Tob mar2014 by The Owner Breeder

Incorporating

£4.95 | March 2014 | Issue 115

Harry’s hopeful Plus

Will Rock On Ruby sparkle at Cheltenham for Harry Fry?

• Leighton Aspell on his unfinished business in the saddle • Yorton Farm: behind the scenes at thriving British stud • Annie Power out to emulate Dawn Run at the Festival

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EUROPEAN CHAMPION 3YO COLT & EUROPEAN CHAMPION MILER OF 2013 TORONADO defeats Dawn Approach in the Sussex S.-Gr.1 (stays in training for 2014).

WORLD’S BEST THREE-YEAR-OLDS OF 2013

Rat

130 125 125 124 124 124 124

Name

Treve Toronado Olympic Glory Magician Dawn Approach Intello Will Take Charge

Sire

Motivator High Chaparral Choisir Galileo New Approach Galileo Unbridled’s Song

Sex Cat

F C C C C C C

L M M L M L I

est… First to make a truly fascinating cont … ❝s move was Dawn Approach… but hi RONADO] waited TO n [o s he ug H d ar ch Ri ount until he thought m s hi ith w d te ai w d an produced the colt with d an t gh ri as w e tim e th d just over 1f out that ee sp of t rs bu ng lli te a te on…❞ got him to the front la r.1 the Sussex Stakes-G RACING POST, after

• ALFRED NOBEL • CAMELOT • CANFORD CLIFFS • CHOISIR • DANEHILL DANCER • DECLARATION OF WAR • DUKE OF MARMALADE • EXCELEBRATION • FASTNET ROCK • • FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND • GALILEO • HENRYTHENAVIGATOR • HIGH CHAPARRAL • HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR • MASTERCRAFTSMAN • MOST IMPROVED • PEINTRE CELEBRE • • POUR MOI • POWER • REQUINTO • RIP VAN WINKLE • ROCK OF GIBRALTAR • SO YOU THINK • THEWAYYOUARE • ZOFFANY •

20 INDIVIDUAL 2YO WINNERS IN 2013 INCLUDING Listed winners LADY HEIDI and FANOULPIFER, Aidan O’Brien’s JOHANN STRAUSS (2nd Racing Post Trophy-Gr.1) and Dermot Weld’s FREE EAGLE etc.

If you could have one horse to tra in of age, from Ireland, Britain or France Classic , who would be your pick?

“I wouldn’t swap Free Eagle”

“We’ll go the Ballysax and Derrinst own route and take it from there.”

Dermot Weld, RACING POST, 10th Jan. 201

2013 yearlings: €400,000, €360,000, €350,000, €340,000 etc. 2013 foals: €225,000, €120,000 etc.

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, Cathal Murphy or Jim Carey: 353-25-31966/31689. Kevin Buckley (UK Rep.) 44-7827-795156. E-mail: sales@coolmore.ie Web site: www.coolmore.com All stallions nominated to EBF.

Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier Breeze Up Sale more 2YO winners

more 2013 2YO winners than any other European Breeze Up

more Group/Listed performers more 2013 Group/Listed performers than any other European Breeze Up

Top: 2013 Craven purchase GREAT WHITE EAGLE winner of Round Tower Stakes, Gr.3 Below: 2012 Craven purchase ROSDHU QUEEN winner of Cheveley Park Stakes, Gr.1 Lowther Stakes, Gr.2 sold at the 2013 Tattersalls December Sale for 2,100,000gns

Craven Breeze Up Sale April 15 - 17 Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Leading Breeze Up Sale Air fare assistance available subject to purchase

Tel: +44 1638 665931, sales@tattersalls.com, www tattersalls.com

WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR Publisher: Michael Harris Editor: Edward Rosenthal Bloodstock Editor: Emma Berry Designed by: Thoroughbred Group

EDWARD ROSENTHAL

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 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 £85 £135 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 9,423* *Based on the period July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.

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

Harry’s hopeful Plus

Will Rock On Ruby sparkle at Cheltenham for Harry Fry?

• Leighton Aspell on his unfinished business in the saddle • Yorton Farm: behind the scenes at thriving British stud • Annie Power out to emulate Dawn Run at the Festival

must confess to being a fan of Leighton Aspell. Not an actual paid-up member of his official fan club, you understand, just an admirer of his abilities in the saddle. Aspell’s profile has never quite matched his talents but this season, his 21st in Britain, he has the opportunity to break new ground and ride a winner at the Cheltenham Festival thanks to an impressive book of rides. It was a prospect that looked unlikely in the extreme a few seasons back when the rider, tired of trying to win bad races on bad horses, decided enough was enough and quit, embarking on a new career as assistant to John Dunlop. But the passion that had diminished soon reappeared and, after an 18-month break, he returned to his old job. The comeback has gone better than even Aspell could have imagined and he now sits on the verge of his best ever campaign numerically, with the promise of much more to come. Perhaps inevitably, it was the words Cheltenham and Festival that convinced Aspell that his immediate future lay in riding horses, not training them. “After 12 months I started to feel that I had some unfinished business and after watching the Festival, I realised how much I was missing it,” he tells Tim Richards (Talking To, pages 38-42). “I have watched every Cheltenham since 1985, all the finishes, celebrations and post-race interviews with the owners, trainers and jockeys. “They are all your friends and while you are happy for them, underneath it all you are jealous because you’d love to be in their position. “I’ve spent my life craving a winner at the Festival and I’m still hoping for a piece of the action.” At the other end of the experience spectrum, secondseason trainer Harry Fry is also hoping for glory at jump racing’s biggest jamboree. The 27-year-old actually prepared Rock On Ruby for his Champion Hurdle triumph in 2012 while assistant

to former boss Paul Nicholls, so his name doesn’t appear on the roll of honour, but the ambitious young handler is hoping to put that right, with ‘Ruby’ set for a tilt at the Arkle Trophy. Good fortune may have seen Fry start his career with a Grade 1 winner in the yard but that doesn’t guarantee success with any other horses. Yet his isolated Dorset stable is more than punching above its weight. Fry’s season statistics make for remarkable reading. At the time of going to press, he had saddled 27 winners from 76 runners, operating at a remarkable 36% strikerate, with a profit of almost £60 to a £1 stake. No other trainer in the top 50 comes close to matching those impressive figures. Whether these numbers can be maintained is debatable but Fry, clearly mindful of the pitiful cost recovery for racehorse owners in Britain (which currently stands at £21 for every £100 spent), is determined not to make any entries for his string unless he thinks he can win. “I see no point whatsoever in running horses if they have no chance,” he tells Alan Lee (The Big Interview, pages 44-48). “With all the costs up to the day, then the raceday expenses, owners will get disappointed. It’s a recipe for disaster.” One mare with an outstanding chance at Cheltenham – whichever race she runs in – is Annie Power, the unbeaten Irish hurdler who her trainer Willie Mullins has compared to Dawn Run, the only horse ever to win the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup. No pressure, then. British racegoers have seen Annie Power three times already this year, supplementing seven victories in Ireland, and the ease with which she has dismissed her rivals lends credence to the view that she is something out of the ordinary. Eamon Cleary explains to Joseph Burke (pages 50-53) how he came to breed Annie Power and details the woman who inspired the naming of this exceptional thoroughbred.

“The passion for

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.racehorseowners.net

£4.95 | March 2014 | Issue 115

Harry’s arrived early while Aspell’s late on Festival fun I

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Cover: Rock On Ruby is set for the Arkle Trophy for secondseason trainer Harry Fry Photo: George Selwyn

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race-riding returned and he is now enjoying his best campaign ever

”

CONTENTS MARCH 2014

44 NEWS & VIEWS 7

ROA Leader

50 FEATURES 19

TBA Leader

Leighton Aspell

Workforce study planned

10 14

Pre-race data deal

COVER STORY The Big Interview

Changes

Harry Fry’s gunning for Cheltenham glory

News

Your monthly round-up

Tony Morris Pretty Polly pretty special

Howard Wright

INTERNATIONAL SCENE View From Ireland Pat Fahy’s Festival return

Continental Tales Paull Khan’s new challenge

Around The Globe Dirt joy for Simon Callaghan

Caulfield Files Kitten’s Joy’s juvenile behaviour

104 24 Hours With... Jonjo O’Neill

Annie Power Story behind the star

Yorton Farm Stallion station supreme

The going concern

Talking To...

Sales Circuit Mid-winter mixed sale round-up

The Big Picture From Doncaster and Ascot

Champions must be celebrated

Breeders’ Digest Show off our sires

Leighton Aspell is looking forward to his best book of rides yet at the Festival (pgs. 38-42)

4:53 pm

Page 3

BLOODLINES Simply the right policy – without the fuss We are able to provide cover for: All risks of mortality Theft Stallion’s congenital or permanent infertility Broodmare barrenness Prospective foal Foals from 24 hours

104

Yearlings unsoundness of wind Horses at grass

FORUM 76

ROA Forum New charity partner deal

Racecourse League Tables The latest standings

LEADING THE FIELD IN BLOODSTOCK INSURANCE

TBA Forum Statistical Awards winners revealed

Breeder of the Month David and Andrew Goldsworthy, for Wychwoods Brook

Next Generation Club Preparing stallions for covering

Vet Forum The issue of bleeding

TO STAY AHEAD OF THE FIELD CONTACT US

DATA BOOK 102 National Hunt Grade Ones Victors in the top grade

TODAY

103 Stallion Statistics Gold Well will be missed

Our monthly circulation is certified at

9,423

Can other magazines prove theirs?

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BLOODLINES, ORCHARD HOUSE 167 KENSINGTON HIGH STREET LONDON W8 6UG TEL: +44 (0) 207 938 3033 FAX: +44 (0) 207 938 3055 ENQUIRIES@BLOODLINES.CO.UK WWW.BLOODLINES.CO.UK Bloodlines is a trading name of Bloodlines Thoroughbred Insurance Agency Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Cheltenham Festival Sale Thursday 13th March 2014

Sale commences at 6pm after racing in the Winner's enclosure

This Sale will present a unique opportunity to purchase Future Champions. The very best horses have been selected. View the Catalogue & Videos Online

The Festival Sale making history on the Eve of the Gold Cup

01568 619777 brightwells.com

ROA LEADER

RACHEL HOOD President Racehorse Owners Association

High time our titles were afforded clearer identities Valuable promotional opportunities squandered by championships muddle

theme common to all sports these days is optimising promotional opportunities through the deeds of its stars. David Beckham is a classic case in point. Not only does he promote football globally, often through charitable outlets, but his involvement with the bidding team was seen as a key lever in London securing the Olympic Games. The stars of any sport have magnetic public appeal. In racing, the positive effect a headline act can have was illustrated by widespread media acclaim for Tony McCoy’s 4,000th jumps winner. That level of interest is all too often reserved for racing’s aficionados. McCoy’s remarkable achievement aside, racing has been slow to maximise such opportunity. Jockeys are, by and large, the public face of racing. Their daily appearance in racing silks makes their profession instantly recognisable, albeit that only the most successful are recognised individually. Only the very best of them win the annual jockeys’ championship. The same is true of trainers, yet racing is missing a valuable trick in not making more of annual accolades bestowed on them. As for owners, hands up who knows how and when our owners’ championships currently are framed? Jump racing now has an effective platform for its champions at Sandown’s Saturday fixture on April 26, which brings the season to a close. Yet two unsatisfactory aspects immediately kick in. Its next title races commence almost straight away at Cheltenham on April 30 – itself just three days before the Guineas meeting at Newmarket, which heralds the start of the core Flat season. By that time, the Flat jockeys’ championship will have been under way for more than four weeks after its inauguration on Lincoln day at Doncaster. And if this is already beginning to sound confusing, one might ask ‘who’ is in charge of all of this? Indeed, is anyone in charge? Just as the jumps season closes on the last Saturday in April, the first Saturday in May is a natural starting point

for a core Flat season – and with it the start of the Flat owners’, trainers’ and jockeys’ championships. It should signify a passing of the baton from one code to the other, in the process bringing clarity to what is a haphazard handover to the untutored eye. Equally, the Flat owners’, trainers’ and jockeys’ championships have a natural conclusion on British Champions’ Day at Ascot in October, when the leaders in each category are almost certain to be on hand. That glamorous occasion is the perfect stage for presenting them with their trophies. The Flat all-weather championships would also sit perfectly within this framework, since that discipline has its own natural climax at the newlyinstituted Championships Finals Day at Lingfield on April 18. Furthermore, an opportunity to announce the start of the jumps championships would arise from closing the Flat season at Ascot. This passing back of the baton could take place the following Saturday at Aintree’s Old Roan Chase meeting. Indeed, it can’t be beyond the fixture list compilers to delay Cheltenham’s start to its season by seven days so that, rather than a ludicrous clash with British Champions’ Day, the core jumps season opened to fanfare with a double-header from Prestbury Park and Aintree. Although this will no doubt involve some fixture swapping by racecourses, the time has come for racing to recognise a greater good and pull harmoniously in that direction. The Racehorse Owners Association is certainly ready to play a forward role towards this end. Establishing core seasons, when the sport is at its best, provides the ideal platform for racing to salute the best of its human players. It makes little sense to have two codes without their own distinct perimeters, much less separate Flat and Flat all-weather championships. A clearer, simpler and rational template, for the benefit of racing as a whole, would add resonance to accolades that are not properly celebrated. Valuable promotional opportunities are being squandered.

“It makes little

sense to have two codes without their own distinct perimeters

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TBA LEADER

RICHARD LANCASTER Chairman Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association

Study is planned to gain insight of our workforce Your help as employers and employees will be sought and greatly appreciated

key finding of our Economic Impact Study of the British thoroughbred breeding industry, the results of which are about to be released, has confirmed that breeders make a major contribution to the UK economy by supporting almost 10,000 jobs – 3,500 of those directly on stud farms and the majority of them in the rural sector. Consequently, it is important that we have a recruitment, training and education strategy that enables us to give breeders access to the latest information and knowledge to enable them to maintain standards of horse welfare, and that the industry is supported to recruit, train and retain sufficient numbers of employees. In line with this aspiration I recently reported on the BHA’s desire to unite racing and breeding industry recruitment, training and education under one banner, to assist with accessing sufficient funding from the Levy Board and other organisations. In recent months, implementation of this BHA strategy has begun to take shape, with the core areas of action for the TBA being recruitment and careers, grassroots development, and vocational training and development. Underpinning all of this is a need to understand the size and shape of our current workforce, to help us to plan future recruitment and training activity. With its compulsory stable staff register providing up-to-date information on gender, age, source and movement of employees, data on racing’s workforce is far more accessible than that of the breeding industry. The breeding industry has no such employee register, and if we are to provide an appropriate service to members and align with racing to maximise funding opportunities, we need to find a way of gathering such information. The TBA has therefore opted to conduct its own workforce analysis project to gather baseline data that can be analysed in tandem with stable staff information, and used to identify how best to capture such data more regularly in future. In the coming months a selected sample of employers

will be invited to participate in a workforce recruitment, employment and training survey. Joe Grimwade, the TBA’s Education and Employment Committee Chairman, will conduct the survey using a mixture of questionnaires and telephone and face-to-face interviews, with source information remaining confidential. The data we aim to collect includes total numbers and demographics of the workforce, as well as turnover, competencies, staffing levels and job roles, with the results being analysed to plan recruitment, employee retention, training and development projects. The survey will also provide employers with an opportunity to give us their views on existing training provision and what they would like to see in terms of future courses, seminars and educational events organised and supported by the TBA. We have already been working closely with the National Stud to identify and plan a series of one-day courses for those new to the industry. This is in response to demand from our newer members and the events held to date have met with universal approval. Our annual seminar takes place in July this year and is once again free to members – more details to follow – and the TBA’s Annual Stud Farming Course held in December regularly attracts a number of employees and owners who wish to bring their knowledge right up to date. Success in the breeding industry requires a unique blend of practical skills and complex high-level knowledge. For the welfare of the horses in our care it is important that we maintain our own professional development and that of our staff to enable us to run effective and sustainable businesses that provide future employment. If you are an employer it is likely that we will be in touch with you soon asking for your help to carry out this survey and we hope that you will be willing to spare us a little time in order that we can help you, your staff and your horses to benefit from industry recruitment, training and education activities in the future.

“With its own register,

data on racing’s workforce is far more accessible than that of the breeding industry

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

”

NEWS Stories from the racing world

New rules set for use of racecards Racecourse Data Company will sell pre-race data in five-year licensing deal

GEORGE SELWYN

Some businesses will now pay more for details of runners and riders

GEORGE SELWYN

acecourse Media Group (RMG) and Arena Racing Company (ARC), which between them represent the media interests of 48 British racecourses, plus nine independent tracks, have joined forces to launch Racecourse Data Company (RDC). The new joint venture will hold the licence to sell pre-race data – the information on a racecard that includes final fields, jockeys, weights, colours and ratings – for a five-year period until 2018, sanctioned by Racing Enterprises Limited (REL). A transparent rate-card, which can be viewed online (www.racecoursedatacompany.com), outlines some of the charges that different businesses, including specialist media, bookmakers and racecourses, will now face in order to use details of runners and riders in future. National newspapers will not be affected by

RMG’s Richard FitzGerald and ARC’s Tony Kelly have joined forces under RDC

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

the new RDC terms although the Racing Post will see a significant increase in its pre-race data costs (see panel below). A statement from Richard FitzGerald, RMG Chief Executive, and Tony Kelly, ARC Managing Director, read: “With the valued support of Racing Enterprises Limited, British Horseracing Authority, Racecourse Association and Horsemen’s Group, Racecourse Data Company has been formed by 57 British racecourses to enhance the control and licensing of data in the best interests of the sport. “This move reflects the way in which racecards are now used and the changes in the marketplace, particularly around mobile and online. The overarching aims are to protect official partners, control integrity, lower the risk of piracy and enhance the value of pre-race data for the industry. It also provides customers with

“The move reflects

the way in which racecards are now used, particularly mobile and online” a long-term deal for this significant piece of data.” RDC has been assigned the licence from REL for £1.6 million per annum in the five-year deal. Money received above that level goes to racecourses and REL. In 2012, REL took turnover of £1.58m from pre-race data.

Chris McFadden, REL Chairman, said: “The five-year deal between REL and RDC is good for horseracing, as all the income we receive from licensing the data is invested in the promotion of the sport via Great British Racing. We feel that RDC’s expertise in this area will both improve and protect the data’s value.” The only racecourse that has not signed up to RDC is Towcester in Northamptonshire, which is privately owned. British racing has endured a number of setbacks trying to monetise its race data. In 2002, under the then British Horseracing Board Chairman Peter Savill, there was an unsuccessful attempt to charge newspapers for carrying racecards. A plan to fund the sport by licensing pre-race data, viewed as a replacement for an out-of-date levy system, also failed when the European Court of Appeal ruled against the BHB.

Alan Byrne: new charge will threaten Racing Post’s future

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dedicated, daily newspaper. That cannot be in the interests of the sport. The long-term prosperity of racing can only be adversely affected by making it more and more expensive for media companies to specialise in covering the sport. Why discriminate against those who want to give racing more coverage? Sadly, that is what is now being proposed. “The limitations of racing’s data rights have been well established by the European Court. Media companies generate revenue not from the runners and riders as such, but from the value we add to the base data through a rich variety of content.” Byrne added: “The Racing Post is unlikely to be alone in resisting this ill-judged attempt to impose unfair and discriminatory charges. Bookmakers are facing extra costs too. It is regrettable that at a time when the emphasis is on partnership, this initiative sets back that cause and seems to invite further litigation.”

Bad news: Alan Byrne is unhappy with RDC

GEORGE SELWYN

RDC’s plan to charge for pre-race data has drawn strong criticism from Alan Byrne, Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of the Racing Post. Byrne called the new charges “outrageous” and said that the newspaper would now be faced with an extra cost of around £500,000 per year. He said: “Racecourse Data Company’s new rate-card will impose a range of extra costs on companies that, directly or indirectly, promote British racing. This is a ‘lose, lose’ proposal. It will damage the interests of racing in Britain as well as businesses like the Racing Post and others. The net effect will be to put racing at a serious disadvantage relative to other sports by making it more expensive to focus on racing. “The rate-card seems to have been specifically designed to penalise the Racing Post because we are facing hugely disproportionate new charges, yet those with whom we compete for sales are largely unaffected. “We currently pay about £150,000 a year in data and transmission charges to receive information on runners and riders. Under the RDC proposals, that would increase by about £500,000. That cannot be justified. In fact, it is outrageous because no new service is being offered for this money. “This proposal will bring closer the day when British racing is no longer served by a

NEWS

A need for stronger management, clearer accountability and better internal communication – those were the findings of Lord Stevens’ review into Sheikh Mohammed’s equestrian organisations following the anabolic steroid scandal last spring. Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni was warned off by the BHA for eight years for administering steroids to 22 of his string, notably one-time 1,000 Guineas market leader Certify and St Leger hero Encke, while Sheikh Mohammed was embroiled in more controversy when banned veterinary products were seized at Stansted airport and on the Darley-owned Moorley Farm in Newmarket. The BHA had already concluded, in their own investigation, that there was no link between the Al Zarooni case and the later seizures, and while Lord Stevens’ internal review likewise found no evidence for that, it highlighted a number of management failings. The former Metropolitan Police commissioner had been engaged by Sheikh Mohammed to determine the circumstances that led to the drug seizures and recommend corrective actions, and was also asked to delve into the steroids case centred on Al Zarooni. The conclusions of such commissions are

GEORGE SELWYN

Lord Stevens: Al Zarooni acted alone on drugs

Sheikh Mohammed: instigated review

not usually made public, but Lord Stevens – the Chairman of global advisory firm Quest, who undertook the internal review – was asked to release the key findings. He said: “Although Sheikh Mohammed’s equestrian operations are unusual in their size and scope, our review has highlighted the

complexities of a regulatory framework that is a challenge for the entire equestrian industry. “Throughout our investigation of the entirely separate incidents, we have established that no evidence whatsoever exists to suggest that Sheikh Mohammed had any knowledge of the purchase, transportation or use of any unregulated medicines. Equally neither did he have any knowledge of the illegal activities of Mahmood Al Zarooni.” He added: “Proposing global solutions to reduce confusion and increase compliance with the regulations governing the transport of veterinary medicine is beyond Quest’s remit. However, in our discussions with Sheikh Mohammed, he agreed to create a task force of experts to suggest ways to make it easier for all affected stakeholders in the equestrian industry to comply with the regulations. “He will ask the task force to consider the creation of a global database containing country-by-country information on registered products that could be easily accessible to those seeking to transport veterinary medicine. “I am delighted that Sheikh Mohammed has asked Quest to extend its remit to oversee this effort.”

Popular 13-year-old Tidal Bay is 7lb well in for the first £1 million Grand National after handicapper Phil Smith used his discretion to compress the weights for the famous race. The National, sponsored by Crabbie’s for the first time this year, is the one race in the calendar where the handicapper can deviate from official ratings, and the Paul Nicholls-trained Tidal Bay will race off 161, instead of 168. The top-weight finished runner-up in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February. Nicholls, who trains Tidal Bay for Graham and Andrea Wylie, admitted Smith has given the horse “an OAP’s allowance”, though history is against Tidal Bay, with no top-weight having won since Red Rum in the 1970s. In last month’s Talking To in this magazine, Smith described handicapping the race as “a privilege, not a headache”, but there are always tricky horses, and he added: “I had three nightmare ones. I freely admit Mossey Joe [11st 1lb] might be 8lb too high or 8lb too low. The others were Pandorama [10st 2lb] and Quel Esprit [10st].” The National weights lunch was held this year at the famous Abbey Road studios in London. The big race takes place on April 5.

GEORGE SELWYN

Tidal Bay heads National weights

Come together: trainers outside the famous studios where The Beatles recorded

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TWEENHILLS TIMES AN EYE FOR SUCCESS

March 2014

Filly breezes in to become Harbour Watch’s first foal Harbour Watch’s first foals are entering the world, headed by this lovely filly who was born at Tweenhills Farm & Stud in mid-January. A daughter of the winning Invincible Spirit mare Brazilian Breeze, the foal is proving popular with all the staff, being easy to handle yet showing plenty of character. Stud groom Ben Hyde said: “We are looking forward to welcoming many more lovely

foals by Harbour Watch, and hope they all prove as bonny, good-looking and correct as his first.” Among other farms where Harbour Watch foals have been welcomed is Martyn Meade’s Ladyswood Stud in The Cotswolds. The stud’s bloodstock advisor, Dermot Farrington, said: “We have a fantastic colt foal by Harbour Watch out of Myth And Magic – he does look very smart.”

This bonny foal is a first for her sire

K ar ak a demand for makfi yearlings

staff PROFILE

Makfi’s first Southern Hemisphere yearlings proved a big hit at Karaka’s Premier Sale in New Zealand.

Darren McNulty Stallions/stud hand

They averaged just under NZ$107,000 – headed by a $200,000 colt (pictured right) consigned by Westbury Stud, where Makfi stands when shuttling from Britain – and were bought by some of racing’s leading players. Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller were among top Australian trainers who will handle some of his youngsters, and Bruce Slade, who has established an exciting new syndicate called Round Table Racing, formed a partnership with Qatar Bloodstock to secure a colt by the sire.

Updated websites Three websites connected to the stud have been updated and given a clean, fresh look. The new Tweenhills Farm & Stud site, www.tweenhills.com, includes information

He will be trained by Waterhouse, while Lisa Latta, who is one of New Zealand’s leading practitioners, took delivery of a $160,000 colt at the Premier Sale and a $100,000 filly who topped Makfi’s yearlings at the Select Sale. about the stallions, an opportunity to download the stud brochure, to survey horses for sale and see a who’s who of the staff. News updates and Twitter feeds provide the latest information. While on www.tweenhills.com you can click through to www.qatarracingltd.com and www.pearlbloodstock.com for details of horses racing under those two banners.

Tr ainers in tr aining for Mar athon Racing Welfare has been getting plenty of media coverage following news that Sheikh Fahad, David Redvers and a group of trainers are raising money for the charity by taking part in this year’s Virgin London Marathon. The ‘Qatar Racing Eight to Follow’ have been training with varying degrees of commitment, although Robert Cowell claimed: “I’m up to 13 miles now and as long as I take plenty of bute, I’m confident

I will get round. The hill training in Suffolk is tough, but I’m a natural born athlete. Sheikh Fahad is concerned about the logisitics – on being told he was a 10/1 shot to complete in under four hours he said: “That’s crazy! I couldn’t do it in four hours in the Maybach – the traffic’s too bad!” while Richard Hannon Jnr’s reply to a question about his prospects was: “I never said I’d run it.”

You didn’t fancy carpentry then? My father is a carpenter, but I was always fascinated by horses. Going to a riding school near my home in Newry, County Down, was the start, and at 17 I bought a horse for show jumping and hunting. What about architecture? I tried that, but an office job wasn’t for me, and in 2001 I joined Scarvagh Stud where I worked for seven years. When the boss opened a base in Dorset I went there and loved working in England. There is so much to do. In 2007 I joined Tweenhills. But didn’t stay... I did two years here initially, but wanted to get a better understanding of farming and so spent two years on a dairy farm before joining a beef and dairy rearing unit. It was valuable experience because I learned a lot about livestock, machinery and paddock maintenance, but being away from horses made me realise how much I missed them. I rejoined Tweenhills late last year. Any changes? The stud has developed a huge amount since I was here last – the quality of the stallions is on a different level, but that is true of so many areas of the farm. Away from work? Shooting, both rifle and shotgun, and a good jumps meeting. Won’t miss... The Game Fair. Every year I go off radar for a few days while it’s on.

Tweenhills Farm & Stud Hartpury, Gloucestershire, GL19 3BG W: www.tweenhills.com T: + 44 (0) 1452 700177 / 700545 M: + 44 (0) 7767 436373 E: davidredvers@tweenhills.com

in association with

Racing’s news in a nutshell PEOPLE AND BUSINESS Wolverhampton Track will close from the end of April until the middle of the summer while its Polytrack surface is replaced.

Channel 4 Total audience for racing fell by more than ten million in 2013, a neat 20% drop on 2012, when coverage was shared with the BBC.

Paull Khan Weatherbys’ Racing Director will step down in order to take an advisory position with the European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (see page 32).

Steroids charges

Paul Mulrennan Jockey returns to action having been on the sidelines since sustaining multiple injuries in a fall at Hamilton in September.

Philip Fenton and Pat Hughes face charges of possessing prohibited substances, including anabolic steroids, following visits to their yards in Ireland.

Maisons-Laffitte France-Galop considers developing the Paris racecourse, home of the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin, into a jumps track while retaining some Flat racing.

Tom O’Ryan Racing reporter qualifies as a jockeys’ coach and plans to work in Malton.

Lord Stevens Enquiry into Sheikh Mohammed’s equestrian organisations finds that Mahmood Al Zarooni acted alone in importing drugs into Britain, although management failings were found.

Matt Coleman Agent for Anthony Stroud Bloodstock is appointed as the UK representative for Tattersalls Ireland.

Queen’s Vase Royal Ascot two-mile race loses its Group 3 status and will be run as a Listed contest; Chester’s Dee Stakes is likewise downgraded.

Dr Michael Turner Chief Medical Advisor at the BHA leaves the organisation after 21 years in the sport; his interim successor is Dr Guy Straight.

PEOPLE OBITUARIES

Olivia Maylam

Wife of Fozzy Stack who was an owner and breeder and well-known in Irish racing circles.

Young trainer quits for financial reasons; she took out a licence in 2010 aged 27 and saddled 28 winners in total.

Simon Sherwood Former Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey and trainer succeeds Bob Davies as Clerk of the Course at Ludlow racecourse.

Lucy Stack 28

David Barker 44

Johnny Dixon 75

Augustus Veal 89

Apprentice jockey and later travelling head groom for Jeremy Tree at Beckhampton Stables.

Trainer who excelled with sprinters such as Celtic Mill, winner of the 2005 Temple Stakes, and Sierra Vista.

Racecourse commentator who was apprentice to Epsom trainer Johnny Dines before World War II.

Optima

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

THE AGA KHAN STUDS Success Breeds Success

Azamour Fee: €8,000

Classic winning sire of 6 Group 1 performers from his first 4 crops. Sire in 2013 of: 12 individual Stakes horses 11 individual 2yo winners 48% 3yo winners to runners.

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20 Stakes performers in 2013 including: RELIABLE MAN Won Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes SEISMOS Won Group 1 Grosser Preis Von Bayern TIGAH Won Group 3 San Francisco Mile Stakes

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RACEHORSE AND STALLION MOVEMENTS AND RETIREMENTS Overdose Sprinter nicknamed the ‘Budapest Bullet’ enters stud at the Bábolna National Stud Farm in Hungary, where his fee is €3,500.

Tough As Nails Talented son of Dark Angel, Group 1-placed as a two-year-old in 2011, begins stud career at Old Meadow Stud in County Kildare, where his fee is €3,000.

Violin Davis

Auroras Encore

Sovereign Debt

Injury forces the 2013 Grand National hero, trained by Sue Smith, into retirement aged 12.

Runner-up to Farhh in the 2013 Lockinge Stakes for Michael Bell is bought by David Nicholls for 145,000gns at Tattersalls.

Jakkalberry Group 1-winning son of Storming Home is retired aged eight; he won 12 races on three continents and more than £1.3 million in prize-money.

Majestic Missile Sire of useful sprinters Majestic Myles and Katla moves from Ballyhane Stud in Ireland to Bucklands Farm and Stud in Gloucestershire for 2014.

Captain Rio Ballyhane stallion will remain at Westbury Stud in New Zealand, where he has sired Group 1 winner Brazilian Pulse.

Libranno Group 2-winning son of Librettist will stand first season at Rosyground Stud in Newmarket at a fee of £2,000.

High-class staying hurdler, winner of a Grade 2 hurdle for owner Andrew Polson, is retired and will be covered by Flemensfirth for her new owners.

Aiken George Strawbridge’s homebred son of Selkirk, a Group 2 winner over 12 furlongs, starts his stallion career at Anngrove Stud in County Laois.

Verrazano Top-class son of More Than Ready, a dual Grade 1 winner in America, joins Aidan O’Brien’s stable from Todd Pletcher and will be aimed at Royal Ascot.

Winsili Daughter of Dansili who was a surprise 20-1 winner of the Nassau Stakes in August is retired to the paddocks, where she will visit her owner’s Frankel.

HORSE OBITUARIES Equitania 4

Winner of seven races for Richard Hannon, David O’Meara and Alan Bailey, with five victories in the silks of owner John Stocker.

Desert Lord 14

Talented sprinter who won the Prix de l’Abbaye in 2006 for owner Bull & Bell Partnership and trainer Kevin Ryan.

Tiger Ridge 18 Chriselliam 3

Brilliant two-year-old last year for the Charlie Hills stable, with stunning winning performances in the Fillies’ Mile and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.

Half-brother to AP Indy who was a leading sire in South Africa, his progeny including Grade 1 winners Wagner and Cherry On The Top.

Wando 14

Canadian Triple Crown winner in 2003 and sire of top miler Turallure, successful in the 2011 Woodbine Mile.

Galileo Rock 4

High-class three-year-old in 2013, placed in the Derby, Irish Derby and St Leger, dies in a freak accident during exercise in Ireland.

Afleet 30

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17:27

THE MAN YOU CAN’T IGNORE COMMENT

Tony Morris In March 1999 two racing anoraks ‘chickened out and laid themselves open to ridicule’ by naming Pretty Polly broodmare of the century – it was (finally) time to take another look

could be separated from – and placed above – all those other worthy mares by that criterion. Whether or not that was the most sensible criterion we might have used, I long ago decided that one day, when I had nothing better to do, I would take a closer look at Pretty Polly’s descendants in tail-female and monitor its progress. There had always seemed to be something significant happening in every generation; was that still the case, I wondered? Most families have peaks and troughs, so why wouldn’t that be the case with Pretty Polly’s? And it had to be acknowledged that Pretty Polly herself could hardly be considered influential, a realistic source of merit, in the pedigrees of descendants who came along many decades and many generations after her. As it turned out, I needed more than a day with nothing better to do to complete my research, and I don’t claim that my study was exhaustive. I needed data that were readily accessible, and that meant I would confine my investigations to winners of European Pattern races, whose fivegeneration pedigrees I have recorded since the programme was

ROUCH WILMOT LIBRARY

ifteen years ago John Randall and I embarked on the compilation of a book which was published in the following December as A Century of Champions. It was an ambitious and fascinating project. We sought to identify the best horses, worldwide, and to rate them, and, among many other things, we listed the names of those individual horses and humans who, we felt, had been most influential during the 20th century. Of course, there could be nothing definitive about our conclusions, which simply represented the considered opinions of two blokes who presumed to believe that they were entitled to make such judgements. One of the tasks we set ourselves was to determine who had been the outstanding broodmare of the century. Having completed our ratings of racehorses, we had already decided the identity of the best female runner, awarding that accolade to the 1904 Fillies’ Triple Crown heroine Pretty Polly, whom we made 1lb superior to Sun Chariot and 2lb superior to Sceptre and Pebbles among British- and Irishtrained performers. Naming the best broodmare of the century proved to be an altogether more demanding task, as there were so many worthy candidates with similar accomplishments. How on earth could we separate them and settle upon a plausible number one? In the end, I suppose we chickened out, and by doing so laid ourselves open to ridicule. We awarded the title to a mare who died at the age of 30, and whose obituary in the esteemed Bloodstock Breeders’ Review noted that she ‘did not greatly distinguish herself as a producer of winners.’ So by what criterion could we justify promoting the cause of the aforementioned Pretty Polly, five of whose ten foals failed to win, as the outstanding broodmare of the century? We decided that she deserved the second accolade because, whereas many others had been more conspicuous as dams of important winners, none of them had founded a family that had attained such enduring success. There was no female line, descending from a mare foaled in the 20th century, which had flourished to anything like the same degree. Pretty Polly

Pretty Polly: best female runner and broodmare of 20th century

introduced in 1971. There has obviously been a lot going on elsewhere in the world, but to my mind that didn’t make a solely European study invalid; it provided a legitimate representative area of study.

Not a quick job After the work of several days when I had nothing better to do I had a new set of data, still to be put into some sort of order to enable me to make any kind of sense of it. This was going to be a rather longer job than I had envisaged. Pretty Polly’s brood included only four daughters. They were Molly Desmond (1914, by Desmond), who won the Cheveley Park Stakes; Dutch Mary (1915, by William the Third), who ran five times without winning; Polly Flinders (1918, by Polymelus), who won the National Breeders’ Produce Stakes; and Baby Polly (1926, by Spearmint), who ran five times without winning. They had all established branches that had provided an abundance of success before the first year included in my study; 1971 was 70 years after Pretty Polly’s birth and 40 years after her death. The great mare was arguably already an inconsequential figure in the pedigrees of horses running then. Before 1971 the Molly Desmond branch had been responsible for a host of celebrities, including Guersant, Premonition, Nearctic, St Paddy and Luthier; the Dutch Mary branch had peaked early with Donatello and had delivered a Derby hero in Psidium; the Polly Flinders branch had provided such as Supreme Court, Court Harwell, Only For Life and Huntercombe; the Baby Polly branch, represented rather less numerously than the others, had given Colorado Kid (the mare’s second foal THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

and first son) and, two generations on, Vaguely Noble’s sire, Vienna. So what did I learn over something like three weeks with nothing better to do? The bare statistics provided the most obvious fact: the tailfemale descendants of Pretty Polly continued to show up prominently throughout the 43 European Pattern seasons under review. There have been 239 individual winners of 435 races, comprising 112 successes in Group 1, 89 in Group 2, and 234 in Group 3. And the rate of success was not slackening; in 2013 there were 11 individual winners of 16 Pattern events, including Group 1 winners Style Vendome and Vorda, while Dank, a winner at Group 2 and Group 3 level here, surpassed those achievements with success at the Breeders’ Cup.

Brigadier the best The only winner as close as five generations distant from Pretty Polly was her best-ever descendant, Brigadier Gerard, whose exploits in 1971 and the following year brought him 13 Pattern victories, including six in both Group 1 and Group 2. (If the Pattern had come along a year earlier, his Middle Park victory would have given him another top-level score.) Brigadier Gerard represented the Molly Desmond branch, easily the most successful of the four, responsible for 130 individual winners. The others from the branch with Group 1 wins to their credit included Alydaress, Artaius, Artan, Borderlescott, Cape Cross, Capricciosa, Daring Display, Desert Lord, Desirable, Diktat, Emmson, Fantastic Light, Inkerman, Kutub, Legal Case, Love Divine, Malevic, Markab, Masarika, Music Show, Northern Taste, Opale, Park Appeal, Pitasia, Rosanara, Russian Rhythm, Shadayid, Shake The Yoke, Sixties Icon, Style Vendome, Sulk, Swain, To-Agori-Mou, Val d’Erica, Vintage Crop, Vintage Tipple, Vorda and Workforce. Phew. Sixteen individual winners represented the Dutch Mary branch, with just four at the highest level. They were Deauville, Polaris Flight, Stone and Stouci, none of whom could reasonably be considered in the same league as once-defeated champion Donatello, foaled as long ago as 1934 and out of a grand-daughter of Dutch Mary. There has clearly been some decline in this branch. In contrast, the Polly Flinders branch has been holding up pretty well, delivering 91 individual winners. There were 21 successful in Group 1 company, namely Belle et Celebre, Be My Chief, Bianca Nera, Caerwent, Double Form, Eva Luna (the Irish-bred one, not the daughter of Alleged who traces to Molly Desmond), Fedora Grey, Loch Garman, Marling, Marwell, Paean, Revoque, Sarab, Shavian, Sholokhov, Sigy, Simply Perfect, Soldier Of Fortune, Sunspangled, Tenby and Unite. For a family branch to thrive there must be daughters who produce daughters who produce daughters ad infinitum, preferably in significant numbers. Of Baby Polly’s four, only two amounted to much, the first being Rusk (1935, by Manna), who became Vienna’s grand-dam. The other was Precious Polly (1937, by Hyperion), and she features in the background of the only two European Pattern winners descending from Baby Polly, as fourth dam of Arc hero Carroll House and fifth dam of the estimable international Group 1 scorer Phoenix Reach. Both, of course, are males, perhaps an ominous sign for this branch. If you fancy doing some research of your own into Pretty Polly’s descendants, you’re welcome. I’ve now found something better to do.

“The Polly Flinders

branch has been holding up pretty well, delivering 91 individual winners”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

HOWARD WRIGHT COMMENT

Wouldn’t it be beneficial if every country used the same descriptions for the state of the ground on racedays? Yes, but don’t bank on it happening

Consensus going to be hard

GEORGE SELWYN

hen the going gets tough – someone is bound to complain about the going description ‘tough’. Prize-money levels in Britain can usually be guaranteed to generate most heat when professionals discuss topics of current interest, but generally the outcome is a large degree of agreement. In sharp contrast, if any item of debate is guaranteed to provoke differing opinions on a regular basis, it is the state of the going on racedays. Even the introduction of a mechanical measure, which was supposed to counterbalance the subjectivity of the Clerk of the Course’s well-worn pointed stick, has hardly calmed the mood. That well-known French import, le penetrometer, had only a short shelf life, as British racing’s R&D budget dwindled to next to nothing, but its successor, the commerciallybacked GoingStick, for which a reading for every fixture has been an official requirement since January 2009, has fared only slightly better in winning over hearts and minds. The GoingStick was developed by the boffins of Cranfield University and TurfTrax over a fiveyear period, and its phased introduction began in 2003. When the device became obligatory six years later, its use was described in the words of the BHA press statement as “to give an objective numerical reading that will reflect the state of the going at any given racecourse.” Yet numbers have not taken over entirely; they are still accompanied by the Clerk of the Course’s descriptive interpretation, which is where the debate started in the first place. Now, though, the whole issue is about to go global, with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities having taken up the cudgels over going descriptions, following the succession of Kim Kelly, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s chief stipendiary steward, to the chairmanship of a working group responsible for exploring the harmonisation of raceday rules. First raised in IFHA circles in 2006, the ideal of greater harmonisation reached formal examination stage the following year, under the guidance of South Africa’s senior administrator Rob de Kock. Seven years later, during which he several times admitted privately to the pain of banging

It looks like good to soft ground at Fontwell – or should that be good to yielding?

his head against a brick wall, de Kock stood down. He could point to having charted significant progress on bringing together the major racing jurisdictions – France being a notably isolated exception – over interference rules, but inevitably a number of other topics, including reciprocity of penalties, remained largely unresolved.

“He admitted that

trying to harmonise the rules was like banging his head against a brick wall” Kelly has picked up the harmonisation portfolio with a determination to make his mark, and finding universally acceptable wording for going descriptions has become an early agenda item, perhaps because a successful outcome seemed eminently sensible and readily achievable. That was before he was introduced to

Newmarket’s Director of Racing and Clerk of the Course Michael Prosser, who in December spent the best part of an hour during trackwork at Sha Tin explaining the whys and wherefores of assessing various strips of ground in deepest East Anglia. That was also before the Australian Racing Board, under the energetic influence of Peter McGauran, its relatively new Chief Executive, stepped in with a fresh definition of ‘track ratings’, Aussie-speak for going descriptions. The result, which can be seen on the ARB website and is still open to debate, is a hotchpotch of old and new. The previous five descriptions have been distilled into four, but the ten numerical ratings remain, with a lengthy explanation of what each is meant to represent. Maybe, like charity, the movement for clarity should begin at home, with uniformity sought between Britain and Ireland. The BHA’s general instruction covers seven official descriptions, ranging from hard, which is supposed to be outlawed, to heavy. The Turf Club accepts a similar list but then slips in yielding and good to yielding at a point before good to soft and soft come into play. If the basic terms of reference used in Britain and Ireland were identical, maybe debate about going conditions would be more meaningful. Then again, maybe not. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

SHADWELL STALLIONS 2014 Standing at Nunnery Stud, England

NAYEF Gulch - Height Of Fashion

MAWATHEEQ

NAYEF

A leading sire of 3YOS in Europe in 2013 including Stakes winners TASADAY, VALIRANN and SPARKLING BEAM.* 2014 Fee - £9,000 (1st JAN, SLF)

MAWATHEEQ Danzig - Sarayir

A Group winning last son of DANZIG with his first 2YO runners in 2014. 2014 Fee - £4,000 (1st JAN, SLF) SAKHEE

HAAFHD

SAKHEE Bahri - Thawakib 2014 Fee - PRIVATE

Also standing in England

HAAFHD Alhaarth - Al Bahathri 2014 Fee - £3,000 (1st OCT, SLF)

Standing in France: Haras du Mezeray

MUHTATHIR

NAAQOOS

SHADWELL OPERATE A

LIMITED BOOKS POLICY MUJAHID

WITH ALL THEIR STALLIONS

In 2013: 5th leading sire in France (prize money) & sire of Gr.1 winning 2YO (Prix Marcel Boussac) INDONESIENNE.* 2014 Fee - €7,000(1st OCT, SLF)

NAAQOOS Oasis Dream - Straight Lass

A Gr.1 winner and sire of a winning first crop of 2YOS in 2013. 2014 Fee - €4,500 (1st OCT, SLF) Standing in Italy: Allevamento di Besnate

MUJAHID Danzig - Elrafa Ah

Leading Italian based sire in 2013 for the second year running.* 2014 Fee - €5,000 (1st OCT, SLF)

*All statistics courtesy of Racing Post 01-10-13

Discover more about the Shadwell Stallions at www.shadwellstud.co.uk Or call Richard, Johnny or Rachael on

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VIEW FROM IRELAND By JESSICA LAMB OF THE RACING POST

Assembly to end Cheltenham absence It’s been nine years since Pat Fahy had a Festival runner; it wasn’t always thus

CAROLINE NORRIS

mong the familiar names at the head of the RSA Chase betting is a forgotten pioneer who helped shorten the gap to Britain in the early 1990s. When Carlow-based Pat Fahy saddles Morning Assembly in the second-day Grade 1 he will become his first runner at the Festival in nine years, yet he was once a regular and among the first to make Britain a journey that was not just made in March. The Galway man sprung to prominence with the Abednego gelding Nuaffe in the infancy of his career, landing the 1994 Troytown Chase at Navan. Nuaffe’s owner, John Doyle, was as young and enthusiastic as Fahy and had no qualms attempting anything with their fearless chaser so, with others waiting for the Festival, they went to Cheltenham that December for what is now the December Gold Cup. Fahy explained: “Most people at that time only went for the Cheltenham Festival. We went for the Tripleprint Gold Cup – Arthur Moore had been second in it two years previously – and got beaten a short head, then we won at Haydock and we went to Aintree. We kept coming back until the horses ran out. People ask me now why I don’t

Leap of faith: Morning Assembly takes a real cut at this fence and his jumping will need to be spot-on for trainer Pat Fahy (below) in the RSA Chase at Cheltenham

“The way he can

finish out the last half a furlong seems to be unique; he doesn’t give up” go to England more often. It’s because I’ve been there and done that. “Sure it was costly, but at the time we weren’t worried about that. We saw nice pots we thought worth trying to collect and we went.” Nuaffe got Fahy on the map, but it was Butches Boy who captured Grade 1 glory in the 1995 Punchestown Gold Cup. Mariah Rollins followed up nine years later in a novice chase at Leopardstown and Morning Assembly completed the hat-trick last April in the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle, beating Inish Island and the hot favourite Ballycasey, who he could yet meet in the RSA Chase. Fahy, who is looking for his first winner at the Festival, said: “He

surprised us a bit. We knew he was good, but we were worried about him at Punchestown because at Fairyhouse, in his previous race, everything seemed to go wrong for him and he fell. “His great strength is his stamina. He’d be hacking along at the beginning of a race and he might even be passed, but he’ll still be hacking along at the finish of a race. The way he can finish out the last half a furlong seems to be unique. I have never had a horse like that; he doesn’t give up.” The hard work is over for Fahy, with his pre-Cheltenham running done, and the team is in the home straight, but one problem remains. Who will ride Morning Assembly? Son Connor began his career, but is now in Australia. Davy Russell started his hurdling career, but Gigginstown House Stud commitments meant Bryan Cooper and then Davy Condon took over. Then, when Condon broke his leg, Ruby Walsh kicked off his chasing career and Fahy is smitten. “Wouldn’t it be something to have Ruby Walsh ride him at Cheltenham?” he said. “He just loves the horse. He has confidence in him. I know I probably won’t get him, but just imagine. We’ll keep our options open and luckily we have two very good replacements in Davy Condon, who is on the way back and knows him so well, and Davy Russell, who is a champion.”

VIEW FROM IRELAND

Tweeting trainer with lots on her plate

In Brief Triple raid on charity contest Three Ireland-based riders are bidding to follow in Brian Bunyan’s footsteps in this year’s Cheltenham Festival charity race in aid of Cancer Research. The 45-year-old banker from Kildare landed the spoils on brother Darren’s Age Of Glory last year and while that steed is returning for a real handicap, his successful jockey will not. In his place in the fundraiser is trainer Bernadette Murphy from Wexford, engineering student Tom O’Neill from Cork and Meath businessman Douglas Taylor, whose horse Final Approach won the 2011

with him though.” The ground will also decide whether McCutcheon has her first Cheltenham Festival runner as a trainer. “Long Strand jumps fantastically if it’s soft ground,” she explained. “He just doesn’t have the same confidence on good ground and I won’t run him if that’s what it’s like. “We just have to hope it rains and he gets

in. I expected him to run well in the banks race at Punchestown last month and that would have got his handicap mark up. Unfortunately he tripped at a fence and unseated me.” The ride would be McCutcheon’s second in the Festival Cross Country Chase, with the late Lord Nellerie carrying her to tenth three years ago.

Evanna McCutcheon with stable star Maarek, the Prix de l’Abbaye winner

CAROLINE NORRIS

Evanna McCutcheon’s multi-tasking is reaching new heights this month. The amateur rider was granted a licence to train at the start of this year and kicked off her season as a jockey by winning a race in the invitational Ladies World Championship series in Oman. “It was nice to get away for a few days,” she said. “It was my first time in the Middle East and a place I probably wouldn’t get the chance to go to without the series. Obviously I’d love to be invited for another race, and I’ve now qualified for a race in Abu Dhabi later in the year, but I do have a yard full of horses to look after now as well.” At home is a stable packed full of Flat horses, starring the Group 1-winning sprinter Maarek and the Cheltenham Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase hopeful Long Strand. On top of that, she’s managing Maarek’s new Twitter account. “It seems to be the done thing now with a good horse,” she explained. “Sole Power, Gordon Lord Byron, Thousand Stars, they are all there. It’s a great way to keep people in the loop about him and how he’s doing. It’s a bit of fun.” Maarek, winner of last season’s Prix de l’Abbaye, is working towards a return to the racecourse next month, with Listed races at Cork and Naas pinpointed as possible return opportunities. “His Group 1 win means he is going to be running with penalties and they seem to be less in Ireland than they are elsewhere, so I am hoping the weather will stay wet enough for him to start off at home,” she said. “There is an option at York too and we’ll be eyeing the Greenlands at the Curragh in June as a possible next stop. It’s all weather-permitting

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three-fold and produced no positive tests, the sole positive of the year coming on the racecourse, where more than 3,000 samples were collected.

Contraction continues

Good start for free scheme

The annual Turf Club statistics revealed the continuing struggle for trainers, with licence registrations down 3.5% last year compared with 2012. In additional, new apprentice indentures have reached a modern-day low and none of the potential apprentices who graduated from the Racing Academy and Centre for Education’s (RACE) programme last year have signed up with a trainer. The figures also showed that drug testing of horses while at their yards increased

Almost 500 owners and their guests came to the first two free race meetings in a new scheme generated by the racecourses and owners’ body. The Association of Irish Racecourses has arranged for 70 days of racing this year to be free to all owners, regardless of whether they have a runner. The first days of this initiative were at Leopardstown, Punchestown and Dundalk, with this month seeing Down Royal, Downpatrick, Gowran Park and Limerick hosting.

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CONTINENTAL TALES

International lure impossible to resist

DAN ABRAHAM

E OP

Weatherbys’ Racing Director steps down to pursue main interest

few days after stepping down from his position as Racing Director at Weatherbys, Paull Khan spent the first weekend in February at a Moroccan seaside town near Casablanca that is renowned for its surfing. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is the beginning of a gentle retirement for 59-year-old Khan. It is, in fact, a case of ‘Play It Again, Paull’ as he uses his wealth of experience administrating British racing to perform the same role across Europe as General Secretary of the European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF). And the reason for his winter break in Bouznika (home of the Moroccan National Stud) was to help organise the EMHF’s General Assembly. “Scaling down my involvement with Weatherbys after more than a third of a century there was a difficult decision,” Khan revealed. “But my international work was taking more and more of my time and very soon I would not have been able to do justice to both areas. “I have always enjoyed enormously learning about how horseracing plays out in other countries – the similarities and the differences. And I love the company of my counterparts from around the world.” Established in 2008, the EMHF includes all the major European racing nations and most of the lesser ones too, not to mention some countries that neighbour Europe, such as Lebanon and Morocco. Its aim is to encourage greater unity and communication within its membership as well as to coordinate the promotion and defend the integrity of the sport. Its 2014 General Assembly witnessed the welcoming of four new member countries: Azerbaijan, the Channel Islands, Portugal and Libya, taking its overall number to 27. News of the re-emergence of racing in a post-Gaddafi Libya provided one of the meeting’s highlights. “The Libyan representatives made a presentation illustrating the extraordinary revival of racing there in the face of all the recent troubles,” Khan reported. “The Libyan Horseracing Authority has been appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture to develop the sport and has plans for the building of no fewer than 12 racecourses, all with modern facilities.” The assembly resolved to stage a series of seminars, hosted by the major countries, for the benefit of the smaller nations.

Cheers Paull! Khan’s career at Weatherbys has lasted 34 years

“Britain will have one this summer,” Khan said. “Weatherbys will host a two-day session on ‘Practical Administration of Racing and Breeding’. We are also going to break the mould, by inviting trainers from the major countries to give talks in the ‘smaller’ racing nations, initially in central Europe.” Other resolutions included a move to facilitate greater international competition through the cross-border harmonisation of handicap ratings and a commitment by the continent’s ‘Big Four’ – Britain, France, Germany and Ireland – to pay prize-money to foreign connections in a way that mirrors their own payment system. After all this talk some socialising was required and SOREC, the generous host racing authority of Morocco, laid on a trip to Casablanca races. “It was an extremely enjoyable day,” Khan said. “Casablanca is a beautiful track, with palm trees and a golf course in the infield and a handsome, treed paddock.”

LY TA

EUR

By JAMES CRISPE, INTERNATIONAL RACING BUREAU

EPC decision is a stay

March will be a big month for Italian racing. To the surprise of many seasoned onlookers, Italy escaped expulsion from the European Pattern at its Committee meeting in Paris in January, instead being placed on a ‘final warning’. As long as all outstanding prize-money from the biggest races in 2012 and 2013 is paid by the end of March 2014, then the Group status of these top Flat events will be maintained. The simplistic reaction to this news would be to presume that the deadline will be met and everything in the giardino will be rosy again. The reality of the situation is much more severe. For a start, expecting the wheels of Italian bureaucracy to turn with anything other than agonising lethargy is like expecting a pizza purchased from the tourist traps outside the Trevi Fountain to be cheap.

There also has to be some doubt that the Ministry of Agriculture, which has taken direct control of the sport since the abolition last summer of ASSI (racing’s secretariat), will understand the devastating effect that the loss of Pattern status may bring. Nunzia de Girolamo, the Minister of Agriculture, said on her first official visit to a racecourse, in Naples in December, that she was confident all monies would be paid by the end of February. Come January 26 and the charismatic de Girolamo resigned over non-racing-related corruption allegations. The key government department suddenly becoming leaderless is hardly going to oil the cogs of the payment machine. Even if the European Pattern Committee’s deadline is met, Italy’s extensive schedule of Group and Listed races will surely soon be pruned with a chainsaw. This year Italy has

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Tempted by the Festival? Non!

Ferdy Murphy is one key player from previous years who is likely to be missing from this month’s Cheltenham Festival. The trainer of ten Festival winners under his own name, not to mention a few when employed by others, Murphy is just settling in to his new surroundings at Les Sables-d’Olonne on France’s west coast. “Hollo Ladies [who won at Ayr 14 months ago] is going really well and is a possible for the Coral Cup, although that might be shooting at the stars a bit and with so much prize-money on offer here it is a no-brainer to stay,” said 65-year-old Murphy. “So I might just go to Cheltenham for a day out. “My favourite Festival memory has to be saddling Gee-A to win the Mildmay of Flete for Geoff Hubbard [in 1987]. Geoff had been going to Cheltenham for years and never had any success. We went to Fakenham a couple of days later and were given a hero’s reception – we had a fair old party that day.” Murphy left Yorkshire last summer and initially intended to move to Normandy, close to his daughter, Caroline, who is married to leading bloodstock agent Guy Petit. But that deal fell through and he got a tipoff about Les Sables-d’Olonne. “I couldn’t

GEORGE SELWYN

FRA

Ferdy Murphy: landed on his feet

believe it when I first came here, it’s fantastic,” Murphy admitted. “The training centre is only 12 years old and they put lots of thought and research into it before it was built, so the facilities are way advanced on Middleham. “The cost of living down here is half what it would be in Normandy yet there are 50

tracks within 50 kilometres and another 50 within 100. It was immediately just a matter of finding the right-sized yard and I’m happy to say that one was available with 20 boxes and ten acres of paddocks, which is perfect. “My 21-year-old son, Rees, has come with me and I was also very lucky to get Clare Law, who had been with Charlie Longsdon and Henrietta Knight, to come over as my head girl. And Philip Carberry is based here, so I have been hooking up with him.” Murphy has already had a handful of runners under an interim licence but is expecting his French licence at any moment. “I haven’t had to sit any exams and both France-Galop and the French Racing and Breeding Committee have been incredibly helpful – they have really gone out of their way to make things easy,” he stressed. Asked to pick out one of his string as a horse to follow, Murphy is quick to nominate an unraced three-year-old by Dom Alco called Bullfinch. He said: “I’ve had a fair bit of success with Dom Alcos and this one is going fantastic, I’m thrilled with him. He looks very forward and should be ready to run around October time.” An ante-post prospect for the 2015 Triumph Hurdle? You heard it here first.

had just a single Group 1 race downgraded (the flagship juvenile race, the Gran Criterium) and four Listed races lose their black-type qualification. But over one-fifth of Italy’s 84 Group and Listed races are on the official ‘At Risk Register’ prior to possible downgrading in 2015. And with both Weatherbys, here in Britain, and its German counterpart, the Direktorium, refusing to accept entries for Italian races until further notice, the chance of those races avoiding the chop is minimal. Prize-money for Italy’s top races is, remarkably, set to remain at a highly respectable level for 2014, an overall annual decrease of 5% being largely offset by a smaller fixture list. But, given the 18-month wait for September 2012’s prizes combined with the expense in getting there and the difficulty in making an entry, will any overseas connections want to travel their

GEORGE SELWYN

of execution

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

The Capannelle: may or may not stage Group races come 2015

horses to Italy in the coming months? And, without foreign participation, the big races will surely be unable to achieve the high

average handicap rating of the first four home, which is crucial for them to avoid being downgraded.

Haafhd

Sire of 37 individual winners of 63 races in 2013

Ch. 2001 15.3 h.h. (1.59m) by ALHAARTH – AL BAHATHRI (BLUSHING GROOM)

FEE:

£3,000

European Champion 3yo Rated 115+ at 2 • Rated 129 at 3

Won 5 races at 2 and 3 years, 6-10f, £492,288, and was placed 3 times, all but one of his starts. Won Gr.1 2,000 Guineas Stakes, 8f, Newmarket by 1¾ lengths, beating Gr.1 winners Azamour, Grey Swallow, Whipper, Bachelor Duke, etc. Won Gr.1 Champion Stakes, 10f, Newmarket by 2½ lengths, beating Gr.1 winners Chorist, Azamour, Refuse To Bend, Doyen, etc. Won Gr.3 Craven Stakes, 8f, Newmarket, by 5 lengths, beating Three Valleys. Won LR Washington Singer Stakes, 7f, Newbury, at 2 years 3rd Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes, 7f, Newmarket 3rd Gr.2 Champagne Stakes, 7f, Doncaster. Racehorses of 2004: “Hills had gone on record before Newmarket as saying Haafhd was as good as any miler he had trained”

STUD RECORD:

MELODY OF LOVE – Gr.3 Firth of Clyde S, at 2; 2nd LR Champion Trophy, 4th Gr.3 Prix Miesque, Maisons-Lattitte. SWORDHALF – Gr.3 Preis de Winterkonigin, 2nd LR Premio Giovanni Falck. Champion 2yo filly in Germany. TELWAAR – LR Free Handicap; 2nd LR Washington Singer S, at 2. JUNOOB – LR Winter Derby Trial; 2nd LR Quebec S. SILVER GRECIAN – Gr.2 Superlative S; 3rd Gr.2 Champagne S, at 2. COUNTRYWIDE FLAME – 9 wins, Flat and NH, incl: Gr.1 Fighting Fifth H’dle, 2012/13; Gr.1 Triumph H’dle; 2nd Gr.1 4-y-o H’dle, Aintree; Gr.1 Future Champions H‘dle; 3rd Gr.1 Champion H’dle, 2013, Gr.1 Spring Juvenile H’dle.

Sleeping Indian Bay, 2001, (16hh) by INDIAN RIDGE – LAS FLORES (SADLER’S WELLS)

FEE:

£3,000

Timeform rating: 122 STUD RECORD:

NIGHT CARNATION – 5 races, including: Gr.3 Sandown Sprint, 2nd LR Doncaster S, LR Queensferry S. HOTOTO – £271,089, including: LR Windsor Castle S, DBS Yearling S, 2nd LR Redcar Gold Trophy, 3rd Gr.3 Molecomb S, all at 2, 3rd Gr.3d Invitation Cup, 2013. MELBOURNE MEMORIES – 3 wins at 2, including: LR Bosra Sham S, 3rd Gr.3 Fred Darling S, 2013. MORACHE MUSIC – 4 races, Shergar Cup Sprint, 2nd LR Prix Zeddaan, 3rd Gr.3 Prix de Ris-Orangis, 2013, 4th Gr.3 Hackwood S, rated 109.

CARLITO BRIGANTE – Gr.2 Juvenile Hurdle, Leopardstown; Gr.3 Coral Cup, Cheltenham; 3rd Gr.1 World H’dle, Punchestown. SHOW RAINBOW – LR Sandy Lane S; 3rd LR Cecil Frail S. FITYAAN – 3 wins, incl 2013, 2nd LR Shadwell Jebel Ali Sprint. AARAAS – winner, 2nd Gr.3 Blue Wind S; 3rd Gr.3 Killavullan S, at 2. ROWAN BRAE – 2nd LR Junioren-Preis, at 2. EMIRATES CHAMPION – 5 wins, £208,883; 3rd Gr.2 Anatolia Trophy. PRIMERA VISTA – 8 wins, 3rd LR Super Handicap; 3rd LR Prix du Ranelagh. PASAKA BOY – 4 wins, 3rd LR Lingfield Dery Trial, 2013. BIASED – 3rd LR Prix Charles Laffitte; LR Prix de la Pepiniere. IMPERIALISTIC DIVA – 3rd LR Empress S, at 2. KOKALTASH – 2 wins, 3rd LR Prix Isonomy, at 2, and many other winners.

Won 6 races, £252,417, 7-8f, from 3 to 5 years, and placed three times, from 12 starts Won Gr.2 Challenge Stakes, 7f, Newmarket, beating Gr.1 winner Somnus and 11 other Group winners Won Gr.3 Hungerford Stakes, 7f, Newbury, beating Gr.1 winner Attraction and 2 other Group winners Won LR Dubai Duty Free Cup, 7f, Newbury, beating Gr.1 winner Spinning Queen and 8 other Group winners Won LR Ben Marshall Stakes, 7f, beating Gr.1 winner Tout Seul and 3 other Group winners Won LR John O’Gaunt Stakes, 7f, Haydock Park, beating 3 Group winners 2nd Gr.2 Park Stakes, 7f, Doncaster, beating Gr.1 winner Court Masterpiece and 5 other Group winners 2nd Gr.2 Challenge Stakes, 7f, Newmarket, beating Gr.1 winners Somnus and Peeress, and 4 other Group winners

A MULTIPLE STAKES SIRE IN 2013 LEWISHAM – 2nd Gr.2 July S, at 2, rated 107. SHOSHONI WIND – 3 races, 2nd LR Empress S. LOWAWATHA – 3rd LR Premio Pisa. DAM BEAUTIFUL – 3rd LR Tipperary Sprint. CAUGHT NAPPING – 3rd LR Oak Tree Juvenile Turf S. PROUD CHIEFTAN – 5 races, 4th Gr.3 Brigadier Gerard S, 2nd LR James Seymour S, 2013, rated 102. LIGHTNING CLOUD – 6 races, 4th LR Garrowby S, 2013, rated 108, etc.

CONSISTENTLY SIRING 2YO STAKES HORSES

Apply: STEVE KNOWLES, BEECHWOOD GRANGE STUD, Malton Road, York YO32 9TH. Tel: 01904 424573 • Fax: 01904 427079 • Mobile: 07786 260 904 E-mail: steve@beechwoodgrangestud.com • Website: www.beechwoodgrangestud.com

AROUND THE GLOBE THE WORLDWIDE RACING SCENE

NORT H A MER ICA

by Steve Andersen

Callaghan shows he can do it on dirt

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

GEORGE SELWYN

he three-year-old filly Fashion Plate is making an American of former Newmarket trainer Simon Callaghan. Well, at least an American trainer. Callaghan, who relocated to Southern California in late 2009, won his fifth Grade 1 in the United States with Fashion Plate in the $300,500 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on February 1. The win put Fashion Plate firmly on course for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2, and gave Callaghan a different type of major stakes win. His previous Grade 1 wins had been on turf, or with runners who began their careers with other trainers. Fashion Plate, bought by Callaghan on behalf of owners Michael Tabor and Arnold Zetcher for $340,000 at the 2013 Ocala Breeders’ Sale (of two-year-olds in-training) in Florida last April, has been with the stable since the start of her career. Her success is entirely his doing. “It’s different than what we started out with,” Callaghan said a few days after the Las Virgenes. A lot has changed for Callaghan since he arrived at Santa Anita more than four years ago. Back then, a majority of Callaghan’s small stable had been based with him at Rathmoy Stable in Newmarket before the transatlantic trip. That group included Dubawi Heights, who gave Callaghan early recognition in the United States with wins in the Grade 1 Gamely Handicap and Yellow Ribbon Stakes on turf in 2011. Callaghan, who turns 31 on March 7, said at the time he wanted the barn to evolve, hoping to attract runners that would fit dirt racing, the prevalent surface in America. The process took time, he says. “Although I was conscious and aware that turf racing is secondary to dirt racing, it’s what we did well with, and what we kept getting sent,” Callaghan said of the early days in the United States. “And we did well with what we were sent. It took time for owners to be comfortable in our ability to train a dirt two-year-old.” Callaghan won five Graded events in 2011, four in 2012 and three in 2013. Fashion Plate was his first Graded winner of 2014. Each year, the stable has had more winners than the previous year, rising from 10 in 2010 to 18 in 2013, for a total of 60 career victories in

Simon Callaghan has steadily upped the winners and the quality of his string

the United States. A stable that began with 12 horses has now grown to 30. Callaghan lists Europeans such as Tabor, Alice Bamford, Phil Cunningham and Anthony Ramsden among his clients, along

“It took time for

owners to be comfortable in our ability to train a dirt two-year-old” with Pearl Bloodstock. He trains for American-based owners such as Chuck Winner, the Chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, as well as Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Paul Reddam and Adam Richey.

They own a mix of European imports and American-bred runners. Ramsden owns No Jet Lag, who won the Grade 2 City of Hope Stakes last October. Eclipse owned Byrama, who won the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap in 2013, and have the European imports Bee Brave, a maiden winner at Ayr in 2012, and Craftsman, who won the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes in Ireland for Aidan O’Brien. Imports Thewandaofu, fourth in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket in October and Pillow, a winner at Down Royal in 2013, are two new members of the stable. Fashion Plate is joined on the list of promising domestic three-year-olds by Cherubim, a colt by Henny Hughes who won at Santa Anita in late December and is bound for stakes races this spring. Eventually, they could be part of a 50-horse stable. “It takes a few years to get to that place,” Callaghan said. “I’m happy with the way the stable is going and growing. I’d like to continue growing. I’m always trying to keep stressing quality.”

AROUND THE GLOBE

AUS TRA L IA

by Stephen Howell

With authorities probing deep below the surface around the Australian iceberg that is the Bill Vlahos punting syndicate scandal they will, no doubt, uncover more shoddy deals as they look for the missing millions. As reported in last month’s issue, racing has been tainted by the collapse of the Vlahos-led BC3 Thoroughbreds, which had been buying up bloodstock, from Black Caviar’s ill-fated half-brother to other young horses syndicated among scores of owners. However, the crumbling late last year of one Vlahos deal – a share in the sprint sensation Zoustar – opened the way for an involvement of an owner above reproach, Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, who with brothers Sheikh Hamad and Sheikh Suhaim runs Qatar Racing. Sheikh Fahad, through his original racing and breeding business, Pearl Bloodstock, has made Australia a focus since he fell in love with its racing on his initial visit with 2011 Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden, trained in France by Mikel Delzangles. The sheikh has won a Group 1 race in Victoria each spring since in Pearl’s yellow and blue, shuttles stallions to Australia and New Zealand, has bought at yearling sales and placed the young prospects with a raft of trainers. And after he saw the three-year-old Zoustar win the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at

“I am very excited

about the prospects of him racing in Europe and ultimately retiring to stud” Flemington at the start of November, he inspected the colt with his racing and bloodstock manager David Redvers. Reports at that time said the historic Widden Stud would buy the colt from Iskander Racing, which had put together a syndicate to race it. Victorian stud Woodside Park came in as a partner, with the novel plan to shuttle the young stallion to the southern state in seasons two and four. In January, it was revealed that Sheikh Fahad was in the ownership, too, with his share 25%, the same as Woodside’s. Clearly the shuttling now will involve Britain, as will racing, which was always on the cards.

BRONWEN HEALY

Vlahos fallout paves way for Pearl

Zoustar, the hugely promising three-year-old whom Sheikh Fahad took a shine to

“I was able to inspect Zoustar with David Redvers following his dominant win in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington,” Sheikh Fahad announced on his racing website. “This colt represents everything that is great about Australian horses. He is strong, masculine and incredibly fast, and I am very excited about the prospects of him racing in Europe and ultimately retiring to stud.” Zoustar has won six of his eight starts, two at Group 1 level, and earned $1.4 million (£750,000). Trainer Chris Waller said all key Australian studs showed an interest, bar Darley, which has its own potential sires, and this comment from one bloodstock agent shows why: “They’re not making any more Northern Meteors, and he’s the best one.” The Gai Waterhouse-trained Northern Meteor, who won the 2008 Coolmore Stud Stakes, was by Encosta De Lago from Fappiano mare Explosive. Sadly, he died of colic last July. Waller has announced that Zoustar is to have three runs this Australian autumn, all at Randwick in Sydney: the Canterbury Stakes on March 15, the TJ Smith Stakes on April 12 and the All Aged Stakes on April 26. Zoustar will then go to England for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June. Black Caviar, Starspangledbanner, Takeover

Target and Choisir raced in Melbourne between February and March before winning at Ascot, but Waller is primarily targeting the Australian Turf Club’s enriched ‘The Championships’ meetings in April. The TJ Smith, for example, has gone from a $1m to a $2.5m race as part of the ATC’s plan to put its autumn meetings on the world map. This year the club, backed by Racing NSW and the state government, will get the best of the locals – some with Melbourne warm-ups on Flemington’s ‘Super Saturday’ that features two $1m races, the Newmarket Handicap and the Australian Cup. But international interest is limited, with quarantine scaring off all but the hardy and/or those not capable of winning Dubai’s millions at its March meeting. For starters, internationals have to do three weeks’ quarantine at Werribee, in Melbourne. And then they have a 1,000km trip to Sydney. The ‘hardy’ named at the time of going to press were Ireland’s Gordon Lord Byron and the Japanese miler Hana’s Goal, owned by Michael Tabart, a Japanese-based Australian. Tom Hogan was to bring Gordon Lord Byron from Tipperary for the million-dollar George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill on March 29 and the TJ Smith sprint, before going to Hong Kong for its international mile on May 4. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Take an ad on our website

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in March and get one free Contact George Primarolo on 07833 048999 or george@racehorsetrader. com

GO TO OUR WEBSITE TO CHECK THESE OUT Rare chance to buy a daughter of Galileo

XEQOK

Shares in exciting Royal Ascot prospect

EVOZM

Virginia Galilei was in training in France last year and showed great promise, finishing second twice. She looks a certain winner in the making and has been kept fit over the winter. She is a lovely tall leggy mare who has been given time to mature into her frame. She is only for sale as the current vendors no longer wish to race. n Visit www.racehorsetrader.com for details on how to buy this filly.

Foxtrot Knight is a precocious juvenile colt with Foxtrot Racing who will be ready to run at the start of the turf season. The Olly Stevens-trained colt is in full work alongside three-year-olds and his trainer has not only pencilled in an April maiden at Newbury as his starting point but believes he is an exciting Royal Ascot prospect. n £1,250 for a 1/12th share to cover ALL costs until end of October.

Winning broodmare in foal to Pastoral Pursuits

Attractive juvenile filly by Champs Elysees

DWJTW China Cherub is a winning broodmare by Inchinor who has produced two foals to date and is currently in foal to Pastoral Pursuits. She was a consistent filly on the level (achieving a peak rating of 87) and won four times in a 37 race career. She is sold sound and is due to produce her foal on the 11th April 2014. n China Cherub is on the market for £4,500 – near offers considered.

FFFYG This strong and attractive filly is by the popular Champs Elysees, who had a great first season as a stallion in 2013. She is currently in training in Newmarket with Mark Tompkins and is a half-sister to three winners. She comes from the very fast family of Grey Desire, Torgau and the stable’s own Steenberg. n This filly is priced at £20,000 (plus VAT) – shares also available.

FREE RUK FILM FOOTAGE WITH EACH AD WHERE AVAILABLE

TALKING TO... LEIGHTON ASPELL

Where there’s muck

THERE’S CLASS The ground may be horrendous but Leighton Aspell is having the time of his life – a first ever winner at the Cheltenham Festival would crown a superb season for the resurgent rider By Tim Richards • Photos George Selwyn

ou are enjoying a terrific season and riding out of your skin at present. What’s the secret? I am really enjoying the job right now. When you have your fitness and health you can be very, very positive about everything. I am not doing anything different, but when the horses are running well you have the confidence to keep your foot on the gas; you know there’s plenty of petrol in the tank and the engine is not going to blow round the next bend. I suppose you just feel on top of your game. Things are going well now but in July 2007, at the age of 31, you shocked the racing world with the sudden announcement of your retirement. What brought that about?

Summer is a quiet time for me – Lucy Wadham and Oliver Sherwood didn’t have much for me to ride and there wasn’t much racing. I was riding bad horses and wasn’t getting a kick out of it. On reflection I should have taken a break and come back in the autumn. I was a bit too hasty. I wasn’t happy where I was then and I had always harboured an interest in training and John Dunlop, who was nearby, offered me a job. So I thought I’d give it a go.

I’d been riding for were very positive, so I reapplied for my licence and was keen to have another go. Having said that, I was very conscious of the fact that I had a good job and was working for a good man in John Dunlop. But I had started to get hungry again and seeing jockeys who were forced into retirement through injury made me realise how lucky I was. I felt I must have another crack at it because I was one of the lucky ones, fit and raring to go.

You returned to the saddle less than two years later. Why did you come to this decision? After 12 months I started to feel that I had some unfinished business and after watching Cheltenham I realised how much I was missing it. That summer the trainers

What did you miss most, the weighing-room camaraderie, perhaps? And what did your 18-month absence enable you to understand about life as a professional jockey? There is camaraderie in most work places but I suspect nothing quite like the

LEIGHTON ASPELL >>

competitive edge you find in the weighingroom and this makes for a great buzz and a lot of enjoyment. Whether you’re on an outsider or a favourite, anything can happen, and you’ve really got to be in the zone and switched on. It can get very tough and there can be a lot of pressure, even doing the ordinary day-today stuff. And after a number of years it can become addictive, but then I suppose the whole racing scene is an addiction. I realised how much of a privileged position I was in, getting regular good quality rides, and that’s something to cherish. I walked away from that and was lucky enough to walk back into it.

Deputy Dan, a Grade 2 winner for Aspell at Warwick in January, loves soft ground and is heading for one of the Festival novice hurdles

Did you expect to slot back in with your previous trainers so easily when you came back? Definitely not, because they were employing Dominic Elsworth, who was doing very well. After I’d made my decision Dominic had a very bad head injury. I had spoken to Oliver and Lucy about schooling and they said by all means come in, but with no promises. I would have been happy riding second jockey to Dominic but he was out for 12 months and the job fell into my lap. Nobody ever said the job was mine and honestly I’d have been happy to share the rides with Dominic. You are the only jockey with your own official fan club. Is this a source of embarrassment or pride? I suppose it’s a bit of both. It started out as mickey-taking, a bit of fun and a laugh. Round about the time the racing channels were getting going some local lads in Sussex ran a naps table and the organiser John Fairbrother cleaned up with a 66-1 winner ridden by me. And I think that’s how the club started. Careerwise, it hasn’t helped me or hindered me, it’s just a bit of harmless fun. Shotgun Paddy and Aspell land the Classic Chase at Warwick

How involved in Irish racing were you before you came to England? My dad had a licence to train and I had ten rides on the Flat when I was 15 and still at school. But then I started to grow. I managed to convince my parents to let me leave school early and I came to England. When you arrived in England you became apprenticed to that great trainer of jockeys, Reg Hollinshead. Were your initial designs on the Flat?

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

LEIGHTON ASPELL

Dan can be main man at Cheltenham The Cheltenham Festival has never been Leighton Aspell’s happiest hunting ground – he is yet to enter the hallowed winner’s enclosure at jump racing’s Olympics – but an excellent book of rides gives the jockey hope that his luck could change this year. “This is the first year I have any winning chances,” he says. “At this stage there could be three of them; Deputy Dan, Many Clouds in the RSA Chase and Mischievous Milly in the mares’ race. Of course if Quevega turns up we might be racing for second place, but you can’t be frightened of one horse all the time. “Oliver Sherwood’s Deputy Dan is a lovely prospect and has an entry in the Neptune Novices’ and the Albert Bartlett Hurdles. I think it will depend on the ground as to which race he goes for. At home he’s just an average animal, a real ordinary Joe, such a laid-back character. On the gallops or the schooling ground you wouldn’t see any of his ability or get the impression he is special. But he certainly keeps going on the track and I am really looking forward to him, wherever he runs. “I have watched every Cheltenham since 1985, all the finishes, celebrations and post-race interviews with the owners, trainers and jockeys. And you just crave it. They are all your friends and while you are happy for them, underneath it all you are jealous because you’d love to be in their position. “I’ve spent my life craving a winner at the Festival and I’m still hoping for a piece of the action.”

I always loved jumping but I wanted to have some experience on the Flat and joined Reg Hollinshead. I had ten winners from about 100 rides on the Flat while I was with him. The setup there was quite regimental and you never got to know Reg very well. There was a long list of apprentices there, all trying to impress the boss and move up the queue for rides. You had to work hard to get noticed but it was a wonderful place to learn and a great school to be in. Reg Hollinshead laid the initial foundations that nurtured dedication and THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

“I’d have been happy

riding second jockey to Dominic but he was out for 12 months; the job fell into my lap”

discipline. What he instilled into us gave us the knowledge and confidence to go on to other jobs. Of course you learn and pick up different things from different trainers, but the daily routine laid down at Reg’s was the launchpad for a career in racing. I was there about 18 months. Then I moved on to Josh Gifford’s stable, which was very different and a great place to work as well. Which is your favourite course, and least favourite, and for what reasons?

LEIGHTON ASPELL

CLOSE UP AND... PERSONAL

CLOSE UP AND... PROFESSIONAL

Favourite film… Snatch

Best horse I’ve ridden… Deep Sensation (only on gallops), Rouble (potentially) and Puffin Billy

I relax by… a beer with friends and pony riding with the kids at weekends Perfect meal… rare steak

My racing idol is… Ruby Walsh

I am annoyed by… bad drivers

I would most like to win… Grand National

Four guests for dinner… Muhammad Ali, George Best, Michel Roux and Vincent O’Brien

I’d have to say Sandown, which is a really good jumping course providing a wonderful spectacle with all those fences down the far side. It’s such a good galloping course, a real test that provides plenty of close finishes up the hill. I have had very little luck at Cheltenham. You have got to be on a good horse to really appreciate the course because you are going faster than you would at an ordinary Monday to Friday meeting. It’s not much fun at the Festival when you are out of your comfort zone in the rear getting plenty of kickback. Hopefully this year I’ve got a handful of decent rides and I’m really looking forward to the Festival. How do you control your weight? What kind of fitness regime do you have to stay in shape? As you get older you understand your body better. I used to do a lot of long distance running, but in the last few years I started a pre-training business and I promise you that keeps me very busy and so I have very little spare time. Come the evening I know I’ve done a day’s work and being constantly on the go plays a big part in keeping my weight under control. I rent a barn from Amanda Perrett at Pulborough so I have some excellent facilities there for the ten or 12 horses I have in my care. I have three young daughters, aged six, four and two, so I have very little spare time between pony lessons and bike riding with them. Do you have much input into the Professional Jockeys Association and does the organisation have enough political clout? I personally don’t have much input but there are some very good lads on the committee and the PJA has really progressed these last ten years. The Association has been a tremendous support to all us jockeys through physios, racecourse doctors, nutrition, Oaksey House

in Lambourn and the upcoming Jack Berry House in Malton. Paul Struthers, our Chief Executive, was ex-British Horseracing Authority (BHA) so he has a very good understanding of the rules. The biggest problem we have had in recent years is the changing of the whip rules, which caused a big stir in the weighing-room. For a couple of months the atmosphere between the stewards and the jockeys on a daily basis wasn’t very good. Paul and his predecessor, Kevin Darley, did an excellent job in liaising with the authorities and resolving the whip issue. Now the rules are working very well.

“I had my licence

taken away and it was so incredulous that nobody in racing could believe it” What would you like to see done to improve the jockey’s lot, apart from reducing all the travelling? I would like to see jockeys receive 10% of prize-money across the board. At the moment we receive roughly 9% of first prize-money, 7% of second prize-money and 5% of third. And third prize-money on most courses is an absolute pittance. In Ireland and France jockeys get 10% of prize-money for the first three places, though their riding fee is not quite as much as ours, which is £161. But I do think 10% of all prize-money for jockeys would be a welcome improvement. You were arrested but later cleared of race-fixing following your ride on the doped Lively Knight at Plumpton in 1997. How do you look back on that unsettling period of your life? I had my licence taken away and it was so

Toughest opponent… AP McCoy My alternative career… rally driver

incredulous that nobody in racing could believe the situation. I look back with a small amount of anger, wondering how the Jockey Club’s security department could ever have thought it possible to hand the case over to the police who, with the Crown Prosecution Service, saw fit to make arrests. When they charged me with “conspiracy to steal by defraud” I thought it was a hoax. A couple of hours later, after the initial shock, I thought it was completely laughable. The whole episode beggars belief. Rouble was an exciting novice hurdler trained by Josh Gifford who sadly lost his life at the Festival. How long does this kind of thing stay with you and how do you get over it? You just have to pick yourself up and kick on. Rouble was a big raw horse and sadly never had the chance to fulfil his potential. Of course it gets you down but you’ve got to get back up because you have a job to do for the next trainer and owner. You’ve got to put it to the back of your mind, though inevitably you are inclined to have more time to think about it in the car on the way home. The intention when you stopped riding in 2007 was to go down the route to becoming a trainer. Is this still the plan when you retire? Possibly. Though I have to say I now regret having never finished school because I have no qualifications, and I am very much aware of how much my Mum wanted me to stay on at the time. When you’ve spent 21 years assessing horses’ fitness and ability I suppose training is the next step, if at all possible. I would hope having the pre-training yard will help me in that direction. Racing is a 24/7 kind of existence. Do you spend as much time with your family as you would like? No, I don’t. I’m based in Sussex and very often I miss the whole day with them when I’m travelling to and from far-off meetings. But I’m less busy in the summer so we can grab a bit of time and have a holiday together. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

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THE BIG INTERVIEW HARRY FRY

Fry’s Dorset

DELIGHT Former boss Paul Nicholls says he started out like a “wet weekend”, but after learning the ropes Harry Fry is now putting the experience to good use in making a name for himself Words Alan Lee • Photos George Selwyn

ven in a village of 65 people, it is easy to miss the stables where Harry Fry is causing such a stir. Seaborough is a Dorset community without shops or a pub. It is reached by a lane from Crewkerne that requires several minutes spent holding your breath and wondering how the horsebox ever gets out. As a signpost announces your arrival, the sight of an all-weather gallop and schooling fences urges you on. Instead, turn off at a long redundant post office, admire an ancient parish church, ignore the conviction that there can be nothing beyond it and pull into a functional yard with a mellow stone house standing unostentatiously to the rear. The yard and house, not to mention the gallop, a point-to-point course and much else around these parts, belong to Richard Barber, a horseman to the core and more than just landlord to the second-season trainer. Just as his brother, Paul, has been the constant support and advisor to his own tenant, Paul Nicholls, Barber

has mentored Fry so well that he could one day be a champion himself. The circle is still closer than this, however, as Fry cut his racing teeth working for Nicholls. Crucially, he was given responsibility when the then champion trainer started a satellite yard at Seaborough and it was from there that Rock On Ruby was trained to win the 2012 Champion Hurdle. That was enough to convince Fry he was ready to go it alone and nothing that has happened since indicates he was mistaken. There is a quiet authority about Fry, doubtless helped by his bass voice and looming height. Certainly, he suggests a maturity way beyond his 27 years. “My plan had been to start when I was 30, not 25, but I never worried about being too young and none of the owners thought it was an issue,” he says. “I just knew I had to seize the chance.” He has done so with a handpicked team of horses – “we didn’t have to start with everyone else’s cast-offs,

Harry Fry “never worried about being too young” to start training aged 25 – he seized the chance and two years on could be saddling half a dozen horses at the Cheltenham Festival

HARRY FRY

>> like many new yards” – and with an assistant,

Ciara O’Connor, who became his girlfriend and is now his fiancée. “I wouldn’t be doing this without her,” he insists. His first season brought 20 winners from only 72 runners and he has already improved those remarkable figures this term. “It’s not something we set out to achieve,” he says of his enviable strike-rate. “But I see no point whatsoever in running horses if they have no chance. With all the costs up to the day, then the raceday expenses, owners will get disappointed. It’s a recipe for disaster.” Given this thought process, it is significant that he is aiming at least six horses at the Cheltenham Festival. Plainly, none are social runners. To all intents and purposes, Fry trained Rock On Ruby to his Champion Hurdle win but the records will forever credit Nicholls. “Getting a Cheltenham winner in our own right is an absolute priority,” he says. So how did it happen, this whirlwind creation of a skilled trainer and businessman so indecently young? It was not inherited, for sure, as Fry’s father is an accountant and was initially keen that his eldest son at least acquired a full education on which to base career decisions. Fry, though, had been making the 20-minute journey to Seaborough from his family home every weekend since the age of 13. His mind was set. “Growing up, all I wanted to be was a jockey,” he recalls. “The first morning I came in here, Richard looked at my hands and feet and told me to forget that. So I began to think about training. Racing is a fickle game, though. Only a lucky few make it. As an accountant, dad was probably thinking of those percentages and reckoning I’d be better off getting a decent education.” He went along with it, albeit half-heartedly. “I was a day boy at school in Sherborne, where the headmaster was very keen on racing,” he recalls. “We were supposed to

“I see no point in

running horses if they have no chance. With the costs, owners will get disappointed” spend all day there but he turned a blind eye to the fact I turned up only for lessons – I was here at Seaborough the rest of the time. I spent my gap year here, too, before going to Cirencester Agricultural College, where it took only one lecture to convince me I was in the wrong place.” Fry had gone to Cirencester in turmoil. He had just missed out on a job as pupil assistant to Sir Mark Prescott but had been offered a similar job by Nicholls. Parental pressure persuaded him to start his college course. “Richard told me I was wasting my time and, ten minutes in, I was already planning a call to Paul to see if the job was

still available,” he says. “Mum and dad were in Africa, which was probably fortunate, and by the time they came back I had started at Ditcheat. I think they were impressed that I’d followed my instincts and made a decision.” He made another one in the spring of 2010. “I’d just come back from Punchestown and I went to Paul and said I needed a new challenge,” Fry reveals. “He went to a pointto-point that afternoon and spoke to Richard about it. Richard said it would be ideal if I came here to run the place I knew so well and that’s what happened. For two years I was under the wing of Richard and Paul, and I count myself lucky to have learned from two such fantastic people.” He learned quickly. Fry had never even been to the Cheltenham Festival until 2008. Four years later, he was largely responsible for the Champion Hurdle winner. “Ruby has never even been up the Ditcheat gallop,” he says. “The closest he gets is the farm down below. Paul Barber’s son, Chris, owns that and he is in the syndicate in the horse. Ruby spends his summers there but, when in training, he has always lived at Seaborough.” Some are scornful of his Arkle prospects, THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

HARRY FRY “We could easily put up another ten boxes in the barn and there are more in Richard’s point-to-point yard next door. Expansion would be great eventually but I need to get the right people in the right positions first. We have 18 staff and most of them live on site. It’s a young team and steam is let off occasionally, but that’s fine. To me, this is about involving everybody.” This spirit extends beyond the daily routines. “This place can get cut off when it’s icy, so we form an unofficial gritting team,” Fry explains. “The residents love it – we keep the roads open!” Ten of the staff are also undertaking a 52-mile cycle ride in the spring for the local air ambulance team, which has been called three times to the Seaborough gallops after rider mishaps. “We try to keep the riders on the same horses each day, so they build up relationships and give us decent feedback,” Fry adds. The ride on Rock On Ruby, though, is never available. Unless Noel

From l-r: Viv and Richard Barber; the idyllic, if remote, lanes around Fry’s yard; his fiancée Ciara O’Connor

reasoning he is nine years old and has beaten only three horses in his two bloodless chase wins, but Fry counters: “Not many champion hurdlers have gone over fences recently and he’ll go there with as good a chance as any.” There is, though, an unspoken yearning at Seaborough to be known for something other than this one horse. “That’s why the most important day last season was when Opening Batsman won the Racing Plus Chase,” Fry says. “Suddenly people saw I wasn’t just a one-trick pony. The phone started to ring and more horses arrived.” There are 40 in the yard now and Fry is cautious about straining for more. He recognises the privilege he had, with a readymade yard and a star horse already installed, and contrasts it with the position of his friend and former colleague at Ditcheat, Dan Skelton. “Dan and I are very close,” he says. “We’re both young and ambitious and we would speak every week. We’ve been lucky in different ways. I took on an established yard whereas Dan had to fill his boxes, though his father’s support has given him fantastic facilities. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

HARRY FRY

Fry on Nicholls... “I think he probably reckoned I was a waste of space in my first year, and he’d be right – I was just in awe of it all, not just the wonderful horses but the way he did the job. Attention to detail, focus and complete dedication are the main things I took from him. Every race and every runner mattered. “I remember being in the office one summer afternoon and he was jumping up and down watching a little race at Stratford. You could be at Paul’s place for supper and he would be talking about what we should school the next day. His mind never switched off. It opened my eyes to what was needed, to be at that level. But it didn’t put me off, it just made me aspire to do the same. Everyone needs targets and Paul gave me mine.”

>> Fehily,

another of Fry’s assets, is in for a schooling morning, he will be ridden by Ciara, described by the trainer as “one of those good things that can happen in life.” He explains: “The first I knew of her was a CV she had sent to Paul, Jonjo O’Neill and Philip Hobbs when she wanted to come over from Ireland. Clifford [Baker, Nicholls’s head man] said she might help me get Seaborough up and running. She came over for an interview but drove away saying she would never come here, because it was too far out in the sticks. “She must have had a bad day, however, because a week later she rang back and said she would come. Ciara started as head girl within two months of me moving in here, Ruby was one of the first horses she rode and she’s never been off his back since. Our relationship grew with time. She had a boyfriend when she arrived, so I wasn’t too popular with her family, but I think we’ve smoothed that over now!” Most parents would surely be delighted with Fry as a prospective son-in-law. The progress he has made already is startling and his focus is strongly reminiscent of the young Nicholls. “It’s very full-on but that’s what I saw at Ditcheat,” he says. “Paul would go off to Barbados most Januarys and, after day two, he couldn’t wait to get back. When my brother and sister go off skiing, I can’t do it – we just don’t get a break – but at this stage I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. “Ciara and I live in a flat. It’s attached to the stable office and not much bigger, so most evenings we spend our time in the office. Sometimes I’m still at the desk at 9.30pm, having started at 5.30am, and I wonder if the day will ever end. But this isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle.”

It may sound a spartan, unglamorous regime for a young couple but both give off the strong impression that they have signed up to it through desire and ambition. Plainly, they are also learning to cope with setbacks, such as the unexpected loss of three nurtured horses – including the highly-rated Oscar Rock and Urban Hymn, at the start of this season. “Richard and I had bought Oscar Rock unraced and owned him ourselves for 18 months before selling him to Mr and Mrs Calder,” Fry says. “We’d looked after him for his hurdling career, and Urban Hymn will make a lovely three-mile chaser, but they

decided they wanted their horses closer to home, so they were sent to Malcolm Jefferson in Yorkshire. “It was a big blow to us but the very next week I had a call out of the blue asking us to train Vukovar. He’d already won four races

“In another two years I might look back on how I am now and think I was a bit of a loose cannon”

in France, beating Dell’ Arca in his last race there. He’s a very exciting horse and he will go for the JLT Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.” That old cliché about one door closing and another opening is easily applied to training, and Fry is fast adapting to its demands on his temperament. Superficially he seems assured and icy cool, but he admits there is much beneath the surface. “I’m getting better,” he says. “In another two years I might look back on how I am now and think I was a bit of a loose cannon, but I don’t beat myself up so much when things go wrong, as I did right at the start. “By the nature of this business, there will always be setbacks. You can’t get too frustrated or you simply won’t make the correct decisions. I try to step back and always look at the bigger picture.”

Nicholls on Fry... “He was like a wet weekend to start with. If there was a piece of ice in the yard, you could be sure Harry would slip over on it. He was clumsy and nervous and accident-prone, but Dan [Skelton] was a bit the same when he came. You have to give them time and, if they’re going to be any good, they soon respond. “Harry has learned to do things properly and he is very patient with his horses. I tease him that he’s too worried about his strike-rate and should get on and run them, but he has done very well in his first couple of years and he will only get better. “Lots of people call him mini-me, because he approaches the job in a similar way. The gallop at Seaborough is a big asset to him and so is the wisdom of Richard Barber.”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

THE ANNIE POWER STORY

ANNIE

get your gun Willie Mullins’s star mare will be shooting for glory at Cheltenham, and she represents a very special namesake for her breeder Eamon Cleary

GEORGE SELWYN

here’s something extra special about a mare winning at Cheltenham. Whether it’s the female of the species triumphing over the traditionally all-dominant males, noone can quite put a finger on why the sight of a mare pounding up the hill in front of the boys unleashes such untethered joy and emotion. We’ve seen it before of course – the diminutive Lady Rebecca, who, despite not winning at the Festival, still amassed seven wins against the boys at Cheltenham. Before her came the greatest mare of all, Dawn Run, who 30 years ago this very March won the Champion Hurdle before taking the Gold Cup two years later. She remains the only horse to achieve this momentous feat. The fact is, mares of this calibre simply don’t come along all that often. “Annie Power is the nearest I’ve seen to Dawn Run” – these are the words of Willie Mullins, champion jumps trainer in Ireland for the last six years and odds-on favourite to be leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for the third time in just four years. No higher compliment could be bestowed upon a mare, and Mullins

Rich Ricci congratulates Ruby Walsh

knows more about Dawn Run than most, having assisted his late father Paddy in her training. The records show it is 90 years since another legendary female, the original Annie Power, first fought for Ireland. She was forced to fend off foreign invaders in order to protect her family after her house had been burnt to the ground. We now live in more peaceful times, where the fighting is confined to sporting arenas, though rivalries remain intense. The tables have turned somewhat and Annie Power has evolved from defender to aggressor, with her equine reincarnation having recently crossed the Irish Sea to emerge victorious from battles at Ascot, Cheltenham and Doncaster. In doing so, she has taken her unbeaten record to ten wins. Her reconnaissance missions went to plan. Battles have been won but the war is yet to be fought at the ultimate cauldron that is the Cheltenham Festival. If she wins there, the comparisons with Dawn Run will be justified. Eamon Cleary will be there to see her. He is accustomed to big sporting occasions having competed in front of 65,000 people in his day. He excelled as a sportsman in both GAA codes (football and hurling), having won an All Stars Award with his native Wexford, a Railway Cup medal with Leinster and numerous titles with his club, Rathgarogue Cushinstown. It was thorough his association with the GAA that Cleary got to know fellow Wexford man and leading Flat trainer Jim Bolger. This time Cleary will be among the crowd as

GEORGE SELWYN

Words Joseph Burke

Annie Power and Ruby Walsh in full flight at Doncaster en route to the mareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tenth consecutive win

THE ANNIE POWER STORY

he is the man with an integral link to both Annie Power the woman and the racehorse. Cleary is the grandson of Annie Power, as well as the breeder of the most exciting National Hunt mare to grace our racetracks for 30 years. He also owned her when she began her career as a racehorse. “I didn’t name her until I knew she was ready to run and that she was special,” said the Dubai-based Irishman. “My whole family has got such great fun out of her.” Cleary details how Annie Power came to be. “I bought Annie’s dam [Anno Luce] at the sales, with a view to visiting Teofilo, but she didn’t make the cut. I love the breeding end of the game and I’ve been lucky enough to breed some very decent Flat horses at the Hyland family’s Oghill House Stud over the years. Anno Luce took my eye as she is from a great Sheikh Mohammed family – in fact, she traces back to one of his foundation mares, Anna Paola.” Annie Power is indeed a granddaughter of Anna Paola, who as a juvenile was crowned champion two-year-old of Germany in 1980. In her Classic year she won the Preis der Diana (German Oaks), a race which ensured she added the accolade of champion three-year-old

“She has a high

cruising speed and knows the aim is to beat the other horses – she’s very clever ” filly to her impressive cv. It is, however, her achievements as a broodmare that will ensure she lives long in the memory, for she has provided Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley organisation with a fabulous dynasty. The production line she founded 30 years ago is still throwing out stars, as is evident by the recent addition of Australian Group 1 winners Helmet and Epaulette to the Darley stallion roster. Anna Paola’s daughter Anno Luce represented Sheikh Mohammed in the 1996 renewal of the Preis der Diana, finishing third. Initially, she was disappointing at stud and was offered at Goffs as a 14-year-old, having produced four nondescript winners. That did not worry Cleary, who recognised the strength of her pedigree and the fact that she had a Monsun colt to run and was carrying to his son, Shirocco. He takes up the story: “I thought she had the capability to produce a good middle-distance horse, I loved her pedigree and I said I’d have to try to get her. I thought I had her at €38,000 but then a friend of mine, Dermot Cantillon, got involved and she ended up costing me €60,000!

CAROLINE NORRIS

>> a spectator. He is no ordinary fan, however, for

Eamon Cleary and sons Sean, Liam and Colm collect an ITBA Award for Annie Power, pictured right after exercise with regular rider Jason Dear

“When she didn’t make the cut for Teofilo I sold her on to Cathal Ennis, but I kept her foal.” The filly who would become Annie Power was raised by John Banahan and broken-in by Ross O’Sullivan before being sent into training with Bolger at two. Cleary continues: “She was there for about six or seven weeks until I met Jim at the Curragh one day and he told me, ‘You can collect that lady any time and we’ll have a look at her again next year’. That was all that was said and I knew myself she was still growing. When I picked her up, Jim gave me a programme of work to do with her and he told me to bring her back the following May. So I took her home to Oghill House Stud, where they have fantastic grazing, which helped her fill into herself.” Despite returning to Bolger at three, Annie Power was still growing and had another stint back at Oghill House Stud, where she was kept in light ridden work by John Sherman before returning to Coolcullen seven weeks before she made her debut. “Jim phoned me a short time before she was due to make her debut and said, ‘This one could win the bumper in Galway’,” recalls Cleary. “That was the first time I knew we had a good one on our hands.” Annie Power duly won at Galway under Patrick Mullins, who remembers the day well. “She nearly got beat,” he says. “Myself and Nina [Carberry] jumped off upsides and went steady, which I thought would suit a Jim Bolger horse, but she actually got outsprinted as we turned for home. However, she clawed her way back up to win by about a length or so. She was very green that day so there was lots of improvement to come.” The mare’s next win was a 15-length romp at Cleary’s home track, Wexford, again under Mullins. That was also the day she caught the eye of the jockey’s father. Willie Mullins says: “I was there that day and it was the first time I had seen her in the flesh. I can still remember this beautiful, deep-girthed THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

THE ANNIE POWER STORY hand?’ I said, ‘No problem, but what’s this about?’ He replied ‘You’re the man that bred Annie Power. I went to Cheltenham especially to see her on New Year’s Day and she didn’t let me down’. “That really got to me, you know. I realise that people are passionate about horses but Annie Power has really captured people’s hearts and this just gives the whole family such pleasure. She has a huge following in Dubai as well between the racing contingent and the Dubai Celts GAA club. Whenever she runs, everyone heads to McGettigan’s Irish pub to cheer her home on the big screen. “I can still remember sitting with my grandmother down through the years as she would tell me the stories of how tough times were. She is a legend to me and the horse rekindles those memories every time she runs. She would be very proud if she were still with us and it’s fantastic that her memory lives on through Annie Power.” Cheltenham is always special but the presence of the unbeaten Annie Power at this year’s Festival adds extra spice to a pot which was already bubbling away very nicely. Victory for Annie Power would see it boil over once again, evoking scenes not witnessed since the great Dawn Run. But is it too much to expect? “Annie Power is a fine big mare just like Dawn Run, who was probably stronger but Annie is more racy and has the size and the scope,” says Willie Mullins. “She has shown us she could have Dawn Run’s ability – there are a lot of similarities.”

GEORGE SELWYN

filly and for her to win like that was deeply impressive. “Knowing Jim [Bolger], I knew that if she was going to be a jumps filly he’d be keener to sell and move on, so we made the approach. It took us a while to hammer out a deal but we did it.” It was completed just in time for Annie Power’s third start at Listowel, where she beat her sole rival by an unextended 61 lengths in the colours of her new owner, Susannah Ricci. “Most people ignored that race due to the fact there were only two runners, but her time was eight seconds faster than the valuable hurdle on the card, and that was despite her going around in front on her own, without me pushing her,” recalls Mullins jnr. “That was the first day I thought she could really be something special. I thought it was an extraordinary performance yet it went underneath a lot of people’s noses. “Dad then let me ride Annie Power in her first hurdle race at Thurles because I was going for the amateur riders’ record. She jumped great and won very easily. “Jason Dear rides her at home – I get to sit on her only the odd time these days. She has a high cruising speed and she enjoys her racing, she always runs with her ears pricked. She knows that the aim is to beat the other horses, she’s very clever. It sounds obvious but it’s something you can’t put into horses. She has it!” According to Cleary, Annie Power’s fame is not simply confined to these shores. “I was at Meydan the other day and this English guy who was out there for the races came over to me and said, ‘Can I shake your

Great mares at the Cheltenham Festival Dawn Run (above) – Champion Hurdle 1984, Gold Cup 1986 Glencaraig Lady – Gold Cup 1972 Flakey Dove – Champion Hurdle 1994 African Sister – Champion Hurdle 1939 JOSEPH BURKE

Anaglogs Daughter – Arkle Trophy 1980

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Mysilv – Triumph Hurdle 1994 Quevega – David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle 2009-2013

STUD CUBES

COARSE STUD MIX

RACEHORSE COARSE MIX

Own and Race in Ireland... IN 2013...

Irish trained horses excelled the world over: A record 14 Irish trained Cheltenham winners. A record equalling 8 Royal Ascot winners. Group 1 & Grade 1 wins in UK, USA, Dubai, France & Japan.

IN 2014...

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YORTON FARM

Embracing the

WINTER GAME There can be no more enthusiastic supporters of British National Hunt breeding than David and Teresa Futter, who have a new base and three new stallions at Yorton Farm Words and photos Emma Berry

Oh yes, he’s the Great Pretender: a son of King’s Theatre new to Wales this season; below are David and Teresa Futter in the stallion yard at Yorton Farm

t’s only just over two years ago that Yorton Farm appeared in these pages alongside a feature on Rathbarry Stud in Ireland. Though the names remains the same – both of the farm and the people behind the burgeoning operation – much has changed in that time, prompting a return visit, this time to the stud’s new base at Leighton Farm in Welshpool. It was on the eve of the inaugural TBA National Hunt Foal Show back in July that David and Teresa Futter first announced their intention to move from their original base on the Sansaw Estate in Shropshire, which had been home to a growing number of jumps stallions and boarding mares. During a frenetic autumn, the four resident stallions, the broodmare band, the Futters’ two sons and three dogs gradually migrated over the border into Wales and onto the Grade II Listed Victorian model farm bought by National Hunt owner/breeders James and Jean Potter.

Y O RT O N FA R M

TBA National Hunt Committee members Nick Luck, David Futter and Richard Aston at the inaugural foal show at Bangor

Along with the move came three new stallions, bringing the roster to six. Sakhee has returned to Shadwell but joining Sulamani, Malinas and Librettist at Yorton are Norse Dancer, who has moved from Jeff Smith’s Littleton Stud, Great Pretender, a former resident of Pascal Noue’s Haras de la Hetraie, and freshman Universal, a son of Dubawi under the ownership of Darley. The three existing stallions on the roster are

all owned in partnership with Rathbarry Stud following an arrangement which started with the late Liam Cashman, who had asked the Futters to stand Revoque, feeling the stallion would benefit from a change of scene from Ireland to England. The relationship continues though Catherine Cashman, with David Futter and bloodstock agent Richard Venn opting to buy Sulamani and Malinas for the farm with Rathbarry’s backing.

Malinas covered more mares than any other British National Hunt sire last season

“We work closely with Rathbarry Stud, they’ve supported us fantastically and have invested in the stallions,” says David Futter. “Our main aim is getting fresh blood for British breeders so we can develop our industry.” This approach – and influx of new stallions – appears to be working. The British National Hunt industry operates with a small pool of mares, many of whom have traditionally been covered by more commercial stallions in Ireland and France. Even the most established British-based jump sires struggle to attract a three-figure book but the increasingly popular Malinas covered 129 mares in 2013, while one of his sons became the first champion of the TBA National Hunt Foal Show. Despite his appeal in the UK, Malinas could end up serving a stint in Ireland. “He may well go to Ireland and come back,” Futter says. “He’s been well patronised by British breeders, especially in this climate. “We have such a small broodmare band now in this country, so what we’ve tried to do is move stallions around from Ireland to France to Britain, and it gives people a chance to use more commercial stallions that are going to be here only for a short time.” That unofficial tripartite agreement, which also brings in enterprising Frenchman Pascal Noue, who formerly stood both Malinas and King’s Theatre’s son Great Pretender, is a refreshing counterpoint to the traditional ‘us and them’ feeling within the National Hunt ranks. It’s quite clear that Britain doesn’t have the mare pool to compete with Ireland, or the THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Y O RT O N FA R M

diversity of the French ranks through the AQPS system and wide array of lowly-priced stallions on offer. There are a number of initiatives in place to entice the better British mares to stay at home – including the TBA’s Elite National Hunt Mares Incentive Scheme – and improving the calibre and variety of stallions on offer can only help to ensure that they are taken up.

“At the moment we’ve got the best jumping stallions we’ve probably ever had in this country, including Kayf Tara, who has been really successful – but even he struggles to get a decent size book of mares,” says Futter, whose enthusiasm for National Hunt breeding in Britain doesn’t end with attempting to attract as many mares as he can to the Yorton stallions. Along with fellow TBA National Hunt Committee member Richard Aston, he was a principal organiser of the first TBA National Hunt Foal Show at Bangor, which is to become an annual fixture. He continues: “For us to go forward, all the studs have to stick together and work together. I want to get breeders involved and to feel part of it. That was part of the aim behind the foal show. Not everyone’s breeding commercially but it’s good to get people together and talking to each other. There has to be some fun involved because not all breeders are making money. We want to have a community feeling. “The show was a vehicle for getting everyone together and we’re organising another one for this year and quite a lot of people have come forward with ideas about how we could develop it. We could easily get carried away. Did the first show work because it was simple and just included mares and foals? We could include some yearlings but we must be conscious of not letting it get too far away from its main aim. We need it to be big enough to be successful yet small enough for people to feel comfortable and involved.” While these and other quandaries are mulled over by the National Hunt Committee, the

“There has to be some fun involved because not all breeders are doing it commercially and making money”

seemingly indefatigable Futters have their hands full on the home front, where they are assisted by Lucy Dawson and their two sons, Lester and Riley. Work at the new Yorton Farm at Leighton continues apace to the highest spec. Vast Victorian barns, one of which previously housed the estate’s elaborate funicular railway, are gradually being transformed into stabling. A covered horse-walker has recently been installed and plans for a new stallion yard are under way with tiling from the original building being laboriously removed and reused. Our visit takes place on the wettest January day, with the various workmen about the farm still hard at it and the Futters thanking their lucky stars for their paddocks on high land as they survey the scene of neighbouring fields submerged in water. Irish-born Teresa has already fully immersed herself in the local hunting and point-topointing community and says: “We can’t wait now to get stuck in and for the covering season to start. I really want to get people to come to

Yorton Farm’s Lucy Dawson with Peter and Anne Nelson’s Annie’s Gift and her TBA foal show champion Malinas colt

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Y O RT O N FA R M >> see the place and see where we are. It’s all

systems go.” Her husband adds: “We feel extremely fortunate to have had the support from Pascal Noue and Rathbarry, and initially Minty [David Minton] and Wood Farm Stud, who got us going. Now of course we can add to the list James and Jean Potter and Darley. We’ve had a lot of help.” One of the hardest jobs for any stallion master is the promotion of his sires but this is a task which Futter performs effortlessly. So passionate is his belief, not just in the horses he stands, but in the wider National Hunt stallion community in Britain, that it’s hard not to be swept along on his wave of optimism. But it is not merely blind hope without foundation.

Shirocco’s unbeaten Red Sherlock, out of the great mare Lady Cricket

mares to your stallion can really increase his chance of success – it’s not just numbers” In Malinas, the sire of last year’s Coral Cup winner Medinas and Grade 2 RSA Novices’ Trial Chase winner Black Thunder, he has one of the most exciting young jump stallions in the country. Sulamani, who, like Malinas, is a grandson of Niniski, fired in a Classic winner on the Flat from his first crop and has some useful Festival prospects via the likes of Rule The World and Spirit Of Shankly. Great Pretender, like the dependable Midnight Legend, is one of only a few jump stallions to boast actual jumping form. A Listed winner on the Flat and over hurdles, he has already sired the French Grade 1 winners Ptit Zig and Grand d’Auteuil, both of whom won the four-year-old hurdles championship, the Prix Renaud du Vivier, at Auteuil. His particular appeal is the fact that he is a son of the late champion jump sire King’s Theatre. “We’re trying to keep the stallion fees at a reasonable price,” says Futter. “Great Pretender has had two Grade 1 winners and at one time he might have stood for around £7,000.” His fee is in fact less than half of that – at £3,000 he stands at the same price as Sulamani and Malinas. “The mares make a stallion and getting the right mares to your stallion is the one thing that can really increase his chance of success – it’s not just numbers,” Futter says. “We get much more pleasure out of trying to attract the right mares, not just lots of mares.” Having sought advice from Richard Aston, one of the country’s most successful National

GEORGE SELWYN

“Getting the right

Shirocco blows in at Glenview With the former champion National Hunt stallion Presenting on the roster, along with Quevega’s sire Robin Des Champs, the Cashman family’s Glenview Stud – the jumping wing of Rathbarry – has long been a source of decent jumping talent. It was no surprise then to hear last autumn that the farm’s new signing for 2014 was to be Shirocco, the former Darley stallion who has been patronised by some shrewd National Hunt breeders ever since he retired to Dalham Hall Stud in 2007, with the likes of the unbeaten Annie Power (see pages 50-53) and Red Sherlock among his exciting young jumping stock. Rathbarry and Glenview’s Catherine Cashman recalls: “Right back when Shirocco first went to Dalham Hall Stud, Liam [Cashman] went to see him during the December Sales and he thought he was one of the most gorgeous horses he’d ever seen. “He jokingly said to [Darley’s] Mick Buckley, ‘If this horse ever ends up going the National Hunt route make sure you keep me in mind’. We followed his progress keenly in the intervening years and we’re now delighted to have him here.” During that time, the appeal of Monsun’s sons in the National Hunt sphere has grown enormously, helped in no small part by the high-profile Sprinter Sacre, who is by the French-based Monsun stallion Network. Cashman adds: “It helps of course that Shirocco is a complete outcross for all the Sadler’s Wells mares. He’s going to be very busy this year. People have come from all over to see him and he’s been well received. Cheltenham is going to be very exciting – the timing of his arrival here is perfect.”

Hunt breeders along with his wife Sally, the Futters opted to take up Darley’s offer to stand the five-year-old Universal, a three-time Group winner over 12 furlongs who represents an intriguing dual-purpose option on the roster. His sire Dubawi is now established as one of the world’s elite Flat stallions, but the Darley star also has an enviable strike-rate among his clutch of runners over jumps. His ten winners from 20 runners include recent Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase runner-up Dodging Bullets, bred by another star of the Flat in Frankie Dettori. “I really do feel that Dubawi could be a fantastic sire of sires and to have Universal here at the price he is is a fantastic opportunity,”

enthuses Futter. “It’s also really great for us to have Darley take an interest in the farm and we’re very proud to be standing him.” British National Hunt breeders should be glad that Sheikh Mohammed has repeatedly rebuffed offers from Ireland to keep his dual Ascot Gold Cup winner, and now four-time champion British National Hunt sire, Kayf Tara standing at Overbury Stud. It will be interesting to see if Universal can do for his sireline what King’s Theatre, Oscar, Kayf Tara and co have done for the Sadler’s Wells line under the winter code. One thing’s for certain, with the Yorton team behind him he won’t lack for enthusiastic support. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

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BREEDERS’ DIGEST By EMMA BERRY, Bloodstock Editor

Our bloodstock coverage this month includes:

• Sales Circuit: Trading Leather’s dam is the star of the mid-winter sales – pages 63-69 • The Caulfield Files: Don’t overlook the US sires come breeze-up time – pages 71-72

Time to capitalise on a golden age I in the aftermath of the Cheltenham Festival, the standings in the National Hunt sires’ table are bound to be given a bit of a shake-up, though the leaderboard currently retains an air of familiarity. The late King’s Theatre, champion sire for the last two years, remains on top with Beneficial, who died last April, not far behind. Of those still active, the dependable names of Oscar, Presenting, Milan and Flemensfirth, all with a sizeable array of representatives, are to the fore as usual. Kayf Tara leads the charge for British-based sires, just as he has done for the preceding four seasons. Both Kayf Tara and Midnight Legend boast strike-rates in excess of 32% and higher than any of their active counterparts, but with fewer offspring running for them, it’s hard to make an impression at the top of the table. Percentages of winners to runners, or winners to foals, are the most reliable way to gauge any stallion’s success, though they can’t of course convey the quality of mares to have visited each horse, merely the number. Ripples formed from the ebb and flow of stallions’ popularity at stud take a long time to reach the racecourse, especially with jumping stock, which makes the early loss of sires such as Montjeu’s brother Gold Well – who

currently boasts a 42% winners-to-runners strike-rate – even more lamentable. In the case of Shirocco, now 13 and only officially standing under the National Hunt banner for the first time this season, some breeders are fortunate in being ahead of the curve. As we hear on page 58, the late Liam Cashman had singled him out as a potential star of the jumping ranks from his first season at stud, and so had David Johnson, who died last year. Johnson’s great racemare Lady Cricket visited Shirocco on three occasions, the first of which resulted in the unbeaten Cheltenham contender Red Sherlock. Eamon Cleary, breeder and former owner of Shirocco’s daughter Annie Power (see pages 50-53), sent her initially to Jim Bolger and the pair had the good sense to give the statuesque mare time to fill out and find her feet. The wisdom of that patience is evident in the most exciting jumps mare in training since Dawn Run.

Stallion showcase Thoughts may be focused on Cheltenham, but the covering season is now in full cry, making it a very busy time for stud farmers. Though the elite stallions will have had ‘book full’ signs posted since the breeding stock sales, for the more affordable sires and some new to the ranks, a trip to the TBA Stallion Parade at Tattersalls’ February Sale is

Gazeley Stud’s Finjaan in great shape at the TBA Stallion Parade at Tattersalls

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worthwhile, if the packed ring which welcomed the 13 on show is any guide. Appearing at the parade was Finjaan, who is the first public stallion representative for Gazeley Stud near Newmarket since the days of Hotfoot. He is not alone in the stallion barn, however, as Gazeley’s owners, David and Deborah Curran, have also retained their triple winner Mighty, a Cheveley Park Studbred son of Pivotal. “Mighty’s my pet really. We only sent him one mare the first year,” said Deborah Curran of the 11-year-old. “That foal is now a twoyear-old and in training with Gary Harrison. I also have five yearlings by him.” She added: “We’ve had plenty of interest in Finjaan and we’ll be supporting him. We’ve refurbished the stallion boxes and the aim is to stand four eventually.” The TBA parade followed hard on the heels of the great French initiative La Route des Etalons, now in its fifth year and growing in popularity all the time. It’s quite something to coordinate the opening of 27 farms to show off 98 stallions within the same weekend but the persistence of the organisers has been rewarded by an increasing number of international visitors. It’s a subject I’ve raised previously but I’d still like to see a similar flagship weekend organised to promote British breeding and stallions. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the TBA’s National Hunt Committee didn’t shy away from borrowing a good idea from the French in launching an annual National Hunt foal show last summer. Such gatherings are popular among AQPS breeders and the result here was a convivial day with an air of competition which demonstrated that, with good organisation and goodwill, such initiatives can reap benefits. Yorton Farm’s David Futter (see pages 5558), whose enthusiasm for National Hunt breeding should be bottled and sold, would like to see studs working together to help improve the lot of British breeders. That doesn't just go for the jumping farms. With the current high calibre of Flat sires on offer on these shores, a similar stallion open weekend would be one way to showcase the strength of British breeding.

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SALES CIRCUIT By CARL EVANS and NICOLA HAYWARD

Night Visit lifts the winter gloom with lofty price tag Ten-year-old dam of Trading Leather sells for €975,000 at the Goffs February Sale

Goffs February Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Night Visit (Sinndar-Moonlight Sail)

Redmondstown Stud

Price (€) 975,000

Buyer De Burgh Equine

What Style (Teofilo-Out Of Time)

Castlebridge Consignment

160,000

Brian Grassick Bloodstock

C Big Bad Bob-Shine Silently

Dooneen Stud

90,000

Trickledown Stud

Secret Question (Rahy-Ecoute)

Castlebridge Consignment

70,000

Charles Gordon-Watson

Indigo River (Kodiac-Sunny Slope)

Cooneen Stud

62,000

Oliver St Lawrence

Koonunja (Anabaa-Believe Me)

Rathbarry Stud

56,000

Emerald Bloodstock

C Lilbourne Lad-Amber Nectar

Galbertstown Stud

54,000

Jim Smith

C Arcano-Third Dimension

Swordlestown Little

52,000

Abbeylands Farm

C Lope de Vega-Chanter

Swordlestown Stud

48,000

Epona Bloodstock

C Dark Angel-Love Green

Ballyduane Stud

42,000

Ritchie Fiddes

PETER MOONEY

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2014

256

4,218,100

16,477

7,000

975,000

2013

290

2,873,200

9,907

5,500

100,000

2012

288

3,746,000

13,006

5,100

500,000

2011

209

1,825,900

8,736

5,000

74,000

2010

194

1,863,600

9,606

4,100

145,000

Hubie de Burgh, successful purchaser of Night Visit for an unnamed client

Goffs February Sale

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PETER MOONEY

rish sales company Goffs has been proclaiming itself king of the mid-winter sale, and it can justifiably maintain that stance after this event turned over more than €4,200,000. That sum was reaped over two days, during which the company hit a bull’s eye when offering the dam of Irish Derby winner Trading Leather. Night Visit, a ten-year-old daughter of Sinndar and carrying to Intense Focus, made €975,000 when selling to Hubie De Burgh on behalf of “an international client”. Trainer/breeder/owner Jim Bolger was again the catalyst for this mighty Goffs moment, for he offered Night Visit, just as he had Teo’s Sister, who made €500,000 at this auction two years earlier – and let’s not forget Banimpire, who put €2,300,000

Classic producer Night Visit, sold in foal to Intense Focus, tops the trade at Goffs

SALES CIRCUIT >> through the till in November 2011.

No doubt Goffs would like its February Sale to improve the clearance rate, which this year came in at 69%, but in a mixed catalogue of this size – albeit slightly smaller than last year – a significant advance will be hard to achieve. On the plus side there were gains in the figures for both the first-day weanling section, which was headed by a €90,000 son of Big Bad Bob, and the overall sale. Turnover for both days rose 48% – even without Night Visit there would have been a 13% increase. The average raced ahead by 69% and the median mark improved 27%.

Brightwells Cheltenham Breeze-up and HIT Sale

Brightwells Cheltenham Breeze-up and HIT Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Price (£)

Buyer

Young Mr Gorsky (High Chaparral-Elizabeth Tudor)

Ballyadeen Stables

190,000

Jonjo O’Neill

Montana Belle (High Chaparral-Stiletta)

Charnwood Stables

170,000

Roger Brookhouse

Mossey Joe (Moscow Society-Delmiano)

To dissolve a partnership

160,000

Gerry Hogan Bloodstock

Master Of Verse (Milan-Bacchonthebottle)

Whitehall Stud

150,000

H Kirk/W Mullins

Go Conquer (Arcadio-Ballinamona Wish)

Monbeg Stables

140,000

Mackerye End (Milan-Great Outlook)

Avondale Stables

62,000

Highland Castle (Halling-Reciprocal)

Egerton House Stables

58,000

Aiden Murphy

Thedrinkymeister (Heron Island-Keel Row)

Cottage Field Stables

46,000

Aiden Murphy

Chapel Garden (Heron Island-Grape Love)

Kilcross Stables

40,000

Gerry Hogan Bloodstock

Some Plan (Winged Love-Lough Hyne)

Ballynoe Stables

40,000

Roger Brookhouse

Rain Down (Sassanian-Royale Floriane)

Skehanagh Stables

40,000

Donald McCain

Beatu (Beat All-Auntie Bob)

Newlands Farm

40,000

Donald McCain

On Impulse (Flemensfirth-Sugar Island)

Railway Stables

40,000

Kevin Ross Bloodstock

Donald McCain Jonjo O’Neill

Five-year tale

A slightly smaller catalogue was no bar to a

Year

Sold

good set of figures and some entertaining elements at this mid-January auction. The talking horses proved to be High Chaparral and Mossey Joe, one a leading Flat sire, the other a lightly-raced 11-year-old gelding. Mossey Joe has had to contend with injury and ownership problems, and while trainer Declan McNamara did a fine job to reap a couple of startling performances from him last spring – when he became top hunter chaser on both sides of the Irish Sea – a dispute between his owners led to his auction ring appearance. There he made £160,000 to a bid from Gerry Hogan on behalf of owner Barry Connell. Enda Bolger now trains Mossey Joe, a horse who has the engine to land a big chase. How Brightwells would love that to be the Grand National. High Chaparral has no need to court jumping mares but, like his former stud mate Montjeu, he imparts enough stamina to get winners over hurdles and fences. His five-year-old son Young Mr Gorsky, a winning pointer, topped this sale when making £190,000 to a bid from Jonjo O’Neill, while one of his daughters, Montana Belle, put £170,000 on to the aggregate when joining Roger Brookhouse’s growing racing and breeding operation. Just six unraced horses were offered as breeze-ups, a disappointing number but one which reflects the trend for racing a horse to showcase it before going to market. The top price of £28,000 was gained for a son of Kalanisi offered by Tom Lacey. Brightwells is now preparing for its new Festival Sale, which takes place after the final race on day three of Cheltenham’s premier meeting. A catalogue of 20 choice lots, with 15 to 18 on offer in the winner’s enclosure, is the expectation.

2014 2013

Vendor

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

1,459,500

52,125

31,500

190,000

1,542,000

49,742

28,000

250,000

2012

490,500

25,816

23,000

60,000

2011

1,071,300

36,941

25,000

115,000

2010

1,044,400

33,690

14,000

240,000

DBS January Mixed Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (£)

Kentford Grey Lady (Silver Patriarch-Kentford Grebe)

Ian Bare

65,000

Patrick Burling

Buyer

Violin Davis (Turgeon-Trumpet Davis)

Manor Farm

59,000

Stephen Kemble

Cousin Guillaume (Kapgarde-Tante Zoe)

Byerley Stud

40,000

Bobby O’Ryan/James Ewart

C Milan-Violet Express

UptonViva Stud

32,000

John O’Byrne

C Shirocco-Gaye Sophie

Trickledown Stud

30,000

Aiden Murphy

Istimraar (Dansili-Manayer)

Shadwell Stud

27,000

Philip Kirby

F Yeats-Katmai

Donhead Stud

26,000

Futurerate Ltd

C Oscar-Kind Heart

Mickley Stud

25,000

David McGreavy

Secular Society (Royal Applause-Fantastic Santanyi)

Manton House

24,000

Bobby O’Ryan

F Fair Mix-Bellino Spirit

Martin Kilroe

23,000

Bobby O’Ryan

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (£)

Avg (£)

Mdn (£)

Top Price (£)

2014

153

1,177,550

7,696

5,000

65,000

2013

516,350

5,435

3,200

35,000

2012

392,800

5,168

3,350

30,000

2011

632,200

6,725

2,800

65,000

2010

183

1,165,200

6,367

3,000

50,000

DBS January Mixed Sale There were options for both Flat and jumps buyers at this one-day sale, and plenty of reasons for cheer among Team DBS. They had moved the jumping mares and foals section of this sale to a stand-alone December slot in 2012, but after reflection

opted to join it back up with horses-intraining in late January and the change paid dividends. The National Hunt foal section was therefore strictly one of yearlings, but DBS will not be worried about semantics given that turnover leapt 70% in this area of the THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

SALES CIRCUIT

BAHAMIAN BOUNTY by Cadeaux Genereux - Clarentia £8,500 (1st Oct SLF)

DBS

“The 19 year old son of Cadeaux Genereux has become a model of consistency who rarely fails to throw up an above average juvenile” Racing Post 15.07.13

Kentford Grey Lady joins Patrick Burling’s broodmare band

market despite a slightly smaller catalogue. Jumping mares also sold far better than when offered in December, while the overall clearance rate of 73% was another worthy figure. With jumping mares and foals back in the fold alongside HIT horses, the day’s turnover zoomed ahead of the January Sale last year,

Sire of 19 winners from 52 two year old runners in 2013, including 5 Stakes winning/ placed 2 year olds: ANJAAL Won July Stakes Gr.2 CORAL MIST Won Firth of Clyde Stakes Gr.3 FIG ROLL Won Bet365 Empress Stakes L. COOL BAHAMIAN 2nd Weatherbys Bank Stonehenge Stakes L. EASTERN IMPACT 3rd Cantor Fitzgerald Equities National Stakes L.

HIS BOOK IS LIMITED AND FILLING FAST.

DBS

Call Brian O’Rourke on 07789 508157 or email stallions@nationalstud.co.uk National Stud Ltd., Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0XE Managing Director: Brian O’Rourke

Paul and Sara Thorman receive their bonus from Henry Beeby

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

SALES CIRCUIT >> but even when the December and January

auctions were combined turnover in 2014 was still 24% up. The one note of caution for Henry Beeby and his team was the quality and quantity of the horses-in-training section, and the managing director said: “We could have done with a bigger entry and some more quality at the top end as we keep demonstrating our credentials when given the opportunity – think Un Temps Pour Tout at £450,000 and Thomas Hobson for £240,000, just two months ago.” One couple who left Doncaster on a high were Paul and Sara Thorman of Hampshire’s Trickledown Stud, who not only had the pleasure of selling the top lot, Ian Bare’s Cheltenham Festival runner-up Kentford Grey Lady, who made £65,000, but also pocketed a cash bonus created to entice ‘foal’ vendors. Trickledown’s draft of youngsters, which included a Shirocco colt who made £30,000, generated the highest aggregate in this area of the market and gained the Thormans a cheque for £10,000.

Tattersalls Ireland February Sale

TATTERSALS IRELAND

Yearling colts dominated this mixed sale of jumping horses, headed by a son of highclass chasing mare Pomme Tiepy and multiple champion sire Presenting. Sean Gorman of the County Westmeathbased Cleaboy Stud & Coppice Farm put the youngster through the ring, and bloodstock agent Aiden Murphy availed himself of the prize with a €65,000 bid. Buyers who reside in Britain, such as Warwickshire-based Murphy, were said to have been greater in number at this sale than in recent years, and that was welcomed by the sales company’s Managing Director Roger Casey, who acknowledged it had been largely a domestic affair. Given that prices at Tattersalls Ireland’s flagship auction of store horses, the Derby Sale in June, have become

Harold Kirk signed for this son of Sholokhov out of Karuma at €42,000

Tattersalls Ireland February Sale Top lots Name/Sex/Breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

C Presenting-Pomme Tiepy

Cleaboy Stud & Coppice Farm

65,000

Aiden Murphy

C Sholokhov-Karuma

Rathbarry Stud

42,000

Harold Kirk

C Stowaway-Fairy Dawn

Sunnyhill Stud

40,000

Tom Lacey

C Milan-Derravaragh Native

Cleaboy Stud & Coppice Farm

27,000

Peter & Ross Doyle

C Gold Well-Stateable Case

Norrismount Stud

26,000

Aiden Murphy

C Milan-Blessingindisguise

Bishopstown Stud

26,000

Ormond Bloodstock

C Stowaway-Gleanntan

Bishopstown Stud

26,000

Barley Bloodstock

C Scorpion-Thanks Noel

Ballincurrig House Stud

23,000

Tom Lacey

C Presenting-Blueanna

Rathbarry Stud

20,000

John Coffey

Kiltiernan (Robin Robin Des Champs-Gee Whizz)

Martin Keane

20,000

Cafre College

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2014

127

1,009,250

7,947

5,000

65,000

2013

113

720,850

6,379

4,500

60,000

2012

119

883,950

7,428

3,800

100,000

2011

519,050

7,209

5,000

62,000

2010

103

600,400

5,829

3,000

80,000

Tattersalls February Sale Top lots Name/Breeding

Vendor

Sovereign Debt (Dark Angel-Kelsey Rose)

Fitzroy House Stables

Price (gns)

Enharmonic (E Dubai-Musicanti)

Juddmonte Farms

145,000 90,000

Buyer David Nicholls Blandford Bloodstock

Duke Of Clarence (Verglas-Special Lady)

East Everleigh Stables

70,000

R O’Ryan

Famusa (Medicean-Step Danzer)

Old Buckenham Stud

60,000

Stephen Kemble

Sharaarah (Oasis Dream-Nidhaal)

Middleham Park Racing

52,000

Blandford Bloodstock

Bijou A Moi (Rainbow Quest-Bianca Nera)

Palm Tree Thoroughbreds

42,000

Mickley Stud

Al Jamal (Authorized-Kydd Gloves)

Darley

42,000

Horses First Racing

Baharah (Elusive Quality-Bahr)

Erik Penser

40,000

Robert Allcock

Paradise Sea (Stormy Atlantic-Paradise River)

Voute Sales

40,000

Tony Nerses

Resolute (Pivotal-Coy)

Cheveley Park Stud

40,000

Edward de Giles

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg ($)

Avg ($)

Mdn ($)

Top Price ($)

2014

172

2,166,600

12,597

6,750

145,000

2013

190

1,747,600

9,198

5,000

100,000

2012

179

1,641,100

9,168

3,500

110,000

2011

164

1,672,300

10,197

4,500

160,000

2010

147

991,500

6,745

3,500

55,000

so strong, it is unsurprising that buyers are seeking another way into the market. The November foal sale has been the typical point of entry, but this event offered another option. A clearance rate of 58% suggests buyers are mindful that not just any old horse will sell as well as a store or lightly-raced horse in training, but the figures were the best since the banking crisis kicked in during 2008. The aggregate broke the seven-figure mark and was 40% up on 2013.

Tattersalls February Sale A set of ascending figures at this mixed sale gave Tattersalls the start it wanted in 2014, for the company has a hard act to follow given last year’s stellar performances. A clearance rate of 80%, turnover that went up 24% despite a smaller catalogue, and a healthy 37% increase in the average price, would have looked even better had the day’s premier lot, Scarlet Empire, a three-parts sister to brilliant Sky Lantern, THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

LAURA GREEN/TATTERSALLS

SALES CIRCUIT

The classy Sovereign Debt will be trained by Dandy Nicholls

not been bought in when bidding stopped at 290,000gns. Instead the honour of heading the bill fell to Sovereign Debt, whose runner-up spot in last year’s Group 1 Lockinge Stakes did not go unnoticed by Yorkshire trainer David Nicholls. His 145,000gns bid secured the prize, creating a new best price at this sale for a colt or gelding in training. Blandford Bloodstock bought Sovereign Debt as a yearling for 105,000gns on behalf of Lawrie Inman, and that same agency featured as buyers of the second horse on the top-ten board. This was Enharmonic, a once-raced three-year-old filly from John Gosden’s stable and offered by her breeder Juddmonte Farms. Enharmonic’s pedigree meant her failure to make a mark on the racecourse will be no bar to a career as a broodmare. >>

DICK TURPIN by Arakan - Merrily

£4,000 (1st Oct SLF)

By ARAKAN, sire of Gr.1 winning 2yo TOORMORE, Gr.3 winning 3yo SRUTHAN, and multiple Gr.2 and Gr.3 winner TRUMPET MAJOR. 2013 Tattersalls December Foal Sale average of 20,755gns. TOP 5 LOTS IN 2013 SELLING FOR Lot 910: ex Imperialistic, sold for 70,000gns Lot 771: ex Presto Levanter, sold for 30,000gns Lot 507: ex Whirly Dancer, sold for 28,000gns Lot 629: ex Heckle, sold for 24,000gns Lot 809: ex Adaria, sold for €22,000

LAURA GREEN/TATTERSALLS

Some of the industry’s most shrewd judges were among the purchasers of his first foals.

Peter & Ross Doyle

Johnny McKeever

Tattersalls.com

Stephen Hillen

Call Brian O’Rourke on 07789 508157 or email stallions@nationalstud.co.uk National Stud Ltd., Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0XE Managing Director: Brian O’Rourke

Three-year-old Enharmonic, a half-sister to Distant Music

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SALES CIRCUIT

Osarus January Mixed Sale

EMMA BERRY

Top lots

Clairefontaine racecourse played host to Osarus’s first sale in Normandy

Fledgling auctioneers Osarus stretched their wings for a first sale in Normandy, holding a mixed auction at Clairefontaine racecourse on the final day of January. The event was well timed to precede La Route des Etalons, an annual open house weekend at many of Normandy’s stud farms. Turnover of €346,000 justified the expense of staging the event, while a 60% clearance rate was not bad for a sale of this type on debut. Mares were the primary source of interest for buyers, headed by the eight-year-old Sister Palma, twice a winner over hurdles at Auteuil and whose half-sister, Miss Sarenne, landed a steeplechase at Aintree for Nicky Henderson’s stable. Spiced by a Poliglote cover, Sister Palma made €45,000. Being handily placed not far from Deauville, this sale could develop into one which attracts buyers from Britain and Ireland. But for its first airing the chief protagonists were French bloodstock agents Paul Nataf and Guy Petit, who were active in all areas of the market. Osarus returns to its more familiar trading ground, at Pornichet on France’s west coast, for its next sale, a breeze-up auction which will be held on April 29.

Vendor Haras du Hoguenet

Price (€) 45,000

Buyer Jeoffret Huet

Eleganta (Desert Style-Cover Girl)

Armorica

34,000

FBA

Sabi Sabi (Orpen-Spring Sea)

La Motteraye

24,000

Crispin de Moubray

Comete (Jeune Homme-Cocooning)

Haras d’Ommeel

19,000

Paul Nataf

Meulles (Scat Daddy-Stadore)

La Motteraye

15,000

Paul Nataf

Prodiga (Poliglote-Prodigalite)

Haras du Hoguenet

13,000

LJ Negoce

Astre De Nuit (Charming Groom-Astre)

Eria J Coiffier

10,500

Paul Nataf

Sir Baul (Kapgarde-Luba)

J Coiffier

10,000

Guy Petit

Halcyon Lodge (Grand Lodge-Halcyon Daze)

Haras d’Ellon

8,500

Paul Nataf

Absainte (Saint Des Saints-Niangara)

J Coiffier

8,000

TJ Bloodstock

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

Top Price (€)

2014

346,000

5,672

3,000

45,000

Arqana February Mixed Sale Top lots Name/Breeding

Vendor

Vodka Wells (Irish Wells-Kahipiroska)

A Chaillé-Chaillé

Price (€)

74,000 Joffret Huet

Buyer

Bulliciosa (Successful Appeal-Bailonguera)

Haras de Préaux

72,000 Pegase Bloodstock

Soniechka (Notnowcato-Party Doll)

Mandore

64,000 Seamus Murphy

The Brock Again (Muhtathir-Half Past Twelve)

Y Fouin

62,000 Highflyer Bloodstock

Duke Of France (Duke Of Marmalade-Tres Ravi)

H-A Pantall

60,000 C Gordon-Watson

White Wedding (Green Desert- Hotelgenie Dot Com)

Coulonces Consignment

56,000 Kirtlington Stu

Brambleberry (Cape Cross-Miss Satamixa)

Coulonces Consignment

48,000 AA Semplice del Marchese

Money Time (Arch-Green Girl)

S Wattel

48,000 HFTB Agency

Calasetta (Montjeu-Mahalia)

Haras du Berlais

47,000 Broadhurst Agency

Around Me (Johannesburg-Moon Flower)

Haras du Berlais

46,000 Broadhurst Agency

Five-year tale Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Avg (€)

Mdn (€)

2014

240

2,430,000

10,125

6,000

Top Price (€) 74,000

2013

187

1,487,000

7,952

4,500

200,000

2012

193

1,214,000

6,290

4,500

85,000

2011

167

957,500

5,734

3,500

67,000

2010

131

1,182,000

9,023

4,000

77,000

Arqana February Mixed Sale France’s premier mid-winter mixed auction reached its twentieth year with some upbeat figures and an indication that it could become a two-day affair next year. It could not produce a horse with the appeal of Gulsary, who topped last year’s event with a price tag of €200,000, but proof that one horse does not make an auction could be gleaned from an impressive 59% rise in turnover. No less satisfying for both Arqana

EMMA BERRY

Osarus January Mixed Sale

Name/Breeding Sister Palma (Kahyasi-Miss Palma)

Marc-Antoine Berghgracht inspecting a yearling in the stableyard at Clairefontaine

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

SALES CIRCUIT and vendors was the 87% clearance rate, while an average price of €10,129 was a 27% improvement. Apart from the figures achieved in 2007, when the Haras de Saint Pair dispersal gave them a particularly rosy hue, the 2014 marks were the best achieved at this sale. Arqana Chairman Eric Hoyeau commented: “We have noted that market capacity is substantial, which would justify a two-day auction next year.” The pick at this year’s event proved to be a hurdler bound for Britain – Vodka Wells, a winner at Pau for trainer Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé, was bought by Joffret Huet for a client with interests across the Channel, while The Brock Again, who was near the top of the leader board, was gained by Newmarket-based Highflyer Bloodstock. Dealing in smaller fish was Paul Nataf, who hooked no fewer than 47 horses for a total of €274,500, and it was interesting to note India’s Hazara Stud Farm bought eight for a total of €134,000.

Cape Premier Yearling Sale Over a two-day period when the South African currency fell to its lowest level since October 2008, a catalogue of 200 outstanding yearlings was on offer at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on the foreshore of the mother city. Three yearlings sold for a sale-topping R3,200,000 (approximately £176,500), including Zud Wes, a bay son of Western Winter out of the Count Dubois mare Zaitoon who was consigned by Andreas Jacobs’s Maine Chance Farms and signed for by trainer Mike Bass. Two fillies equalled that price – the first, named Song Of Happiness, went the way of Grant Pritchard-Gordon of Badgers Bloodstock. Consigned by Drakenstein Stud, the well-grown bay filly is a daughter of Giant’s Causeway out of Captain’s Lover, the globe-trotting daughter of Captain Al. Joey Ramsden, buying on behalf of Goodhope Racing, also paid R3,200,000 for the Trippi filly Dance At Dawn. A daughter of Pagan Princess, she hails from the outstanding family that has already provided Victory Moon. The chestnut filly was sold by Klawervlei, who also pocketed R3,000,000 from trainer Dennis Drier for Ante Omnia, a bay son of Speightstown out of the Storm Cat mare Rubicat. With 53 yearlings entered in the sale, Klawervlei had easily the biggest draft. Shadwell Stud’s South African division forked out R3,000,000 to Maine Chance Farms for Jubilee Line, a very classy looking son of Dynasty out of the Jallad mare Jabulani Jive. Shadwell buyer Angus Gold said: “He is one of the nicest colts around and though his female side is a bit light, he is a tremendous athlete with a fantastic temperament. Sheikh Hamdan’s aim is to get a nice horse that can race here, before heading to Dubai and so far it has worked well.” Captain’s Song, a son of Captain Al out of the AP Indy mare Super Singer, was another knocked down to Shadwell South Africa for R2,400,000 for the account of Highlands Farm Stud. Maine Chance Farms’ Silvano colt out of the Joshua Dancer mare Single Rose went to Jehan Malherbe of Form Bloodstock for R2,800,000, and the same buyer also signed for a well regarded Distorted Humor colt named Road To Indy from the Klawervlei draft for R2,500,000. Road To Indy will be trained by Mike de Kock, who said: “I’m not sure we in South Africa understand how good Distorted Humor is and it’s a proper female line. A real international pedigree. You’d pay R2.5 million for him any day.” A total of R103,025,000 was yielded by 180 yearlings for an increase in aggregate from last year’s sale of 4.7%. The average of R572,361 also rose significantly, by 18.5%. Good value was to be had in the lower market and added incentive has been provided by the new CTS Million Dollar Race, which will take place in January 2016. Only graduates of the Cape Premier Sale and the CTS March sale are qualified to enter. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

PASTORAL PURSUITS by Bahamian Bounty - Star £4,500 (1st Oct SLF)

SIRE OF 24 INDIVIDUAL TWO YEAR OLD WINNERS IN 2013 AND A WINNERS/RUNNERS STRIKE RATE OF 41% WITH HIS EUROPEAN 2YO’S OF 2013. 23.12.13 VENTURA MIST Won Totepool 2yo Trophy, L.; 3rd Firth of Clyde Stakes, Gr.3; 2nd Bet365 Empress Stakes, L. LILBOURNE LASS 3rd St Hugh’s Stakes, L., and winner of over £68,000 AL MUTHANA 2nd Prix de Cabourg Jockey Club de Turquie Gr.3 2013 Doncaster Premier Sale yearling averages of over 5 times his 2011 stud fee, and sire of 3 Lots selling for more than 11 times his 2011 stud fee: Lot 201: ex Sheer Indulgence, sold for £100,000 Lot 340: ex Ashes, sold for £100,000 Lot 248: ex Talampaya, sold for £80,000

“We’ve been lucky with the sire – Lilbourne Lass has won 3 this year and Auld Burns won the Tattersalls Sales Race for us; and this colt is the best physical specimen we’ve seen all day”. Ross Doyle, EBN 28.08.13, purchaser of Lot 201

Call Brian O’Rourke on 07789 508157 or email stallions@nationalstud.co.uk National Stud Ltd., Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0XE Managing Director: Brian O’Rourke

ALKAASED

The Group One Winning Son of Sire of Sires Kingmambo Already a proven Sire in Japan, over 125 winners from first four crops Winner of the Japan Cup (Gp.1) and Grand Prix de Saint Cloud (Gp.1) A record breaking dual Gr.1 winner Won 6 races, £1,672,130, from 3 to 5 years, 12f, and was placed 9 times. For more information: www.alkaased.co.uk 2014 Fee:

£1,500 (Oct 1st)

MULLIONMILEANHOUR By Mull Of Kintyre – Group Winning 2yo and Gr.1 Sire. From a family of 2-year-old’s, packed with speed. Well Supported from 2011 to 2013.

Two-Year Old Winner with Group Class Form. WINNER at 2 years, £22,108, and was placed 3 times from only 5 starts

2014 Fee:

First 2yos in 2014

£1,250 (Oct 1st) For further details contact: Bill Smith on +44 (0) 2392 632 343 or +44 (0) 2392 632 574 Kelanne Stud, Hoe St, Hambledon, Hampshire, PO7 4RD Email: ws@kelannestud.com

CAULFIELD FILES ANDREW CAULFIELD REPORTS ON THE BLOODSTOCK WORLD

Kitten’s stock a juvenile joy The Ramseys’ champion middle-distance horse sires plenty of precocious youngsters

(Sadler’s Wells, Lady Capulet and Lear Fan) were Group 1 winners in Europe, with all three gaining at least one Group 1 victory over a mile at three. Kitten’s Joy hasn’t had a lot of runners in Britain, but his progeny clearly merit more opportunities on this side of the Atlantic. Incidentally, his 24 Experimental horses consist of 11 males and 13 fillies, so there is no great disparity between the sexes.

Harlan’s Holiday a great loss While the scale of Kitten’s Joy’s dominance was somewhat unexpected, I was by no means surprised that his nearest rivals, with 17 qualifiers, were Harlan’s Holiday and Tapit. Harlan’s Holiday was North America’s champion sire of two-year-olds in 2012 before finishing fourth on the 2013 list. He had six Experimental qualifiers in each of those years,

most notably the unbeaten champion Shanghai Bobby, who is now in his first season at Ashford Stud. Sadly Harlan’s Holiday is no longer available to Kentucky breeders, as he died last year while on shuttle duty in Argentina. There will still be plenty of opportunities for Europeans to acquire youngsters by him, as he had 130 reported foals in 2012 and 124 in 2013, and he covered 187 mares in his final American season. This grandson of Storm Cat had every right to sire good two-year-olds capable of progressing at three. He won two of the main trials for the Kentucky Derby – the Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes – as well as the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at four, even though he was a four-time stakes winner at two. Although he was still only 14 at the time of his death, Harlan’s Holiday already has a

GEORGE SELWYN

uyers looking for a two-year-old in training are now so well catered for in Europe that it is all too easy to overlook the American sales that pioneered the concept. Despite all the controversy surrounding today’s US-bred racehorse, overlooking America’s various breeze-up sales is potentially unwise. For example Havana, one of last year’s top two-year-old colts in the States, was picked up for $575,000 at Barretts in California. Other notable juvenile buys include several recent Eclipse Award winners. I’ll Have Another, the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, was a $35,000 graduate of Ocala’s April sale; the champion sprinter Trinniberg was another inexpensive purchase at Ocala; and Lookin At Lucky, who achieved the rare feat of heading his generation both at two and three years, was a $475,000 purchase at Keeneland’s April sale. Don’t forget, either, that the top dozen twoyear-olds in Europe last year included four American-breds and a fifth who was conceived in Kentucky, with No Nay Never and War Command both demonstrating the mixture of class and precocity for which American imports were once noted. In an effort to pinpoint stallions worthy of attention at the forthcoming juvenile sales, I have amalgamated the Experimental Free Handicaps (ratings) of the last five years to see which names cropped up most frequently. There was a very decisive leader, with a total of 24 individual two-year-olds, and I must admit that this dominant force took me rather by surprise. It was none other than Kitten’s Joy, a champion middle-distance turf horse who didn’t even tackle stakes company as a twoyear-old (he did round off his first season with victories over 8.5 and nine furlongs). No-one can still be unaware of Kitten’s Joy’s prowess as a stallion. The reigning champion sire in North America, he has also been champion sire of two-year-olds, in 2012, and he has consistently shown that triumph was no flash in the pan. His five crops of racing age have all produced at least two qualifiers for the Experimental Free Handicap, including seven in 2011, six in 2012 and five in 2013. Kitten’s Joy’s ability as a sire of two-year-olds isn’t a total surprise. His sire El Prado was a four-time winner at two in Ireland, where he won the National Stakes and Beresford Stakes. Also, three of Kitten’s Joy’s four grandparents

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

The classy No Nay Never was a good advertisement for his sire Scat Daddy in Europe

CAULFIELD FILES

EMMA BERRY

Stallions with more than ten qualifiers in last five years

Ashford Stud’s Shanghai Bobby, a new stallion son of the prolific Harlan’s Holiday

>> successful

stallion son to his credit in Into Mischief, who was America’s busiest stallion of 2013 by a comfortable margin, with a total of 210 mares. Moving on to Tapit, his record would have looked even more impressive had I extended the sample to include 2008, the year his first crop reached the track. Five of them gained inclusion on the Experimental Free Handicap and among them were the accomplished fillies Stardom Bound (124lb) and Laragh (117). As it is, Tapit’s next five crops have produced a further 17 representatives, with fillies again leading the way with a total of ten. Among the 17 were the champion colt Hansen (126), He’s Had Enough (123), Tapitsfly (119), Normandy Invasion (118), Dancinginherdreams (118), Tell A Kelly (118), Untapable (117) and Tapiture (116). Clearly Tapit is proving highly effective as a sire of two-year-olds, achieving both quality and quantity. At 16 hands, the grey son of Pulpit is a little smaller and neater than many other American stallions, which may be a contributing factor to his prowess as a sire of two-year-olds. Next on the list, with a team of 15, is Lion Heart. The sale to Turkey in 2010 of this Kentucky Derby runner-up came as something of a surprise, as Lion Heart was still only nine. The son of Tale Of The Cat had been a consistently busy member of the Ashford team, covering books of 233, 158, 165, 215 and 180 mares in his first five years. His sale before the 2010 season means that he had no American two-year-olds in 2013, but he had six Experimental qualifiers in both his 2008 and 2009 crops – an excellent achievement, even if he had numbers on his side. He had 15 twoyear-old winners from his first Turkish crop. With a creditable total of 14 comes the champion sprinter Speightstown. Thanks to his first-crop son Lord Shanakill, this versatile

son of Gone West wasted no time in showing that he can sire smart European runners, others being Bapak Chinta, Tropics and Seek Again. There’s sure to be more to come. Ghostzapper’s half-brother City Zip (13 qualifiers) has carved out his own niche as a very reliable source of precocious performers. His pedigree made him well qualified to excel in this area, as he won five of his 11 juvenile starts, including the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, and he was by a quick-maturing sprinter in Carson City. One of the most colourful success stories of the American industry has been that of AP

“Kitten’s Joy hasn’t

had a lot of runners in Britain but his progeny clearly merit more opportunities” Indy’s royally-bred son Malibu Moon. Having started his stallion career at a low fee in Maryland after injury had limited his career to just two starts, Malibu Moon sired last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Orb. Consequently he is standing the 2014 season at a fee of $95,000. He sired a champion American two-year-old in one of his early crops and has a creditable total of 13 Experimental qualifiers over the last five years. Bearing in mind that his dam Macoumba and second dam Maximova were both Group 1-winning juveniles in France, you would think that Malibu Moon has something to offer European racing, but he has to overcome the widespread belief that the Seattle Slew male

Kitten’s Joy Harlan’s Holiday Tapit Lion Heart Speightstown City Zip Malibu Moon Pulpit Smart Strike Bernstein Tiznow Dixie Union Tale Of The Cat

24 17 17 15 14 13 13 13 13 12 12 11 11

line is much more at home in the US. Mr Prospector’s veteran son Smart Strike has already shown that his progeny can shine on European turf. His sons Zip Top, Utley and Zanzibari all showed very useful form at two and he has also been ably represented by the likes of Tungsten Strike, Denomination and Saranac Lake. Unraced at two himself, Smart Strike has an impressive record with his American juveniles, with his five-year team featuring such as the champions Lookin At Lucky (126) and My Miss Aurelia (124). By becoming the highest-ranked French two-year-old of 2013, Karakontie acted as a reminder of the talents of Storm Cat’s son Bernstein. He once sired five Experimental horses in a single crop, and four in another. Unfortunately there is only one more crop – 80 two-year-olds of 2014 – to come. One lower-ranked stallion worthy of an honourable mention is Scat Daddy. As a son of Johannesburg, he was bred to shine at two. This he did, winning three of his five juvenile starts including the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. Scat Daddy has had only three crops of twoyear-olds so far. His first produced five qualifiers and there were three from his smaller second crop. The sire of Daddy Long Legs, who ranked equal-third behind Camelot and Dabirsim among the European juveniles of 2011, he also sired No Nay Never, the dashing American-trained colt who ranked third behind Toormore and Kingston Hill last season. No Nay Never comes from a crop of only 53 named foals but there are 131 live foals in Scat Daddy’s 2012 crop, so there should be plenty of them on offer at sales on both sides of the Atlantic. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

OUTSTANDING SERVICE AT OUTSTANDING VALUE STALLIONS 2014 BAHAMIAN BOUNTY £8,500 (1st Oct SLF) by Cadeaux Genereux - Clarentia DICK TURPIN £4,000 (1st Oct SLF) by Arakan - Merrily PASTORAL PURSUITS £4,500 (1st Oct SLF) by Bahamian Bounty - Star e: stallions@nationalstud.co.uk

FULL BOARDING SERVICES Foaling, Permanent Boarding, Temporary Boarding, Seasonal Boarding and Spellers

SALES Highly professional sales preparation and consignments. All major UK sales attended e: stallions@nationalstud.co.uk

Call Brian O’Rourke on 07789 508157 or email stallions@nationalstud.co.uk National Stud Ltd., Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 0XE | Managing Director: Brian O’Rourke

EBF S TA L L I O N S

Published here is the Final List of European stallions registered in full with the EBF for the 2013 covering season. The progeny of these stallions, CONCEIVED IN 2013 IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, (the foal crop of 2014) will be eligible to enter the EBF races to be held during the year 2016 and thereafter. They will also be eligible for other in force in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy,

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S TA L L I O N S G

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EBF S TA L L I O N S

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EBF S TA L L I O N S

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12:03

ROA FORUM The special section for ROA members

All-weather fixtures fight must be fair Richard Wayman urges BHA to devise a competitive but transparent allocation process One of the trickier items on the BHA Board’s agendas during the next month or two will be the applications from Newcastle and Chelmsford City – previously known as Great Leighs – to stage all-weather fixtures in 2015. Their deliberations will presumably also incorporate Catterick’s publicly stated intention to convert their Flat course to allweather in 2016. With small uncompetitive fields already threatening the attractiveness of our sport to racegoers and the betting public, the BHA couldn’t seriously contemplate a marked increase in fixture numbers in 2015. They will also be aware, however, that the existing all-weather tracks will fight toothand-nail to hold on to their current fixtures whilst the business plans of the new tracks will be based on acquiring a certain volume of meetings to justify their investment. It is no wonder the BHA has asked Deloitte to help steer a way through what could become some pretty choppy waters. About 20% of the current fixture list takes place on all-weather tracks, with 40% on Flat turf courses and 40% being National Hunt fixtures. Most owners I have spoken with would agree all-weather racing has an important role to play in sustaining our fixture list and providing running

opportunities, but I am in no doubt the appeal of British racing would be threatened if a noticeably greater share of meetings took place on artificial surfaces at the expense of turf racing. The all-weather fixture list, which currently totals 296 fixtures, is in the hands of the two major racecourse groups, with ARC (owners of Lingfield Park, Southwell, Wolverhampton and the proposed track at Newcastle) staging

“We cannot have

tracks downgrading race programmes elsewhere to secure all-weather fixtures” 71% of all-weather meetings, with the remaining 29% taking place at Kempton Park, owned by Jockey Club Racecourses. From the perspective of all-weather racing’s various customers, greater competition between racecourses to stage these meetings must be good news, with the possibility of a new track in the north having obvious attractions to owners who currently face expensive journeys south to run their horses on one of the existing artificial surfaces. With the BHA having limited control over

the allocation of racecourse fixtures, which make up the vast majority of the fixture list, the crux of this issue will be the process the governing authority introduces to allocate the 200 or so all-weather fixtures under its direct control, which includes the twilight fixtures run under floodlights from September to April. The ROA’s view is that all-weather racing would be best served by the introduction of a competitive fixture allocation process between racecourses under different ownership, all of which must have signed prize-money agreements with the Horsemen’s Group to enter into the process. This competition should be based around whatever the racecourse is prepared to contribute to prize-money at their all-weather fixtures. Something more sophisticated than a bidding process is required, however, if we are to avoid racecourses simply downgrading race programmes elsewhere to release money they then use to secure all-weather fixtures. Devising a transparent and competitive process for the allocation of these fixtures is where Deloitte will really have to earn its fees and it is this process that will shape the future of all-weather racing in this country for the foreseeable future. This is all far from straightforward but so long as the BHA keeps the customer at the forefront of its decision making, all-weather racing can only emerge as a stronger and more valued part of our sport.

Got something to say to the ROA? Here’s how The ROA will be holding six regional midweek meetings around the country this year, as part of our commitment to increase our direct contact with members by extending our programme of regional events. ROA regional meetings give members the chance to meet ROA Council members and staff members on the racecourse. The informal gatherings provide an opportunity for members to be updated on key areas of the ROA’s work, and to pose questions and provide feedback on the issues that matter

to members, either in the forum or on a one-to-one basis during the afternoon’s racing. This year, we have programmed our Regional meetings in 2014 March 28 Wetherby May 29 Haydock Park July 17 Hamilton Park August 29 Sandown Park October 10 Newton Abbot November 6 Fakenham

regional meetings at six of the 12 ROA Owners Jackpot days (see Owners Jackpot report). Our next regional meeting will be held before racing at Wetherby on Friday, March 28. Guests will be welcomed an hour before racing with drinks and light refreshments. Subject to maximum numbers, any ROA member can attend the event. To book a place, please contact Keely Brewer in the ROA office by emailing kbrewer@roa.co.uk or calling 020 7152 0200.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

www.racehorseowners.net

The ROA has supported numerous worthy causes over the years and in 2014 we are thrilled to announce Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) will become our inaugural charity partner. By supporting a charity partner each year, the ROA will have a much greater opportunity to promote the activities of a carefully selected racing charity and also increase members’ awareness of the vital role it plays within the industry. The survey of ROA members undertaken at the end of last year established that members wanted to receive more information and gain a deeper understanding about equine welfare issues, making RoR, British horseracing’s official charity for the welfare of horses who have retired from racing, the ideal organisation to become the 2014 charity partner. Along with a regular column featuring different aspects of their work appearing in the ROA Forum, RoR will also become the focus of the ROA’s annual fundraising efforts, culminating with it receiving the net proceeds from the ROA Horseracing Awards

The Queen’s Barbers Shop, high-class on the track, is now a success in the show ring (below) thanks to RoR

that take place in December. The partnership is clearly a very exciting prospect for the ROA and by strengthening the link between owners and RoR, we believe equine welfare will be the real winner.

Parade of stars on Festival duty To allow racing and the general public to see for themselves what happens to racehorses when they retire, RoR also runs a series of racecourse parades, which are now a recognised part of the major jump racing festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree, as well as the likes of Ascot’s King George Day in July. The parades are a fantastic way to

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

showcase the successes of former racehorses and at this year’s Cheltenham Festival a star line-up, including Gold Cup winners Kauto Star and Denman and the Queen’s Barbers Shop (pictured), will take centre stage in the parade ring on the opening day. For Di Arbuthnot, RoR Chief Executive, the parades are of huge importance and are growing in popularity. She said: “The parades provide people with the chance to see their old favourites and also those that have not been as successful on the racecourse, but have reached top levels in other equine disciplines. “Retired thoroughbreds can make the most rewarding animals to retrain for second careers, and the parades offer a snapshot of their new skills whether competing in showing, show jumping, eventing, polo, endurance, dressage or simply as a hunter or hack.”

GEORGE SELWYN

ROA and RoR join forces in charity partnership

RoR’s vital role Retraining of Racehorses is a lynchpin of British horseracing. Since its establishment in 2000, RoR has helped the sport champion the highest standards of equine welfare and has seen the number of horses on its books and its remit expand tremendously. Each year around 3,500 horses leave the industry, and in 2013 the number of horses registered with RoR increased 20% to 8,680. Along with raising funds to improve the care of former racehorses, RoR also promotes the adaptability of racehorses to other equestrian pursuits, while simultaneously training riders on how to handle the retired thoroughbred and supporting a well-established series of competitions. Over the last year alone, the number of horses registered to compete in these events increased to 4,700, a rise of 17%.

ROA FORUM

TRACK TALK

THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE UK’S RACECOURSES

Epsom develops permanent saddling boxes ROA Gold Standard Award holder Epsom Downs has recently announced the much needed development of permanent saddling boxes. The work on 21 primarily wooden boxes, located in the same position that the temporary boxes held on the road side of the parade ring, are due to be completed at the end of February.

Following discussions between popular Welsh track Bangor-on-Dee and the ROA Raceday Committee, we are pleased to announce a positive development for winning owners. Regardless of whether or not the race is sponsored, all victorious connections will now be presented with a silver salver, as well as their DVD, photograph and bottle of champagne.

Huntingdon informs owners Pre-raceday information is an area of the owners’ racecourse experience that is often overlooked, so Huntingdon are to be applauded for their latest innovation, encouraged by the ROA Raceday Committee. In-depth emails are being sent to all owners that Weatherbys hold an email address for, three days before the relevant fixture. The information provided includes the owner liaison contact details, the food

GEORGE SELWYN

Bangor’s boost to connections

The site of Epsom’s new saddling boxes

offering, the latest going and travel information, and any relevant special offers.

Holding name and, with prize-money of £1 million, becomes the third race carrying a seven-figure purse to be run at Ascot under the sponsorship of QIPCO. Newmarket is the latest course to announce prize-money increases for 2014, with an overall rise of 8% to £10.07m, and a boost for each of its nine Group 1 races. Visitors to Fontwell via Barnham station will find their journey made easier now thanks to a free shuttle bus service. Buses will start running two hours before the first race, and then approximately every 15 minutes until immediately after the last race.

More improvements The final day of the jump season has received a welcome boost with the news that Sandown Park will host two new £50,000 Listed events, with overall prize-money at the two-day fixture rising from £637,000 in 2013 to £755,000. Ascot has signed a five-year partnership deal that will see the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes carrying the QIPCO

RCA Owners’ Guide The Racecourse Association (RCA) produces an annual in-depth guide to Britain’s racecourses for racehorse owners. This resource provides owners with a host of raceday information from each racecourse including badge allocation, owners’ facilities and travel information. The latest invaluable edition was produced in December and can be found in the ‘Racecourse Information’ subheading under the ‘Resources’ section of the ROA website.

GEORGE SELWYN

Racecourse feedback

Huntingdon racecourse is improving its pre-raceday communication with owners

The raceday experience feedback form on the ROA website has been live for a month now, and has already provided the Raceday Committee with valuable insight. We thank all ROA members who have participated thus far, and wish to encourage as many people as possible to use this forum.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

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GEORGE SELWYN

Look out for Sir Mark at AGM!

Sir Mark Prescott: after lunch speaker

Members are encouraged to attend the ROA Annual General Meeting, which will be held on the morning of Tuesday, July 1 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in London. The AGM includes an Owners’ Forum, where members are invited to ask questions and join in what usually proves to be a vibrant debate. The formal business will be followed by a champagne reception and members and guests lunch, while we are delighted to announce that our after lunch speaker will be Sir Mark Prescott. ROA members are welcome to join in the owners’ forum. No pre-registration is required. Places do need to be booked in advance for the members & guests lunch. The lunch begins with a champagne reception and includes three courses with wine. Tickets are priced at £90 per person, and a table of ten is discounted at £825. To reserve your place please call 020 7152 0200 or book online at www.racehorseowners.net

ROA Jackpot kicks off with six winners On February 13 racegoers at Leicester witnessed an impressive feat as horses owned by ROA members went through the card at the inaugural ROA Owners Jackpot fixture. The ROA Owners Jackpot, in association with the Racing Post, will provide bonuses totalling £10,000 across all the races at 12 grassroots fixtures throughout 2014. At each fixture, the £10,000 will be split between all eligible winners on the card, with a minimum bonus of £1,500 guaranteed. After beating the inclement weather, it was an afternoon to remember at Leicester, as all six races on the card were won by eligible winning horses, each helping their owners to a bonus of £1,667. Along with the Jobarry and Shy John partnerships, who won their bonuses thanks to the performances of Lord Navits and Shy John, Vida Bingham, a Grand National-winning owner with Mon Mome in 2009, claimed her share of the Jackpot as Rydalis powered home to beat five rivals in

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Jackpot joy: Trevor Houlston and Chris Massey flanked by ROA Chief Executive Richard Wayman (right) and Vice-President Stephen Smith

the third race of the day. After the contest, Bingham, a long-time ROA member, said: “Owing racehorses is expensive, and with prize-money the way it is these bonuses are very important: they really are what keep you going.” Owing to the efforts of Massena, Kentford

Legend and Knock A Hand at Leicester, their owners, Venetia Williams, David Bare and Alan Halsall, also received their share of the £10,000 jackpot. Following Wincanton on February 26, the next ROA Jackpot fixture is at Wetherby on March 28. Could you be the winner of the £10,000 jackpot?

ROA FORUM

Interested in joining the ROA Council?

Diary dates and reminders MARCH 11-14

ROA Marquee at the Cheltenham Festival Exclusive marquee facility for ROA members in the tented village.

MARCH 28

Regional meeting and ROA Owners Jackpot day At Wetherby.

APRIL 29

ROA Owners Jackpot day At Nottingham.

APRIL 29

Free admission to opening day of Punchestown festival DAN ABRAHAM

On production of ROA Photocard.

Council member Alan Pickering fields a question from the floor at the 2013 AGM

The ROA is looking for members with a keen knowledge and interest in racing to stand for a place on its Council. The ROA has a Council of 15 members who are elected by an annual ballot amongst all ROA members to serve a four-year term. To qualify to stand for election, members must be a registered owner with at least one horse in training in Britain at some time during the previous 12 months, or partownerships that amount to at least one horse. Horses owned under the names of spouses qualify for this purpose. The ROA Council represents a diverse constituency and we would particularly

encourage members who feel they can contribute a specialist knowledge or expertise to the Council’s skill set. There are two places available for this year’s election and one Council member is restanding. Successful candidates will take their places on the Council in July and will be required to attend monthly meetings held in central London. The outcome of the election will be announced at the ROA AGM on July 1. Members interested in standing for election are invited to write to the ROA Chief Executive, Richard Wayman, or email rwayman@roa.co.uk. The closing date for applications is Tuesday, April 1.

MAY 13

Weatherbys visit An opportunity to visit the team in Wellingborough. See story below.

MAY 29

Regional meeting and ROA Owners Jackpot day At Haydock Park.

JUNE 10

ROA Owners Jackpot day At Salisbury.

JULY 1

ROA AGM and lunch For details see page 79. Bookings for all ROA events can be made online at racehorseowners.net or by calling the ROA on 020 7152 0200.

Don’t miss May visit to Weatherbys Following the success of the ROA trip to Weatherbys last year, another visit is planned. Weatherbys would like to invite ROA members, and a guest, to join them for a visit to their offices in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, on the morning of Tuesday, May 13 for a tour of the organisation followed by lunch. The aim of the tour is to provide members with an insight into the role that Weatherbys fulfils within the racing industry, highlighting different areas of service and giving an opportunity to meet some of the Weatherbys team.

The itinerary for the day is as follows: 10.00am Arrive at Weatherbys, then coffee/overview 10.30am Tour of the departments 1.15pm Buffet lunch followed by a Q&A session 2.15pm Approximate departure Members wishing to attend should email Amy Haxby on ahaxby@weatherbys.co.uk, stating whether you will be attending on your own or with a guest. Spaces on the tour are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

w w w. r a c e h o r s e o w n e r s . n e t

MAGICAL MOMENTS

GEORGE SELWYN

with ROA member Simon Hunt

The Giant Bolster and Tom Scudamore capture the middle leg of what owner Simon Hunt (right, grey jacket) has dubbed his ‘Cotswold treble’

hen it’s difficult to pick a highlight from a horse’s career, that’s either a very good or very bad sign. If a very good sign, said horse is likely to have given its owner plenty of memorable days. That is certainly the case with The Giant Bolster, who has never lost in three runs on Cheltenham Festival trials day at Prestbury Park in late January, and has a Gold Cup second on his cv. The David Bridgwater-trained nine-year-old extended his unbeaten sequence on trials day to three this year, motoring to a seven-length victory in the Argento Chase, to go with wins in the novice chase and Grade 3 chase on the card, to book his return to the Festival this month. Named after the mythical creature associated with St Agnes in Cornwall – and yes, local bookmakers were particularly hard hit by The Giant Bolster’s second in the 2012 Gold Cup at 50-1 – his owner is Simon Hunt, whose interest in racing stems from time spent as a kid with his granddad and great uncle, “working class guys who always had the paper out at the weekend marked up with their bets”. To mark 40 years with British Rail, Hunt’s granddad was given a pair of binoculars,“for bird-watching and racing”. It was through these

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that Hunt kept tabs on the first horse to carry his silks, Lady Romanov, in a novices’ hurdle at Market Rasen in 2007, the year he joined the ROA.

“The Giant Bolster

has been the catalyst for lots of changes at David Bridgwater’s” “It was always a dream to own a horse, and business treated me well and I was lucky enough to have the money to do it, so I took the plunge with Bridgy,” Hunt says. “The thrill that day of seeing my colours carried for the first time was amazing. I looked up to the sky while watching the race because I knew how proud my granddad would be. I have his binoculars with me every time The Giant Bolster runs.” Hunt, who is in the construction business, has three in training, and one on the easy list,

with Bridgwater, whom he met at his local track Towcester in 2007, when the trainer had “seven horses with lots of noughts against their name”. Hunt recalls: “I liked him immediately. When you look him in the eye you can tell he is honest. That’s the number one reason I’m with him. The second is that he trains his horses to the best of his ability, win, lose or draw. He has never given me a reason to doubt him. I want the little fellas to do well and I have faith in him. “The Giant Bolster has been a catalyst for lots of change. Bridgy now has up to 40 horses, new owners and old – which says a lot – and the whole place has a different vibe.” Asked for his highlight with The Giant Bolster, Hunt replies: “Just having him is the highlight. Of what I call ‘the Cotswold treble’, Rodi Greene gave him a fantastic ride in 2011 – and Rodi’s still very much part of the team – then Scu [Tom Scudamore] charging up the hill the following year was a special day. And we won the Argento this time and how do you top a moment like that?” A Gold Cup victory would top it, and after finishing second and fourth for the past two years, it would be unwise to discount The Giant Bolster. It promises to be a mentally and physically demanding couple of days for the team at Cheltenham, with Bridgwater’s wife Lucy due to compete in the charity race 24 hours before the Gold Cup. She is raising money for Cancer Research, three years on from the death of the yard’s head girl, Kelly Walsh, aged just 27. “She died a week after The Giant Bolster won the Timeform Novices’ Chase on trials days,” says Hunt. “Real life things are far more important.”

ROA FORUM

w w w. r a c e h o r s e o w n e r s . n e t

In Brief

GEORGE SELWYN

Newbury’s badge allocation

Jamie Stier: led the event

London seminar a success Several members of the British Horseracing Authority’s executive team, headed up by Director of Raceday Operations and Regulation Jamie Stier, turned out to deliver a first-class seminar for ROA members in January. The seminar was held at the offices of both the BHA and ROA and was attended by just under 20 delegates. The agenda included presentations on the use of the whip and anabolic steroids; an overview of the running and riding rules; a detailed explanation of how stewards handle issues of interference; an overview of racing’s integrity operations, plus a concise handicapping workshop.

The event allowed members to raise questions in order to further their understanding of the rules and processes adopted by the BHA. Members were also invited to have a go at setting handicap ratings for a sample group of horses by adopting the Head of Handicapping Phil Smith’s very own complex methodology. Due to the success and popularity of this seminar it is hoped that another may be arranged for later on in the year. Details for any further BHA seminars will be circulated to members in due course, with those members who were unsuccessful in January’s ballot being given first refusal for places.

The Racecourse Newbury offers a generous badge allocation to owners with runners. In addition, ROA members who show a valid Horseracing Privilege Photocard on days when they don’t have a runner can enjoy free admission for two at almost all Newbury’s fixtures – and it is unique in being the only racecourse to extend this commitment for two badges to owners. Exceptions to the offer are the ‘Party in the Paddock’ fixtures on May 31 and August 16, and Hennessy Gold Cup Day on November 29.

Integrity concerns Anyone with concerns about any aspect of racing’s integrity can report or query any matters at intel@britishhorseracing.com. The service is completely confidential and the Intel team welcome queries and feedback.

BOBIS nominations deadline The British Owners and Breeders Incentive Scheme rewards owners for investing in British bloodstock. Every time a qualified horse wins a BOBIS race, the owner will receive a bonus payment of £3,600 on top of prize-money. Prizes will be awarded to qualified winners of more than 800 races in Britain this year. Owners can nominate horses to BOBIS by completing a nomination form and oneoff payment of £275 by March 31. If the horse has not previously been registered by its breeder, the owner has the option to pay both stages of the qualifying process. For full details and terms of the scheme see www.bobis.co.uk

Fun and rain with Donald McCain

GEORGE SELWYN

It would have taken a lot more than a spot of rain and freezing temperatures to keep ROA members from enjoying their tour of Donald McCain’s Bankhouse Stables on Friday, January 31. Despite being one of the coldest days of the winter so far, nearly 40 members and their guests made the journey to the Cholmondeley Castle Estate in Cheshire, where they received the warmest of welcomes from Grand National-winning trainer McCain (pictured) and his team. Members were first given a tour of the yard, which was led by fellow ROA member and owner Mike Foster from Deva Racing. There they were introduced to stable star Peddlers Cross, as well as to the many other first-class inhabitants of ‘Millionaire’s Row’. The tour was followed by a trip up to the gallops, where members watched third lot work and listened whilst McCain explained the various training methods that he employs. After warming-up with a cup of tea and a bacon roll, half a dozen horses were paraded for the guests. Included in the parade were some of the trainer’s most promising novices, as well as Grand National entry Across The Bay, who has been allotted 10st 11lb in the Aintree contest. ROA member Gary Douglas, who attended the tour, said: “I found the whole operation at Bankhouse very impressive. Donald himself was an excellent host, explaining everything that was put to him in a straightforward and forthright way.”

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THE ROAD TO THE FESTIVAL STARTS HERE MALINAS - Fee: £3,000 October 1st SIRE OF GRADED WINNING JUMPERS

Including last year’s Cheltenham Festival winner MEDINAS (Coral Cup Gr.3) Festival prospects this season include:BLACK THUNDER - RSA Novices' Trial Chase Gr.2. Trained by Paul Nicholls and entered in the RSA Chase Gr.1 and National Hunt Chase LR. MEDINAS - trained by Alan King and entered in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle Gr.1. TOUCH THE EDEN - trained by Willie Mullins and entered in the RSA Chase Gr.1, JLT Novices' Chase Gr.1 and National Hunt Chase LR.

GREAT PRETENDER - Fee: £3,000 October 1st GRADE 1 SIRE OVER JUMPS IN FRANCE - NEW TO YORTON FOR 2014 Festival prospects this season include:PTIT ZIG - Prix Renaud du Vivier Gr.1, 2nd stanjames.com Champion Hurdle Trial Gr.2, The Ladbroke Hurdle Gr.3. Trained by Paul Nicholls and entered in the Stan James Champion Hurdle Gr.1. AZZA - 3rd JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial Gr.2. Trained by David Pipe and entered in JCB Triumph Hurdle Gr.1. MR MOLE - trained by Paul Nicholls and entered in the Racing Post Arkle Chase Gr.1 and JLT Novices' Chase Gr.1.

SULAMANI - Fee: £3,000 October 1st

A GRADE 1 NATIONAL HUNT SIRE

Festival prospects this season include:RULE THE WORLD - Limestone Lad Hurdle Gr.3, 2nd Christmas Hurdle Gr.1. Trained by Mouse Morris and entered in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle Gr.1. SPIRIT OF SHANKLY - trained by Charlie Longsdon and entered in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle Gr.1. CALEDONIA - trained by Jim Goldie and entered in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle Gr.1.

UNIVERSAL - Fee: £2,500 October 1st

NEW FOR 2014 - TOUGH, TALENTED & TENACIOUS SON OF DUBAWI Multiple Group 2 winning son of DUBAWI out of a GIANT'S CAUSEWAY mare Winner of the Jockey Club Stakes in a faster time than AL KAZEEM By the sire of dual Grade 1 winning juvenile hurdler HISAABAAT and dual Grade 2 winning hurdler/chaser DODGING BULLETS (entered in the Racing Post Arkle Chase Gr.1)

LIBRETTIST - Fee: £2,500 October 1st

SUCCESSFUL YOUNG NATIONAL HUNT SIRE

From very few runners over jumps already the sire of Newbury course record breaker SONGSMITH and LIBERGE, won Corsa Siepi dei 4 Anni (Hurdle) Gr.2, 3rd Premio del Prato (Hurdle) LR.

NORSE DANCER - Fee: £1,750 October 1st DUAL GROUP WINNER - NEW TO YORTON FOR 2014

Siring Group winners on the flat and promising young national hunt horses including bumper winners TAKE A BOW and SIDE STEP (both with Nicky Henderson) and SUPREME BAILERINA (Willie Mullins)

Enquiries: David or Teresa Futter Tel: 01938 559648 Mobile: 07860 670184 email: info@yortonfarm.co.uk www.yortonfarm.co.uk

ROA FORUM

w w w. r a c e h o r s e o w n e r s . n e t

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

Ascot York Epsom Downs Newmarket Goodwood Chester Doncaster Sandown Park Newbury Haydock Park Musselburgh Ayr Pontefract Salisbury Ripon Ffos Las Carlisle Thirsk Newcastle Kempton Park Windsor Leicester Beverley Hamilton Park Nottingham Lingfield Park Warwick Catterick Bridge Redcar Bath Wolverhampton Yarmouth Chepstow Southwell Brighton Total

Figures for period February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014

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 2012 (£)

I I JCR JCR I I ARC JCR I JCR I I I I I I JCR I ARC JCR ARC I I I JCR ARC JCR I I ARC ARC ARC ARC ARC ARC

349,480 160,032 120,544 91,698 84,714 77,393 54,738 53,586 46,673 41,800 31,993 29,569 28,935 27,239 27,030 23,461 21,280 20,943 20,782 20,297 20,262 18,719 17,864 17,024 16,842 16,242 15,897 15,840 15,226 14,678 12,894 12,327 10,464 9,240 8,671 36,103

132,552 105,147 71,576 80,576 75,890 44,521 59,046 54,329 63,275 49,022 24,856 39,428 32,701 28,193 27,349 9,820 16,458 22,797 21,439 15,406 19,189 19,612 21,001 22,944 24,029 20,757 21,236 18,099 18,507 14,970 15,603 19,900 14,790 18,388 18,577 31,417

178,627 84,648 81,087 76,304 27,928 8,364 36,978 17,531 27,912 15,671 5,055 10,820 3,804 5,408 4,510 3,081 4,489 5,650 6,615 3,593 4,735 4,932 3,108 3,448 5,815 3,191 3,926 2,733 13,843 2,853 2,506 3,089 2,761 1,960 2,392 15,492

660,659 349,827 273,207 249,275 188,532 130,278 151,711 126,246 140,910 107,681 63,375 81,138 66,440 63,389 59,671 36,762 43,591 51,757 51,103 41,303 45,080 44,564 43,988 43,750 49,491 41,695 41,469 39,172 49,877 32,951 32,480 35,605 29,016 30,310 30,483 84,315

18 17 12 38 19 15 25 18 17 24 17 14 16 15 16 8 11 15 18 85 26 20 20 18 18 91 11 17 15 20 108 26 15 53 19 897

11,891,857 5,947,060 3,278,480 9,472,447 3,582,104 1,954,165 3,792,783 2,209,306 2,395,467 2,538,203 1,077,375 1,135,937 1,063,035 950,842 954,732 275,712 479,500 776,350 919,850 3,510,731 1,172,086 891,280 879,760 787,500 890,845 3,782,376 456,158 665,925 748,150 659,018 3,507,811 925,725 435,235 1,606,422 579,168 75,594,727

376,146 157,927 115,897 84,383 87,914 70,940 57,572 48,039 45,320 35,090 26,483 20,344 18,755 25,109 25,580 22,021 15,448 22,834 26,320 16,479 16,451 14,628 13,214 20,764 13,222 12,582 22,120 13,267 13,484 18,037 10,999 11,967 9,452 10,991 10,900 35,050

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 Kempton Park Newbury Ayr Perth Cartmel Chepstow Wincanton Musselburgh Newton Abbot Wetherby Market Rasen Ludlow Huntingdon Stratford-on-Avon Warwick Newcastle Kelso Doncaster Exeter Fakenham Carlisle Plumpton Ffos Las Fontwell Park Hexham Worcester Southwell Taunton Bangor-on-Dee Catterick Bridge Uttoxeter Leicester Towcester Lingfield Park Sedgefield 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 2012 (£)

JCR JCR I JCR JCR JCR I I I I ARC JCR I I I JCR I JCR I JCR ARC I ARC JCR I JCR I I ARC I ARC ARC I I I ARC I I ARC ARC

232,451 219,787 99,514 86,483 75,986 51,474 48,217 41,541 28,814 24,931 23,023 22,543 21,436 20,588 20,558 20,168 19,666 19,276 18,614 18,507 18,391 17,395 17,074 16,675 14,826 14,468 14,070 13,423 13,275 12,838 12,278 12,139 12,052 11,416 11,242 10,908 10,856 9,864 8,956 6,089 30,276

126,319 108,596 91,656 82,624 68,495 62,965 64,457 39,174 23,250 19,059 30,807 33,352 36,658 27,466 27,567 26,984 31,977 21,839 21,871 40,569 27,953 32,726 46,142 30,363 22,783 32,505 25,116 25,623 21,679 13,923 18,198 17,138 31,181 22,595 29,212 23,598 26,637 14,507 23,372 24,172 34,115

66,206 57,138 17,073 17,131 15,406 9,976 15,432 12,942 1,521 4,982 7,718 5,126 4,316 0 4,774 4,774 4,697 3,909 4,451 6,069 3,847 3,195 6,690 4,830 0 4,504 3,946 3,844 3,218 2,277 3,655 2,808 4,924 3,297 2,624 4,653 4,033 2,996 2,349 2,678 7,387

424,977 385,521 208,244 186,238 160,358 125,540 128,106 93,658 53,586 48,971 62,610 62,286 63,076 48,054 54,165 52,166 56,626 45,483 45,998 65,145 51,620 55,406 70,270 53,267 37,609 52,309 43,132 42,890 39,029 29,769 35,683 32,508 48,156 37,557 43,533 39,809 41,526 27,527 34,677 32,939 72,301

8 16 8 8 9 12 10 9 15 7 13 17 9 19 18 20 14 17 16 10 10 11 11 15 10 13 14 18 21 13 21 21 13 14 11 24 9 15 6 17 542

3,399,812 6,168,343 1,665,949 1,569,717 1,363,041 1,506,479 1,281,057 842,923 803,785 342,800 813,931 1,058,861 567,685 913,034 974,969 1,043,327 792,760 773,210 735,966 651,450 516,200 609,469 772,968 799,009 376,090 680,014 603,851 750,571 819,600 387,000 749,347 682,668 626,032 525,800 478,860 955,406 373,732 412,900 217,972 559,962 39,166,551

231,612 227,211 113,541 87,867 61,362 49,777 45,324 29,965 28,788 25,659 27,591 23,701 21,764 24,493 23,376 19,684 18,921 8,237 21,077 13,268 21,423 22,750 17,128 14,241 21,172 14,509 13,083 18,035 14,020 11,954 9,210 14,461 19,134 12,786 5,224 12,813 9,625 8,933 13,397 9,896 31,395

Up/ down

▲ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ ▼

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.

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Mobile Now available for your iPhone/iPad or Android device Downloadable FREE OF CHARGE to your iPhone, iPad or Android, the Stallion Guide App features over 800 stallions searchable by various criteria, including fees, location, winning distances, Timeform ratings and grandsires, etc. The information will be regularly updated during the 2014 Flat racing season to include data on 2yo and Stakes winners/places for all advertised stallions. T H O R O U G H B R E D

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TBA FORUM: STATISTICAL AWARDS 2013 The special section for TBA members

And the winners are… Words Alan Yuill Walker

The complete list of TBA Annual Award winners will be announced at the awards dinner in July, but we are able to reveal our four statistical awards which cover the calendar year 2013 and relate to racing in GB and Ireland only

THE QUEEN’S SILVER CUP

DARLEY

GEORGE SELWYN

In more ways than one 2013 was an unforgettable year for Sheikh Mohammed, but there was no denying his enormous influence on the global stage with Darley producing Group/Grade 1 winners around the world. The principal homebred on the domestic front was Farhh. Winner

of the Lockinge Stakes and Champion Stakes, the then five-year-old entire is by Cheveley Park Stud stallion Pivotal, in whom Sheikh Mohammed acquired a major interest some years ago. Pick of the Darley-bred fillies was Ambivalent (Pretty Polly Stakes, Curragh), a first Group 1 scorer for the Dalham Hall Stud resident Authorized. Darley, who had won this particular award on five consecutive occasions in the 1990s, had another star in 2013 with Outstrip (by another Dalham Hall stallion, Exceed And Excel), who augmented his Champagne Stakes success with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita.

Two Group 1 victories for Farhh helped to put his breeder in the top spot; Farhh is about to stand his first season at stud for Darley

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BARLEYTHORPE STUD SILVER CUP

OASIS DREAM Although Prince Khalid Abdullah and the Maktoums are staunch rivals on the racecourse, inevitably both benefit from one another on the breeding front. Dubawi is out of a Deploy mare, who in turn is out of a Dancing Brave mare, both Abdullah celebrities. Oasis Dream, who has won this award for the most individual winners, is by Green Desert, who raced for the late Maktoum Al Maktoum and has always stood at his brother Hamdan’s Shadwell/Nunnery complex. Oasis Dream is also out of a Dancing Brave mare, Hope. With Dansili and Oasis Dream, Juddmonte Farms own two of the top stallions in Europe, and the latter has proved surprisingly versatile since retiring to Banstead Manor Stud in 2004. In winning this award for the second year running, he managed to up his tally of individual winners from 86 to 96. Two of his sons, Captain Gerrard and the late Aqlaam, were also prominent on the list of freshman sires.

The versatile July Cup winner, Oasis Dream, at Banstead Manor

BBA SILVER CIGAR BOX

TATTERSALLS SILVER SALVER

DUBAWI

CAPTAIN GERRARD

JOHN REARDON/DARLEY STALLIONS

Both Dubawi and Oasis Dream won this award for the leading firstseason sire (for earnings in Great Britain and Ireland) in their time, and now is the turn of Oasis Dream’s son Captain Gerrard, whose pedigree once again is a combination of Juddmonte and Darley bloodlines. His dam was bred by Sheikh Mohammed and her sire Soviet Star and dam Scimitarra both carried the maroon and white colours. Resident at Richard Kent’s Mickley Stud in Shropshire, Captain Gerrard was just the sort of precocious two-year-old that invariably retires to stand in Ireland and his first crop of foals has yielded 13 individual winners of 22 races and earnings of over £106,000. There may be no black-type in evidence, but it’s early days yet. Captain Gerrard himself was a dual Group winner of the Cornwallis Stakes and Palace House Stakes. Trained by Bryan Smart, he belongs to the immediate family of champion sprinter Double Form. This female line was developed at Sir William Pigott-Brown’s Aston Upthorpe Stud, which is now a satellite of Rabbah Bloodstock.

After his favourite horse Dubai Millennium died of grass sickness in April 2001, having completed just one covering season at Dalham Hall Stud, Sheikh Mohammed promptly set about acquiring virtually every mare carrying to his homebred champion, but as it transpired he already owned the one that really mattered. The ensuing February, Zomaradah foaled subsequent triple Group 1 winner Dubawi (Irish 2,000 Guineas, Prix Jacques Le Marois, National Stakes). The natural successor to his own sire at Dalham Hall, he has gone from strength to strength ever since he emulated Dubai Millennium as the leading first-season sire of 2009. And as the leading British-based sire of 2013, Dubawi was following studmate Exceed And Excel, winner in 2012. His principal flagbearer was Al Kazeem (now at The Royal Studs), whose three Group 1 wins dominated the first half of the season. Godolphin had a smart representative in Hunter’s Light and there was a plethora of additional Group winners. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

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Dubawi, a tremendous heir for the late Dubai Millennium

Captain Gerrard parades with Sarah Taylor of Mickley Stud

TBA FORUM

A new look for the TBA Louise Kemble, CEO, said: “Whilst we are extremely proud that the TBA celebrates its centenary in 2017, we were conscious that we needed a refreshed logo to reflect our ambitions to remain relevant in today’s world. “The time was also right to produce something not too far away from our original identity, which was equally important to us. We hope the new logo appeals to our wideranging membership.”

You may have noticed a different version of the TBA Logo that has recently come into circulation. The re-design is the second change to the logo since it was introduced. Whilst it still includes the recognised mare and foal silhouette, we have refreshed the design overall by introducing a twist on the union jack to incorporate a British element to our British brand. Commenting on the refreshed TBA logo,

Is Neltino the oldest British stallion? We really enjoy hearing news from our members so if you have any photographs or stories of your horses that you can share with us please send them to Stanstead House and we will include as many as we can in forthcoming issues. We recently received a letter from TBA members Richard and Meg Bowers about their stallion Neltino. Bought by Lady Beaverbrook in 1976, Neltino was purchased at Tattersalls sales, as a yearling for 100,000gns. He was later given to the Bowers and is now enjoying his retirement in extremely good health at the age of 36. By Bustino and out of Flying Nelly, Neltino has been with the Bowers at The Elms Stud since he was a four-year-old and cared for by Maureen Caddick since then. Amongst his offspring are the talented Teeton Mill and Flying Instructor. Caddick writes: “In the summer he enjoys living out, as long as breakfast and supper are

Regional Days 2014

Neltino, sire of the brilliant Teeton Mill, still going strong at the age of 36

brought to him. Then in the winter, weather permitting, he enjoys going out during the day and coming in at night, as long as he has his breakfast and supper!” We believe that Neltino could be the oldest retired British stallion but if you believe there is a stallion older, please do let us know by contacting Lucinda.Hird@thetba.co.uk

The Economic Impact Study Since the results of our Economic Impact Study were presented back to us by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) we have been working hard with their team and other stakeholders from the industry in order to maximise the opportunities unveiled by the study.

We are looking forward to sharing the results and our proposals with members and the media on March 25. The TBA team will be announcing more details about this in the coming days so please keep an eye out for the launch event information.

The ever-popular programme of regional days put on by the TBA kicks off in April and runs throughout the year. These events are a great way of meeting like-minded people from your area and visiting places which you might not necessarily get the chance to under normal circumstances. Regional days are open to all members of the TBA, irrespective of your location. However, priority will be given to those members residing within the region should the day be oversubscribed. Application forms for the regional day in your area will automatically be sent to you and members are invited to apply for an application form for those days outside your region. Further details will, of course, be published on the TBA website: www.thetba.co.uk South West – Wednesday, April 23 David Pipe’s Pond House and Ashbrittle Stud, Somerset Scotland – April TBC Nick Alexander’s Kinneston stables and Perth races West – Tuesday, June 3 Andrew Balding’s Park House and Watership Down Stud, Berkshire South East – Wednesday, June 11 Normandie Stud and Olly Stevens’s Robins Farm Wales & West Midlands Saturday, September 13 Yorton Farm Stud North – Date TBA David O’Meara’s Arthington Barn Stables and Cliff Stud, York The East – TBA

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

w w w. t h e t b a . c o . u k

Behind the scenes at the TBA With a membership in excess of 2,000 and six people in the TBA office, the small team sails a big ship on a daily basis. We wanted to give you the chance to put a face to a name and tell you a bit more about the people you email or speak to at Stanstead House. This month we are focusing on the Membership Manager, CARRIE CHERRY In a nutshell, what do you do for the TBA? As Membership Manager, I am responsible for a database of nearly 3,500 TBA and NGC members. My role is all encompassing; I look after most members’ enquiries and requests from Breeders’ Prizes to regional days. If your colleagues were writing your biography what would the title be? Don’t worry, be happy. What did you do before you joined the TBA? From 2000 to 2001 I worked for the TBA for a year before moving to Brian Meehan as racing manger. Following the arrival of my daughter Sophie, I competed a team of several horses internationally in endurance riding and then I returned to the TBA in 2011. Talk us through a typical week for Carrie Cherry? With over an hour’s commute to Newmarket my alarm goes at 6am every

morning. I help do the horses and other animals before dropping Sophie at school and heading to the office. The days go very quickly as we are so busy but as I have such a broad role no day is ever the same. I’m then back up the A14 as quickly as I can to collect Sophie from her various after-school activities. What do you love about working for the TBA? The people, my colleagues and the members make it such an enjoyable job. If you could swap places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be and why? Marilyn Monroe. I thought she was wonderful and I like the idea of seeing inside the White House. Which is your favourite racecourse? Sandown, I’ve always had great days there.

Point-to-point sponsorship kicks off

Our new partnership with the Point-To-Point Authority started with a mares’ race at Chipley on January 19. TBA member Martin Howe represented the TBA on the day and commented: “The course was fantastic, and there were very few tired horses in spite of the incessant rain. It was great to present the TBA Mares’ Race prize to Lucette Annie’s connections.”

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? An English teacher. My mother was a teacher and my father trained as a teacher so it was all I wanted to be. However, it would never have worked as I would have missed the horses too much. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I wish I was as organised in my personal life as I am at work. What are you looking forward to doing with the TBA this year? Increasing the membership, especially the 18-35 members. I feel very passionate about helping secure the future of the bloodstock industry and by recruiting new and young members I feel like I’m doing my bit.

RoR / TBA Challenge 2014 Following the success of the inaugural year of the TBA supporting RoR, with the Retrained Racehorse Challenge, eyes will be focused on the main arena at the Royal Windsor Horse Show on Friday, May 16, where the final will take place. Horses qualified at events during 2013 and more than 70 combinations are eligible to line up at Windsor. During 2013, the number of horses registered to compete in the Retraining of Racehorses Series of competitions increased to 4,700-plus – up 17% on the previous year. These former racehorses are eligible to compete in showing, showjumping, dressage, eventing, team chasing, endurance and polo. Qualifiers will take place throughout the country in 2014 for the next final, and a full list of dates can be found on the RoR and TBA websites.

TBA FORUM

STALLION PARADE makes headline news

TBA diary dates SATURDAY, MARCH 8

EBF/TBA Mares’ NH Flat Race (Listed) At Sandown.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

TBA Mares’ Only Point-to-Point Race At Bangor.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

EBF/TBA Mares’ Novices’ Chase Series At Warwick.

SUNDAY, MARCH 16

TBA Mares’ Only Point-to-Point Race At Garnons.

THURSDAY, MARCH 20

EBF/TBA Mares’ Novices’ Chase Series At Ludlow.

Newsells Park Stud’s Mount Nelson looking terrific at Tattersalls

SATURDAY, MARCH 22

EBF/TBA NH Novices Hurdle Finale (Listed)

It’s not often that bloodstock-related stories make it into The Daily Telegraph but thanks to the presence of Gina Bryce on the rostrum at Tattersalls, the TBA Flat Stallion Parade was featured in the national press. Bryce, a familiar face on Channel 4 Racing and At The Races, is a former member of the TBA Next Generation Club committee. On February 6 she also became the first woman to take the auctioneer’s stand at Tattersalls. Despite not actually wielding the gavel, Bryce did a great job of introducing the 13 stallions to a packed house prior to the February Sale and we were delighted to welcome many breeders to the TBA hospitality suite at Park Paddocks as they took a closer look at the stallions after the parade. This event has become a popular one in

British breeders’ diaries and we were once again very grateful to Tattersalls for allowing us to hold the parade and to the studs which supported us by bringing along their stallions. They included last season’s leading Britishbased first-season sire Captain Gerrard from Mickley Stud; Overbury Stud’s two Flat stallions Cityscape and Delegator; National Stud representatives Dick Turpin and Pastoral Pursuits; Whitsbury Manor Stud’s new signing Swiss Spirit, along with stud-mate Foxwedge; the duo of Equiano and Mount Nelson from Newsells Park Stud; Finjaan, a new recruit for Gazeley Stud; Sayif and Stimulation, who had travelled all the way from Llety Stud in Wales, and Frankel’s close relative Westlake, who has returned from Qatar to join Hedgeholme Stud.

Power-packed Aussie sprinter Foxwedge

Stimulation strides out well and will have his first runners on the track this season

At Newbury.

NEW MEMBERS Mrs M Cornock, Bristol; J Hinds, Surrey; Miss C McCoy, Northamptonshire; Wontcostalot Partnership, Buckinghamshire; P Wales, Norfolk; T Westmacott, Somerset; A Wood, Wiltshire.

18-35 MEMBERS Beth Dowswell, Suffolk; James Fathers, Gloucestershire; Stephen Kitchener, Cambridgeshire; Georgina Scott, Somerset; Laura Scott, Somerset.

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

w w w. t h e t b a . c o . u k

Breeders’ Prizes for TBA members Breeder

Horse

Sire

Dam

Date

Course

David Lowe & Laurence Bellman

Prize (£)

5,400

Thataboy

Green Desert

Hawas

20/12/13

Lingfield Park

David Lowe & Laurence Bellman

5,400

Thataboy

Green Desert

Hawas

12/01/14

Wolverhampton

Car Colston Hall Stud

5,400

Crowdmania

Shamardal

Riotous Applause

17/01/14

Wolverhampton

Stratford Place Stud & Watership Down Stud

5,400

Swivel

Shirocco

Pivotal Drive

23/01/14

Southwell

Stratford Place Stud & Watership Down Stud

5,400

Swivel

Shirocco

Pivotal Drive

31/01/14

Lingfield Park

Kingscote Park Stud

5,400

Pool House

Sakhee's Secret

Gitane

05/02/14

Kempton

Dr Bridget Drew & Mr John Burke

1,800

Tears of the Sun

Master Craftsman

Perfect Star

20/12/13

Southwell

Prizes subject to confirmation of qualification with Weatherbys

Breeders’ Prizes

National Hunt HBLB Breeders’ Prizes worth £1,250 or more A Breeder

Prize (£)

Based on date money was paid

Horse

Sire

Dam

Date

Course

D. T. & A. T. Goldsworthy

8,000

Wychwoods Brook

Midnight Legend

Miss Millbrook

18/01/2014

Haydock Park

Richard Bridges

6,000

Highland Retreat

Exit To Nowhere

St Kilda

18/01/2014

Ascot

Mrs N. A. Ward

6,000

Melodic Rendezvous

Where Or When

Vic Melody

18/01/2014

Haydock Park

David & Julie Andrews

6,000

Valdez

Doyen

Skew

25/01/2014

Doncaster

Cobhall Court Stud

6,000

Wishfull Thinking

Alflora

Poussetiere Deux

25/01/2014

Cheltenham

The Kathryn Stud

5,000

Zamdy Man

Authorized

Lauderdale

18/01/2014

Haydock Park

M. Massarella

4,000

The Rainbow Hunter

Rainbow High

Sobranie

25/01/2014

Doncaster

Mrs S. Johnson

2,500

No Planning

Kayf Tara

Poor Celt

01/02/2014

Wetherby

C. G. M. Lloyd-Baker

2,500

Planet Of Sound

Kayf Tara

Herald The Dawn

11/01/2014

Kempton Park

Mrs J. A. Niven

1,750

Clever Cookie

Primo Valentino

Mystic Memory

02/02/2014

Musselburgh

Gail Ritchie & Stuart Smales

1,750

Wyse Hill Teabags

Theatrical Charmer

Mrs Tea

02/02/2014

Musselburgh

Fiona Avice Evans

1,500

Seeyouatmidnight

Midnight Legend

Morsky Baloo

02/02/2014

Musselburgh

Wontcostalot Partnership

1,250

No Buts

Kayf Tara

Wontcostalotbut

13/01/2014

Plumpton

See breeders' prizes table effective from January 1 on TBA website, www.thetba.co.uk. Prizes subject to confirmation of qualification with Weatherbys

Sprint to success … Incorporating

BOTTISHAM HEATH STUD Set within 180 acres of beautiful, tranquil and private paddocks situated just five miles outside of Newmarket. We offer full boarding for mares, foals, yearlings, out of training horses, resting or retired. We also have the facility to foal mares and prep them for covering, as well as prepping horses for sales throughout the year. Please contact us for further details . . . Bottisham Heath Stud, Six Mile Bottom, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 0TT Tel: 01638 570330 • Mobile: 07785512463 Website: www.robertcowellracing.co.uk • Twitter: @cowellracing

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BREEDER OF THE MONTH

www.thetba.c o.uk

Words Alan Yuill Walker Sponsored by

Manufacturers of

NH BREEDER OF THE MONTH – January 2014

GEORGE SELWYN

David & Andrew Goldsworthy In 1951, Evan Williams trained Supreme Court to win the inaugural running of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (Festival of Britain) Stakes. Spearheading a memorable five-timer for his Welsh namesake on January 18 this year was Wychwoods Brook in the historic £50,000 Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock Park. In the old days, the formidable Haydock fences were regarded second only to Aintree as a test of jumping and consequently the Peter Marsh became an established trial not only for the Grand National but also the Cheltenham Gold Cup. During the 1980s it was won by subsequent Cheltenham heroes Little Owl, Bregawn and The Thinker, followed by dual scorer Jodami. One of three British-bred Grade 2 winners at Haydock on this particular afternoon, eight-year-old Wychwoods Brook is trained in the Vale of Glamorgan, where he was bred by David Goldsworthy and his son Andrew at the family’s Whitney Farm in Bridgend. They win a supply of TRM’s world-famous Calphormin plus a bottle of premium Irish whiskey. Now retired, David Goldsworthy lives about five miles from the farm at Southerndown on the coast, but he still takes an active interest in the business. “We used to have a herd of 100 dairy cows but there is no money in milk nowadays and instead Andrew concentrates on beef cattle as well as running a livery stable for riding horses,” he says. It is here that Wychwoods Brook’s dam Miss Millbrook is now living in retirement aged 26, together with her last two progeny, a five-yearold gelding and a four-year-old filly. “Both are by Needle Gun and they were bred by a neighbour, David Brace, to whom I leased the mare for a couple of years,” explains Goldsworthy. The pair have since been sold to Kevin and Anne Glastonbury, the owners of both Wychwoods Brook and her older own-sister Wychwoods Legend, now a broodmare. They are so named because the Glastonburys live in Burford in north Oxfordshire, where they run the Wychwood estate agency. They were obviously keen to acquire the two unraced youngsters, as prior to Wychwoods Brook (now successful in two of his only four starts over fences), Wychwoods Legend had scored five times under rules between 2007 and 2010, culminating with two successes in novice chases. Originally the Goldsworthys became the owners of Miss Millbrook when she was knocked down to a ‘cash’ buyer for 1,000gns at

Three-time winner Wychwoods Brook is by Midnight Legend

Botterills’ Ascot Sales in February 1993. The then unnamed five-yearold had little to recommend her on pedigree, but she rewarded her new owners by scoring in four hunter chases, ridden by none other than Evan Williams. Wychwoods Legend belongs to the first crop of foals sired by Midnight Legend at Pitchall Stud after moving from Conkwell Grange Stud. Still going strong aged 23, he was trained latterly by David Nicholson in Condicote, outside Stow-on-the-Wold, and Wychwoods Brook was based last season with Graeme McPherson, who also has a Stow address and is very close to Wychwoods Legend’s trainer Martin Keighley. Midnight Legend shares his quarters at Pitchall Stud with Passing Glance, who, like Wychwood Brook’s maternal grandsire Meadowbrook, used to be trained by Ian Balding at Park House, Kingsclere, the yard from which Evan Williams dispatched Supreme Court all those years ago. A son of Mill Reef, the best horse that Balding trained, Meadowbrook, a leading sire of point-to-points in the north, raced for the wife of Canadian John McDougald, his one time landlord. The same is true of did Idiot’s Delight, who became a very successful sire of jumpers based at Hurstwood Stud, Adlestrop, no distance from all these other locations in and around the Cotswolds.

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Camelot, 2012 English & Irish Derby winner

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FRANKLINS GARDENS

MAJESTIC MISSILE Royal Applause ex Tshusick (Dancing Brave)

b. 2000, 16.11⁄2 hh Halling – Woodbeck (Terimon)

From a Group producing mare • By a Top class stallion High class Group 2 & 3 Winner of 4 races, £201,376 including Gr2 Yorkshire Cup. A striking horse with an outstanding pedigree. His progeny are correct, good movers and have wonderful temperaments. Excellent fertility. Retired sound. Youngstock in training with Jeremy Scott and David Elsworth. First Runner FLASHYFRANK placed 2nd at Wincanton NHF Dec 2013.

Stakes winning 2yos in his Katla and New Planet. Plus multiple Stakes winner Majestic Myles. Exciting prospects for 2014 include Group class prospect Abstraction and several 2yos.

and topped the DBS St Leger Festival Yearling Sales. By a leading sire out of a dam of 5 Stakes horses.

Stud Fee: £1,250 (1st October Terms)

BABODANA ch. 2000, 16.1 hh

Bahamian Bounty – Daanat Nawal (Machiavellian) Tough and durable high-class miler Won 3 races (including the Lincoln Handicap in 2004) Winnings £222,083. Retired sound. An impressive individual combining bone and quality with an exceptional temperament, suitable sire for any equestrian sphere. Concession for NONTB Mare.

Stud Fee: £1,000 (1st October Terms)

Enquiries to: – Derrick Scott

EAST LYNCH STUD, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8SS Tel/Fax: 01643 702430 • info@eastlynchstud.co.uk

BUCKLANDS FARM & STUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Contact: Roisin Close T: 01452 849077 M: 07738 279071 roisin@bucklandsfarmandstud.co.uk www.bucklandsfarmandstud.co.uk

www.eastlynchstud.co.uk

SHADE OAK STUD 16.1 h.h

16.2 h.h

16.3 h.h

Fee:

£3,500

Fee:

£2,500

£2,000

BLACK SAM BELLAMY Dual Gr1 winner (10-12f) Full-Brother to Champion Sire Galileo, Sire of Earl of Tinsdal 3 x Gr 1 winner, The Giant Bolster 2nd in Cheltenham Gold Cup, Oldest British bred now 4 yr old Won the Gr 2 Argento Chase at Cheltenham, 2014

FAIR MIX

LUCARNO

Gr 1 winning son of Classic Winning & Champion Champion Sire Linamix 3 yr old stayer in England Sire of Simonsig Won Gr 1 St leger stakes, Cheltenham Festival Ideal cross for Gr 1 winner over hurdles Sadlers Wells mares & fences, Sire of Powderhound winner of 2 races Neptune Novice Hurdle (or 160) The Arkle Novice Chase (or 162) Sold to Gigginstown for €145,000

Competitive permanent boarding rates available. Independent isolated Foaling unit www.shadeoakstud.co.uk Tel: 01939 270235 email: info@ shadeoakstud.co.uk.

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N E X T G E N E R AT I O N C L U B

www.nextgenerationc lub.c om

By Katherine Fidler

Preparing a stallion for the covering season

ast month we looked into the stud industry from the foaling side but this month we go back in time 11 months to the somewhat less magical, although equally important, moment of the mating. The stallion business is one that generates lucrative financial returns for the industry, and as such is highly competitive. Not every colt who graces the turf will earn a place at stud, and not all of those who do will prove as productive in the breeding shed as they did on the track. However, for those who do take up stallion duties, the change is a significant one. Whitsbury Manor Stud manager and former NGC committee member Phil Haworth takes up the story of the stallion. “When a horse retires to stud, the change in overall management is the biggest challenge that a stallion faces,” says Haworth. “His diet, exercise programme and daily routine will all be different. The end goal is to ensure the stallion is in peak physical condition when the covering season begins and is able to perform well in his new role. Once retired to stud he will let down physically, gain condition – and hopefully show an inclination towards the mares on site! “Once the breeding season is in full swing, regular covering maintains the stallion’s fitness, with some lungeing and hand-walking too. “Stallions who have been shuttling [travelling to the southern hemisphere for its breeding season] need very little work to get fit, but those who haven’t do require a fair amount of steady work to build them up. Usually starting in December, this will include hand-walking, going on the horse-walker, lungeing and occasionally ridden exercise.

Phil Haworth and Whitsbury Manor Stud’s new sire Swiss Spirit at the TBA parade

Each stallion is different and has an individual programme.” Once fit and ready to go, the stallion will be kept busy until early summer with the day job – one which isn’t without risk, particularly at the moment he meets a mare. “It’s normal practice for nearly every mare to meet a teaser stallion before the covering stallion is introduced,” says Haworth. “This enables the covering team to gauge how the

In Brief Sign up for our visits Don’t forget to visit our new website, nextgenerationclub.com, for news, blogs and details of forthcoming events. Last year’s visits included a trip to the yard of seven-time champion jump trainer Paul Nicholls, behind-the-scenes tours of Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud and the National Stud, racing at Newmarket, and a meet-and-greet with Frankel. There are many exciting new events planned for 2014, so be sure to visit the website and keep up to date by following us on Twitter – @TBANGC.

Get in touch One of the primary aims of the Next Generation Club is to provide advice and assistance to young people who wish to work in the bloodstock industry. Our committee members come from a wide range of backgrounds and areas within the industry, so if you have any questions about a career in bloodstock please feel free to email it to careers@the-ngc.co.uk and one of the team will get back to you, or you can visit the careers advice page on our website.

mare will react when she is introduced to a stallion. All mares at Whitsbury are restrained using a bridle and twitch, plus protective, heavily padded boots are fitted to their hind feet. “Continual improvements in mare management and ultrasound scanning ensure that most mares arrive in the shed fit to cover. Although there is always an element of danger involved, a well-drilled covering team ensures the process is usually very straightforward.” While most stallions take to the job straight away, covering up to four times per day at peak season, his role is only part of the business. Stallion studs spend plenty of time and money marketing their roster to attract mares high in number and quality. “We have a structured marketing policy at Whitsbury and have to work within a sensible budget,” says Haworth. “Young, unproven sires would be given a lot more ‘air time’ through advertising in industry publications and websites. Proven stallions tend to advertise themselves each year and would require less effort. “Social media, especially Twitter, is proving to be a useful marketing tool also.” So, while the stallion business is centuries old, it is one that constantly evolves to keep up with veterinary and technological advances – and one that certainly leads to an exciting career. THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

He’s fast….. very, very fast – The New Sprint Stallion at Throckmorton

MAZAMEER Bay, 2010, by Green Desert – Straight Miss (In The Wings)

• Group winner of Prix de Cabourg, Deauville at 2, (“broke fast, clear lead”) and Stakes winner at 3 of Prix Texanita, Maisons-Laffitte; also impressive debut winner at Chantilly. • Very closely related to NAAQOOS (Gr.1 Grand Criterium; successful first crop sire in 2013). • Made 105,000 gns as a foal to Angus Gold for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. Angus Gold: “Mazameer is a sharp, good-looking, correct individual and very typical of his sire Green Desert. He always showed great speed and talent…. such a natural sprinter.” Trainer Freddy Head: “Mazameer was a very talented sprinter and very much in the mould of his precocious sire Green Desert…. He was a very good-actioned individual and trained impressively…. Mazameer has the talent and pedigree to do really well at stud.”

MAZAMEER retires at £3,000 (Oct 1st SLF) concessions available. Standing alongside ASSERTIVE (41% winners to all runners to date); PICCOLO (multiple Group sire in 2013) and YORGUNNABELUCKY (dual purpose full brother to Shamardal – 1st foals 2014) THROCKMORTON COURT STUD near Pershore – close to M5 • Contact: Peter or Simon Balding tel: 079 57 868159 or 01386 462559 • email: simon@throckmortonstud.com

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Bay 2002 16.2hh

Bay 2006 16.2hh

Selkirk - Didicoy (Danzig) 3- parts brother to Gr.1 winner Cityscape. Fabulous dam line with 32 Gr.1 winners under his first five Dams. Good Looks and Excellent Temperament. Sire of Ollie G, 2nd in a Novice . Hurdle to the much fancied Cheltenham bound Fennell Bay (Ire).

Cape Cross – Love Divine (Diesis) Big good looking son of Cape Cross with classic breeding at a great price. By Cape Cross, the sire of Sea The Stars and Ouija Board out of the Oaks winner Love Divine & half brother to the European champion Sixties Icon.

£800 + VAT

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Jonathon Dodd Mob: +44(0)75436547467 +44 (0)1530 813357 Fax: +44 (0)1530 244273 Email: info@louellastud.co.uk Web: www.louellastud.co.uk

THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER

Simone excited by new role as Head of Welfare Simone Sear has been appointed Head of Welfare, replacing Terri Griffiths, who left in December. Simone has been Deputy Head of the Department since early 2013 and was Acting Head for the second half of last year when Terri was on sick leave. One of Simone’s first priorities will be to liaise with trainers, with the aim of improving channels of communication. She is currently scheduling a programme of yard visits to initiate this objective. She is looking forward to the challenges of her new role and will be working closely with Sarah Hopkins, who runs the Lambourn Office and has now been promoted to Deputy Head of Welfare. Karen Stanbridge, a qualified counsellor who has been working with the Welfare Team for eight years, has now been appointed as a Welfare Officer.

Major support for Racing Welfare in London Marathon Sheikh Fahad Al Thani will be part of an eight-strong team from Qatar Racing running to raise money for the charity

Flat sales will boost our housing portfolio Racing Welfare is in the process of selling two flats and a house in areas of low demand from racing’s workforce. The house is in Rhoshill, Cardigan, and was the property of the late Janet Cross. It was part of her bequest and has been sustained by her husband until his death last year. The flats are in Yapton, Sussex, and are on an estate which is almost entirely owned by the Police Pensioners Housing Association. We are therefore selling the flats to the Association at market value and the proceeds will be deployed on housing provision within our own portfolio. Bequests of property are extremely valuable to Racing Welfare and, as demonstrated by these properties, even if they are not in areas of demand for our service users, they can be sold and the funds utilised to enhance our existing and future housing provision.

Sheikh Fahad Al Thani: big-race runner

This year looks like being a truly outstanding London Marathon for Racing Welfare, with a magnificent line-up of participants running to raise money for the charity on Sunday, 13th April. Qatar Racing is fielding a team of eight, headed up by Sheikh Fahad Al Thani. Sheikh Fahad is very enthusiastic about the work of Racing Welfare and has already supported a number of our activities, including the 24-hour helpline. Running alongside him will be his Racing and Bloodstock Manager David Redvers, and six trainers who have horses for Qatar Racing: Andrew Balding, Robert Cowell, Richard Hannon, Charlie Hills, David Simcock and Olly Stevens. Newmarket-based Simcock is “excited and