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Royal link a huge asset in race for global recognition

The fact that the King and Queen have strengthened their association with horseracing in Britain can only be good news for the sport.

Last month it was revealed that Their Majesties have become joint Patrons of the Jockey Club, succeeding the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose term lasted 68 years from 1954 until her death in September 2022.

Queen Elizabeth II was also Patron of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association over the same period; it has been announced that the Queen has been appointed to this role, too.

Maintaining the link between the monarchy and racing is important for several reasons, not least the sport’s reputation and renown on the global stage. It counts for plenty to have the Royal seal of approval.

We know that when it comes to prizemoney, Britain lags well behind other jurisdictions such as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and the Middle East. International participation is a crucial ingredient in elite-level racing so the UK must rely on other factors to attract overseas competitors to race on these shores.

Royal Ascot, staged later this month, is a uniquely British affair. Talking to some of those owners from around the world heading to Berkshire ( pages 20-26 ), the word ‘pageantry’ is heard repeatedly when discussing the appeal of our premier fixture.

At a time when our sport’s stakeholders are discussing ways in which we can produce a sizeable boost to revenue, it’s surely vital to focus on and promote the events in which we excel and that resonate around the world. What this means for the future ‘ownership’ of Royal Ascot, the Derby festival and other headline meetings remains to be seen, but as ROA President Charlie Parker says in this month’s Leader column, “let’s identify the size of the potential prize before we get caught up in the details” ( page 5 ).

One of the most high-profile positions at Royal Ascot is His Majesty’s Representative,

Edward Rosenthal Editor

performed by Sir Francis Brooke, an owner and breeder who enjoyed Cheltenham Festival glory in March with the Kim Baileytrained Chianti Classico.

Sir Francis understands the importance of protecting the heritage of the five-day spectacular, including its Royal connection, whilst keeping pace with the modern world.

“The traditions from the Royal Procession to the dress code are intrinsic to the event but we have modernised and innovated against that backdrop, nowhere more so than with the development of the race programme,” he tells Graham Dench ( The Finish Line, page 72 ). “It’s not for everyone

“We must promote the events that resonate around the world”

but it holds its place in the global racing calendar as an event many people will want to attend at least once in their lives.

“The most important thing is that everyone feels welcome, whichever enclosure they choose. We want people to go away at the end of the day feeling that they’ve seen the best racing in the world and really enjoyed themselves.

“It was clear from an early stage that the King and Queen would be very committed to Ascot and everyone was so pleased when they came on all five days last year. It was wonderful for Ascot, for British racing, and for the world of racing because the number of people around the world who view that association between Ascot and the Royal family as important is enormous.”

Cover: Jason Hart, who cracked the top ten in the championship last season and has ridden a century for the past

pictured in action at Chester’s May meeting

Photo: Bill Selwyn

ROA Leader

Radical new proposal deserves fair hearing

It is a pleasure to welcome Louise Norman as the Racehorse Owners Association’s new Interim Chief Executive. Many of you will have come across Louise in her role as Head of Membership and her work with the VAT Solution, where she has already made a significant contribution to the association. There is undoubtedly a lot to do at the ROA and obviously within the wider industry and Louise has the Board’s full support in her new position.

There has been plenty of noise recently around the twoyear trial of Premier racing, which began on January 1 at Cheltenham and has rolled through the first five months of the year. Whilst fresh initiatives have been introduced, such as creating a protected window on a Saturday to showcase the best racing and hopefully increase betting volume and engagement with the public, several ideas have yet to come to fruition.

Whilst the trial continues, a follow-up piece of work has been commissioned by the industry to explore the possibility of refining the Premier proposal to truly grab the global audience, drive further betting revenues and attract new investment. As some commentators have already stated, getting the industry behind the two-year trial was not an easy task, so the prospects for a truly revolutionary proposal may be just wishful thinking.

However, there is currently a huge global demand for investment in sport. British Flat racing has the most attractive and exciting fixtures and festivals, plus a huge variety of tracks offering unique tests of the thoroughbred. We have the best jockeys, trainers and horses that compete at glamorous racecourses – often watched by stylish crowds – continually attracting the attention of bettors around the globe. We have a product that on the face of it would be hugely attractive to investors, with the potential to really power the sport on to the next level.

When football transformed itself into the Premier League, one of the main areas of investment was in the infrastructure and the match-day experience; this is an area that British racing needs to pursue in a rapidly changing world. Hong Kong recently announced plans for a new racecourse that will offer an experience more in tune with the 21st century – new and significant investment can begin to improve our own ‘stadiums’ as well as dramatically boost prize-money for the whole of British racing.

The concept, which essentially involves combining British racing’s marquee events, such as Royal Ascot and the Derby festival, into a single package in order to market and sell the commercial rights to a third party, is surely worth exploring.

Charlie Parker President

Let’s identify the size of the potential prize before we get caught up in the details.

You will have likely read the proposals around the affordability check trials. Whilst it was welcome news that the original ridiculous limits were increased, it remains a real intrusion into one’s life that there should be restrictions on what we do with our hard-earned money.

Accepting that we are now where we are, the proposals are an improvement and assuming the anti-money laundering rules are not used as a back doorway of imposing tighter limits or more stringent document checks, then the dire forecast in terms of the financial impact to racing – one

“We have a product that would be hugely attractive to investors, potentially powering the sport on”

estimate had it at over £100 million per year – should be mitigated, which is welcome news.

On the proposed levy reform, the Secretary of State has said that she will update the house towards the end of May. Negotiations are ongoing with various proposals being discussed, including the mechanism to be used to enforce the reformed levy.

Whilst the existing levy is performing well, it is vital that we secure reform and have a clearer understanding of what racing’s finances look like, especially considering the increasing demands being made from all corners of the industry.

TBA Leader

Contribution of BEBF cannot be overstated

Self-help in British breeding and racing is an essential factor in persuading government and all other funders that these industries are prepared to put their hands in their pockets to support themselves when they ask for assistance. There is no bigger self-help initiative than the British European Breeders’ Fund (BEBF).

Established in 1983, this is, to my mind, one of the least understood but most vital schemes from which British breeders, owners and racecourses benefit, having contributed directly over £40 million in prize-money, and a further £1.3m to veterinary research projects. This very consistent and worthy organisation will pony up another £2m in 2024, supporting 700 Flat and 85 jump races.

Where does this money come from? From one source and one source only – stallion studs and owners, who contribute a multiple of nomination fees according to the number of mares covered, based on the average nomination fee, which increases for stallions that cover more than 65 mares.

In 2023, 105 British-based stallions paid into to the BEBF, but although every stud contributes, to misquote George Orwell, “some contribute more than others.” The fund receives big bucks from such as Frankel, Baaeed, Dubawi and Kingman, so although these elite stallions are out of reach for most breeders, they are still doing their bit for everyone in the industry.

Where does the money go? Almost exclusively to support prize-money and influence parts of the racing programme through intervention. For example, the BEBF backed the BHA and TBA 15 years ago in improving and enhancing the fillies’ and mares’ programmes under both codes. This sector urgently required retention through their three- and more importantly four-year-old careers, in the expectation that owners would then be encouraged to breed British. The success of the initiative very much has a BEBF stamp upon it.

The recently introduced High Value Novice Development series is a more immediate example. The partnership between Juddmonte, Godolphin, Tattersalls, the BHA and BEBF, with Levy Board funding, provides a strong argument for retaining a racing programme for what are expected to be high-performance horses.

The BEBF also recognises the importance of the racing pyramid, supporting lower class races aplenty with prize-money contributions that can change a potentially disappointing return to something much better.

Every penny piece that comes into the industry today must be used to influence and change behaviour and not just be allocated to prize-money increases directly. Incentive and intervention via changes in the race programme and specific

funding initiatives are the way forward. In this respect, the BEBF has long been a leader.

Now we know what the BEBF does, we should think about what British racing should do to support it. Every breeder and owner have reason to be encouraged when looking at a race title that has BEBF in it, or when an owner’s horse carries a number cloth with the BEBF logo on it, acknowledging that this is an example of British stallion owners helping to make their day.

How do we help? We simply use British stallions wherever

“This worthy organisation will pony up another £2m in 2024, supporting 700 Flat and 85 jump races”

and whenever possible when considering our mating plans. By doing so we form a virtuous circle. The more support we give, the more support the BEBF can give, and most importantly we make the investment case for buying and retaining high quality British-breds to go to stud. If we believe that the choice of stallions in Britain is limited, the only way the situation can be changed is by supporting the domestic broodmare band with British-based horses.

When making buying decisions, owners should also look first at the British product, by British stallions bred by British breeders. If we want change and to retain the eminent position Britain has in world bloodstock breeding, we must invest in ourselves and our own industry before we consider alternatives.

Stallion owners have been doing this via the BEBF for over 40 years. It’s important that we all recognise the significant role it plays and be aware of not taking its considerable contribution for granted and support it as it supports us.

The BEBF certainly has my thanks, and those of the TBA.

Philip Newton Chairman

Affordability checks pilot announced

The Gambling Commission last month unveiled the way forward for the first round of Gambling Act review white paper consultation proposals, including a pilot scheme for affordability checks.

There are four initial proposals (financial risk and vulnerability, online games design, improving consumer choice on direct marketing, and strengthening age verification processes in land-based premises), coming into effect between August and February.

Financial risk, or affordability, checks already implemented by bookmakers have, according to British racing’s leaders, reduced online betting turnover on the sport by hundreds of millions of pounds. It is estimated that checks could wipe a further £250 million from the sport’s revenues over the next five years.

On the pilot for checks – the most controversial aspect of the white paper –the Gambling Commission said customers would not be affected by the trial. The pilot ensures the Commission can “refine the data sharing processes before assessments are rolled out in a live environment”.

The pilot is scheduled to last for six months, after which the Gambling

Commission will decide whether to implement the checks permanently. It claims this will not take place until the process of data-sharing is frictionless for a “vast majority” of customers who undergo checks.

The Gambling Commission’s announcement last month confirmed the introduction of ‘light-touch’ financial vulnerability checks, alongside the affordability assessment pilot. Implementing these checks will take place in two stages, the first from August 30 and the second from February next year.

In the first stage, checks will apply to customers with a net deposit of £500 per month on gambling. During the second stage, checks will apply to customers with a net deposit of £150 per month.

Gambling Commission Chief Executive Andrew Rhodes said: “We’re pleased to be taking forward a pilot of financial risk assessments and data collection, which together will ensure that we can make informed decisions about how these assessments can be implemented in a way that supports both consumer freedom and protections.

“We have to get the balance right between protecting people from the

potentially life-ruining effects of gambling-related harm and respecting the freedom of adults to engage in an activity that the vast majority do so without experiencing harm.”

The pilot will put affordability checks into practice. Collaboration with credit reference agencies and gambling companies will test the impact. It will also assess the ramifications for punters.

Data collection from the pilot will, it is stated, allow the Gambling Commission to pinpoint the financial thresholds at which checks would take place.

British Horseracing Authority Chief Executive Julie Harrington said: “We look forward to working with the Gambling Commission as the enhanced checks pilot is implemented to ensure that racing is not further adversely financially affected.”

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “The pilot will be used to test the best data to use and how operators and credit reference agencies will share this data. Credit reference agencies collect a range of data that could be used in an assessment, for example information on missed or late credit payments or how much credit is available.

“Gambling operators will never have access to raw account-level data, and so, for example, they would not be able to look at customers’ bank accounts and nor will the government or Gambling Commission. The pilot will also assess the impact these risk assessments will have on the industry as well as consumers.”

Betting on course and in shops has been overtaken by the online sector, which is the focus of the Gambling Commission’s proposals

The Queen takes on TBA Patron role

The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (TBA) has revealed that Her Majesty the Queen is its new Patron, succeeding the late Queen Elizabeth II who was Patron for 68 years from 1954 until her death in September 2022.

The Queen has a long-standing interest in the breeding and owning of thoroughbreds across both National Hunt and Flat codes, enjoying her first homebred winner, then as the Duchess of Cornwall, with Royal Superlative in 2009, which she coowned and bred with her husband, King Charles III.

She also takes a great interest in a host of other equestrian sports and works with a number of organisations that help to promote racing education and welfare, including in her role as Patron of the National Stud in Newmarket.

Claire Sheppard, Chief Executive of the TBA, said: “We are deeply honoured that Her Majesty has agreed to take up the Patronage of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

“Her enthusiasm and support for thoroughbred breeding over many years will be a great asset as we continue to deliver vital initiatives to ensure a sustainable future for the breed.”

Death of Reg Akehurst

Reg Akehurst, a trainer of skill and judgement as feared by the bookmakers as he was adored by punters, died last month aged 94.

Born in Folkestone and the son of a soldier, he first made his name as a jump jockey and rode nearly 100 winners before starting training in 1962. His first winner arrived the following year at Wye, in the shape of Enamoured.

Akehurst, or just Reg as he was known in betting shops up and down the land, went on to excel as a trainer, gaining a reputation as an astute placer of horses, especially in big handicaps.

However, he was also well capable of training stakes horses under both codes and landed Grade 1s over jumps with Dare To Dream (1992 Finale Junior Hurdle) and Bimsey (1997 Aintree Hurdle).

Akehurst also captured the 1990 Welsh Grand National with Cool Ground, who later won the Cheltenham Gold Cup for Toby Balding.

The best horse he trained was Gold Rod, whose victories included the 1970 Greenham Stakes, Prix de la Cote Normande and Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, and 1971 La Coupe de

Maisons-Laffitte, while he also claimed the 1973 Coventry Stakes with Doleswood and 1994 Rose of Lancaster Stakes with Urgent Request.

He had several stables during his long career, starting out in Hampshire and also training in Wiltshire, Lambourn and Dorset, although he was perhaps most closely associated with Epsom, where he oversaw Hilcot Stables from 1967 to 1971 and South Hatch from 1984 to 1990 and then again between 1991 and 1997, when he retired. His career tally of winners in Britain was 895 (564 Flat and 331 jumps).

Following his retirement, he assisted his son, John, at South Hatch. He later spent much of his time in Spain, although he continued to offer assistance to John during his treatment for cancer, from which he died in 2012.

Richard Quinn, who rode for both Akehurst snr and jnr, told the Racing Post: “Reg had the most lovely family and we didn’t have a trainer-jockey relationship, we were friends. I loved him to bits.

“Reg had a few two-year-old winners, he had Group and Graded winners, but when he got an older horse he could improve them so much it was just

amazing. He could do it with horses from any yard – he could do it with horses from Henry Cecil, Mary Reveley, really good trainers. He was so good at getting those horses right in big handicaps.”

His list of winners in such races is extensive and included the Ascot Stakes (Inlander, 1987 and Southern Power, 1996), Lincoln (Fact Finder, 1989), Ebor (Sarawat, 1993), Royal Hunt Cup (Face North, 1994 and Red Robbo, 1997) and Wokingham (Astrac, 1995).

Akehurst is survived by his granddaughters Sophie and Milly. He was predeceased by his wife Sheila, and sons Murray and John.

Reg Akehurst: brilliant in big handicaps

BILL SELWYN

Royal approval: the Queen has a long-established interest in horses

GEORGE SELWYN

Sunday evening racing scrapped

The BHA has announced that its controversial Sunday evening racing pilot will not be renewed.

Introduced as part of a raft of initiatives in the 2024 fixture schedule, six Sunday evening fixtures took place between January 7 and March 10 this year. Each comprised races of Class 3 and below, with prize-money totalling at least £145,000 and additional payments for jockeys, grooms and others attending the meetings.

Upon review, the meetings were revealed to be competitive, attracting 498 runners across the 47 races, with an average field size of 10.6, however they did not meet their published target in terms of bettering betting turnover at midweek floodlit fixtures by 15 to 20% – overall, average betting turnover fell by 3% across the period.

The response from participants to the pilot was also taken into account, with a number referencing the issues of staffing and the impact on work/life balance.

Richard Wayman, the BHA’s Director of Racing & Betting, said: “The trial of the six Sunday evening meetings was an informative and worthwhile exercise

Louise Norman is new ROA CEO

The Board of the Racehorse Owners Association has appointed Louise Norman to the role of Interim Chief Executive. She succeeds Charlie Liverton, who has left the ownership body after eight years as CEO.

Previously Head of Ownership at the ROA, Norman spent 20 years with Weatherbys where she held senior positions in its racing bank and VAT service departments.

ROA President Charlie Parker said: “The Board and I are delighted and fully supportive of Louise stepping into the role of Interim CEO.

“She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry with her, not just from her Head of Ownership role with the ROA but from her previous roles.”

Parker added: “I would like to thank Charlie for his contributions over a number of years to both the ROA and the wider racing industry.”

as we seek to grow engagement with our sport at a time when we face some difficult financial headwinds. We wanted to test the viability of racing in a window that was thought to have the potential to boost racing’s income, especially among digital customers.

“It was clear from the outset that this would be challenging, especially for those who would be servicing the fixtures. We are very grateful to everyone who worked to deliver the pilot and who took the time to provide us with constructive feedback.

“Innovation in the racing product is and will continue to be a key part of the industry’s wider strategy work. It’s important that we aren’t afraid to try different things and that the sport is open to new ideas – recognising that some proposals will inevitably enjoy greater success than others.”

A brief statement issued on behalf of the National Association of Racing Staff, Professional Jockeys Association and National Trainers Federation welcomed the decision not to continue with the Sunday evening racing pilot.

Levy yield increases to £105m

There was some positive news for racing last month after the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) reported that levy income for the year ended March 31, 2024 was expected to be approximately £105 million, an increase of £5m on the previous year.

The £105m total is derived from the receipt of provisional end-of-year submissions from most levy-paying bookmakers.

As the year progressed, HBLB considered that the most likely range for levy income would be between £101m and £105m, with data in the January to March period indicating that this would most likely be in a range of £103m to £107m.

The pattern for the year has been similar to that seen in the fourth quarter of 2022/23, in that betting turnover has fallen on the preceding year but with margins higher than recent years’ averages.

HBLB Chairman Paul Darling said: “The trend that was seen towards the end of 2022/23 has continued, with betting turnover lower and bookmakers’ profits higher than recent norms. In the light of reports and analysis from the HBLB Executive during the year, the Board had been anticipating income of around the total that is expected.

“The effect of this financial outturn gives the Board additional comfort in its expenditure commitments already made for 2024 and further flexibility when it comes to considering options for 2025.

“For the 2024/25 levy year, the Board’s starting point is to assume levy of £100m, which is based on bookmaker payments on account for the year. This will be reviewed every month through the year in the light of information provided to us and our own analysis.

“The Board has noted previously the potential longer-term challenge of maintaining levy income against a backdrop of declining turnover.”

Richard Wayman: ‘important to try different things’

GEORGE SELWYN

Changes People and business

Jonathan Burke

Steps into the void created by Paddy Brennan’s retirement to become first rider to trainer Fergal O’Brien.

Leo Powell

Editor of The Irish Field is appointed new Independent Chairman of the Bloodstock Industry Forum.

William Easterby

Amateur rider breaks his collarbone after a fall aboard the ill-fated mare Betty Baloo at Market Rasen in a race that was subsequently voided.

Aidan O’Brien

Ballydoyle maestro follows trainers Vincent O’Brien, Sir Henry Cecil and Sir Michael Stoute into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

Tony Martin

Trainer fails in bid for a judicial review from the High Court and has training licence suspended for three months with immediate effect.

Paul Webber

Trainer who sent out winners at Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival, recording 569 career victories under both codes, retires aged 65.

Yutaka Take

Superstar jockey, 55, partners his 4,500th winner at Japan Racing Association tracks aboard Wet Season at Tokyo on May 12.

Josh Moore

Former jump jockey joins father Gary on the licence at Cisswood Racing Stables in West Sussex.

ITV Racing

Channel’s production of the opening day of last year’s Cheltenham Festival deemed the best sports broadcast of 2023 at the BAFTA Awards.

Willie Mullins

Trainer breaks his own record for toplevel wins in a single season when Il Etait Temps becomes Grade 1 winner number 35 at Punchestown.

Jon Court

US jockey retires aged 63 after a career that yielded 4,263 winners and Grade 1 victories on Line Of David, Archarcharch and Leroidesanimaux.

Patrick Masterson

Long-standing Managing Director of Newton Abbot will retire in December after 35 years with the South Devon racecourse.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla

Their Majesties are appointed joint Patrons of the Jockey Club, succeeding the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was Patron from 1954 until 2022.

Adrian Heskin

Jump jockey retires from the saddle aged 32. His 436 winners included Grade 1 strikes on Martello Tower and The Worlds End.

People obituaries

Tony O’Reilly 88

Ireland and British Lions rugby international became a business leader, race sponsor and owner, winning 12 races with Foxchapel King.

Adrian Grain 70

Assistant trainer to partner Mark Weatherer who was left paralysed by a gallops accident in 2022.

Reg Akehurst 94

The ‘Handicap King’ won big races under both codes and enjoyed toplevel success with Gold Rod in the 1970 Prix du Moulin.

Michael Byrne 36

Former jump jockey attached to the yards of Peter Bowen and Tim Vaughan, riding 96 winners over seven seasons.

Racing’s news in a nutshell

Racehorse and stallion Movements and retirements

Horse obituaries

King Of Steel

Amo Racing’s Champion Stakes winner suffers an injury in training and looks set to miss his summer engagements.

Imperatriz

Outstanding Australian mare, winner of ten Group 1s, £3.7 million in prize-money and rated as the world’s leading sprinter, is retired aged five.

Sharjah

Star performer for Rich Ricci and Willie Mullins, winner of six Grade 1s including four straight December Festival Hurdles, is retired aged 11.

Corach Rambler

Grand National hero and dual Cheltenham Festival winner for The Ramblers, Lucinda Russell and Derek Fox is retired aged ten.

Shishkin

10

Leg injury claims Marie Donnelly’s superstar, winner of six Grade 1s and £800,000 in prize-money for the Nicky Henderson stable.

Sire Du Berlais 12

Top-class performer for JP McManus and Gordon Elliott, winner of back-toback Liverpool Hurdles and last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle.

Fard Du Moulin Mas 31

Winning hurdler/chaser for trainer Merrick Francis was a popular horse in the Lambourn area, where he was widely known as ‘Frenchie’.

Date With Destiny 16

The sole offspring of George Washington was a winner on her debut who produced Group 3 winner Beautiful Morning.

Native Upmanship 31

Arthur Moore-trained chaser won seven Grade 1s including back-to-back Melling Chases at Aintree for owner Sue Magnier.

Soldier Hollow 24

British-bred son of In The Wings was a four-time Group 1 winner and multiple champion sire in Germany.

Hidden Law 3

Godolphin’s son of Dubawi suffers a fatal injury moments after posting a decisive victory in the Chester Vase under William Buick.

Harchibald 25

Top-class hurdler won five Grade 1s for Des Sharkey and failed by a neck to reel in Hardy Eustace in the 2005 Champion Hurdle.

The Big Picture

Speech writes Classic story

Unraced at two, Godolphin’s Notable Speech had run three times prior to the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas, recording a trio of wins over a mile on Kempton’s Polytrack. The son of Dubawi, trained by Charlie Appleby, relished his first competitive taste of turf racing, storming home under William Buick to defeat Rosallion by a length and a half as favourite City Of Troy trailed home in ninth.

Photos Bill Selwyn

The Big Picture

Elmalka leaves it late

A dramatic finish to the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas saw Silvestre de Sousa capture his first British Classic aboard Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s Elmalka. French raider Ramatuelle and Aurelien Lemaitre (black cap) looked to have put their seal on matters until the Roger Varian-trained Elmalka and Porta Fortuna both finished strongly down the outside, the former gaining the verdict by a neck, with Ramatuelle a further short-head away in third place.

Photos Bill Selwyn

Royal readies: no dissent please, we’re British

Remember the kerfuffle that a group of Australian trainers made not so long ago about international runners invading their very own Melbourne Cup, the two-mile handicap that stops a nation every first Tuesday in November? It’s a surprise that some of their most vociferous British counterparts have not voiced similar concerns about overseas challengers being encouraged to snaffle ‘their’ prize-money at Royal Ascot.

After Dermot Weld and Mick Kinane broke the Melbourne Cup ice for Europe in 1993 with Vintage Crop, it took another 25 years for the first British-trained winner to come along in the shape of the Charlie Appleby-trained Cross Counter, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy for Godolphin. But that was in the middle of a golden stretch for overseas runners, seven out of 15 winners between 2006 and 2020.

The noisiest Aussies were not best pleased but in the event the actions of animal activists brought about changes to the race conditions that have largely worked against incomers. Their

protestations were fuelled by on-track deaths, notably that of Aidan O’Brien-trained Anthony Van Dyck, who was believed to be the first Derby winner to race in Australia, after he sustained a fractured fetlock in the 2020 race, won by his son Joseph with Twilight Payment.

Led by ex-BHA equine welfare guru Jamie Stier, an investigation led to 41 veterinary-backed recommendations being introduced, prompting Newmarket trainer Charlie Fellowes to respond: “This report and subsequent conditions for getting a horse to run in the Melbourne Cup are a disaster for any European trainer dreaming of winning this great race.”

No surprise then that with European-reared horses so attractive to connections Down Under, owners and trainers there have changed tack, with the result that the last two Melbourne Cup winners were Gold Trip, bought out of Fabrice Chappet’s French stable, and Without A Fight, who contested the 2022 race for Simon and Ed Crisford before being shunted off to Anthony and Sam Freedman by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid.

Hall of Fame off the pace and needing reminders

United States nine, Canada six, Great Britain one: no, it’s not the expected medal table after day one of competition at the Winter Olympics. It’s the number of inductees that each country has made to its horseracing Hall of Fame this year.

At least seven major racing jurisdictions honour the achievements of their most famous personalities, whether human or equine, or in most cases a combination of both, from Australia, New Zealand and Japan to the US and Canada.

The most famous, and oldest established, is in America, where the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, and moved to its current location across the street from Saratoga racecourse five years later. The physical building houses an extensive art collection, memorabilia and multimedia displays charting US racing history from the 18th century.

This year, nine horses, six trainers and two jockeys accounted for the finalists from which the nominating committee chose nine new members to make up the class of 2024. Jockey Joel Rosario and racehorses Gun Runner and Justify in the contemporary category; jockey Abe Hawkins and racehorses Aristides and Lecomte in the pre-1900 historic review section; and Harry F Guggenheim, Clement L Hirsch and Joe Hirsch as Pillars of the Turf joined a list that has grown impressively over 74 years. Their induction will be formalised at a ceremony, which is open to the public and free to enter, at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs on August 2.

Five days later, the Canadian Hall of Fame will honour its latest six nominees per thoroughbred and standardbred breed at a ticketed event at Woodbine racecourse, where the initiative has been housed since 1997, after its foundation with an initial cohort of 44 inductees in 1976.

The chronology and promotional effort to engage the public in the US and Canada demonstrates that the British Hall of Fame has been a slow-burner by comparison. Aidan O’Brien’s singular addition to the list was marked by a press release,

coverage in the Racing Post and on ITV Racing, and presentation of a commemorative medal to the man himself at Newmarket on 2,000 Guineas day, at the start of the QIPCO British Champions Series to which the Hall of Fame is attached.

In fact, the venture was launched by Great British Racing in 2021 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of BCS, a year that remains stuck in the mind by the still-not-updated reference in the history link on the official website, which promises: “Over the course of 2021, and prior to QIPCO British Champions Day, this section will be updated with a series of features and stories looking back through British Flat racing’s rich history.”

The apparent lack of ambition to keep up to date further extends to the website’s voting link, which enables public participation to nominate a favourite horse from a designated list on a twice-yearly basis. The current page refers to the vote for last year, having added Stradivarius to a list of annual inductees for 2023 that also included Sea The Stars, Sir Michael Stoute, Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, Pebbles and Steve Cauthen. With O’Brien safely recorded, Britain’s Hall of Fame now numbers 21, an almost apologetic acknowledgment of the country’s oft-referred and little disputed position as the home of thoroughbred horseracing.

The Hall of Fame was one of Rod Street’s legacy initiatives from his 15-year stint as Chief Executive of GBR. His March exit has been followed by the appointment on a six-month contract in the newly-minted title of Chief Customer Officer of Simon Michaelides, whose LinkedIn profile proclaims him as “the founder of Cactus Solutions, an independent consultancy dedicated to helping business brands and individuals to evolve and thrive, even in the most challenging environments.”

Michaelides has his work cut out successfully promoting such as Premierisation, by which he will probably be ultimately judged, but he does have some low-hanging fruit staring him in the face. Breathing fresh life into the Hall of Fame as a force for acknowledging British racing’s rich history is just one of them.

The process continues, even to the point of connections buying middle-distance-bred yearlings, either to race in Europe first or to send direct to Australia. The trend to pick up ready-made horses will be evident at Royal Ascot this month.

Ciaron Maher, joint trainer of Gold Trip, bought into Middle Earth before he won the Aston Park Stakes at Newbury on Lockinge day, a race that co-owner Qatar Racing now regard as a stepping-stone to the Hardwicke Stakes before eventually Flemington beckons.

Meantime, Ascot’s own international ambitions go on unbounded, even if the impact this year has proved more challenging than in the recent past. A special brochure for overseas connections outlined the prize-money increases on offer this year, noting: “It is crucial for Royal Ascot to maintain its position on the global stage at a time when participants at home and abroad have so many alternative lucrative options away from Britain, and we hope these increases will be well received.”

Whether the increases will be sufficient to add significantly to the 220 runners from outside Europe that have competed at the Royal meeting since 2003, or get anywhere near the 23 international runners from five countries across four continents who turned up a year ago, remains to be seen.

Extra prize-money, taking the meeting total to a record £10m and offering no less than £110,000 for every race, will, of course, be welcome news to British connections, provided they can get amongst the action. The most observant will have noticed that for the second year running, two places have been held open for two-year-olds that won at Gulfstream Park in Florida in the middle of last month.

Trainer George Weaver picked up both prizes in the inaugural

year and went on to win the Queen Mary Stakes with Crimson Advocate. He attempted the double again this year but blew out.

Winners of the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes and Royal Palm Fillies Stakes, both over five furlongs, earned an automatic wild card into any of the Royal meeting’s six two-year-old races. In addition to the US prize-money – the equivalent of £38,582 for the colts’ race, £45,275 for the fillies’ – the two winners will each be handed $25,000 in travel allowances.

Nice work if you can get it. Or the thin end of the wedge if you are a British owner or trainer looking for a leg up. You pays your money – or don’t, as the case may be – and takes your choice.

WEATHERBYS SUPER SPRINT (Class 2) 5f 34y (2yo)

The HACKWOOD Stakes (Group 3) (Class 1) 6f (3yo+) £85,000

The METTAL UK Handicap Stakes (Class 2) 2m 110y (3yo+)

STEVENTON Stakes (Listed) (Class 1) 1m 2f (3yo+)

Darley Fillies Novice Stakes (Class 2) 1m 2f (3yo+)

bet365 EBF Novice Stakes (Class 4) 6f (2yo) (C&G) £20,000 TPF = £565,000 Saturday 20th July 2024

Saturday 17th August 2024

BRITISH EBF PREMIER Fillies Handicap Stakes (Class 3) (76-95) 1m (3yo+) £30,000

full race conditions please visit BHA Racing Admin Website. Any further information please contact George Hill, Clerk of the Course, on 07581 119984 or ghill@newburyracecourse.co.uk

£125,000 PRIZE MONEY

Entries close: Tuesday 23rd July 2024 International entries close the day before (Group 2) (7f) (3yo+)

BILL SELWYN

Middle Earth (right) looks a future Melbourne Cup contender

Syndicates at Royal Ascot

Selling the DREAM

Royal Ascot retains a huge international following and for many racehorse owners globally, syndicate membership offers the best opportunity to participate at British racing’s flagship fixture

Interviews: Edward Rosenthal

How many of us have imagined having a runner – or even a winner – at Royal Ascot? The idea of mixing with the great and the good of the thoroughbred world holds massive appeal for devotees of the Turf, at a venue synonymous with outstanding performances, royalty, pageantry, and of course style.

Buying a horse with a chance of glory on the biggest stage of all is easier said than done, however, which is why the concept of owners joining forces continues to be a growth area for the sport. This month, a host of syndicate members will turn up in Berkshire with the dream of capturing one of the most desired prizes in horseracing.

Medallion’s gold medal

It’s a case of hoping that lightning strikes twice for the US-based owners involved in Porta Fortuna. The daughter of Caravaggio, trained by Donnacha O’Brien, enjoyed a stellar two-yearold campaign that featured a striking success in the Albany Stakes at the 2023 Royal meeting.

Porta Fortuna, who was purchased after winning her first race as a juvenile for O’Brien’s mother, Annemarie, subsequently claimed Group 1 glory in the Cheveley Park Stakes and began her three-year-old campaign with an excellent second in the 1,000 Guineas. She races for Medallion Racing and partners Steve Weston, Dean Reeves

and Barry Fowler, each holding a 25% stake.

The genesis of Medallion Racing, part of the Taylor Made family, reflected a desire among the operation’s clients to experience racing at the highest level.

“At Taylor Made we like to think we’re the best in the world at selling horses,” says Medallion Racing Manager Phillip Shelton. “We’ve sold over $2 billion worth of horses and been leading consignor in the world at public auction in 19 of the past 22 years.

“The farm’s mission is to help all its clients achieve their thoroughbred goals and for some people that’s not just selling a million-dollar yearling – it’s being on the biggest racing stages in the world. The guys in Medallion want to race, not breed.

“Medallion Racing is an exclusive ownership opportunity at the highest levels of thoroughbred racing. Our model is buying a minority interest in a proven race filly that has residual value – and we get to sell that horse at the end of the day.”

Initially, Shelton was hoping to source a promising maiden for the Medallion partners and bring the horse back to the US. Yet things didn’t work out as planned.

He explains: “We were looking for a filly that had run second or third first time out that we could get a little black type on and shift to Del Mar. Conditions are really important in US races –

finding a horse that hadn’t won was potentially more valuable for us than finding a winner.

“We watched a lot of races, but we just kept coming back to Porta Fortuna. Obviously, she was owned by Donnacha’s parents, and we knew that they are sellers, so we were able to get a deal done. There are impressive maiden winners on a weekly basis so it’s about trying to identify the right ones.

“Whilst we enjoy having a horse in Europe, at the end of the day we are an American racing partnership – all our partners live in the US. They are mostly business owners or professionals and the ability to constantly travel across to Europe is not an available option. So, our goal is really to have all our horses run in America.

“However, the advantage in Europe is the opportunities to run a filly like her. A horse that wins a maiden special weight at Keeneland in April basically can’t run in another race on grass

BILL SELWYN

until the end of July, because they’ve broken their maiden and there are no allowance races or stakes for two-yearolds. So, you either run on dirt or wait!

“We weren’t missing anything [in the US] by trying to make Royal Ascot last year and if it looked like she wasn’t that type of horse we could have brought her to America.

“After she won a Group 3 at Naas and then at Royal Ascot, we knew we had a serious filly. If she looked like she wanted a mile and a quarter she could still have gone to the US, but a mile is her maximum distance, so she’ll continue to be campaigned in Europe. It’s a novel thing for Medallion but we will continue with a very small percentage of our stable based over there.”

Porta Fortuna is likely to contest the Coronation Stakes over a mile although the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs is also an option. Whichever race is selected, her owners – some of whom have subsequently invested in other horses in Britain and Ireland – will

relish the experience.

“Royal Ascot is hard to describe,” Shelton says. “There’s still this love affair with the monarchy for a lot of Americans. Princess Diana had a lot to do with that.

“The top hat and tails, the formality, the Royal Procession… and then there’s the quality of the racing, five days as good as you’ll get anywhere in the world. People are constantly asking me how they can find an Ascot horse.

“There’s this allure to get involved and there’s also been a shift in America with turf racing becoming more popular.

“Ascot is different from any track in America. Saratoga holds a special place in many people’s heart, but it pales in comparison.”

Team Valor’s target

The Team Valor colours will be wellknown to many racing fans, perhaps most associated with Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup hero Animal

Kingdom, whose own appearance at Royal Ascot, when favourite for the 2013 Queen Anne Stakes, was somewhat underwhelming, finishing 11th of 13 behind Declaration Of War.

The likes of Spanish Mission, winner of the 2021 Yorkshire Cup and later third in the Gold Cup, have performed with great credit at the Royal meeting and this year’s leading fancy is highclass five-year-old gelding Facteur Cheval, owned by Team Valor and Gary Barber, trained by Jerome Reynier and set to contest the Queen Anne.

Barry Irwin is the mastermind behind Team Valor’s syndication operation, which eschews the sales to identify and purchase horses in training with the potential to reach greater heights. Facteur Cheval was one such horse, selected after storming home in a Saint-Cloud maiden in April 2022.

“Facteur Cheval was so overpowering on his debut, I just fell in love with him,” says Irwin, who started out in horseracing as a journalist on

Porta Fortuna and Frankie Dettori strike for home in the 2023 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot

Syndicates at Royal Ascot

The Blood-Horse in 1969, his passion for the sport fuelled by the likes of Sir Ivor and Nijinsky, North American-breds that became superstars in Europe.

“He had such a turn of foot that really excited me. He was a gelding; we don’t buy that many geldings because I have a tough time syndicating them, but I have some partners that I’ll reach out to that will often buy half. Gary Barber has been very generous; he buys most of the ones that I offer him, and he came in on that one.

“I don’t like the sales because I don’t really like what the consignors do to the horses that are in the sales. They get into them more than I would like; I’d rather pay a premium knowing they have got to the races and can run.”

He continues: “I usually limit it to 10% shares for Team Valor owners – when someone owns more than other people, they often start to throw their weight around.

“I don’t have any real game plan –we like horses that have run once or twice that we feel we can develop, whether sprinters or Cup horses. It’s

about what tickles our fancy.

“We have 15 horses in Europe right now, in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, France and Germany. My goal is to have an equal number of horses in Europe and the United States – I’d like to have about 20 in both locales.”

Having been to the Royal meeting over 20 times, Irwin is looking forward to returning this month with his syndicate, his group likely to number around 20 including wives and partners. He feels that Facteur Cheval, who finished second in both the Sussex Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last year and was most recently seen winning the Dubai Turf at Meydan, could be the one to give Team Valor a first victory at the prestigious event.

He says: “Seeing everyone getting dressed up, the pageantry, the quality of the horses – there’s no other meeting quite like it. It’s the Olympics of horseracing.

“We always thought Facteur Cheval would be better at five and six. He’s a big, solid horse for a gelding and

carries a great amount of condition. We think his best distance is a mile and a quarter, but the Queen Anne plays more like a mile and an eighth race.

“Then it will be the Sussex and one more race before we target the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He breezed on the dirt in Dubai and absolutely flew over it. That’s the plan and I hope he gets there.”

Home defence primed

Among the home-based syndicates bidding to grab a slice of the Royal Ascot action is Kennet Valley Syndicates, managed by Sam Hoskins.

Sir Busker carried the Kennet Valley silks to victory at the 2020 meeting when taking the Silver Hunt Cup and while the public were not allowed to attend that Covid-affected renewal, it still provided huge satisfaction for his group of owners.

Hoskins says: “Even though everyone was sat on their sofas at home it was a really special day and lifted so many people. It was amazing.

“It was the Silver Hunt Cup, a

Team Valor’s Facteur Cheval, winner of the Dubai Turf in March under Maxime Guyon, is being prepared for the Queen Anne Stakes BILL

Syndicates at Royal Ascot

consolation race for the Royal Hunt Cup, so the contest wouldn’t have existed outside of Covid. He was subsequently third in the Queen Anne in 2021 and fifth to Baaeed in the same race in 2022.”

Hoskins, who has sat on both the Racehorse Owners Association and Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Boards and also runs Hot To Trot

“When Sir Busker took on Baaeed it was David versus Goliath”

Racing, has long championed shared ownership and syndicates as a way of bringing more people into the sport.

“As a syndicate you’re selling the dream,” Hoskins explains. “In what we’re trying to do buying young horses, you’re buying those dreams. It’s a

massive thing to have a Royal Ascot horse. Just to compete is a big thing but you want to go with a horse that has a realistic chance.

“Having a winner anywhere is brilliant but being able to go into the paddock at the Royal meeting, meet your jockey and trainer and get that buzz is really special.

“When Sir Busker took on Baaeed it was David versus Goliath. You might be in a different world to the other connections but you’re still standing next to them and able to give it a go.”

Carrying the hopes of Kennet Valley members at this month’s gathering will be sprinter Equality, set to contest the King Charles III Stakes, formerly known as the King’s Stand Stakes.

The six-year-old gelding travelled to Dubai earlier in the year, failing to trouble the judge in two starts at Meydan, though Hoskins feels it was far from a wasted journey.

He says: “Charlie [Hills, trainer] feels the Dubai races are a good conditioner for the horses. He took Khaadem out there last year – he wasn’t in the money in three starts but then came back and won the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.

“It’s interesting that Equality did

really well physically from his trip to Dubai and he proved his wellbeing by winning at Musselburgh. He looks a million dollars and Charlie is really pleased with him.

“He’s not the most consistent horse in the world – you wouldn’t put your last shilling on him – but on his day he’s very talented. Last year he took his owners to Ireland for the Flying Five at the Curragh and France for the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp. It’s exciting to think he’ll be lining up at Royal Ascot.”

There are 16 shares in each KVS horse – “it’s been that way since Nick Robinson launched Kennet Valley with the aim of winning the inaugural Cartier Million” –ensuring a decent turnout at Royal Ascot for the syndicate, which could also run Dual Identity in the Hunt Cup and Dragon Leader in either the Buckingham Palace Handicap or Britannia.

“We’ll have a good crowd for sure,” Hoskins adds. “And we’ll put on a Royal Ascot brunch so win, lose or draw, it will be a really special occasion.”

Famous silks to the fore

Manton Thoroughbreds, a partnership between Sam Sangster and trainer Brian Meehan, is looking forward to fielding two-year-old Rashabar at this

Sam Hoskins (inset) is looking forward to taking Kennet Valley’s sprinter Equality to the Royal meeting for the King Charles III Stakes

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Syndicates at Royal Ascot

year’s Royal meeting.

The Manton Thoroughbreds silks, famously associated with Sam’s father Robert, one of the original investors in Coolmore, have enjoyed plenty of success in recent seasons with the likes of Isaac Shelby and Barraquero, both Group 2 winners as juveniles.

“We’re looking at running Rashabar in the Coventry Stakes,” Sangster says. “He couldn’t overcome a terrible draw at Chester but Sean [Levey] got off him and said we should work our way back from the Coventry.

“We hope he’ll go there with a decent shout. He’s a very progressive colt and he’s been working very well.”

The Manton Thoroughbreds model is focused on buying yearlings to run as two-year-olds, with each syndicate member involved in half a dozen horses.

Sangster explains: “Manton Thoroughbreds is run with Brian Meehan. We underwrite it together with the same structure every year – we’ll organise our tenth partnership in 2024.

“We buy six colts, spending an average of £50,000 per horse, so the

total budget is £300,000. The idea with six horses is that there’s plenty of racing for everyone involved.

“We roll in all the training fees and

“To stand in that paddock with a live chance, there’s no feeling like it”

any expenses up front for two years, so basically the purchaser is only writing one cheque. We sell in 10% units.

“Some of our members have owned horses individually, spent thousands on a yearling and not had the results, so they are joining syndicates likes us and enjoying being among a group of likeminded owners.

“With six horses, if you’re away,

working or on holiday and you miss a race, there’s five other horses running for you, so you’re always going to get a chance to go to the racetrack.

“Winning the 2017 Richmond Stakes with Barraquero was a high point. That was our first Group winner and the fact that he cost only £30,000 was a real achievement. It showed that we are a syndicate that’s heading in the right direction.”

Manton Thoroughbreds, which has owners in Australia and the US, could also field promising three-year-old Monkey Island, an impressive winner at Newbury last month, in one of the handicaps or the Jersey Stakes.

Sangster adds: “We’d be thinking about the two-year-old races at Royal Ascot in early March and working out our chances of getting there.

“It’s a tricky route to navigate and you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get there, but if you have the right horse with a live chance and get to stand in that paddock alongside your group of owners, there’s no feeling like it.”

Rashabar (far side) will carry the hopes of Manton Thoroughbreds and Sam Sangster (inset) at Royal Ascot

BILL

BRED FOR THE WORLD

On a Monday back in March, an ordinary day for most, the extraordinary news from the South African Equine Health and Protocols (SAEHP) and South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) hit the wires: official notification of the reinstatement of direct exports of registered equines from South Africa to the EU had been approved.

After 13 long years of isolation for direct export of SA horses to the EU, we would have been excused for doing a double-take, the announcement we had all be hoping for has become a reality. We owe this leap forward to the tenacity and funding of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, whose CEO and chair of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) and the Asian Racing Federation, Winfried EngelbrechtBresges, has not wavered in his support as a staunch champion of the South African bred horse. Our profound thanks and appreciation to Winfried and his Team.

It’s been twenty-seven years since the equivalent of our equine pioneer, London News, flew via Amsterdam to Hong Kong and won the QE II Cup at Sha Tin. One would forgive those who have likened us to a group of old “fogeys”, reminiscing, over a glass of the Cape’s finest red, about the glory days of South African bred horses successfully campaigning internationally. The heading of Chapter 4 of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Associations' Centenary publication is proudly captioned “Bred for the World” and we are united in the belief that South African bred thoroughbreds have excelled off a relatively small breeding base. A meander through the archives brings historic and recent household names to mind: Pearl Rover, Campfire II, Gambut, Colorado King, Hawaii, Shah Abbas, Bold Tropic, London News, Spook Express, Irridescence, Victory

Moon, Perfect Promise, Gypsy’s Warning, Lizard’s Desire, Shea Shea, JJ The Jet Plane, Soft Falling Rain, Vercingetorix, Variety Club, Surcharge (renamed Yulong Prince on export to Australia), and Dane Julia to name a few.

The USA, which allows post arrival quarantine, has been open to South African horses, although this route is a costly export exercise. A recent foray, the first in more than two decades, by Team Valor International's Barry Irwin and the enterprising Robin Bruss of Northfields Bloodstock, saw a chartered flight touch down in New York with eleven of South Africa’s finest in March. The flight of hope and Breeders’ Cup dreams included Equus Horse of the Year Princess Calla (owned by Mario Ferreira, bred by Maine Chance Farms), Breeders’ Cup qualifying filly Beach Bomb, group winning and placed fillies Golden Hostess, Distant Winter, Hunting Trip and Coldhardstare (all owned and bred by SA’s current champion owner-breeder, Mrs Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud). Equus Champion filly Bless My Stars (bred by Varsfontein Stud), Feather Boa and Egyptian Mau (both bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein) made up the Team Valor trio, and Equus Champion Sprinter Isivungvungu (bred by Narrow Creek), together with dual Group One winner Make It Snappy (bred by Ridgemont Highlands) make it a double for the Hollywood Syndicate and Ridgemont Highlands. The words that come to mind are “courage, proudly South African” and those three letters appended after these names wherever they’re printed: SAF. We’ll be shouting you home!

SAEHP was formed by South African owner, breeder and visionary, Chris van Niekerk and the Export Task Team, which he jointly founded with Mrs Susan Rowett, as a cooperative venture between SA's sales companies. Adrian Todd, Managing Director of SAEHP commented, "It had been working on getting direct exports to the EU reinstated since

January 2018, its operations funded by South African private individuals and racing organisations."

In spite of these challenges, we saw a golden era for South African thoroughbred racing, where Mike de Kock, a champion trainer who currently holds the SA record for the most Grade One wins by a trainer with 138 under his belt, led the international charge and lit up the tracks in the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Kingdom and the USA. Outspoken, fiery and frustrated by the lack of movement around the EU export protocol, MdK and his energy corralled, he joined the SAEHP Board. On the back of the recent announcement he said: "Personally,

I have what can be described as fire in my belly today. I know that South Africa produces thoroughbreds that can compete around the world.

Now that the playing fields are level, we can return to international competition. My son Mathew tells me every day of his belief that our runners will hold their own in Australia, especially over a mile and up. I look forward to seeing our runners take on the Aussies in their backyard." South African Racing and Breeding salutes and thanks Chris van Niekerk, the current Chair of SAEHP David Abery, MD Adrian Todd, Mike de Kock, Vaughan Koster; the Racing Operators, National Horse Racing Authority of SA, Race Horse Owners’ Association, and the teams who have supported their efforts; to Cape Racing for upgrading the Kenilworth Quarantine Station and ensuring it met the EU requirements and standards, and last but not least, the international buyers who have continued to support South Africa, through thick and thin.

https://www.tba.co.za/

The Big Interview

SOUL Hart and

Loyalty and work ethic are equally important to Jason Hart and those qualities are sure to keep the jockey in demand as he looks to a future without brilliant sprinting mare Highfield Princess

Words: Marcus Townend • Photos: Bill Selwyn

Ask Jason Hart what makes him most proud about his career and he doesn’t pinpoint a particular moment or race highlight but the fact he has been loyal to the same agent who has booked his rides since the start of his career in 2011.

Loyalty is important to Hart, as is the work ethic instilled in him while growing up in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick.

“When I was champion apprentice in 2013, I think I only rode six winners for my boss Declan Carroll, the rest were for outside stables,” he explains. “My agent Alan Harrison did a great job and I have been with him since I started. He booked me on my second ever ride.

“There have been a couple of agents who have tried to tempt me away, but Alan does a great job. One of the things I am quite proud of is I think I am very loyal.

“You also have to work hard. If you sit on your backside, you are not going to get anywhere. When I was champion apprentice, I was never the best rider but I think hard work has got me to where I am now.”

Those twin pillars that support the career of 29-year-old Hart have propelled his progress through the weighingroom ranks. They were also key in reestablishing career momentum Hart feels was briefly lost when a fall in a pile-up at Doncaster in 2015, shortly after riding out his claim, left him with ruptured ACL and MCL ligaments, keeping him on the sidelines for seven months.

At such a crucial stage his career was stalled just when the jockey was starting to get rides on better horses.

Yet for the last three seasons he has topped 100 winners, with 2023 delivering a full set of personal bests, featuring 111 British winners from 896 rides, which garnered close to £2.2 million in prize-money. For the first time, that return placed him in the top ten in the jockeys’ table.

As Hart focuses on his fourteenth season as a jockey, he is determined to progress even further.

“I want to be champion jockey,” he says emphatically but without a trace of arrogance. “People might laugh and think it is not feasible, but if you don’t think it, it will not happen.

“If you don’t believe in yourself that you can go out there and compete with the likes of Ryan [Moore], William [Buick], Oisin [Murphy] and Tom [Marquand], you might as well not be doing it.

“To be champion it is about working extremely hard. The championship season is a much smaller window now, starting on 2,000 Guineas day and closing on British Champions Day, but if you don’t have ambition or drive you will never get anywhere.”

Hart cites former trainer Eric Alston, who gave him his first black-type winner when Ridge Ranger landed the Listed Kilvington Fillies’ Stakes at Nottingham in 2016, as being one of the biggest influences on his career, mainly for the confidence he instilled in his riding.

However, given Hart’s philosophy, it is

no surprise he also names colleague Joe Fanning, a jockey widely regarded as a model professional, as being another major influence.

Hart has known Fanning since he moved to Mark Johnston’s Middleham stable just before his 16th birthday and the pair still work closely together as riders for the outfit now headed by Johnston’s son Charlie.

Hart says: “He is 53 years old and still driving himself up and down the country. He is a complete gentleman. People could take a leaf out of his book – he is a big influence on me.

“He actually gave me a lift for my first ever ride [on second-placed Elusive Flame at Southwell in February 2011] and walked the track with me. He is someone I have always looked up to. He just gets on and does the job.

“With us both riding for Charlie, we discuss horses and he has always been there for a bit of advice if needed.”

The two riders have something else in common – having to bide their time for their first Group 1 winner. Fanning was into his 28th season when The Last Lion broke his duck in the 2016 Middle Park Stakes.

Hart did not have to wait quite so long for Highfield Princess to come along, but he is now searching for a new flagship horse after the John and Sean Quinn-trained mare, who captured the imagination of racing enthusiasts as she delivered Hart’s four top-level wins, suffered life-ending injuries after an accident in her stable in March.

Hart has ridden some admirable performers for the Quinns – horses like El Astronaute, Liberty Beach and Safe Voyage – but he appreciates that he owes a massive debt to the mare who will be nearly impossible to replace on both a personal and professional level.

The daughter of Night Of Thunder took time to rise through the ranks, her initial runs giving no indication of where she would end up.

She delivered Hart his first Royal Ascot winner in the 2021 Buckingham Palace Stakes before going on to take the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, York’s Nunthorpe Stakes and the Flying Five at the Curragh in five memorable weeks the following year.

There was also a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland – all the more commendable given the run came at the end of a long campaign for Highfield Princess, which had started with her being prepped for victory at All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle in April.

Jason Hart

Hawick-born

has ridden over 100 winners in each of the past three years

Jason Hart

The Big Interview

Last year, there was further Group 1 glory in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp’s Arc meeting plus a trip to Hong Kong in December where the mare unsuccessfully contested what would prove to be her last race.

Hart says: “I have no doubt I could ride a better horse than her, but I probably won’t ride one who will be as special, one who captured everyone’s imagination with her story.

“I would go racing and was always being asked, ‘How is Highfield Princess?’ I won’t ride a horse with such a following ever again.

“She was Yorkshire’s princess and proof that fairy-tales can happen for owner-breeders. She gave every single owner, no matter who they are, that bit of hope that if you persevere and give horses time, exceptional things can happen.

“Her rise was unbelievable. She always had the pedigree, but she was slow to come to hand in her head as well as her body. It took a long time for the penny to fully drop, but once it did, we saw what she could do.

“I rode her most days. She had a heart of gold and was a quiet, goodlooking mare. She would never set the world alight at home.

“She was chilled out and the easiest horse to deal with but once she was in the stalls, she was ready to rock and roll.

Hart captured the 2023 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on the late Highfield Princess (above) while the jockey guided Big Evs (noseband) to victory in last year’s Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood

land that first one in France but winning the Nunthorpe at York was a great day. It was on home soil and the reception she got was unbelievable. She took it all in without a bother – you wouldn’t have thought she was a sprinter!

“I’ll be trying to find another good horse and hopefully ride 100 winners again”

“I will forever be indebted to her for the things she did for my career and that of John and Sean. She helped me get on a better class of horse.

“I had to wait for a first Group 1 win but to then get three in the space of five weeks was unbelievable. It was great to

“It was a massive blow when she died, especially the timing. She was back in training and we were looking forward to another good year with her.

“You have to move on, you can’t dwell on it too much, but at the same time it was gutting for everyone. For her owner John Fairley, who would have had a great broodmare on his hands, and John and Sean, especially with Sean having just been added to the licence.”

When Highfield Princess won last season’s Abbaye, the victory capped a

memorable week for Hart, with his wife Jess having just given birth to their first child, Harper.

Hart says the arrival of his daughter has brought a sense of perspective to his life, while the fact that Jess had a long career working in racing – not to mention her brother Richie McLernon and uncle Tommy Carmody being jockeys – means she understands the lifestyle he must lead.

He explains: “Before Harper was born people said she will change your perspective and I thought ‘yeah, yeah’, but it definitely does.

“For any jockey, trainer or owner things can go wrong in racing. A horse can go lame, or you might not get the rub of the green on the track, but when you go home at the end of the day she is always there smiling. It puts things into perspective. It does change your mindset.

“Jess’s brother rides, her dad is a steward in Ireland and her uncle was one of the best jump jockeys ever in Ireland. It helps that she knows the daily stresses.

“I think it must be hard for a jockey with a partner who doesn’t know why

they are getting home at midnight and then getting up at 5am the next morning to go and ride work again.”

Surprising as it seems now, Hart wanted to be a jump jockey when he was younger, riding out at weekends and school holidays for his local trainer Donald Whillans. Hart’s grandfather Derek Campbell had also been a jump jockey. Ultimately his size, plus the fact that Keith Dalgleish and Greg Fairley had trodden the path from Hawick to the Johnston stable, prompted him to travel the same route.

With Hawick revolving around, in Hart’s words, “racing, rugby and cashmere”, there was a time when the oval ball competed for his attention. He is still an enthusiastic supporter of the national team at Murrayfield.

“I played a lot of rugby as a kid and did a lot of running,” Hart recalls. “My parents would be running around taking me everywhere to play sport.

“I played scrum half but I never grew. I played Borders under 16s, similar to county in England.

“In my age group there was a lad who plays for Edinburgh now called Glen Young, who has had three caps for Scotland and above me and below me were Stuart Hogg, who was older, and Darcy Graham, who was younger, from the town. I knew them growing up.

“Hawick was a great place to grow up, you had a bit of freedom.”

There came a point when Hart had to choose between going on a rugby tour to Wales with his friends or riding in a pony race. Given he had just applied to join the Johnston yard, Hart, who landed

his second Royal Ascot winner on Big Evs in the Windsor Castle Stakes last year, decided to take the ride.

The pony lost, but long term it has proved to be a very good decision and Hart will carry the life philosophy which has served him so well into the summer.

“I will be trying to find another good horse and hopefully I can ride 100 winners again and try to get a bit further up the table,” he says.

“I am not sure I have a Group 1 horse, but you never know what will pop up with a two-year-old. I will just keep grafting.”

‘We need a clearly defined break’

Jason Hart believes there should be a clearly defined two-week period free from Flat racing at the end of the Turf season in November so that jockeys can take a break from the relentless nature of the current programme.

This year there is a Flat-free week at the end of November but there is increasing frustration among jockeys at the BHA’s efforts to produce a fixture list which they feel addresses concerns about burn-out among riders.

The frustration deepened during the unpopular Sunday evening racing experiment – the pilot has subsequently been axed – while the BHA’s decision to publicly hail the first of three Flat-free days this season on May 7, three days after the jockeys’ championship season started on 2,000 Guineas day, served only to further annoy riders.

Hart says: “Those days they have given us are neither here nor there. We all ride work in the morning.

“Why the BHA decided to

put a one-day break in when the championship had just started beats me. We were three days in and they decided to give us a day off!

“Once the season finishes in November, we need a couple of weeks off. We need a clearly defined break.

“A day is a waste, as was the break they used to give us before the season started. You couldn’t go anywhere; you were getting horses ready for races like the Lincoln and educating two-year-olds.”

He adds: “They are making jockeys burn the candle at both ends. You are up riding work in the morning and they have taken saunas away from us so when you get in from riding, you have to jump in the bath or on a bike, or go for a run to lose weight.

“Then you go racing – you might have another pound to lose so that’s another run around the track. You then get home at God knows what time and then it is the same the next day.”

Hart prepares for his ride on Sacred Angel in last month’s 2,000 Guineas

Restricted POOL

Can there be too much of a good thing? With the bulk of today’s Flat stallions descending from either Northern Dancer or Mr Prospector, there are fewer outcross options available to European breeders

Words: Martin Stevens

Looking at the bloodlines of the 101 stallions who stood in commercial Flat roles in Britain and Ireland at fees of £5,000 or more this year, it quickly becomes apparent why breeders struggle to avoid repeating ancestors in matings many times over.

A remarkable 82 of those sires traced back in the paternal line to the diminutive Canadian breed-shaper Northern Dancer. Many, of course, will be descended from him more than once.

The most powerful agent of Northern Dancer’s influence is Green Desert at present, with 21 of those 82 sires

Cityscape: son of Selkirk is a rare representative of the Sharpen Up sire line

belonging to his branch, thanks to sons Invincible Spirit and Oasis Dream being farmed so heavily and paternal grandson Sea The Stars, by Cape Cross, slowly amassing a larger band of stallion sons.

Sadler’s Wells is responsible for 18 of the 82, with all bar three – Kitten’s Joy’s son Kameko and paternal grandson Dubai Mile, and Montjeu’s son Camelot – descending from Galileo. This line, associated with excellence over Classic distances, now even has an emergent sprinting offshoot in Havana Grey.

Storm Cat accounts for 16 of those 82 Northern Dancer male-line sires. His

brilliant son Giant’s Causeway gave us Shamardal, whose stature as a sire of sires has grown again with Blue Point getting off to such a fine start, while grandson Scat Daddy, via Johannesburg, sits at the head of a dynasty of mainly pacey and precocious stallions.

Storm Cat has overtaken Danehill in the number of male-line descendants from Northern Dancer, which would have seemed unlikely when Danehill’s empire was expanding so rapidly in the early years of the millennium. Thirteen of Northern Dancer’s 82-strong tribe go back to Danehill, with Kodiac and his sons in the vanguard.

Acclamation, whose male line is a less obvious route back to Northern Dancer, going through Royal Applause, Waajib and Try My Best, accounts for nine of the 82 current sires in this category. His son Mehmas, still on the rise and already with three sons of his own in Britain and

BILL SELWYN

Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man is a welcome emerging young sire son of Deep Impact

Ireland at £5,000 or more, looks the most obvious candidate for keeping this line alive.

Pivotal’s five male-line descendants make it 82 for Northern Dancer. His son Siyouni has been a game-changer, still covering elite books of mares at Haras de Bonneval in France and being represented by three high-profile sons of his own at Coolmore in Paddington, Sottsass and St Mark’s Basilica.

Mr Prospector is making a serious fightback against Northern Dancer in the British and Irish stallion ranks. Sixteen stallions trace back to him, 12 of those being Dubawi, his sons and grandsons – a line that has exploded in popularity since the bright starts made by New Bay, Night Of Thunder, Too Darn Hot and Zarak.

It seems a foregone conclusion that the Mr Prospector male line will also grow in Britain and Ireland from Wootton Bassett, who has covered

large numbers of blue-chip mares at Coolmore in recent seasons. He already has French-conceived Champion Stakes hero King Of Steel and top two-year-olds

“Mr Prospector’s male line will also grow from Wootton Bassett”

Al Riffa, Bucanero Fuerte, River Tiber and Unquestionable lined up for stallion positions, you would think.

The only three stallions among the 101 standing in Britain and Ireland for at least

£5,000 this year not to descend from either Northern Dancer or Mr Prospector are Saxon Warrior and Study Of Man, sons of Japanese supersire Deep Impact, and Dream Ahead, by Diktat.

It’s important to point out that they are far from outcrosses to the abovenamed ubiquitous patriarchs – Deep Impact’s dam Wind In Her Hair is by the Northern Dancer-line sire Alzao, and Dream Ahead has Sadler’s Wells and Green Desert within his first three generations – but they do at least offer a refreshing change and offer the possibility of creative crosses.

Saxon Warrior – out of Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Maybe, who was bred on the Northern Dancer-heavy cross of Galileo over Danehill – has his third crop of northern-hemisphere two-year-olds race this year.

He has quickly notched up a long list of stakes horses, headed by Breeders’

GEORGE SELWYN

››

Cup Juvenile Turf hero Victoria Road, and has been immensely popular at Coolmore, covering 654 mares in the past three seasons.

Lanwades Stud-based Study Of Man, whose dam Second Happiness is by Storm Cat out of Nureyev’s sublime daughter Miesque, has been siring classy performers like shelling peas early in his sophomore season, including Prix Saint-Alary victress Birthe, German 2,000 Guineas third Ghorgan, Pretty Polly Stakes second Kalpana, Craven Stakes third Sons And Lovers and Musidora Stakes second Francophone.

He looks like becoming an important part of the British breeding landscape, not just for offering precious access to the prolific Deep Impact line but also for supplying the sorts of horses who could excel in Classics or be in demand from overseas buyers if they come up just short of that standard.

Dream Ahead, a grandson of Warning via Dikatat, has been a useful servant to breeders at Ballylinch Stud, then Haras de Grandcamp and now Bearstone Stud, where he commanded a fee of just £6,500 this year. Not bad for a sire who has delivered 64 Flat stakes performers including Al Wukair, Donjuan Triumphant, Dream Of Dreams and Glass Slippers, all of whom struck at the highest level.

Dream Ahead is one of the last remaining members of the Warning sire line, which stretches back to Man O’War via In Reality, and is also an emerging broodmare sire, with his daughters having produced British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Poptronic and class acts like Cold Case, Romantic Style and Texas. One mare by him even managed to get Coventry Stakes

runner-up Army Ethos from the generally disappointing Shalaa.

Where else do breeders who want to introduce a little genetic diversity into their matings go? Commercially credible options are thin on the ground but those who don’t need to sell have some outside-the-box choices.

Chief among them is Pearl Secret, by Indian Ridge’s son Compton Place and with only one incidence of Northern Dancer in his ancestry, way back in the fifth generation. He is one of the very few representatives of the Byerley Turk sire line still in use, standing at Norton Grove Stud at a fee of just £2,000.

He was an accomplished sprinter himself in his pomp, and hit a bit of a purple patch last year when Doddie’s Impact won the Brocklesby Stakes, Rhythm N Hooves took the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes at Royal Ascot and Designer scored in a valuable York handicap for the second year running.

There would be many more options if breeders opened up their mares’ dating pool to National Hunt-orientated

stallions, including some who might have been tried on the Flat in a different era.

Jack Hobbs springs to mind. The Irish Derby and Dubai Sheema Classic winner, who stands at Overbury Stud at £5,000, is by Halling and so is a rare male-line descendant of Sharpen Up still in service. Northern Dancer also appears only once within five generations of his pedigree.

He has had only four runners on the Flat in Britain and Ireland but two have won, including Derek and Judith Newell’s highly rated homebred handicapper The Gadget Man, sold to race in Australia for 310,000gns at the end of his three-yearold season. It goes to show it can be done.

The Sharpen Up sire line hangs by a thread, so it seems a shame that European breeders no longer have access to Selkirk’s son Cityscape at Overbury Stud as he hasn’t returned from

“Thankfully, France has incubated some neglected sire lines”

covering in South America, where he is a sire of at least five Grade 1 winners, since 2022.

Cityscape, who also has Northern Dancer in his family tree only once within five generations, has supplied Oaks third Caernarfon, US Grade 2 winner Avenue De France, Hong Kong Grade 3 scorer Ka Ying Star, known as Urban Aspect when he raced in Britain for breeder Kingsclere Stud, and numerous other smart horses despite never covering big books.

He gave more cause to regret his absence in the northern hemisphere when daughter Chili Flag defeated hot favourite Coppice to win the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes in Kentucky in May.

Returning to the jumps stallion ranks, they also contain many sons of Monsun, the German champion who had no repeated ancestors within four generations and no Northern Dancer at all. Sadly he never took hold as a Flat sire of sires, but top-class horses such as Gentlewave, Getaway, Maxios, Schiaparelli, Shirocco and Vadamos are available to Flat breeders even though

GEORGE SELWYN

GEORGE SELWYN

Rainbow Quest: once responsible for various stallion sons, his sire line is rarely seen today

Warning: grandson Dream Ahead offers rare access to the line forged by the brilliant miler

they are marketed towards National Hunt.

The influx of French sires into jumps studs in Britain and Ireland has also brought some exotic bloodlines. For example, Blue Bresil is by Smadoun (by Kaldoun, by Caro); Diamond Boy is by Mansonnien (by Tip Moss, by Luthier, by Klairon); and Kap Rock is by Video Rock (by No Lute, by Luthier).

Thankfully, France has incubated some neglected sire lines, including that descending from the speedy Grey Sovereign, which includes Blue Bresil’s great-grandsire Caro. Kendargent and his son Goken, going great guns at Haras de Colleville, also go back to Grey Sovereign

in the male line, via Kendor, Kenmare, Kalamoun and Zeddaan.

The Grey Sovereign line is thriving in the US too, thanks to Uncle Mo and his sons. He is by Indian Charlie, by In Excess, by Siberian Express, by Caro.

Adventurous breeders can also find in France a rare male-line descendant of Sea-Bird, in Robin Of Navan, and a couple of Indian Ridge grandsons in Captain Chop and Lucky Team.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Blushing Groom sire line was in rude health, notably through Rainbow Quest and Rahy. Today, the situation is unfortunately very different, with hard-to-come-by entry points into the

line coming via the late Le Havre’s sons Motamarris and Roman Candle.

However, Le Havre – by Rahy’s son Noverre – could have a shot at having a well supported Flat stallion son if the Nurlan Bizakov-owned and bred Ramadan wins more Group races to go with his score in the Prix de Fontainebleau.

Breeders willing to use Kentuckybased stallions, or purchase mares by them, have a variety of ‘different’ lines to choose from, including that going back to Bold Ruler, which takes in champion sire Tapit.

A priceless strand of the Roberto sire line still exists on the other side of the Atlantic too, after the likes of Dynaformer and Lear Fan failed to lay down roots in the stallion ranks.

It hangs from Arch, by Roberto’s excellent sire son Kris S. Arch’s son Blame, who stands at Claiborne Farm at $25,000, is widely respected having sired Grade 1 winners Abscond, Fault, Marley’s Freedom, Nadal, Senga and Wet Paint. Arch also has Instilled Regard and Preservationist, sire of recent first-crop Peter Pan Stakes winner Antiquarian, in bargain roles.

Perhaps the rise of Japan as a power-broker in the bloodstock market will bring some less mined sire lines to Europe too. Coolmore are reported to be using world champion Equinox and his sire Kitasan Black, by Deep Impact’s full-brother Black Tide, as well as Deep Impact’s Triple Crown-winning son Contrail this year.

Northern Dancer has no doubt won the Game of Thrones battle of sire lines that has taken place over the last halfcentury or so; but his empire might shrink a little as breeders seek out alternatives at home and abroad.

COOLMORE

Wootton Bassett: a member of the Gone West branch of the Mr Prospector sire line

Alex Elliott Talent SCOUT

From King Of Steel on the Flat to A Plus Tard over jumps, success for Alex Elliott spans both codes – and with a pair of exciting fillies headlining the Classic crop, even better could be still to come

Words: Nancy Sexton

There are times when going against the grain is the smart move. As an example, the commercial market remains driven by those sharply-bred, fast-looking individuals but plenty can also be gained by thinking outside the box, especially for those buying with a more patient eye as anyone who has traded on a middle-distance talent can attest.

Valmont, guided by agent Alex Elliott, is one such owner. Still a relatively young operation, Anthony Ramsden’s ownership vehicle has made it its business to target later-maturing types with an eye on future trading, and with great success if last year’s season is anything to go by.

Valmont had its first runner only in the spring of 2022 but by the time autumn the following year had rolled round, had built up enough of a portfolio to sell 2,227,000gns worth of stock at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. It marked quite the sales debut for Elliott’s fledgling consignment Imperium Sales, especially in light of the fact that the 13-strong draft included 575,000gns sale-topper Balance Play.

The ambition is for Imperium Sales to become a major player among consignors within the form horse and mare market. Meanwhile at the buying end, Elliott headed to the Oaks at Epsom with not one but two live shots in You Got To Me, a 200,000gns yearling purchase owned by Valmont with Newsells Park Stud who entered the Classic picture with a bold front-running win in the Lingfield Oaks Trial, and

€78,000 yearling buy Forest Fairy, who jumped from a Wolverhampton maiden win to victory in the Cheshire Oaks on only her second start. Both are trained by Ralph Beckett, a key component to Valmont’s ascendancy who has worked closely with Elliott in the ten years since the agent went out on his own.

However, the undoubted star of Elliott’s career to date has been last year’s top three-year-old King Of Steel. Amo Racing’s colt was the sole Wootton Bassett yearling catalogued to the 2021 Keeneland September Sale but as a sizeable individual, wasn’t to everyone’s taste. Elliott takes up the story.

“Kia Joorabchian [of Amo Racing] was the first person that really let me

buy expensive horses,” says Elliott. “Kia is fantastic at backing young people. It was Keeneland September 2021 and Mick Fitzpatrick, a great friend, was down at the back ring and said to me ‘have you seen the Wootton Bassett?’ Keeneland is so vast, you can’t cover it on your own. There’s so many horses, the selling is so quick and if someone saw a giant horse, you’d go ‘no can’t have it’. But Fitz said to me ‘you have to come and see this horse’.

“So I traipsed up to Gainesway [who was selling him on behalf of breeder Bonne Chance Farm] and when he came out it was like Jack and the Beanstalk. But then I watched him walk up there and he was so light on his feet. All the angles were there and he was in

Alex Elliott: purchaser of promising duo Forest Fairy and You Got To Me

King Of Steel: bought at Keeneland, the colt was one of last year’s top three-year-olds

proportion – he was just big.

“Kia came up with his crew and we thought ‘well he’s a Wootton Bassett, lets go and see what he makes’. Everybody stood around watching and I think Kia bid the reserve, $200,000. There were a few people laughing because he was so big. But the rest is history.”

He adds: “Kia has got some kind of kick out of that horse. For someone who supported me in the beginning and to then get a horse of the lifetime, that’s the biggest thrill. I’d love to see him stand in England at the end of it. He’s so striking and he’s also going to be an outcross.”

King Of Steel gained plenty of admirers last season, with his runner-up effort to Auguste Rodin in the Derby followed by wins in the King Edward VII Stakes and QIPCO Champions Stakes. His stature leant confidence to the idea that he would be better again at four but last month came the news that injury had

delayed his 2024 campaign.

Even so, there’s still plenty for Elliott Bloodstock Services to look forward to in its tenth year of operation. In that decade, the agency has successfully

“When King Of Steel came out it was like Jack and the Beanstalk”

mixed between Flat and National Hunt, with a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in A Plus Tard and Grade 1-winning hurdlers Teahupoo, Irish Point and Supasundae

sitting alongside the likes of King Of Steel, Royal Lodge Stakes winner New Mandate and the aforementioned Oaks trials winners Forest Fairy and You Got To Me.

“I went to Philip Hobbs after school at 18,” says Elliott. “I began as a groom and later became pupil assistant. All I wanted to do was train and I was all about the jumps. I had two years with him when he had the likes of Rooster Booster and Flagship Uberalles.

“I did the Darley Flying Start and then went to the US where I worked for Christophe Clement in the year he had [champion] Gio Ponti and then for Eoin Harty when he had [Grade 1 winners] Victor’s Cry and Colonel John. I was pretty set I was going to train but was always going to come back to England. But when I did come back, I was unemployed, had no money and because I’d been away, no connections. I literally

Alex Elliott

›› sat at home for a few months thinking what on earth am I going to do.”

It could be argued that Elliott has trading in his blood given his aunt is Gill Richardson, who forged a very successful career as a bloodstock agent, her reputation built upon savvy Mick Channon-trained value buys such as Music Show and Majestic Desert.

“Jamie McCalmont kindly gave me a position and I worked for him for a year and a half,” says Elliott. “Ralph Beckett was working with Jamie at the time, and he and I hit it off immediately. When I went on my own, Ralph kindly gave me a chance.

“I’d been buying for a few pinhookers at Keeneland but I really had nobody. I spent a lot of time driving to and from sales without buying a horse. Looking back, it was crazy. But then that’s what drives you forward. And of course, you’re looking at horses all the time and making contacts.

“Ralph backed me. He was training predominantly for owner-breeders at the time. We started off buying 30,000gns to 40,000gns horses. Staying horses is what Ralph likes to buy – there is the resale value on them and so we slowly started to work that angle.”

The markets have changed immeasurably over the past ten years. The export trade, most recently fuelled by emerging racing nations in the Middle East, is now a key factor to the health of British and Irish racing as owners cash in. The number of public sales, meanwhile, has never been higher. Agents can easily spend the year darting from Australia to Europe to America in search of prospects, and that is before the National

Hunt market is taken into account.

“Different markets fluctuate,” says Elliott. “Australia seems to be booming at the moment, but that’s only really happened in the last eight years. And of course there’s the Middle East.

“I’m very lucky that I get to buy some lovely jumps horses out of France. Horses like A Plus Tard, Teahupoo and Irish Point – that’s been really nice. I have very good contacts in Nicky de Balanda and Sebastien Desmontils. But I’d say it’s 95% Flat now. The sales season has become so much busier. Covid accelerated the digital side. I’ve got a young family so from January to March, I’m not going to Australia because it’s so busy during the second half of the year.

“One of the big things they talk about in the National Hunt world is the dearth

of good horses. To get a good horse, you either have to look at France, which is where I go, or to Ireland. Back in the day, you had those horses off the Flat. When I worked for Philip Hobbs, we had [Triumph Hurdle winner] Detroit City, who was second in a Bahrain Trophy for Jeremy Noseda on the Flat. You had horses like him and horses like [Champion Hurdle winner] Katchit. Those horses now aren’t around. The layman owner in England who wants to buy a nice juvenile hurdler for £100,000 or under now can’t buy that horse.

“When I first started I bought Beltor, who won the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle for Rob Stephens. We got him for 30,000gns. Today, those horses have already been sold. The foreign markets want them, places like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and they like those middledistance horses.”

Hence trading is a key part of the modus operandi at Valmont. The string is split between various trainers in Britain although the bulk are with Beckett.

In addition to You Got To Me, they include Moon Over Miami, a Sea The Moon gelding who has won both his starts this season, the highly regarded Night Of Thunder colt Valvano, the winner of a back-end Nottingham maiden last season who ran into 2,000 Guineas winner Notable Speech when second on his return at Kempton in April, Feigning Madness, a Ulysses colt who won both his starts last year, and recent impressive Salisbury maiden winner Oxford Comma, like You Got To Me a daughter of Nathaniel. There is also the older Salt Bay, who was beaten a neck into third in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury.

Forest Fairy (centre): Cheshire Oaks winner was bought for €78,000

BILL SELWYN

A Plus Tard clears the last fence en route to victory in the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup

“Anthony and I met when I was with Eoin Harty in America and we’ve spoken every day since,” says Elliott. “He was the best man at my wedding last year and I was the best man at his.

“We started Valmont in 2021. There’s the fun element to it, which is what it should always be about. But we try and buy the best yearlings we can within value. We’re looking for stars of course, but they’re obviously few and far between so we have to be sensible about it and from our point of view, our strongest asset is the trading. Anthony wouldn’t do it if we didn’t trade, it’s hugely important.

“And once you’re on the wheel, doing that year after year, it doesn’t take a lot of patience as there’s always horses coming along. It takes someone with vision like Anthony to understand that and to also understand that you might have to go the handicap route to get the best out of a horse.

“Half the key is having a good trainer, and we haven’t just got a good trainer in Ralph, we have a brilliant one. It works really well. He’s programmed into the fact that we’re traders. I’d love to see him be champion trainer one day.”

Elliott signed for around 80 yearlings last year, giving him plenty of fledgling ammunition. He has also been busy at the breeze-ups this spring, where purchases include a pair of high-profile Justify two-year-olds at the Arqana May Sale; a colt out of Curlylocks bought for €1 million on behalf of Amo Racing and a filly out of Sarah Lynx purchased for €800,000 on behalf of MV Magnier.

“Now we’re at the point of being able to buy a lot of nice horses,” he says. “There’s plenty of good people out there able to buy good horses but they don’t have the backing. My aunt Gill Richardson has an amazing eye –she became known for buying all those 30,000gns superstars. It’s a fickle game and I owe Kia a lot for allowing me to buy those good horses early on.

“I’m also very lucky that the main horses I buy are for my good friends. We’re winning and losing together. That’s been an important bedrock to everything.”

Stability has always been an important part of business but perhaps more so right now given the volatility of the market, something that was brought into sharper focus at last winter’s breeding stock sales and again at this year’s early round of breeze-up auctions, where it was pretty much feast or famine.

“The business has grown organically, I’m proud of that,” says Elliott. “We’re at

‘It was like everything had come together’

Imperium Sales could easily have been a soft launch. Instead, it turned over nearly 2.3 million guineas on its sale debut for Alex Elliott and his team at last year’s Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale and another 765,000gns at the later Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

With a selection of Valmontowned horses, many of them progressive-looking three-yearolds, under its banner, it jumped straight in as a top-end player. That was especially noticeable at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale where it sold 525,000gns saletopper Balance Play, a three-time winner who was knocked down to the Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and McKeever Bloodstock team, and 104-rated He’s A Monster, who made 450,000gns to Wathnan Racing through Blandford Bloodstock.

Meanwhile at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, two-time winner La Isla Mujeres, by Lope De Vega, realised 330,000gns to Jason Kelly and Paddy Twomey.

“Imperium was something I’d wanted to do for a long time,” says Elliott. “One thing that doing so

a stage when we’re hitting the window of opportunity and we’re ready for it.

“The whole market was down last year and Anthony and I stepped in and gave it a good kick. There is still a real hunger for good horses. But it’s so top heavy at the moment. Everything has become so expensive and it costs as much to keep a good one as it does a bad one. But it

much work in the States taught me is that presenting horses well is invaluable.

“I’d seen other agents Brad Weisbord [of ELiTE Sales] and Jacob West [of Highgate Sales] do it in the US. So I’d had it in my mind to do it for a while – I just wanted to have a group of horses to be proud of. I said to my assistant Lucy Ryan ‘I want to do this’ and she just got it done. Lucy is a massive part of everything. When I started buying a lot of yearlings, she came to me via Mathilde Texier and she’s been a game-changer. There’s a lot of admin and she thinks two steps ahead for me the whole time.”

Several of the draft have already gone on to acquit themselves well. They include Redemption Time, who won the Binaa Cup in Bahrain for Al Adiyat Racing following his sale for 150,000gns to SackvilleDonald.

He adds: “All I wanted to do was train and that night, to watch them walk up there in your own brand was a proud moment, especially for the whole team – that was as close as I’ll get to training. It was like everything had finally come together in a way.”

does leave an opportunity for people hunting because as we know, good horses can come from anywhere.

“The biggest thing that makes me tick is a horse increasing in value and doing a client a service. They’ve backed me with their judgement and there’s not a greater feeling than being vindicated and doing it together as a team.”

Balance Play topped the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at 525,000gns

Breed Smart: an introduction

Over the course of the coming months, we will present a series of articles written by industry specialists on the subject of ‘Breeding Smarter’. Here, TBA Trustee and Flat breeder Colin Bryce introduces the topic

Breeding racehorses is a tricky business. While not unlike other types of agriculture in the risks that our particular business faces, thoroughbred breeding lacks the means to manage many of these risks in the way that arable and livestock farmers are able to do.

While the often negative effects of weather, disease and crop failure are common to all farmers, the ability to manage price (and thus revenue risks) are only available to those producing a homogeneous product such as cattle, sheep, pigs, milk, grains etc via the use of futures markets.

Racehorses, though, come in all shapes and sizes and are a heterogeneous product unsuited to the ex-ante price risk management benefits afforded through the use of futures exchanges.

So the thoughtful breeder is mostly on his own, bearing his revenue risk. Perhaps because of the clear difference between the ability of arable and livestock farmers to influence their commercial outcome and the inability of thoroughbred breeders to so do, risk management in a more general sense has not figured highly in our lexicon.

A more proactive, thoughtful approach is needed. Increasingly, breeding economics is becoming a threat to the sustainability of the business and to the provision of the requisite number of racehorses to fulfil the needs of the racing programme. Arguably, it has always been this way. For most of its illustrious history, breeding thoroughbreds has been a labour of love, with the heart ruling the head.

Animal husbandry has been a particularly attractive activity for the wealthy over the years and the standards of pastoral care established in this country have informed many other parts of the world, some of whom have now overtaken this country in the financial health of their breeding industry.

This theme of the bloodstock industry as something of a frippery for the wealthy has been entertainingly memorialised in a very readable article, written in 2004 but completely relevant today, entitled ‘High-Caste Corinthians:

Amateurism and the Bloodstock Industry 1945-75 (Moore-Colyer, RJ and Simpson, JP: The International Journal of the History of Sport Vol 21, No 2, March 2004 pp 277-296).

The problems faced by our industry in the post-war years are remarkably similar to those we face today: declining numbers of broodmares in service, smaller foal crops, and the loss of the best of our bloodstock to overseas interests. Between 1937 and 1967, “the average price of yearlings fell by 72% while production costs rose 34% and stallion nominations by 93%”, MooreColyer and Simpson tell us.

As this article explains, thoroughbred breeding was really a pastime for those who could afford it, “a patriotic duty” of the English gentleman. They cite that “many breeders regarded economics as a branch of sophistry” (some of our politicians may still believe this!). Today, the bloodstock industry seems to be at a similar nadir. The wealthy British owner-breeder is becoming a rarer sight and as, in the words of WS Gilbert, “the hours creep on apace” for those of us who have been around for a while, there is a dire need for renewal, new ideas and especially for new entrants to galvanise the industry.

The exploits and successes of such as Ed Harper at Whitsbury, Nick Bradley, Sophie Buckley and others are most welcome, but more is needed.

First impressions

So what do potential new entrants see when they investigate how they might participate in our business? Well, they might read the latest TBA Economic Impact Study compiled last year by consultants PWC. And while they will read of the great success of the TBA’s self-help scheme, the Great British Bonus, which has so rewarded owners on the track and sellers of British-bred fillies at the sales, they will also note that breeding a racehorse consigns them to a loss of around £30,000 at the median sale price.

Furthermore, figures from the 2023 yearling sales are starkly illustrative of the sub-economic nature of thoroughbred breeding for many.

Some 72% of the stallions represented on the Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock fee card of 2021 with ten or more progeny sold in 2023 showed a loss to breeders at the median, after accounting for a £25,000 keep cost. This figure rises to 95% for stallions that were priced at less than £20,000 although, unsurprisingly, for stallions priced above £50,000, the figure

Smart breeders: Ed and Chris Harper of Whitsbury Manor Stud

falls to 33%. Additionally, 56% of new stallions show a loss at the median.

These fairly rough statistics could be further extended and fine-tuned through, for example, the calculation of returns by decile.

While more will be done to add to the current GBB product in fairly short order, what else might be on the agenda of the ‘smart breeder’ in order to try to shift the odds of making a profit in his or her favour?

A series of articles on this subject will follow in future editions of this publication. Experts from various sectors will examine topics that might inform the idea of ‘breeding smarter’. How the balance of risks borne on the one hand by the stallion master and on the other hand by the mare owner might be fairly shared through creative cover contract conditions is one area worthy of exploration. Payment timing, foal sharing, and cover fees related to final sale prices are all areas to consider.

For example, there may be good reason for masters of lesser-priced, more accessible stallions to consider innovative contracting in order to attract numbers and to have more runners to promote these sometimes-struggling sires. At the same time, the mare owner, although potentially giving away equity by foal sharing, might consider employing this form of risk management approach that could conceivably reduce the likelihood of a significant loss.

What else should be in the risk management toolkit? Well, on the husbandry side, taking care to operate to the highest standard of biosecurity is critical to avoid the catastrophic loss of product. Veterinary and farriery intervention regarding conformation, while costly and, for some, controversial, can also make a difference at sale without necessarily compromising performance. These subjects will also be expanded upon in future issues.

For the mare owner, stallion choice is a big determinant of the probability of profitability.

Fashion, which changes all too quickly, is one thing. Cost and location are important also, as is matching mare and stallion pedigrees and conformation as ideally as possible.

Perhaps as important, though, is to cover one’s mare by taking close account of her likely place in the rank order of mare quality of the chosen stallion. Overcovering is a quick way to lose money.

Is it better for a mare categorised as a below median type in a particular stallion’s

book to seek that cover, or might it be better to consider using a stallion where one’s mare would be rated in the upper deciles of his book of mates?

This thought process will help the breeder understand for which sale his product might qualify (another key consideration) and by iterating the process across a herd of broodmares, a sense of likely revenue and chosen cover costs for a portfolio can be ascertained. When added to keep costs (the economics of which should be well understood by the smart breeder), choices can be made knowing where one’s mares will sit in the pecking order of various stallions and where on the risk spectrum the breeder feels most comfortable financially (a rough budgeting exercise in an uncertain business).

Positivity and pragmatism

On the question of costs, it is worth noting that it is human nature to assume a better outcome than may be entirely realistic. So, for example, some may forget to include mare depreciation costs on the debit side. In addition, perhaps the value appreciation of owned land and stud property should be considered (post tax) on the credit side. Realism can be a bitter pill, but it is usually one worth swallowing.

While most will pay close attention to fashion and headline results when choosing stallions, there is a case for digging more deeply into the available data to fine tune to a more optimal covering plan than might be apparent on the surface. Along with an innovative cover contract and payment terms, careful attention to sales-related husbandry, and conformation and pedigree matching, the odds can be shifted in one’s favour.

Of course, there are those for whom ‘risk taking’ as opposed to ‘risk management’ is the preferred model and there are also those for whom the breeding of racehorses is a passion supported by wealth and is justified, not by financial return, but by the utility value of the activity itself and the consequent involvement in the industry and in the racing world. It is the price worth paying for having fun!

Arguably, however, there is greater satisfaction to be gained by most people from succeeding in a business by careful management so that positive outcomes result, both financially and in terms of the quality of stock that is bred. Indeed for many who arrive at the world of thoroughbred breeding during or after a successful career in the wider business world, the funding of a loss-making

business quickly palls and doesn’t sit well with the psyche of successful individuals –people who are accustomed to winning.

While we have considered things primarily from the perspective of the broodmare owner, one must not overlook the very significant risks taken by stallion masters in acquiring and standing an animal at stud.

This is a part of the industry that is littered with failure, has a high financial barrier to entry, and it is a business where a new stallion can be unreasonably done-down by changing fashion or the judgment of sales houses before having had a chance to succeed.

Mare owners and stallion masters, both of whom face our sub-economic world of breeding racehorses, need to work together to address the issues that face the industry. We will also consider, in this series, the perspective from the stallion owner’s side.

Now may also be a moment for the growth of syndicate breeding. The entrant to our business who perhaps can’t on their own afford the £100k mare and the £75k cover required to get into the top echelons of sale returns, can, sharing costs and risks with a few others, breed better and turn the probabilities towards a more favourable outcome. Or perhaps an entrant can afford these sums but would rather combine with others and spread the risk by securing a multiple number of mares to be well covered.

This smart thinking is increasingly evident in both the racehorse ownership and the breeding world in this country (other jurisdictions such as Australia are well ahead) and we will cover this important area in the coming months.

It may well be that the pullback in returns seen at bloodstock sales (especially in the UK) in 2023 will prove to be temporary. After all, it takes only the slightest fall in demand to cause a significant fall in prices – think of the difference in price that can be achieved from having one bidder for a horse rather than two or more. One’s reserve might, say, be £20k and with one bidder, that is that. A second bidder might take the price significantly higher, resulting in a meaningful effect on overall returns when this scenario is repeated across the board.

Yet the core of the market will still be uneconomic, whatever the hopedfor positive price correction might be in future, as the bifurcation of returns between the ‘champagne end’ of the industry on one hand and the ‘cloth cap’ end on the other becomes starker. Our industry needs both and more than ever, we need to ‘breed smart’.

Breeders’ Digest

Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editor

Yorkshire back in the spotlight with Economics

As a proud Yorkshireman, there is little doubt that Guy Reed would have taken immense pleasure from the winning performance of Economics in last month’s Dante Stakes at York. Reed died ten years ago but Economics is a product of four generations of his Ardneasken line and like many members of that family, was foaled at his Copgrove Hall Stud in Yorkshire, now managed by Brian O’Rourke on behalf of a trust.

At the time of writing, it was still unclear as to whether Economics, a tall, flashy son of Night Of Thunder, would be supplemented by connections for the Derby. What is clear cut, however, is that Isa Salman Al Khalifa has a potentially top-class colt on his hands, one who should with normal progression hold his own at the top table going forward.

Economics is the sixth foal out of La Pomme d’Amour, one of the last good horses to carry Reed’s yellow, pink and black colours. The daughter of Peintre Celebre won two renewals of the Group 2 Prix de Pomone at Deauville for Andre Fabre, yet despite her own talent had foaled only one winner by the time Economics came under the hammer as a foal at the 2021 Tattersalls December Sale. Adrian O’Brien’s Hazelwood Bloodstock pinhooked him for 40,000gns and went on to resell him for 160,000gns to Highclere Agency as a Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling.

“We run a business and we have to sell,” says O’Rourke. “Night Of Thunder stood for €25,000 when we used him so we were happy as we had doubled our money. Don’t forget, at that stage the mare had only produced one winner from several foals and that was a bumper winner.

“She’d been bred to horses like Oasis Dream, Intello and Dawn Approach but winners had been thin on the ground so I decided we’d go to the Mr Prospector line in the hope of producing something. And so she went to Night Of Thunder – we just thought we’d try something different and hope.

“The family is all mile and a quarter, mile and a half. Economics ran well as a two-year-old in a good race at Newmarket and then he obviously won his maiden at Newbury first time out this season. Knowing how big he was,

we thought then that he must be good. We’d had word that William Haggas liked him but when you go from a maiden to a Group 2 race, it’s still a big step up.”

Agricultural tycoon Reed owned his first horses during the 1960s and on the advice of Middleham trainer Sam Hall, purchased the Right Royal mare Ardneasken at Tattersalls in foal to Sovereign Path. The resulting colt, Warpath, won the Doonside Cup and later stood with some success at Reed’s Nidd Hall Stud, where he sired the owner’s 1981 Derby fourth Shotgun. A later foal out of Ardneasken, Dakota, also handed his breeder a popular success in the 1975 Ebor Handicap.

Indeed Economics’ female family offers something a bit different by today’s standards. His third dam Siouan was a daughter of So Blessed while his granddam Winnebago was by Kris, who stood for Lord Howard de Walden at nearby Thornton Stud. Kris’s tenure in Yorkshire, during which he was champion sire, harks back to a golden era for the county that was also graced for a time by the confidence of the Wildenstein family; Peintre Celebre, Arcangues and Bigstone were just some of the owner’s Group 1 winners to spend their formative months at the stud.

“Copgrove Hall itself was formerly owned by Major Lionel Holliday and was predominantly a dairy farm up until 1985,” says O’Rourke. “Yorkshire is

completely underrated when it comes to raising racehorses. Up until the 1980s, youngstock were either sent to North Yorkshire or Ireland, and then the emphasis changed to Newmarket. But Yorkshire would be the same weatherwise as Ireland – we get a lot of rainfall, we’re on limestone land and we have an abundance of grass.

“The Wildenstein family boarded a number of youngstock here for many years. Peintre Celebre was at Copgrove as a young horse and I know that Guy was extremely proud that the stud raised an Arc winner.”

With that in mind, Reed was an unsurprising supporter of Peintre Celebre during his time as a Coolmore stallion and so it’s very fitting that La Pomme d’Amour is now one of his stakes-producing daughters.

“La Pomme d’Amour didn’t show a lot in the mornings but Andre Fabre told Guy, ‘Whatever you do breed from this mare as she’s a different animal on the track’,” says Rourke. “She’s the only one we have left from the family now. There was a full-sister called Van Gosh [a Listed winner] that they thought was very good but she sadly died young.”

Reed enjoyed one of his finest moments on the track when his homebred La Cucaracha won the Nunthorpe Stakes in 2005. In contrast to Economics’ family, Copgrove Hall is still home to several relations of that quick mare.

“Guy was a proud Yorkshireman, his word was his bond and he lived for winning races like that, especially at York,” says O’Rourke. “The stud is predominantly a boarding operation now. Our own mares have been whittled down but the idea is to keep it going forward as long as its paying for himself. As we know, it’s not an exact science – the most important thing is that we raise racehorses and that’s first and foremost what we set out to do.”

Now 16, La Pomme d’Amour has a yearling colt by Nathaniel who was sold at last year’s foal sales and is now in foal to Stradivarius.

“Stradivarius was a very good, sound racehorse – the type that we’re exactly trying to breed,” says O’Rourke. “We’ve got three of his foals up here and they’re absolute crackers.”

BILL SELWYN

Economics skips clear in the Dante Stakes

Sales Circuit • By Carl Evans

Record €2.3 million colt

headlines Arqana May Sale

Arqana May Breeze-Up Sale

An extra day for inspections was welcomed by buyers ahead of this one-day sale, such was the depth of quality to be found in the catalogue.

The result more or less lived up to the expectation, with record turnover and average and a top lot whose €2.3 million valuation was by some margin a new benchmark for the event. However, the selective nature of buyers at other recent breeze-up sales was witnessed once again – albeit slightly less so – with the result that the clearance rate lost three points when falling to 80 per cent, while the median was down ten per cent to €100,000. The average of €167,163 was up ten per cent and turnover of €22,250,000 showed a rise of 4.5 per cent.

French premiums are clearly a handy asset for Arqana to market when attempting to attract the crème de la crème to this sale, and the cash boost such bonuses offer are always going to be a draw, particularly for French trainers. However, at the very peak of the market, the goal is bigger than that, namely a search for a potential stallion or top broodmare prospect.

As a result the top eight lots were sold to buyers with bases predominantly in Britain or Ireland, and the new best boy, a €2.3m son of soaring US stallion Justify, became the subject of a bidding duel involving buyers whose main operations are based in those two countries.

There are no prizes for guessing that would be Godolphin and Coolmore –Justify stands at Coolmore’s Kentuckybased Ashford Stud – and it was Sheikh Mohammed’s team who won the day. Charlie Appleby will now train the top lot who was put through the ring by Oak Tree Farm’s Norman Williamson, a man well rewarded for his $150,000 investment in the colt as a yearling.

Not that the final hours had been all smooth, for Williamson revealed the colt had pulled a shoe off and trodden on a nail during the practice breeze. Had infection taken hold it would have been curtains, but the horse came sound and produced the fastest time among the 174 horses who breezed. Some people may not like the clock’s influence on the market, saying it can be unfair on a horse who underperforms on the day, but –

forgive the puns – there is no turning the clock back and timing is now everything.

Williamson spoke for all his breezing colleagues when saying: “It’s a tough business, but a great business when it works.”

Justify stands nearly 17 hands high, and Williamson said he had noticed that a lot of his stock are “big, strong horses” which are liked by US buyers, but that his colt was more European and resembling his damsire, High Chaparral. The last-named stallion also sired the very useful Johann Strauss, a full-brother to the breezer’s winning dam Inchargeofme.

The sale’s other seven-figure horse, who was bought by Alex Elliott on behalf of Amo Racing’s Kia Joorabchian, was also a son of Justify who rose in value from $135,000 at yearling stage to €1m. Foaled by a Galileo sister to stallion Churchill, the colt was consigned by Lynn Lodge Stud’s Eddie O’Leary, a man who invariably makes a valid point, and did so when saying: “You could buy them [offspring of Justify] at Keeneland in September, but you’ll never be allowed to buy them again,” a reference to the sire’s continuing rise in popularity. Of course you will be able to buy his stock at Keeneland this year, but only if you own

an oil well or video game company.

To emphasise O’Leary’s point, Justify was by far the leading sire at the sale by average and aggregate prices. His four sold lots averaged nearly €1.1m and included an €800,000 filly who was also consigned by O’Leary and bought by Elliott for Amo Racing. She had cost the Lynn Lodge boss $110,000 as a yearling.

The sum of €800,000 also secured a Too Darn Hot filly for Amo Racing after being knocked down to Robson Aguiar on her way to a place at the stable of

TALKING POINT

• Arqana’s Executive Director Freddy Powell made a pertinent point when praising the vendors who prep and sell two-year-old breezers.

In an interview with James Thomas of the Racing Post, Powell said: “The breeze-up vendors are terrific yearling buyers. I think people should take advantage of the fact that the first selection has been made by some of the best horsemen and women on the planet.”

A Justify colt smashed the European record for a breeze-up horse at €2.3 million

Sales Circuit

›› Dominic Ffrench Davis. Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud consigned this filly having bought her for 110,000gns at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale.

Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown is a formidable opponent for other buyers when he focusses on a breezer and he left with another valuable selection of horses – no fewer than 11 were listed as being bought by Blandford, making the company the leading buyer.

The pick on price was a €650,000 colt from the first crop of Gainesway Farm’s McKinzie, a son of Street Sense and the

Statistics

Sold: 139 (80% clearance)

Aggregate: €22,250,500 (+4.5%)

Average: €167,163 (+10%)

Median: €100,000 (-10%)

winner of Grade 1 races at two, three and four. Malcolm Bastard consigned the colt, who had been a $200,000 pinhook.

Brown chose not to name his client, but he bought them four lots at this sale for just over €2m.

C Justify – Inchargeofme

Tree Farm

C Justify – Curlylocks Lynn Lodge Stud

F Too Darn Hot - War And Peace Powerstown Stud

F Justify - Sarah Lynx

C McKinzie - Belle’s Finale

Lodge Stud

Bastard

C Blue Point - Maggies Angel Mocklershill Stables

C Not This Time - Cloudy Dancer

C Sea The Stars - Valais Girl

F Too Darn Hot - Bubbling Up

C Bolt D’Oro – Notacat

Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale

Record turnover for the second year running meant that this renewal was another good one for Goffs UK.

Some rewarding pinhooks teed a number of consignors up for the ‘breeze’ season, but there was no hiding the gaps created by horses short of key ingredients, and while Tim Kent, Managing Director of the sales company, described the occasion as “a fantastic day in Doncaster”, he also reflected on the “stark difference between the haves and have-nots”. He was pleased with the 81 per cent clearance rate, but that was helped by some 50 private sales, a clear indication that buyers were prepared to hold fire in the ring knowing the market was in their favour. Some vendors were prepared to take their unsold horses home to race, others were happy to accept a deal back at the stable yard.

Kent also noted that 28 horses sold for a six-figure sum, a worthy total albeit five fewer than at the sale 12 months earlier. For the latest sale, 207 horses turned up, an increase of 23, and 167 found buyers, a clearance rate down five points at 81 per cent. Turnover gained nearly five per cent at £10,359,700, the average price was down just one per cent at £62,035 while the median shed ten per cent at £36,000.

Godolphin

Alex Elliott/Amo Racing

Robson Aguiar

Alex Elliott/M V Magnier

Blandford Bloodstock

Blandford Bloodstock

Gaybrook Lodge Stud 460,000 Blandford Bloodstock

Bloodstock Connection

Bloodstock Connection

430,000 Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

400,000 Fabrice Chappet/J Moran

Leamore Horses Limited 400,000 Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

are now commanding in the ring. One of his fillies headed this sale when knocked down to Anthony Stroud for £420,000, a remarkable sum when you consider the sire was standing for just £6,000 in the The £420,000 sale-topping daughter of Havana Grey headed the way of KHK Racing

Cometh the hour, cometh the sire power, and at this sale that was always likely to feature Havana Grey, Whitsbury Manor Stud’s rocket launcher whose progeny tend to live up to the prices they

Anthony Stroud: signed for the top lot

ARQANA

Arqana May Breeze-Up Sale

year she was conceived.

Stroud was acting for Bahrain’s KHK Racing, the owners of last year’s unbeaten juvenile Vandeek, a son of Havana Grey and also purchased as a breezer. Commenting on one of the sire’s virtues, Katie McGivern, who consigned the filly, said: “Whether rated 55 or 105 they try, and that’s why they win races.”

McGivern of Derryconnor Stud was thrilled with the result and for her client,

Top

Sex/breeding

F Havana Grey - In Trutina

C Mehmas - Jane Doe

C Mehmas – Munaasaba

C Mehmas - White Rosa

F Sioux Nation - Dancing Around

Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale

When rising costs and high interest rates force people to tighten their belts, why is the reverse true in the bloodstock sales industry?

With the season of breeze-up auctions heading to completion, it has been hard to sell a cheap horse, and far easier to sell an expensive one. It must be confusing to outsiders.

Vendors who took stock to the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, the second of the year to be held in Newmarket, were not in for an easy ride as a clearance rate of 72 per cent – down 12 points on the previous year – was to prove. There was a 17 per cent decline in turnover – in this instance a sum of 1,000,000gns – yet the average barely moved at 41,894gns while the median price dropped just ten per cent to 27,000gns.

Another element which now seems set

Creighton Schwartz Bloodstock, which bought the filly for £50,000 at Goffs’ Premier Yearling Sale.

Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock was in purchasing mode, lifting ten lots for a total of £2,370,000 as his agency became leading buyer by aggregate.

Brown latched onto offspring by Mehmas, securing colts by the sire for £380,000 and £350,000, plus a filly for £360,000, although he did not divulge the name of clients for whom he was acting.

Danny O’Donovan left Doncaster on a high after making marked profits on fillies by Sioux Nation and King Of Change –they boosted their appeal by recording the two quickest times during the breeze. The Sioux Nation, a €45,000 yearling purchase, sailed up to £300,000 when selling to Anthony Stroud, who headed interest from agent Alex Elliott.

The underbidder clearly liked the evidence of the clock, for he hung around and claimed the King Of Change filly – a €39,000 yearling – with a bid of £280,000. Both horses were bought as yearlings by O’Donovan and Adam Potts.

Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale

Quick on the clock, this King Of Change filly duly sold for 180,000gns

in stone is the market’s appetite for horses that clock the fastest breezes, and at this sale the quickest, a King Of Change filly, headed trade when selling for

180,000gns. She was knocked down to Oliver St Lawrence and trainer Bryan Smart having been sent to the ring by Danny O’Donovan and Adam Potts.

Katie McGivern: sold the sale-topper

Danny O’Donovan: another good sale

Sales Circuit

One week earlier they had sold another daughter of King Of Change for £280,000 at Doncaster.

Last autumn the first yearlings by the stallion – who in October 2022 moved to Starfield Stud in County Westmeath after two seasons at Derrinstown Stud – were an affordable commodity, and O’Donovan and Potts hoovered up three, but the sire’s breezers have been quick and more valuable, too. The Guineas Breeze-Up sale-topper, a daughter of the winning mare M’Selle, had been bought by Potts for what turned out to be the value price of £20,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Sale in Doncaster.

O’Donovan thanked his lucky stars and said the filly’s new valuation was some 50 per cent higher than his expectation, but he also noted: “Loads of friends of mine and other vendors are finding it very tough.”

Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony echoed that when, in his close-of-sale statement, he said: “The clearance rate

has been well below par,” adding: “As has has been noted at the earlier breeze-up sales, there is a selectivity to the market which has been reflected in clearance rates that have not matched the impressive levels achieved last year.” Not that he was blaming vendors, for he said: “The breeze-up consignors have as ever done an outstanding job.”

A total of 11 horses changed hands for a six-figure sum, just one fewer than last year, and they included a pair of Mehmas colts who followed the King Of Change filly onto the top-ten board. Eddie Linehan of Lackendarra Stables gained 160,000gns for his son of Mehmas, who was knocked down to agent Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of Opulence Thoroughbreds, while Richard Brown, a firm fan of the stallion, gave 150,000gns

Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale

C Mehmas – Raincall Lackendarra

C Mehmas – Camisole

C Hello Youmzain - Dream Dreamer

C Quality Road - Alice Springs

Tattersalls Guineas

Sale

John Dance’s high-profile association with horseracing took another step towards the done-and-dusted stage following a dispersal of his stock at this auction.

There was a silver lining for the auctioneers, for the draft helped generate new highs for turnover,

average and median prices, plus a handsome 93 per cent clearance rate, although given the circumstances there was little rejoicing. That might come later if purchasers discover they have gained a gem at a value-for-money price.

Under investigation by the financial watchdog, which in April told a court it considers his suspected misconduct to

on behalf of Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum for a colt from the O’Callaghan family’s Yeomanstown Stud. Brown secured three lots on the day – including a 150,000gns son of Hello Youmzain who will race in Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum’s colours having been consigned by Mick and Sarah Murphy – and, as at Doncaster the previous week, ensured his Blandford Bloodstock agency would take the leading buyer role by aggregate.

Statistics

Sold: 118 (72% clearance)

Aggregate: 4,943,500gns (-17%)

41,894gns (-1%)

27,000gns (-10%)

be potentially “one of the largest frauds perpetrated by an FCA-regulated individual at an authorised firm”, and with his horses banned from running by the British Horseracing Authority, Dance sold 53 horses at this event via The Castlebridge Consignment. The draft did not include his star racemare Laurens, who won six Group 1 races, although her first foal, unraced three-year-old First

This Mehmas colt provided a good result for Lackendarra Stables, selling for 160,000gns

Oliver St Lawrence: on bidding duty

Ambition, was among the Dance stock which walked the ring.

Three-year-olds who are unraced in May are nothing new, but the son of Invincible Spirit typified the sad tale of the draft. In short the colt’s career, and that of his owner’s other horses, had been in jeopardy since April last year when news emerged of financial irregularities relating to the collapse of Dance’s WealthTek business.

The result was a lot of horses who had been mothballed and will need time and education before reaching the racecourse. They all found a buyer, generating a sum of 1,701,500gns of which 42,000gns came from the sale of First Ambition to Harriet Jones. That was almost certainly far less than he would have commanded as a yearling, although he was not the only horse whose valuation collapsed.

The sale’s top price of 130,000gns was commanded by two from the draft, namely a two-year-old Kingman filly who was sold to Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops, and a three-year-old No Nay Never filly that was bought by Jeremy Young on her way to a place with trainer Mick Appleby.

Elliott said his purchase would race for Valmont and Michael Blencowe, and he pointed out that she appeared good

Bill Dwan: director of The Castlebridge Consignment, which sold the Dance horses

value, being a half-sister to a Listed winner by a sire whose fee is £125,000. He described the draft as “soft” saying: “Basically they have just been on grass,” and adding they would need time to get through a training regime.

None of Dance’s draft devalued more than three-year-old colt Twisting Physics, a son of Dubawi bought for 1,000,000gns at the October Sale in 2022, but resold for 100,000gns to Fitri Hay, a key owner at the yard run by Paul Cole and his son Oliver. Alex Cole said of the colt: “I didn’t see him as a yearling – Dubawis are not usually in my price range.”

Phil Kirby was another buyer at 100,000gns, his investment securing the three-year-old colt Chilli Zing, a 300,000gns yearling by Magna Grecia and a half-brother to Classic winner Poetic Flare.

Spare a thought for trainer James Horton, who handled many of the horses while based at Dance’s Yorkshire training yard. After months of uncertainty he moved to Newmarket in the autumn and is re-establishing his business, which gained a new acquisition when Roderic

Kavanagh bought a Le Havre three-yearold filly called Fleeting Moment for 72,000gns.

Kavanagh’s family had bred the filly and sold her as a yearling to Dance for 190,000gns, but after buying her back he said Horton would once again be her trainer. He said: “He [Horton] knows everything about her, so it makes sense.”

Away from the Dance dispersal, the sprinter Thunder Blue was sold for 110,000gns by Amo Racing and bought by Ian and Claire Barratt of Barratt Racing. Jamie Osborne, who will train the colt, said Royal Ascot was the plan, while the same sum secured four-yearold Blanchland, twice a winner for Jane Chapple-Hyam, and set to race on in Australia with Trent Busuttin. Martin Buick was at the ring to bring the hammer down.

Statistics

15,000gns (+25%)

Tattersalls Guineas Horses-in-Training Sale

Sold as part of the John Dance stock, this unnamed Kingman filly realised 130,000gns

Sales Circuit

Goffs Punchestown Sale

This proved another punchy affair if you compare it to similar auctions of point-topointers and bumper horses held in the past six months.

Align it with last year’s remarkable edition and it looks less potent, but that is to ignore world events, rising costs, market corrections and a distressing winter and early spring season of abandoned point-to-point meetings and heavy-ground fixtures. Against that backdrop last year’s turnover of €4m – which included €500,000 for the mare Qualimita – was unlikely to be matched, and so it proved, but 18 of the 22 lots found a buyer and 13 realised a six-figure sum. It was entertaining stuff for the crowd that had stayed on after the Thursday card at the Punchestown Festival.

Turnover of €2,878,000 was down 29 per cent, while the average dropped 17 per cent to €162,112 and the median fell 18 per cent to €140,000, but the figures would be welcome at any auction of similar stock.

Gordon Elliott will handle the top four lots, headed by the No Risk At All filly Swing Davis who was sold to Mags O’Toole for €320,000. Trainer Denis Murphy, who bought the four-year-old last year for €57,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, trained her to win a maiden point-to-point just ahead of the sale, a

victory that confirmed the promise she had shown until falling on her previous start when making her debut. She comes from a family made famous by top two-mile chaser Klairon Davis and which includes her promising half-brother Masterboy Davis. He ran for Elliott’s stable in a bumper at Punchestown the day after his sister had been sold, but failed to make the frame.

Also bound for Elliott’s Cullentra House Stables is the five-year-old mare Familiar Dreams, who realised €310,000 having won a Punchestown Grade 3 mares’ bumper 24 hours earlier for Anthony

McCann’s yard. Four-year-old gelding Ma Jacks Hill was added to Elliott’s string following another €310,000 bid, which was a big increase on his €13,000 valuation one year earlier at the Tattersalls Ireland May Sale. Ciaran Fennessy had trained the son of Famous Name to win at Dromahane a few days before the auction.

Downpatrick trainer Pat Turley was another to benefit from Elliott’s spending spree for he gained €250,000 when selling Koktail Brut, a €40,000 store who also showed winning prowess just ahead of his ring date.

Former jockey Jerry McGrath gained once-raced winning pointer El Cairos for €200,000, but no less pleasing was the €105,000 gained for the Kenny Alexander silks worn by the great Honeysuckle and knocked down to Peter Molony, who said “a lot of people” had pledged money to the purchase. The silks will go on show to the public at the Irish National Stud, and the cash raised will go to Dublin’s ChildVision Equine Centre, which is to be named in memory of Jack De Bromhead.

Statistics

Sold: 18 (82% clearance)

Aggregate: €2,918,000 (-29%)

Average: €162,112 (-17%)

Median: €140,000 (-18%)

Classy bumper performer Familiar Dreams headed to Gordon Elliott’s yard at €310,000

Kenny Alexander’s racing colours, specific to Honeysuckle, sold for €105,000 GOFFS

GOFFS

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

Swing Davis 4 f No Risk At All - Tamtam

Ballyboy Stables (Denis Murphy)

Familiar Dreams 5 m Postponed – Familliarity

Shabra Stables (Anthony McCann)

Elliott

Ma Jacks Hill 4 g Famous Name - Peig Alainn Glenabo Stables (Ciaran Fennessy)

Racing

Koktail Brut 4 g Cokoriko – Skarina

Kingsfield Stud (Pat Turley)

Racing

El Cairos 4 g No Risk At All - Linda Queen

Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale

Challenges caused by incessantly wet weather and abandoned or heavy-ground point-to-point fixtures resulted in a smaller catalogue for this annual sale.

Sadly for Tattersalls Cheltenham, some brighter spring weather was not just around the corner, and the company’s May Sale at the home of jump racing was to be similarly weather-affected with downturns in all the key figures. Summer grass and a restart in the autumn cannot come soon enough, although the forthcoming store sales are likely to feel the impact.

At this sale 37 lots were offered, 22 fewer than in 2023, and turnover inevitably dropped, falling 43 per cent to £1,679,000. The average price was down just one per cent at £59,964 while the median lost 12 per cent at £44,000.

The Doyle family of Monbeg Stables were to have an impact at both this and the May Sale by selling the top two lots on each occasion. At this event, Donnchadh Doyle’s five-year-old gelding

TALKING POINT

• Sales companies do not expect to catalogue every horse that performs well in a race before being offered for sale, but it has become increasingly noticeable that a number of point-to-point winners with good pedigrees have not been sent to public auction.

The assumption is that they have been sold privately, but why?

Clearly some purchasers are coy about the price they pay for a horse at auction, and while their agents can say they have acted for “a client”, that person will be revealed when the horse is registered in their name. By buying privately before the horse goes to auction the sum paid is unlikely to become public knowledge, and if a purchaser pays the full price requested by the vendor they know they will not be out-bid in the ring.

When discreet questions were asked at Tattersalls Cheltenham’s April Sale as to why some

Disguisedlimit sold for £150,000 just days after winning his maiden point-to-point

impressive point-to-point winners from the past season have not been seen at auction, it became apparent private sales were one reason.

An agent, who asked not to be named, said they knew of owners who preferred to buy privately to avoid “sarcastic comments” if their six-figure purchase proves unable to live up to their valuation, particularly in the first run or two after changing hands. TV pundits can be guilty, they said, although others would regard auction-ring information as providing viewers and punters with background which enhances the coverage.

However, as sales companies regularly point out, commercial traders who sell horses privately may find the stock they do send to auction is viewed with suspicion or ignored. If it becomes accepted that the best horses change hands privately, sales diminish in stature. Then all vendors lose out.

Disguisedlimit, a son of Mahler who won a maiden point-to-point on the Sunday before the sale, headed trade when selling for £150,000 to Tom Malone on behalf of trainers Philip Hobbs and Johnson White.

Disguisedlimit had been a €70,000 purchase as a three-year-old, while On The Bayou, who Donnchadh’s brother Sean offered to the market, had been picked up for €55,000 at the same stage. Sean was also rewarded when Kevin Ross – representing trainer Harry Fry – made the decisive bid of £140,000 for the winning point-to-point son of Affinisea.

The sale’s other six-figure horse was Fortune De Mer, who had finished second in a point-to-point the previous weekend. Led from the ring unsold when bidding became stuck at £98,000, he was later put down as a £105,000 private sale by agent Ryan Mahon acting for Dan Skelton.

Statistics

Sold: 28 (78% clearance)

Aggregate: £1,679,000 (-43%)

Average: £59,964 (-1%)

Median: £44,000 (-12%)

Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale

Sales Circuit

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale

“You need the good ones to pay for the others,” was a recent quote from a former top jump jockey.

Norman Williamson was speaking at Arqana and reflecting on the current two-year-old breeze-up market, yet he could just as easily have been standing in a field in rural Ireland or Britain pondering recent trade for point-to-pointers. It too has become a buyers’ market, one made ever more so by a foul and wet winter that opened with considerable rain in the autumn and dragged on until May, leading to abandoned fixtures and wrecking trainers’ running plans.

Rescheduling of meetings helped the situation, but some were held on ground regarded as too heavy for many young horses. Add in that it was largely a frost-free winter, creating a happy breeding ground for bugs, and the challenges mounted up for those seeking to train and then trade a horse they had bought last year as a three-year-old store.

On the bright side it could mean a wealth of lovely young point-to-pointers who have not been able to run in recent months will appear in the autumn, which could make for very good trade at Tattersalls Cheltenham’s November and December Sales and the auction held by Goffs UK at Newbury. Wishful thinking maybe, but this game is all about optimism.

The result of all this weather-related jiggery-pokery was a Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale catalogue light on quality and containing some horses who might not in previous years have gained an entry. That comment did not apply to a

of horses sold by the Doyle brothers, Cormac and Donnchadh of Monbeg Stables, who traded the top two lots, namely the four-year-old geldings Sober Glory and American Jukebox.

Cormac gained £110,000 when selling once-raced winner Sober Glory to bloodstock agent Tom Malone, who was acting for Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, while Gordon Elliott will handle American Jukebox following a bid of £100,000 from Eddie O’Leary. American Jukebox finished runner-up on his pointing debut just ahead of the sale, but that was a fine effort considering he was a late foal still a month shy of his June 8 birth date.

Elliott handles the gelding’s talented half-brother American Mike for Bective Stud, but he said ownership plans for the new recruit were undecided, while vendor Doyle said he had been tempted to give his young horse more time to mature, but that his business had to trade horses and so he had raced him and put him on the market. Elliott may have gained a bargain.

Malone, part of the furniture at Cheltenham sales, became top buyer through his purchase of four lots for £286,000, but other agents were quieter. Of 32 lots on offer, 26 found a new home, but eight were the result of private sales, a

sign that buyers held the trump cards. The average price was down 19 per cent at £47,346 while the median dipped 14 per cent at £43,000. Trade could become very sticky at forthcoming sales of stores.

Pinhook of the day was awarded to Ross Crawford, who bought a Wings Of Eagles gelding at Part II of last year’s Tattersalls Ireland July Sale for the price of a bicycle, or €1,250. Named Marlacoo, he duly went way above and beyond his store valuation when winning a Down Royal bumper by six lengths, and, returned to the ring at this sale, he was resold for £85,000 to trainer Charlie Longsdon.

Completing the yearly round of auctions at Tattersalls Cheltenham, this sale carried annual turnover to £15.5m, some £7.5m down on the previous 12 months. That illustrated changes in buying habits, a correction in market valuations, plus the challenges experienced by point-to-point handlers during a very wet season.

Statistics

Sold: 26 (87% clearance)

Aggregate: £1,231,000 (-41%)

Average: £47,346 (-19%)

Median: £43,000 (-14%)

pair

Sober Glory will join Philip Hobbs and Johnson White following his sale for £110,000

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale

Tom Malone: signed for Sober Glory

Dr Statz

Making an early impact

There is no question that European racing would benefit from a good sire son of Deep Impact. After all, Deep Impact’s influence in his native Japan has been nothing short of profound. And he’s had plenty of success in Europe, too, with Auguste Rodin, Snowfall, Saxon Warrior, Study Of Man, Fancy Blue and Beauty Parlour all winning Classics. There was also the Prix d’Ispahan winner A Shin Hikari, who made it seven European Group 1 winners for Deep Impact, whose European stakes winner strike-rate from runners stands at an amazing 30 per cent.

Last month in this column, I noted that Study Of Man was among that group of sires where expectations would rise this year as their first three-year-olds took to the stage, even though the Lanwades Stud stallion had already opened his Group winner account with his first two-year-olds when Deepone won the Group 2 Beresford Stakes last October.

We can now see that his three-yearolds are on the march, with 14 winners from his 35 runners this term (at the time of writing), providing a strike-rate of 40%, the best of any second-season sire and an impressive number for so early in the season. He joins an elite group of fellow retirees also consisting of Too Darn Hot, Blue Point and Calyx who now have two of more Group winners from their first crop of runners, Deepone having been joined by the Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Birthe, a Listed winner on her previous start.

Furthermore, Study Of Man’s threeyear-old daughter Francophone finished a good second in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes for her owner-breeder Kirsten Rausing, while Sons And Lovers and Ghorgan are also Group-placed.

Birthe is also a fine advertisement for Lope De Vega in his role as a broodmare sire, his first 184 runners providing 15 stakes winners at an excellent rate of 8.2%. Had it not lost its Group 1 status this year, the Prix Saint-Alary would have marked the first Group 1 winner for both Study Of Man as a sire and Lope De Vega in his role as broodmare sire. Still, it looks only a matter of time before both post their first Group 1 winners in these respective departments.

Study Of Man ran only once at two but showed smart form, posting a Timeform mark of 96+, when winning from 12 opponents over 1,600 metres at Saint-

Cloud in September that year. Given his obvious stamina, he was firmly on the French Derby trail the following spring and had no trouble dispatching his 15 rivals in the Chantilly feature after warming up with a comfortable victory in the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe.

The Deep Impact colt showed even better form later that year when he got within four and a half lengths of the brilliant Enable in a star-studded Arc. Back at Longchamp for the Group 1 Prix Ganay at four, he separated top-class runners Waldgeist and Ghaiyyath and also filled the same position in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan.

As a Timeform 122-rated Prix du Jockey Club winner by the great Deep

Second-season

Impact and from a Storm Cat daughter of the great Miesque and thus a half-sister to Kingmambo, a sire of international renown, Study Of Man had plenty to recommend him as a potential sire of note. Allied to that, the Deep Impact/ Storm Cat cross has proved one of the most potent in the business, with no fewer than nine Group/Grade 1 winners (12.9%) from just 70 runners, including Loves Only You and Real Steel from Study Of Man’s own female line. As such, is it any surprise that his first-crop three-year-olds are thriving?

Deep Impact’s other major European Group 1-winning sire son Saxon Warrior opened his Group/Grade 1 account when his son Victoria Road won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf two years ago. But it’s worth remembering that at the same stage of their Classic year his first three-year-olds featured 15 winners from 70 runners, a strike-rate of 21.4%, considerably lower than Study Of Man’s 40%, and his runners featured four stakes winners, the best being Group 3 scorer Greenland. And just to provide some context here, Saxon Warrior’s first book contained 161 mares, including 51 that could be classed as elite, while Study Of Man’s first book had only 70 mares, of which 21 were elite.

I wonder, if Study Of Man makes the breakthrough at Group 1 level this year, will he be rewarded for his early success next spring as Saxon Warrior justifiably was last year when he covered 248 mares and 71 top-class mares? You can make the case that Study Of Man already deserves considerably more mares than the 78 he covered last year.

by % winners to runners 2024

GEORGE SELWYN

sires

May 20, 35+ runners)

Study Of Man: exciting young stallion

Sexton Files

Selkirk still at the sharp end

As Martin Stevens has outlined in his analysis of today’s thoroughbred (see feature, pages 32-35), there is a current concentration of sire lines that is obviously not only to the detriment of others but also arguably questionable for the long-term health of the breed.

When Selkirk retired to stud in 1993 as one of the last top-class sons of Sharpen Up, breeders had access to a host of differing lines. The sire tables for 1992 paint an interesting picture. Sadler’s Wells assumed his customary position at the top. El Gran Senor, another Coolmore son of Northern Dancer (but sub-fertile), owed his standing in Europe primarily to the Group 1 campaign of Rodrigo De Triano. Shirley Heights’ son Slip Anchor was responsible for the Oaks and St Leger heroine User Friendly and thus also took high ranking.

Others such as Ahonoora, by Lorenzaccio, Riverman, by Never Bend, Persian Bold, by Bold Lad, and Rainbow Quest, by Blushing Groom, also enjoyed good seasons. Among the first-crop sires, Chilibang, by Forli’s son Formidable, and Persian Heights, by Persian Bold, were first and second by number of winners in Britain, while the Busted horse Mtoto made a promising start ahead of a career that was to be capped by the Derby winner Shaamit.

Today, many of those lines have disappeared – or are about to disappear – as a concentration of Northern Dancer, whether through Sadler’s Wells or the quicker Danzig and Storm Bird among others, and to a lesser extent Mr Prospector, take precedence.

One victim is the Sharpen Up sire line, another popular influence of his time who popped up more than once through his son Selkirk over Newmarket Guineas weekend.

A noted broodmare sire, Selkirk was represented by his 12th Group/Grade 1 winner in that department by the Roger Varian-trained 1,000 Guineas heroine Elmalka, a daughter of the Prix de l’Opera and Flower Bowl Stakes winner Nahrain. In the process she became the 11th top level winner for Juddmonte’s Kingman, also sire of the admirable Group 1 winner Kinross out of a Selkirk mare.

Meanwhile, Selkirk’s underrated son Cityscape fired in a Group stakes double courtesy of Chilli Flag in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes at

Churchill Downs in the US and La City Blanche in the Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

Selkirk was Sharpen Up’s last major son to head to stud, his retirement coming just over two years following his sire’s withdrawal from service in Kentucky. At the time, there was plenty to recommend the sire line, primarily through the siblings Kris and Diesis; Kris had been champion sire of 1985 in the aftermath of his champion daughter Oh So Sharp while Diesis had already provided the first of his three Oaks winners, Diminuendo, from his base in Kentucky.

Selkirk, a tall, flashy chestnut raced by his breeder George Strawbridge with Ian Balding, was the champion miler of 1991 by virtue of his win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and turned in several Group 1 calibre performances the following year, notably when taking the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, then a Group 2, and running a whisker second to Marling in the Sussex Stakes.

He was retired to Lanwades at a fee of £8,000 and went on to enjoy a consistently successful stud career that ultimately left him and his sons as the last

Fitting success

There was something rather appropriate to Rouhiya handing the Aga Khan Studs’ an eighth success in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp. The list of luminaries, which includes Zarkava (whose son Zarak sired the Poulains winner Metropolitan) and Siyouni’s first major runner Ervedya, brings the owner-breeder level with the record held by the Rothschild family as well as Marcel Boussac, from whose stock Rouhiya descends.

There were 157 broodmares listed in the Aga Khan’s 2023 stud book, plenty of them deriving from the purchase of the Boussac and Francois Dupre stock in the late 1970s and more recently that belonging to Jean-Luc Lagardere. Such lock, stock and barrel acquisitions have undoubtedly been key in reinvigorating the bloodlines belonging to the Aga Khan over the years.

As a snapshot, that 1970s group of Boussac mares included Delsy, the dam

meaningful representatives of the line belonging to Bernard van Cutsem’s 1971 Middle Park Stakes winner Sharpen Up. Sharpen Up did various breeders, particularly those at a smaller level, some good turns during his time at stud in Britain. Initially available at moderate fees at Side Hill Stud in Newmarket, he hit the big time when Kris, a brilliant miler, emerged out of his third crop. The syndicate behind him duly cashed in and Sharpen Up was sold to stand at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky, where his fee peaked at $75,000 in the aftermath of Trempolino’s record-setting Arc win in 1987.

Given the popularity during their time of Kris and Diesis, in addition to other sons such as Trempolino and Sharpo, it’s disappointing that the Sharpen Up line hasn’t endured as well as it may have done. It is thanks primarily to Selkirk, responsible for nearly 100 stakes winners, that it remains relevant and in terms of sire line, even that now is diminishing. Several of Selkirk’s early sons were given their chance at stud, including Kirkwall, Trans Island and Altieri, but the best has turned out to be Cityscape, the recordbreaking winner of the 2012 Dubai Duty Free at Meydan.

The Juddmonte homebred spent nine seasons at Overbury Stud, where he never stood for more than £5,000. For whatever reason, the market never really latched on – his largest crop was his first at 71 foals

Lope De Vega: enjoying a purple patch

of Darshaan, Denia, the third dam of Dalakhani and Daylami, and Evisa, the granddam of multiple Group 1 producer Ebaziya, while the Dupre stock provided the Aga Khan with his 1979 Prix du Jockey Club winner Top Ville. For its part, the Lagardere stock guaranteed ample access to Linamix and has also provided numerous rewards, perhaps none more so than Sichilla, who won a Listed race for the Aga Khan prior to foaling Siyouni. Rouhiya’s family has been in the hands of the Aga Khan for six generations, stretching back to the 1975-foaled Rilasa, a daughter of St Paddy who ran third for

Selkirk: damsire of 1,000 Guineas

heroine Elmalka

– but he’s been more than useful nevertheless. That first crop contained the winners of the Fred Darling and Musidora Stakes in Dan’s Dream and Give And Take, and subsequent European crops have yielded Caernarfon, a sister to Dan’s Dream who ran third in last year’s Oaks, and the high-class American runners Avenue De France, winner of last year’s Grade 2 John C Mabee Stakes, and the current Grade 2 winner Chili Flag. However, Cityscape has done particularly well in Argentina, where shuttle trips to Haras Vacacion have provided champions Zillion Stars, Top One Escape and The Punisher. Now 18-years-old, Cityscape is a permanent resident of Argentina.

the owner in the Prix Vanteaux. The line goes back to Boussac’s Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Theano via Astana, a typically inbred Boussac product, in her case 3x2 to Tourbillon. By Arbar, Astana was an extremely important producer, initially as the dam of Boussac’s Prix de Diane heroine Crepellana and then as the ancestress of numerous good horses. Her line remains very relevant today, whether through her Ribot daughter Valdavia, whose branch provided the Aga Khan with the Group 1 winners Behera and Behkabad, or Rose Ness, her 1965-foaled filly by Charlottesville who produced the aforementioned Denia in addition to Sarila, the ancestress of Rouhiya. Sarila’s branch today operates at its strongest through her St Paddy daughter Rilasa. Laurens and Ridasiyna are among the top-flight performers within the further reaches of this particular line. As for Rouhiya, she is out of the Listedplaced Rondonia, a half-sister to Group 2 Debutante Stakes winner Raydara and descendant of Rilasa’s Group 3-winning

In the case of Selkirk’s daughter Nahrain, a flashy chestnut typical of her sire, Elmalka is her second top-notcher after Benbatl, a hardy international performer for Godolphin who won the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes in Australia, Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan and Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis - Bayerisches Zuchtrennen in Germany. The son of Dubawi now stands at Big Red Farm in Japan where his first crop are yearlings.

There’s an Antipodean flavour to this family in Nahrain’s third dam La Mer, a daughter of the British-bred Royal Charger stallion Copenhagen. One of the best mares to grace New Zealand, La Mer’s haul of 24 wins included the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks, Manawatu Sires’

daughter Rayseka (by Dancing Brave). The Aga Khan has campaigned the bulk of the black-type horses within this family, including Rondonia’s Listedwinning dam Raydiya (by Marju) and the Classic-placed Rayeni.

Rouhiya, who went off at 31-1 for the Pouliches having won a Chantilly maiden at two and run third in a conditions event on her seasonal return for Francis-Henri Graffard, is only the second foal out of Rondonia, who joins Falling Petals (dam of Saffron Beach) and Contradictive (dam of Mishriff) as the third Group 1 producer by Raven’s Pass.

Her win also capped an exceptional run for her sire Lope De Vega. Now the sire of 20 Group/Grade 1 winners, the Ballylinch Stud stallion had been to the fore in the US just hours prior to the French Guineas thanks to the Man O’War Stakes winner Silver Knott, who was bagging his second Grade 2 win of the year for Godolphin. Lope De Vega has a firm following in the US and understandably so given his current

Bloodstock world views

Produce Stakes and Air New Zealand Stakes for trainer Malcolm Smith and owner Wynthorpe Stud, then the base for a fledgling educational facility which had paid just NZ$8,000 for the filly as a foal at foot with her dam La Balsa from her breeder, Jack Alexander.

In what was an enterprising move for the time, Captain Tim Rogers imported La Mer at a rumoured valuation of NZ$300,000 to his Airlie Stud in Ireland. The move didn’t reap immediate rewards as although La Mer foaled seven winners, only one, the Habitat colt Cipriani, won a stakes race.

Today, the family owes much of its relevance to her Mill Reef daughter Lady Of The Sea, a Haydock maiden winner for Sheikh Mohammed who is the granddam of Nahrain via her Generous daughter Bahr, winner of the 1998 Ribblesdale Stakes and second in the Oaks for Godolphin.

Away from Nahrain, Bahr’s family remains current through various other daughters; In Dubai, by Giant’s Causeway, is the dam of the Group 1-placed two-year-old Go Bears Go while Dorrati, one of the few mares in production by Dubai Millennium, is the granddam of Palace House Stakes winner and young sire Far Above. His well-regarded brother Night Raider also has the potential to represent the family to good effect despite his underwhelming effort in the 2,000 Guineas.

runners also include recent Grade 1 Turf Classic Stakes winner Program Trading.

Lope De Vega’s young sire son Phoenix Of Spain also continues to quietly impress with his early runners, with the likes of 2,000 Guineas third Haatem and the Group 3-placed Alpheratz from a first crop of 97 three-year-olds. Belardo, now at Bearstone Stud, has also had his moment in the sun this year as the sire of Californian Grade 2 winner Gold Phoenix.

However, there is real promise in Lope De Vega’s momentum as an emerging broodmare sire. Now the damsire of 15 stakes winners, a further two major names were added to that haul during French Guineas week in Birthe, winner of the Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary, and Forest Fairy, successful in the Listed Cheshire Oaks. Both provided important landmark victories for their young sires, Birthe as a daughter of Lanwades Stud’s highly promising Study Of Man and Forest Fairy as the first stakes winner for Arc hero Waldgeist, who stands alongside Lope De Vega at Ballylinch Stud.

GEORGE SELWYN

Vet Forum: The Expert View

Exotic diseases in focus

An exotic disease is an infectious disease which normally doesn’t occur in a particular country –either it has never occurred there, or it has been eradicated. By comparison, an endemic disease does or can be expected to occur in that country. For example, equine influenza (EI) is endemic to the UK, but Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) is considered an exotic disease. Being aware of the potential for an exotic disease to appear will assist in rapid diagnosis and, hopefully, successful control.

A notifiable disease is one which, by law, must be reported to government authorities, even if it is only suspected. Restrictions on movements, breeding and other activities might be imposed. Many exotic diseases are notifiable.

It is important to appreciate that it is not just the physical effects of the disease on affected animals or local activities that might impact on the thoroughbred industry. Exports to certain countries might also be restricted or banned until any outbreak of disease is controlled.

Diseases which can be spread during mating

Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) will be familiar as the HBLB International Codes of Practice require that thoroughbred stallions are vaccinated and mares are tested before mating commences. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there currently remains a supply issue with the vaccine and UK stallions have not received recommended vaccinations in 2023 or 2024. In order to protect the breeding population, additional testing has been advised for the 2024 breeding season. See https://www.jdata.co.za/iccviewer/ media/dsr20233.pdf for further details.

EVA can be spread by mating, artificial insemination, contact with aborted foetuses, contaminated equipment and in the breath of infected animals. Symptoms include abortion, conjunctivitis (Fig 1) and swelling around the eyes, runny nose, lethargy and swelling of the testicles or mammary glands.

Stallions can be carriers without showing any clinical signs and infect mares they mate with. Similarly, infected mares can infect stallions during mating, but they can also infect their foals during pregnancy and via their milk. Mares don’t remain carriers but might remain positive on a blood test. Adherence to the HBLB

International Codes of Practice will help to keep this infection out of the thoroughbred population but there is less awareness and uptake of these codes in other breeds.

The main risk to the UK is via an infected horse or importation of contaminated semen. Already in 2024 there has been a case in an imported non-thoroughbred stallion with diagnosis made during pre-mating testing. In accordance with GB import requirements, all imported semen, whether chilled or frozen, must be accompanied by the original or a copy of the import certificate confirming the disease-free status of the stallion at the time of collection.

Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM)

Thoroughbred breeders will also recognise CEM infection as we test stallions and mares at least once at the start of every breeding season. This bacterial infection of the genital tract can cause infection of the uterus, discharge from the vulva and infertility. Stallions can be asymptomatic carriers and affected mares can infect stallions at mating. It can also be spread via contaminated articles such as an artificial vagina used for semen collection. Diagnosis is based on culture of the organism or PCR on genital swabs.

Many mares will spontaneously clear the infection but treatment of infected stallions and mares due to be mated will be necessary. Mating should not resume until three negative genital swabs have been taken. CEM is considered ‘exotic’ although there is a chance that it is present in animals in the UK which are not being tested. CEM is one of the diseases for which pre-export testing is required by a number of countries. CEM is notifiable although since 2021 management of any outbreak comes under an industry-led protocol. See HBLB International Codes of Practice at https://codes.hblb.org.uk.

Dourine

Dourine is a venereal disease which, fortunately, has not been seen in Great Britain for many years but is still widespread, including in parts of Asia, Africa, South America and eastern Europe. It can be spread by natural mating or artificial insemination (AI). It is caused by the spread of protozoan parasites, Trypanosoma equiperdium, during mating or insemination and, rarely, mares may infect their foals either during pregnancy, parturition or via infected milk.

Clinical signs vary in severity but may include fever, loss of appetite, swelling of genitalia, discharge from vulva or urethra, skin plaques and abortion. Neurological signs may develop leading to death and the mortality rate can exceed 50%. Diagnosis is based on clinical signs and blood tests, either to look for the parasite or antibodies to the infection. No reliable treatment is available and euthanasia is advisable in most instances. There is no vaccine available. Animals imported from areas where the disease is known to occur should be tested before entering the country or isolated and tested before allowed to join the herd.

Where insects might have a role

Climate change, with the resultant increase in temperatures and unsettled weather patterns, could potentially provide conditions in the UK which will support populations of disease – carrying insects (vectors), including certain ticks, midges and mosquitoes not previously found here. We already have a number of insects capable of becoming hosts or vectors for certain infectious agents so introduced disease could potentially spread with the help of those ‘local’ vectors.

African Horse Sickness (AHS)

AHS is one of the most severe viral diseases affecting horses. It is endemic in parts of southern Africa and is caused by a virus similar to that which causes Bluetongue in ruminants. Both are transmitted by biting midges. Since a case of Bluetongue was diagnosed in a cow in Kent in November 2023, over 100 cases have been reported across 73 premises in four counties. As the weather warms up, vector activity will increase and it is possible that the disease will spread further. It is believed that the virus arrived in infected midges blown across from continental Europe. It is possible

Figure 1 Conjunctivitis affecting one eye

that AHS virus might arrive in the UK via a sub-clinically infected horse or by infected midges, although the risk is considered low. The disease did occur in previously ‘AHSfree’ Malaysia only a few years ago.

In the UK, the mortality rate in affected areas would be close to 100% as our horses have never previously been exposed. In countries where it is endemic, there are different forms of the disease, but mortality rates still reach 70 to 95%. Symptoms include some or all of the following: fever; swelling of the eyelids, face and/or brisket; difficulty breathing; spasmodic cough or frothy fluid oozing from nostrils.

Midges feeding on an infected horse carry infection to others. There is a commercially available vaccine in some countries but efficacy is limited because there are several distinct serotypes of the virus. Control includes trying to identify the virus and serotype, isolating and possibly euthanising infected and exposed horses, establishment of control and restriction zones, insect proof housing and vaccination where this is available.

Very recently, the EU lifted a 13-year ban on the direct importation of horses from South Africa – initially introduced to avoid the introduction of AHS – and it is anticipated that the UK will shortly follow suit. The details around import requirements have yet to be determined but might include pre-import testing, quarantine and/or proof of vaccination.

Piroplasmosis

Piroplasmosis (piro) is still considered an exotic, but not notifiable, disease even though we occasionally find horses that test positive for it here, usually on pre-export testing. These are often very weak or ‘false positives’, which can be very difficult to interpret. Repeat testing in a different laboratory or using a different test often yields a negative result. The causative organism is a protozoan parasite which needs to have a period of its life cycle undertaken in a tick before the tick infects a horse when it feeds. Unfortunately, piro can also be transmitted via blood-contaminated needles or by direct blood transfusion.

Symptoms are due to the anaemia (Fig 2) that develops and include fever, pale membranes, jaundice weakness, reduced appetite, elevated heart and respiratory rates, production of dark urine, loss of performance etc. It can be difficult to find the parasite in blood samples and diagnosis is often based on PCR or serological tests. The UK is at risk through importation of infected horses. These can remain carriers for very long

periods and act as a source of infection for suitable ticks. In any imported horse that develops signs of lethargy and anaemia, Piroplasmosis should be considered as one possible cause.

West Nile Virus (WNV)

WNV is a significant cause of neurological disease in horses with inflammation of the brain and or surrounding tissues, resulting in changes to behaviour or weakness/ paralysis and possibly death. It falls into a similar bracket to AHS in that there seems to be an increasing chance of us experiencing the disease in the UK due to changes in climate and insect populations. Its main hosts are birds and it is transmitted by mosquitoes. It is endemic in the USA and in parts of Europe –particularly northern Italy, Hungary and Greece. In late 2023 there were outbreaks in France, Germany, and Austria and in 2020 two cases were diagnosed in the UK involving horses that had recently arrived from Europe. It is zoonotic, i.e. transmissible to humans. Not all infected horses show clinical signs but, fortunately, infected horses do not act as a source of infection for other horses. Neurological signs in horses can range from mild stiffness or dullness to very severe with fever, depression, muscle tremors, circling behaviour, convulsions or rapid death.

These signs are similar to any number of neurological diseases, including poisonings, bacterial meningitis and encephalitis and severe liver disease. Differentiation between these neurological diseases might only be possible through isolation of virus using PCR on post-mortem samples in animals that die or are euthanised. Paired blood tests at least four to seven days apart might be useful in animals with longer or mild illness. Licensed vaccines are available in the UK and are reported to be safe and, if used correctly, effective.

Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA)

EIA (also known as Swamp Fever) is spread by blood-feeding insects, such as horse and stable flies. It is considered endemic in Romania but isolated cases have also occurred in other EU countries in recent years.

Any body fluid from an infected horse can carry the virus and mares can transfer the virus to their foals via the placenta and milk. Contaminated equipment such as syringes, needles and bits can also transmit the disease.

An outbreak in an equine hospital in Ireland also indicates that direct transfer can occur between horses within a barn. It is believed that the source of that outbreak was unlicensed, contaminated plasma. The

incubation period, i.e. the time between infection and appearance of disease, can be up to 45 days and the initial disease might be very mild and easily missed.

Symptoms include fever, conjunctivitis weakness, loss of appetite, jaundice and swelling of the limbs, and death. In many cases, horses can become clinically normal carriers of the virus and act as a source of infection for others. There is no specific treatment or vaccine available. Diagnosis is based on clinical signs and demonstration of antibodies to the virus in blood tests.

One problem with these serological tests is that they can give negative results within the first ten to 14 days after infection.

We cannot be complacent

With increasing movement of horses between a growing number of countries, the risk of the introduction and spread of disease also increases. Many exotic diseases have clinical signs which are similar to our endemic diseases or might initially appear similar to common noninfectious conditions.

It is especially important to be vigilant when dealing with any horse which has been imported or which might have been abroad for competition. While it isn’t an exotic disease for the UK, the spread of neurological EHV infection from a showjumping event in Spain in 2021 resulted in cases in ten countries and the death of 18 horses and is a good example of how easily an infectious disease can spread.

There are useful lists and guides to notifiable diseases on the gov.uk website – most of them exotic. The OIE website is also a very useful resource if looking for information about these and other notifiable diseases.

Figure 2 Pale membranes associated with anaemia

+ Equine Health Update

Maintaining homeostasis –water and electrolytes

Words: Laura Steley

Water is the number one nutrient required by any animal. Ensuring horses are adequately hydrated, whether they are in training or not, is vital for their overall health and performance. The average horse drinks between 20 and 40 litres of water per day and this significant amount is required to maintain critical bodily functions. The amount an individual requires can increase considerably depending on their activity level and the climate – up to three times more for a thoroughbred in full work. Without sufficient hydration and electrolyte intake, horses can suffer from various health issues, ranging from the relatively minor to life-threatening.

Dehydration

Closely monitoring a horse’s vital signs is the most efficient way of detecting the onset of dehydration. The main two tests that can be carried out easily and quickly are the skin pinch test and the capillary refill test. In a healthy hydrated state, horses’ skin possesses an elastic

“Severe dehydration will produce clinical signs such as sunken eyes”

quality. As fluid is lost via sweating this elasticity decreases. In order to test this, we can grasp hold of a horse’s skin on either their neck or shoulder and pull the skin away from the body gently. If the skin doesn’t return back to its normal flattened state straight away (within approximately a second), then this indicates the onset of dehydration. A delay of four or more seconds indicates severe dehydration. This test alone cannot be completely relied upon, as individuals will have different ‘norms’, but it is a very useful tool.

A horse’s gums can also indicate a hydration issue – healthy gums are

A loss of just 2% body fluid may have negative effects on performance

pink and moist. Any deviation from this pink colour, whether that be pale pink/ white or darker red, should alert you to a potential issue. A capillary refill test can be undertaken by pressing your thumb onto the horse’s upper gum. The pressure of your thumb will create a pale spot where the circulating blood has been squeezed out of the capillaries. As soon as this pressure is released, the blood should travel back into the capillaries within a couple of seconds; any longer indicates an issue. An elevated resting heart rate can also be seen, as well as a dull coat, lethargy, loss of performance, increased temperature and dark-coloured urine. Severe dehydration will produce clinical signs such as sunken eyes and a tucked-up appearance. Veterinary assistance, with IV fluids for example, will be required at this point –the more clinical signs, the more serious the dehydration.

Generally, horses with access to clean water at all times will adjust their water intake accordingly, e.g. drink more during hotter weather. Therefore, the time in which it takes for dehydration to occur depends greatly on correct management. Individual reasons such as age (PPID), workload, nutrition, pregnancy and lactation will also be determining factors.

A loss of just 2% body fluid may have negative effects on performance. If picked up quickly, dehydrated horses will regain electrolyte and fluid balance via drinking water and adequate supplementation. It should be noted that, when dealing with a dehydrated horse,

the chosen electrolyte product should be isotonic. It is a mistake to administer a hypertonic electrolyte product to an already dehydrated horse – this will in fact cause more harm, as the blood will be inundated with high levels of sodium and the body will then flood the intestines with water in order to lower the sodium concentration. This will decrease the amount of circulating fluid, therefore worsening the dehydration.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if we were to administer a hypotonic electrolyte solution, the bodily fluid will become too diluted, thus inhibiting the thirst response, which relies on rising sodium levels.

Electrolytes

“Electrolytes are key substances in the body,” explains Dr Andy Richardson, Veterinary Director at NAF. “They play a vital role in maintaining fluid pressure within cells, nerve impulses and muscle contraction. Without the adequate electrolyte levels, performance horses are slowed by fatigue and muscle weakness”. Understandably, the muscular conditions tying-up or azoturia and synchronous diaphragmatic flutter or thumps are strongly linked to fluid and electrolyte loss. Electrolytes (bodily salts and minerals) are consumed via drinking water, forage and concentrated feed. The primary electrolytes are sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Sodium and chloride can be lost in vast amounts during sweating. Where sodium goes, water will follow, hence the large

loss potential during heavy sweating. On the flip side, sodium intake will encourage drinking for the very same reason. They are also integral to maintaining blood volume. Potassium is required for muscle contraction and relaxation. Calcium has an important role within muscle function and magnesium is an essential component within bodily fluids.

Once electrolytes are dissolved in the body, they become positively or negatively charged, creating a solution which can conduct electricity. Due to this functionality, they are of the utmost importance in providing electrical signals within the body at a cellular level. They are essential to the maintenance and balance of horses’ bodily fluid (the fluid in and around cells). An example of how electrolytes are used within the body would be in muscle contraction. In order for movement to occur, muscle fibres need to shorten. It is the electrolytes (sodium, potassium and calcium) shifting across a muscle cell membrane that signals to the muscle to contract and relax.

A thoroughbred performing lowintensity exercise in a moderate climate will not usually require electrolyte supplementation. Any losses can usually be replaced via their normal feed, forage and ad-lib water. Electrolyte balance can also be sustained by the horse storing them within the large intestine, to be drawn on as and when needed. However, due to horses’ sweat being hypertonic (unlike humans) they have the potential to lose enormous amounts of electrolytes, predominantly sodium, chloride and potassium, in a very short space of time.

Once a horse begins to sweat routinely due to higher intensity work and/or temperature changes, the storage facility within the intestine will not be able to meet requirements, and supplementation will become a necessity. To put some context to the potential electrolyte loses, approximately 10grams of electrolytes will be lost per litre of sweat. A horse in high-intensity work in high heat and humidity can lose up to 10-12 litres of sweat (100-120grams of

electrolytes) per hour! It is important to monitor not just a horse’s workload but also the environmental factors, such as humidity, and make changes accordingly. In humid conditions, studies have shown that a racehorse can lose up to 5% of their body weight in a mile race. Excessive sweating due to exercise is the primary trigger for electrolyte supplementation. However, a horse in pain, with a fractious temperament, under stress, or suffering with diarrhoea can also lose considerable amounts of fluid.

Richardson continues: “Post exercise, electrolytes are important to help restore losses and to help stimulate drinking. Care should be taken with immediate administration as this may encourage further dehydration by drawing fluid into the gut from body tissues. There is also some suggestion that electrolytes given on an empty stomach can potentially exacerbate EGUS. Therefore, it is ideal to provide electrolytes when a horse is returned to its stable, with free access to water and feed.”

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Supplementation

Electrolyte supplementation can be provided via feed, water, syringes and salt licks. Adding electrolytes or table salt (sodium chloride) to water can be effective, although the horse must always have access to plain water alongside the supplemented water. Many horses will not take to drinking the electrolytes readily, and it can be hard to monitor and control how much the horse is ingesting, particularly when automatic water drinkers are in place. Electrolytes are lost on a daily basis in faeces, urine, breath moisture, and of course in sweat and it is important to ensure that these losses are replaced in the diet where appropriate.

Syringes (which generally provide a more concentrated form of electrolytes) are a convenient alternative, and are particularly useful at times where feeding may be decreased. However, due to the horse receiving a concentrated dose, there must be free access to drinking water, otherwise you may risk dehydrating the horse further.

Adding electrolytes to a horse’s hard feed tends to be the most favoured option, as it is easier to monitor intake and the daily recommended dose can be split over feeds. Most products will have clear guidelines stating how much to feed based on work intensity.

Salt licks can be very useful for horses on the lower spectrum of supplementation need, such as youngstock, however this method relies on horses’ innate capability to regulate their own salt in-take, which isn’t reliable enough when larger quantities of electrolytes need to be replenished.

When choosing an electrolyte supplement, the product should list sodium, chloride and potassium as the main ingredients. While glucose may increase palatability, and can be included in low levels, studies conducted at Kentucky Equine Research by J D Pagan, B M Walbridge and J Lange suggest that adding sugars to electrolyte mixes does not increase the rate of absorption or retention of electrolytes.

If an excess of electrolyte supplementation occurs, healthy kidneys will filter the excess sodium and other electrolytes and excrete them in the urine. In order for the body to flush the excess sodium, large amounts of water would be needed. Therefore, a problem would usually only occur if the horse is already dehydrated, or doesn’t have sufficient access to drinking water.

If this situation were to arise, further dehydration would occur, causing significant fluid-balance problems,

including the possibility of salt toxicity. Signs of salt toxicity are irregular heartbeat, muscle tremors, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and central nervous system malfunctions (circling, blindness, seizures, and partial paralysis). In addition, the prolonged overuse of electrolytes might cause physical injury, namely gastric and mouth ulcers.

Mares and youngstock

There are some important areas to consider when assessing the need for electrolyte supplementation in mares and youngstock. Post foaling, mashes rich with electrolytes are a brilliant feed choice as they are palatable, have a high fluid content and are kind on the mare’s digestive tract. Foaling mares are often more susceptible to impaction colic; ensuring proper hydration decreases this risk as they begin to lactate. Many thoroughbred broodmares will be gestating and lactating simultaneously, thus increasing their water and electrolyte need. A mare will be producing up to 3% of her body weight in milk each day in order to sustain her foal – that is 15kg of milk per day! The amount of supplementation required (if any) will depend largely on the grass/ forage content and availability, as well as the chosen concentrate feed.

The measurement of milk electrolytes is a useful but often under-utilised tool for helping predict when a mare will foal. Within the final gestation week, thoroughbred mares will show decreased sodium levels and increased potassium levels to the point where they cross over. A rising calcium level is the final indicator that foaling is imminent. It is worth mentioning that placentitis can affect milk electrolytes, and therefore invalidate the readings. Also, maiden mares may

not provide such consistent electrolyte changes.

Foals scouring is a common cause of fluid loss, and can be due to changes within the mare’s milk (foal heat/cycles), viral infections such as Rotavirus, and management changes. Providing sufficient supplementation, often given orally in milder cases, will aid recovery. Foals with persistent diarrhoea can remain fairly electrolyte-depleted (usually potassium). This can be diagnosed via blood testing and resolved quickly via supplementation. If losses are severe, the foal may require hospital admission for IV fluids and careful monitoring. Electrolyte supplementation may also be useful in active stallions, particularly if they are prone to tying-up in relation to inconsistent numbers of mares/covers.

On the move

Travelling thoroughbreds within the racing and breeding sectors for long periods of time, via road or air, is almost a given. Due to thoroughbreds often travelling from a young age, they usually cope very well mentally. From a hydration and electrolyte point of view, it does pose some risks. This is due to the increased probability of sweating and the assumed decrease in appetite and thirst while on route. Concentrated electrolyte pastes are often administered (at least) the night prior to travel, as this will encourage a decline in sodium levels within the blood, thus triggering a horse’s thirst response overnight, hopefully ensuring that the horse departs fully hydrated and better equipped to sustain the correct fluid balance throughout the journey through to arrival.

Richardson adds: “Essentially, the summary is that ensuring electrolyte levels are adequate pre-exercise has been shown to benefit performance.” The most effective strategy for supplying electrolytes to horses is via the normal diet and this should be provided on a regular daily basis according to the level of work and climatic conditions. The harder a horse works, the longer it works and the hotter the weather, the more sweat is lost. Thus, the horse will lose both water (dehydration) and electrolytes (salt loss). Hydration and electrolyte supplementation should be regularly assessed by trainers, breeders and all equine professionals. Optimal performance, be it on the racecourse or producing our next stars, can certainly be better supported if our horses’ bodies are sufficiently replenished with the electrolytes they need to maintain maximum health and longevity.

Post foaling, mashes rich with electrolytes are a suitable feed choice

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Embracing a bright future together: a message from the ROA’s new Interim CEO

Dear owners,

It is with great excitement and a profound sense of responsibility that I step into the role of Interim CEO at the Racehorse Owners Association. As we embark on this journey together, I am filled with optimism for the future and a steadfast commitment to serving your needs and aspirations.

As we look ahead, I see boundless opportunities for us to shape the landscape of ownership. Your insights, ideas and passion are invaluable as we chart this course together. I am eager to hear from all owners, whether you are involved on a sole basis, in a partnership or syndicate, and to engage in meaningful conversations about how we can enhance the ownership experience and drive positive change.

In the coming weeks and months, I look forward to meeting many of you at racecourses and at other racing events across the country. These interactions

will provide invaluable opportunities to connect face-to-face, share ideas, and forge meaningful partnerships that will shape the future of our association.

Please keep an eye out for updates in the Inside Track ebulletin and on our social media channels regarding our upcoming visits. My door is always open. Whether you have questions or simply want to bounce ideas around, please do not hesitate to drop me a note by email at info@roa.co.uk.

Together we have the power to create a vibrant and thriving community of owners. I am honoured to be part of this journey with you, and I am committed to working tirelessly on your behalf.

With kind regards,

Louise Norman Interim CEO Racehorse Owners Association

BHA Rule change: non-runners in races from starting stalls

A change to the Rules of Racing will see BHA stewards able to declare a non-runner in any race beginning from starting stalls if they believe that a horse has been denied a fair start. Under the previous Rules, a horse could only be declared a non-runner if it had been prevented from starting due to a faulty action of the starting stalls or if it was riderless at the off.

From May 1, the powers of the stewards were extended to include situations where a horse had been prevented from starting on equal terms and its chances in a race had been materially affected as a consequence.

The change – which aligns Britain with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) model rule and the approach applied by other major racing nations – follows

engagement with and feedback from industry stakeholders, including participants and the betting industry, and approval by the BHA Board.

It could also cover scenarios where there is a problem with equipment fitted at the start, or a stalls handler is still attempting to assist a horse and jockey when the starting mechanism is triggered.

The updated Rule can also be applied in circumstances where a horse has obtained an unfair advantage at the start, for example if a runner forces the gates open prematurely before the starter has triggered the starting mechanism. However, a horse will not be declared a non-runner if it merely accelerates from the gates once the starter has operated the starting mechanism.

Any consideration by the stewards

A horse denied a fair start can now be deemed a non-runner

will always precede the ‘weighed in’ signal, with participants, racegoers and the betting public alerted that an incident at the start of the race is being reviewed.

GEORGE SELWYN

www.roa.co.uk

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Jane Gerard-Pearse and Siobhan Sheridan celebrate completing the challenge in 2022

‘It’s great fun and anyone can do it’

ROA member Jane Gerard-Pearse looks ahead to Racing Welfare’s Great Cycle Challenge

Racing Welfare will stage its Great Cycle Challenge in Newmarket on Saturday, July 20 and ROA member Jane Gerard-Pearse is looking forward to donning the lycra again to help raise funds for the sport’s charity partner.

Gerard-Pearse, a racehorse owner and big supporter of Racing Welfare, took part in the event two years ago, when Cheltenham was the venue for the challenge that sees teams of between four and eight people take it in turns to cycle for 24 hours straight, with two team members on the road at any one time.

It may not sound like a walk in the park – or perhaps a cycle in the park – but Gerard-Pearse says the event is suitable for all cyclists, whatever their ability, and a fantastic opportunity to mix with other racing devotees.

She says: “I’m a woman of a certain age – 61 – and the reason I put that out there is because I want people to know that anyone can do it. It sounds incredibly challenging but in fact it’s really good fun.

“I signed up two years ago because, as a big jump racing fan and owner of jumps racehorses, I thought it would be great to cycle my bike around the parade ring at Cheltenham. As it turned out, the parade ring was being dug up when I arrived at the course!

“I was part of a team of four last time with my husband Mike and two friends and it will be the same this year, plus we have another team of four coming along.

“The camaraderie was fantastic and really epitomised the racing industry. There was very much a can-do attitude form everybody – the participants, organisers, and Racing Welfare staff.

“Another reason it was such good fun was that you were mixing with the stars, people like Sir AP McCoy, Richard Johnson and Oisin Murphy. They may not all take part this year but there will be other big names there.

“It was lovely to get to know some of these people you see on the racecourse but in a completely different context.”

Gerard-Pearse has enjoyed a lifelong association with racing and horses –her father, Sir Stanley Clarke, exerted a huge influence on the sport, not just through his portfolio of racecourses under the Northern Racing banner but also as an owner, his colours famously carried to Grand National glory in 1997 by Lord Gyllene and Tony Dobbin.

She has also savoured some highprofile moments on the track with the likes of Shantou Village, winner of a Grade 2 contest at Cheltenham in 2015, and Shotavodka, who won seven times under Rules for Gerard-Pearse before enjoying a happy retirement at his owner’s home in the Peak District.

“Racehorses have always been in my life,” Gerard-Pearse says. “Dad even had a training licence for a few years in the 1960s before his work took over.

“I initially worked in the NHS as a speech and language therapist before spending 15 years with Northern Racing. I started off at Uttoxeter then went on to work at other racecourses. The marketing side of the commercial operation was my focus before I left to have my children.

“Shotavodka – the only one I’ve had at home – and Shantou Village won plenty of races for me and both ran at the Festival. I’ve got two coming back into training this year and one point-

to-pointer. I’ve just retired Make Me A Believer, who I owned with Caroline Tisdall.”

Now retired, Gerard-Pearse enjoys cycling breaks with her husband and reiterates that the Great Cycle Challenge is an inclusive event.

She says: “You don’t have to be super fit or have all the expensive gear to do this. It’s a relaxed environment, so if some members want to cycle more than others, that’s fine. It’s all about taking part and raising money for Racing Welfare.

“The team members do a lap of the circuit before coming back to the racecourse where they are fed and watered by the organisers.

“You all start together but it’s a timed event rather than a distance event – some riders may want to go as fast as they can, but you just have to keep going for 24 hours. There’s none of that competitive humiliation where you come in hours after everyone else.

“There is so much to enjoy – the chats, the views, the craziness of riding in the dark. It’s a whole new experience.

“Of course, there is a sense of achievement at the end of it. It’s a 24hour bike ride after all. You’ve got to keep pedalling and fuelling with food.

“When I last took part, Racing Welfare CEO Dawn Goodfellow and her husband were there into the small hours, cheering, encouraging and handing out energy bars. It was such a mutually-supportive atmosphere. And at the end of it all they had raised over £100,000.”

Team members are asked to secure sponsorship of £750 each for the Great Cycle Challenge. For further details see racingwelfare.co.uk.

MAGICAL MOMENTS

Guy Myddelton is on the Classic trail with classy filly Forest Fairy

The saying about racehorses not knowing what price they are in a race could be extended to their purchase price at public auction. Forest Fairy, secured for €78,000 as a yearling at the 2022 Goffs Orby Sale, took on two Godolphin newcomers that collectively cost 2.25 million guineas when she made her debut at Wolverhampton in February.

A six-length victory in that mile-anda-half novice contest made Forest Fairy look incredible value, a sentiment that was only enhanced when she produced a battling display on her next start to take the Cheshire Oaks at Chester, in the process putting herself in the frame for the Oaks at Epsom at the end of May.

Forest Fairy races for owners Guy Myddelton and Vernon Taylor, and in famous silks – blue and silver halves, scarlet cap – more associated with the winter game.

“My colours were given to me by my grandmother,” explains Myddelton, whose father’s family has been associated with Chirk Castle since the

late 16th century – the property passed into the ownership of the National Trust in 1981 – while the horseracing interest comes from the maternal side.

“She had a lot of jumping horses in the late 1940s, 50s and 60s. The one of note is Freebooter, who won the Grand National in 1950 and ran in the race three times.

“I was mainly brought up in Yorkshire and there were always horses around at home with my mother, too. She owned some decent horses in the 1970s and 80s, including Polly Peachum and Scattered Scarlet, both good sprinters with Mick Easterby.

“My mother also bred Able Albert, winner of the Ayr Gold Cup, and Macarthur, a decent two-miler chaser. We are a riding and hunting family and I’ve always been interested in the sport.”

Myddelton’s interest had previously focused on jumpers; he lives in Cheshire, next door to up-and-coming trainers Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero – “I can see their gallops from the house” – yet a move towards the Flat is already paying dividends with the Ralph Beckett stable.

“There’s a quicker turnaround on the Flat, both financially and in getting the horses to the track,” Myddelton

Guy Myddelton (blue tie) and Vernon Taylor have an exciting filly on their hands in the shape of Cheshire Oaks heroine Forest Fairy

says. “The jumps is a longer game but perhaps more fulfilling when it goes right.

“As far as the involvement with Ralph is concerned, it’s a Yorkshire connection that goes back a long time since we were both youthful people! I’ve had horses in training with him on my own before – but haven’t had anything as good as Forest Fairy.

“It was an easy thing to go back to Ralph once we started to take the Flat a bit more seriously. He’s a very successful trainer who happens to be a good friend.

“It remains an ambition of mine to get the colours back to Aintree”

So, I went there and introduced Vernon to that relationship.”

Forest Fairy was sourced by her trainer and bloodstock agent Alex Elliott. The figure she commanded may have been relatively modest, yet it did exceed the initial budget.

Myddelton says: “Alex took an order from me when he was in Ireland for the Orby Sale. He rang me and said he and Ralph had found this filly by Waldgeist – an absolute cracker – and that I had to buy her.

“I said that was fine but told them not to exceed the budget. He called back to say they had bought her – over the budget! – so I told them to find another shareholder.

“Ralph came in for 25 per cent, with Vernon and I holding 37.5 per cent each. That was the Forest Fairy Partnership, but it’s now been dissolved as Vernon and I have acquired Ralph’s interest.”

Owning racehorses, under both codes, requires plenty of patience and Forest Fairy didn’t make the track at two.

“It was a struggle last year as she just needed more time, so we left her alone,” Myddelton relates. “I’m very much one to

tell trainers that I’m not desperate to go to the races until the horse is ready. It’s up to the trainer to run the horse in the right race at the right time.

“We were all surprised first time out, and then at Chester we were hopeful that she would give a good account of herself – we thought she could be placed. That would have been wonderful in a Listed race. When she won, we were slightly gobsmacked!

“Vernon couldn’t speak for about five minutes. Watching from our position in the infield, I didn’t think she’d quite got there. It was a really wonderful moment when she was called the winner.

“If you win an Oaks trial, you’re almost duty-bound to go to Epsom. She’s a very well-balanced filly who can handle tight, turning tracks. It’s a dream come true, particularly for two guys who are more jumping people. We can’t quite believe it.”

Cheshire Oaks day became even more memorable when, just a couple of hours after Forest Fairy’s success, Myddelton’s son Harry, an amateur rider attached to the Greenall/Guerriero stable, partnered Go On Chez, jointlyowned by his father, to victory in a hunter chase at Kelso.

Myddelton says: “We couldn’t quite believe that both horses performed so well on the same afternoon! The plan is for Go On Chez and Harry to race at Stratford’s evening meeting on Oaks day.”

Having diversified with his runners, Myddelton has now turned his attention to the business of breeding.

He has two Flat broodmares at the Player family’s Whatton Manor and two National Hunt broodmares – maiden mare Shewearsthewellies, in foal to Jack Hobbs, and Letthetruthbeknown, who has a Golden Horn filly foal and is back in foal to that stallion – on his own property, which sits on 200 acres of farmland near Malpas in Cheshire.

He says: “The plan is to retain the fillies and sell the colts. We are, hopefully, at the beginning of an exciting journey.

“My main aim in racing was always to get the colours back to Aintree. We haven’t achieved that yet, but it remains an ambition of mine.”

Diary dates

Royal Ascot – discount

Tuesday, June 18 and Wednesday, June 19

50% discount on Royal Ascot tickets for both the Tuesday and Wednesday for the Queen Anne Enclosure, with a maximum of two tickets per booking.

Royal Ascot – hospitality

Tuesday, June 18 to Saturday, June 22 10% discount on various hospitality options throughout the week at Royal Ascot, and 15% discount on their new restaurant, The Deck.

Racehorse Sanctuary visit

Monday, July 8

Visit to the Racehorse Sanctuary centre in Pulborough, including a tour of the centre, chance to meet the horses, and a ridden demonstration of horses ready to re-home.

Glorious Goodwood – Richmond Enclosure and hospitality

Tuesday, July 30 to Saturday, August 3

Members can book Richmond Enclosure badges for all five days of Glorious Goodwood. Tickets are priced at £84 per person. We can also offer hospitality packages at Glorious Goodwood, with 10% off the most popular packages in the Secret Garden and Final Furlong restaurant.

Epsom Downs – hospitality

Monday, August 26

A special hospitality package at Epsom on Bank Holiday Monday. The bespoke box package includes admission ticket and badge, afternoon tea and cash bar. Tickets are £70 per person.

York – hospitality

Saturday, October 12

This popular day features exclusive access to a box in the Ebor Stand, lunch, drinks voucher, bar and car park label. Tickets are £70 per person.

British Champions Day

Saturday, October 19

British Champions Day has now established itself in the racing calendar as the Flat season’s fantastic finale. We are pleased to be able to offer members entry tickets at the reduced rate of £25.

ROA Forum

OUR PARTNERS SECTION

Bid to Give: luxury holiday cottage for six people

This month’s Bid to Give auction item from Racing Welfare available exclusively to ROA members is a oneweek stay in a luxury holiday cottage for up to six people, kindly donated by Lord Burlington.

Choose your perfect staycation destination from a collection of country cottages located on the Bolton Abbey Estate in the Yorkshire Dales and the

heart of the Chatsworth Estate in the Peak District.

The lucky winning bidder will enjoy a luxury stay in some of England’s most beautiful surroundings, valid for up to 12 months after purchase.

To view the stunning collection of cottages available and place your bid, go to www.bidtogive.co.uk before 5pm on June 24.

Aintree lunch

We would like to say a big thank you to all members who attended the Racing Welfare Aintree lunch, supported by the ROA. Held on the opening day of the Grand National Festival, this year saw its fourth renewal. Well over 400 attended and in doing so raised over £65,000.

Fiona Elliot was one of the attendees, having won tickets through entering the Racing Welfare prize draw at the ROA Cheltenham marquee. She said: “I was so delighted when I got the phone call to say we had won a hospitality day at Aintree, my mum and I were heading home from two great days at Cheltenham, and it made our fivehour journey much easier!

“The day was so special, I had never been to Aintree racing before as it’s at the beginning of our busy time on the farm, but my husband very kindly didn’t grumble! Racing Welfare were the best hosts and very welcoming, it’s such a wonderful charity to support, thank goodness I entered the free prize draw. I’m so thankful to them for a lovely day.”

Case study: Susan and Vincent’s

‘Security’, ‘a lifeline’, and ‘invaluable’ –just some of the words Susan and Vincent Flynn use to describe their experience of securing a home through Racing Welfare’s charity housing provider, Racing Homes.

Susan, 78, and Vincent, 84, moved into a Racing Homes property in Jack Jarvis Close in Newmarket in October 2023.

The couple had been living in Melbourn in Cambridgeshire, but both have complex ongoing health conditions and mobility issues. They needed affordable housing, nearer to family, on the ground floor, with access to a wet room, and this is where Racing Homes has been able to help.

Susan said: “We both have health issues and just wanted to be closer to family in our retirement and this place has given us the security we need – you can’t put a price on that. It really has been a lifeline for us and we’re so thankful to Racing Homes and Racing

Welfare for all their help.”

Vincent said: “Moving to Newmarket has been a big challenge for us, but now we’re here we’re absolutely delighted with the outcome. It’s close to our loved ones, many of our neighbours are our friends and we’re close to town too. It’s a lovely property which is large enough for family to visit us and it’s accessible too – something we needed due to our health needs.”

During their careers, both Susan and Vincent were employed as work riders in numerous yards, spending much of their time in Newmarket. They worked for many trainers including Bruce Hobbs, Geoffrey Brooke, Humphrey Cottrill and Paddy O’Gorman.

One of Vincent’s career highlights was riding work on Cambridge, who went on to win the Blue Riband Trial Stakes in 1965, while Susan remembers a joyful career, having the opportunity to ride horses she loved.

story

Throughout the housing process, Susan and Vincent worked with Racing Homes Housing Officer, Jo Tennyson.

“Jo is so important to us, she’s invaluable really. She and her colleagues really helped us out,” Vincent said. “Racing Welfare has done us a great turn!”

Racing Homes owns and manages 165 properties across racing centres in Newmarket, Lambourn, Epsom, Malton and Middleham. The aim is to provide safe, affordable housing to those in the horseracing community who would otherwise find it difficult to compete in the private rented sector at stages in their life when they need it most.

While there is a small amount of housing available to working age staff, the key focus is to provide housing to older, largely retired people from the horseracing industry and to young people (18-24) who are starting out in their careers.

The successful bidder will enjoy a fantastic staycation experience

Tony Wells talks racing THE RACEGOERS CLUB COLUMN

“We made so much noise, it was like we’d won the Oaks,” Ed “We made so much noise, it was like we’d won the Oaks,” Ed Walker told me when I bumped into him at the Craven meeting. Our filly, Tayala, had won on her seasonal reappearance at Kempton Park the evening before. There were at least 25 of us from the Kingsdown Racing Club at Kempton supporting our filly and when she hit the front inside the final furlong, it was definitely not the quiet Wednesday night that is usually associated with the Sunbury course!

Whilst it would be lovely to be the sole owner of Tayala, there is something special about sharing an experience with a large group. Our racing club manager, Libby Snell, does a brilliant job organising us and it was a fantastic experience. Watching the replay, sipping a glass of champagne in the owners’ celebration room, with a group of like-minded individuals – what’s not to like?

This is our fifth season with Ed and several of us have been there since the start. I remember visiting Kingsdown for the first time in August 2020, as the country was still in the grip of Covid. My first impressions were of an extremely happy yard and that is exactly how it is every time we go there. I always leave Kingsdown feeling better than when I arrive.

Tenaya Canyon was our Racegoers Club horse and she was at Ed’s for three seasons, winning three times and picking up black type. She gave us some great days out at Deauville, Ayr’s Western meeting and 2,000 Guineas day at Newmarket. She returned to Whitsbury at the end of her four-year-old season and has recently had a filly foal by Havana Grey.

Tayala was superbly ridden by Saffie Osborne, who is developing into one of the most accomplished jockeys around. It was one of 17 winners for Saffie in April, making her Britain’s winning-most jockey in the month. One of those winners, Ten Bob Tony, enabled Saffie to become the first female to ride in the 2,000 Guineas. Ten Bob Tony finished down the field but was still five lengths in front of City Of Troy. With Saffie, Hollie Doyle and several other women riding so well, surely it’s only a matter of time until one of them wins a Classic.

Ed’s good form in April continued into May and he had a notable double at HQ on 2,000 Guineas day. He wasn’t the only one to have a double though, as my good lady Sarah and I managed to win the placepot on both Classic days. We’ve had some success with our joint placepots over the years, but I can’t recall us ever winning it on consecutive days. On both days our individual placepots were losing bets, but by combining them we ended up collecting £369 on the Saturday and £244 on the Sunday.

It was great to see Newmarket so busy. There was a real buzz of anticipation before the 2,000 Guineas, with racegoers expecting to see something special from City Of Troy. It wasn’t to be, as he fluffed his lines. But we may still have seen one of the best 2,000 Guineas fields for some time.

As for the 1,000 Guineas, Silvestre de Sousa won his first Classic on his return to Britain. I’ll be at Epsom for the Derby and Oaks, but I’m not sure if my fellow Kingsdown Racing Club members and I will make as much noise as we did on that Wednesday night at Kempton.

TBA Forum

The special section for TBA members

TBA Bloodstock Conference –June 25 at Tattersalls

Details of the afternoon programme for the TBA’s Bloodstock Conference have now been released. Following the morning sessions focused on the horse, the afternoon puts the spotlight on industry people and business. Leading equine behaviouralist Dr Gemma Pearson will provide her expertise on how human equine interactions can be optimised to positively influence outcomes for thoroughbreds and their handlers. Gemma will also share findings from research on how early life experiences can impact the horse’s response mechanisms and resilience to stress as an adult.

Lucy Attwood, Programme Director for the Horseracing Industry People Board, will update the audience on the impending new industry people strategy, after which a panel will debate how lifelong learning and skill development can be embedded into the workplace. Joining the panel will be Eileen Harte of Keith Harte Bloodstock, whose interests lie in developing young people; Joe Bradley, Bloodstock Director at the National Stud; and Adam Holland, BHA Development Programme and National Stud training graduate.

A session on the environment will follow, featuring Sarah Wynn from ADAS, speaking on the early insights from the

TBA’s Stud Farm Carbon Calculator. Head of Sustainability at Silverstone, Stephane Bazire, a pioneer of sustainable transformation in the motorsport industry, will then outline why and how Silverstone is implementing a long-term sustainability strategy into its business.

The final session of the day returns to the horse, focusing on the development of quality racehorses in Britain, beginning with Kanichi Kusano, General Manager of the Japan Racing Association’s London

Office, describing Japan’s long-term approach to breeding for the racecourse. A panel discussion will follow, led by Lydia Hislop.

The Bloodstock Conference is free to attend for TBA members and £60 for non-members. Non-members who sign up will automatically receive a year’s ACCESS subscription to the TBA, providing opportunities to attend further TBA events and to view educational resources on the TBA’s e-learning platform, TB-Ed.

Flat Breeders' Awards: tickets on sale

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s TBA Flat Breeders’ Awards Evening, which will take place on Wednesday, July 10 at Chippenham Park near Newmarket. The event, which takes place during the July Festival and the July Sale, celebrates British-bred successes from the 2023 Flat season, and will be hosted by Gina Bryce.

Breeders, owners, trainers and enthusiasts are welcome to the Dullingham Park-sponsored event, which includes a drinks and canapes reception kindly supported by Newsells Park and Chasemore Farm, followed by dinner and the awards ceremony.

A total of 13 awards will be presented during the evening, including the prestigious Andrew Devonshire and Dominion Bronze awards.

The TBA would like to thank

The 2023 award winners with their trophies

Dullingham Park, Newsells Park, Chasemore Farm, Tattersalls, EBF and Barton Stud for their support.

Tickets are available on the TBA website’s event page and are priced at £80 per person.

Lydia Hislop (right) will again host the Bloodstock Conference

Lucinda Russell and Perth provide an excellent regional day

Glorious sunshine awaited members who made their way to Lucinda Russell’s Arlary House Stables for the first regional day of the year at the end of April. With Lucinda and Peter Scudamore at the Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale, members were left in the safe hands of Michael Scudamore, who moved from his Herefordshire base to join forces with Lucinda in the summer of last year.

Members were given free rein to wonder the yard and meet the likes of Corach Rambler and Ahoy Senor,

before being taken to the nearby woodchip gallops where Michael ran through the various training techniques employed with the more than 120-strong string, which is split across two sites at Arlary and nearby Kilduff.

Returning to Arlary, a complete tour of the yard and facilities, including the furlong-round gallop with carpet surface, was explained to members. Plenty of turnout, both grass and woodchip, is available to all horses and it was explained that all schooling happened at Kilduff.

Behind the scenes at Shadwell and Newsells

Blue skies with the first hint of summer greeted TBA members for the second regional day of the year.

The morning saw around 30 guests treated to a tour of the facilities and a parade of the Beech House sires, with Mark Dean, Shadwell’s Stallion Manager, providing an insightful talk as the stallions took centre stage.

First to show was Mostahdaf, followed by Mohaather, with six-time Group 1 winner Baaeed completing the three-strong line-up. With the sun bouncing off their coats the stallions looked exceptional, a testament to their handling and to the calmness of the surroundings. The group were also privileged to watch a live cover where, afterwards, Mark fielded questions from members before the stallions were turned out in their paddocks.

The Beech House staff also provided members with a ‘guess the weight of Baaeed’ competition for a magnificent Shadwell plate, which was won by Sally Scott, who correctly guessed 575kg, before being handed goodie bags rounding off a memorable morning.

Following lunch at the Fox and Hounds in Barley, the afternoon tour was hosted by the ever-entertaining Julian Dollar, Newsells General Manager. It began with a look at three mares with foals at foot, explaining their race and breeding record, why the mare was covered by that stallion and who they had returned to. This allowed members a great insight into the Newsells matings.

The group then made their way to the yearling barns, where the organisation’s approach to foal and yearling management, as well as sales prep, was

Following an excellent morning, members headed off to Perth for the first day of its three-day April meeting. A hearty lunch in the course's new 1907 Restaurant preceded an afternoon of quality racing, featuring a pair of Listed contests, which was amplified by the then ensuing battle for the trainers’ title.

The EBF kindly allowed members to represent them for the Gold Castle Novices’ Hurdle, which was won by Sounds Russian, whilst the Listed mares’ chase went to the Russelltrained Apple Away, who was well received by the locals.

Our thanks go to Michael and also Nic Crofts, Matthew Taylor and Tricia Robinson at Perth, and the EBF.

fully explained.

The final destination was the stallion yard, where members watched A’Ali and Without Parole show off, before viewing everyone’s favourite, Nathaniel, sire of Enable and Desert Crown. Polos were handed out and photos taken before Newsells provided a delicious afternoon tea.

Regional days would not be possible without the generosity of the studs and the TBA would like to thank the teams at Beech House and Newsells Park for their time in making this a most memorable event.

Beech House Stud: home to Baaeed

Arlary House Stables proved a stunning venue for TBA members

TBA Forum

Successful Aintree for Britishbreds

April, a shoulder month in many respects, with the British NH season ending with festival followed by festival, and the turf Flat season awakening from its hibernation.

At Aintree, the late Kayf Tara was at the double on the middle day of the Grand National meeting. The Robert & Jackie Chugg-bred Kateira, who runs in the colours of Little Lodge Stud and trainer Dan Skelton, skipped clear and held off challengers in the intermediate handicap hurdle, whilst later on the card the John Lightfoot-bred Arizona Cardinal captured the Topham Handicap Chase over the National fences.

The feature hurdle event on the Saturday is the Liverpool Hurdle and the Olly Murphy-trained Strong Leader, a son of Passing Glance, put in his best performance of the season to win easily. Bred and raced by the Rainbow family, the seven-year-old has a good Aintree record having previously won a novices’ hurdle and finished runner-up in a Grade 1 in 2023.

The following week Cheltenham held its now traditional mares’ day. The feature event for novices, the Grade 2 EBF Final, went the way of the Mel Rowley-trained Malaita, who was an assured winner. She was bred by David Futter and Will Kinsey, adding to an already successful season for the pair.

In the Listed novices’ hurdle Golden Ace, the Dawn Run heroine, defied a penalty and a step up in distance to firmly establish herself as one of the leading British novice mares. She was bred by Meon Valley Stud.

In France the Haras de la Perellebred Uncheckable, a son of Maxios, took the Grade 3 Prix Journaliste at Compiegne.

Having been sold privately to Australian connections after running third in the Glasgow Stakes, Circle Of Fire made his third start down under a winning one in the Chairman’s Quality at Randwick. Reappearing a week later after his Group 2 win, he was

an impressive winner of the Group 1 Sydney Cup. The colt was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The Hascombe & Valiant Stud-bred Mighty Ulysses captured the Brisbane Mile at Eagle Farm. He was one of two stakes winners in the month for Cheveley Park Stud resident Ulysses as last season’s Ballysax winner and Derby third White Birch started his four-year-old campaign the right way when taking the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh. He was bred by the Thompson family’s operation and it was a Group 3 double for them on the day as homebred Esquire, a son of Harry Angel, came out best in the Greenham Stakes.

The Schwarzgold-Rennen at Cologne is often considered a significant trial for the German 1,000 Guineas, which is the destination for the Mickley Stud-bred Massaat filly Queues Likely after making most in the hands of Billy Loughnane. There was a Mickley connection to Lammas, winner of the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields. Bred by Peter Onslow, the seven-year-old is by former Mickley stallion Heeraat.

Staying Stateside and the Charlie Appleby-trained Silver Knott, bred by St Albans Bloodstock, plundered the Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland. The Chasemore Farm-bred Fandom, a son of Showcasing, took the Palisades Stakes at Keeneland on April 7, the same day that Zoustar colt King Of Gosford, bred by the Miss Sugars Partnership, won the John Shear Stakes at Santa Anita.

Another stakes scorer in America was the Merry Fox Stud homebred Five Towns, winner of the Dahlia Stakes at Laurel Park.

The ever-consistent Hamish grabbed an eighth Group 3 in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury, a track connections had never thought suited the son of Motivator, who was bred by Brian Haggas. A couple of days earlier the Bearstone Stud Ltd-bred Washington Heights, a son of its former stallion Washington DC, took the Group 3 Abernant at the Craven meeting.

Another Group 3 scorer in April was Okeechobee. Juddmonte’s homebred son of Time Test won the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown.

Adaay In Devon’s improvement continued as the daughter of Adaay, who was bred by the Horniwinks Racing Club, gained a first stakes success in the Lansdown Stakes at Bath.

Across the Channel and the Car Colston Hall Stud-bred Tribalist (Farhh) added a second Prix Edmond Blanc to his record at the beginning of the month.

Later in the month and the Whatcote Farm Stud-bred Tasleet filly American Sonja broke through at Group level in the Prix Allez France. On the same card at Longchamp the Prix Maurice Zilber was won by the Brightwalton Stud homebred Sea Of Thieves, a daughter of Cracksman.

The Al Shahania Stud-bred Ottery (Frankel) won the Prix Zarkava at Longchamp on April 7.

Results up to and including April 30. Produced in association with GBRI.

Harry Skelton enjoys Kateira's victory at Aintree

BILL SELWYN

NH Statistical Award winners announced

Whitbread Silver Salver

There was a very close finish between an up-and-comer and a wellestablished sire in the fight for this year’s Whitbread Silver Salver, which is awarded to the leading active British-based stallion for prize-money accrued in Britain and Ireland. Come the end of Sandown and the end of the British NH season, Passing Glance was just over £20,000 ahead of Overbury-based Golden Horn.

Winning this accolade for the first time, the 25-year-old Batsford Stud resident was represented by his third top-level winner when the Rainbow family-bred Strong Leader proved far too good for his rivals in the valuable Liverpool Hurdle on Grand National day. Placings in the Ascot Hurdle and Cleeve Hurdle ensured he was his sire’s biggest contributor by far.

One of those rare stallions to have sired a Group/Grade 1 winner under both codes, Passing Glance’s fee has never topped £3,000.

Schiaparelli: sired most chase winners

Having stood his first season at the National Stud, he joined David and Kathleen Holmes’s Pitchall Farm in Warwickshire and, bar a season at Walton Fields, stood there until 2015, whereupon he transferred down the road to the Varey family’s Batsford Stud.

A son of Polar Falcon who won a German Group 2 over a mile, Passing Glance has found a way of producing high-quality staying horses. His other big contributors included the admirable Dashel Drasher, winner of a memorable Long Distance Hurdle, and Latenightpass, the Ellis family’s former hunter chaser, who took to Cheltenham’s cross-country course with aplomb.

Horse & Hound Cup

Whilst the Whitbread Silver Salver gained a new name on the trophy, the Horse & Hound Cup, awarded to the stallion who has sired the most chase winners in the season, went to Schiaparelli for the fourth time.

The former five-time Group 1 winner was well represented by his daughter Marsh Wren. Starting out her novice campaign with a win off a mark of 122 and carrying 12st2lb, she ended the season with a mark of 145 and a third-place finish in the Liberthine Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

In between she was second in a Listed prize at Wincanton, won

Dates for your diary

Tuesday, June 11

South West regional day – SOLD OUT

Andrew Balding's Kingsclere stable and Jake Warren's Highclere Stud will open their doors to members on a regional day.

Wednesday, July 10

Flat Awards, Chippenham Park, nr Newmarket

Celebrate the successes of all Flat breeders from the 2023 season in the glorious surroundings of Chippenham Park on the evening before Newmarket’s July Festival kicks off.

Tuesday, August 13

BILL SELWYN

Dashel Drasher: contributed to Passing Glance's haul

an EBF qualifier off top weight at Uttoxeter, and gained bold black type when taking on the Irish and making most for a comfortable win in the Listed Colreevy Mares Novice Chase at Thurles in the middle of February.

Heather Main kept the ten-year-old Numitor back for a spring campaign and was well rewarded when the Schiaparelli gelding captured the valuable Middle Distance Veterans’ Handicap Chase Finale at Haydock Park.

Other performers to have shone a light for the son of Monsun include triple chase winner Fenland Tiger, dual winner Bonza Boy and Quintin’s Man.

AGM/‘Alles Ist Gut’, Newbury racecourse

The 107th AGM will take place in the morning, with the announcement of the three elected Trustees. Following this there is an educational event titled ‘Alles Ist Gut’ focusing on gut heath of horses.

Tuesday, September 17

Wales & Midlands regional day

Spend the day with the Skeltons. The morning will be hosted at Dan Skelton’s Lodge Hill yard prior to lunch in a local pub. It is then around the corner to Grace Skelton’s Alne Park Stud.

For more information regarding these events, as well as to see when regional days have been fixed, either contact the office or check out the regular e-bulletins.

Breeder of the Month

BREEDER OF THE MONTH

(April 2024)

R Rainbow & Sons

Levels of pride could hardly have been higher after Strong Leader landed the Grade 1 JRL Group Liverpool Hurdle, earning the Rainbow family the nomination as TBA Breeder of the Month for April.

Olly Murphy described it as “the best day” of his training career, and a month on from the big day, Sam Rainbow, representing the owner-breeders who will receive a complimentary HorseLight Original ‘blue light’ and a complimentary light design for a yard of their choice in the UK, reflects: “We still can’t quite believe it.”

The ‘we’ is Sam, his father Mark, 84, Mark’s brother Rob, 81, and Rob’s son John, who race Strong Leader as the Welfordgolf Syndicate, but not far away in the wings are other Rainbows, including Sam’s wife Jess, an equine vet, and sister Mandy.

“Rob and I make most of the decisions,” Sam explains, “but really everyone has got involved since the day we talked about buying a well-bred mare to race and breed from. Although we’d never have been able to buy one to go into training, they don’t take a lot to keep at home once you’ve got them on the ground.”

The partners took the plunge into ownership in 2011, having diversified from rearing sheep on the farm at Welfordon-Avon in Warwickshire to building an 18-hole golf course.

“We went to Doncaster looking for a filly with a bit of pedigree who could run as a three-year-old,“ Rainbow recalls, “and we saw Strong Westerner, a half-sister to Strong Flow, whose performance in winning the Hennessy stuck in my mind. We had a budget of £8,000 but would go to £10,000, although Fergal O’Brien, who

we asked about the filly, reckoned she would fetch more. In the end we got her for £10,000.

“Fergal took her, but she picked up an injury quite soon into her time with him, so couldn’t run. We thought, ‘Well, that’s a waste of time,’ but a vet said she would be fine for breeding, and since Pitchall Stud was half a mile from us, we walked her down the road and had her covered by Midnight Legend.

“She didn’t get in foal, but we went back to Pitchall, where David and Kathleen Holmes stood Passing Glance, and Strong Glance was the result. He won us five races with Fergal and Olly Murphy but he was always very sharp, whereas Strong Leader, the third foal, is so chilled out.”

Strong Westerner has since been joined by the Midnight Legend mare Midnight Flyer, whose first foal, the now five-yearold Chasing Glance – another Passing Glance – won a Pytchley point-to-point maiden by 15 lengths on his April debut, trained by Tom Ellis.

Meanwhile, Strong Westerner has belied her stuttering start as a broodmare.

She has a five-year-old sister to Strong Leader, called Strong Run, ready for her debut with O’Brien; a four-year-old filly by Telescope, who has been broken in; as well as a two-year-old sister – “one of the nicest horses on the farm,” Rainbow says – and a yearling sister. She missed to Golden Horn last year but is back in foal – to none other than Passing Glance.

The obvious question is whether the partnership has been tempted to sell Strong Leader. “We’ve had people approach Olly and have always said no,” Sam reveals. “Uncle Rob has been involved with pointers for a long time and he always dreamed of having a good horse. Now he’s got one, he says he wants to enjoy it, and that’s what all of us think.

“We’re in a privileged position that we have fillies from the family on the place and we could sell one or two of those. But the plan is to keep ticking over. You can’t describe the thrill of winning at Aintree, having had the horse on the ground as a foal and seen him all the way through to winning a Grade 1 race. It feels like winning the lottery.”

BILL SELWYN

Strong Leader (right) on his way to winning the JRL Group Liverpool Hurdle

Words Howard Wright

The Finish Line with Sir Francis Brooke

Sir Francis Brooke took over as Her Majesty’s Representative at Ascot immediately after the Royal meeting of 2020. He is just the sixth person to hold the position, now as His Majesty’s Representative, which was created when the Ascot Authority Act was passed by Parliament in 1913. He follows the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess of Abergavenny, Sir Piers Bengough, the Duke of Devonshire and Sir Johnny Weatherby in the role. He grew up in Limerick in a family with a long association with racing and breeding, and he enjoyed a memorable success at Cheltenham in March as the joint owner of Ultima Chase winner Chianti Classico. Besides his responsibilities at Ascot, Sir Francis is Vice Chairman of Troy Asset Management.

Interview: Graham Dench

My family on both sides have been involved in racing for generations and I was brought up in Ireland in and around the sport. My grandmothers had horses in training, my uncle had a stud, my great uncle Geoffrey Brooke was a trainer in Newmarket – at Clarehaven, where the Gosdens are now – and my great aunt was married to Atty Persse, to whom Geoffrey had been assistant. My mother latterly bred some very good jumping horses, including Mighty Moss, who was second to Istabraq in the SunAlliance Hurdle, Bannow Bay, who was second to Baracouda in the Stayers’ Hurdle, and Far From Trouble, who won a Galway Plate.

After we took over the farm in Limerick in 2015, my wife Katharine and I decided to start breeding ourselves and we now have six mares. Three of them are National Hunt, which is where we started, and now we have three Flat mares as well. We have bred three individual winners including a filly called Pita Pinta, trained by Fozzy Stack, who won three races and was Listed-placed. She’s now back on the farm with a colt foal by Saxon Warrior. We breed both to sell and to race and this year we have a two-year-old in training with Sir Mark Prescott. We aim to make it pay but breeding on our scale you need to get lucky once in a while, as it’s not very predictable.

The two horses I’ve had in partnerships trained by Kim Bailey have won 12 races; Chianti Classico in particular has been amazing. It was a great thrill when he won at Ascot last November and then to win the Ultima on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival was a bit of a dream. Me and Richard Pilkington, with whom I share ownership, were there with family and friends and it was an extraordinary day. I would have been delighted if Chianti Classico had simply been in contention at the third last, but he was pulling David Bass’s arms out!

There are plenty of options looking ahead, including the Kerry National, although that might come too soon, the Coral Gold Cup, and of course those valuable handicaps at Ascot. One day he might run in the Grand National.

I’ve been Chairman of Ascot Authority (Holdings) Ltd since 2018 and became the last of Queen Elizabeth II’s Representatives after the lockdown Royal Ascot of 2020. It was a huge privilege to be appointed and since then I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate to be in the position for the Accession of King Charles, helping to see Ascot through the sadness of losing the Queen and then on through the transition to the King. It was clear from an early stage that the King and Queen would be very committed to Ascot and everyone was so pleased when they came on all five days last year. It was wonderful for Ascot, for British racing, and for the world of racing because the number of people around the world who view that association between Ascot and the Royal family as important is enormous.

Queen Elizabeth II was an absolute expert on all matters to do with thoroughbred racehorses. She had a huge passion for the sport, but Their Majesties are also clearly finding it very enjoyable to own racehorses. Racing is a sport which touches people around the world and the King enjoys that sort of interaction both at home and abroad. I think also that being closer to the breeding plans and the horses generally is giving him great pleasure. Desert Hero winning the King George V Handicap was a terrific moment and the King and Queen took huge pleasure from it.

Queen Camilla had her own involvement in jumpers already and with her I helped create the Friends of Ebony Horse Club Syndicate. We leased horses on the Flat and over jumps with various trainers and won six races. We gave a lot of pleasure

to some of Ebony’s young people by arranging racedays for them as well as stable visits and some work experience. It was a project born in lockdown and the whole idea was to bring the experience of racing to young people who might not otherwise have had the opportunity. It was great fun for the two years it was set up for and we might do it again one day.

We felt that it would be appropriate to have a race run at Ascot in the King’s name, and the King’s Stand Stakes will now be run as the King Charles III Stakes. It’s a very suitable race as it’s a Group 1 and attracts a lot of international interest from America and Australia. The King was very happy that we wished to name the race for him and I very much hope he will be there to present the trophy on the first day of the meeting. The Royal Drawing School is another great passion of his; for the first time this year there will be a stand in the Royal Enclosure where students will be drawing and exhibiting their work through the week.

Royal Ascot has changed enormously over the last 40 or 50 years while maintaining much of the tradition, and there have been incremental improvements year on year since the redevelopment. The traditions from the Royal Procession to the dress code are intrinsic to the event but we have modernised and innovated against that backdrop, nowhere more so than with the development of the race programme. It’s not for everyone but it holds its place in the global racing calendar as an event many people will want to attend at least once in their lives, if not every year. The most important thing is that everyone feels welcome, whichever enclosure they choose, and that’s what everyone at Ascot is committed to. We want people to go away at the end of the day feeling that they’ve seen the best racing in the world and really enjoyed themselves.

SOCIAL CALENDAR CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE

ROYAL ASCOT DISCOUNT

Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 June

50% discount on Royal Ascot tickets for both the Tuesday and Wednesday for the Queen Anne Enclosure, with a maximum of two tickets per booking.

ROYAL ASCOT - HOSPITALITY

Tuesday 18 - Saturday 22 June

10% discount on various Hospitality options throughout the week at Royal Ascot, and 15% discount on their new restaurant, The Deck.

RACEHORSE SANCTUARY VISIT

Monday 8 July

Visit the Racehorse Sanctuary centre in Pulborough, including a tour of the centre, chance to meet the horses, and a ridden demonstration of horses ready to re-home.

GLORIOUS GOODWOOD - RICHMOND ENCLOSURE

Tuesday 30 July - Saturday 3 August

Exclusive opportunity for members to book Richmond Enclosure badges for all five days of Glorious Goodwood. Tickets are currently priced at £84pp.

GLORIOUS GOODWOOD - HOSPITALITY

Tuesday 30 July - Saturday 3 August

Access to Hospitality packages at Glorious Goodwood, with 10% off their most popular packages in the Secret Garden and Final Furlong restaurants.

EPSOM DOWNS - HOSPITALITY

Monday 26 August

A special hospitality package at Epsom on August Bank Holiday Monday. The bespoke box package includes admission ticket and badge, afternoon tea and cash bar. Tickets are £70pp.

YORK - HOSPITALITY

Saturday 12 October

We once again host this ever-popular day with exclusive access to a box in the Ebor Stand, lunch, drinks voucher, bar and car park label. Tickets are £70pp

BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY DISCOUNT

Saturday 19 October

British Champions Day has now established itself in the racing calendar as the Flat season’s fantastic finale, and we are pleased to be able to offer members entry tickets at the reduced rate of £25.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT roa.co.uk/events

Dubaw i

One of the greatest of the greats. Notable Speech gives Darley’s history maker his fourth 2,000 Guineas winner, a feat unparalleled in our time, and beating Northern Dancer, Sadler’s Wells and Galileo who all sired three. His stallion sons, led by Night Of Thunder, are his enduring legacy.

MAKFI