take cover
Take Cover (above, red) finishing second in the King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. The 11-year-old son of Singspiel has been retired to his breeder Andrew Hollis’s Norcroft Park Stud
I
n our industry we have a tendency to get a little blinkered when it comes to breeding. Everyone wants to produce yearlings who light up the sales ring, precocious two-year-olds or Classic-winning three-year-olds. The racing public however grow to love the old stalwarts who march into battle time and time again at top-class meetings the length and breadth of the country and beyond. They might not be retired to stud at a
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young age to pass on their bloodlines to future generations, but they capture our hearts. In case we ever forget, these war horses serve in their own way as a blatant reminder of the thoroughbred’s tenacity and determination that drew us all to this breed in the first place. Many of these “old boys” tend to be quirky sprinters and when it comes to that category one horse is definitely in a league all of his own.
Some horses are named on an owner’s whim, some as an amalgamation of their parent’s names and some as a direct reference to their own unique personality. When you come across a horse from the latter category named Take Cover, you know from the outset that you are in for a bumpy ride! “Take Cover was an absolute nightmare in the early days,” explains Andrew Hollis, who owns and bred the 11-year-old gelding at his Norcroft Park Stud, near Mansfield.
