15 minute read
Harry’s Style
James Thomas talks to successful consignor and pinhooker Harry Dutfield and finds a bloodstock man who likes to do things his own way
HARRY DUTFIELD may not be the most prolific pinhooker in terms of how many he buys, nor how much he spends. Far from it, in fact. But his record and reputation far exceed that of someone who, since 2010, has selected just 56 foals from the bargain end of the public market.
Among the noteworthy talents who have passed through his hands are Azure Blue, who defeated Highfield Princess to claim the Group 2 Duke Of York Stakes, Night Colours, a sibling to Mother Earth who won the Group 2 Premio Dormello, as well as the Prix Robert Papin (G2) and Railway Stakes G2) and Craven Stakes (G3) scorer Kool Kompany.
There has been further success this year courtesy of Weatherbys Super Sprint victor Caburn, while Dutfield raised and sold Arabie, another Papin winner, on behalf of breeder Robert Cornelius.
We know Dutfield has pinhooked 56 foals because he keeps forensic records of his purchases.
We also know that 43 of those reached the racecourse, 23 (53 per cent) are winners and that six (14 per cent) became black-type performers.
Whereas some sellers feel the need to keep the cold hard facts hidden from view, Dutfield’s bio on X contains all these details for the world to see.
His results make it clear he applies the same eye for detail as he preps these youngsters for resale. But, when it comes to sourcing the raw materials, he relies heavily on gut instinct instead.
“The number one thing is the physical look of the horse,” he says as he explains his approach to finding future talent. “There has to be something that grabs my attention. Sometimes the foal can be halfway out of the door and I already know I won’t like it.
“People talk about conformation, and when I hear that word the first thing I think about is legs. But for me it’s the physical presence of the horse. I’m happy to forgive a lot of conformational traits because I know which ones are important and which ones aren’t. That’s what I always did when I started off buying with my Mum.”
Dutfield’s first encounters with the thoroughbred world came through days out at the races with his parents, Simon and Nerys, who ran the family farm in Devon.
The couple had shares in point-topointers and his mother eventually took out her own training licence. When she turned her attention to the Flat, Dutfield discovered he had a flair for uncovering embryonic equine athletes at chicken feed prices.
“Dad sent me around the sales with Mum, more to keep her company and stop her from buying too many!” he laughs, adding with a smile:
“I failed at that miserably because we used to come back with a lorry full of cheap fillies, much to my father’s dismay.”
But on the track, those cheap fillies completely surpassed their price tags.
Among the success stories are the likes of Misty Eyed, a £Ir3,200 purchase who won the Molecomb Stakes (G3) and finished second to Cassandra Go in the King’s Stand (G2); the Listed Chesham Stakes runnerup Hastenby, who cost just £Ir3,000; and the £Ir600 -purchase Secret Index, a dual winner and close fifth in the Queen Mary Stakes (G3).
Although the sums involved may have been modest enough, Dutfield says the lessons he learned during those formative trips to the sales were absolutely invaluable.
“We used to buy some right sh*te and do alright with it,” he says bluntly.
But I was very lucky because I learned a lot at someone else’s expense. It cost me nothing but I absorbed everything about what worked and what didn’t.
Being a trainer’s son may have had its advantages, but Dutfield adopted a policy of knowledge over nepotism from an early stage. Prior to his first full-time role within the industry, his burgeoning passion for racing brought about some interesting conversations during his formal education.
“When I got called in for careers advice during my A-levels the headmaster askedd what I wanted to do,” he recalls. “I told him I either wanted to work in the horseracing industry or on a deep-sea trawler, because the only other thing I like is fishing. I remember the headmaster looking at me like ‘Oh God, what are we going to do with this one?!’
“With my parents I agreed to go off to university and did an animal science degree with a specialism in equine science, but I only did that because they insisted. As soon as I’d finished my degree I took myself off to the Northern Racing School.
I wanted to get experience but I didn’t want to go and work for someone else until I felt competent enough, so after that I went back to work with Mum.
Dutfield’s time in the racing side of the industry ended up inextricably linked to the career of Lady Dominatrix. The £Ir2,000 purchase from Goffs in 2000 took Dutfield and his twin brother, James, on a wild ride during her time in training.
“I bought Lady Dominatrix for a syndicate,” he says. “She was out of a bumper performer and she was quite big and from Danehill Dancer’s first crop. My parents decided they couldn’t sell her so gave her to me and my twin brother for our birthday.”
Lady Dominatrix made a winning debut at Doncaster in May of her two-year-old season and never looked back. Three further victories followed, including the Group 3 Dubai World Trophy at three, as well as the Listed Pavilion Stakes. She also finished second to Danehurst in the Flying Five (G2), third to Invincible Spirit in the Duke of York
Stakes (G3) and wasn’t beaten far in the Nunthorpe (G1) won by Kyllachy.
However, when the time came for Lady Dominatrix to enter the next phase of her career, Dutfield felt he should follow suit.
“Me and my twin were living it up at places like Ascot and York and all these top meetings with our friends,” he says. “We had to pay training fees though because we were making too much money!
“When she retired from racing I kind of retired from racing with her and went off to do the National Stud course.”
DUTFIELD enrolling at the National Stud coincided with Cockney Rebel’s first season on stallion duty, which proved to be something of a baptism of fire.
“I was there for his first covering,” he says. “The mare was awful. Boots were flying around the covering shed, she wouldn’t stand still and spent most of the time trying to kick me. I remember thinking ‘Is this normal? I’m not sure about this!’
“But I really enjoyed my time at the National Stud though. I felt at home, like I was with my kind of people.”
After graduating at the top of his class, Dutfield set sail for America. The opportunity to take up a permanent position with Lane’s End was passed up in favour of furthering his education closer to home. And Lady Dominatrix.
“I really enjoyed America,” he says. “They offered me a good job but by the end I wanted to go back home and see Lady Dominatrix. The first thing I did when I got home wasn’t go and see my family, I went straight out to the paddock to see Lady Dominatrix and her yearling.”
That yearling was later named Gladiatrix and carried Dutfield’s own colours to six victories. The daughter of Compton Place is one of five winners Dutfield and his brother bred from Lady Dominatrix. The best of the bunch is Janina, winner of the Listed Marygate Stakes in the Shadwell silks and now better known as the dam of champion two-year-old filly Campanelle.
But instead of expanding his broodmare band in line with his industry experience,
Dutfield grew his bloodstock interests through his pinhooking exploits, which began in earnest in 2010.
His first purchase may not have turned a life-changing profit, with the Avonbridge filly Flirtinaskirt going from a 1,500gns foal to a £11,000 yearling. However, she highlighted Dutfield’s uncanny knack of unearthing above average talents as she retired to the paddocks as a winner and later bred Group 2 Temple Stakes scorer Liberty Beach.
“I started pinhooking for fun really,” he says. “The first foal was Flirtinaskirt, who I bought from Paul Thorman. She cost 1,500gns and I sold her for £11,000.
“I reinvested the next year and that’s how it’s happened, I’ve just kept rolling it on.
"When Mum and Dad died in 2016 I had to start running it as a business, I needed the money to make ends meet and stay at the farm. Thankfully it went really well.”
A Jeremy colt bought in 2012 proved rather more of an instant success.
“Kool Kompany was by a National Hunt stallion, but he was a big black and white horse who was light on his feet with a superb walk,” says Dutfield.
“I really liked him and when the hammer came down at €8,000 I remember thinking ‘What have I missed?’
“When I went down to see him again the vendor had disappeared, which I also thought couldn’t be a good sign. The horse was back in his box stuffing his face and looked at me as if to say ‘I’m not showing again, bugger off!’
“I took him home and he was always a lovely character to deal with.”
Kool Kompany turned a tidy profit when bought by Peter and Ross Doyle for £40,000, and duly proved himself a high-class racing talent. A scan through Dutfield’s graduates shows that, unlike many pinhookers, an in-vogue sire is not something he prioritises.
“I don’t care how well it’s bred, if it doesn’t do it for me, I won’t buy it,” he says. “Whereas if it’s not particularly well bred, but everything else is there, I’ll give it a go.
“That approach has done me well and I regularly buy unfashionable stock.
“I had Caburn, who’s by Twilight Son, Kool Kompany is by Jeremy and Azure Blue is by El Kabeir. I would love to see stallion books capped so we see a bit more variation; I like to give the market something a bit different.”
He adds, “There’s got to be something in the pedigree that can sell the dream, though. That’s really what you’re selling. People who buy these horses can’t seriously expect to get a return, so you want to sell them a good time. The only way you can offer that is by having something in the pedigree that might suggest that horse has the potential to go to Royal Ascot or the big meetings, or achieve a good rating.”
HAVING SOLD the family farm after his parents passed away, Dutfield is now based in the village of Blo Norton, roughly 12 miles from Shadwell’s Thetford operation. He named the property Saint Ann Stud after the patron saint of equestrians and “more importantly,” he adds, “the patron saint of poverty!”
Upgrading the “run-down chicken farm” is an ongoing process, but the stud has stood up to the test as Dutfield has prepped a team of 22 yearlings ahead of this year’s sales.
“It needed a lot of work,” he says. “I’ve knocked down three barns, put in 12 stables, a six-stall horse walker and a 60ft lunge pit. I actually overdid the lunge pit as I have to squint to see the horse at the end of the line!”
The farm is not only where Dutfield preps his pinhooks, but where he keeps his select broodmare band – and an important old friend enjoying a well-earned retirement.
“I’ve still got Gladiatrix,” he says. “She’s got an Ardad filly who’s a little mini-me and she’s in-foal to Havana Grey, which I’m really excited about. The old mare is still going too, Lady Dom’s 25 and retired now.”
Dutfield will present ten lots at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, with the draft made up of pinhooks and clients’ yearlings.
Among the group there is an Ardad halfbrother to Arabie and two homebreds from Elwick Stud. The latter are both by Sea The Stars, with a filly out of Lancashire Oaks (G2) runner-up Makawee and a half-brother to the Listed-winning Lava Stream.
“These are proper middle distance threeyear-old types,” he says. “I don’t really pinhook that type, but the athleticism of the pair of them is just incredible.
“It’s a pleasure to be entrusted with them in the first place, and it makes me think I must be doing something right if a farm such as Elwick Stud has noticed me and is sending yearlings by Sea The Stars.”
On his approach to prep, Dutfield says, “I’ve taken the best bits that I’ve learned from all the different places I’ve worked.
“At some places it felt a bit machine-like, but I’m not like that at all. I’m all for giving them time because they’re only babies. These are embryonic champions so I want to make
sure they’re done properly. It varies from horse to horse; feed, work, turnout, it’s all done to the individual.”
Despite an increasing appreciation of his talents from within the industry, Dutfield says there are no grand designs on expansion in the immediate future. If his methods won’t be changing any time soon, it stands to reason that we can expect the quality of his results to be maintained too.
“I like being boutique and don’t need to be a big somebody,” he says. “I’m quite happy to operate at my own level.
“I was fully booked for yearlings by February. I actually had to turn yearlings away, which either means I’m not charging enough or I’m doing something right. Or maybe it could be both?”
Suffice to say, Dutfield’s results speak for themselves.
Dutfield’s lucky racing colours could be hitting the track again soon
HARRY DUTFIELD might be best known for his pinhooking feats, but he has also enjoyed his share of luck as a racehorse owner. This was true when Lady Dominatrix and her daughter Gladiatrix won ten races between them, and we could see the Dutfield silks again if he decides to race his half-sister to Melbourne Cup hero Without A Fight.
The three-year-old Iceni Fire was bred during the time Dutfield owned Without A Fight’s dam Khor Sheed. The daughter of Dubawi was bought at the 2019 December Sales, about six months before the subsequent Melbourne Cup winner made his debut.
Dutfield says, “I actually did Khor Sheed as a yearling when I worked at John Troy’s. She was from Dubawi’s first crop so lots of people were saying they can’t walk, they’re quite thick set and not athletes! I really liked her though and she was just the sort of stamp I look for. She was also one of Dubawi’s first black-type horses as she won a Listed race as a two-year-old.
“I only went up to her later sale to say hello to her because it’s not often you get the chance to see them again all those years later.
“I was talking to Carwyn Johns of Greyridge Bloodstock and, I know this is bad, but I was half-listening to what he was saying and half-listening to the auctioneer when she was in the ring.
“All of a sudden I said ‘Carwyn, stop. I’m going to have to go in and bid.’ I got her for 26,000gns.”
That was a snip considering the Godolphin cast-off was a half-sister to a Group 1 winner, was in-foal to Havana Gold and had already bred a winner. Things got even better as Khor Sheed’s first foal emerged as the dam of US Grade 2 winner Avenue De France.
When Without A Fight won the Group 3 Silver Cup Stakes, Dutfield decided to cash out. He resold Khor Sheed to BBA Ireland for 28,000gns the February before Without A Fight won the Melbourne Cup.
There is clearly no regret about moving the mare on before her biggest achievement, though, not least because he sold her Showcasing filly for £82,000 and now has Iceni Fire, a Cityscape half-sister to the Melbourne Cup winner, to look forward to.
“I sent Khor Sheed to Cityscape in 2020 because her half-brother by Selkirk [Prince Kirk] won a Group 1 and her granddaughter, Avenue De France, who’s by Cityscape, won a Grade 2 in America,” he says.
“So the Selkirk and Cityscape link up had worked through the family and I wanted to put a bit of size into the mare.
" It didn’t work unfortunately and the daughter came out just like the mother.
“I haven’t quite decided whether to put her into training or whether to breed from her. I’m not afraid of giving her time though. Avenue De France only got going when she was five and Without A Fight was at his best at six.
“It’d be exciting to put her into training, so I might put a syndicate together and have a laugh with her. Watch this space!”
