Thoroughbred Owner Breeder

THE £6.95 JULY 2022 ISSUE 215

Golden boy Moyglare Stud Farm turns 60 in style with Cup king Kyprios

PLUS

Lester Piggott

Tribute to the legendary jockey

Sales secrets

How to prep yearlings for auction

James McDonald

Ace rider thrills at Royal Ascot

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Success on a global stage Congratulations to their breeders and thank you to all for your continued support of our stallions.

Thesis

2019 c KINGMAN - Nimble Thimble (Mizzen Mast) won Britannia Stakes, 8f, Ascot Bred by Juddmonte Farms Ltd

Candleford

2018 g KINGMAN - Dorcas Lane (Norse Dancer) won Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, 12f, Ascot Bred by Barnane Stud Ltd

Inspiral

2019 f FRANKEL - Starscope (Selkirk) won Coronation Stakes Gr.1, 8f, Ascot Bred by Cheveley Park Stud Ltd

Noble Truth

2019 g KINGMAN - Speralita (Frankel) won Jersey Stakes Gr.3, 7f, Ascot Bred by Jean-Pierre Dubois

Masen

2018 g KINGMAN - Continental Drift (Smart Strike) won Poker Stakes Gr.3, 8f, Belmont Park Bred by Juddmonte Farms Ltd

Nashwa

2019 f FRANKEL - Princess Loulou (Pivotal) won Prix de Diane Gr.1, 10.5f, Chantilly Bred by Blue Diamond Stud Farm (uk) Ltd

Contact Shane Horan, Henry Bletsoe or Claire Curry +44 (0)1638 731115 | nominations@juddmonte.co.uk

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£6.95 JULY 2022 ISSUE 215

Golden boy Moyglare Stud Farm turns 60 in style with Cup king Kyprios

le,

PLUS

Lester Piggott

Tribute to the legendary jockey

Sales secrets

How to prep yearlings for auction

James McDonald

Ace rider thrills at Royal Ascot

www.theownerbreeder.com

Cover: Kyprios, bred by Moyglare Stud Farm, which owns the four-year-old in partnership with Coolmore, wins the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot under Ryan Moore Photo: Bill Selwyn

Edward Rosenthal Editor

We need to talk about jockeys – for racing’s sake L

ester Piggott was coming towards the end of his illustrious career when I first started to follow horseracing in the late 1980s and early 90s. Our tribute to the outstanding jockey (see pages 8-16), who died at the end of May aged 86, contains contributions from Tim Richards, Tony Morris and Barry Hills, three men who all vividly recall Piggott’s finest moments in the saddle and appreciate his huge impact on the sport.

At a racing dinner some years ago, I asked a retired Classic-winning jockey how the likes of Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore compared to the 11-times champion. “They wouldn’t stand a chance!” he replied, his eyes lighting up at the mention of Piggott’s name, becoming so animated as we discussed the legendary rider’s talents that he almost fell off his chair.

Piggott dominated the sport in his day, much like Frankie Dettori more recently, though the Italian’s fondness for the limelight was on a different level to Piggott – or anyone else for that matter.

Yet some high-profile reverses, including at Epsom and Royal Ascot, caused friction with Dettori’s main supporters John and Thady Gosden, to the extent that the partnership has now ceased, with the trainers apparently deciding not to employ a retained jockey for the rest of the campaign.

In a sport where the stakes are high and a nose can make the difference between success and failure, Dettori found his riding under the microscope, receiving harsh words from his employers at the highest-profile Flat meeting in the calendar.

Not everyone will have agreed with the public criticism that Dettori endured from all quarters regarding some of his defeats – Stradivarius, though challenging wider than ideal, wouldn’t have won the Gold Cup from any position – though on one level I found it refreshing to hear people speaking their mind on the telly when it came to talking about a jockey’s efforts.

Johnny Murtagh, working for ITV Racing,

didn’t hold back in his views when analysing the St James’s Palace Stakes, as he explained why, in his opinion, one jockey’s error aided the victory of Coroebus and William Buick. The difficulties faced by star US-based rider Irad Ortiz Jr were also highlighted during the week.

Commentators in other sports don’t pretend that everyone has had a good game or played well. Sub-par performances, whether on the football pitch, tennis court or golf course, are picked up and discussed. That’s not saying we should start criticising jockeys left, right and centre – but balanced, healthy debate can only be a good thing for racing.

One jockey who it seems everyone agrees is riding at the top of his game is James McDonald. The New Zealander, based in Sydney, enjoyed a trio of Royal Ascot winners, led by sprinter Nature Strip, brilliant winner of

“Commentators in other sports don’t pretend everyone has played well” the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.

McDonald has recovered from a riding ban for betting violations to cement his position as Australia’s top jockey. Indeed, as he explains to Graham Dench, his enforced spell away from the sport worked in his favour.

“I was found in breach of the rules on betting, but I can honestly say now that good came from bad, and I turned it into a positive,” McDonald says (The Finish Line, page 88). “I did wonder if I’d ever get back to where I was, and I was a little nervous about how people would respond to me, but I came back with great determination. I wasn’t going to fail – and I haven’t looked back.”

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Contents

July 2022

38

News & Views ROA Leader White paper wait continues

TBA Leader Breeding for the long term

News Death of Alec Head

Changes News in a nutshell

Howard Wright Taking on the haters

Sales preparation Hard work pays off in the ring

5

Tribute to the riding legend

The Big Picture From Royal Ascot

Epsom review Derby delight for Desert Crown

Moyglare Stud Farm Famous operation turns 60

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Late foaling dates in focus

Sales Circuit 7

Store sector buoyant

Caulfield Files 18 22

Churchill on the up

Dr Statz Pattern emerges for Wootton Bassett

The Finish Line With jockey James McDonald

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Features Lester Piggott

Breeders' Digest

ARC's fresh investment

TBA Forum NH breeders celebrated

24 38 44

57 58 66 68 88

Forum ROA Forum

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Breeder of the Month James Wigan for Bay Bridge

Great British Bonus Latest news and winners

Vet Forum Setbacks encountered by young racehorses

72 78 83 84 85

88

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Did you know?

Our monthly average readership is

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At the ROA we work tirelessly to support, protect and promote the interests of racehorse owners everywhere. We collaborate across the industry to make sure that owners’ voices are heard within racing – making it a more open, enjoyable and rewarding sport for everyone.

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ROA Leader

Charlie Parker President

Racing in limbo until white paper is published

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he month of June is the pinnacle of the Flat season and this year has not disappointed, with some standout performances at Epsom and Royal Ascot. Desert Crown’s performance in the Derby, run in memory of Lester Piggott, was as impressive as any winner in recent years, handing master trainer Sir Michael Stoute his sixth win in the Classic.

Stradivarius, trained by John and Thady Gosden, finished third in his attempt to win a record-equalling fourth Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. The brave eight-year-old was outpaced by the younger duo Kyprios and Mojo Star, both four years his junior, the fresher legs prevailing with Kyprios, an exceptional young stayer for the stable of Aidan O’Brien, who was collecting his eighth Gold Cup. Kyprios was partnered by Ryan Moore, who again topped the jockey charts at Royal Ascot after some incredible rides.

Whether dictating the pace from the front or weaving through from the back, he is one of the all-time greats.

It was hugely disappointing that the Queen was unable to make it to the Royal Meeting in her Platinum Jubilee year, when everyone hoped she would record a winner; sadly this was not to be for one of the sport’s greatest friends.

Away from the headline days, Fully Wet’s win in an EBFsponsored fillies’ maiden at Goodwood in May was the first victory in Britain for Barry Schwartz, a leading owner and breeder in the US who is the former CEO of Calvin Klein. The ability to attract individuals such as Schwartz and co-owner Andrew Rosen, allied to the global appeal of events such as Royal Ascot, which this year witnessed an exceptional performance by Australian sprinter Nature Strip in the King’s Stand Stakes, highlights that Britain remains a truly captivating and vibrant place to race horses.

The World Pool days at Royal Ascot set a new record for gross turnover with £168 million wagered over the five-day meeting. Gross turnover for World Pool bets increased by 35% on the 2021 figure. This is arguably a game-changer for the sport financially and in keeping British racing firmly on the global map. This innovative, forward-thinking initiative needs to be recognised and the industry must get firmly behind World Pool so it can realise its full potential. Levy generation and licensing agreements are all welcome, but the income generated by World Pool must find its way into the prizemoney pot if the virtuous circle is to enrich the sport. As a collaboration of global Totes, World Pool enables racing fans from all over the globe to bet into a single pool.

There has been much talk about the 2005 Gambling Act review; originally we were advised that this report would be published in the spring, but as spring turns to summer we

are still hearing that publication is just around the proverbial corner, with speculation rife as to what recommendations it will contain. Many commentators are predicting that the proposed reforms will be watered down. The likelihood of this seeing the light of day before Parliament’s summer recess is looking less and less likely, with Nigel Huddleston MP refusing to provide a timeline for the white paper during a recent debate at Westminster Hall.

We can only wait for this white paper to appear to better understand the potential ramifications for our much-loved sport. Until then, there is significant evidence that bookmakers have adopted a series of self-policing methods around

“We will need to digest the proposals and work out how they might impact the industry” affordability; perhaps these combined with the cost-of-living increases and the other worries impacting our lives – war, transport strikes, Brexit issues etc – has led to the decline in gambling revenues flowing into the sport, as well as the wellpublicised drop off in racecourse attendances.

For the good of the sport, we really need the white paper to be published as soon as possible so we can all digest the proposals and work out how they might impact the industry.

Only then can we respond correctly and try to mitigate the consequences.

Royal Ascot and Epsom have showcased the very best of our sport; huge crowds, exciting racing and international appeal. Let’s hope we can build on this through the turbulent political landscape and embrace a new strategic vision into the second half of 2022 and beyond.

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TBA Leader

Julian Richmond-Watson Chairman

Staying sires and runners deserve our appreciation T

o win the Derby – that’s the Derby at Epsom – is the pinnacle of ambition for any breeder and owner. Fulfilling that ambition is, by the very nature of the exercise and the level of competition it involves, a rarity, but this year’s running demonstrated how everyone can believe it is possible to turn that dream into reality.

To reflect on the basic facts of the 2022 Derby – that the first three finishers were ridden by British jockeys, trained in three different British-based stables, and sired by three relatively young, British-based stallions, of whom two are available for nomination fees of £15,000 and £10,000 – is both exciting and rewarding.

Desert Crown, the richly deserving winner, is from the sixth crop of Nathaniel, a top-class racehorse over middle distances who inevitably produces more horses in his own stamina mould than those who excel over shorter trips.

Nathaniel, who stands at Newsells Park Stud, was registering his sixth individual Group 1 winner in Desert Crown, and followed on from the champion filly Enable, who notched 11 wins in the highest grade, to claim a Derby and Oaks double. That in itself is an achievement which few stallions manage in a lifetime at stud.

Looking beyond this singular mark of distinction, it should be no surprise that many of those runners who are not top class go on to flourish in the jump racing sphere, where their produce demonstrate soundness and the ability to stay and improve as they grow older.

Nathaniel’s success in the National Hunt field was recognised recently at the TBA’s annual awards by his retaining the Whitbread Silver Salver for leading active British-based stallion in terms of prize-money, with Zanahiyr and Concertista being his latest big-money earners.

However, as a consequence he risks being quickly dismissed

by Flat breeders, on the grounds he is regarded principally as a National Hunt sire, and inevitably he covers fewer and fewer Flat breeding mares. This is true of too many stallions who could and should be helping to maintain the diversity and variation in the breed.

Five years ago, the TBA, backed by the BHA, set out to raise the profile and prize-money for staying races, and with the support of the European Pattern Committee a number of races were raised in value, upgraded and highlighted as opportunities for later developing horses.

The British European Breeders Fund supports a number of two-year-old races restricted to horses by or out of winners at ten furlongs or farther, which have proved invaluable at providing opportunities to horses who have gone on to be Group winners.

Of course, most of the horses who have benefited from the enhanced programme do not race in the first part of their twoyear-old season, but it is a myth that they don’t run or perform successfully as two-year-olds at all. Cracksman and Hurricane Lane both made winning debuts over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in the middle of October.

Now, with a strong all-weather programme stretching into the winter, there are plenty of opportunities to shine later on and to emulate Stradivarius, who won over a mile at Newcastle in November on his third outing as a two-year-old.

This was always going to be a long-term project and the benefits of these initiatives are just beginning to emerge. For instance, the percentage of mares covered by stallions who won

“Both Nathaniel and Territories stand at fees within reach of most breeders” over ten furlongs or more has increased from 19.4 per cent to 31.7 per cent in 2020, and the number of stallions standing in Britain who won over 12 furlongs or more has increased every year.

Continued support from Pattern Committees throughout Europe, allied to constant reminders that the world’s most important and valuable races are run at ten and 12 furlongs, should help the push to retain the gene pool necessary to win these races.

Both Nathaniel and Territories, the Dalham Hall-based sire of the Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal, stand at fees within reach of most breeders, and with an increase in the number of available middle-distance stallions, let’s hope that more British-bred Group horses emerge to reward those who breed for that longterm goal.

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Lester Piggott tribute

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Lester Piggott THE GREATEST November 5, 1935 – May 29, 2022

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ALAMY

enius. Icon. Legend. Ruthless. Just some of the words used to describe Lester Piggott, the greatest jockey of the post-war period and many would say of all time, who died in May at the age of 86.

Tributes to the ‘Long Fellow’ came from all corners of the globe, from former colleagues, friends and fans, often accompanied by a personal recollection of being in the company of a man who bestrode his sport in a way few others have ever managed.

The numbers tell only a small part of the Piggott story but they are incredible by any measure: 30 British Classics between 1954 and 1992, nine Derby victories over a 29-year period, 116 Royal Ascot triumphs and a final tally of 4,493 winners on the Flat in the UK – his worldwide total is over 5,300 – capturing 11 champion jockey titles along the way.

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Lester Piggott tribute

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From the Derby success of Never Say Die in 1954 to Rodrigo De Triano’s 2,000 Guineas wins at Newmarket and the Curragh in 1992, Piggott’s longevity at the top level was unrivalled, even though his methods in securing so many of those mounts that carried him to famous victories could often be described as underhand.

Yet when given the opportunity in a big race Piggott would invariably produce the goods, which is why so many owners and trainers were content to put him up – as Barry Hills says later in this tribute: “It was much better to have Lester on your horse than against you.”

For all his domestic success, one of Piggott’s greatest moments in the saddle came on foreign shores, when he partnered Royal Academy to success in the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Belmont

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Park aged 54.

The victory, less than two weeks after he had returned from a five-year retirement – which included a spell at Her Majesty’s pleasure – summed up his talent, resilience and competitive edge perfectly, a brilliant jockey producing an exceptional ride on the global stage.

Retiring for good in 1995, Piggott spent his later years in Switzerland but would often return to Britain for the big festivals, where he would be warmly received by the racing community.

Piggott, who is survived by partner Barbara Fitzgerald, wife Susan, and children Maureen, Tracy and Jamie, was the first inductee into the British Champions Series Hall of Fame last year, along with unbeaten champion Frankel, where his achievements will be celebrated for many years to come.

TIM RICHARDS recalls a unique talent whose ability in the saddle was matched by an overwhelming desire to always be on the right horse Breakfast at Lester Piggott’s Newmarket home back in the 1960s was an eyeopening experience for an eager young reporter. Watching our greatest jockey chase a single rasher of bacon round his plate provided an instant insight into the steely discipline, determination and singlemindedness that kept him on top of the racing world for 40 years.

Lester’s wife Susan produced an excellent breakfast. But when we had finished ours there was Lester still prodding that lonely piece of bacon with

That victory came after his first retirement in 1985, a short spell training in Newmarket, a year in prison for tax evasion followed by arguably the greatest sporting comeback ever. Winning the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile on Royal Academy at Belmont Park in New York just 12 days after resuming race-riding again. A feat summed up by one of Lester’s celebrated one-liners: “You don’t forget!”

Predictably, tributes poured in – and continue to do so – from around the world after Piggott’s death on May 29 in Switzerland following a recent spell in hospital.

his fork. Words were not needed, as was invariably the case with the great man.

This was the strict dietary management that Lester applied throughout his career to maintain his 5ft 8in frame as the 8st 6lb riding legend it always was. A life-long, self-inflicted regime, keeping his eye on the scales when his comforts included ice cream, cigars and coffee.

It was this total dedication put forward at times as part of the cause of Piggott’s isolated outlook on life. Never one for chit-chat when a couple of words would do, though he wasn’t helped by being partially deaf, often switching an imaginary hearing aid higher or lower for his convenience.

The renowned commentator and journalist Sir Peter O’Sullevan, referring to Piggott’s rigours of deprivation and semi-starvation, wrote in his book Horse Racing Heroes: “The austere regime further isolated him from his fellow men, promoted irritability and fostered the gunslinger’s delusion of being above the law.”

His permanent battle with the weighing scales made it all the more incredible that he could be champion jockey 11 times and win 30 English Classics, including a record nine Derbys.

His total of around 5,300 winners in some 30 different countries included 20 over hurdles. And, just to emphasise the steel which must have embodied his thin frame, he rode his last British Classic winner, Rodrigo De Triano in the 1992 2,000 Guineas, as a 56-year-old grandfather.

“He won the Triumph Hurdle three months before winning his first Derby”

GEORGE SELWYN

ALAMY

Piggott was a master of Epsom, winning the Derby a record nine times, the first coming on Never Say Die as a 16-yearold in 1954 and the last with Teenoso (below) in 1983

Lester Keith Piggott was born on November 5, 1935 with a deep racing pedigree. His father Keith rode a Champion Hurdle winner and trained the 1963 Grand National winner Ayala, who had been schooled at home by Lester himself. His mother Iris was from the famous Rickaby racing family while his grandfather, Ernie Piggott, was champion jump jockey three times and rode three Grand National winners.

Lester partnered his first winner as a 12-year-old on The Chase at Haydock in 1948, weighing out at 6st 9lb. After the race his mother told admirers and the press: “Don’t make a fuss of him, he’s just an ordinary boy. He’s done nothing special.”

Six years later trying to contain his weight he rode over hurdles and in 1954 won the Triumph Hurdle at Hurst Park on Prince Charlemagne just three months before winning his first Derby on 33-1 shot Never Say Die. After riding the winner of the last on the Epsom card he was driven home by his parents and spent an hour mowing the lawn before going to bed. He had infuriated the press with his post-race quote: “It’s just another race”. But Lester was only repeating the advice his father had drummed into him: “Forget it’s the Derby, it’s just another race”. Lester was keen to see for himself how well the job had been done and went to the trouble of arranging with the manager of a Reading

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Lester Piggott tribute triumph.

There was much debate after Never Say Die and Lester’s next outing, a very rough King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot for which Piggott was held responsible and suspended for the rest of the season. “I was furious about what was tantamount to being warned off,” he said.

There was a light at the end of that suspension when, sadly, Gordon Richards suffered a career-ending fall, leaving Lester, at 18, to step into his job as stable jockey to Sir Noel Murless.

Piggott and the powerful Murless stable at Warren Place in Newmarket wasted little time hitting top gear in the 1957 2,000 Guineas and Derby with Crepello and also the Oaks with the Queen’s Carrozza. After the Derby, Piggott was asked by the press how he would celebrate. “With a quiet evening,” he replied. “When I won the Derby on Never Say Die I went home and cut the lawn. I haven’t cut the lawn since.”

Part of the Piggott humour, relieving him of any lengthy, in-depth discussion with the media.

Three years later came his third Derby on the Murless-trained St Paddy in the Crepello colours of Sir Victor Sassoon.

That made it three winners from seven Derby rides between 1954 and 1960, with Piggott the outstanding Derby jockey of his generation at the age of 24.

Piggott’s relationship with Murless came to a frosty end when he took himself off the stable’s Varinia in the 1966 Oaks to ride Valoris, the winner, for Vincent O’Brien. Thus started his allconquering alliance with Ireland’s greatest trainer. But first he could only look on with envy as his successor at Warren Place, Aussie George Moore, won the following year’s 1,000 Guineas on Fleet and the 2,000 Guineas and Derby on Royal Palace, all trained by Murless.

Lester described his success on the 1968 Derby hero, Sir Ivor, the first of four for O’Brien, as “without question the most exciting, and probably the best”. Even though two years later he was to win the Triple Crown (Guineas-Derby-St Leger) on O’Brien’s Nijinsky. Piggott always recalled that it was love at first sight, so commanding was Nijinsky’s presence. And he was not surprised to be easing him down as he beat France’s brilliant Gyr in the Derby.

Witnessing Nijinsky and Lester’s Triple Crown triumph in the St Leger at Doncaster – the first since Bahram in 1935 – was one of those unforgettable, historic days full of euphoria. His American billionaire owner, Charles Engelhard, came into the winner’s enclosure celebrating,

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clutching a bottle of Coca-Cola in each hand. After the Derby he had celebrated at Annabel’s, accompanied by Lester, and with his own crate of Coca-Cola!

Piggott’s cut-throat mentality, his insatiable desire to get on the right horse at the right time, without the help of a modern-day agent, was always a big talking point. This time it was during the build-up to his 1972 Derby victory on Roberto. He continually played musical chairs and had us all guessing. Roberto’s regular rider, Bill Williamson, had been stood down by the colt’s American owner, John Galbreath, due to a recent injury.

Many believed Lester had played his part in the jockey change. But no-one was in any doubt that only Piggott could have got Roberto home. Amidst much whipcracking and with Rheingold hanging into Roberto, Piggott managed to balance his mount and, with full force, win by a short-head in one of the most dramatic Derby finishes. He then went on to replace Ernie Johnson on Rheingold and win the following year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a race he would capture twice more on the Vincent O’Brien-trained Alleged in 1977 and ‘78.

There was widespread indignation when it was announced that Lester, not regular rider Bill Pyers, would ride France’s Maurice Zilber-trained Empery in the 1976 Derby. After an emphatic three-length

ALAMY

›› cinema for a private showing of his Derby

victory the press wanted to know at what stage he thought he would win. “Last night,” replied Lester with another of his one-liners. A year later he recorded Derby victory number eight on The Minstrel for

O’Brien and owner Robert Sangster.

The record ninth and final Piggott Derby triumph on the Geoff Wraggtrained Teenoso on heavy ground was greeted with a host of snappy headlines

GEORGE SELWYN

Piggott won a record 28th British Classic on Commanche Run in the 1984 St Leger, while he remains the last jockey to have captured the Triple Crown, a feat he achieved in 1971 aboard Nijinsky (inset)

in the popular press: “Piggott On Cloud Nine”… “Lester Dresses Up To The Nines On Teenoso”… “King Lester The Ninth”.

His record-breaking 28th Classic victory on Commanche Run in the 1984 St Leger was another ride he plundered.

The colt’s regular partner was American Darrel McHargue, stable jockey to Commanche Run’s trainer Luca Cumani, who was embarrassed that owner Ivan Allan had allowed Piggott to talk him round to jocking off McHargue, who, in disappointment, said he’d be staying at home to play tennis.

When the heavens opened Lester was asked if the rain would worry Commanche Run. He replied: “No, but it might spoil Darrel’s tennis!”

Not long after all the glory and adulation there were rumours that Piggott was being investigated by the tax authorities. His mother Iris had taught him to be careful with money from a very early age, advice Lester took to extremes.

Hence, the ‘Long Fellow’ with short arms

and deep pockets; a reputation Lester carried with him throughout his reign in the saddle. But, regrettably, eventually crossing the line between greed and criminality.

In 1987 at Ipswich Crown Court, he was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, failing to declare income of £3.25 million to the Inland Revenue. He was also stripped of the OBE he had been awarded in 1975. As he was marched to the cells Susan collapsed in tears. Later, when offered a sympathetic word by the author, she said: “It was nice to see a friendly face in the gallery.” Lester was released after serving one year.

Touting for the best rides in the biggest races did not seem to leave a lasting bitterness among his colleagues in the weighing room. Five-times champion Willie Carson explained: “Lester walked around with an aura about him. Everyone looked up to him. He was also a very caring man. If a jockey sustained an injury and ended up in hospital, he would be

one of the few to visit them.”

To quote O’Sullevan again: “Lester gained the adulation of his peers, despite a cavalier tendency to purloin a desired mount from beneath a still-warm bottom.”

Some of the best trainers found themselves irritated beyond belief when Piggott rode work on their horses. Each spring he would ride out for Vincent O’Brien and do much more on his mounts than O’Brien wanted, simply to discover for himself the potential of each horse.

O’Brien’s son, Charles, recalled: “He’d ignore what he’d been told to do and do what he wanted in order to find out a bit more. Sometimes when he came in there’d hardly be a word between Lester and father.” Lester was utilising his unique talent of having more rapport with horses than people.

Inevitably, all the success came with numerous injuries. But Lester’s courage was yet another feature of his durability.

In his 50s he rode with the same lack of fear as he did when he started. He once said: “I can honestly say I have never been frightened. If I felt that way, I would give up.”

His courage was highlighted before the 1977 Oaks when his mount Durtal took off on the way to the start and ended up throwing Lester and dragging him along by his right stirrup. He could have been killed. Instead, he rode the last winner that afternoon.

He nearly lost an ear at Epsom in a nasty starting stalls incident in which his mount broke its back and was destroyed.

His hanging ear needed stitches, but a week later, with frozen pain-killing injections, he forced Fairy Footsteps home in a desperate finish to the 1981 1,000 Guineas.

Lester received a message from the Queen after being knocked unconscious in a horrific fall from the fatally-injured Mr Brooks in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park in 1992 and ended up in Miami’s Hollywood Memorial Hospital with upper and middle body fractures and a collapsed lung. He told the American press he’d had worse falls tumbling out of bed.

Racing enthusiasts around the world, full of admiration, always wanted to know what drove this man on with this wild hunger for winners when already enjoying multi-millionaire status.

“It’s not the winning, it’s the wanting to win that’s important,” he said.

His millions of followers and admirers were forever being told: “Don’t try and understand Lester – just enjoy him while you can.”

And we did.

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Lester Piggott tribute Former trainer BARRY HILLS recalls his working relationship with the outstanding jockey, including their 1973 Arc victory together with Rheingold People always want to hear about Lester and Rheingold, which is not surprising.

You might say that Lester cost me a Derby when he got Roberto up in the last strides to beat Rheingold a short-head in 1972 and then the following year he made up for it by winning the Arc on him.

As older readers may remember, Bill Williamson was due to ride Roberto, and Lester jocked him off, persuading the owner that Bill wouldn’t be fit enough after a fall at Kempton, even though the doctor had passed him fit and he rode winners on the day.

I’ve no criticism of Ernie Johnson, who had won the Blue Riband and the Dante on Rheingold and rode another very good race in the Derby, but I firmly believe that if it hadn’t been Lester on board Roberto then Rheingold would have won.

I was pleased Rheingold had run so well and I’d rather be finishing second than third, but I didn’t know then that there would be three more Derby seconds!

Lester got on Rheingold in the Benson & Hedges [now Juddmonte International] later that year, when they were fourth behind Roberto and Brigadier Gerard, and he got back on him again at the last minute in the Benson & Hedges the following year, even though Yves Saint-Martin had struck up a very good relationship with him and they had won two Grand Prix de Saint-Clouds and a Ganay together.

“Lester could mess up any gallop – I didn’t like him riding them at home” I remember Lester persuaded the owners that Yves wouldn’t be available when it came to the Arc, but it caused such a row that the stewards called me in for an explanation, which I didn’t really have.

Rheingold didn’t run well in his second Benson & Hedges either, but we were still

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aiming for the Arc and Lester came down to ride him in a gallop about ten days before the race.

As a rule, I didn’t like having Lester ride them at home, because he could mess up any gallop for his own ends. I remember he came down one day before the Oaks to ride Durtal, on whom he had won the previous year’s Cheveley Park, and he drove her mad really.

They went much too fast that morning and as a result Durtal ran away with him on the way to the start of the Oaks and staked herself, so couldn’t run. I blamed Lester for what happened there, but he came back and blamed the filly, saying “She nearly killed me!”

Anyway, Lester and Rheingold did a brilliant gallop with Proverb, on whom he won the Goodwood Cup the following year, and two others. I knew that day that it would take something special to beat him at Longchamp, and I backed him accordingly at 12-1 with Ladbrokes.

Lester hadn’t ridden an Arc winner at that stage and he had been second three times, on top horses like Sir Ivor, Park Top and Nijinsky, so he was desperate to win the race.

It all went just as I hoped. Lester took Rheingold to the front early in the straight, followed by Saint-Martin on Allez France, and Rheingold won well.

He beat Allez France, an exceptional filly who won the following year’s Arc, by two and a half lengths, and the pair of them were well clear. I don’t think many horses of my lifetime would have beaten him that day.

He rode a lot of winners for me and we had another big day when Hawaiian Sound won the Benson & Hedges in 1978.

Bill Shoemaker had ridden him in the Derby and he couldn’t hold him. He made the running, which wasn’t the plan, and he didn’t quite get home and was just caught by Shirley Heights.

Lester was riding the favourite Inkerman for Vincent O’Brien that day and couldn’t have ridden Hawaiian Sound anyway, but he got on him for the first time in that year’s Benson & Hedges and they made all and won well. Shoemaker hadn’t done anything wrong at Epsom but Hawaiian Sound didn’t quite get a mile and a half.

Lester was a year or two older than me and I knew him as a child from 1948, as we lived in Lambourn, where my father was with Charlie Pratt, and Lester was just about to start riding.

When I came back to Lambourn to train in 1968 he would ring up for rides.

He’d just ring and say, “Do you run so and so on Thursday – I’ll ride it, and it will

win”, and that could have the effect of stopping about six others from running in the race, as trainers like Jeremy Tree would then take theirs out.

He rode winners for me from a very early stage. Hickleton, a good little staying horse who I bought out of a seller, was an early one, and Lester often rode him. They won the Brown Jack together at Ascot in 1970, and a year later they won the Queen Alexandra quite easily.

We had a good early win in France too in 1971 when Our Mirage, who went on to be fourth in the Derby, won the Prix de la Salamandre.

Our Mirage was owned by Nat Cohen and Sonny Enfield and I remember when Lester got off they said, “Thank you very much Lester, we’ll give you a present”, and he just replied, “Make it a big one,” which was typical Lester. After the Derby, Lester also won the Great Voltigeur on him.

I was lucky to have a lot of very good jockeys ride regularly for me besides Lester, including Willie Carson, Pat Eddery and Steve Cauthen, and there are some very good jockeys riding now, like William Buick, who I think will end up in the same sort of bracket.

It’s very difficult to compare them,

but Lester was unique of course. He went about his business very quietly and he was a true professional. He’d have everything weighed up – not just the one he was riding but all of the others too.

There was nobody like him for finding things out, whether it was on the gallops, from the form book, or in the weighing room, and that meant he’d always know just what to expect and how to use it to his advantage.

He farmed the system as it was then and he would try anything. And he was always looking to back a winner and to get a few readies!

He was as good as anyone tactically,

GETTY

At Royal Ascot last month Barry Hills (inset) recalled the 1973 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory of Rheingold and Piggott, pictured being led back to the winner’s enclosure by the trainer (in trilby) and owner Henry Zeisel

and he was tremendously strong too.

He had such discipline too to manage his weight, and he showed enormous dedication.

It was much better to have Lester on your horse than against you. If you had Lester you didn’t have to worry about him being on something else.

He dominated the sport in his day.

He’d have had no trouble adapting if he was riding in the present day.

I’ve got very fond memories of him and he’ll always be greatly admired.

Lester was a character and there will never be another like him.

As told to Graham Dench

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Lester Piggott tribute Renowned racing and bloodstock writer TONY MORRIS on his memories of following the great rider from a young age

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Piggott captured his 30th British Classic on Robert Sangster’s Rodrigo De Triano in the 1992 2,000 Guineas

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Legends: Piggott and Willie Carson in 2013

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Growing up as a teenage follower of racing whose knowledge sprang from zero personal experience, I found two special heroes. The invincible Ribot was my peerless equine champion, while I came to idolise Lester Piggott, initially perhaps because the three Derby victories before his 25th birthday made him seem a cut above his rivals.

I would find other reasons for placing Lester on a pedestal once I became professionally involved in the game. An early one came in July 1963, when my late shift duties included penning a story about a Piggott bonanza at Pontefract’s evening meeting, when six rides produced five wins (including one putting up 6lb overweight) and a second.

On the following day I had a day out at Ascot, watching the maestro win the first two races, and such was the public’s belief in his magical powers that they sent out his mount Twilight Alley, who needed two miles to get warmed up, as favourite for the King George, the next race on the card.

Realistically, Twilight Alley should have been an outsider in a top-quality contest at a mile and a half, and he broke down with a career-ending injury at the turn for home.

Lester was renowned as a great judge of form, never needing an agent to tout for his mounts. My favourite example in that regard came at a minor meeting at Leicester in August 1965, where my colleague Geoff Mayes and I found ourselves standing idly outside the weighing room before the first, when the ‘Long Fellow’ stepped out for a breath of fresh air.

It was Geoff’s idea to engage him in conversation, and he opened up by

suggesting that he might have a good day. We weren’t expecting the swift response: “I’ll win on four.”

A quick flip through the racecard revealed just that he was bound to win on Costmary, who would be long odds-on, in the last. We needed guidance over the other three prospective winners, making suggestions and awaiting responses.

He was on a fancied runner in the third, so that would presumably be one of his winners. Not so, he assured us, that one was a false favourite.

As for the six-furlong handicap, we ventured to tell him that there was no way he could win on Seymour, a notoriously tricky sort beaten in all his seven runs so far that year.

“I will win on Seymour,” he insisted, adding outrageously, “if I don’t finish first, I’ll get the race in the stewards’ room.”

That was just too ridiculous for words, so we chose to ignore what we had been told, throwing away the opportunity to go through the card. Everything happened just as Lester predicted.

Seymour did not finish first, missing out by a head in a photo-finish. But Lester put on a RADA-style performance and the stewards, in those days before the camera patrol, could only assume from Lester’s antics that his challenge was hampered badly enough to prevent him from winning.

I have long maintained that Lester was at his brilliant best in the summer and autumn of 1966. That was his most productive year with 191 winners, the championship so one-sided that his runner-up, Scobie Breasley, managed

only 97 winners.

He had the very devil in him at that time, his will to win knowing no bounds, whether at major stakes level or in lowly selling company. You could never leave his mounts out of consideration, and I particularly recall an occasion towards the end of that campaign when his powers seemed to reach new heights.

He won the Champion Stakes on Pieces Of Eight, delivering that colt with a challenge that brought victory in the very last stride. Raceform’s John Sharratt, the best race-reader I ever knew, told me that it might be years before I would see such a perfectly judged ride.

An hour and a half or so after that John had to remark: “Forget what I said earlier, we’ve just seen its match,” referring to an equally superb Piggott performance for another short-head win on Love For Sale in the Houghton Stakes.

Of all the privileges bestowed on me in nearly 60 years as a racing writer, that of watching the incomparable Lester Piggott in the saddle ranks very high. I may have missed his first three Derby wins, but I was present at Epsom for the six that followed and retain vivid memories of all of them.

I also have fond recall of that first Saturday in May in 1992, when I had the press stand at Newmarket pretty much to myself, as most of my fellow scribes had diverted to Churchill Downs in anticipation of a sensational Kentucky Derby performance by Arazi.

They crossed the Atlantic to witness a flop. I ventured just a mile from home to watch Lester win his 30th English Classic, a feat that may never be equalled.

First-Crop

Royal Ascot winner GROUP 2

T ASLEET Showcasing - Bird Key (Cadeaux Genereux)

Sire of the unbeaten juvenile and top-rated 2YO BRADSELL Winner: Gr.2 Coventry Stakes, 6f, Royal Ascot Owner: Victorious Racing Limited

Breeder: Mrs D O’Brien Trainer: Archie Watson

Congratulations to all connections

Fee: £5,000 Jan 1st, SLF

Contact Tom Pennington: +44 (0)7736 019914 tpennington@shadwellstud.co.uk | www.shadwellstud.com

#TasMania

News

lec Head, a legendary figure within French racing circles, died last month at the age of 97.

Head was hugely successful across different sectors of the industry, notably as a trainer and latterly as an owner and breeder at his Haras du Quesnay in Normandy. He also leaves behind an immense legacy as the father of Freddy, Criquette, Martine and Patricia, each successful in differing roles within the sport in their own right, and grandfather of Christopher, an emerging force within the French training ranks.

Born in 1924, Head initially followed in the footsteps of his father, William Head, by becoming a successful jockey. He had a brief but successful stint in the saddle, steering Vatelys to success in the Grand Course de Haies d’Auteuil in 1946 before a bad fall brought the curtain down on his riding career at the age of 23. Head retired with 160 victories – 92 on the Flat and 68 over jumps – to his credit yet was to prove even more of a success as a trainer.

An early association with the Aga Khan

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Alec Head, doyen of French racing scene, dies aged 97 A

and then his son Aly Khan bore fruit in the 1952 Arc hero Nuccio. Head was then still in his formative years as a trainer and come the end of the decade had also saddled the Aga Khan’s Buisson d’Argent to victory in the 1956 Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the owner’s fillies Toro and

Ginetta to win the 1957 and 1959 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and colt Saint Crespin III to win the 1959 Arc. Aly Khan’s Yla also won the 1958 Pouliches.

Miranda Filmer fund hits £225,000 A charity appeal has rapidly raised over £225,000 in memory of Miranda Filmer, a talented equestrian rider and devoted racing fan, who passed away on June 10 aged 30 after a brave battle against Neuroendocrine cancer.

Brought up in Wiltshire, Miranda, who worked for Anderson & Co Publishing, was only three when she first sat on a pony, however the experience ignited a lifelong passion for horses. She began to compete at Pony Club from the age of five and aged seven started to hunt with the VWH. After winning the pairs VWH hunter trial at Wickstead, Miranda worked for Polly Williamson at Charlton Park before work experience with William Fox-Pitt, later taking on roles with Mike and Emma Winter and Gubby Leach, for

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whom she was head girl.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2017, Miranda fought her disease with courage and vigour, even embarking on a Masters in Equine Hydration at the Royal Agricultural University while undergoing chemotherapy.

A statement from her parents said: “Miranda refused to be defined by her disease, she rode everyday through cycles of chemotherapy and other debilitating treatments. Even as her cancer consumed her body, she competed at BE events, living her equestrian life to the maximum.

“She has been described by a few as a ‘lioness’ in the way she demonstrated astonishing courage and fortitude whilst battling her cancer. Right to the end she thought only about her family and

Miranda Filmer: loved horses and competing

friends and urged them all to live life to the fullest and not to be downcast.”

To donate to the appeal, please see thebiggive.org.uk and search ‘Neuroendocrine Appeal’.

Stories from the racing world

GEORGE SELWYN

Gold River provided trainer Alec Head (inset) with his fourth Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory in 1981

There were also a number of memorable raids in Britain, with the Aga Khan’s Rose Royale II successful in the 1957 1,000 Guineas, and Aly Khan’s Taboun successful in the 2,000 Guineas two years later.

Other owners also fared well through their association with Head, notably Pierre Wertheimer, in whose colours Lavandin won the 1956 Derby and Vimy won the 1955 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Overall, Head sent out the winners of 14 French Classics and four winners of the Arc; in addition to Nuccio and Saint Crespin III, his Arc roll of honour also includes the great fillies Ivanjica (1978), who was partnered to victory by son Freddy, and Gold River (1981).

In 1958, the Head family purchased the historic Normandy property Haras du Quesnay. It was there following significant renovation that Head and his wife Ghislaine were able to indulge their passion for breeding racehorses, with the development of a deep broodmare band ultimately becoming an excellent complement to Head’s abilities as a stallion master.

He was early to recognise the

importance of American bloodlines and to that end many Head-trained stars of the 1970s boasted an American background, notably Ivanjica, a daughter of Sir Ivor, and his Poule d’Essai des Poulains winners Riverman, a son of Never Bend, and Green Dancer, by Nijinsky.

A number of his better colts went on to

“At Haras du Quesnay he indulged his passion for breeding” stand at Quesnay although for several, such as Riverman and Lyphard, it turned out to be a relatively brief stop en route to a successful stud career in Kentucky.

In later years, the reverse trip was made by his homebred Bering, a son of Arctic Tern trained by Criquette and ridden by Freddy to victory in the 1986

Prix du Jockey Club. Following five years in Kentucky, Bering returned home to Quesnay in 1992 where he stood with success alongside Highest Honor and Anabaa, both French stallion stalwarts of their time.

Head had accepted Anabaa, a regally-bred Danzig colt, as a gift from Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum upon his diagnosis as a wobbler, only for him to defy the odds and not just survive but ultimately win the July Cup in the colours of Ghislaine. He later became a highprofile stallion for Quesnay, notably as the sire of champion Goldikova.

Head remained a hugely influential figure into his later years and hit yet another high point in 2013 when homebred Treve landed the Prix de Diane in the famous Quesnay red. The daughter of Motivator was subsequently sold to Al Shaqab Racing and under the guidance of daughter Criquette went on to become one of the modern greats, landing two renewals of the Arc and Prix Vermeille.

Currently, Treve’s sire Motivator is one of four stallions based at Quesnay alongside Intello, Attendu and Recoletos.

Head is survived by his wife Ghislaine and four children.

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News

French Classic triumph sees Hollie Doyle break new ground everyone at Clarehaven who put so much work into the filly.

“She was very brave and dug deep when it mattered. I thought I was quite vulnerable at one stage.”

Gosden, who trains Nashwa with son Thady, said: “She’s a brilliant young rider. Full marks to Nashwa’s ownerbreeder Imad Al Sagar, who asked me two years ago who he should pick, and I and other people said Hollie Doyle.

“She’s a wonderful professional, great personality, very meticulous and incredibly hard-working.”

The first woman to ride a national

“Hollie is a wonderful professional and incredibly hard-working” Derby winner was Ina Schwarzkachel, in the Nederlandse Derby on Cleopatra in 1971, while the highest-profile female jockey in international racing has been Julie Krone, the only one to win a US Triple Crown race – the Belmont Stakes

BILL SELWYN

Hollie Doyle might have been denied a slice of history on Nashwa at Epsom in the Oaks last month when outstayed

by Tuesday and Emily Upjohn, but the rising star was not to be denied for long.

The 25-year-old, one half of British racing’s golden couple with jockeyhusband Tom Marquand, had to wait only 16 days in fact before becoming the first female rider to win a Group 1 European Classic.

Reunited with Imad Al Sagar’s homebred three-year-old Nashwa in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly, Doyle had to be at her strongest to get the filly home by a short neck from La Parisienne and Gerald Mosse, a jockey some 30 years her senior.

While measuring such an achievement will always be somewhat subjective, the victory was an undeniably significant landmark, seeing as the only previous female jockey to win a Classic that is part of the European Pattern was Sibylle Vogt, and her triumph a year earlier on Novemba came in the German 1,000 Guineas, which holds Group 2 status.

An elated Doyle told reporters: “I’m very lucky! It’s a huge privilege, absolutely awesome. It was an unbelievable performance from Nashwa and I’ve got a lot of people to thank: Imad Al Sagar, John Gosden and

Hollie Doyle: in demand

on Colonial Affair in 1993 – and the only one to be elected to their Hall of Fame.

Krone won a female world record 3,704 races, including a record 368 in 1989, according to Racing Post historian John Randall.

Others he named as among the highest-achieving female riders included Rosie Napravnik (two Breeders’ Cup races and two Kentucky Oaks), Michelle Payne (Melbourne Cup) and Rachael Blackmore (Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National).

Randall said: “Hollie Doyle has yet to match the success of Krone, Blackmore and some others, but this victory is still a significant landmark.”

A Plus Tard: Gold Cup hero

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BILL SELWYN

A Plus Tard tops the ratings Cheltenham Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard was named leading jumps horse in Britain and Ireland for the 2021-22 season with a mark of 180.

The eight-year-old, trained for Cheveley Park Stud by Henry de Bromhead, went one better than he managed in the 2021 renewal of the Cheltenham Festival showpiece, reversing the form with stablemate Minella Indo in spectacular fashion under Rachael Blackmore with a 15-length success.

Cheveley Park also had the runner-up in the Anglo-Irish Classifications in Allaho, who was saddled by Willie Mullins to win the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham and Punchestown Gold Cup. The eight-year-old was allotted a rating of 177.

Mullins is also the trainer of joint-third place chaser Energumene, who was given 176, the same mark as the highest British-trained horse Shishkin. The pair met twice last season, with the score 1-1, Shishkin beating Energumene by a

Royal Ascot will not be resting on its prize-money laurels despite offering a record £8.652 million last month – up nearly 20 per cent on pre-Covid levels – when it staged two million-pound races for the first time.

That was the message from Guy Henderson at the end of this year’s five-day bonanza, though he hands over Chief Executive duties now to Vivien Currie, having been at the helm for the last eight Royal meetings.

Few observers thought it a coincidence that the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Platinum Jubilee Stakes attracted an international field this year, with both contests run for £1m.

However, given that prize-money and opportunities in Australia and Japan in particular – home nations to a few of the runners in the seven-figure contests – are plentiful, Ascot officials know that the financial incentives have to keep coming, as prestige alone will get you only so far.

Ascot’s aim is to have more than two races at the magic million mark – and it would appear to make sense to prioritise those events that would appeal most to overseas owners and trainers – albeit how quickly they can get there remains to be seen.

Henderson said: “We had record

length in the Clarence House Chase in one of the races of the season but then failing to fire when pulled up behind Tony Bloom’s star in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Shishkin’s Nicky Henderson-trained stablemate Constitution Hill, the wildly impressive winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, led the way over the smaller obstacles with a rating of 170.

Next came the De Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle on 165, who successfully defended her Champion Hurdle crown and is now unbeaten in 16 starts under Rules. A clash between the awesome duo will be looked forward to more than

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Ascot looks to the future after Royal meeting records

The Duchess of Cambridge was in jovial mood at Royal Ascot last month

prize-money at Royal Ascot this year of £8.65 million and our ambition remains to grow this in the coming years.

“It is hugely important we reward the participants of our sport at the top end to maintain Britain’s place as a leading racing nation and we are doing our best to play our part.”

Last month’s events, especially the King’s Stand Stakes which went Australia’s way courtesy of the brilliant Nature Strip, and a record £168m being bet into the World Pool across the five days, should certainly help Ascot to sell its attractions to international connections and punters.

“It was an outstanding week and we saw some truly world-class performances on the track,” continued Henderson.

“Nature Strip’s brilliant performance in the King’s Stand Stakes on the opening day in particular will live long in the memory and it has been fantastic to see so

any other in the 2022-23 season, when the mighty mare is likely to have one final campaign before a broodmare career.

Andrew Mealor, BHA Hurdles Team Leader, said: “The standout performance over hurdles in the latest season was undoubtedly Constitution Hill’s top-class effort in the Supreme at Cheltenham.

“Nicky Henderson’s charge has been awarded a rating of 170 for his 22-length defeat of subsequent Grade 1 winner Jonbon in a fast time, which makes him the first hurdler to rate 170+ in the end-of-season classifications since Champion Hurdle winner Espoir D’Allen in 2018-19.

many international horses return to the meeting this year.

“We have welcomed horses and connections from eight countries in total and as well as Nature Strip’s victory we saw Spendarella finish second in the Coronation Stakes, and Artorius and Campanelle dead-heat for third in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes. Their success is a hugely important part of the meeting.”

Of the World Pool, he added: “We were thrilled with the level of turnover, both on course as we welcomed back a full-scale crowd, and remotely. A huge thank you to all our colleagues at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and UK Tote for their continued hard work in ensuring everything runs smoothly.

“In my time at Ascot, the World Pool has been one of the most innovative initiatives we have been involved in and these new partnerships have proved hugely beneficial to racing at Ascot and the wider industry.”

“Furthermore, 170 is the highest rating for a novice over hurdles since the AngloIrish Jump Classifications were founded in 1999-2000, eclipsing the 168 rating awarded to Iris’s Gift after he finished second to Baracouda as a novice in the 2003 Stayers’ Hurdle.”

Anglo-Irish Classifications 2021-22

Top five chasers: A Plus Tard 180, Allaho 177, Energumene 176, Shishkin 176, Chacun Pour Soi 173 Top five hurdlers: Constitution Hill 170, Honeysuckle 165, Flooring Porter 164, Klassical Dream 163, Sire Du Berlais 162

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Changes

People and business Adena Springs

Kentucky operation set over 2,300 acres and which can house more than 1,000 horses goes on the market for $55 million.

Max McNeill

Jumps owner extends his roster of trainers to include Seven Barrows maestro Nicky Henderson.

New initiative

Great British Racing launches Everyone’s Turf campaign to help maintain and grow attendances at racetracks this summer.

Frankie Dettori

Clare Balding

Three-times champion jockey’s association with the stable of John and Thady Gosden appears over after some high-profile losses in recent months.

TV presenter, broadcaster and writer is made a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Appointed to the newly-created role of Director of Strategy and Change at the British Horseracing Authority.

Freddie Meade

Joins forces with father Martyn to operate under a joint training licence at their Manton stable in Wiltshire.

Lisa O’Neill

Amateur rider who partnered over 100 winners and enjoyed Cheltenham Festival success on Tiger Roll retires from the saddle.

Horse obituaries Americain 17

Son of Dynaformer was trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre to win the 2010 Melbourne Cup under Gerald Mosse.

High-class filly was disqualified from first place in the 2010 1,000 Guineas, later producing Grade 1 winner Line Of Duty.

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Trainer puts his West Ilsley yard on the market for £7 million having been denied permission to redevelop the facilities.

Martin Radvan

Succeeds Sir Johnny Weatherby as Chair of Weatherbys having spent 30 years at food and drink giant Mars Inc.

Alison Enticknap

Jacqueline Quest 15

Mick Channon

Arcadian Sunrise 8

Talented dual-purpose performer for the John Queally stable succumbs to illness just days after his Royal Ascot third.

World Pool

Royal Ascot sets new record for turnover with £168 million bet across the five days of racing.

Luis Saez

US-based Panamanian jockey partners his 3,000th career winner on the Rudy Rodriguez-trained Funny Joke at Belmont in June.

Alain Cawley

Jump jockey who enjoyed Grade 1 successes on Joncol and Shinrock Paddy retires in order to become an agent.

Racing’s news in a nutshell

Racehorse and stallion

Movements and retirements

Al Boum Photo

Dual winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup for owners Joe and Marie Donnelly and trainer Willie Mullins is retired aged ten.

Mother Earth

Top-class daughter of Zoffany, winner of the 2021 1,000 Guineas for Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien, is retired to the paddocks aged four.

Hoo Ya Mal

Derby runner-up set for Australian switch after £1.2 million purchase by buyers including Gai Waterhouse at the Goffs London Sale.

People obituaries Sarah Ramsey 83

With partner Ken Ramsey she raced champions Kitten’s Joy and Roses In May, enjoying over 100 Graded stakes wins.

Lester Piggott 86

Michael Rafferty 61

Larissa Kneip 51

Les Simpson 77

Brilliant jockey won the Derby a record nine times among 30 British Classics and was champion jockey on 11 occasions (see tribute pages 8-16).

Owner of Haras de Saint Arnoult in Normandy, breeding a number of Group winners and standing the stallion Elarqam.

Ran the popular Anaglogs Daughter account on Twitter and was praised for his honesty around mental health issues.

Former head lad to trainers Neville Callaghan and Jeremy Noseda who also trained and rode winners in the UAE.

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The Big Picture

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Royal Ascot

Buick brilliance William Buick is hoping to be crowned champion jockey for the first time and his ride on Coroebus in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day of Royal Ascot was another icecool display from Godolphin’s number one rider. He didn’t panic when short of room in the straight, spied a gap on the rail and sent Coroebus through to secure a narrow win for the Charlie Appleby stable.

Photo Bill Selwyn

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The Big Picture

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Royal Ascot

Strip streaks clear The Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes saw a clash between Aussie sensation Nature Strip, trained by Chris Waller, and the Wesley Ward-trained Golden Pal, America’s top turf sprinter. With the latter blowing his chance at the start, Nature Strip delivered a stunning performance, galloping his rivals into submission under James McDonald with only the loose Khaadem for company in the final furlong.

Photos Bill Selwyn

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The Big Picture

Cup king Kyprios Trainer Aidan O’Brien looks to have found a new staying star in the shape of Gold Cup hero Kyprios (black and white silks), bred by Moyglare Stud Farm, which owns the four-year-old with the Coolmore partners. Ryan Moore partnered the son of Galileo to a narrow win over Mojo Star (centre) and three-time winner Stradivarius, who finished well under Frankie Dettori but found the younger duo too strong in the closing stages.

Photo Bill Selwyn

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Royal Ascot

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The Big Picture

From left to right: Steve Parkin’s homebred filly Dramatised justified favouritism in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes under Danny Tudhope; Karl Burke, trainer of Dramatised, doubled up on the two-year-old front when Holloway Boy, owned by wife Elaine and Nick White, made a sparkling debut in the Listed Chesham Stakes, with Tudhope again in the saddle; Ryan Moore partnered the Aidan O’Brien-trained Meditate to a decisive success in the Group 3 Albany Stakes in the Coolmore silks; Steve Bradley’s The Ridler survived a stewards’ enquiry to take the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, with Paul Hanagan doing the steering despite no longer being first-choice rider for the Richard Fahey stable

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Royal Ascot

Two-year-old talent Hollie Doyle is enjoying another superb season and Bradsell gave the jockey a third Royal Ascot winner in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes. The juvenile son of first-season sire Tasleet, trained

by Archie Watson for Victorious Racing, travelled with purpose and ran on strongly to defeat Persian Force (purple) by a length and a half.

Photos Bill Selwyn

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The Big Picture

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Royal Ascot From top to bottom: Shane Crosse produced a masterful front-running ride on the Joseph O’Brientrained State Of Rest in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes; Shadwell’s exceptional miler Baaeed, trained by William Haggas, extended his perfect record to eight races with a clear-cut success under Jim Crowley in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes; Perfect Power, trained by Richard Fahey for Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum, relished the return to sprinting in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, scorching clear of Flaming Rib under ace Belgian rider Christophe Soumillon

Group 1 glory Frankie Dettori didn’t enjoy his best Royal Ascot, with a number of reverses over the five days, but the Italian got it right on Inspiral, who made a sensational seasonal return in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes, seeing off US challenger Spendarella by four and threequarter lengths. Cheveley Park Stud’s homebred daughter of Frankel was on the back foot after a slow start but weaved through under Dettori to come home a most impressive winner for the training team of John and Thady Gosden.

Photos Bill Selwyn

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The Big Picture

Below from left to right: Adam Kirby guides Claymore to success in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes, one of two victories during the week for trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam; Harry Eustace enjoys his Royal meeting breakthrough with Latin Lover, winner of the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap; Ed Babington’s Missed The Cut and James McDonald capture the Golden Gates Handicap for the upwardly mobile George Boughey stable; Godolphin’s Naval Crown and James Doyle record Group 1 success in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes, defeating Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate Creative Force

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Royal Ascot

Moore magic Rohaan loves Ascot’s straight six furlongs and the David Evanstrained sprinter made it backto-back wins in the Wokingham Handicap under a superb Ryan Moore ride. Top-weight Rohaan still had plenty of horses in front of him with a furlong to run but Moore utilised the four-year-old gelding’s turn of foot to brilliant effect, picking off his rivals one by one to edge ahead near the finish and score by three-quarters of a length from Popmaster, to the delight of owners Chris Kiely Racing and James Tomkins.

Photos Bill Selwyn

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The Howard Wright Column

emember those cute nursery rhymes learned at mother’s knee? Ones with words such as “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?” and “Three Blind Mice, they all ran after the farmer’s wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife.” Or the one about the girl who sat on a tuffet and was “eating her curds and whey when a spider sat down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away.”

Apart from not knowing exactly what a tuffet was – thankfully explained by Wikipedia as “a grassy hillock, small knoll or mound (a variant spelling of an obsolete and rare meaning of tuft)” should anyone still be wondering – it never occurred at the time to question the hidden meaning behind the phrasing. But that was then.

Now, one organisation has changed the words. In the new version the sheep explain that it is ‘not cool’ to steal wool for someone down the street. The mice still run after the farmer’s wife but only so they can tell her ‘Thank you’ for saving their lives. And the spider has ‘brightened Miss Muffet’s day’, while she has gone vegan and substituted ‘watching the bluebirds play’ for eating curds and whey.

The organisation behind what some – maybe the majority – will regard as wokery taken to a ridiculous extreme but others will adopt with minority zeal is PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which was founded in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1980 and has gained worldwide support for its

GEORGE SELWYN

Global anti-racing lobby poses questions for BHA R

Under threat: jump racing has seen protests by animal rights groups around the world

Stars of the show need to be seen by spectators If, as Kitty Kallen sang in her 1951 million-seller, little things mean a lot, a significant part of the experience on some British racecourses adds up to not very much.

Forget the price of food or a pint or an ice cream, which are generally in line with most other sporting events these days. Nor am I talking about fireworks, the use (or not) of which seemed to get observers stewed up about Derby day, after which a phalanx of pyrotechnical experts strode forward to berate Epsom and the Jockey Club for their apparent disregard for the safety of horses.

It just goes to show what can happen when a band of people, most of whom cannot have been at Epsom that afternoon, jump on the wagon, overlooking that the effects came from the sort of smoke flares, not fireworks, that have become standard equipment at major football matches this year, launched with a barely audible thud at least half a mile from

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the nearest thoroughbred and emitting smoke that drifted away fairly quickly in the direction of Guildford.

As owner-breeder Andrew Black wrote on Twitter: “Not a big deal.” But, of course, that didn’t make the media, social or otherwise.

No, my beef is with racecourses which fall down on the pre-race experience around the paddock, where racegoers are invited to get as close as they can to what we are constantly told by those whose job it is to sell the product are the stars of the show, the horses.

Take Sandown on Brigadier Gerard evening, for instance. For the fascinating National Stakes, due off at 6.15pm, the first horse came into the parade ring at 6.02pm and the last of the seven runners at 6.05pm. Two or three turns and they were away, with hardly a moment to study their appearance or for the raceday presenter to get a word in edgeways.

The next race, a Group 3, was

scheduled to start at 6.50pm; the first horse entered the parade ring at 6.32pm and the last of eight at 6.37pm. Again, hardly time to get a good look at the field. And that’s without even going near an old hobby horse of wondering why British racecourses cannot emulate many of their overseas and sometimes smaller counterparts in parading the runners in racecard order. Or without going one step farther and pondering what non-aficionados would have made of races being shown on the big screens with no audible commentary and no racecard reference.

Sandown personnel need not feel persecuted. They are not alone but are being singled out because the event had all the ingredients for operational management to make an effort – the biggest and best evening fixture of the year, just down the line from central London – but new, or newish, visitors were given little or no help to understand what was going on. Shame.

“Australia has all but given up on jump racing while also dramatically reducing greyhound racing activity” Could anything similar happen in or closer to Britain? Of course it could, and in one sense it already has, in the sport of modern pentathlon, from which showjumping has been dropped after an incident at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.

In its place in a recent test event organised by the International Modern Pentathlon Union was an obstacle course resembling the 1960s TV show It’s A Knockout, involving a rope swing, monkey bars and a wall, designed according to UIPM “to appeal to all age groups including youth and be attractive to global audiences.” And all because the Germany coach Kim Raisner was ejected from Tokyo after striking a horse who refused to jump a fence, using measures that travelled the world via social media but caused reactions varying from PETA’s call for an end to Olympic equestrian events to more measured tones about the low level of force.

The BHA’s involvement in preserving the social licence to stage horseracing will now settle among responsibilities for the new director of strategy and change, Alison Enticknap. She has direct experience, having been responsible for the Horse Welfare Board’s ‘A Life Well Lived’ strategy. Whether she can bring more urgency to the matter than the HWB’s first attempt at strategy and change, over the whip review, remains to be seen.

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overarching principle “that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.”

While noting that entertainment and abuse are bracketed on equal terms in that mission statement, why should British horseracing in general and those who are concerned for its future in particular be concerned about PETA’s changing the words of Little Miss Muffet or the Three Blind Mice? Simply because PETA also wants to change horseracing to the point of extinction.

PETA has long been noted for never wasting an opportunity to make strident public statements, and the advent and rapid spread of social media outlets has enabled it to broaden its appeal. It remains most active in the US, where some of horseracing’s more lurid headlines around medication breaches and racetrack deaths have been to PETA like free hits in cricket.

However, PETA claims seven other international branches on its website, and has a noted following in Australia, where the Green Party emulates PETA with a specific reference in its latest manifesto: “The horseracing industry cannot be fixed, it must be shut down.”

The Greens achieved their best-ever result in the recent federal election, not big enough to change the face of Australia but sufficient to make a bigger noise in concert with the new Labour administration.

It should be remembered that Australia, for all its burgeoning Flat racing reputation, has faced down animal rights movements by all but giving up on jump racing, while also dramatically reducing its greyhound racing activity. In the US, similar opposition has resulted in around 50 greyhound tracks closing since the sport’s 1980s heyday, and just two will remain open in the whole of the country by the end of the year.

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THE OWNER BREEDER Elect 3p__88X251_Ang_Thor&Breeder_V2.indd 1

37 23/02/22 12:04

Epsom review

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A star is born at Epsom

T

his year’s Cazoo Derby favourite Desert Crown boasted impressive credentials, having made a mightily impressive seasonal return in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, belying his inexperience to score in decisive style, having made only one start as a two-yearold when scooting home at Nottingham.

His York performance gave rise to hopes that he could provide Sir Michael Stoute with a sixth Derby winner following Shergar (1981), Shahrastani (1986), Kris Kin (2003), North Light (2004) and Workforce (2010), which would also make the master of Freemason Lodge the oldest trainer to capture the Blue Riband.

Richard Kingscote, who was in the saddle for Desert Crown’s two previous wins, was chosen to maintain his partnership with the son of Nathaniel,

taking just his second ride in the Derby. On the highest-profile day in the British Flat racing calendar, the matter of the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee and accompanying celebrations added extra spice to a unique occasion.

Epsom is a difficult track to master, its undulations and camber presenting a tricky challenge to both horse and rider, yet Desert Crown and Kingscote proved up to the job in emphatic fashion, with barely a moment of worry during the world’s most famous mile-and-a-half Group 1 contest.

Breaking from stall 12, Kingscote was able to secure a lovely position on Desert Crown behind the leading quartet, with Royal Patronage, whom he had beaten by three and a quarter lengths in the Dante, on his inside.

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Desert Crown and Richard Kingscote etch their names into Epsom history with a decisive success in the Cazoo Derby

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39

Epsom review ››

Travelling smoothly around Tattenham Corner, Desert Crown was switched out wide and brought with his challenge at the three-furlong marker, looking full of running as Kingscote oozed confidence.

Sweeping into the lead with a quarter of a mile to run, the race was effectively over as a contest as Desert Crown kicked clear of his 16 rivals and galloped on strongly, drifting into the rail but so far clear he could afford to be eased down near the line to record a two-and-a-half length success over 150-1 chance Hoo Ya Mal. Westover, who suffered a troubled run in the straight, was a head further back in third, and subsequently franked the form with a resounding victory in the Irish Derby.

The crowd’s sense of affection towards Stoute, who has endured a difficult time in his personal life having lost his long-term partner Coral Pritchard-Gordon in 2020, was palpable after the race, with cheers ringing out as he collected his trophy alongside owner Saeed Suhail, for whom this was a second Derby triumph following the Stoute-trained Kris Kin 19 years ago.

It was a triumph, too, for British breeding, the winner carrying the GB suffix having been bred at Strawberry Fields Stud, the Teversham operation owned by engineer Gary Robinson.

Desert Berry, the dam of Desert Crown, was raced by Robinson with his late friend Basil White, winning a maiden at Lingfield on the last of her three starts. She has a brother to the Derby hero at foot and is back in foal to Newsells Park Stud stallion Nathaniel, renowned as the sire of wondermare and 11-time Group 1 heroine Enable. Desert Crown is his first son to strike at the top level.

While the Derby saw a decisive victor, the Group 1 Cazoo Oaks featured a thrilling finish as favourite Emily Upjohn narrowly failed to peg back Tuesday, the latter gaining the day by a whisker for the allconquering triumvirate of Coolmore, Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore.

A stumble immediately after exiting the stalls put Emily Upjohn on the backfoot but she recovered under Frankie Dettori and by halfway was racing alongside Tuesday in the final trio.

With the smaller, nimbler Tuesday making headway to challenge for the lead on the inside of the 11-runner field under Moore, Emily Upjohn was brought with her run down the opposite flank by Dettori.

The former got first run and though Emily Upjohn nearly made up the deficit, she couldn’t claw back Tuesday, the two fillies flashing past the post together and

Princess Anne presents the trophies to trainer Sir Michael Stoute (centre) and owner Saeed Suhail following Desert Crown’s scintillating victory in the Cazoo Derby under Richard Kingscote, seen right entering the famous winner’s circle

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41

Epsom review

Tuesday and Ryan Moore (right) defeat Emily Upjohn and Frankie Dettori by a short-head in the Cazoo Oaks, providing trainer Aidan O’Brien, seen below in the winner’s enclosure, with his 41st British Classic success

›› the photo-finish revealing that Tuesday had triumphed by a short-head. Nashwa, three and a quarter lengths back in third under Hollie Doyle, became a Classic winner on her next start in the Prix de Diane.

For Aidan O’Brien, celebrating a recordbreaking 41st British Classic, it was a tenth Oaks victory, nine of which have come for one or all of the Coolmore partners of Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, with Westerberg also registered as an owner of Tuesday.

Tuesday, also bred by Coolmore, was providing Ryan Moore with his fourth victory in the Oaks. Her sire, Galileo, was registering his 94th Group 1 winner, while for her dam Lillie Langtry it was a second Oaks success after daughter Minding – Tuesday’s full-sister – scored in 2016 having previously captured the 1,000 Guineas.

Another full-sister, Empress Josephine, took last year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Lambourn trainer Owen Burrows enjoyed a maiden Group 1 victory at Epsom when Hukum and Jim Crowley captured the Dahlbury Coronation Cup for owner Shadwell.

All photos by Bill Selwyn

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CONGRATULATIONS TO

Sir Michael Stoute & all connections of

DESERT CROWN

POWERED BY BAILEYS HORSE FEEDS From foal to finishing post, fed on Baileys Bred & raised - Strawberry Fields Stud MADE IN THE

UK

Backed & pre-trained - James Owen Racing

BAILEYS HORSE FEEDS Racing Specialist - Simon Venner 07977 441 571 Tel: 01371 850 247 www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk

Moyglare Stud Farm

Patience is

A VIRTUE

Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs and Gold Cup hero Kyprios have helped propel Moyglare Stud Farm to elite heights in its landmark 60th year

I

n a world where swift returns are increasingly desired, Moyglare Stud Farm remains settled against the grain, allowing the patient approach that has stood it in such good stead over six decades to direct its fate.

Gold Cup hero Kyprios, owned in partnership with the Coolmore team, is the result of over 40 years of cultivation as a descendant of North American champion two-year-old filly Talking Picture, purchased in 1978. Then there is its brilliant Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs, whose fifth dam Aptostar was bought in 1989. It has taken years of patience and perseverance to bring the families to such a rich point, and it is fitting that such rewards, alongside the Cheshire Oaks winner Thoughts Of June and the stakes-placed pair Tough Talk and Emily Gray, have arrived in Moyglare’s landmark 60th year.

Established in 1962 by Swiss businessman Walter Haefner, Moyglare Stud Farm today sits under the direction of his daughter Eva-Maria Bucher, aided by long-time advisor Fiona Craig and a close knit stud team headed by manager Malachy Ryan. Haefner is often alluded to as a visionary and in the breeding of racehorses he was certainly that, in the early years delving into families belonging to some of the era’s most successful breeders while adopting his own global outlook.

It was an approach that swiftly pushed Moyglare to the top. During Haefner’s 50 years at the helm of Moyglare, numerous

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luminaries came off the Maynoothbased property, among them Be My Guest, Assert, Refuse To Bend, Go And Go, Brief Truce, Media Puzzle, Stanerra, Trusted Partner and Dance Design. And since passing into the hands of Haefner’s daughter Eva-Maria Bucher, the output has been much the same, with the likes of Free Eagle and Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Casual Conquest, and now Homeless Songs, Thoughts Of June, Search For A Song and her younger brother Kyprios flying the flag.

Kyprios, who landed his first Group 1 success when scoring in the Gold Cup at the expense of Stradivarius, and champion Search For A Song, whose five wins include two renewals of the Irish St Leger, are out of a truly remarkable mare in Polished Gem. By Danehill out of the 1988 Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Trusted Partner, Polished Gem has produced no fewer than eight stakes winners, with the list also including the Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner Free Eagle, and British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes heroine Sapphire. It is a record great enough to fill an entire catalogue page – but then the Talking Picture family is a line that has rarely been out of the spotlight for Moyglare, notably in its role as source of Group winners Dress To Thrill, Forgotten Rules and Thunder Moon.

Indeed, much of the stud’s success has been built on the influence of a clutch of foundation mares, many of them sourced in America. In addition to Talking Picture,

CAROLINE NORRIS

Words: Nancy Sexton

Homeless Songs, flanked by Mark Weld (left), Fiona Craig, Chris Hayes, Eva-Maria Bucher, Jaci Paz de Olivera, Malachy Ryan and Dermot and Kris Weld after her win in the Irish 1,000 Guineas

there was Grenzen, the granddam of Refuse To Bend, Media Puzzle and Go And Go, and Bubinka, the ancestress of Designs On Rome. Homeless Songs’ fifth dam Aptostar, winner of the 1988 Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park, was another such mare, joining the firm when bought for $750,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ Sale in Kentucky in November 1989.

She had been a tough campaigner for Centennial Farms and was a daughter of Fappiano, then one of the most popular stallions in the US. Yet despite those credentials, she was far from an immediate success at stud.

“There weren’t a vast number of mares suitable for Sadler’s Wells at that time at Moyglare,” recalls Craig. “They were looking for a mare with a bit more

speed, so they went to the Night of the Stars Sale in Kentucky and Aptostar was being sold by Centennial. Moyglare bought her, she came back to Ireland and went to Sadler’s Wells, and In Anticipation was the first result. There were a few more out of her by Sadler’s Wells and one by Indian Ridge but they didn’t do a lot. The stud ended up selling Aptostar and she didn’t really come up with anything else.”

In Anticipation, who won two of four starts for Dermot Weld, is the conduit through which Aptostar flows through Moyglare today. Not only does she sit behind Homeless Songs, whose Listed-winning dam Joailliere is a granddaughter of In Anticipation’s Listed-winning daughter Diamond Trim, but also Irish St Leger winner Royal

Diamond, whose dam Irresistible Jewel won the 2002 Ribblesdale Stakes.

The best runner out of In Anticipation, Irresistible Jewel also foaled the 2011 Irish 1,000 Guineas runner-up Mad About You and 2012 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Princess Highway.

“It takes time,” says Craig. “It just shows that some of these mares can take 20 or 30 years to work. When Aptostar was sold, she looked very disappointing.

But then she’d had In Anticipation. In those days, few stayed in training beyond three years and I think if In Anticipation had stayed in training at four, she probably would have ended up being a black-type mare. And Homeless Songs is now the fifth generation.”

A constant presence throughout the decades has been trainer Weld, whose

lengthy association with Moyglare ranges from the Group 1-winning milers Refuse To Bend, Trusted Partner and Brief Truce to the 1990 Belmont Stakes hero Go And Go. To this day, Go And Go remains the only European-trained winner of a North American Triple Crown race.

Over 30 years on and Weld is the man in charge of crafting Homeless Songs’ campaign. The daughter of Frankel was brought along steadily by the Rosewell House trainer last season, scoring well on debut at Leopardstown in a threerace campaign. And she again looked potentially special upon her return this season when running away with the 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown, an opinion vindicated next time out when she stormed clear of the subsequent Oaks heroine Tuesday in the Irish 1,000

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Moyglare Stud Farm

BILL SELWYN

unfortunately ruled her out of the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot; her dam Joailliere didn’t appreciate a similar surface when she ran in the 2015 Irish 1,000 Guineas, prompting a degree of caution to be exercised this time around.

“The Curragh was brilliant,” says Craig.

“And the best thing was that Eva was there – it wouldn’t have been the same without her.

“Dermot knows the family very well.

And in Rosewell, you’ve got lads who’ve done generations of these families and they’ll say to you ‘that’s like so and so’ or ‘that reminds me of this’. That’s very useful information to have, especially when it comes to matings.

“This family are all a bit quirky. Her dam Joailliere was a bit like that and her half-sister [Group 3 winner] Carla Bianca was as well. Their dam Majestic Silver [a Linamix daughter of In Anticipation] was as mad as a box of cats.

“They got her at Rosewell to the point where she could work but she never ran.

But she was the most athletic filly the mare ever produced and I’ve no doubt that if she could have run, she would have run well.

“With Homeless Songs, Dermot was trying to train what’s between the ears as much as anything. We all knew that the ability was there, we’d seen her work in a manner similar to the Curragh performance before, so we knew it was there. It was just a matter of keeping it under wraps.

“She has matured into racing, though.

She is turned out and hand grazed a lot at Rosewell, and she’s really progressed.

After the Guineas, she stood there in the winner’s enclosure as if she might start grazing, she was good as gold.”

Homeless Songs has forged a flawless partnership with Chris Hayes this season.

Yet there remains a sadness that Pat Smullen, who rode many of the farm’s greats for more than 20 years, is not here to watch her development. Smullen, a popular figure across the industry, passed away aged 43 in September 2020 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

“We miss him every day,” says Craig.

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CAROLINE NORRIS

›› Guineas at the Curragh. Fast ground

Eva-Maria Bucher (centre): enjoying an excellent year with her homebreds

“It was horribly unfair. The first Group winner he rode for Moyglare was Token Gesture in the 1996 C.L. Weld Park Stakes. Mick [Kinane] rode the other Moyglare runner, Absolute Glee, and she ran third – there were only a couple of heads in it. Mick went to ride for Aidan O’Brien the following year and Pat took over, so he got to know the families well – at the end of the day, the people that ride them know more about them than any of us ever do.”

While plenty of new blood has been added in recent years, at heart Moyglare is a collection of well-established families that were incorporated early in its history.

It helped that Haefner was an excellent horseman himself, accomplished enough to be the Fegentri champion amateur at the age of 53 in 1963.

“The farm is about 500 acres,” says Craig. “A few bits have been added on over the years but it’s still really as laid out as it was in 1962. Major Eric Miville, the breeder of TurnTo [a high-class American twoyear-old who later became hugely influential at stud] and a Swiss ex-

patriot, sold the dairy farm to Mr Haefner.

They had met in an airport hotel bar in Dublin – Mr Haefner had flown over to buy a showjumper and went home with Moyglare.

“In the early years, Major Miville encouraged him to buy off good breeders like the Rothschilds and to partner with the Wildensteins.

“Despite Mr Haefner being a very good rider, he didn’t have the time to go racing a great deal but he had a great understanding of jockeys – he would study them. He actually rode round Epsom, so when we went to the Derby with Refuse To Bend, there was this unusual situation where the owner, trainer and jockey had each ridden around Epsom.

“Going back to 1962, his initial purchases were all in Europe. But he had a lot of American business interests, he enjoyed travelling to America and enjoyed the racing there.

Moyglare was actually one of the first European studs to send mares to America.

“In Rosewell you’ve got lads who have done generations of these families” “In 1968 they sent Irish Lass and Whitepaper to go to Sea Bird and Ribot.

From that, Irish Lass bred Irish Bird, the dam of Assert and Bikala [both winners of the Prix du Jockey-Club]. And then Whitepaper was sent to Caro, and from that bred [Prix d’Ispahan winner] Carwhite.

“Back then, Moyglare was selling everything bar the odd one that had a problem. I remember in that 1980 crop of yearlings there were some quite good horses like Assert and Chalon, who won the Coronation Stakes.

“From 1981, the yearlings were retained and that was really significant as that meant the stud kept Irish Edition, the

dam of Go And Go, Final Figure, the dam of Market Booster [second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Irish Oaks] and Temporary Lull, the dam of Token Gesture and grandam of Candian International winner Relaxed Gesture.

They were all out of American lines that had been purchased. None of those mares won more than a small race and they may have looked disappointing but over time you can see how significant to the stud they have became.”

She adds: “The history of Moyglare shows that the mares don’t always have to do something. I like them to have at least tried to do something, as it gives you an element of soundness, both physical and mental. Pedigree is important too but they also need to have the right shape to them and some indication that they’ve tried – and

more than once. It’s a combination of all that and then, on top of that, you have to have luck as well.”

Moyglare today is a fusion of old and new. The bedrock families continue to be well represented, including Trusted Partner, whose clan covers a sister to Kyprios in Listed winner Amma Grace, who went to Dubawi this year, and Sapphire, now a multiple stakes producer who was part of Palace Pier’s first book.

Similarly, there remain 15

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Kyprios: Gold Cup victor is one of eight black-type winners out of Moyglare Stud Farm’s illustrious producer Polished Gem

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Pat Smullen drives home Refuse To Bend in the 2003 2,000 Guineas

›› descendants of Aptostar including Carla

Bianca, who went to Sea The Stars this year, Mad About You, who visited New Bay, Majestic Silver, who visited Blue Point, and Princess Highway, who visited Gleneagles. Homeless Songs’ dam Joailliere was among the debut book for St Mark’s Basilica.

At the same time, the stud has made an effort to add new blood. To that end, recent years have featured the purchases of Celestine, a daughter of Scat Daddy bought for $2.55 million who subsequently won the Grade 2 Honey Fox Stales for Moyglare, and Grade 3 winner Beautiful Lover, a daughter of Arch bought for $650,000.

Moyglare also dipped into the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal in 2017, coming away with All Our Tomorrows, a Kingman granddaughter of Hellenic, and Musidora Stakes winner Liber Nauticus.

The latter has since provided Moyglare with the promising two-time winner Trevaunance.

“We went through a lull where we didn’t have a lot of good fillies,” says Craig. “So for the last decade, Eva has replenished. To compete in Ireland now, you have got to be so good. You’re not going to get there with a filly rated 78 or 80 and yes, that might make a broodmare for somebody but if we kept every one like that, there would be hundreds of them.

“It is very hard to say goodbye to lines but sometimes you have to move on.

And once you decide to cull, don’t look

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back on it. They might go to someone with a slightly different approach, and you hope they go on to do well.”

Beautiful Lover, who visited Coolmore Kentucky stallion Munnings this season, is one of seven mares based in the US alongside a cluster of horses in training with Christophe Clement.

“It’s getting much harder to mate mares over here now, mainly because there’s such a small pool of stallions,” says Craig. “Moyglare has quite a lot of

“It’s hard to say goodbye to lines but sometimes you have to move on” Galileo mares and now a lot of stallions not only descend from him but are out of Galileo mares as well – there’s a limit as to how close [inbreeding] you can go.

So that’s why there are still a few mares in the US. “The American progeny used to come back to Ireland but they stay there now and so far, that’s been a lot more successful – in the first crop, Eva had Lia Marina, an Uncle Mo filly who won the Wait A While Stakes last December.

“It’s just easier to get the outcross in the States. And I think that if you look at the calibre of filly available over there, there’s a bit more value and so they can be cheaper in the long run.”

It is ten years since Walter Haefner passed away but in the intervening period there is the sense that Moyglare remains in very safe hands, with Eva-Maria having approached the management of the farm with his same zest.

“The mares were Mr Haefner’s real love,” says Craig. “He would go down to the fields, lean on the gate and watch the mares.

“Eva loves the place, as do her children, Chiara and Mischa. She’d often came to Moyglare when she was younger.

She’s learnt a phenomenal amount in the past few years and goes racing as much as she can. She doesn’t have an enormous crew of staff. Pat Farrell is still there after 40 years and Malachy took over from Stan Cosgrove. They all work hard and are really good guys.

“Mr Haefner went at it himself and Eva is now very much the same, and 60 years on the stud he bought is still doing what it was bought to do – I think that’s the greatest satisfaction for everyone involved.

“Walter Haefner would be incredibly proud of his daughter for not only taking over his great love but for finding her own way – for example, racing in partnership but still continuing to win races in the stud’s famous black, red and white colours.”

GEORGE SELWYN

Moyglare Stud Farm

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The 196 acre estate is designed as a training mecca with six different training surfaces, including: “Summer”, which is best utilized at that time when most other turf surfaces are harder; “Main Tapeta”, 7 furlongs with its long uphill gallop; “Tapeta Round”, a 4 furlong warm-up track on Tapeta surface; “Boomers Hill Turf”, 5 ½ furlongs uphill gallop for conditioning; “Noah’s Arc”, good even with 2 inches of rain; and “Normal”, which is best utilized under normal conditions. Also included is a modern 40 stall barn and a separate facility called the Tapeta Performance Center featuring a vibrating platform, salt room, cold-water spa and an eight horse Eurociser.

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Sales preparation

Time to

PEAK It might amount to only a few minutes in the auction ring but crafting the correct sales preparation programme requires a combination of care, patience and skill that starts many months earlier Words: James Thomas

H

aving reached the stage of the year when Royal Ascot appears in the rear view mirror, studs and consignors will soon turn their attention to the annual round of yearling sales. But the yearlings that buyers will see before them at the likes of Arqana, Goffs and Tattersalls don’t simply emerge from the field with a gleaming coat, toned muscles and good manners.

Those characteristics have to be honed with care, patience and skill during the sales preparation process, which sees the members of each new crop transform from boisterous, gawky youngsters into embryonic racehorses that, in some cases, command seven-figure sums at public auction.

While there are many factors that make up the sales prep process, each with their own specific end game, from exercise to feeding, grooming to vetting, there is also an overarching aim to each regime that keeps all the moving parts in sync.

Among the consignors readying a team of yearlings for this year’s sales is Sophie Buckley of Culworth Grounds in Northamptonshire. “My main aim is to produce each horse to give it as much of a competitive advantage as it can have

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THE OWNER BREEDER

moving on to the next stage of its life,” she says.

“And that’s not a physical thing, for me it’s about improving how they can cope with things mentally. These days there aren’t many people at the sales who haven’t mastered the art of making the horse look good, but they’ve got to be ready for the next stage too. It’s a bit like a child going to secondary school;

“The process starts inside mum and finishes at the sales” they’ve got to be mentally prepared for it as they’re about to leave their home and be thrown in somewhere new, and some horses won’t cope with that if they haven’t been given a bit of confidence.”

For Paul Thorman, who operates out of Trickledown Stud with his wife, Sara, the yearling prep process begins before birth.

“People think it’s a six, eight or ten-week exercise but yearling prep starts when the foal is inside mum,” he says. “Because if you don’t feed mum properly you get conformational problems at birth, you get bone density issues and things like splints, apophysitis and carpus valgus - they’re all diet connected.

“So if you don’t feed mum properly during pregnancy, you’re already messing up your yearling prep. The process starts inside mum and finishes at the sales.”

Proper management during the foal stage of each thoroughbred’s life helps provide solid foundations from which to build upon, with access to pasture, farriery, feeding and weaning among the key considerations. The first sign that a trip to the yearling sales is on the horizon is a visit from the auction house inspection team.

“I believe in giving the horse as natural a life as I can, which would be out in the field when they’re still young,” says Buckley. “I am soft and if the weather gets bad they do come in, although I wouldn’t do that a lot, but they get plenty of handling and are very well fed while they’re out in the field.

“Before the sales companies come around we give them a couple of weeks’

TATTERSALLS

Preparation in advance of a date with the auctioneer can start anything up to three months beforehand

running and that’s just for their minds and to keep them thinking. I think if they do the same thing every day they can start to get a bit naughty. So one day they might do lunging, which we do long and low to build muscle over their back, one day they’ll do hand walking, then they might

Sophie Buckley: “temperament is key”

TATTERSALLS

walking practice, maybe three times a week from two weeks before, and I trim them up just to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to.”

Of course, hundreds of foals head to the breeding stock sales each year, and Thorman believes those youngsters have a head start once yearling prep begins.

“The yearling that’s been to the foal sales is generally a lot easier to prep than the yearling that hasn’t, because it’s already been taught to lead properly and it’s had that preparation,” he says.

“The foal sales are incredibly hard on them mentally and physically – you’ll do more shows with a good foal than a Frankel yearling. But the foals that behave well nearly always behave well as yearlings. And, no matter how much schooling you do, the foals that lose it at the sales usually lose it as a yearling too.

So temperament is key. Some take it and some don’t.”

Once a yearling has been accepted to a sale, they will usually enter full prep anything up to three months before their date with the auctioneer, at which point their daily exercise routine and feeding programme will begin to intensify.

“A ten to 12-week prep is what I would usually go for,” says Buckley. “I would never do the same activity two days

do long reining around the farm.

“They also get one day off and at the end of each week I tailor an exercise programme based on how they’ve progressed during the week before.”

While hand walking, lunging and long reining are now sales prep staples, Buckley also ponies her yearlings up the Culworth Grounds gallops. While this is a relatively unusual practice in Europe, she says the activity helps prepare her yearlings for life once they enter full training.

“I have a couple of very good hunters and some very nice gallops here so ponying them up there is something that I think helps take their careers one step further,” she says. “It gives them that little bit more experience that might be the one per cent that helps them when they go into a trainer’s yard, because it won’t be strange for them to go up a gallop, work beside another horse or meet a tractor. It works well for us and the yearlings love it. They’re very relaxed and most of them just cruise around and take to it very quickly.”

While Buckley operates on a boutique basis preparing around 20 yearlings a season, Thorman notes that the industry at large has had to adapt the ways in which yearlings are exercised during prep,

THE OWNER BREEDER

51

››

Sales preparation meaning studs and consignors have had to embrace modern methodologies that are less labour intensive. Although he says hand walking remains an important part of the process, Thorman notes the high standard of presentation at the sales is testament to how well yearlings can be prepared using relatively modern tools such as horse walkers, water walkers and treadmills.

“A well-topped and muscled type is likely to require fewer calories” “A lot of people walk their yearlings around and around a paddock, which is fine until they get bored,” says Thorman.

“Because when they get bored is when they get loose, and you can guarantee it will be your worst yearling that gets loose and gallops into your best one.

“Walking in hand is very important but it’s being done less and less, partly because of the risk but mainly because of labour. The horse walker is used more and more, as is lunging. When I started at Whitsbury Manor there’d be ten lads leading yearlings out for an hour, then we’d have a cup of coffee and we’d take the next ten out for an hour.

“You’ve probably only got five lads now so you can’t do that – consignors need every piece of equipment they can lay their hands on because of the staff situation.”

But exercising requires energy, and that is where feeding plays a crucial part in the process. Get the right balance of feed and a yearling will thrive during its prep, but if its nutritional intake is out of step with its physical development things can quickly unravel.

“Our main aim nutritionally for yearlings is to support growth and development without encouraging or allowing excessive weight gain, so as to not cause any unwanted compensatory growth,” says Katie Grimwood, a member of the nutrition team at Baileys Horse Feeds. “Correct nutrition throughout the foal to yearling stages should result in a well-grown youngster with sufficient muscle and condition to be ready to return to the ring as a yearling.

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THE OWNER BREEDER

It’s important that a fine balance is maintained between achieving sales ring condition whilst avoiding developmental and temperamental problems through overfeeding.

“We may not be able to alter the genetic make-up of each individual but with good feeding practices in place alongside a well-managed exercise regime, you can improve the chances of achieving the best price for your individual horse. Having invested considerable time, money and effort in achieving conception, it seems only sensible to support that investment through correct management and feeding, something which may not just pay off in the short term but could also have lasting effects on a horse’s future career.”

With so many factors to consider and myriad products on the market, finding the right blend of feeds and supplements is not necessarily straightforward, but major feed companies such as Baileys, Foran Equine, NAF and Red Mills all have dedicated nutritional teams on hand to offer expert advice.

“A youngster’s previous nutritional history will have a major influence on the diet chosen when preparing the horse for the sales,” says Grimwood. “Also consider the size, age and individual metabolic variation, as well as the forage quality and quantity that’s available. A well-topped and muscled type is likely to require fewer calories and therefore less concentrated feed than a rangier individual requiring more top line and overall weight gain to fill their frame.

“A specially formulated stud balancer alongside forage may be sufficient for the first few weeks of sales preparation before additional calories are required. It’s then advisable to re-evaluate your feed programme at least every two weeks as the work intensity increases.

“As the young horse starts to be prepped for the sales, a specific prepping feed may be used.

These types of feeds will help to maintain condition as their level of exercise starts to increase.

They typically contain good levels of oil for supporting slow-

release energy as well as producing a fantastic coat shine, along with good levels of quality protein and key nutrients.”

Thorman adds that the feeding regime remains important even once the yearling has reached the sales ground. “You’ve got between five and ten seconds as that horse comes out of the box when whoever is looking at it is making up his mind whether he likes it or not. The horse who comes out with its eyes out on stalks and scatters 20 people, you’ve already lost because a potential buyer will just write ‘lunatic’ in their catalogue and move on. If you get a horse who’s absolutely to the nines on grub, they’re not going to behave.”

Another important figure in the prep process is the vet, whose involvement begins long before thoughts turn to upping exercise and feed intake. Some youngsters may require surgery to correct more severe conformational faults, such as the placement of a screw to treat angular limb deformities, while the removal of bone chips is among the slightly more routine procedures.

But whatever the diagnosis, both Buckley and Thorman say it is crucial their vets examine their yearlings long before prep begins so that if there are any issues they can be ironed out before they develop into something more serious.

Vet reports at the sales can also have a significant bearing on a yearling’s price in the ring, so it is important that vendors arrive at public auction in possession of all the facts.

“Any of the horses going to the more expensive Books [of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale] we would

››

Paul Thorman: “walking in hand is very important”

TATTERSALLS

›› with a chronic shortage of skilled workers

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Sales preparation says Buckley. “Because if they have a chip or something that can be taken out, that can be sorted earlier on. They’re developing horses so the x-rays you take in January won’t be the same as you get pre-sale, but the vets give you a lead as to whether they’re satisfied with what they see or not.”

There have been significant enhancements in veterinary science in recent years, and Thorman notes this is leading to a greater understanding of the imperfections that would have once held a yearling back.

“The things that used to be an outright fail ten years ago, a lot of them have become accepted as virtually normal,” he says. “So we’re still learning what is relevant. Ten years ago any OCD [osteochondritis dissecans, an abnormality in the development of bone from cartilage] was a complete killer at the sales but some of them are now treated as acceptable. It’s the same with wind, the parameters are changing all the time and what we know now is so much more advanced than it was.”

Thorman adds that developments in farriery now mean more invasive veterinary procedures aren’t as necessary as they once were, with the use of plastic extensions applied to the hoof during the foal stage often sufficient treatment for conformational defects of the lower limbs.

“It’s now quite rare for a horse to have surgery, although they can put screws in, but generally you only really do that on those really bad cases,” he says. “The advent of plastic extensions has really helped, particularly foreleg but also hind leg conformation, especially with foals that have lain awkwardly inside mum.

They offer more support so you’re not

PERFORMANCE

The right feed programme is crucial during sales prep

SARAH FARNSWORTH

›› x-ray them at the beginning of the year,”

trying to change anything, you’re just trying to support the foot while nature changes things.

“The blacksmiths that are doing this on a daily basis are becoming hugely skilled and as long as people don’t go overboard and people use this as an aid rather than a cure, you can make significant differences to a young horse’s conformation. So a good blacksmith is pretty vital in your prep armoury.”

With so many factors to consider, yearling prep is both an art and a science, with skill, judgement and precision required to achieve the desired result. And with so much money on the line, both the cost of breeding and the potential returns at the sales, preparing yearlings for public auction can be a high stakes game in an often ruthless industry.

“Some people are extraordinarily gifted at prepping horses,” says Thorman. “You

see horses with upside down necks and no quarters, but someone working and grooming them properly can make a huge difference. Conversely I’ve seen people who obviously got it wrong somewhere along the line, but consignors having disastrous sales are rather like trainers who don’t have winners. They don’t last long.”

However, not only is the process uniquely challenging but uniquely rewarding too. “I love the stars in your eyes feeling that you get during yearling prep,” says Buckley. “Because you bring this rugged-looking thing in and turn it into this beautiful looking horse.

“I don’t mind whether they’re going to Book 1 or Book 4, each one of them has the chance of being a very good racehorse. You don’t know where that champion is going to come from so each horse has to get the best.”

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Breeders’ Digest

Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editor

Late foaling date proving no hindrance to Classic heroine

GEORGE SELWYN

T

here were just 12 foals born in June across Britain and Ireland in 2019, one of them being the Oaks heroine Tuesday.

As has been well-documented, Tuesday’s narrow victory over Emily Upjohn on June 3 coincided with her actual birthday. While breeders understandably hanker after early foals, many of them keenly aware that an early foaling date boosts the allure of their stock at the sales, results from the racecourse can paint another picture. In a fascinating piece for Owner Breeder published in April, John Boyce found that actually “when January-born foals do make it to the racecourse, they are less likely to win than February and March foals as our strike-rates of 31.5%, 34.3% and 33.2% suggest”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Boyce also found that in a sample of over 150,000 foals born in Britain and Ireland from 2008 to 2017, May-born youngsters accounted for just 3.4% juvenile winners to foals against 15.8% for those foaled in February. There is no doubt that the physical advantage afforded to earlierborn foals places them in good stead going forward, especially at two, but then as Tuesday once again illustrated, also ignore those three-year-olds with a younger birthday at your peril.

Tuesday is one of 19 British Classic winners of the past 45 years to possess a May or June foaling date. February and March foals were the most successful, between them accounting for 124 winners, or 55% of the total. As strong as that figure is, foals born then have always made up a bulk of the British and Irish Flat-bred crop; for instance, 54% of those born in 2019 were foaled in February and March. What was interesting was the lack of Classic prominence from Januaryborn youngsters, a list that consisted of just 20 winners.

Tuesday, of course, is aided by an immense pedigree as a Galileo sister to 2016 Oaks winner Minding and Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Empress Josephine. So too were Aidan O’Brien’s other late-foaled Oaks winners Forever Together (born May 25), a Galileo sister to Fillies’ Mile scorer Together Forever, and Was (born May 11), a Galileo threeparts sister to New Approach. O’Brien

Enstone Spark (left): like Tuesday, the 1978 1,000 Guineas winner was a June foal

also sent out Hermosa (born May 6) to win the 1,000 Guineas a day before her actual birthday in May 2019.

Remarkably, given the rarity of June foals, Tuesday isn’t the only British Classic winner within the past 45 years to possess such a late birthdate. In 1978, the 1,000 Guineas was won by Enstone Spark, a Sparkler filly bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud born on June 6, 1975. Trained

by Barry Hills, she had a busy two-yearold campaign, winning the Lowther Stakes on her eighth start, and was similarly productive at three, when the highlight was her 1,000 Guineas victory at the expense of Fair Salinia. Clearly her late foaling date did little to hold her back, although Timeform speculated that it may have had something to do with her lowly 3,400gns sale as a yearling.

Enstone Spark’s career, notably her juvenile season, is reminiscent of another top-class yet late-foaled horse, Rodrigo De Triano. Foaled on May 27, 1989, he went through his two-year-old season unbeaten in five starts for Peter ChappleHyam, culminating in a victory in the Middle Park Stakes, and returned at three to memorably provide Lester Piggott with the last of his 30 British Classic wins in the 2,000 Guineas.

Rodrigo De Triano was as tough as nails that season, bouncing back from an underwhelming run in the Derby to win the Juddmonte International and Champion Stakes.

Tuesday has also packed plenty in this

season, with a maiden win at Naas and placed efforts in the Newmarket and Irish 1,000 Guineas preceding the Oaks. Much of the post-race chat emphasised the luckless run of the second Emily Upjohn (foaled March 8) but given the likely rate of physical development still ahead of Tuesday, don’t bet against the younger filly again confirming her superiority.

FAREWELL LARISSA

The French industry was in mourning early last month with the sudden death of Larissa Kneip, owner of Haras de Saint Arnoult in Normandy.

Breeder, trainer, sales consignor, breeze-up vendor and stallion master, Luxembourg-born Kneip wore many hats and always with great enthusiasm, something that won her many friends and much respect.

Prix de Lutece winner Jackfinbar is among the best horses to have come off Haras de Saint Arnoult in recent years while her breeze-up arm celebrated a stakes success only last season as the source of Listed scorer Fantastic Spirit.

The farm has also been home to an eclectic group of stallions over the years, and arguably the current roster has never been better, with it including the beautifully-bred Group 2 winner Elarqam, Group 1 winner Mkfancy and the classy Scat Daddy horse Seabhac. Kneip would have naturally held high hopes for their prospects and let’s hope that one, if not all of them, prove up to the task.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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Sales Circuit • By Carl Evans

‘Hungry market’ pushes store sector to buoyant levels This two-day auction completed Goffs UK’s 60th anniversary of its four-day Spring Sale, and it produced some very good figures to complete the celebration.

When adding in turnover gained at the sale of stores, which had taken place over the previous two days, the entire event’s turnover passed £14 million for the first time, while this part of the sale’s first day – largely dedicated to point-to-pointers – saw more than £5m go through the tills, a record for a session of jumping stock at Doncaster.

Once again a very good clearance rate of 90 per cent was proof that racehorses remain a magnet despite alarm bells ringing about the cost of living, let alone paying to keep a horse in training. Steep rises in the sum needed to fill the average car with petrol or diesel give little more than an insight to the price of keeping one of the big horse transporters on the road, and while businesses are doing their best to absorb this inflation, such munificence can last only so long.

The very rich have an element of inflation-proof and will continue to indulge their passions and hobbies, but the 90 per cent clearance rate at this sale suggests that for now the less well-heeled who will not be so immune still want a horse.

Horses from the point-to-point sphere dominated the top-ten board, with the number one position being taken by Porthill, a four-year-old son of Flemensfirth who was knocked down to Harold Kirk and trainer Willie Mullins for £250,000. Owned by Wilson Dennison and trained for him in County Antrim by Colin McKeever, Porthill joins a number

GOFFS UK/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs UK HIT and P2P Sale

Porthill: placed pointer was bought for £250,000 to join Willie Mullins

of other ‘hills’ who have travelled from Dennison’s hands to Mullins’ Closutton stables. They include Yorkhill, Bellshill and Shaneshill who were all high-class performers.

County Cork’s Robert Tyner recently announced his retirement from training, but he will not be severing all ties with horses, and showed he can still be a force when trading his bumper runnerup Passing Well for £185,000 and winning pointer Myretown for £135,000.

Agent Tom Malone bought both horses, signing for Passing Well on behalf of Jamie Snowden and Myretown for Lucinda Russell.

The second session’s horses-intraining catalogue was headed at £85,000 by Crosshill, a Punchestown Festival winner for Jessie Harrington

and owner Ronnie Bartlett. Crosshill’s new long-term aim is not at Cheltenham, Aintree or even Warwick, but Warrnambool in the state of Victoria, Australia.

He was knocked down to agent Anthony Bromley on behalf of Warrnambool trainer Aaron Purcell, who had travelled halfway round the world for the occasion, and who said his purchase would, in 2023, be targeting a A$300,000 chase run at his local track.

A bigger catalogue saw an additional 74 horses enter the ring, helping turnover rise 13 per cent to a figure of £7,163,000. A good dispersal would have helped trade, but without it a seven per cent fall in the average to £21,511 was not disappointing, while the median gained six per cent at £13,000.

Goffs UK HIT and P2P Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (£)

Buyer

Porthill 4 g Flemensfirth - Presenting Juno

Loughanmore Farms

250,000

Harold Kirk/Willie Mullins

Passing Well 5 g Coastal Path - Passing Lore

Leighmoney Stables (Robert Tyner)

Myretown 5 g Dylan Thomas - Miss Platinum Great Samourai 5 g Great Pretender - Bahama Pearl Ballystone 4 g Shirocco - Last Theatre

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185,000

Tom Malone/Jamie Snowden

Leighmoney Stables

135,000

Tom Malone/Lucinda Russell

Monbeg Stables (Donnchadh Doyle)

130,000

Ryan Mahon

Loughanmore Farms (Wilson Dennison)

120,000

Tom Gibney

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (£)

Average (£)

Median (£)

Top price (£)

2022

333

7,163,000

21,511

13,000

250,000

2021

274

6,348,200

23,169

12,250

195,000

2020

304

5,908,850

19,437

14,000

400,000

Goffs Land Rover Sale

GOFFS

former Republic of Ireland soccer star Kevin Doyle and becoming top lot at Tattersalls Ireland’s November NH Sale.

Returned to the ring he was knocked down to bloodstock agent Mags O’Toole, but it later transpired he had been bought back.

That left two horses, a gelding and a filly, to head trade with a valuation of €195,000. The gelding, a son of No Risk At All consigned by Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables, joined Henrietta Knight’s steady accumulation of quality young horses for racehorse owner Mike Grech, while the filly, a daughter of Blue Bresil, heads to the USA. Consigned by Johnny Collins, who bought her for £16,500 as a yearling at Doncaster, she

This son of No Risk At All jointly topped the Goffs Land Rover Sale at €195,000

››

GOFFS

the key indicators, and while that part of the catalogue comprised an additional 53 lots, the market was hungry and the clearance rate rose from 74 per cent to 82 per cent.

The increased number helped turnover gain 59 per cent at just over €3m and there were rises of eight per cent and seven per cent in the average and median figures.

Peter Nolan Bloodstock became the leading consignor, selling 31 lots at Part 1 for a total of €1,573,000, although his attempt to sell a half-brother to Nicky Henderson’s great two-miler Altior came to nought. A son of Camelot, this three-year-old had made headlines in 2019 when selling for €155,000 to

Big prices and demand across the board summed up this three-day sale of store horses.

Broken into two parts, with Part 1 being held over two days, it produced combined turnover of €23.5m and an 87 per cent clearance rate, a figure generated by some lovely young horses offered by canny consignors and which drew leading buyers of jumpers.

Part 1 saw 440 horses enter the ring and 394 find a buyer at a clearance rate of 90 per cent. Turnover of €20.4m was up 25 per cent, the average gained 12 per cent at €51,792 while the median achieved a figure of €45,000, a rise of 13 per cent. Part II also showed gains in

A career in the US beckons for this daughter of Blue Bresil, who was knocked down to Maryland trainer Keri Brion for €195,000 out of the Brown Island Stables draft

TALKING POINTS • Every one of the 653 horses who went under the hammer at the Land Rover auction of stores was a three-year-old, but for how much longer?

Goffs UK is introducing a stand-alone section of two-year-old stores at its August Sale, and while this is effectively to assist buyers in securing horses for a new series of juvenile hurdles which is being introduced by the BHA, it is not hard to envisage two-year-olds filtering into other sales. Let us not forget that four-year-old stores were once the norm at sales in Britain and Ireland before three-year-olds took over.

• The appeal of French jumpers and bloodlines to British

and Irish racehorse owners is nothing new, but a look at the top purchases at the Land Rover Sale shows a distinct bias towards French or ex-French sires.

Grange Stud-based Milan sired a €150,000 filly who made the top-ten board, but the other horses on it had a current or past Gallic connection. France-based sires No Risk At All (two lots), Saint Des Saints, Kapgarde and Crillon all featured, while former Haras de la Croix resident Blue Bresil, who now stands at Ireland’s Glenview Stud, sired three of the top ten. The name of former French sire Gentlewave, now in residence at Yorton Stud, was there, as was Authorized, who stood for many years at Haras du Logis before being posted to Turkey.

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›› was sold to Maryland trainer Keri Brion

on behalf of Rod Moorhead who races under the banner of Buttonwood Farms.

Brion, who last year moved up from assistant to legendary US jump trainer Jonathan Sheppard to full licence holder, handles top US chaser The Mean Queen, who started her career in Irish point-to-points.

Mags O’Toole’s purchase of a Saint Des Saints gelding consigned by Tally-Ho Stud ensured one of the prime lots was set to join an undisclosed Irish stable, but trainers based in Britain proved difficult to beat when it came to big prices. Champion trainer Paul Nicholls, Dan Skelton and Ben Pauling

all made their presence felt, while eager pinhookers with a view to racing horses in point-to-points before reselling were watching any horse that could turn a profit. Denis Murphy, who trades in this way, saw value in a son of Crillon from Lakefield Farm and went to €140,000 to secure him.

Trade at the lower-tier Part II was hardly less competitive, and three horses headed trade at €50,000. The trio were bought by point-to-point pinhookers, with two heading to County Wexford after Colin Bowe gained a son of Jet Away and James and Ellen Doyle secured a Doyen filly. The third horse, a Workforce filly, went to Warwickshire-

GOFFS

Sales Circuit

Henrietta Knight: signed on behalf of owner Mike Grech for the joint top lot

based Charlie and Fran Poste, whose pinhooking operation is gathering pace.

Goffs Land Rover Sale Top ten Sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (€)

Buyer

G No Risk At All – Tangaspeed

Moanmore Stables

195,000

Henrietta Knight

F Blue Bresil - Grainne Ni Maille

Brown Island Stables

195,000

KB Racing/Rod Moorhead/DJ Bloodstock

G Saint Des Saints - Fleur Des Villes

Tally-Ho Stud

170,000

Mags O’Toole

G Kapgarde – Bumble

Glacken View

160,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G No Risk At All – Enimie

Altenbach Bloodstock

160,000

Gerry Hogan Bloodstock

G Blue Bresil – Spendajennie

Clonmult Farm

150,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

F Milan - Burn And Turn

Rathmore Stud

150,000

Jessica Harrington

G Crillon – Firmini

Lakefield Farm

140,000

Ballyboy Stables

G Saint Des Saints - La Champmesle

Brown Island Stables

135,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

G Blue Bresil - Milanese Queen

Springhill Stud

135,000

Ryan Mahon/Dan Skelton

Figures – Goffs Land Rover Sale Part 1 Year

Sold

Aggregate (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2022

440

20,406,000

51,792

45,000

195,000

2021

354

16,346,500

46,282

40,000

230,000

2020

189

7,956,500

42,098

36,000

185,000

Figures – Goffs Land Rover Sale Part 2 Year

Sold

Aggregate (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2022

213

3,109,500

17,871

16,000

50,000

2021

118

1,953,300

16,553

15,000

65,000

2020

117

1,850,000

15,812

14,000

43,000

Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale

There was a moment of notable kudos for this auction when it provided the platform for Europe’s highest-valued breeze-up filly of 2022.

A daughter of Saxon Warrior, bred and owned by James Hanly and consigned by Katie Walsh, the filly headed trade when knocked down for €510,000 to bloodstock agent Stephen

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THE OWNER BREEDER

Hillen on behalf of a client of trainer Kevin Ryan. Her valuation was ahead of any filly who changed hands at the Tattersalls Craven Sale or Arqana’s Breeze-Up Sale, or indeed the richlyendowed Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale, and was bettered by just a handful of colts who were sold at those three events.

Hillen said the filly’s breeze had been outstanding, and added that given her

size and scope – he described her as “big and raw” – she had no right to produce such a striking piece of work.

This record for a Goresbridge breezer helped lift the average price by three per cent to €38,398, and enabled the aggregate of €6.5m to maintain parity with last year’s event held in Newmarket. The median was clipped four per cent to €22,000 while the clearance rate was 84 per cent, down

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

The €520,000 Saxon Warrior filly provided a momentous result for breeder James Hanly (left) and vendor Katie Walsh (centre)

Joe Foley: went to €270,000 for a Night Of Thunder filly on behalf of Clipper Logistics

Described by winning bidder Stephen Hillen as “big and raw”, the sale-topping filly attracted attention following an excellent breeze

seven points.

The Saxon Warrior was not the only filly of merit and the top-ten board was liberally sprinkled with members of her sex. Joe Foley liked a daughter of Night Of Thunder consigned by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud and it was his bid of €270,000 which gained the prize on behalf of Steve Parkin’s Clipper Logistics. Karl Burke will be her trainer, while Andrew Balding will handle the sale’s top-priced colt.

Bloodstock agent Billy JacksonStops secured this one, a son of Exceed And Excel who was sold for €260,000 and will now race in the colours of

Michael Blencowe. This was another in a memorable series of spring 2022 breeze results for consignors the O’Callaghan family of Tally-Ho Stud, who bought the youngster as a yearling for 56,000gns at Book 3.

John Bourke also achieved a grand pinhook with a Book 3 graduate, in his case a Glengeagles filly who he sold under his Hyde Park Stud banner.

Bourke, who bred this year’s 1,000 Guineas heroine Cachet, bought the Gleneagles filly for just 12,500gns then traded her on at this auction to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for €210,000.

Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale Top lots Sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (€)

Buyer

F Saxon Warrior - Causeway Queen

Greenhills Farm

520,000

Hillen/Ryan

F Night Of Thunder – Gadwa

Grove Stud

270,000

Joe Foley

C Exceed And Excel – Goleta

Tally-Ho Stud

260,000

J S Bloodstock/Andrew Balding

F Gleneagles – Heartlines

Hyde Park Stud

210,000

Blandford Bloodstock

C Bernardini - Bella Flor

Knockanglass Stables

160,000

Rabbah Bloodstock

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2022

174

6,639,000

38,155

22,000

510,000

2021*

176

6,539,427

37,156

22,989

478,238

2020*

125

3,816,490

30,532

21,978

256,678

››

*held in Newmarket and converted from £ to €

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Sales Circuit ›› Arqana Grand Steeple Sale

Just A Princess: offered by the estate of the late Magalen Bryant, she sold for €260,000

Anthony Bromley: Highflyer Bloodstock agent signed for the top two lots

the age of 92.

Horses that raced in her colours included the 2014 Grade 1 Travers Stakes winner V E Day, while her passion for French steeplechasing was rewarded with a trio of successes in the Grade 1 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, starting in 2015 with Milord Thomas and completed by So French in the following two years. The late David Powell had been a key advisor to Bryant, whose daughter K C Graham paid tribute to his role when the last of 21 lots owned by her late mother went through the ring.

When signing for the €260,000 top lot, three-year-old filly Just A Princess, Bromley was acting for British racehorse owner Andy Peake, who has a number

ARQANA

ARQANA

Boosted by a dispersal of horses that had been owned by the late Magalen ‘Maggie’ Bryant, this event created ten six-figure lots from a catalogue of 35.

That compares to a catalogue of just 13 lots and four sales in 2019 when Arqana had most recently held the auction. The latest edition proved far meatier, with turnover of €2.3m.

Leading bloodstock agents Anthony Bromley and Harold Kirk were among visitors who made their mark with notable purchases.

Bromley signed for the top two lots and they both came from the estate of Bryant, an American entrepreneur with a particular interest in conservation and who died last year at home in Virginia at

of jumpers trained in France. A few days after this sale, his General En Chef made much of the running before fading to finish an honourable sixth in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris won by Sel Jem, by which time Just A Princess had tackled a hurdle race at Auteuil. She ran wide on the final bend and finished seventh, two places behind Just A Star, who had been another member of the Bryant dispersal, making €170,000 to a bid from Pegase Bloodstock on behalf of Misol Racing.

Bromley also bought Flat winner Zarak The Brave for €200,000 and then said the three-year-old would be joining Willie Mullins, whose regular buyer, Harold Kirk, working with Pierre Boulard, parted with €180,000 to gain

Arqana Grand Steeple Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (€)

Buye

Just A Princess 3 f Ivanhowe - Belle Princesse

David Cottin

260,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Zarak The Brave 3 c Zarak - Tempo Royale

Stephane Wattel

200,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

Jourdefete 3 g Free Port Lux - Une Des Sources

Emmanuel Clayeux

180,000

Kirk/Boulard/Mullins

Just A Star 3 f Balko - Victoria’s Star

David Cottin

170,000

Pegase Bloodstock

Inedit Star 4 g Lord Du Sud - Tulipe Star

Paysan

160,000

Tom and Noel George

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2022

29

2,313,000

79,759

55,000

260,000

2019

4

485,000

121,250

55,000

180,000

2018

8

1,365,000

145,000

125,000

350,000

2021 No sale 2020 No sale

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THE OWNER BREEDER

Jourdefete, who had been third over 12 furlongs at Vichy a few weeks beforehand. His half-brother, Il Etait Temps, is already in Mullins’ yard and had finished fourth at Punchestown’s Festival.

Glouestershire trainer Tom George and his son Noel are working on a system that utilises the best of British and French racing, with yards in each country. Noel operates the French side, and it was his bid of €160,000 which secured Inedit Star, a four-year-old with two wins on the Flat to his name, and a future which could be based on either side of the Channel.

Tattersalls May NH Sale

Tattersalls took a punt by opting to stage a sale of jumpers at its Newmarket headquarters, but it could be asked why did the company wait so long?

Rival sales houses around Europe sell jumpers at their prime locations, but it took two years of Covid disruption to bring about a change within the corridors of power at Tattersalls.

Moving sales from Fairyhouse and Cheltenham to Newmarket during the pandemic proved vendors and buyers of jumpers were happy to head to Flat racing’s ‘HQ’, and out of that this auction was created.

It replaced one held at Cheltenham in May each year, and the results, particularly for young point-to-pointers, suggests the change worked. Less successful was the experiment of adding a selection of stores to the mix – they were not offered at the previous Cheltenham May sales – but there proved to be little appetite for that area of the market. Whether that was because the stock was not up to much, or because the specialist Land Rover and Derby store sales were about to be held was not entirely clear, but just 19 of 42 lots found a buyer.

A number of those were private sales which took place after a horse had failed to change hands in the ring, although on the plus side such notable Irish point-to-point trainers as Colin Bowe, Denis Murphy, Donnchadh Doyle and Matty Flynn O’Connor were among buyers of these stores and it is certain that some will prove successful and profitable.

O’Connor, who is based at Ballycrystal Stables in Bunclody, County Wexford, is one of the most progressive young trainers of Irish pointers and he has enjoyed a memorable season, training four-year-old winners and reaping excellent prices for them at subsequent sales. He sold the top lot here, Ittack Blue, whose turn of foot when winning on debut in a maiden

››

INTERNATIONAL OWNER IN FOCUS His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, KHK Racing Ltd Bahraini owners have long enjoyed a close association with British racing. But over the last five years, it has been impossible to overlook a resurgence in their presence at the top table, as a new generation has made its impact felt across Britain’s key festivals and bloodstock sales.

Recent renewals of Royal Ascot have proven fruitful for members of the Bahrain ruling family. Daahyeh and A’Ali delivered a brace of victories in 2019, while Golden Horde followed up by winning the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup in 2020.

2022 was no different. Bradsell got the meeting off to a flyer when landing the Gr.2 Coventry Stakes for His Highness Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa’s Victorious Racing, and the family’s celebrations continued into day two, as the Roger Varian-trained Eldar Eldarov gave His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa a first Royal Ascot winner from his first runner at the meeting.

Dressed in a waistcoat to match the yellow and black striped silks that are carried by the horses that run under his KHK Racing banner, Shaikh Khalid celebrated his Dubawi colt’s tenacious win in the Gr.2 Queen’s Vase alongside his brother (below).

Success in the prestigious race comes less than two years after KHK Racing’s first win, courtesy of the aptly named Bahrain Pride, who went on to give Shaikh Khalid a first taste of British Stakes race glory when landing a Listed contest on just his second outing.

KHK Racing increased its footprint in British racing in 2021, with 11 individual runners for seven different trainers. Shaikh Khalid’s impact was also felt at the sales, notably when Oliver St Lawrence bought him a Kingman colt at Tattersalls Book 1 for 2,700,000 guineas. Now named Akhu Najla, the colt has had three runs for Varian, including a win and a third place at Listed level.

Further success for KHK Racing in 2022 would come as little surprise.

Indeed, the young operation has all the credentials needed to become a regular force at Britain’s key fixtures, including an excellent bloodstock agent in St Lawrence, whose seven runners at the Royal Meeting this year produced a trio of wins – including Bradsell and Eldar Eldarov – and two runner-up performances.

“The pressure was on with them having taken the box for all five days, and to win two races, one for each of them, was a complete dream,” St Lawrence reflected after the Royal Meeting.

“They have a real enthusiasm to race at the premier meetings and to win some of the nicer races. If we can keep producing those sort of results or better, I think they can do nothing but expand in a measured way.”

TATTERSALLS

Photo Credit, Megan Rose Photography

Ittack Blue: impressive Punchestown debut winner joined Dan Skelton on a bid of 310,000gns to agent Ryan Mahon

greatbritishracinginternational.com

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Sales Circuit ›› point-to-point at Punchestown was

Agent Tom Malone bought two from the selection of pointers, parting with 245,000gns for the gelding Divilskin from Bowe’s yard, and 235,000gns for the filly Seeyouinmydreams, who had been in training with Paul Pierce. Both horses will race on in Britain having been secured for clients of champion trainer Paul Nicholls, but Wrestlingwithrae heads to the USA, having been secured for 180,000gns by agent Hamish Macauley for trainer

particularly notable, and resulted in his 310,000gns sale to agent Ryan Mahon, who was acting for trainer Dan Skelton.

That was a sweet pinhook for O’Connor, who paid just €30,000 for his horse at Tattersalls Ireland’s May Store Sale 12 months earlier, although he had reinvested part of the profit before the day was over, his 35,000gns buying a Youmzain gelding who headed the store part of the sale.

Leslie Young. Cormac Doyle, who trades as Monbeg Stables in County Wexford, had bought Wrestlingwithrae for just €15,000 at last year’s Land Rover Sale of stores.

Of 83 lots offered 56 found a buyer, for a clearance rate of 67 per cent, although the stores section would have been a factor in holding that figure down. The other figures were on a par with recent May sales held by Tattersalls at Cheltenham.

TALKING POINT • It is not uncommon to look at successful pinhooks and wonder how a horse had been bought for one price and later resold for many times that sum.

The four-year-old winning filly Seeyouinmydreams, who was traded at Tattersalls’ new May NH Sale in Newmarket for 235,000gns, was another example, for she had been bought for a humble £10,500 just six months earlier at the December Sale held at Ascot. Given that she was out of a winning mare who had produced three successful jumpers, headed by the very smart hurdler and able chaser Songe, and that her granddam, Silvermine, won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and foaled 11 winners including sire Sillery, you would have expected her to make more.

Her vendor at Ascot, ‘A partnership from Shade Oak

Stud’, included her breeder, Dr Bryan Mayoh, who opted to sell because he felt she needed more time and was “pleasantly surprised” when she blitzed her point-topoint. All is not lost for he has a foal full-brother who he will sell later this year, the 23-year-old dam is in foal to Logician, and Mayoh owns a 30 per cent stake in Seeyouinmydreams’ sire, Telescope, who enjoyed a fine run in the spring when a number of his offspring won Irish point-to-points.

Mayoh is the architect behind the Great British Bonus, which launched last year and rewards buyers of GBbred fillies and mares. Tom Malone, who signed for Seeyouinmydreams on behalf of Paul Nicholls at this sale after she had won a point-to-point, said the GBB element was “massive”.

Tattersalls May NH Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (gns)

Buyer

Ittack Blue 4 g Coastal Path - Beauty Blue

Ballycrystal Stables (Matty Flynn O’Connor)

310,000

Ryan Mahon

Divilskin 4 g Doyen - Beauty Star

Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe)

245,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

Seeyouinmydreams 4 f Telescope – Sierra

Blackhall Stables (Andrew Pierce)

235,000

Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls

Wrestlingwithrae 4 g Snow Sky - Moody Queen

Monbeg Stables (Cormac Doyle)

180,000

Hamish Macauley Bloodstock

Royal Defender 4 g Soldier Of Fortune - Kings Sister

Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe)

155,000

David Pipe

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (gns)

Average (gns)

Median (gns)

Top price (gns)

2022

56

2,884,500

51,509

37,500

310,000

Goffs London Sale

Reinstalled at Kensington Palace Gardens, this eve of Royal Ascot sale performed its annual trick of combining a good drinks party with some serious bloodstock trading.

It achieved 12 of 24 sales, a 50 per cent clearance rate, which was higher than at some editions of the event, and turned over £4,475,000, which would have baffled outsiders given that the goods being flogged were not on show.

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THE OWNER BREEDER

The simple explanation is that a Derby runner-up or 100-plus handicapper can remain at home in their stable because, subject to a vetting, their value is in the formbook.

Being able to offer the Derby second Hoo Ya Mal was a feather in the cap for Goffs, although returning to Kensington Palace for the first time since 2019 was the company’s greatest delight. Staging the event in such a setting in the same week as the Royal meeting is a splendid

marketing opportunity and a stoppingoff point for international buyers.

Australian training partnership Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott were present, and with Johnny McKeever doing the bidding they gained the Andrew Balding-trained Hoo Ya Mal for £1.2m. That completed a wicked piece of business for owner Ahmed Al Shaikh, who with the assistance of Federico Barberini bought Hoo Ya Mal for 40,000gns at the 2020 Tattersalls

October Yearling Sale.

The son of Territories had won ten times his purchase price in prize-money before the Australians stepped in and ramped up the profit. ‘It’s rare to buy a horse of his calibre’ was the gist of Bott’s post-sale summary, adding that a Melbourne Cup challenge would be on Hoo Ya Mal’s agenda, if not this year then next.

GOFFS

GOFFS

Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal will race in Australia after selling for £1,200,000

Al Shaikh was not the only man to raise £1.2m. Curragh trainer Michael O’Callaghan gained the same sum for two-year-olds Crypto Force and Harry Time, who were both bought just a few weeks earlier for far smaller sums at the Tattersalls breeze-up sales.

Crypto Force, a 160,000gns buy at the Guineas Sale, was sold on for £900,000 to Amo Racing’s Kia Joorabchian, while Harry Time, an 82,000gns Craven Sale graduate, made £300,000 to agents David Meah and Jamie Lloyd. They were acting for Michael and Julia Iavarone, American racehorse owners who, in a strong field, would have been leading contenders for the best-dressed couple competition (had there been one).

Other notable sales saw the Jessie Harrington-trained four-year-old Cadillac sell for £500,000 to Sheikh Abdullah Al Sabah, an animated bidder on the night and who has become a keen supporter of Newmarket trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy, while threeyear-old Cresta left Martyn Meade’s Manton yard when selling for £490,000

Henry Beeby (right): ‘great to be back at Kensington Palace Gardens’

to Will Douglass on behalf of Qatari interests.

Of the 12 lots which sold, two were breeding rights to stallions Ardad (£85,000 to Will Douglass) and Aclaim (£30,000 to Barry Lynch) and the other ten were horses in training. A bronze of the Queen with a mare and foal was knocked down for £80,000 to China Horse Club’s Teo Ah Khing but was not listed on Goffs’ returns.

TALKING POINT • One day this sale will achieve the kudos of selling a Royal Ascot contender who wins at the big meeting in the same week.

For now the wait goes one. Four sold horses tried their luck at this year’s Royal meeting, although top lot Hoo Ya Mal, who on form would have had a favourite’s chance in the King Edward VII Stakes, did not run.

The top-priced two-year-old Crypto Force, who sold for £900,000, finished seventh of 13 in the Chesham Stakes, while Harry Time was eighth of 17 in the

Coventry Stakes. Cresta finished fourth of six in the Hampton Court Stakes, while Cadillac did best when second of 15 in the Wolferton Stakes. Another six horses who were not sold at the sale went on to run at the meeting, and while none finished first, Thunder Beauty was an honourable second of seven in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes.

Twelve months earlier Significantly was led from the ring unsold at £380,000 before going on to win Royal Ascot’s Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap.

Goffs London Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Consignor

Price (£)

Hoo Ya Mal 3 c Territories - Sensationally

Park House Stables (Andrew Balding)

Crypto Force 2 c Time Test - Luna Mare

O’Callaghan Racing

900,000

Hamish Macauley/Omni Racing/Amo Racing

Cadillac 4 c Lope de Vega - Seas Of Wells

Commonstown Racing (Jessica Harrington)

500,000

Sheikh Abdullah Al Sabah

Cresta 2 c New Bay - La Negra

Manton Park Racing (Martyn Meade)

490,000

Gordon-Watson Bloodstock

Ileach Mathan 3 c Kodi Bear - Juliette Fair

Heather Main Racing

340,000

Richard Ryan

1,200,000

Buyer McKeever Bloodstock, Gai Waterhouse, A Bott and Go Bloodstock

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (£)

Average (£)

Median (£)

Top price (£)

2022

12

4,475,000

372,917

300,000

1,200,000

2021

3

680,000

226,667

200,000

310,000

2020 No sale

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››

Caulfield Files

Vadeni: Prix du Jockey Club hero is a first-crop Classic winner for Churchill

A

nyone trying to assess the depth of Galileo’s influence on the breed could do worse than study the 2022 Derby. From 17 runners, Galileo was responsible for three of them, while six sons of Galileo – Frankel, Teofilo, Nathaniel, Al Rifai, Churchill and Ulysses – were collectively responsible for eight of the others. There were also runners out of a daughter and a granddaughter of Galileo. In other words, only four of the 17 runners had a pedigree free of Galileo (and two of them were out of granddaughters of Galileo’s sire Sadler’s Wells).

For the third time in five years victory went to a colt by one of Galileo’s sons, with Nathaniel’s son Desert Crown emulating New Approach’s son Masar and Frankel’s son Adayar. Needless to say, the last five Derby winners also feature Galileo’s sons Anthony Van Dyck and Serpentine, with this pair boosting Galileo’s total of Derby winners to five, following New Approach, Ruler Of The World and Australia. That adds up to eight of the last 15, with the exceptions including Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars and Sea The Stars’s son Harzand.

The roll of honour for the Oaks tells a similar story. This year we saw Galileo’s daughter Tuesday get the better of the unlucky Sea The Stars filly Emily Upjohn, with third and fourth places going to Nashwa, a daughter of Frankel, and Concert Hall, a daughter of Galileo’s first Oaks winner Was. Of the last 11 Oaks winners, Galileo was responsible for five (Was, Minding, Forever Together, Love

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and Tuesday), with his sons providing another three in the form of the New Approach filly Talent, Nathaniel’s daughter Enable and the Frankel filly Anapurna.

Galileo’s broodmare daughters also got into the act, producing Qualify and the runaway winner Snowfall. That’s ten of the last 11, with the sole exception being Taghrooda, a daughter of Sea The Stars.

One could be forgiven for expecting Galileo’s influence on the Prix du Jockey

“There was every chance that his first crop would fare better at three” Club to be less marked, especially as he has only one winner of the French Classic to his credit – Intello in 2013. However, the 15 runners in 2022 included sons of Galileo, Churchill (2), Frankel and The Gurkha, while three others were out of daughters of Galileo and another had a dam by New Approach. This group provided the winner, with Churchill’s son Vadeni winning easing up by five lengths.

He is the third recent Jockey Club winner with Galileo in the second generation, as Sottsass and St Mark’s Basilica are both

out of Galileo mares.

So Churchill became another first-crop stallion to sire a Classic winner. I have to admit that I was intrigued to see how he fared when his first juveniles started to appear last year. When the betting company Fitzdares opened its book on the 2021 first-season sires’ championship, they made Profitable favourite at 3-1, followed by Caravaggio and Churchill at 4-1.

Churchill’s prominence was perfectly understandable. After all, he had matured quickly enough to win the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, a meeting at which his dam Meow had failed by only a neck to land the Queen Mary Stakes. And Churchill, of course, had gone on to win four consecutive Group races as a two-year-old, including the National and Dewhurst Stakes, to end the year as champion two-year-old. By the time he retired to Coolmore, his year-younger sister Clemmie had taken the Cheveley Park Stakes, a race won 15 years earlier by Churchill’s second dam, Airwave. There was therefore no doubting the family’s ability to shine at two years.

In the end, though, it was Caravaggio who took the first-crop sires’ championship and Churchill also finished behind Cotai Glory, Profitable, Ardad and Galileo Gold on the domestic list. He didn’t fare at all badly, siring the Listed winners Ladies Church, Snaffles and Vadeni, plus a couple of Group-placed colts in Unconquerable and The Acropolis.

It wasn’t enough though for him to

BILL SELWYN

Churchill taking flight to add to Galileo’s dominance

Bloodstock world views maintain his fee, which was lowered to €25,000 after two years at €35,000 and two at €30,000. His second-crop yearlings also hadn’t done as well as their predecessors, with the median price dropping from 62,000gns to 47,000gns.

There was always every chance, though, that Churchill’s first crop would fare better at three. After all, his own sire had managed to sire just one Listed winner from a sizeable number of first-crop runners in 2005, before taking flight with his three-year-olds.

It must also be remembered that Churchill is big, standing 16.2 hands, rather like Teofilo, another Galileo colt who took the National and Dewhurst Stakes on his way to the two-year-old championship.

But whereas Teofilo was unable to race at three, Churchill won both the 2,000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas before some of the gloss was knocked off his achievements by five successive defeats.

In assessing potential stallions like Churchill and Teofilo, I think it’s important to remember that they were respectively trained by Aidan O’Brien and his former mentor Jim Bolger. Neither of these admirable trainers waste any time in developing their charges’ talents and are also often happy to race them frequently at two years. I think it is fair to ask whether Churchill would have looked as precocious in the hands of another trainer.

Juddmonte’s annual foal share with Coolmore once produced three Sadler’s Wells colts, which were to finish first, second and third in the Racing Post Trophy, with O’Brien being responsible for the winner Brian Boru and runner-up Powerscourt. A future winner of the St Leger, Brian Boru had made a winning debut as early as June, even though his dam Eva Luna was a Park Hill Stakes winner who didn’t race until she was four.

Similarly, Powerscourt raced four times as a juvenile even though he was out of Rainbow Lake, a Lancashire Oaks winner who had been unraced at two. I couldn’t help wondering whether some of Juddmonte’s trainers would have asked as much of these colts.

Where Churchill is concerned, it may be a mistake to expect him to supply precocious talent to mares who took time to mature. Vadeni has improved from two to three, which isn’t surprising when his dam, the Monsun mare Vaderana, made her only juvenile appearance in lateOctober, before going on to win over 2,300 metres. Churchill is the fourth son of Galileo to sire a Group winner from a Monsun mare, with Vadeni’s predecessors all winning over a mile and a half, which bodes well for his Arc prospects.

BINARY LINE CONTINUES TO FLOURISH During my long innings as consultant to Juddmonte Farms, literally thousands of foals and yearlings were paraded for my inspection. My duties included the American branch for several years and viewing the young stock often represented a test of stamina, involving long hours in the glare and heat of a Kentucky summer. In the circumstances I think I can be forgiven for not remembering some of the youngsters, such as a 2003 Distant View filly out of Rainbow Quest’s daughter Binary. No doubt I should have remembered her better, as this filly – Foreign Language – now ranks as the second dam of unbeaten Derby winner Desert Crown.

However, a delve through my filing cabinets unearthed my photographs and notes. Foreign Language was the 70th of the 82 yearlings I saw that day.

She struck me as attractive and – like her sire – strong, rather short-coupled, with good depth. However, she had also inherited faults from each of her parents. Although Distant View was a top-class miler, this son of Mr Prospector was far from correct in front.

Consequently, it was arguably tempting fate to send him a daughter of Rainbow Quest, another who was often an influence for less-than-perfect knees.

Because of the conformational risks involved, the Distant View-Rainbow Quest pairing was tried only sparingly, with two of the five foals being out of Binary. The first, a colt called Binary Vision, made his debut for John Gosden in a mile maiden race at York in June 2004 and he was impressive, striding seven lengths clear under hand riding to establish himself as a bright prospect. Sadly, he was to race only once more, with a cannon bone fracture ending his career.

His sister Foreign Language never raced for Juddmonte and was sold for 18,000gns in 2005. Put into training with Neville Callaghan, she carried a 7lb claimer called William Buick to victory in a maiden race over an extended mile at Wolverhampton late the following year.

Although Desert Crown’s third dam Binary had moderate foreleg conformation, that didn’t prove any hindrance during her time with Andre Fabre. A debut winner at Longchamp and a Listed winner over 2,000 metres at Saint-Cloud, Binary also went within a short neck of becoming a Group 3

winner in the Prix de Psyche. The next step was to send her to the US to be trained by Bobby Frankel, with part of the motivation being the outstanding achievements Frankel had enjoyed with the similarly-bred Wandesta. Both of these big, strong fillies were sired by sons of Blushing Groom and Binary’s dam Balabina was a sister to Wandesta’s dam De Stael, both being

by Nijinsky out of Peace, whose descendants have served Juddmonte tremendously well for decades.

Whereas Wandesta was transformed from being just a Listed winner in Britain into a champion turf mare in the US, Binary won only a nine-furlong allowance at Santa Anita. The word was that Frankel thought the world of Binary and she proved to be a much better broodmare than the disappointing Wandesta, perhaps helped by the fact that she represented a nick which produced an impressive 18 per cent black-type winners. Rainbow Quest also sired the Derby-winning Quest For Fame from a granddaughter of Nijinsky.

From seven foals, Binary produced three sons – Binary File, Hawksbill and Binary Vision – who respectively achieved Racing Post ratings of 115, 110 and 103. Foreign Language was the only winner among her four daughters, but one of the others was Binche, who was also sired by a son of Mr Prospector.

Binche went within inches of becoming one of those blue hens with three Group/Grade 1 winners to her credit. Her Dansili filly Proviso became a four-time Grade 1 winner in the US; her Peintre Celebre colt Byword won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes; and Finche, by Frankel, scored at Group 2 level in France before being narrowly beaten in a couple of Group 1s over a mile and a quarter in Australia. Finche’s brother Baratti became Binche’s fourth black-type winner at Longchamp in April. Binche’s daughter Zatsfine is also keeping up the good work, her first two foals being the black-type winners Environs and Delaware.

Desert Crown isn’t the first notable performer descending from Foreign Language, as his dam, the mile winner Desert Berry, has also produced Archie McKellar, a useful two-year-old of 2017 who went on to earn a lot of money as Flying Thunder in Hong Kong.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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Dr Statz

Nancy Sexton cracks the code

A pattern worth exploring for Wootton Bassett

C

oolmore’s acquisition of Wootton Bassett was one of the biggest bloodstock stories of 2020.

The son of Iffraaj, winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere during an unbeaten two-year-old season for Richard Fahey, had been a real triumph for all involved with him at Haras d’Etreham, throwing champion Almanzor in a first crop that numbered just 23 foals and the Group 1placed Wootton and Patascoy in a third crop of 45.

Not one of his first five crops were sired at a fee greater than €6,000 and, as anticipated, his fortunes took another rise in tandem with his fee, which was increased to €20,000 for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. So far, those crops have between them thrown nine stakes winners including last season’s top-class fillies Incarville, winner of the Prix Saint-Alary, and Zellie, winner of the Prix Marcel Boussac, alongside the Group 2 winners Chindit, Royal Patronage and Atomic Jones. His first €40,000 crop are twoyear-olds and already include a Listed winner in Wootton City.

Coolmore understandably really got behind Wootton Bassett in his first season in Fethard in 2021. Installed at €100,000, the horse went on to cover a bumper book of 244 mares, among them the likes of Alexandrova, Awesome Maria, Best In

STAKES HORSES BY WOOTTON BASSETT INBRED TO GONE WEST

Name

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Race record

2017 colt

Elusive City

G1 winner

CHINDIT

2018 colt

Oasis Dream

G2 winner

*THE BLACK ALBUM

2016 colt

Trade Fair

G3 winner

WOOTTON CITY

2020 colt

Elusive City

Listed winner

Trident

2019 colt

Mount Nelson

G1-placed

Beat Le Bon

2016 colt

Elusive City

G3-placed

*Daisy Maisy

2019 filly

Champs Elysees

G3-placed

Mageva

2017 filly

Elusive City

Listed-placed

*inbred via Zafonic

COOLMORE

Wootton Bassett: forging a fine partnership with Gone West blood

Damsire

WOODED

Year foaled

The World, Bracelet, Clemmie, Fancy Blue, Immortal Verse, Life Happened, Peeping Fawn and Was, all high-performing names owned by Coolmore interests.

Exceptional support was also forthcoming from several outside breeders, notably the Niarchos family, which sent its Group 1 winner Albigna, the China Horse Club, which sent Harry Angel’s dam Beatrix Potter, Watership Down Stud, which sent its multiple Group 1 winner The Fugue, and Juddmonte Farms, which sent Frankel’s talented half-sister Joyeuse and Group 1 winner Proviso.

Plenty of Wootton Bassett’s allure, of course, lies in his potential ability to work with daughters of Galileo, whose blood runs so strongly through the Coolmore broodmare band. Wootton Bassett has already clicked with the line to some degree in the case of Zellie, the first stakes winner produced out of a daughter of Nathaniel (from just 17 runners). In addition, Chindit’s second dam, Always Remembered, is a daughter of Galileo himself.

However, a look at Wootton Bassett’s record to date reveals that there is indeed a pattern worth exploring when using him, namely inbreeding back to his greatgrandsire Gone West.

Overall, nine of Wootton Bassett’s stakes winners contain Gone West’s sire Mr Prospector somewhere within the first four generations of their female family.

However, more specifically, four stakes winners and another four of his stakes horses are inbred to Gone West, a Grade 1 winner over nine furlongs who sired the

likes of Speightstown, Mr Greeley, Elusive Quality, Zafonic and his brother Zamindar during his long career at Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky. There are 20 Group or Graded stakes winners worldwide inbred to the stallion, of which 12 ran in Europe – three are by Wootton Bassett.

As the accompanying table shows, he has built up a fine partnership with Elusive City, an extremely fast two-year-old by Elusive Quality. Of the ten named foals bred on the cross, four are stakes horses.

It’s also a powerful list, one that is led by fifth-crop son Wooded, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye, and his talented older brother Beat Le Bon. Its latest advertisement is the aforementioned Wootton City, who took his record to three from three for Jerome Reynier last month when successful in the Listed Prix la Flèche at Chantilly.

Daisy Maisy, another inbred to Gone West, has also acquitted herself well this year, with a runner-up effort in the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte preceding a fifth in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. She is actually inbred via two lines of Zafonic (sire of her third dam Arabesque), which is interesting in itself given that the brilliant miler, a sizeable individual who broke a blood vessel when down the field on his last start in the 1993 Sussex Stakes, is an influence likely to be considered by some breeders with a degree of caution.

Similarly, The Black Album, whose five wins included the 2018 Group 3 Prix la Rochette, is also inbred to Zafonic, in his case via his damsire Trade Fair; indeed, he is one of only four Group or Graded stakes winners produced so far by one of his daughters.

to be won at ARC all-weather racecourses this winter!

Tue 18 October 2022 to Good Friday 7 April 2023*

Horses placing in the top five in every all-weather race at an ARC racecourse win points that go towards a monthly, and end of season bonus.

HORSE OF THE MONTH

HORSE OF THE MONTH

HORSE OF THE YEAR

Paying to 3rd place

Paying to 3rd place

Paying to 20th place

BONUS POT

Oct & Nov – Jan

BONUS POT

BONUS POT

Feb – March & April

Oct – April

Scan the QR code for competition rules and full terms and conditions. or visit arenaracingcompany.co.uk

Advertorial

Aerial shot of the first-class facilities offered by HEROS, located in Fawley, Oxfordshire

Duty of Care British racing expands its safety net and begins roll-out of core aftercare initiatives.

I

n 2021, the Horse Welfare Board released its Aftercare Funding Review and the results of a detailed study into the management and quality levels of racing’s aftercare segment.

The report found that current aftercare service provision has grown organically over the years, to provide a blend of promotional and educational opportunities for thoroughbreds following a racing career. While retraining and rehoming facilities are offered by a mixture of private and commercial plus charitable bodies, there was no consistency in assessment, methodology or reporting making future health and welfare provision for thoroughbreds difficult to forecast and budget for.

The review’s recommendations focused on seven key areas to improve the sector in-line with the sport’s welfare commitments: funding; focus and integration; traceability and data; accreditation; community; education; communication. Strategic ownership of these improvements on behalf of the industry was given to Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) with ongoing support to be provided by the Horse Welfare Board Programme Team.

Considerable cross-industry work has since taken place and, this month, key initiatives start to roll-out. Central to the whole strategy, and a significant positive change for the industry, is the newly defined extent of racing’s responsibility to now include a thoroughbred’s first step out of racing.

Barry Johnson, Chair of the Horse Welfare Board explains: “The Life Well Lived strategy was created to ensure that during the whole lifetime of the horse, all facets of its welfare are scrutinised, understood and where possible improved. This new agreed definition of racing’s responsibility means we can now expand the sport’s safety net to ensure a smooth transition out of racing for all thoroughbreds and provide owners and trainers with the support they require should it be needed.”

Appointing a ‘Hero’ Centre The first outcome of the work is the appointment of HEROS as a new primary on-the-ground aftercare partner for RoR. Based in Oxfordshire and run by Grace Muir, HEROS was appointed following an extensive pitch process engaging 60 British aftercare providers. In place from July, this new structure will ensure trainers and owners, who might be struggling to find

appropriate homes or careers for their horses as they retire, now have an approved organisation with top-class facilities they can turn to if needed.

Creating the Gold Standard for Aftercare The next step will follow quickly with RoR now focusing on driving consistency in standards across the whole aftercare, rehoming, and retraining network. The appointment of HEROS will play a central role in helping RoR complete its work to formalise and roll-out an accreditation system before the end of the year, supporting centres across the country to achieve an industry-defined gold-level operating standard.

Piloting an Animal Welfare Assessment Grid Alongside this work, the Horse Welfare Board has partnered with the University of Surrey to expand the use of a bespoke welfare assessment tool (AWAG) to officially record a thoroughbred’s wellbeing on retirement, score its appropriateness for different uses, and flag up areas for development or of concern. A pilot study is underway with completion planned for August.

The aim of the project is to deliver a system, which is

easily accessible on laptops and phones, and which will allow users to record and monitor the welfare of a thoroughbred and provide insight into its welfare at every step of the rehoming process. Following on from a real-life test in the hands of selected trainers, the AWAG tool should be ready to roll-out later this year.

RoR’s Chair, Philip Freedman, summarises the latest developments: “It’s vital that we create a smooth transition out of racing and that, at every step of the way, we maintain visibility of thoroughbreds as they move on to their next career with new owners. We are finalising and delivering on multiple projects from the core review’s recommendations, with support from the Horse Welfare Board, to ensure Britain has worldleading aftercare standards, structures, and systems. The appointment of HEROS and the launch of the AWAG tool are significant steps in that process, and supporting centres to achieve a gold-level operating standard will help establish a stronger, healthier network to support thoroughbreds as they transition away from the sport.”

If you would like to contact the Horse Welfare Board about any of its ongoing work, please get in touch via info@racehorsewelfare.co.uk

At home with HEROS

Images: Racing Post

Analysis of over 3,000 horses registered with RoR shows that 91% of former racehorses are acquired by their new owner without going via a charitable rehoming or commercial retraining operation. The route taken is a more direct one, with 77% sourced either privately or direct from the trainer.

ROA Forum

The special section for ROA members

ARC moves to boost purses and runners with new bonus schemes

JOHN GROSSICK

A

rena Racing Company has announced two significant bonus schemes that will operate across the group’s Flat racecourses in the coming months and into 2023.

From July 1 to September 30 ARC will offer a winner’s bonus across all Class 4, 5 and 6 Flat races to offer a minimum first prize of £5,500, £5,000 and £4,000 respectively. This will apply to all Flat races at this class, irrespective of age, race type or surface, and will complement general increases to Flat prize-money values across these classes at ARC racecourses for the rest of 2022.

Furthermore, a new £1,000,000 bonus pot is available for horses racing throughout the winter at Lingfield, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton. Coinciding with the new All-Weather Championships season, from October 18 to Good Friday, April 7, 2023, over £1,000,000 will be available to owners, trainers, jockeys and racing staff connected with the most consistent performers at ARC’s four all-weather racecourses.

Horses finishing in the top five in every all-weather race at an ARC racecourse will win points that go towards a Horse of the Month prize, which will pay £20,000 to the winner (£40,000 in February and March & April), as well as an end-of-season Horse of the Year prize, which will pay £100,000 to the horse with the most points overall, with further prizes down to 20th place.

The Horse of the Month competition

Earlofthecotswolds: leading all-weather stayer will be racing for bigger pots at ARC tracks

will be judged on points accrued in the first three runs in each of the five monthly periods (October & November, December, January, February and March & April), with the Horse of the Year competition being judged on a maximum of 15 runs across the whole qualifying period.

Alongside the Horse of the Month

prize, a total of £10,000 will be won by the stables connected to the top three horses each month, with a £7,000 prize for the top jockey (by wins) at each of the four ARC all-weather racecourses across the season. The top apprentice Jockey (by wins) at each ARC allweather racecourse at the end of the season will win a prize of £3,000.

Shared ownership audits from August 1 From August 1 the BHA will start to audit a proportion of syndicate and racing club contracts to confirm compliance with the respective Code of Conduct. This was outlined as one of the ten key measures in last year’s Shared Ownership Consultation Report.

The BHA will audit both a proportion of contracts as part of the new registration process and conduct spot checks throughout the life of any

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THE OWNER BREEDER

syndicate/racing club.

By more closely examining the contracts provided by syndicators and club managers it will help ensure all the mandated terms are covered while simultaneously increasing awareness of the Codes of Conduct.

At no point will the BHA comment on or review the commercial terms, or provide legal advice in relation to any contract.

In respect of syndicates and

racing clubs supplying a copy of their contract, should the contract provided not meet the requirements of the Codes, guidance will be provided by the BHA to ensure all terms are covered so that the owner is operating within the Rules and, in the case of a new application, the syndicate or racing club can be approved.

For further information email ownership@britishhorseracing.com.

www.roa.co.uk • 01183 385680 • info@roa.co.uk @racehorseowners

RacehorseOwnersUK

Racehorseownersassociation

XXXXXXX

New contact details:

Groom Reg Todd enjoys Dark Shift’s success in the Royal Hunt Cup

World Pool records at Royal Ascot Royal Ascot saw new records being set for the World Pool. A staggering figure of £168 million was bet across the five-day meeting, with the new biggest World Pool total on a British race of £6.6m achieved on the Coronation Stakes. At each World Pool event there is a ‘Moment of the Day’, awarded to a standout performance, for example a widemargin winner or a human or equine interest story.

World Pool also gives back to those behind the scenes, who at times don’t receive the recognition they deserve.

Racing staff who look after the winning

horse crowned ‘Moment of the Day’ receive a £1,000 bonus and a bottle of champagne to help toast their success.

This year’s Ascot winners were: • Tuesday: Sinead Earl, groom of Nature Strip, the Australian star who won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.

• Wednesday: Reg Todd, groom of Dark Shift, winner of the Royal Hunt Cup, who has worked for Charlie Hills for over 30 years.

This was his first time leading up a Royal Ascot winner.

• Thursday: Ollie Turner, groom and work rider of Claymore who

won the Hampton Court Stakes.

He’s travelling head lad for Jane Chapple-Hyam.

• Friday: Naseem Khan, groom of Latin Lover who gave Harry Eustace his first Royal Ascot winner in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes.

• Saturday: Liisi Hallik, groom of Holloway Boy, who won the Chesham Stakes at a big price for Karl Burke on his racecourse debut.

At the end of the World Pool year an overall winner is selected from all the individual winners, with the successful yard receiving a bumper bonus of £34,000, which will be presented at British Champions Day.

Registrations with Weatherbys move online this month Following feedback from participants the BHA is undertaking changes to the operation of the Weatherbys Registrations Team from July 18 when a small number of registrations will be moving entirely online and will only be available via the Racing Admin system.

In requiring these registrations to be completed online, as opposed to over the phone or via email, it will help ensure participants who require the most support with complex queries can be dealt with in a timely manner and offered the best possible customer experience by getting the required answers from the Registrations Team more quickly.

From July 18 the registrations that will need to be completed online are: • Authority to act; and

• New owner registrations (including those for sole, company, partnership, syndicate and racing club owners).

In addition, wherever possible, owners and trainers will also be required to complete horse naming and sponsorship registrations via the Racing Admin system.

In order to ensure you are confident using the system, in advance of the changes on July 18, please call 01933 304808 or email registrations@weatherbys.co.uk if you would like a member of the Registrations Team to talk through the changes with you. Alternatively help videos and guides can be found at weatherbys.co.uk. Weatherbys are committed to providing you with all the support you require in advance of these changes.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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ROA Forum

MAGICAL MOMENTS Peter Baker strikes with homebred Tees Spirit on Derby day

I

t may be in distance terms nothing like it, but for many yards the Dash at Epsom is their Derby. It is an expression that came from Adrian Nicholls this year after Tees Spirit had provided his stable with a valuable and emotional success, five years on from the death of his father Dandy.

The North Yorkshire operation was certainly synonymous with sprint handicap success all over the land in Nicholls snr’s heyday, including at the Derby meeting, when the Dash went the yard’s way five times from 1997 to 2009, via Ya Malak, Rudi’s Pet, Atlantic Viking, Fire Up The Band and Indian Trail.

Nicholls was always good value to talk to for reporters, though you had to rattle through his runners the day before a race you were previewing as he invariably had stacks. He had 12 in the Stewards’ Sprint Handicap at Goodwood in 2003 and 11 the following year, for example.

His son needed just the one in this year’s Derby appetiser, with Tees Spirit keeping on strongly under Barry McHugh to prevail by a head from Mountain Peak and bring up a hat-trick.

For owner-breeder Peter Baker, who operates as Ingleby Bloodstock and is part of The Ivy League syndicate which shares banner ownership of Tees Spirit, winning the race before the Platinum Jubilee Derby is a memory that will last a lifetime.

Explaining his background, Baker says: “I have been interested in the sport since I was young, first accompanying my father back in the 1960s to our then local track, Stockton, which is now defunct after closing in the 1980s.

“I fell in love with horseracing and the excitement of a raceday, regularly travelling over the years to other meetings around the country.

“I always had an ambition to buy my own racehorse and was eventually able to do this by forming a syndicate with my friends who shared a similar interest.”

Baker, who has been an ROA member from when he first started out as an owner, continues: “I’m recently retired, and this has allowed me to concentrate fully on my passion for horseracing.

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THE OWNER BREEDER

I currently manage a small breeding operation called Ingleby Bloodstock and a racing enterprise, along with my involvement with The Fallen Angels and The Ivy League syndicates.

“In total since 2010, I have partowned five horses through these two syndicates. To date, the most successful of these has been Ingleby Hollow with The Fallen Angels; he’s a dual-purpose gelding currently trained by Rebecca Menzies in Sedgefield. Then, with The Ivy League, Dash winner Tees Spirit has of course been our greatest success.”

Life for Tees Spirit’s handler is, similar to the vast majority in the ranks, no picnic, but Nicholls remains a relatively young trainer, is having a pretty good year and his owner is happy to back the ambition.

Baker says: “Our thought process when selecting a trainer has always been to engage up-and-coming trainers

“We select upand-coming trainers for our horses that show potential” for our horses who appear to show great potential.

“This started back in 2010 when we sent Ingleby Angel to David O’Meara in Helmsley. The horse went on to achieve great success along with Ingleby Hollow, and David has grown since that time to be one of the most recognisable stables in the north.

“Subsequently, our horses have been sent to Rebecca and Adrian Nicholls, who both are now also having great success.”

Having been in the ownership game for a dozen years, Baker has experienced the ups and downs that all owners do, and of his highlights to date says: “One magical moment so far has to be when Ingleby Hollow won in a

Tees Spirit and Barry McHugh (red cap) blitz their rivals in the Dash at Epsom

Class 5 handicap at Thirsk in June 2019.

“He was trained on the Flat by David and ridden to victory there by Danny Tudhope – his usual partner. The victory was Danny’s 1,000th career winner on the Flat in Britain. I was so proud of our horse that day and Danny’s after-race comments in which he said, ‘It’s great to get there and I was delighted to do it on this horse – I’ve got a soft spot for him’.

“It was a great feeling to have contributed towards Danny’s milestone achievement.”

He adds: “My second magical moment is definitely Tees Spirit winning the Epsom Dash at this year’s Derby meeting. It was an unbelievable result for the other members of the partnership and myself.

In brief Raceday Curtailment Scheme pays out

The spate of abandonments during racing at the end of May and beginning of June activated the ROA’s Raceday Curtailment Scheme.

The scheme is run in conjunction with Weatherbys Hamilton and has paid out over £100,000 in payments to owners since its inception in 2013. The scheme was introduced to reduce the financial blow to an owner who is left both disappointed and out of pocket that their horse is unable to race.

A total of 32 horses gained compensation following the abandonment of Beverley, 31 after Haydock’s curtailment and 18 from Chester. The evening meeting held at Uttoxeter – which was abandoned after a horse was stranded in the final ditch and needed to be extricated – saw 15 horses gain compensation for not running due to the fading light.

To qualify for payment, horses must be owned 51% or more by ROA members. Payments will be processed automatically to the member’s racing account. Further details on the scheme can be found at roa.co.uk/rcs.

BILL SELWYN

Apprenticeship scheme

“The atmosphere and spectacle at Epsom was fantastic and made all the more incredible by our horse’s performance. I’ll never forget the moment Tees Spirit passed the winning post and we all erupted in celebration.”

That sure sounds like the epitome of a magical moment, one that was followed of course by a firework display at Epsom shortly before the next race, which the owners of the Dash winner possibly enjoyed rather more than their counterparts with runners in the Derby.

Baker continues: “The best part of racehorse ownership has to simply be being involved with the horses and the sport. I get a real buzz from going to the races, whether it is an ordinary contest or a major event in the racing

calendar, knowing that my horse is involved and partaking in a race.

“The worst part of owning racehorses is losing horses who have been a large part of your ownership journey and you have become attached to.

“Our breeding operation was originally founded with three broodmares, and we recently lost the last mare, Mistress Twister, who died earlier this year at the age of 21 having produced nine live foals. Tees Spirit was the penultimate horse that Mistress Twister produced.”

Tees Spirit, by Swiss Spirit, has certainly been another good one, and as a four-year-old gelding can at least hopefully continue to provide his ownerbreeder with plenty of success and fun.

British horseracing has launched its first Business Administration apprenticeship, which provides support for racing’s employers to recruit an apprentice for an office-based role.

Delivered in partnership with Haddon Training with funding by the Racing Foundation, the Businesses Administration in Racing apprenticeship uses a combination of workplace development and offsite training to help the apprentice develop their skills, knowledge, and behaviours – all within a racing context.

There are many benefits to creating an apprenticeship opportunity, including attracting new talent to your business and the wider industry, or upskilling an existing employee.

For more information see bit.ly/BHABAapprentice.

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ROA Forum

GEORGE SELWYN

National Racehorse Week plans

The public will be able to watch horses training and schooling during National Racehorse Week in September

Racing’s annual celebration of the horses at the heart of our sport is set to return later this year with the second National Racehorse Week taking place September 10-18.

The initiative will be funded by the Racing Foundation, with additional support from the Horserace Betting Levy Board as part of its funding of welfare communications.

This year’s event will be bookended by the open days taking place at Epsom and Malton on September 11

and The Henry Cecil Open Weekend in Newmarket on September 17-18, with trainers across the country, together with studs and aftercare centres, all invited to participate and open their doors to the public.

There will be a particular focus on engaging community groups and new audiences to racing with support from Racing To School and Racing Together, as well as potential future fans of the sport via urban equestrian centres and riding clubs.

The online system for people to select and book their visits went live at the end of last month.

Already over 90 yards, studs and aftercare and retraining centres have signed up to be part of National Racehorse Week, excluding stables at the open days in Epsom, Malton and Newmarket.

To find out more go to the website nationalracehorseweek.uk which is sponsored by the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust.

August 7 Haydock Park Discover Shared Ownership Day – see www.inthepaddock. co.uk

September 15 AGM – further details in due course

Diary dates July 16-17 Racing Welfare Bike Ride – see racingwelfare.co.uk July 18 Board election – voting commences July 23 Ascot Tote World Pool day July 26-28 Tote World Pool days at Goodwood July 26-30 Qatar Glorious Goodwood Festival – tickets and hospitality offers available at roa.co.uk/events

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August 17-19 York World Pool days

October 15 British Champions Day at Ascot – Tote World Pool day

August 30 Board election – voting closes

October 21-22 Cheltenham Discover Shared Ownership Day – see www.inthepaddock.co.uk

September 1 Windsor Discover Shared Ownership Day – see www.inthepaddock.co.uk

November 18-19 Ascot Discover Shared Ownership Day – see www.inthepaddock.co.uk

September 10 Irish Champions Day at Leopardstown – Toe World Pool day

December 8 ROA Horseracing Awards at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London

ADVERTORIAL

THE SCIENCE OF WINNING, AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO HORSEMANSHIP

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aniel and Claire Kübler are advocates for the role of science in training. “We embrace it,” says Claire, who holds a degree in physiology from Cambridge.

“Having the additional awareness, gives you a greater understanding,” she asserts.

Coming from a non-racing background, has allowed Daniel to approach training with a fresh perspective: “You can analyse the conventions. Lots of things are done the way they’ve always been done, and you can normally work backwards and find that the reason they work is because, scientifically, it stacks up.

The exciting times are where you look at the science, and you identify a better way.”

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“I love reading about sports science and listening to podcasts to get ideas,” he explains. “It’s about looking for winning edges and ways to deliver better care.”

Utilising science allows the Küblers to develop happy, healthy horses—“I’d like to say our horses are very sound and durable,” notes Claire. The couple’s clients benefit in other ways, too .

“Owners enjoy the insights and gain a better understanding as to how horses develop,” she says.

One example is collecting data during training sessions, this has several benefits. Speed, stride metrics and heart rates are all monitored. “We work together with some outstanding riders, combining their feedback with the data informs decisions on when to adapt workload, pinpoint a horse’s optimum race conditions, and perhaps most importantly for owners identifies when your horse is ready to win,” says Daniel.

Stride metrics provide a good case study of how data can be utilised to win more races.

One thing the Küblers monitor is stride cadence. This is the number of strides a horse takes per second. Typically horses that win over sprint trips take more strides per second than those that win over longer distances. A 5 furlong sprinter might take something like 2.45 strides per second when running near its peak, whilst a mile and a half horse might be around 2.2. Gathering this data before a horse has ever raced can help map out a winning campaign. It can also be useful to unlock the potential in new arrivals, who have been trained elsewhere in the past. The data collected at home can point to an adjustment in race distance that results in an upswing in winning form. Changes from the norm for a horse can indicate a subtle physical issue or in some cases a progression, greater strength and fitness for example.

Daniel emphasises “Solving the challenge of training racehorses requires combining the data together with watching and feeling, it’s about having lots of information. “The numbers don’t lie, but still you need the horsemanship,” agrees Claire. Several horses have improved significantly for the switch to Sarsen Farm.

Talented and experienced work riders and grooms play a big part in that. “You need skilled riders whose empathy and consistency gives horses confidence, grooms who pick up on the small things that keep horses happy, you add in the data and come up with ideas together as a team,” Claire adds. ‘Winning both Lycetts Team Champions and Leadership Awards recognised we’ve worked hard to build up a great team of horsemen and women to care for the horses here at Sarsen Farm” “You’re always trying to find ways to help get an edge on the track—to get more winners,” says Claire. “You also want to do the best for each horse so you’re developing a sound horse that can achieve its optimum.” n Contact Daniel on 07984 287 254 or Claire on 07714 294 172 Sarsen Farm, Upper Lambourn, Berkshire www.kublerracing.com

It also helps riders hone their craft. For example by looking at the data they can understand more precisely the feel horses are giving them at a particular speed. In turn as this “clock in the head” develops riders are able to deliver very specific work loads.

Claire explains, “we can give an instruction such as finish the last two furlongs in 13 seconds, it’s far more precise than using a vague term like swinging canter”. This is important, getting the level of a training session right means reaching race targets and keeping horses in top condition both physically and mentally. One of the arts of training is walking the fine line between doing too little and too much work.

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TBA Forum

The special section for TBA members

Best of British celebrated at eighth annual NH Breeders’ Awards

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he National Hunt breeding and racing community convened at the Hilton Garden Inn, Doncaster, in May for a celebration of the best of British NH bloodstock at the eighth annual Breeders’ Awards Evening.

Nick Luck hosted the Goffs UKsponsored event, which saw the presentation of 14 awards recognising the success of horses, breeders, stallion managers and agents for the 2021-22 National Hunt season. The event opened with a champagne reception sponsored

by Tridynion.

The evening’s most prestigious award, the Queen Mother’s Silver Salver, was presented to breeder and agent Aiden Murphy. TBA NH Committee Chair Bryan Mayoh said: “Aiden has made an outstanding contribution to British NH breeding – this award is the Committee’s appreciation. His successes as a purchaser include British-breds Rule The World, winner of the Grand National, and Cue Card, who amassed numerous top-level wins, whilst as a breeder his achievements include Copperless and Poppy Kay, as well as the trainer Olly Murphy.”

Star mare Honeysuckle retained both the Leading Hurdler (Yorton Stud Trophy) and Leading Hurdler Mare (Midnight Legend Trophy) categories for Dr Geoffrey Guy and the Glanvilles Stud team. The eight-year-old maintained her flawless record during the season, which included a second victory in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Julian Dollar was on hand to collect the awards.

Dollar was again up on the stage later in the evening, picking up the Whitbread Silver Salver, which was won for the second successive season by Nathaniel.

The Newsells Park-based stallion was the Leading Active Stallion by prize-money achieved in Britain and Ireland. He was presented the trophy by TBA trustee Kate Sigsworth.

The other stallion award of the evening, the Horse & Hound Cup, given to the Leading Active Stallion by number of individual chase winners, was won by Schiaparelli. Simon Sweeting was on hand to collect the trophy from TBA CEO Claire Sheppard.

The Leading Novice Chaser award was this year sponsored by Overbury Stud.

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Host Nick Luck with Ian, Jeanette and Alice Thurtle and Simon Sweeting after Edwardstone landed the Leading Novice Chaser award

In a category in which all three nominees won Grade 1 contests, Edwardstone was adjudged the winner ahead of Master McShee and Millers Bank. Simon Sweeting presented the crystal decanter to Ian and Jeanette Thurtle, and their daughter Alice, who bred the son of Midnight Legend with family friend Robert Abrey.

Sweeting also collected the Elusive Bloodstock Trophy for the Leading NHF Horse, Hullnback. The son of Schiaparelli, who was runner-up in a Grade 2 at Aintree, was bred by Joanna Daniell.

Victories in the Tolworth and Supreme Novices’ Hurdle catapulted Constitution Hill into the limelight last season and his performances rewarded breeder Sally Noott. She took home the Peel Bloodstock Trophy from Will Kinsey.

Later in the month the five-year-old was credited with an official mark of 170, a record for a novice hurdler.

Breeder Marietta Fox-Pitt gave a delightful account of her breeding career after picking up the Highflyer Trophy for the achievements in the season of her homebred Snow Leopardess. The Leading Chase Mare won three times, including the Grade 3 Becher Chase at Aintree, all after having returned to the racecourse having foaled a now three-year-old filly by Sir Percy, who is named Red Panda.

Other mares to be rewarded on the evening included one posthumously to the Rita Vaughan-bred Elle Est Belle, who took the Mickley Stud Trophy for Leading Novice Hurdler Mare. The award was collected by owner Ian Lawrence.

The Leading NHF Mare award, the Batsford Stud Trophy, was won by John Lightfoot for Grade 2 winner Lily Du

Berlais.

Breeder Tim Frost was unable to attend, but daughter Lucy Blackburn, son-in-law Jeremy and granddaughter Emma were in attendance to collect the Shade Oak Stud Trophy, which was given to Leading Chaser Sam Brown.

Of the 14 awards, five went to ownerbreeders, including Steve and Jackie Fleetham. They won the Eric Gillie Trophy, presented by Philippa Gillie. The special achievement award was given for the success of Mac Tottie, twice a winner over the National fences at Aintree during the season. The son of Midnight Legend is a product of the TBA/HBLB’s first Elite NH Mares’ Scheme, having been bred out of the Kayf Tara mare Tot Of The Knar.

The Dudgeon Cup, sponsored by Alne Park Stud, was presented to Alex Hales for It Doesn’t Matter, who was elected the 2022 NH Broodmare of the Year. She is dam of Millers Bank who memorably provided breeder, owner and trainer Hales with a maiden Grade 1 success when storming to victory in the Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree in April.

Mayoh said about the evening: “NH breeding represents a love affair for most of its participants, in which we try to make our dreams of breeding an outstanding champion come true. As ever, it was enthralling to hear those that have succeeded in this endeavour interviewed by our superb host, Nick Luck, so fuelling our own dreams for another year.”

The TBA would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees and extend its thanks to each of the evening’s sponsors.

Awards photos by Sarah Farnsworth

Jeremy and Lucy Blackburn with daughter Emma and Peter Hockenhull

John Lightfoot, breeder of Lily Du Berlais, collected the Leading NHF Mare award

Julian Dollar receives Nathaniel's award from Kate Sigsworth

Kathleen and David Holmes flank Julian Dollar, collecting Honeysuckle's award

Lester Futter (right) with Peter and Kate Molony

Bryan Mayoh presented Aiden Murphy with the Queen Mother's Silver Salver

Sally Burnell and Alex Hales with Grace Skelton

Simon Sweeting (left) collected Joanna Daniell's award for Hullnback

Mac Tottie's owner-breeders Steve and Jackie Fleetham with Nick Luck

Simon Sweeting received the Horse & Hound Cup from Claire Sheppard

Tessa Greatrex, Marietta Fox-Pitt and Anthony Bromley

Will Kinsey with Sally Noott, breeder of Constitution Hill

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TBA Forum Members savour winning run after 25 years of frustration

TONY KNAPTON

Breeding racehorses is not for the faint-hearted or the uncommitted – something a Gloucestershire couple know only too well having spent a quarter of a century trying to secure that elusive first homebred winner.

TBA members Geoffrey Golbey and his wife Dr Lesley-Anne Hatter were finally rewarded for their perseverance when Della Mare struck at Kempton last year – the daughter of Delegator has since added two more victories at Southwell this season. What’s that saying about London buses?

The story starts in 1996 with the purchase of Della Mare’s third dam Fine Fettle, an unraced Final Straw filly.

Fine Fettle produced five progeny for the track – between them they ran 26 times under both codes without success – including Final Faze, a daughter of Chaddleworth.

Della Mare has now won three times for Geoffrey Golbey and Dr Lesley-Anne Hatter, pictured left with their six-yearold mare and jockey Jason Watson

Final Faze, whose seven-race career peaked with a second place in a Salisbury maiden, produced only one runner, Golbelini, from a mating with Bertolini. Golbelini ran 12 times, her best efforts being third-placed finishes at Towcester and Worcester, before being retired to the paddocks.

Golbelini’s first offspring to race is Della Mare, who didn’t make her debut until the August of her four-year-old season but has shown steady progress on the all-weather circuit under the tutelage of Tony Carroll, culminating with her back-to-back wins at Southwell earlier in the campaign.

Golbey explains: “My wife LesleyAnne is a horse person who has been involved in all horse disciplines – showing, eventing, showjumping – but there was one thing she hadn’t done that she wanted to do, and that was breed a horse to win a race. She just didn’t realise it was going to take 25 years!

“We always dreamed of what it would feel like to win a race but

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when it actually happened the thrill was unbelievable and surpassed all our expectations – and it gets better with each win. Everything became worthwhile and success in the racing industry has that uncanny ability to lift you onto another planet.

“We purchased Fine Fettle, Della Mare’s great granddam, in 1996 – she was a Coolmore mare, bought privately, and it all started from there.

“In this sport you’re up against the millionaires and we feel like we have achieved something. It’s hard to get a winner at any level. Della Mare has won three times, is very determined, and will be a good mother one day.”

Golbey, a Chartered Accountant by trade, can see the concourse at Cheltenham racecourse from his Gloucestershire farm where he and Lesley-Anne keep a couple of eventers.

He hopes his efforts with the Fine Fettle family encourage other small breeders to persevere despite the inevitable ups and downs they will face.

He says: “We wanted to see how

the progeny did before we covered Golbelini again. My wife picks the stallions.. We’ve only ever bred from the one family.

“Della Mare’s younger brother knocked spots off her on the gallops but sadly broke his leg when he was three before he ever ran. We’ve had our tragedies as well as our pleasures and I guess that’s racing and breeding.

“There are numerous reasons why you don’t get it right – although we did get it right in the end!”

As for Della Mare, a broodmare career beckons but before that she’ll be given the opportunity to enhance her reputation on the racecourse.

“We’ll breed from Della Mare now she’s won three times,” Golbey says.

“She’ll go back into training this month and we might race her next year too.

“We believe our racehorses deserve a holiday and we don’t believe in running them too frequently either.”

He adds: “Golbelini is a tough thing who throws wonderful foals. She’s 17 now and will be put back in foal next year. But we haven’t decided on a stallion yet.”

EI vaccination changes

Diary dates

Protocols relating to Equine Influenza vaccinations have changed and now mean that the Rules of Racing are harmonised for racehorses competing across Britain, Ireland, France and Germany.

Announced in October 2021 and implemented on January 1, 2022, all thoroughbred foals born from this year onwards should be started as per the new vaccination interval rules to ensure their future eligibility to race. Likewise, any yearlings, stores, resting or rehabilitating thoroughbreds on stud farms, who are destined for a racing career and who still needed to commence EI vaccinations from January 1 onwards, need to comply with the new intervals.

The vaccinations for foals and youngstock should be uploaded to the Weatherbys Vaccination App, in addition to the paper passport, so that records are available on the horse’s e-passport. EI vaccinations must be verified via the Vaccination App, in order for a thoroughbred to be declared to run in Britain and Ireland.

The TBA recommends that broodmares and stallions are given EI boosters every six months, but advice should be sought from each boarding stud or stallion station you intend to use on their specific requirements.

Wednesday, July 20 Wales and West Midlands Regional Day A morning with Steph Hollinshead followed by lunch and a talk at Pool House Equine Hospital Friday, July 29 Scotland Regional Day A visit to leading owner Kenny Alexander’s New Hall Stud Wednesday, August 31 Great British Bonus Third stage registration deadline for NH fillies born in 2019 Thursday, September 1 South West Regional Day A morning at Emma Lavelle’s Bonita Stables and an afternoon at the Vigors’ Hillwood Stud Wednesday, September 14 Breeders’ Day at Sandown Park Taking place during National Racehorse Week, breeders are encouraged to join the TBA at Sandown Park, where TBA members can gain free entry to the course – your TBA membership card will be required.

Monday, September 19 North Regional Day Spend a morning with Julie Camacho before lunch and afterwards get a talk from Rainbow Equine Hospital

TBA hosts international delegates at ITBF general conference Early last month the TBA hosted the International Thoroughbred Breeders’ Federation (ITBF) for a four-day conference, which witnessed delegates gather from around the globe. The delegates experienced a busy schedule with visits to Cheveley Park, Dalham Hall, Juddmonte and the National Stud, as well as both the Newmarket Equine Hospital and Rossdales.

Evening receptions were hosted in the National Horseracing Museum, Jockey Club Rooms, Queen’s College Cambridge, and Lanwades Stud.

A half-day veterinary meeting plus an all-day General Meeting included presentations on varying subjects from, amongst others, the JRA (Japan Racing Association), Weatherbys, SITA (Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers), the TBA, the TBA of Chile

Delegates at the conference last month

and TB Australia.

At the General Meeting, ITBF members voted unanimously to continue to stand resolute against the use of artificial breeding methods (artificial insemination, embryo transfer, cloning, sexing of sperm, genetic engineering/manipulation, and other

possible methods yet to be defined).

The event was supported by an impressive list of leading thoroughbred industry organisations, whose generous sponsorship enabled such an extensive programme of events to be provided.

The next General Meeting of the ITBF will be hosted by Japan in 2024.

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TBA Forum

BILL SELWYN

Brilliant Baaeed blasts home in Lockinge

Shadwell's outstanding four-year-old Baaeed looks unbeatable over a mile

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hadwell homebred Baaeed started his 2022 campaign the same way as he ended 2021, with victory, although this was much easier than at Ascot in October. Starting out in the Lockinge Stakes, he easily sauntered clear for an extended three-length win.

The son of Sea The Stars made it eight races unbeaten when taking the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

In Europe, May signalled the start of Classic season and there were a pair of British-bred successes. Native Trail took the Irish 2,000 Guineas, whilst in Italy, Ardakan scored in the Derby Italiano.

On the day that the latter won, there were four winners at Capannelle featuring the GB suffix. Cantocorale, bred by Scuderia Blueberry, scooped the Group 2 Premio Presidente della Repubblica, the Bated Breath gelding Agiato won the Group 3 Premio Tudini and the Listed juvenile contest, the Premio Alessandro Perrone, was won by the Robert Pocock-bred New Collection.

There were a number of breeders left celebrating successes with more than one horse, including the Queen. At the very start of the month, Evening Sun

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captured the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile Stakes at Golden Gate Fields, while later on, King’s Lynn, a son of Cable Bay and retained by the operation, triumphed in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Haydock Park.

Juddmonte had success on both sides of the Atlantic. Set Piece (Dansili) won the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico and Masen (Kingman) won the Seek Again Stakes at Belmont Park a day later. In Ireland Sacred Bridge (Bated Breath) got her career back on track with a Listed win in the Polonia Stakes at Cork.

Meanwhile, down under, the Kirsten Rausing-bred duo of Aleas (Archipenko) and Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux) gained new stakes successes. The former in the Listed Wagga Cup, while the latter took out the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast.

Much closer to home and the Chasemore Farm-bred Brad The Brief, a son of Dutch Art, landed his biggest payday when taking the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes over six furlongs at the Curragh. The same day and over the same distance, but at Haydock Park, the

Whitsbury Manor Stud-bred El Caballo (Havana Gold) won the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes.

The middle of the month witnessed an impressive seasonal return from Desert Crown in the Dante Stakes.

Better was to come some two and a half weeks later as the son of Nathaniel, who was bred by Strawberry Fields Stud, went clear to win the Derby at Epsom.

Another Classic trial winner was the Lordship Stud and Sunderland Holdingsbred Emily Upjohn, who strode clear of the field in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes.

She would go on to fill second position in the Group 1 Oaks.

Britain’s richest evening fixture of the year at Sandown Park featured a pair of British winners. The Lemington Grange Stud-bred Quickthorn, a son of Nathaniel, annexed the Group 3 Henry II Stakes, whilst the London Thoroughbred Services-bred Bay Bridge was an impressive winner of the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes.

Earlier in the month the Brian Haggas-bred Hamish became the first stakes winner out of his Sakhee mare Tweed when capturing the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester.

Twilight Spinner, a daughter of Twilight Son who was bred by T K and Mrs P A Knox, grabbed her first Group win in the Group 3 Athasi Stakes, while in France, Grand Glory won the Group 3 Prix Allez France and Kingentleman (Kingman) the Group 3 Prix Texanita.

Blue Diamond Stud’s homebred Nashwa (Frankel) made an impressive stakes debut in the Listed Fillies’ Trial Stakes at Newbury. On the same day Ottoman Fleet took the Listed Fairway Stakes.

Sheikh Obaid scored a pair of Listed wins during May – Fonteyn (Farhh) took the Oak Farm Stables Fillies’ Stakes at York and Third Realm the Tapster Stakes at Goodwood.

There were a number of other Listed victories, including for Al Hakeem in the Prix de Suresnes, the Bearstone Stud-bred Raasel in the Achilles Stakes, the Godolphin homebred Modern News in the Royal Windsor Stakes, Aldaary, bred by M E Broughton, in the Spring Trophy Stakes at Haydock Park, the Mrs C R D Wilson-bred Run To Freedom in the Leisure Stakes, Philippa Cooper’s homebred Lionel in the Cocked Hat Stakes, Prince Lancelot in the Prix Servanne, Sense Of Duty (Showcasing), bred by St Albans Bloodstock LLP and winner of the Cecil Frail Fillies’ Stakes, and Buckaroo, winner of the Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh.

Breeder of the Month Words Howard Wright

Sponsored by

Distributors of

BREEDER OF THE MONTH (May 2022)

A keen eye, a good memory and a turn of foot to make the most of an opportunity: the attributes of an outstanding bloodstock agent, which lie behind the nomination of James Wigan as the TBA May Breeder of the Month for Bay Bridge, who completed a run of five wins in the Coral Brigadier Gerard Stakes.

Wigan, 72, has combined running his family’s West Blagdon Stud in Cranborne, Dorset, with his wider role of bloodstock agent since establishing London Thoroughbred Services in 1976. The story of his association with Bay Bridge’s dam, Hayyona, starts in November 2010 at Tattersalls in Newmarket.

He recalls: “I saw her as a foal and liked her very much. I’ve been lucky buying from Aga Khan families, and this foal, who was out of the King Of Kings mare Shemriyna, was very good looking, with lots of bone and well balanced, but she was far too expensive for me at that time.”

The foal, who became Hayyona, sold for 130,000gns, then 145,000gns as a yearling. By the time Wigan came to see her again at public auction, at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in 2013, she had raced three times for two fourth places for Prince Faisal and Mick Channon, achieving a highest Racing Post Rating of 59.

Wigan says: “Walking round the Tatts paddocks I decided to have a look at her, still liked her and although she wasn’t the most fashionably-bred mare, decided to buy her [for 18,000gns].

“Her first foal was a very goodlooking filly by Tamayuz, but before

BILL SELWYN

James Wigan

James and Anita Wigan: breeders of Brigadier Gerard Stakes winner Bay Bridge

she could go to the sales she fell over and broke her shoulder. Then came a Nathaniel filly called Nataleena, whom we sold as a foal for 15,000gns and was the subsequent winner of five races, followed by a Make Believe filly who sold for 60,000gns. Hayyona’s next foal was Bay Bridge.”

Campaigned in typically patient fashion by Sir Michael Stoute, Bay Bridge took another significant step forward at Sandown Park, a course that has been good to Wigan and London Thoroughbred Services this year. The previous month LTS was on the board as breeder through Lights On, trained by Stoute after being bought as a foal for 250,000gns by Cheveley Park Stud, who took her own career total to five wins in the Group 2 bet365 Mile.

Wigan bred Lights On from his mare In The Light, whose dam he bought for his long-standing patron George Strawbridge. In The Light ended her

racing career in the Stoute stable, where Lights On has brought the story full circle.

Back to Bay Bridge, and Wigan recalls that, like most of West Blagdon’s produce, he was heading for the sales.

“Fortunately as events turned out, he knocked himself shortly before he was due to go through the ring, so we took him out,” he says. “I thought about selling him as a yearling but as the dam hadn’t done too much at the time, I thought we’d go the whole hog and put him into training with Sir Michael.

“He’s always been outstanding looking, and we decided there would be nothing to lose by holding on to him. Of course, there was a great deal of good fortune in retaining him, as well as taking on the mare in the first place. There have been plenty that I’ve paid big money for and wouldn’t necessarily want to talk about!”

Bay Bridge, who also ran second in last month’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, has been joined at the Stoute yard by his three-year-old Time Test halfbrother Morning Post and two-yearold Territories half-sister Stormy Sea. Hayyona has a Time Test yearling colt and is in foal, again, to Bay Bridge’s sire New Bay, who stands at Ballylinch Stud, purchaser of a half-share in Bay Bridge.

Wigan explains: “I had some large offers over the winter but I wanted to leave Bay Bridge with Sir Michael, as well as to hedge my bets, so I contacted my good friend John O’Connor at Ballylinch and asked him if he could do business at the right figures, which fortunately he did, because it meant the horse stayed in the right hands. The arrangement suits New Bay as well as Bay Bridge, and it means I don’t have to kick myself for missing an opportunity.”

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A racing certainty Improving returns for your British-bred fillies and mares

65% of all bonuses go to owners Don’t just take our word for it…

Just got the email confirmation – what a pleasant surprise. Not only a lovely winner and lovely horse, and winning the bets, but £20,000 as well. I can tell you one thing, I will be looking for more British-bred fillies.

Alan Rogers, owner of multiple-bonus winner GENTLE JOLIE

We bought Lady Jane Grey from Book 3 for just 9,000 gns back in October. Her dam had already produced five winners to fast stallions and she was 100% GBB registered, so an attractive prospect. To win a £20,000 GBB bonus on her debut run was just fantastic; she’s already earned back double her purchase price and we’ll be targeting another race shortly. She’s not our first bonus winner and she’ll not be the last! The scheme really makes a difference and we’ll be looking for more GBB fillies this year.

Rae Guest, trainer

Breed, buy and race GBB fillies and mares GBB Jumps winners:

151

GBB Jumps bonus payments:

GBB Flat winners:

295

£1.9 million

GBB Flat bonus payments:

Total bonus payments:

£6.1 million

£4.2 million

More than £5.8 million in bonuses paid out so far For more information on eligibility, visit greatbritishbonus.co.uk

Information correct at time of going to press

Vet Forum: The Expert View

By Stuart Williamson BVSC MRCVS

Stopped in their tracks: setbacks encountered by young thoroughbreds A

B

C

Figure 1: Three different ringworm cases. A – early spots with some tufting of the hairs and scurfy skin. B – aged lesions with hair loss. These have been treated. C – reddening of the skin revealed upon removal of a scab

A

ll athletes that undergo intense training regimes have significant strains placed upon their musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory and immune systems.

Equine athletes are no different and training setbacks are a common occurrence, particularly in the naïve younger population, as their bodies undergo change and adaptation for the first time. This article will take a look at some of the more commonly encountered setbacks incurred by the young thoroughbred that may interrupt training or delay a racecourse debut.

RINGWORM

Ringworm is a skin infection caused by a dermatophyte (‘skin-loving’) fungus. The most commonly identified dermatophyte fungi in the horse include the Microsporum and the Trichophyton species. These are highly contagious and the resistant fungal spores can survive for a long time in the environment, which can make elimination both difficult and lengthy.

Transmission of the fungus between horses requires direct horse-to-horse contact or can occur via contact with contaminated material such as tack, grooming equipment or clothing.

Ringworm skin lesions usually start as small raised spots from which the hair is lost, and can progress to large circular hairless patches of dry scurfy skin. Whilst the skin lesions are often characteristic, they may be mistaken for rain scald or folliculitis (a bacterial infection of the hair follicles). A diagnosis can be obtained by collecting a skin scraping in addition to a hair pluck from the suspected area.

Laboratory analysis via microscopy, PCR or culture will confirm the presence or absence of fungal spores, and so direct management.

Treatment consists of an anti-fungal solution applied on several occasions.

This is often allied with a shampoo wash on alternate days to remove any scabs or debris that may be protecting the fungi and so preventing the anti-fungal solution from exerting its action. Younger horses are more likely to be affected than older horses and previous infection produces a long-lasting immunity. Horses with active ringworm are not allowed onto a racecourse and any animal with a suspicious lesion may require veterinary examination to determine the causative agent, or to produce a certificate on noncontagiousness, if appropriate.

heat, soft tissue swelling, pain upon palpation and can cause lameness. As part of the healing process, new bone will be laid down in the area of the damaged interosseous ligament. This new bone produces the firm visible lump referred to as a ‘splint’.

Treatment consists of reduced exercise, cold therapy, and anti-inflammatory painkiller drugs. Conformational faults such as an offset knee may further predispose a horse to developing splints.

This particular conformation will result in extra forces being placed on the inside splint bone.

SPLINTS

A horse has two splint bones in each limb. These small bones sit at the back of the cannon bone in both the forelimb and the hindlimb. Known as the second and fourth metacarpal bones in the forelimb and the second and fourth metatarsal bones in the hindlimb, splint bones bear little weight. Conditions affecting these smaller metacarpal and metatarsal bones are known as ‘splints’. The splint bones are attached to the cannon bone by the interosseous ligament, a soft tissue structure that calcifies as the horse ages.

In the young horse, this soft interosseous ligament can become damaged following concussion (a knock) or through the rotational forces experienced during exercise. Damage to the interosseous ligament often causes

Figure 2: A radiograph of a ‘splint’ (red arrow). New bone has been laid down between the cannon bone (green arrow) and the splint bone (blue arrow)

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Vet Forum: The Expert View ›› STRESS FRACTURES

A stress fracture is a partial or complete bone fracture that occurs as a result of the repeated application of stress at a level lower than the stress required to fracture the bone in a single loading. Bone is an active tissue that is constantly changing in response to the forces placed through it. Increasing levels of exercise results in increased bone remodelling. Training over further distances, galloping at faster speeds and not allowing a sufficient rest period between training sessions can all push this remodelling adaptation to the limit and result in fracture.

The diagnosis of a stress fracture is based upon a combination of the presenting clinical signs, the training history of the horse and the radiographic, ultrasonographic or gamma scintigraphic (bone scan) findings. Lameness can vary from mild (often indicating early stress fracture pathology) to severe (this can be associated with a complete fracture of the bone). Generally it is recognised that two-year-olds undertaking their first pieces of fast work and horses returning to exercise following a period of rest are over-represented in the affected population. The tibia and the ilial wing of the pelvis are the most commonly identified sites for a stress fracture. These injuries generally require six-ten weeks out of cantering exercise but carry an excellent prognosis for a return to full training and racing.

RESPIRATORY DISEASE

Respiratory disease, after lameness, is the second most common cause of lost training days in the Flat racehorse. One study examining a British population of Flat racehorses identified that nearly 14% of training days are missed due to respiratory disease during the twoyear-old year. With this significant impact on training, in addition to both the health and economic aspects, the early identification and treatment of respiratory disease is key.

Lower respiratory tract disease is defined as that involving the lungs and the trachea. Regardless of the causative agent, infection or inflammation involving either of these structures has the potential to cause poor performance and limit athletic function. A combination of the stresses of training in addition to the mixing of immunologically naïve horses contributes to the high prevalence of respiratory disease in those horses in the early phases of training. A disappointing piece of work, coughing after exercise or low-grade nasal discharge are the clinical

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signs most frequently reported. Bacteria, viruses and environmental allergens have all been identified as potential causes of lower respiratory tract disease. Bacteria and viral pathogens are most commonly spread directly between animals via respiratory secretions, whereas environmental allergens are present in the atmosphere and can be seasonal.

Bacterial infection of the lower respiratory tract results in thickening and discolouration of the tracheal mucus, as inflammatory cells pour-in to fight the bacteria. This impairs the normal respiratory defence mechanisms and the elimination of this mucus, containing the infectious agent, becomes difficult.

Bacterial respiratory infection can occur as a primary disease process or can be secondary, following impairment of the respiratory system by a pre-existing viral infection. The diagnosis of respiratory disease involves recognition of the clinical signs discussed above in addition to respiratory tract endoscopy.

Tracheal endoscopy, or ‘scoping’, is the most commonly employed method of diagnosing respiratory disease in the racing thoroughbred. This procedure is easily performed in the ambulatory setting, economically viable and with reliable results. Endoscopy enables visualisation of the lining of the trachea and allows the veterinary surgeon to examine for excessive tracheal mucus.

The level of mucus observed is graded between zero and five; with a grade zero having no evidence of tracheal mucus, compared to a grade five where there is a significant amount of tracheal mucus covering a large portion of the trachea.

In addition, inflammation of the tracheal lining may be observed. Washing of the tracheal lining with sterile saline and subsequent collection of this material allows for laboratory analysis of the tracheal mucus in order to identify the causative agent, further characterise the disease process and guide treatment.

For horses in full training, treatment is provided according to laboratory results. This is not only to control the respiratory disease immediately, but also in an attempt to prevent spread within the yard and to permit an efficient return to full training. Respiratory disease is inevitable in the racehorse population, with the mass mixing of young stock and the training process. The challenge therefore is to put in place measures to reduce the incidence of disease, and to efficiently control the disease upon diagnosis in order to minimize the negative effects of underperformance and training days missed.

Figure 3: A radiograph of a ‘bucked shin’ – new periosteal bony callous (red arrow) on the front of a cannon bone

SHINS

Sore shins, or dorsal metacarpal periostitis, is a frequently documented condition that is similar to ‘shin splints’ in humans. As the pace and intensity of the exercise is increased in young horses, the dorsal surface of the cannon bone can become excessively compressed, resulting in micro-cracks.

In response to this micro-crack damage, the body tries to lay down new reparative layers of bone. This can lift the periosteum (the outer layer of the bone), which in turn causes significant inflammation and pain. In more severe cases of sore shins, a large callous or ‘buck’ may form on the front of the cannon bone as a result of the new bone that has been laid down.

Diagnosis can be made by visual examination and the appreciation of heat and soft tissue swelling on the front of the cannon bone, in addition to a pain response upon deep squeeze. Not all horses with sore shins are lame. Treatment consists of a reduction in exercise until the inflammation has settled. Cold therapy with the hose, ice boots or swimming exercise can be beneficial in addition to oral anti-inflammatory painkillers.

naf-racing-sound-joints&bones-180x128mm-22.qxp_Layout 1 21/06/2022 16:04 Page 1

70% of racehorses fail orthopaedic soundness*

PROTECT YOUR YARD FROM THE NUMBER 1 REASON FOR LOST TRAINING DAYS l Reduced range of carpal motion l Knee chips l Poor conformation l Stress induced injuries l Soundness issues FEED SOUND JOINTS & BONES l Stimulate the production of cartilage l Support healthy synovial fluid l Target bone health l Aid the anti-inflammatory process l Support the regeneration of connective tissue * Dyson, P.K. & Jackson, B.F. & Pfeiffer, Dirk & Price, J.S.. (2008). Days lost from training by two- and three-year-old Thoroughbred horses: A survey of seven UK training yards.

Equine veterinary journal. 40. 650-7. 10.2746/042516408X363242.

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The Finish Line with James McDonald Life could hardly have been better for James McDonald in Australia until he was hit with an 18-month ban for betting in 2016. His world fell apart and he feared he might never get back to where he was, yet his rehabilitation was rapid. Nature Strip’s stunning King’s Stand Stakes win was his 65th at Group 1 level, and he has been champion jockey in Sydney four successive times. His three winners from only ten rides at Royal Ascot last month also included Dark Shift in the Royal Hunt Cup for Charlie Hills, whose family have embraced him so warmly. Engaged to Katelyn Mallyon, a Group 1-winning rider herself and a presenter on Australia’s Channel 7, he must pinch himself to believe how successfully he has turned things around.

Interview: Graham Dench

M

y 18-month ban and the loss of the job with Godolphin in 2016 when things were going so well was a hard pill to swallow, but we all make mistakes in life and mine was a big one. I was found in breach of the rules on betting, but I can honestly say now that good came from bad, and I turned it into a positive. It was difficult not being allowed near horses, or anyone in the yard, so I got away from racing completely. I went travelling in Europe for three months and then went home to the dairy farm. I blew out a little bit, but it wasn’t too difficult to get fit again.

for them this year, including on Anamoe, their champion middle-distance colt.

I did wonder if I’d ever get back to where I was, and I was a little nervous about how people would respond to me, but I came back with great determination. I wasn’t going to fail – and I haven’t looked back. Within weeks of getting back in the saddle I was at Royal Ascot, where I won the Jersey Stakes for Sir Michael Stoute on Expert Eye and had two rides for The Queen, which was awesome.

My immediate goal was to win the premiership in Sydney straight away, so it wouldn’t be a talking point any more, and I did that. I’ve won it the last four years, and I was also back riding for Godolphin straight away. I’ve had two Group 1 wins

I was lucky enough to get on some good horses and I followed a really good filly over called Scarlett Lady, who won the Queensland Oaks. That was a pretty big deal for a 17-year-old, and it definitely gave me a leg up so far as Australia was concerned, but Dundeel, or It’s A Dundeel as he’s known in Australia, was probably the most significant horse in my rise to prominence there. He came along when I was just breaking into Sydney and won the Triple Crown and six Group 1s in all. He opened a lot of doors for me.

My dad was a jump jockey-turned-trainer and my mum rode too, but I wasn’t too fond of racing as a child. It wasn’t until I was ten that I hopped on and found a little knack for it, and I did the showjumping circuit for six years. When I started in racing I was apprenticed to my dad. New Zealand was a great place to learn my craft – I won a Group 1 within nine months of my first ride – but you reach your level there and you have to go to Australia if you are going to make a good go of it.

BILL SELWYN

Every winter I’d come to Europe for three months at a time. I was with Fozzy Stack just after I’d ridden that Group 1 winner, then did a little stint with John Oxx, and then spent my first spell with Charlie Hills. I’d had no previous connection with Charlie but I really enjoyed that first time there. Charlie put me up straight away, and the Hills have become like family.

James McDonald celebrates Dark Shift’s Royal Hunt Cup victory

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I’ve been very lucky in the UK and I’ve learned plenty, so I went home a bit better rider. My first winners here in 2013 were mainly for Charlie, then by the time I came back again in 2015 I was contracted to Godolphin and I won the Northumberland Plate for them on Antiquarium, which was cool. It was a

great time to be involved with them, with James Doyle and William Buick part of the set-up. When I came back again it was even better as I won Group races on Dutch Connection and Big Orange.

Riding the most winners ever at the Melbourne Carnival last year was awesome. I had ten winners and they included four Group 1s, highlighted by Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne Cup and Home Affairs in the Coolmore Cup. Verry Elleegant was already an 11-time Group 1 winner, but she went in as an underdog because it was two miles, and it would require a weight-carrying record.

Chris Waller is an amazing trainer and so astute. It’s mind-blowing how he gets the best out of them. There’s no arrogance about him ­– he just goes about his business like a typical Kiwi. Nature Strip is obviously a great horse, but he was a problem child. When Chris got him he was very aggressive and he’d probably lost more races than he’d won. Chris taught him to relax, and he’s now become the most consistent galloper at the highest level. The King’s Stand was our eighth Group 1 together, besides which we won last year’s Everest, which is the richest turf race in the world and his target again.

I’m not looking too far ahead; I just hope I can stay injury free and keep chugging along for another 15 years or so. I don’t know if I’d ever want to train. I’ve seen how tough it’s been for my dad in New Zealand, where it’s a bit like in the UK as the prize-money isn’t that good. The difference between Australia and New Zealand is massive, but then so is the difference between Australia and almost everywhere else. Maybe I might have been tempted to try a full season here at one time, but Australia is going great and life there is so good that it’s a little more difficult. But never say never.

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