVA ch 08 Diesis Halling Dance Machine Darkara Doyoun Daralbayda Daralinsha Zafonic

Iffraaj

Pastorale

GEORGE SELWYN

the whims of the breeding community.

Although his first crop numbered 118 foals, his second contained only 67.

Then his first weanlings made such impressive prices as €850,000, €800,000, €800,000 and €450,000 at the 2011 foal sales and Sea The Stars was back in favour, siring a third crop numbering 122 foals. Although his second crop has yet to produce a star, more than a quarter of its members have earned black type. His first crop has produced an impressive total of eight Group winners (plus four Listed winners), and the signs are that Harzand’s crop will eventually prove similarly fruitful. It already includes Cloth Of Stars, a Gr2 Prix Greffulhe winner who was travelling smoothly coming to the final quarter mile in the Derby, and the Gr2 Prix Hocquart winner Mekhtaal.

Harzand shares the same second dam, Hazaradjat, as the Derby fifth Humphrey Bogart. His dam Hazariya is another reminder that the Aga Khan is often happy to capitalise on successful broodmares when they are past the first flush of youth. Hazariya was sold for €480,000 as a 12-yearold in 2014, when carrying to a May 19 cover by Fastnet Rock. Newsells Park was the beneficiary, with Hazariya producing a filly.

The Aga’s willingness to sell reflected the fact that Hazariya had produced four daughters prior to producing her first son in Harzand and a 2014 colt by Shamardal named Haripour. All four of these daughters – Listed winner Hazarafa, the Groupplaced Haziyna, the Gr3 winner Harasiya and the winner Hazaraba – are in the Aga’s 2015 stud book.

Hazariya herself was a Gr3 winner over seven furlongs at three and progressed well enough to start at 10-1 for the Irish Oaks. Unfortunately she was pulled up and never raced again. The next dam, Hazaradjat, won two of three starts and this daughter of Darshaan produced three stakesproducing daughters, one being Humphrey Bogart’s dam Hazarama.

The family came into the Aga Khan’s stud book with the purchase of Harzand’s third dam Hazy Idea, as part of a small group of mares bred by the late Major Holliday. Hazy Idea, a daughter of the St Leger winner Hethersett, was smart and versatile. A winner of her first three starts at two, she went on to win the March Stakes over a mile and three-quarters.

Although Hazy Idea stayed well, her best effort as a broodmare was the high-class Habitat colt Hittite Glory, winner of the Middle Park Stakes. This is also the family of Seal Of Approval, winner of the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes.

Almanzor: Classic winner

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER



Caulfield on Postponed: “He’s won his last five starts to boost his earnings towards £4 million. All of them came over 12 furlongs, despite his pedigree not being steeped in stamina”

Group 2 & 3 Races Date 02/05 02/05 05/05 05/05 06/05 07/05 08/05 08/05 08/05 08/05 08/05 08/05 08/05 10/05 11/05 11/05 11/05 12/05 12/05 13/05 13/05 14/05 15/05 15/05 15/05 16/05 16/05 20/05 21/05 21/05 21/05 21/05 22/05 22/05 22/05 26/05 26/05 26/05 28/05 28/05 28/05 28/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 29/05 31/05 03/06 04/06 04/06 04/06 05/06 05/06 05/06 05/06

Grade G3 G3 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G2 G2 G2 G3

Race (course) Camelot EBF Mooresbridge Stakes (Curragh) Canford Cliffs EBF Athasi Stakes (Curragh) Betway Huxley Stakes (Chester) MBNA Chester Vase (Chester) Boodles Diamond Ormonde Stakes (Chester) Betfred Chartwell Stakes (Lingfield Park) Gerling Preis (Cologne) P.Presidente della Repubblica GBI Racing (Rome) Prix Greffulhe (Saint-Cloud) Amethyst Stakes (Leopardstown) Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial (Leopardstown) Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes (Leopardstown) Prix d’Hedouville (Saint-Cloud) Prix de Guiche (Chantilly) Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes (York) Irish National Stud EBF Blue Wind Stakes (Naas) Tattersalls Musidora Stakes (York) Betfred Dante Stakes (York) Betfred Middleton Stakes (York) Betway Yorkshire Cup (York) Prix Texanita (Maisons-Laffitte) Al Rayyan Aston Park Stakes (Newbury) Prix Hocquart (Deauville) Comer Group Int. Oleander Rennen (Berlin-Hoppegarten) Coolmore Vintage Crop Stakes (Navan) Mehl-Mulhens Rennen (2000 Guineas) (Cologne) Prix de Saint-Georges (Deauville) Prix Vanteaux (Chantilly) Lanwades Stud Ridgewood Pearl Stakes (Curragh) Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes (Curragh) Temple Stakes (Haydock Park) Premio Tudini (Rome) Derby Italiano Sisal Matchpoint (Rome) Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes (Curragh) Premio Carlo d’Alessio (Rome) Badener Meile (Baden-Baden) Betvictor Brigadier Gerard Stakes (Sandown Park) VetVictor Henry II Stakes (Sandown Park) 188Bet Sandy Lane Stakes (Haydock Park) Ittlingen Derby Trial (Baden-Baden) 188bet.co.uk Pinnacle Stakes (Haydock Park) Timeform Jury John of Gaunt Stakes (Haydock Park) Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft (Baden-Baden) Gran Premio di Milano (Milan) Oaks d’Italia (Milan) Prix Corrida (Saint-Cloud) Prix Vicomtesse Vigier (Saint-Cloud) Silberne Peitsche (Baden-Baden) Premio Carlo Vittadini (Milan) Bar One Racing Lacken Stakes (Naas) Prix Cleopatre - Jockey Club de Turquie (Saint-Cloud) Prix de Sandringham (Chantilly) Investec Diomed Stakes (Epsom Downs) TRM Ballyogan Stakes (Curragh) Prix du Palais Royal (Deauville) Investec Princess Elizabeth Stakes (Epsom Downs) Grand Prix de Chantilly (Chantilly) Prix du Gros-Chene (Chantilly) Wempe 96 1000 Guineas (Dusseldorf) Prix de Royaumont (Chantilly)

Dist 10f 7f 10f 12f 13f 7f 12f 9f 10f 8f 8f 10f 12f 9f 6f 10f 10f 10f 10f 14f 5.5f 12f 10f 16f 14f 8f 5f 9f 8f 6f 5f 6f 11f 10f 12f 8f 10f 16f 6f 10f 11.5f 7f 11f 12f 11f 10.5f 15.5f 6f 8f 6f 10.5f 8f 8.5f 6f 7f 8.5f 12f 5f 8f 12f

Horse Found (IRE) Dolce Strega (IRE) Cannock Chase (USA) Us Army Ranger (IRE) Dartmouth (GB) Ashadihan (GB) Ito (GER) Diplomat (GER) Cloth of Stars (IRE) Steip Amach (IRE) Now Or Never (IRE) Moonlight Magic (GB) One Foot In Heaven (IRE) Almanzor (FR) Magical Memory (IRE) Zhukova (IRE) So Mi Dar (GB) Wings of Desire (GB) Beautiful Romance (GB) Clever Cookie (GB) Ross Castle (IRE) Astronereus (IRE) Mekhtaal (GB) Wasir (GER) Bondi Beach (IRE) Knife Edge (IRE) Finsbury Square (IRE) Zghorta Dance (FR) Devonshire (IRE) Mobsta (IRE) Profitable (IRE) Plusquemavie (IRE) Saent (IRE) Beacon Rock (IRE) Time Chant (GB) Royal Solitaire (IRE) Time Test (GB) Pallasator (GB) Quiet Reflection (GB) Wai Key Star (GER) Journey (GB) Home of The Brave (IRE) Iquitos (GER) Dylan Mouth (IRE) Nepal (GER) Speedy Boarding (GB) Vazirabad (FR) Shining Emerald (GB) Kaspersky (IRE) Only Mine (IRE) Highlands Queen (FR) Volta (FR) Tullius (IRE) Divine (IRE) Attendu (FR) Epsom Icon (GB) One Foot In Heaven (IRE) Son Cesio (FR) Hawksmoor (IRE) The Juliet Rose (FR)

Age 4 3 5 3 4 3 5 5 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 8 3 5 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 5 3 3 4 4 4 7 3 3 4 4 4 5 3 4 4 5 5 3 3 3 8 5 3 3 4 5 3 3

Sex F F H C C F H H C F F C C C G F F C F G C H C C C C C F F C C H C C C F C G F C F C C H F F G G H F F F G M C F C H F F

Sire Galileo Zoffany Lemon Drop Kid Galileo Dubawi Kyllachy Adlerflug Teofilo Sea The Stars Vocalised Bushranger Cape Cross Fastnet Rock Wootton Bassett Zebedee Fastnet Rock Dubawi Pivotal New Approach Primo Valentino Bushranger Sea The Stars Sea The Stars Rail Link Galileo Zoffany Siyouni Le Havre Fast Company Bushranger Invincible Spirit Kheleyf Strategic Prince Galileo War Chant Shamardal Dubawi Motivator Showcasing Soldier Hollow Dubawi Starspangledbanner Adlerflug Dylan Thomas Kallisto Shamardal Manduro Clodovil Footstepsinthesand Pour Moi Mount Nelson Siyouni Le Vie Dei Colori Dark Angel Acclamation Sixties Icon Fastnet Rock Zafeen Azamour Monsun

Dam Red Evie New Plays Lynnwood Chase Moonstone Galatee Miss Delila Iota Desidera Strawberry Fledge Ceist Eile Queenofthefairies Melikah Pride Darkova Marasem Nightime Dar Re Mi Gull Wing Mazuna Mystic Memory Bulrushes Marie Rheinberg Aiglonne Wellola One Moment In Time Attalea Diamond Square Ana Zghorta Nova Tor Sweet Nicole Dani Ridge Kathy Pekan Eroica Remember When Snowfield Reverie Solitaire Passage of Time Ela Athena My Delirium Wakytara Montare Blissful Beat Irika Cottonmouth Nassau Dash To The Front Visorama Janayen Croanda Truly Mine Queen of Poland Persian Belle Whipped Queen Carallia Gwenseb Hairspray Pride Slitana Bridal Dance Dubai Rose

Leading sires 2016 by percentage of stakes winners to runners Name

Galileo Dubawi Wootton Bassett Fastnet Rock Sea The Stars Monsun Lope de Vega Showcasing Shamardal Mount Nelson Zoffany Intikhab Siyouni Fast Company Cape Cross Stormy River Invincible Spirit Dai Jin Danehill Dancer Perfect Storm Mountain Cat Zamindar Bushranger Dutch Art Azamour Manduro Linngari Myboycharlie Dark Angel New Approach Champs Elysees King's Best Le Havre Soldier Hollow Dansili Teofilo Royal Abjar Roderic O'Connor Dalakhani Strategic Prince Aqlaam

YOF

1998 2002 2008 2001 2006 1990 2007 2007 2002 2004 2008 1994 2007 2005 1994 2003 1997 2000 1993 2000 1990 1994 2006 2004 2001 2002 2002 2005 2005 2005 2003 1997 2006 2000 1996 2004 1991 2008 2000 2004 2005

Sire

Rnrs

Wnrs

%WR

Sadler's Wells Dubai Millennium Iffraaj Danehill Cape Cross Königsstuhl Shamardal Oasis Dream Giant's Causeway Rock Of Gibraltar Dansili Red Ransom Pivotal Danehill Dancer Green Desert Verglas Green Desert Peintre Celebre Danehill Hennessy Storm Cat Gone West Danetime Medicean Night Shift Monsun Indian Ridge Danetime Acclamation Galileo Danehill Kingmambo Noverre In The Wings Danehill Galileo Gone West Galileo Darshaan Dansili Oasis Dream

172 121 18 123 84 42 85 88 155 89 100 61 93 97 132 68 147 37 75 38 84 84 170 130 88 90 46 94 190 97 98 108 117 61 123 124 62 62 63 63 66

60 41 7 44 40 16 21 18 57 22 24 22 32 23 42 18 46 14 19 16 26 21 55 37 32 22 16 20 54 22 24 25 32 19 38 37 24 18 14 20 19

34.88 33.88 38.89 35.77 47.62 38.10 24.71 20.45 36.77 24.72 24.00 36.07 34.41 23.71 31.82 26.47 31.29 37.84 25.33 42.11 30.95 25.00 32.35 28.46 36.36 24.44 34.78 21.28 28.42 22.68 24.49 23.15 27.35 31.15 30.89 29.84 38.71 29.03 22.22 31.75 28.79

Statistics to June 10

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Races

AWD

Earnings (£)

SH

76 49 8 62 49 21 26 28 75 31 30 29 36 34 60 24 63 26 27 30 43 28 77 44 38 24 20 23 73 27 34 31 38 23 45 43 38 23 18 27 27

11 9.8 8.3 9 10.3 10.6 8.3 7.1 8.1 9.9 7.4 8.3 7.6 7 9.2 9.8 7.6 9.1 8.1 7.8 7.5 8.8 7.2 7.7 10.4 10.7 9.4 7.5 8.5 8.7 11.4 9.8 9.2 9.8 9.3 10.3 7.8 7.7 11.5 8.4 7.6

2,939,083 1,336,506 786,814 978,085 1,530,296 296,051 919,439 347,442 1,178,224 357,475 601,305 288,691 670,255 493,228 713,857 287,522 920,060 342,478 430,146 411,748 762,748 280,408 710,104 494,157 493,580 344,146 330,520 444,714 908,732 373,369 409,264 408,442 765,625 275,528 528,422 681,403 661,086 265,336 418,160 401,721 327,152

34 16 1 13 10 6 13 4 10 7 8 4 6 3 7 2 10 1 8 1 3 4 6 6 6 4 1 3 7 3 6 4 6 5 6 9 2 3 6 1 2

%

19.77 13.22 5.56 10.57 11.9 14.29 15.29 4.55 6.45 7.87 8.00 6.56 6.45 3.09 5.30 2.94 6.80 2.70 10.67 2.63 3.57 4.76 3.53 4.62 6.82 4.44 2.17 3.19 3.68 3.09 6.12 3.70 5.13 8.20 4.88 7.26 3.23 4.84 9.52 1.59 3.03

SW

%

18 9 1 6 4 2 4 4 7 4 4 2 3 3 4 2 4 1 2 1 2 2 4 3 2 2 1 2 4 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1

10.47 7.44 5.56 4.88 4.76 4.76 4.71 4.55 4.52 4.49 4.00 3.28 3.23 3.09 3.03 2.94 2.72 2.70 2.67 2.63 2.38 2.38 2.35 2.31 2.27 2.22 2.17 2.13 2.11 2.06 2.04 1.85 1.71 1.64 1.63 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.59 1.59 1.52

Broodmare Sire Intikhab Oratorio Horse Chestnut Dalakhani Galileo Malibu Moon Tiger Hill Shaadi Kingmambo Noverre Pivotal Lammtarra Peintre Celebre Maria’s Mon Cadeaux Genereux Galileo Singspiel In The Wings Cape Cross Ela-Mana-Mou Byron Surako Silver Hawk Lomitas Danehill Monsun Dyhim Diamond Anabaa Trans Island Okawango Indian Ridge Sri Pekan Highest Honor Danehill Dancer Tale of The Cat Nashwan Dansili Ezzoud Haafhd Danehill Montjeu Beat Hollow Areion Noverre Soldier Hollow Diktat Linamix Zafonic Grand Lodge Rock of Gibraltar Polish Precedent Machiavellian Kingmambo Common Grounds Green Tune Bahamian Bounty Peintre Celebre Dansili Danehill Dancer Dubai Destination

Index 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116

Minding the gap for outstanding Galileo Galileo is in his accustomed position, with Classic winners Minding and The Gurkha leading a list of 18 stakes winners that place him above 10%, the benchmark for outstanding quality. Dubawi is having another splendid season, with Postponed his banner horse, and is a clear second while some way adrift of the leader.

Harzand’s Derby victory gave Sea The Stars the fourth Group 1 winner of his career, three of them in Classics, and it is worth noting that with 84 runners he has had fewer than half Galileo’s total. Although he won the 2,000 Guineas, the vast majority of his best progeny are suited by ten furlongs or more.

The same cannot be said of champion Australian sprinter Fastnet Rock, though he gets plenty of good winners over middle distances, like Fascinating Rock, successful in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

103

 

24 HOURS WITH… RONNIE ARCULLI

104

PA

I

sleep like a baby. I could sleep standing up if I had to! So flying through the night on business trips is no problem. I enjoy quality sleep, which I consider a bonus in a busy life. I try and pass it on to the horses!

Between six and seven is when I get up. First job is catching up with overnight news by television, radio or newspapers. I eat very simply all the time. For breakfast it might be eggs, Chinese rice porridge or Dim Sum, which is a form of dumplings. I don’t do any fitness as such but I reckon I am quite good at controlling the carbs.

With my schedule, which can involve a lot of travel, it is difficult to keep up to speed with all my horses – about ten in England and four in Hong Kong – so I tell all my trainers to run them when they are ready, not when I am available. My home is Hong Kong but England is home for my horses, because in Hong Kong owners are limited to just four horses in training.

I have been associated with Robert Armstrong, Barry Hills, Peter Chapple-Hyam and now Ed Dunlop, who has about eight horses for me. I also have one with Gary Moore and one with Richard Hughes, in appreciation of the great rides he gave some of our horses. I have a particularly good relationship with Ed. He’s putting it mildly when he says I’m an ambitious and excited owner, because he has trouble bringing me down to earth.

Between 30-60% of my professional time is devoted to law. I am on the board of a number of companies and Chairman of two. I used to come to England six or seven times a year when I took over from Prince Philip in 2000 as Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

I was Chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club between

Businessman RONNIE ARCULLI is often in the sky, which is apt given his main trainer Ed Dunlop finds it tricky to bring him down to earth – he has owned plenty of exciting horses, mind!

2002 and 2006, when we’d have enjoyable interaction with English racing, particularly the Hong Kong days at Sandown and later at Ascot. The big difference is the quality you get here, in Ireland and the rest of Europe. I am still looking for a Galileo as my pension plan but haven’t succeeded so far!

My interest in racing started when I was graduating as a law student in England. The two things I learnt about were horseracing and First Division football. I have supported Arsenal ever since but never dreamt I’d have the adventures I’ve enjoyed with Red Cadeaux, who raced in eight countries, before he died from complications following surgery on an injury he sustained in his fifth

Melbourne Cup last year.

His first Melbourne Cup in 2011 was the most memorable as I thought he’d won! He was beaten a hair’s breadth by Dunaden and the result was announced only after the digital photograph had been magnified three or four times. The track had a spare cup in case of a deadheat – which it would have been a few years earlier when they didn’t have access to the digital technology.

My eldest daughter, Kim, has visited Red Cadeaux’s grave at Flemington and it is a great honour to have him buried there.

I’ve also been lucky enough to be part-owner of River Verdon, the last horse to win the Hong Kong Triple Crown in 1992, while Red Verdon ran

in the Derby this year. I was nervous and supplementing him was a big call, but he acquitted himself well. He was blocked several times but was still able to accelerate along the rail to come sixth.

Between Monday and Friday I’ll have about three business lunches where we eat sensibly, not overdoing it and avoiding drinking. I need at least two full days in the office – lunch there will be something simple like a Chinese takeaway.

My ideal day off is racing in the afternoon followed by an evening watching Arsenal; both can be very enjoyable and very frustrating. I also love art and skiing. My wife Johanna – who is Austrian – and I ski in Austria, Canada, Colorado, Switzerland, Italy and France.

We also have a summer house in Austria. I go for my annual fix of music to the Salzburg Summer Festival.

For my 77th birthday in January, Johanna took me to a New Year’s concert in Vienna and to the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaners. I don’t read much but follow financial markets closely, so I watch too much Bloomberg and the other financial business stations.

Our ‘after six’ activities usually involve catching up with friends over dinner, certainly when we’re in London and Austria. At home we have our evening meal at about 8pm. I enjoy cooking when I’m on holiday but am inclined to mess up the kitchen. I often cook a Chinese dish. I leave the European food to Johanna and she loves that. We’ll have a glass of wine with dinner and maybe another couple throughout the evening.

Bedtime is anything between 11pm and 1am. I dream occasionally but never remember them.

Interview by Tim Richards

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Le Havre b / b r. ( I R E ) 2 0 0 6 - N ove r re - M a r i e R h e i n b e r g

3 CROPS : 4 ‘CLASSICS’ !

As with AVENIR CERTAIN, LA CRESSIONNIÈRE bred by Haras de la Cauvinière wins the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr1) and the Prix de Diane Longines (Gr1)

Second Classic double for LE HAVRE LE HAVRE becomes the first French stallion ever to sire 2 double winners of the fillies’ Classics

LA CAUVINIÈRE LeHavre_OwnerBreeder_July16.indd 1

SYLVAIN VIDAL +33 (0)6 20 99 10 15 • haras@lacauviniere.com MATHIEU ALEX +33 (0)6 26 59 19 18 • malex@lacauviniere.com

21/06/2016 11:42

DAR8874 OB page-New Approach 30 JUNE16 20/06/2016 15:52 Page 1

Time to think anew...

The yearlings conceived after New Approach became the first freshman sire in more than a century to sire winners of both the 2,000 Guineas and Oaks will be at the sales this autumn.

His best crop yet, they are out of exceptional mares. And by an exceptional stallion.

Also at the sales: the first yearlings by Dawn Approach Find out more at www.darleystallions.com +44 (0)1638 730070 +353 (0)45 527600

Darley