Including:
Filly out of Lady Aquitaine sold for 260,000gns to Avenue Bloodstock for M V Magnier
Filly out of Vegas Valentine sold for €240,000 to SAS Sumbe
Colt out of The Begum sold for 160,000gns to Shadwell Estate Company
Filly out of Wonderworld sold for 150,000gns to EDC Agency
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Like a band that is split up at the height of its fame – think Paul Weller and The Jam in 1982 – the decision by Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, the man behind the Yeguada Centurion outfit, to dissolve its association with trainer Christopher Head is brave indeed.
In no time at all – Yeguada Centurion’s blue and white silks weren’t seen on the racecourse until 2019 – the partnership has proved itself formidable on the European stage, winning Classics and Group 1s aplenty with the likes of Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock, boosting the profile of owner and young trainer alike along with jockey Aurelien Lemaitre.
It’s been some story so far, especially fascinating as Pujals had achieved immense success in his career as a businessman/ entrepreneur and came to racehorses a little later in life than most owner-breeders.
“I was 72-years-old when I started to breed thoroughbreds,” he tells Adrien Cugnasse ( see feature, pages 20-24 ). “In its very essence, that’s a difficult activity. And I partly did it because of that challenge.
“It is often said that to become a millionaire in horses you have to start as a billionaire. It’s a real challenge and I wanted to take it up.”
Take up the challenge he has, with quite incredible results. How the next chapter plays out with Maurizio Guarnieri, who has been selected to succeed Head as the operation’s trainer, will be revealed in due course.
As for Head, whose Chantilly stable still houses plenty of exciting horses including top-class filly Ramatuelle, results on the racecourse will determine how he fills the boxes vacated by Pujals’ string.
The Betfred Derby is on the horizon and Epsom’s Non-Executive Chair Brian Finch, who succeeded Julia Budd after Desert Crown’s victory in the 2022 Blue Riband, talks to Graham Dench about his hopes for the future of the racecourse.
Edward Rosenthal Editor
Finch, who was born in Zimbabwe, is looking to not only enhance Epsom’s most famous races but also increase engagement with the local community.
“We have a clear strategy for the Epsom site, which will require investment,” he says ( The Finish Line, page 72 ). “Conferencing and events provide a growing income stream with potential to grow further.
“However, our priority focus is to develop the site in a manner fitting to host the world’s greatest Flat race. Whilst Epsom can host up to 16 race days by legislation, we will continue to work on enhancing the nine fixtures outside of the Betfred Derby and Betfred Oaks before trying to expand. We have a huge catchment area and broad demographics on our doorstep; we can do a lot more with what we’ve got.”
“Pujals came to racehorses a little later than most owner-breeders”
The idea of online auctions for thoroughbreds was not particularly popular until the onset of Covid, which changed the rules around the movement of people and animals.
Thankfully, those restrictions are no longer in place, yet digital sales have remained a popular method for the trading of horses and look to have become a permanent feature of the sales year.
James Thomas spoke to those running online auctions around the world to find out what the future holds for this fast-growing area within global bloodstock ( see feature, pages 26-30 ).
Aintree has been and gone for another year – and it was a huge success. The Randox Grand National did not have a single faller and turning for home there were still over 20 horses in with a shout of victory. The changes to the famous race made by the Jockey Club and BHA, in consultation with other stakeholders and organisations, included a shorter run to the first fence, a smaller field and a (nearly) standing start. Those, other initiatives and the slower ground conditions combined to produce a great spectacle for the tens of thousands on course and the millions watching on TV.
The media coverage was almost universally positive, with the National even making it on to the front page of the Wall Street Journal, exactly the sort of lift the sport needed. The supporting cast over the three days was equally enthralling and after the slightly gloomy wash up from Cheltenham, this will have been a boost for the Jockey Club as well as the industry.
I have been teased by some of you that the Leader has become the same article each month, as a consequence of the seemingly never-ending discussions on levy reform and the negotiations around affordability checks. April is the month that the levy reform update is due to be given by the Minister to Parliament, and the industry working group and the Betting and Gaming Council have been involved in intense discussions with the Minister and his department about getting a voluntary agreed deal over the line.
Racing’s position has been consistent since July last year, not least because the industry’s costs have risen at a much faster pace than levy returns following the previous levy determination. A sensible adjustment would produce much needed funds and allow the industry to plan for the future with more certainty.
Given the obvious lack of time left for this current Parliament, it is highly unlikely that a legislative solution will be on the cards, so we are probably relying on a voluntary deal between the major bookmakers and the industry. By the time of my next column, we will have more certainty on the levy and hopefully some better news around affordability checks.
The recent news that the Jockey Club has cut its previously announced executive contribution to prize-money in 2024 was disappointing, especially as Ascot, York, Newbury and others have recently outlined increases. The issues are complex, and each business has different challenges, but it’s a warning sign that must be heeded.
An industry-wide strategic initiative to attract new
investment, outside the existing sources, is vital if we are to move forward. It seems that every day another sport has succeeded in bringing in new investors and this is something that British racing must strive to do. The appetite for our product on a global stage is well known but while other jurisdictions forge ahead, we seem to be stuck in the starting stalls.
A lot of work has gone into the last 18 months since the new governance structure was agreed, but we now need to build on that and really push for the big prizes. Certainly, an enhanced levy and some better news on affordability checks can help, but these alone are not enough. We must realise the
“We must access the vast legal betting markets worldwide and the income that could produce”
potential of our heritage around the most famous Flat races and racecourses, to access the vast untapped legal betting markets worldwide and the income that could produce for our sport.
As I write, the breeze-up sales are now under way, the National Hunt season is coming to a thrilling finish, with a three-way go for the trainers’ championship, and the first of the Classic trials have been staged. We have a hugely rich and varied sport, but we need to find some new and significant investment to really turbo-charge the future. The alternative is too painful to contemplate.
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Nicki.Parsons@howdengroup.com www.howdengroup.co.uk
• All risks of mortality
• Theft
• Stallion’s congenital or permanent infertility
• Broodmare barrenness
• Prospective foal
• Foals from 24 hours
• Yearlings unsoundness of wind
• Horse at grass
There was a huge sense of achievement and no little relief that overtures and entreaties from the BHA, TBA and NTF to the Home Office through the Migration Advisory Committee, in respect of the needs of the thoroughbred industry for skilled equine-care occupations, have resulted in six key roles being admitted to the Immigration Salary List.
As such, recruitment now can be directed internationally in addition to the domestic market. Thank you to the TBA and NTF members who wrote to their MPs.
The six key roles that the government added to the list are: racing groom, work rider, stallion handler, stud groom, stud hand and stud handler. The occupations are listed on the government website under Animal Care Workers, with a SOC code of 6129. Personnel recruited under this scheme attract minimum salary levels, plus relocation costs agreed between employer and employee.
So, good news then, as there should be a larger pool from which to counter the critical labour and skills shortages throughout racing and breeding in training yards and on stud farms.
The TBA will prepare educational material to aid members who might want to consider this opportunity. However, we cannot and should not think this is the solution to current recruitment problems. It will not provide for every vacancy nor be suitable for every employer.
The real answer, and the only one that is ultimately sustainable, is to provide career opportunities, recruit domestically, reward and offer progression. British racing, in all parts and levels, should be regarded as a career opportunity, not just a job.
In my dictionary, ‘career’ is defined as “an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life with opportunities for progress”, whereas a ‘job’ is “a paid position of employment.” They are quite different and have very distinct outcomes and consequences for both employer and employee.
The career encourages ownership and opportunity, whilst the job is just a means to an end to achieve a living. There must be a mindset change to aspire to the former, as within any industry all good-to-great initiatives begin by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality and acting upon them.
What to do then? Here we have a world-class activity continuing at present to deliver at all levels – breeding, training, iconic racecourses and races, many of which are recognised and have value the world over. Yet our domestic labour pool cannot be persuaded in sufficient numbers about the opportunity and joy of working in racing, an envied activity
with legacy, theatre, colour and excitement. Why?
Much of the answer comes down to money and investment. In almost every area the metrics of British racing are in decline, and when a prospective employee considers a career in the industry, they reasonably ask questions that provide negative answers, and turn away.
The industry collectively recognises that funding is the most critical question it faces, but once the stakeholders are separated and self-interest begins to rule, the big picture becomes a snapshot, and the status quo continues.
“Our domestic labour pool cannot be persuaded about the opportunity and joy of working in racing”
Of all the assets any company or industry values most highly, its people are No. 1, and breeding and racing must have an employment initiative front and centre. Conditions are difficult enough with seasonal working and unsocial hours, before the universal trials of inflation, mortgages and just getting by make the job even harder.
So, nothing should be taken for granted in recognising the need to improve conditions and rewards under which the industry’s people deliver day in, day out. The need for a radical solution to the declining finances of British racing is imperative to provide the platform to rebuild and invest in every area, especially in the people who turn up every day to ensure the show stays on the road.
That solution is at hand, with the BHA’s Industry People Board finalising a strategy. It will take vision, courage and pain to deliver and there will be casualties along the way, but unless the opportunity is grasped, with so many challenges upon so many fronts, this great industry might follow the poem For Want of a Nail
Olivier Peslier, four-time champion jockey in France and who has the same number of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe wins to his name, retired last month after a glittering 35-year career in the saddle.
The 51-year-old won Europe’s most valuable and prestigious prize on Helissio (1996), Peintre Celebre (1997), Sagamix (1998) and Solemia (2012), while a string of other big-race triumphs included the 1998 Derby on High-Rise and 2,000 Guineas in 2007 aboard Cockney Rebel.
His most prolific season came in 1996 – the first time he was champion jockey in his native France – when he partnered 163 winners.
On the international stage, as well as Classic strikes across the Channel at Epsom and Newmarket, Peslier won the Japan Cup on Jungle Pocket (2001) and Zenno Rob Roy (2004) and back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Miles (2008-10) on the great Goldikova.
Also on his chock-a-block CV are victories in the Irish Derby (Winged Love, 1995), Prix du Jockey Club (Peintre Celebre, 1997; Intello, 2013) and Gold Cup (Westerner, 2005).
Peslier, who was apprenticed to Patrick Biancone and Nicolas
Clement, and retained rider for owners Alain and Gerard Wertheimer between 2003 and 2014, bowed out at La-Testede-Buch last month, the first of his more than 3,700 winners having come at Rouen in March 1989.
“My health is fine, but you need the horses and the practice and if you don’t have so many horses, it’s the time to decide to stop because it’s very tricky to ride only a few horses,” he explained.
“After a very long career, I’ve had plenty of success. I’ve had over 500 Group-race wins. I’ve won with both Arabians and thoroughbreds and 165 Group 1s, so it’s amazing.
“I’ve won everywhere in the world and had great success and great moments. I’ve met so many good people and I’m very happy to stop my career and watch what’s happened before.
“I won all the good races in England – the Epsom Derby, the King George [on Harbinger in 2010] and at Royal Ascot.
“In Japan I won 12 Group 1s and won the Japan Cup and all the big races over there, and also the Breeders’ Cup and all the Derbys in Europe.
“So now is the time. It’s sad to take the decision but for sure I’ll keep riding some horses because everybody loves horses, and also I ride for my passion.”
As for what’s next, Peslier said: “I’ll take a little break, see some friends and see what happens over the next few months.
“After a holiday, September will be a new life, and I think I need a little bit of time to see what will happen in the future. I’m going to spend some time with my kids and enjoy life, then it will be a new life.
“Normally when I go to, say, Hong Kong and England it’s for work; now I can go and visit people I know and take the time to enjoy it.”
The racing industry has launched a new information campaign to build public trust around horse welfare.
HorsePWR, a collaboration between the British Horseracing Authority, Horse Welfare Board and Great British Racing, with additional funding provided by the Jockey Club, sees the industry adopt a transparent approach to sharing data and discussing the risks involved in horseracing.
The campaign’s new platform at www.horsepwr.co.uk provides the facts about the sport and the thoroughbred, to share information about their purpose, the lives they lead, and the high welfare and safety standards that underpin racing in Britain.
Gabi Whitfield, Head of Welfare Communications at Great British
Racing, said: “This is a positive shift for British racing. The public want to know that horses bred for racing are leading good lives, that racing acts responsibly and in the best interests of the horse, and that all efforts are being made to reduce risk wherever possible. That’s why HorsePWR has been created. It will cover the full spectrum, from helping rebut misinformation through to promoting the many aspects of racehorse welfare that the sport can rightly be proud of.
“Over the past ten years, consumer research has repeatedly highlighted that concerns about horse welfare are a barrier to following or engaging with the sport. Areas of concern include injuries and fatalities on racecourses, questions about the ethics of racing,
New campaign: bold approach
and worries about what happens to horses after their career ends. The HorsePWR campaign has been created to tackle these concerns head-on.”
Racing Welfare is calling on cycling enthusiasts to join its Great Cycle Challenge in July to help raise funds for the charity.
The 24-hour event will see teams of between four and eight people cycle on a circular route through Newmarket and the surrounding area.
Starting at noon on Saturday, July 20 at the Rowley Mile, the riders will tag-team day and night for 24 hours, with two cyclists on the road at any one time while the other members of the team rest at the racecourse.
The challenge will finish at noon on Sunday, July 21 with friends, family and supporters in attendance at the finish line.
A post-event celebration for all the riders and supporters will take place on the Sunday to recognise the achievement of all of those who have taken part in the challenge.
There is a £62.50 registration fee per person and a £750 sponsorship target for each participant. The deadline for registration is Friday, May 31. For further information see racingwelfare.co.uk.
Prize-money at Jockey Club
Racecourses will be £1.5 million lower in 2024 than the group forecasted at the start of the year.
Attendance figures at the Cheltenham Festival in March were down on 2023, while Jockey Club Chief Executive Nevin Truesdale referenced the “financial headwinds” the group was facing.
The news, delivered last month, was met with understandable disappointment from horsemen.
The Thoroughbred Group – an umbrella organisation representing owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – said the costs its members were facing would be negatively impacted by the announcement.
Jack Connor, Racing and Analytics Executive, said: “The Thoroughbred Group is obviously disappointed with the Jockey Club’s announcement on 2024 prize-money.
“While the challenging trading environment is understood by our members, many of whom run businesses themselves, they will undoubtedly be frustrated to see prize-money reduced at
a time when they are facing their own cost pressures.”
The Jockey Club said its executive contribution would reduce by around £750,000, or 2.3 per cent, during the period May-December 2024, bringing the amount of money invested in prize-money this year to just over £31m, the same level as in 2023 and still a significant increase compared with recent years.
The upshot is that prize-money at the 15 JCR tracks – which include Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom, Newmarket and Sandown – will amount this year to around £58.6m.
Truesdale said: “Many businesses inside and outside our sport are facing a number of unprecedented financial headwinds and being forced to make some difficult decisions. The Jockey Club is not immune from these challenges and, like any prudent business, we’re having to constantly adapt.
“The cost-of-living crisis continues to impact both our own revenues and those who invest across our business, with inflationary factors significantly affecting
our operational costs.
“A combination of factors was keenly felt at the Cheltenham Festival, our largest single commercial driver in terms of events, and which has seen its own cost base rise by 25 per cent since 2022 and 50 per cent since 2019.
“Our online media revenues remain uncertain due in part to the proposed yet ongoing affordability checks. In this regard our operating model is very different to other racecourses and racecourse groups, which are not necessarily impacted by the current economic climate in the same way.”
Addressing the reduction in prizemoney, he continued: “This has been a difficult decision to reach. It is vitally important to us that we remain open and transparent throughout the year with those who work in and contribute to the horseracing industry and that is why we’re communicating this news proactively at the earliest opportunity.
“The Jockey Club has considered the importance of owners at all levels of the sport when making these decisions and have revised our prize-money levels accordingly.”
There was better news on the purses front when York racecourse announced its prize-money pot would increase by £500,000 to £11.2m in 2024.
Ben Curtis Jockey elects to make permanent his switch to riding in the USA following a successful spell at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
Tony Martin
Trainer will lose his licence for three months from May after breaking antidoping rules last year.
Mick Appleby
Crowned champion all-weather trainer for the eighth time on Good Friday, finishing one winner clear of Tony Carroll.
Leading jump jockey retires from the saddle aged 35 on medical advice. He had 1,246 winners over jumps including 13 Grade 1 victories.
Dane O’Neill
Rider, 48, announces his retirement after 32 years. He spent a decade as second jockey to Shadwell and partnered 1,889 winners in Britain.
Rose Dobbin
Northumbria-based trainer who captured the 2016 Eider Chase with Rocking Blues reveals she is relinquishing her licence after 15 years.
Paddy Brennan
Jockey who captured the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Imperial Commander retires after winning on Manothepeople for Fergal O’Brien at Cheltenham in April.
Ben Pauling
Trainer loses the support of owners Andrew and Jane Megson, who remove all their horses from his Gloucestershire stable.
Giovinco 7
High-class novice for the Lucinda Russell stable suffers a fatal fall in Aintree’s Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase.
War Chant 27
Son of Danzig, winner of the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Mile, sired 46 individual stakes winners, latterly based at Yarradale Stud in Australia.
Won the 2004 Derby for owner-breeder Ballymacoll Stud and trainer Sir Michael Stoute. He later sired St Leger hero Arctic Cosmos.
Pikar 7
Dan Skelton-trained hurdler, winner of two races for owner Estate Research Pc Ltd, sustains a fatal injury at Aintree.
The Bowe family’s immensely popular hurdler won 35 races and took the scalp of Istabraq in the 1999 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle.
Newmarket-based trainer will operate a satellite yard in the US with a team of around 12 horses, including recent Sheema Classic winner Rebel’s Romance.
Simon Michaelides
Marketing consultant becomes Chief Customer Officer of Great British Racing following Rod Street’s decision to step down as Chief Executive.
Ashley Barnes
Norwich City forward is indefinitely disqualified by the BHA for failing to cooperate with an investigation into the Hillsin non-trier case.
The National Stud
Fred Barrelet, Sam Sangster and Nancy Sexton are appointed as new Board members at the Newmarket-based operation.
Eamonn McEvoy
Appointed Bloodstock Sales Director by Tattersalls Ireland having spent almost five years as General Manager at Naas racecourse.
Hamad Al Jehani
Qatari trainer will set up in Newmarket with the backing of Wathnan Racing, based in the lower yard of Tom Clover’s Kremlin House Stables.
Bryony Frost
Grade 1-winning rider based with Paul Nicholls will split her time between Britain and France as she seeks more opportunities.
Luciano Salice 88
Italian furniture magnate owned outstanding middle-distance performer Falbrav, winner of eight Group 1s, latterly in the care of Luca Cumani.
Juddmonte’s 2,000 Guineas-winning son of Frankel will shuttle to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand for the 2024 southern hemisphere season.
Benbatl
Dubawi’s multiple Group 1-winning son who retired to Big Red Farm in Japan will shuttle to Woodside Park Stud in Victoria this year.
Shinzo
Son of Snitzel, winner of the 2023 Golden Slipper, joins Coolmore’s Australian roster in the Hunter Valley.
Too Darn Hot
Exciting young stallion who has made a big impression with his early crops will return to Australia this year on Darley’s Kelvinside roster.
Soul Sister
Lady Bamford’s Oaks heroine has been retired and will have her first cover with Gilltown Stud resident Sea The Stars.
Lord Clinton 89
Estate owner served as Chairman of Exeter racecourse and owned a share in high-class French stayer The Good Man.
Markus Jooste 63
South African businessman was an avid breeder and owner with horses stabled around the globe, including with Aidan O’Brien.
Sir Chips Keswick 84
Chairman of Hambros Bank and Arsenal Football Club enjoyed Cheltenham Festival wins with Present View and You Wear It Well.
John Boswell 87
Hotel owner saw his blue and white silks carried to victory by Acclamation and Frankie Dettori in the 2003 Diadem Stakes.
John Barson 97
Owner with Mark Johnston whose best runners included Royal Ascot winner Drill Sergeant and talented stayer Watersmeet.
Stefano Cherchi 23
Sardinian jockey who rode 106 winners in Britain dies from injuries sustained in a fall at Canberra racecourse in March.
Ken Clutterbuck 77
Former point-to-point and amateur jockey became a trainer before taking over as landlord of The Shoes pub in Newmarket.
Keith Bell 82
Self-made construction firm boss owned a number of talented runners including high-class jumpers Kissane and Mudahim.
Kota Fujioka 35
Grade 1-winning jockey dies from his injuries following a mid-race fall at Hanshin. The 35-year-old won over 800 races in Japan.
The Randox Grand National field negotiates the water jump at Aintree with eventual winner I Am Maximus and Paul Townend seen jumping on the inside in the white cap. This year’s race saw a reduction in the field size to 34 – two late withdrawals saw 32 runners line up – and while there were four unseats, not a single horse fell in this year’s extended 4m2f contest.
Photos Bill Selwyn
I Am Maximus and Paul Townend pull clear on the run-in to take the famous marathon by seven and a half lengths from Delta Work, with Minella Indo and Galvin filling the minor placings. For Townend it was a first National strike and a second for trainer Willie Mullins (inset, right), successful in 2005 with Hedgehunter. Owner JP McManus (inset, left) was enjoying his third National victory following Don’t Push It in 2010 and Minella Times in 2021.
Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei – fermare’; that is what Marco Ghiani should have said to himself. Instead, he went to sette, and found himself in front of the BHA disciplinary panel at the beginning of March for five whip offences in the previous six months.
Similarly, Tommie Jakes should have gone ‘one, two, three, four, five, six – oi, give up’ more often, otherwise he too would not have been next in line for punishment at the same hearing session.
Cheeky chappie Ghiani, who turned 25 years old the week before the hearing, went one over the limit of six strikes in a race on January 22. Since June 2 last year he had received bans of 28 days,
13 days, three days and four days for similar offences, detailed by the BHA prosecutors as one breach every 55 rides, or one every 44 rides counting only the last four. He had also incurred a 28-day ban less than six months before the sequence under question.
Jakes, who was 17 years old at the time of the hearing, comes from the other end of the experience spectrum, having had his first ride under rules in January 2023. His five offences between mid-August last year and the end of January this year arose from 69 rides, making his score one breach every 13.8 rides, for offences varying from twice over the limit to using the whip while out of contention.
There is never a good time to die – but running up to one of the major festivals has to be worst for all but the most famous personalities in ensuring their contributions and significance are recognised in the British racing media. Cumbrian permit holder Jonathan Haynes and former Racecourse Association chairman Sir Paul Fox clearly did not fit into the category ‘most famous’.
Maybe they were born too early, given that many of today’s social media-driven writers give the impression that horseracing began in 2000, not long after the arrival of the internet.
Haynes, whose death, aged 64, occurred the week before Cheltenham, hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons on January 10, 1980, when he broke his back in a selling-hurdle fall at Southwell. He was a 19-year-old apprentice with Reg Hollinshead, his career and life ahead of him. Thank goodness for the Injured Jockeys Fund, which settled him into a Cumbrian farm that was gradually adapted for his own use but more significantly for training jumpers under permit alongside his indefatigable partner Kay.
Soon careering round the property in a wheelchair or on a quad bike, leading a horse as he went, Haynes also became the first recipient – that I knew of – of a wheelchair which sprang bolt upright, so that he could tend virtually every part of the horse’s body. The partners also branched into all aspects of breeding their own string, alongside running a three-cottage holiday-let adapted from 300-yearold farmers’ dwellings that Haynes helped to design.
The IJF was with him every step of the way, and backed by his own determination, he was the epitome of its benefits. He trained for more than 35 years and counted five winners in 2015-16 and 2016-17 as his best seasons. The majority of his runners raced at nearby Hexham; mainly they were moderate, but they remained his life until his last runner in June 2023.
Sir Paul Fox, a giant of the television world, whose death at the age of 98 was announced in Grand National week, had a short but significant spell in racing administration, being one of the founding fathers – yes, there were no women directors at the start – of the new governing body, the British Horseracing Board.
The position, emanating from election through his
chairmanship of the RCA from 1993-97, also took him on to the Levy Board and into the chair of services organisation RaceTech, a company that suited his background and whose sale from the BHB to the RCA, after the Levy Board reduced its contribution to camera patrol by £2m, saved its future.
Famed as one of the few television executives to attain senior managerial status with both BBC and ITV, Fox – who only the Racing Post’s mine of information John Randall could have discovered had been born in Germany and came to Britain as a refugee from the Nazis on the Kindertransport in 1938 – was responsible for programmes as diverse as Dad’s Army, Parkinson, Sports Personality of the Year and The Two Ronnies.
They came in his first spell at the BBC, before, in 1973, he moved to the smallest of five ITV franchises at Yorkshire Television, whose prominence he drove way above its output and revenue. It was at this point that he also became involved with horseracing, the county’s coverage of which the channel organised.
In a prepared but unpublished Racing Post obituary, John Sanderson, who was at York during this period, said: “He was a tough bloke. When he retired from the BBC, the RCA was looking for a chairman and he took the role. He did a very good job for us. He was a heavyweight who had a commanding presence in meetings.”
A heavyweight, just like most of those who first sat round the BHA boardroom table. Lord Hartington (later Duke of Devonshire) and Lord Zetland, guardians of large estates; Michael Darnell, main board director at Tesco; Peter Jones, founding partner in BMP; Sir Nevil Macready, MD of Mobil Oil; eminent chartered accountant David Oldrey; grandee Sir Thomas Pilkington; Nick Robinson, founder of Pacemaker Publications; Lord Swaythling, whose several directorships included Chairman of bankers Samuel Montagu and Executive Chairman of Rothmans.
The current governing body, the BHA, has gone down a different route. Were most of its Board members to enter a room full of professionals, they would hardly merit a flicker of recognition. So, where are the equivalent heavyweights of the mid-90s today, pushing racing’s case in politics, business and industry? Missing, I’m afraid.
Looking in from the outside, the question is: who is advising them and others in their position?
Ghiani is no longer officially regarded as an apprentice, but he is one of seven jockeys, also including Tom Marquand and Billy Loughnane, on the books of agent Shashi Righton. Jakes, who started his apprenticeship with Jane Chapple-Hyam and is now with fellow Newmarket trainer Alice Haynes, has Mike Spence as agent, along with Kevin Stott.
There was a time when the trainer to whom a youngster was apprenticed would take all responsibility for their welfare, education and treatment. Masters such as Frenchie Nicholson and Reg Hollinshead gained a reputation, and probably a decent living, from nurturing talent. Today, their number has diminished, as other influences have grown.
The role of agent, which has been taken on by a remarkably large group of people, whose client list ranges from a couple to the 42 on Ian Popham’s books and 34 on Gordy Clarkson’s, is generally unlike that in other sports, such as football. It concentrates almost wholly, it seems, on booking rides, rather than assuming much responsibility for welfare, or even career progress, which is more and more left to the BHA’s jockey coaching programme.
The scheme, promoted by the BHA as “a coaching and mentoring initiative designed to further improve levels of horsemanship and professionalism,” was introduced in 2011, when the first intake who passed the appropriate qualification to teach included John Reid, Mick Fitzgerald, Kevin Darley, Richard Perham and Michael Tebbutt, all of whom remain on the roster.
There are now 13 other individuals available, and ex-rider George Baker has become head of jockey coaching on a programme that
has been expanded to cover more staff, including at the three IJF centres.
Much was made of the coaching process in the Ghiani-Jakes hearings. Although the disciplinary panel noted they “were unconvinced Mr Ghiani was taking the rules and the purpose behind them sufficiently seriously,” he said he had “been working with his coach on the simulator to try to recreate pressured situations.” Jakes said he “saw his coach every one or two weeks and used the full six hours’ coaching per week.”
The question remains, though: is the system working for youngsters such as Ghiani and Jakes, and more especially for those coming behind them?
We have horses available for sale by world leading stallions such as; Frankel, Dubawi and Kingman.
We are building a strong team for the increasingly lucrative Middle Eastern Racing Programme and look certain to field our strongest ever squad in 2024/25.
Get in touch via the QR code to join The Winning Team!
Triple Crown season is well and truly under way in the States and few within the industry, if any, are as well-placed to comment on the big-race series than Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito.
New York native Zito, 76, has pretty much seen it all during his 50-plus years in the sport. Having started out in 1972, training his first winner that year at the long-defunct Liberty Bell Park in Pennsylvania, his list of accomplishments includes five victories in Triple Crown races and two strikes at the Breeders’ Cup, high points in a career that has to date yielded over 2,000 winners.
In a major change to this year’s format, the New York Racing Association decided that the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, will be run over a mile and a quarter – two furlongs less than its traditional distance of a mile and a half – owing to its temporary move to Saratoga while Belmont Park undergoes a $455 million redevelopment. The contest is not due to return home until 2026.
The switch has caused some
controversy and Zito, who captured the race with Birdstone in 2004 and Da’ Tara in 2008 – two editions that attracted mammoth crowds and TV audiences – is far from pleased with the reduction in distance whilst at the same time appreciating the reasoning behind the decision.
He says: “The Belmont Stakes – it’s known as the ‘Test of Champions’ – is a mile and a half race. But now there’s no Belmont Park so where do you go? If you move it to Aqueduct, not many people are going to go there.
“If you want to show off racing, you go to Saratoga, Keeneland and Del Mar. You put it in a Coca-Cola bottle, and you say, ‘Here’s what our sport’s all about’. You just sold it around America and around the world. If you go to Aqueduct these days, that’s a pretty hard sell.
“The race should stay at a mile and a half. But in this particular time and era, they figured this was the best they could do for racing. I think it’s sad.
“The problem you have is that the Belmont has to be in New York. The powers that be figured it would be sold
out at Saratoga and it would certainly not have sold out at Aqueduct.”
With the massive investment in Belmont Park, unloved Aqueduct looks to be on borrowed time, set to join a list that includes Arlington Park and Golden Gate Fields – which still continues, for the time being at least – as a former racecourse.
Aqueduct may be on the way out, yet it was the track that ignited Zito’s love for the sport.
“We lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn but then moved to Queens and that’s where I first encountered horseracing because we only lived a mile from Aqueduct,” Zito says.
“If no-one’s going to the track then it sure looks like its days are numbered.”
Zito’s two Belmont victories garnered significant attention in the US media and around the world – in both races his runners were longshots and thwarted the Triple Crown dreams of rivals, namely Smarty Jones in 2004 and Big Brown four years later, each coming into the final leg having captured the Derby and Preakness.
Whereas Da’ Tara led from the gate in his Belmont victory as hot favourite Big Brown finished tailed off, Birdstone’s success proved far more dramatic. Smarty Jones, partnered by Stewart Elliott, held a
significant lead on the turn for home and looked set to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 until the Zito-trained colt, racing for ownerbreeder Marylou Whitney, overhauled him near the line under Edgar Prado.
Had the 2004 renewal been staged at a mile and quarter, Birdstone would not have landed the spoils and instead America would have been celebrating its first Triple Crown hero for 26 years. Distance matters, it seems.
“They blamed the jockey on Smarty Jones,” Zito recalls. “That was the craziest thing I ever heard.
“If a horse has a four-length lead turning for home – in any kind of race –nine times out ten they’re going to win. But the Whitney blood was what did it in the last quarter of a mile. We ran him down because of the breeding and that’s the test of a champion.
“Yours truly and of course Marylou Whitney and her husband John Hendrickson were very fortunate because the last time there were 120,000 people at the Belmont Stakes was in 2004 for Birdstone – it was one of the largest live sporting events ever in New York.”
This year’s Kentucky Derby increased in value by 67% to $5 million, meaning
more horses than ever tried to qualify for one of 20 starting places through the points system, introduced in 2012 to replace the previous method based on earnings.
Zito, who captured the ‘Run for the Roses’ in 1991 with Strike The Gold, doubling up with Go For Gin three years
“I’d like to go out on a high note – that’s why I keep fighting”
later, may be light on Classic ammunition but he will be cheering on his former assistant Danny Gargan, who was set to run Dornoch and Society Man in the Derby. Jorge Abreu, who also learnt his trade with Zito, was forced to scratch Jody’s Pride from the Kentucky Oaks.
“They’re excellent trainers,” says Zito, who sent out a then record-equalling 11 Triple Crown runners in 2005. “I’m
extremely proud of Jorge and Danny, and I like them both as people too.”
He continues: “The Kentucky Derby is still the greatest two minutes in sport, but it has become an event. I see horses every single year and as soon as they qualify – it doesn’t matter if they’re 9,000-1 – they’re running in the Derby. The odds don’t matter.
“I used to concentrate on [prep] races like the Wood Memorial, Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes. One time I was in a bar, and someone asked me if I’d ever won the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park [won by Birdstone in 2003]. I said I’d won it five times. He almost fell off his stool!”
Zito accepted an invitation in 2023 from Robert DiPippo to work for his ZD Racing management company, yet he continues to train thoroughbreds. Stable numbers may be a fraction of what they once were, however his passion for the sport burns as brightly as ever.
“The dream when I started out was to win the Kentucky Derby,” he says. “I don’t want to go out this way – I’d like to go out on a high note. That’s why I keep fighting.
“If someone wants to call me, I’ll always talk to them and we’ll go from there. God willing I’ve got tons of energy. So, let’s keep it going.”
Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals might be a relative newcomer to racing but with success quickly coming his way and plans to stand Big Rock at his new stud farm, he is certainly making his presence felt
Words: Adrien Cugnasse
Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals’ Yeguada Centurion is still a young breeding operation. Yet its first generations of three-year-olds have made a sensational start on the international scene led by Big Rock, who landed last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was crowned best miler in the world for the 2023 season. The son of Rock Of Gibraltar is likely to make his four-year-old return at Newbury in the Lockinge Stakes. Four-time Group 1 winner Blue Rose Cen also had a stellar three-year-old campaign, winning the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and Prix de l’Opéra.
Others sold as yearlings also represented the stud well. Ramatuelle was runner-up in the Prix Morny and she targets the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Jigme was champion three-year-old hurdler in France last year and was syndicated for a record amount (for a French NH stallion) to stand at Haras du Hoguenet in 2024. And then Hard To Justify, one who was sold in the US, ended her juvenile campaign unbeaten in three starts by winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. After this impressive victory, a respected international bloodstock analyst commented: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a start like it.”
A war and a revolution
To a breeder who was complaining how tough the game is, Guy de Rothschild once said: “No one is compelled
to breed racehorses.” And Baron Guy was quite right. We all know too well it’s tough, and the price for a few moments of ecstasy are many painful
and the land was nationalised by the Communist government. Pujals, then only 13, went into exile with his family. His dream could have been destroyed. In fact, it was just postponed for a few decades. Like many Cubans, Miami was the next step and a few years later, he studied accounting and finance. In 1968, he enlisted in the Marines and fought in Vietnam, from which he returned with a medal – and a good deal of useful management skills. To be more specific, he did not spend the war running with a gun in his hands. His job was logistics and supply.
Pujals started to work for Procter & Gamble in 1971 but joined Johnson & Johnson soon after. Being one the very few fluently bilingual in English and Spanish, he was sent to run sales and marketing in the Madrid office. But when you have survived a revolution and a war, such as Pujals did, taking
risks is some sort of lifestyle. Having lived in America, he knew how fastfood restaurants could be profitable. However, in the still very traditional Spain of the 80s these concepts
“E. P. Taylor was an entrepreneur and that is something that speaks to me”
were unknown. So Pujals was a real pioneer when he launched TelePizza, a company that quickly became the Spanish Pizza Hut.
Indeed, his business exploits are quite famous in Spain: according to Spanish media, he earned around €360 million from the sale of Telepizza in 1999 and then invested in the telecommunication business, where he sold Jazztel to Orange for half a billion euros. On his life as an entrepreneur, he said in 1999 to The Independent: “The market is a battlefield: you have to gain ground and fight off others who have seen the same opportunity. I try to foster an American work ethic to get hands-on experience at all levels of the business. I don’t want my executives to come straight from university and land into an office.”
His fortune made, Pujals came back to his childhood landowning dream and bought a farm in Spain. But he is not the kind of person to have a few riding horses in his garden. He has to make it big. In 1995, he established
›› the largest Spanish horse breeding operation ever, with more than 300 broodmares, achieving very quickly top results in breeding shows and dressage competitions. Pujals then started a hunting falcon selective breeding project, which again was a success with many clients in the Gulf. “All types of breeding are different because the guidelines and criteria are very distinct in each case,” he says. “For falcons, I avoid inbreeding in the first three generations of the pedigree.”
In the 1980s, no one would have imagined that an unknown country such as Qatar was going to be a major international player in the racing world. The truth is the next big thing in our sport can come from anywhere. As a native of the south-west of France, only a few hours drive from Spain, I would never have expected Spanish racing to one day provide an operation the size of Yeguada Centurion. Racing in Spain had its glory days from the
‘60s to the ‘80s, with good horses and a real passion for the sport among the local gentry. But the Spanish government created restrictive rules around betting shops; in turn, Spain lost lots of talented breeders, owners and trainers, many of them moving to France. Decades later, Pujals was invited to Madrid racetrack, a marvellous-looking facility where a friend of his had a runner. Discovering racing and the thoroughbred, he was hooked. Everything he liked was there: competition, beautiful animals and selective breeding.
As always before a new project, he did plenty of research, asking for advice and reading every single book available about the subject.
Ten years ago, Pujals published his autobiography Apunta a las estrellas y llegarás a la luna: Convierte tus sueños en éxitos (Shoot for the Stars and You Will Land on the Moon). In it, he said: “Everything you need to know has already been written. Just read, study, apply and learn from the best. Since my earliest childhood, I have always
read a lot.”
But ask Pujals which racing book is actually the most inspiring and he replies: “The book by E. P. Taylor on the life of his homebred Northern Dancer is the best I have read about racing. Taylor said, ‘Mate the best with the best… to hope for the best’. This is what we are trying to do! E. P. Taylor was an entrepreneur. And that’s something that speaks to me. Very early in my professional life, particularly when I worked at Johnson & Johnson, I stepped out of the box because I had this entrepreneurial spirit.”
Pujals decided to follow his instinct and to start a thoroughbred breeding operation. But again, he is not the kind of person that can play for small stakes. It has to be big and it has to be ambitious. “I was 72-years-old when I started to breed thoroughbreds,” he says. “In its very essence, that’s a difficult activity. And I partly did it because of that challenge.
“It is often said that to become a millionaire in horses you have to start
‘A massive opportunity for us to have worked for him’
During the first years of his breeding operation, Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals boarded the majority of his mares at Haras de l’Hôtellerie in Normandy. Its owner Guillaume Garcon pays credit to the breeder.
“We’ve been lucky enough to raise Blue Rose Cen, Jigme and Ramatuelle on behalf of Yeguada Centurion,” he says. “Now most of their mares are in their own stud but we carry on preparing and selling yearlings for them. It proved to be a massive opportunity for us to have worked for him. Partly thanks to the success of their horses, Haras de l’Hôtellerie is now completely full.
“I would also say the achievements of Yeguada Centurion horses pushed our team and our other clients to raise their standards. It’s certainly a decisive moment in the history of our farm.”
Reflecting on his client, Garçon says: “Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals is a very analytical person. You can see he worked a lot on pedigrees and has done a lot of research on how previous successful breeding operations were structured.
“He is also a person that really makes his own opinion and his own decisions. And to do so, he really seems to spend a lot of time planning everything.
“I have to say I do believe that bringing American blood to Europe, as Pujals did, is very positive. It’s something that is less common these days but it proved to be very successful for him. He made a good decision when using Justify very early in his career and the stallion provided him with Ramatuelle and Hard To Justify. For us it’s very exciting to follow Ramatuelle’s career and we hope she does well in the 1,000 Guineas. She seems to have trained on.
“Now Yeguada Centurion is entering a new phase, with its own stud. The work they did on this farm is quite impressive. It’s really a very beautiful place now.”
For the Garcon family, working for Pujals changed many things. Thanks to their client, they met Christopher Head, who is now training horses for the stud including Nevercry, runner-up in a Classic trial early this year.
“Meeting Christopher was very positive for us,” says Garcon. “It was really fascinating to understand his training methods. He is a very ambitious young trainer and works very hard.”
When Jigme was consigned by l’Hôtellerie at Arqana, Garcon told Pujals in advance that they were willing to buy him as a jump stallion prospect. The horse became a champion over hurdles and the Garcon family is now deeply involved in his stallion career.
“Now Jigme has gone to stud, everybody realises he has beaten very good horses as they keep on winning big races at Auteuil this spring,” he says. “Jigme is very popular and will cover between 140 and 150 mares this year. With our clients, we will send him 25 mares. He is supported by a very good syndicate and will be given every chance.
“Jigme fits what the modern National Hunt market requires, with a need for more Flat class than in the past.”
Hard To Justify lands last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
as a billionaire. It’s a real challenge and I wanted to take it up.”
Pujals has already experienced some wonderful days at the races. When Blue Rose Cen won the Prix de Diane, the atmosphere was incredible.
“Family, friends and the team were there for Blue Rose Cen’s victory in the Prix de Diane,” he says. “It’s great the enthusiasm this has generated among our employees, including those who work in Spain. Everyone really fell in love with this filly. The gallop gives you shivers, goosebumps.
“My wife tells me that with every victory, we get a dose of adrenaline. The racehorse offers you a capacity for identification and projection that is quite remarkable. We also had the feeling of having been very well received by the galloping world. Everywhere.”
The Yeguada Centurion colours appeared in public for the first time in August 2019 with La Venus Espagnola. Three months later, Pujals made a sensational breakthrough as a buyer. Almost unknown in the international
market, he appeared as the top buyer during the second session of the Keeneland November Sale when he bought seven mares for $1.4 million. From 2018 to 2020, he spent approximately €12 million at public auctions on both sides of the Atlantic. The sum doesn’t include private purchases such as Queen Blossom, the dam of Blue Rose Cen.
Results were quick to come. If there is an exercise where Pujals proved to be extremely talented, it is in the buying of mares. To date, the team have sourced the dams of five Group 1 homebreds. On top of that, they have also purchased the dams of Taiba and Queen Goddess when both of these future North American Grade 1 winners were untried youngstock. Taiba won the Santa Anita Derby, Pennsylvania Derby and Malibu Stakes while Queen Goddess landed the American Oaks. In fact, over ten per cent of the mares Pujals bought are now the dams of a Group/Grade 1 winner.
Surprisingly, Pujals does not work with any particular bloodstock agent, even if in the early days the mares were bought with Francisco Bernal
of Outsider Bloodstock. When asked what his criteria for a broodmare are, Pujals says: “There are many things to look at. We try to buy broodmares with some size. They have to be correct. We like them to be good movers but with movement that matches their ideal racing distance. You can’t expect a sprinter to walk like a stayer. In all cases, the hindquarters must be strong.”
There is no magic trick or secret formula for matings and finding mares. But breeders that start from scratch have the chance of not carrying all sorts of prejudices and preconceived ideas. Pujals was advised to reach a critical mass in terms of number of mares. Instead of creating a boutique operation by spending millions of euros, he bought them by the dozen, with the most expensive costing around $400,000.
Focusing on mares with performance but not necessarily the greatest catalogue page, Pujals did not follow the damline obsession of our industry. For instance, Queen Blossom, the dam of Blue Rose Cen, remains the only Group 1 producer among Jeremy’s
daughters at stud. Her immediate family is not impressive but she was a proper racing filly, with two Group victories. Just like the Yoshida family in Japan or Guy Pariente in France, every time a new breeder makes performances his number one criteria, it can be viewed with suspicion. Yet for many of them, it has proven to be most effective.
The American influence
The first ten mares, acquired in 2018, were represented by their first Yeguada Centurion-bred three-yearolds of 2023. They are all European but Pujals, having noticed the success of some European breeders with American blood, began to import broodmares from the US. On various occasions he has mentioned Alec Head as an inspiration, and now you can find on his Normandy farm some mares with a real dirt influence in their pedigrees being mated with proper Classic European sires.
“Among the first foals born in Europe from my American purchases,
“To have a sustainable operation, standing stallions is necessary”
some went back to the US to be trained in Tampa in Florida,” he says. “Very gradually, I want to mate American mares with European stallions here in Normandy.”
There is also the intention, by using American blood, to produce horses with early speed that can lead the pace. This is a favourite tactic of Pujals and he asks his horses to be ridden that way.
Pujals was the first to give a chance to the young Christopher Head, at that time an outsider with a small string of horses. The pair enjoyed some outstanding results, notably through Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock, before the string was switched to Maurizio Guarnieri, a Group-winning trainer from Italy with a lot of experience but a small number of horses.
“From time to time, Christopher and I would talk about what the life of an
entrepreneur is,” says Pujals. “He grew up in a family where people succeed generation after generation.”
He adds: “That being said, we cannot just reproduce the methods of the past and hope to succeed today. As an entrepreneur, I have never tried to copy. You have to adapt, make changes. I have always wanted to give young people a chance, sometimes even to individuals with little experience. And give them the keys to becoming proper working partners. If you want your company to succeed, this must be the case for each member of the team.
“I wrote my autobiography in 2014. Its title is Shoot for the Stars and You Will Land on the Moon. You have to try to aim as high as possible in what you want to do.”
The plan, as Yeguada Centurion is growing fast, was to split the increasing number of horses between two Chantilly-based trainers. Blue Rose Cen was moved at the start of the year to Guarnieri, a switch that prompted plenty of speculation. The idea behind the strategy was to show a sign of confidence to the new trainer in the team while spreading the risks and indeed, Pujals initially remained faithful to Head. However, it was announced late last month that Big Rock and 12 other horses would also follow Blue Rose Cen out of Head’s yard on to Guarnieri.
In the early days of the project, the idea was to race only in Spain. But quickly his country appeared to him to be too small for his equestrian
ambitions. After weighing the pros and cons and taking advice, Pujals finally chose France.
“The stud farm that I bought in Normandy, in Nonant-le-Pin, is very good land with lots of grass….and it grows fast!” he says. “I have chosen France because I wanted to be close to my other businesses and get from one point to another quickly.
“Furthermore, the French system provides incentives for breeders, especially with the premiums. We had looked around Newmarket as well but it was shaping up to be difficult. However, France offers interesting opportunities for breeders who, like me, want to invest. In Spain, I only kept horses in training because I want to support the local industry. But the focus is really on France because that’s where you can compete with the best.”
His runners have been raised in various French studs, but mostly at Haras de l’Hôtellerie in Normandy before the mares moved to the new farm last year. It was formerly in the hands of the Corbieres family for over a century and its purchase means that Pujals is now the neighbour of Haras de Montaigu and Jean-Pierre Dubois.
Pujals also plans to be involved in the stallion game. “To have a sustainable breeding and racing operation, standing stallions is necessary,” he says. “Fingers crossed that Big Rock continues to shine as maybe he will be our first stallion. He has exceptional health and cardio. Everything is expensive when it comes to racing and breeding. Only stallions and very good racehorses can help you find a certain balance.”
Having been brought into sharper focus during Covid, the popularity of online sales has accelerated in recent years – and with confidence in them still growing, they are becoming ever more importantWords: James Thomas
You can buy anything online, provided you know where to look. This has not always been the case when it comes to luxury products, however, as some highend brands were slow to jump on the eCommerce bandwagon.
To some extent this is understandable as those who stump up for luxury items expect exclusivity, experience and exceptional customer service. These demands can’t always be met simply by sitting at your computer.
But the onset of the Covid pandemic accelerated the luxury sector’s shift into the digital marketplace, and as boutiques and showrooms were forced into closure during 2020, online options emerged as a viable route for companies to connect with their customers.
This saw the online share of the luxury goods market surge, and those levels have been maintained in the years that followed despite trade being allowed to take place inside bricks and mortar once more.
While bloodstock rates a very different type of commodity to other luxury items, the industry has begun mirroring this move into the online marketplace. The online sale now rates arguably the fastest growing area within the global bloodstock business.
In Europe the established auction houses of Arqana, Goffs and Tattersalls have significantly enhanced their online offerings, with regular scheduled sales as well as ad
hoc pop-up auctions. There is also a growing record of notable transactions – both in terms of prices and future performance.
winning hurdler Impaire Et Passe to Highflyer Bloodstock for €155,000 at its April Pop-Up Sale in 2022, while Jayne McGivern’s Dash Grange Stud went to £340,000 for Constitution Hill’s dam Queen Of The Stage through Goffs Online in May that same year.
monthly event.
“Tattersalls began holding online sales during Covid because it was the only place the company could sell,” says Katherine Sheridan, who joined the firm as Online Sales Executive in April 2022.
“That first online sale in 2020 was a good sale as it grossed £590,000 and one of the top horses was Great House, who went to Australia for Highclere and was still winning up until just after December, but that was really our answer to the challenges Covid presented.
“I came on board in April 2022 and, even though restrictions had been lifted by that point, we made a decision in August to finish that
have sold horses for up to £420,000, with Badgers Bloodstock securing the Group 3 winner West End Girl on behalf of Cayton Park Stud in June 2020. The Newmarket-based operation has since taken the online concept from a Covid crisis measure to a
Katherine Sheridan: “It’s about presenting buyers and sellers with greater opportunities”
the digital gavel. They yielded 175 individual sales with receipts totalling a highly respectable 2,303,600gns. It is a sign of the progress the online concept has made that those numbers were completely overshadowed in 2023.
In total the 12 monthly sales attracted 840 entries, a 132 per cent year-on-year gain, while 755 took their turn in the online ring. Those offerings resulted in 386 transactions, a 121 per cent increase, and combined turnover of 4,227,405gns, which was up 84 per cent on the previous year.
There is a temptation to assume that such big numbers appearing in online sales might be detracting from catalogues at Tattersalls’ physical sales. However, quite the opposite has been the case.
“The success during the Covid period, when we saw some really strong sales on the platform, that’s when we saw the online sales could
really complement the existing sales calendar,” says Sheridan. “They’ve found their place and where we see them actually benefiting the live sales is if a horse has to be withdrawn or doesn’t make it to the live sale for whatever reason, then the option to sell at public auction isn’t removed. There’s still a chance to bring that horse to market.
“We haven’t seen any depletion in numbers at our live sales, and in fact last year we saw numbers increasing at the live sales like the July Sale and the Autumn Horses in Training Sale. So those numbers aren’t being negatively impacted, we’re just providing another option. It’s really just about presenting buyers and sellers with greater opportunities.”
These greater opportunities help mirror the immediacy that customers find when they go shopping in the wider online marketplace, something
that isn’t typically served by the rigid cycle of traditional sales. The on-demand culture of an instant gratification society is something that online bloodstock sales have tapped into, according to Leif Aaron, FasigTipton’s Director of Digital Sales.
“Covid pushed Fasig into thinking about the possibility of a digital platform but the biggest reason behind its introduction was really to provide another service to our customers,” says Aaron. “It was basically just giving our clients the option to sell whenever they wanted to, and making the horses a lot more liquid than they were before.
“People don’t have the time to come spend four days at an auction away from their families and their jobs, but they still have the hunger to be in the game. We’re seeing a lot of new people that have never bought from Fasig-Tipton that are buying horses online now, which is fantastic.
›› What we’re also seeing is trust in the digital market as a whole. That means we’re getting better horses and more buyers.”
Although plenty of progress has been made in Europe, online sales have taken an even firmer hold in other jurisdictions.
In September 2021, New Zealand Bloodstock’s digital platform Gavelhouse Plus set a new high mark for the online sale of a thoroughbred when Te Akau Racing’s nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage was knocked down to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier at NZ$4,100,000. A host of other sevenfigure transactions have followed in the southern hemisphere, including when the Group 2-winning North Star Lass went the way of YuLong Investments at A$1.525m via Inglis Digital, a frontrunner in the online market, last September.
The practical advantages of selling
online has been an important factor in countries like Australia and the US, where shipping horses vast distances can present logistical challenges. This
“Enough people registered to bid to fill up our entire sales pavilion”
was borne out when Fasig-Tipton hosted the first phase of the Glen Todd Dispersal in April 2022, a little over a month after the company launched its digital platform. The sale saw 31 lots gross $1,197,500. In Aaron’s view, that
was the sale that set the ball rolling for Fasig-Tipton’s booming digital platform.
“The first sale we had was in March 2022 and we had around 20 entries,” he says. “The next sale had 23 or 24 entries and it was just ticking along. Then we got the Glen Todd Dispersal, and a lot of those horses were in Seattle, Washington. They asked us what we thought the horses were worth and if they should ship them to Kentucky.
“It worked out best to offer these horses on the digital platform so we could keep them all in Seattle, and the horses ended up selling for about four times what we’d appraised them for. That’s when I first really felt like this thing can get legs.
“From that point on, it was just a little bit of growth, a little bit of growth, a little bit of growth. Then, in December of 2023, we had 309
‘It’s been very organic growth’
The established auction houses are not the only players in the online sales market. Thoroughbid, which went live in September 2021, is Britain’s first online-only bloodstock sales company, and from a standing start the operation has quickly compiled an eye-catching roll of honour.
Its On The Line, winner of the Aintree and Punchestown Hunter Chases, changed hands through Thoroughbid for just £8,000 in March 2022, and at the same sale Coolmara Stables secured the subsequent Cheltenham Festival winner Maskada at £80,000.
Grade 1 Top Novices’ Hurdle winner Belfast Banter was also sold via Thoroughbid and went on to land a second top-level contest at Saratoga after going the way of David Mullins for £130,000. There has been success on the Flat too, with a 50 per cent share in Thunderbear realising £75,000 from City Bloodstock before the son of Kodi Bear landed the Group 3 Dubai International World Trophy Stakes.
“If someone had said to me that in under three years we’d have had a winner at all the major spring festivals in National Hunt racing, a Group winner on the Flat and a Grade 1 winner overseas, I’d have been a very
entries and it felt like it just exploded. We were having record amounts of registered bidders, our finance department was literally working around the clock to approve people to bid. Enough people registered to bid to fill up our entire sales pavilion.”
Fasig’s eye-catching results have continued in 2024. Pounce really put the platform in the spotlight, first when she changed hands for $370,000 to the bid of John Stewart’s Resolute Racing at the February Digital Sale, then by winning the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes on her first start for new connections.
“Pounce was a great deal and this is really what the website was built for,” says Aaron. “The horse won impressively, the original ownership group decided they wanted to sell and instead of trying to coordinate a behind-the-screen private bidding process they made it public and let
happy man,” says Thoroughbid’s Chief Executive James Richardson.
“That’s a huge testament to having built a product that people want to use. Another thing I’m proud of is having sold animals in Britain, Ireland and France to the US, the Middle East and mainland Europe. It’s quite a feat for a business that started from scratch. It’s been very organic growth and hopefully it continues to go that way.”
Thoroughbid has gained traction by doing things slightly differently to other sales companies, with an added emphasis on flexibility, inclusivity and integrity. For example, purchasers have 48 hours for veterinary reexamination after the fall of the hammer. And whereas the established auction houses do not pay vendors until at least 35 days after the sale, Thoroughbid has shortened this window to seven working days.
“The industry can be quick to forget that not everybody is an industry professional,” says Richardson. “It can be quite an intimidating industry to come into, certainly from a purchasing point of view, as you’re reliant on industry knowledge and industry experts to be able to participate.
“We have plenty of anecdotal evidence from people who I believe would’ve never bought at a physical sale but have bought a horse with us because they’ve seen a route to
market that they understand.”
Reflecting on the trajectory of Thoroughbid’s early years, Richardson says: “Like anything new, especially something in the racing industry, everybody tells you why it won’t work. Everybody told us we won’t be able to do it without offering credit and that everybody needs to be able to see the horse in the flesh. But some of the most satisfying times I have now are when people who told me that this couldn’t work become clients and either buy or sell, or both, through Thoroughbid.”
Richardson says there is a new generation of racehorse owners emerging who are less willing to operate solely within the constraints of physical sales. To that extent, Thoroughbid is ideally positioned to cater for those whose perspective isn’t bound by tradition.
“We’re not for a second saying we’re better than anybody else, but there is definitely a place for online sales and there’s definitely a place for opening up new markets,” says Richardson.
“There are multiple ways to sell horses. Online has its place in the market and it also has the capability to mitigate some of the issues within the sport. Hopefully we have some exciting things to launch in the not too distant future. Ultimately we’re here to serve the industry how and whenever they want.”
everybody participate and it attracted buyers from all over the world. It was the icing on the cake for us when she won a Graded stakes next out.”
Although most sales venues have all the mod cons, the nuts and bolts of the sales process has remained virtually unaltered for decades. This means that converting buyers and sellers into online participants has required behavioural shifts from both parties.
Sheridan says Tattersalls have relied on tried and tested customer service to allay any anxiety around navigating an unfamiliar way of doing business.
“Anything new, whether that’s in this industry or any other, comes with a certain level of challenge, but for us this has really been about demystifying the idea of online sales because some people in the horse business wouldn’t qualify themselves as tech savvy,” she says. “But even though these sales are online we still look to have that personal connection. There’s no restrictions on communication with us and vendors certainly aren’t expected to deal with the computer the whole way through. There’s a dedicated online team, but right across each department everybody at Tattersalls is committed to providing help to people whenever they need it.”
From Fasig-Tipton’s perspective, Aaron says there has been an organic increase in engagement with the company’s online sales.
“We haven’t really tried to change anybody’s habits,” he says. “People ››
have educated themselves. They have a week to work the sale, they don’t have to go anywhere and they’ve been able to study it for themselves and that’s made them feel more comfortable with the process.
“Everybody has their own way of working a sale and that’s no different with the digital auctions. We have some people who are willing to buy totally off pictures and videos and some that send their agents to inspect the horses in the flesh. It varies, but with every sale people are becoming more and more comfortable with the process.”
While some prospective purchasers will send their agent to inspect an online offering in the flesh, the representatives from Fasig-Tipton and Tattersalls report that buyers are becoming increasingly comfortable basing their decisions on the evidence of conformation photos and walking videos.
“We try to cement in vendors’ minds that that video is their opportunity,” says Sheridan. “That’s essentially the horse’s first inspection. That’s like taking the horse out of the stable for the first time.
“That’s what people are going by and that’s one of the changes we’ve seen, people are basing their decisions on what’s provided and not necessarily going to see the horse. The quality of media being provided is so important and something we’re dedicated to improving.”
With pedigrees and racing performances written in black and white, the vast majority of online trade has centred around horses in training and breeding prospects. However, that is beginning to change, with both Tattersalls and Fasig-Tipton seeing encouraging results for untried stock.
At the Fasig-Tipton Digital April Sale, a Curlin colt foal closely related to six-time Grade 1 winner Malathaat sold along with his dam, Eileen’s Dream, for $660,000 to the bid of DJ Stable. The price set a new high mark for the online platform.
“Personally I did not think that youngstock would really take off like it has online,” says Aaron. “I would’ve said it’s easy to sell a cheaper yearling on here before our last sale, but we had a Curlin foal sell with its mother for $660,000. That showed me that we can sell an expensive youngster too. It has to be the right horse, but at this point there’s nothing I’m afraid to sell on this website.”
Tattersalls Online’s June Sale will feature a breeze-up session that will look to build upon the foundations put down 12 months ago. The inaugural online breeze-up sale saw 13 sold for a clearance rate of 72 per cent.
The priciest of the youngsters put through their paces at Dundalk, a Sioux Nation filly, sold to Rycran Investments for 23,000gns. This year the juveniles will breeze at one of two locations, either Dundalk and Chelmsford, before coming under the hammer.
“The number of entries increasing this year is reflective of vendors seeing the value of these online sales,” says Sheridan. “You can stay domestically and breeze domestically but still present your horse to an international market and have it be marketed to the same level as any of our live sales.
“Although last year’s sale was small in terms of numbers, it was great to see that it can be done. We had people buying from Britain, Ireland, Italy and as far away as the Gulf region. It showed it can be done in a different way and that vendors can still achieve a good result – and a more profitable result by not incurring the costs of travelling horses and staff overseas.”
Veterinary and shipping enhancements have already made moving horses around the world easier than ever before, and the flexibility
provided by online sales means that even if horses are boarding a plane, buyers don’t need to.
“It’s opening up the international avenues further because we’re seeing involvement from right across Europe and different racing jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and Australia,” says Sheridan. “We all know about the globalisation of the bloodstock industry and those channels are ones that we’re certainly hoping to grow, and expect to see the biggest growth in, at our online sales.”
Online sales are not only making the bloodstock world smaller, but are gradually weaving their way into the fabric of the industry. As buyers and sellers become more accustomed to trading online, and trading a wider variety of stock, the scope for progress is limitless.
“I think there’s huge potential for the future,” says Sheridan. “We’ve been looking to other jurisdictions where online sales have been around for longer. They’ve shown the capabilities of online selling and the confidence that grows from the frequency of participating in those sales.
“I’m confident, based on the feedback from users and the wider bloodstock community, that the upward trajectory of online sales is the only thing you could anticipate based on what we’re seeing.”
With British racing facing challenges on numerous fronts, we asked five participants how they are operating in the current climate and what they would like to see happen to change the sport for the better
These are difficult times for horseracing in Britain, with global events continue to impact the economy, creating a cost-of-living crisis that is affecting how and where people spend their money.
Consternation over the protracted levy negotiations, affordability checks, falling attendances and cuts to prize-money highlight the ongoing challenges facing the sport, yet the UK’s rich heritage and assets, from breeding and training operations to racecourses and sales houses, mean there are many reasons to be positive about the future – as we discover in this article.
Dena Merson is a member of an elite club, having bred a winner at both Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival – quite an achievement, especially for someone whose broodmare band has never reached double figures.
Missoula, winner of the 2008 Ascot Stakes, and Slade Steel, victorious in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March, descend from Merson’s foundation mare Medway, a daughter of Shernazar purchased at Goffs.
Merson’s story as a small breeder is one of perseverance and self-belief, overcoming tragedies to triumph on the sport’s biggest stages.
“It’s years of knockbacks, which at the time seem insurmountable,” says Merson, a former Eurobond trader and founder of Simply Racing who has been closely involved with Racing Home and Women
in Racing’s mentoring programme. She is well-versed in the industry’s politics, having spent two terms on the Board of the Racehorse Owners Association.
“Slade Steel’s grandam, Medway, died on the same day that I lost Highbrook, the grandam of [recent Cheltenham winner] Somespring Special and dam of Chester Vase winner Ted Spread. Losing two broodmares within hours of each other –when that happens you never want to see a horse again and you never want to go racing again.
“But you have to be practical – we had two foster mares offered to us and ended up taking them both. The thing with horses is that they project you into the future.”
Merson sells her National Hunt stock as foals – Slade Steel, a Telescope gelding and the first offspring from Medway’s daughter Mariet, realised €12,500 at Goffs, while the latest to go under the hammer, an Old Persian colt, returned €60,000 at Tattersalls Ireland in November.
Mariet is currently in foal to Poet’s Word; with a Grade 1-winning sibling, the resulting progeny is sure to be popular at auction, a boost to the breeder who did not receive any other financial benefit from Slade Steel’s Cheltenham heroics.
“We need a system that rewards success,” Merson says. “In terms of Slade Steel, I got the biggest reward one can get and that’s emotional. It was total euphoria and vindication of my breeding programme. You can’t put that in monetary terms.
“However, most of the time we’re not
Dena Merson (inset) is the breeder of Slade Steel (pink and black silks), winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March
going to Cheltenham – we’re having a fabulous day at Fontwell or Plumpton. As a small owner, you’re lucky if you get a month or two’s training fees from a winner.
“The funding system needs revamping at some stage. We can’t be reliant on a declining levy that’s reliant on bookmaker revenues. I was on the ROA Council from 2005 to 2013 and I read the same arguments being made now as then.
“The threat now from affordability checks is real and I do think it will drive people out of racing.”
Merson believes that too many good stallions are leaving the UK and feels that others are written off too quickly, such as Slade Steel’s sire Telescope.
Mariet, her sole broodmare – “she is the culmination of 30 years’ work” – is a British-bred mare who raced exclusively on these shores, now based in Ireland. Her British breeder sent her to a British-based sire, but she foaled in Ireland and therefore Slade Steel carries the IRE suffix.
Merson says: “The distinction we’re making with things like the Prestbury Cup at Cheltenham – I think it’s damaging the sport. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
“I went to Ireland originally because I
was paying a third of what I was paying here. But don’t blame Britain. We aren’t supported in the way the French breeders are with premiums and don’t receive the help from government that the Irish do on the breeding side.
“Mariet is now an elite mare, so the TBA’s Elite Mares’ Scheme would provide £2,000 towards a nomination, although she is 15 now and very happy where she is.”
Merson points to the better prizemoney, and lower training fees, in Ireland as the reasons why so many of the big National Hunt owners have their horses stabled across the Irish Sea, but hopes the domestic industry focuses on the positives to try and keep participants involved.
She says: “I read a tremendously uplifting article from TBA Chairman Philip Newton in the April edition of this magazine – followed by a news story on how the Irish domination of Cheltenham is damaging racing. Let’s stop pulling our sport down.
“People see the headlines and that negativity gets into the minds of breeders. We must stop setting ourselves up against the Irish. Let’s promote our success and believe in the stallions we have.”
Jonny Allison, an investment banker, describes himself as “one of those small owners that no-one has heard of but have had 87 winners.”
Allison, who had the Racing Post delivered to his room whilst at boarding school, embarked on his ownership adventure in the early 2000s and after being left £3,000 in his grandmother’s will, invested in an ROA syndicate that quickly led to Cheltenham Festival success with the Nicky Henderson-trained Non So in 2006.
At present Allison has interests in about 30 horses under both codes in a mixture of eighth, quarter and half shares. He says the cost-of-living crisis hasn’t affected his ownership although success on the track, and the sales of horses in training, have helped considerably with the finances.
He says: “Prize-money is critical; I pay for the horses with my salary so the more they pay for themselves the more I can have. I think it is totally wrong to expect that as a hobby it should pay its way, but you do need to stay alive financially.
“I have been very fortunate over the last three years with the prize-money won by
Streets Of Gold and then two good-money sales, namely the Archie Watson syndicate where he bought Bradsell at the breezeups and sold him after his winning debut.
“Of course, Bradsell went on to even greater things winning the Coventry and more, but it was the right decision at the time and has funded a few free spins, and then at Christmas we sold Sommelier with Marco Botti for a good profit.
“The sales have helped keep the show on the road but obviously they are quite rare – the cost vs prize-money equation is desperate here. It’s the one thing that I would change overnight if I could.
“I have had shares with trainer Dan Blacker in the US and it’s $30,000 for winning a maiden there. I find it very hard to attract new non-racing people to owning horses when they see the economics, hence why syndicates are so important – it’s a lower-cost way for people to get the ownership bug.”
Allison, who like many owners enjoys a bet, is unhappy with the level of interference and intrusion from bookmakers into his punting activities.
“Restrictions and affordability checks have been massive issues for me,” he ››
›› says. “I have been restricted by almost every firm.
“I have never bet in amounts that would disturb a bookmaker and it makes me doubly angry that every month I spend more on training fees than I would make in a year on betting.
“The restrictions are far too broad – I put a screenshot on X when I was only permitted £4 each-way on the National.
“If I couldn’t bet at all, my interest would wane for sure, and my ownership string would halve at least.”
Allison, who says the buzz of seeing your own horse win “is like nothing else – afterwards you are walking on air,” is committed to finding good homes for his former racehorses. He has plenty of ideas on how racing could attract more devotees.
He says: “We should exploit the crossover with other sports. Look at the football legends involved in racing – why not, with any football season ticket, have a few local entry vouchers for the nearest racecourse?
“Anyone who orders an advanced ticket for a raceday should go into a raffle for two owners’ passes for that day, to get a nice lunch and a taste of the owner experience.
“I would also reward loyalty; I’ve had to pay the annual charge for renewing my colours of £125 for about 15 years. The Authority to Act charge from the BHA is another thing which is incorrectly calculated in my view, as it penalises both shared ownership and using multiple trainers.”
Unlike Allison, Steve Packham has never been restricted, or been asked for a single piece of information, by a betting company, though he has had to turn away a procession of black-market bookies touting for business.
Best known in racing through the
exploits of his talented and enigmatic jumper Goshen, the winner of 11 races and £272,000 in his career so far, construction firm boss Packham owns 11 horses at present, seven outright and four in partnerships, which is the most he’s ever had.
For National Hunt enthusiast Packham, it’s all about prize-money in terms of ownership – and the more owners get back, the more likely they are to splash out on another horse.
He says: “What everybody would like is for their horse(s) to win and cover the cost of the training. The money that you spend on purchasing them, especially in the National Hunt game, that’s gone. But if you can recoup some of the cost from the prize-money they win to cover the training cost, then happy days.
“If I’m honest, Goshen has probably covered most of the costs for the rest of the horses in the past few years, so I’ve been very lucky. But I think most people would agree the prize-money does need to improve, especially over jumps.
“When I first got involved 20 years ago, you won one race per season and it covered your training costs. Now you probably need to win three, especially at the lower level. Thankfully the VAT you can claim back through the ROA/Tote Owner Sponsorship Scheme helps a lot.
“If the prize-money was better in this country, those owners – or a good number of them – with Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott would have their horses trained here instead.”
Packham is a regular attendee at the Cheltenham Festival and noted the fall in numbers among his own group of friends this year.
“The cost-of-living crisis is affecting attendances,” he says. “I know lots of people who would normally have gone to Cheltenham that didn’t go this year. Over the course of the week, from my group, there would normally have been 15 or 20 of us at the Festival. This year there were seven.”
Few people know the bloodstock business better than Chris Richardson, who has been part of the fabric at Cheveley Park Stud since 1987.
Undoubtedly one of British racing’s blue-chip outfits, Cheveley Park is synonymous with producing and campaigning high-class performers, its famous red, white and blue (cap) silks carried by outstanding individuals such as recent star Inspiral, winner of six Group/ Grade 1s, with its current policy being to sell the colts and race the fillies.
As the Newmarket operation’s Managing Director, Richardson has overseen a significant restructure of Cheveley Park’s broodmare band in response to economic conditions and buyer behaviour in the sales ring.
He says: “We had 165 broodmares, all owned by the Thompson family, which was a huge investment. We’ve reduced over the last five years and now have 85 mares, so effectively halving our numbers.
“We took the view that it was necessary to restructure the business and concentrate on quality rather than quantity.
“The policy is still to offer our colts at auction but rather than having to sell 40 or 50, we’re selling 20.”
The Cheveley stallion roster, once led by the mighty Pivotal, a homebred Group 1 winner who subsequently became a multiple champion sire, features two names in Twilight Son, a grandson of Pivotal, and Ulysses, with Unfortunately standing at Springfield House Stud in Ireland.
Richardson says: “It’s a shame that we’ve gone from standing nine stallions to two. We’re always looking for a new stallion but there are a limited number available and it’s hugely competitive.
“With regard to the number of coverings, we’re probably 60% down on two years ago. That’s market forces –breeders have plenty of choice.
“Our game-plan with sires was always
sprinting and we were successful in that field. However, we wanted to offer breeders the opportunity to use a stallion that stayed further, which is why we acquired Ulysses. He hasn’t had a headline horse yet although he’s made an excellent start.”
Richardson understands the pressure that small breeders are under – “there are only so many times you can send a mare to a stallion and see the progeny not sell or not make what it should” – but feels there are reasons to be optimistic, pointing to various self-help initiatives.
He says: “I think there are many positives, including the TBA’s wonderful Great British Bonus for fillies. Winning a £20,000 bonus can help an owner keep the show on the road. It’s a fantastic initiative that has been embraced by the industry.
“The European Breeders’ Fund is putting in more than £2 million in 2024 and is a vital contributor to prize-money. The World Pool is another exciting development.
“I am an optimist. We must stay united as an industry and involve all the different bodies, including the auction houses. All the pieces of the puzzle need to come together so that we see the complete picture.”
On a practical level, Richardson feels that assisting breeders regarding
Managing Director Chris Richardson (inset) says Cheveley Park Stud has reduced the size of its broodmare band, which will one day feature Breeders’ Cup heroine Inspiral
nomination costs and reviewing the number of mares going to certain stallions would be beneficial.
“Some sort of subsidy for mare owners, whether through an industry-led sponsorship arrangement or otherwise, would help,” Richardson says.
“I also feel there could be some limitation on the number of mares going to certain popular stallions, which would allow
“There are many positives including the TBA’s Great British Bonus”
the broodmare population to be spread around the other sires that are available.”
He adds: “We are in a bit of a downturn where things are tough, yet we have probably the best product in the world and are great producers of top-class horses.
“Everything is cyclical. So long as we remain united and conscious of the problems, we can work together and get the projections pointing upwards again.”
Ilka Gansera-Leveque has been training in Britain since 2012, based at St Wendred’s Stable in Newmarket.
Gansera-Leveque, who runs her operation with husband Stéphane, started out as an apprentice jockey in her native Germany, later moving to the US where she gained experience with renowned horseman Monty Roberts.
A qualified vet, Gansera-Leveque has done well with the horses she has received – at the time of writing her strike-rate was 22% in 2024 – though she is keen to push on to the next level if she can boost the size of her string, which currently stands at 15.
She says: “You need critical mass and that’s something I haven’t yet achieved. It’s a numbers game at the end of the day. But you can only play the cards you’re dealt.
BILL SELWYN
“Racing is so fast-paced and there’s so much on. It’s always on to the next race, even when you’re watching on TV. I haven’t caught the attention of people yet, but I think we’ve done well with what we’ve got.
“I don’t have any rich backers. I’m self-made and I think I appeal to those types of owners. Often people who get into horseracing have an advisor and the advisor has their own agenda. I can sit here and beat myself up about it, but tomorrow is another day and the horses we have need to be trained.
“You need people to support you with horses and have a budget for the sales. I’ve shown time and time again it can be done without buying a sale-topper. Training racehorses is my life. It’s not my job – it’s my vocation.”
Again, prize-money pops up as the major issue for Gansera-Leveque. The trainer feels that improved purses would not only attract more people into ownership, but help retain the owners currently involved.
“If the prize-money was better in Britain that would help everybody and attract new owners into the sport,” she says “I don’t think there’s any point in coming up with pie-in-the-sky ideas. If a regular racehorse could pay its way you would have more owners in the game.
“It’s not about getting rich by your horse(s), but if it could cover its expenses, you would keep people in the sport that we are losing right now. Owners complain about the state of prize-money on a regular basis.”
Gansera-Leveque adds: “Like every trainer I would love to have Group 1 winners. I won’t say I want 100 horses – but 50 or 60 would be great.”
‘She was on the front page more than
Much water has passed under the bridge since the sale of Seattle Dancer for a record $13.1 million at the 1985 Keeneland July Sale. Clashes between the Maktoum family and Robert Sangster and his team, particularly when it came to the progeny of Northern Dancer, were commonplace at that time, and led to some eye-watering figures.
Two years earlier, Sheikh Mohammed had come away from Keeneland with the $10.2 million Northern Dancer - My Bupers colt, later named Snaafi Dancer and unraced for John Dunlop. Sangster’s team were underbidder that day but they were more aggressive in their pursuit of Seattle Dancer, a Northern Dancer half-brother to Seattle Slew and Lomond, coming out on top over D. Wayne Lukas for the colt, who went on to be a high-class Group 1 performer for Vincent O’Brien.
The top end of the market isn’t quite as explosive today as it was back then. However, as we saw at Goffs last
November when various jewels belonging to the Niarchos family went through the ring, breakout valuations still happen.
And in Australia last month, the magic was there for such stars to align as the first foal out of the iconic Australian mare Winx, a filly by Coolmore’s leading sire Pierro, came under the hammer at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Collectors’ items like this are rarely sent to auction. Winx, as the winner of 25 Group 1 races including four Cox Plates, is one of the modern greats. Retired in 2019, the daughter of Street Cry lost her first foal and so the Pierro filly was her first live produce for breeder Woppitt Bloodstock.
Naturally her place as part of Coolmore’s sizeable draft sparked much discussion, something that went into overdrive when American buyer John Stewart, a new and vocal player to the game, announced via X his plans to strike. “I am committed to do whatever it takes to buy this filly unless I get the impression
I am being bid up and in that case someone could get stuck with paying a big number,” he wrote.
True to his word, Stewart went to A$9 million for the filly, bidding from his home in Kentucky through Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster. Yet that wasn’t enough, with co-breeder Debbie Kepitis firing back a jaw-dropping winning bid of A$10 million (£5.165 million). The figure soared past the previous Australian record for a yearling filly of A$2.6 million. It was also exactly double the previous record for an Australian yearling, when BC3 Thoroughbreds went to A$5 million for the ill-fated Redoute’s Choice halfbrother to Black Caviar at the 2013 Easter Sale.
The auctioneer entrusted with selling the filly was Jonathan Darcy, Inglis General Manager of Bloodstock Operations. Darcy has been in the industry for 40 years and admits that her sale blew all expectations out of the water.
“I haven’t seen a build up like it to an individual horse being sold,” he says. “When you look at Winx and the following that she garnered during her career, she really transcended the sport and drew in a new group of casual observers. That interest seemed to fall onto her daughter as the sale date drew closer and once again, the man and woman in the street who would not normally have any interest in a thoroughbred sale were suddenly talking about the filly around the proverbial water cooler.
“The biggest difference in selling this particular filly was the length of build up. Most years you will see the horses in the weeks leading up to the sale and again in the days prior to lots going under the hammer, and one or two will look likely to be sale-toppers.
“In the case of the Winx filly, there was media interest from October last year when it was announced she was to be offered. Once the catalogue was released in January there was mainstream coverage across most of the media outlets in Australia.
“In the weeks leading up to her sale, there were two full press conferences where major TV networks sent film crews to capture her parading at Coolmore and Riverside [sales grounds] and showed that footage on the evening news. There were interviews with her trainer, jockey, owners and handlers. She was on the front page more than Donald Trump!”
Footage shows a well-proportioned filly with seemingly several similarities to her dam.
“When I first saw the filly at Coolmore Stud three weeks prior to the sale I was very impressed,” says Darcy. “Sebastian Hutch, our CEO of Bloodstock, had always been glowing in his reports on her, but it was still great to see that she had grown into a very nice filly, well above average in my opinion.
“Those people who were close to Winx growing up like Chris Waller and Peter O’Brien pointed to her head, shoulders and girth as being very similar to her famous mum. Where they all agreed this filly was different was her strength behind the saddle as a young horse. She has a great length of hip and plenty of strength through her hocks.”
The scene was set therefore for something special to happen, but with the previous record for a filly sitting at A$2.6 million, where did the team at Inglis see her falling?
“I certainly didn’t envisage her making A$10 million,” says Darcy. “While there were the social media comments from John Stewart, there are always opinions
flying around at sales about what money certain horses can make. This was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime offering and my thoughts heading into the sale were that she could make between A$3 million to A$5 million. If we achieved the top end of that range it would be a very successful result.”
He adds: “I do admit that I practised selling her as I drove home some nights – but she never made more than A$5 million as I drove down the M5 in Sydney!”
Not surprisingly, a large crowd made its way to the Riverside auditorium to watch the filly, led up by the man who foaled her on October 7, 2022 in Paddy Sheehan. In the event itself, the action was rapid and made for great theatre.
“What I didn’t realise was that the majority of the staff working for the various consignors at the sale had also made their way up to the pre-parade ring and the atmosphere was reaching fever pitch,” recalls Darcy. “What struck me was the incredible silence that fell over the audience when the filly walked into the ring – you could have heard a pin drop.
“The filly will join trainer Chris Waller, who handled her dam so successfully”
“When I called for the opening bid, I hoped someone would start her at A$1 million. As it was, we had an opening bid of A$2 million followed by A$2.5 million and then A$3 million. Several people were trying to bid at A$3.5 million and A$4 million but John Stewart blew them all out of the water with his call of A$5 million.
“In most auctions, you would anticipate that such a bid would stand for at least 30 seconds, if not prove the winning move. However, Debbie Kepitis was not to be bluffed. She countered with a A$6 million bid. Almost straight away John Stewart, acting through Mark Webster, countered with a call of A$7.5 million.
“There was an audible gasp from the crowd watching on. But once again Debbie was not stopping to contemplate her next offer – she came straight back with a bid of A$8 million. I had prepared a couple of lines to use should the bidding slow but these two buyers were not
Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editorhanging around.
“John Stewart came straight back at A$9 million as he had promised on social media in the lead up to the sale. Almost straight away Debbie responded with what would turn out to be the winning bid of A$10 million. It was something like midnight in Lexington, Kentucky, and I saw Mark Webster hang up the phone and signal that his buyer was out of play. I called for any further bids but unsurprisingly there was no further offer.”
Kepitis raced Winx in partnership with Peter and Patty Tighe’s Magic Bloodstock and the late Richard Treweeke.
“I didn’t come here to buy this horse originally,” said an emotional Debbie Kepitis afterwards. “We put her up for auction and then in the past few weeks, all of the family, we started to miss our ‘daughter/granddaughter’ so we just decided as best we could, if we could get her, we would.
“She’s Australian forever and she’s going to be just fabulous. Thank you to everybody around the world who has taken this on board, it’s been thrilling to watch it and we’re lucky enough that we came out winners.’’
As for Stewart, he may not have won the ultimate jewel but he didn’t come away empty-handed. By all accounts he enjoyed a productive trip to Australia, where according to one of his posts on X he was treated to a kangaroo excursion, a trip to the Golden Slipper Stakes and a harbour cruise, all courtesy of Coolmore. In that same tweet, he added: “[Tom Magnier] had his brother @mvmagnier ‘help’ me narrow my list of horses down to all the ‘best’ horses who turned out to be the ones he showed me on the farm while convincing me others on my list ‘were great prospects, but just not right for my programme’. I had no intention of buying horses when I headed down under and two weeks later we bought six and narrowly avoided buying another for $9 million!”
Among Stewart’s buys was Coolmore’s I Am Invincible filly out of Group 1 winner Booker bought for $3 million.
The limelight, however, belongs to the Pierro - Winx filly. She will join trainer Chris Waller, who handled her dam so successfully, and hopefully will be able to reward those who showed such faith in her.
“As with everything Winx did on the racetrack, she again created her own records,” says Darcy. “We can only hope that the filly has inherited some of her mother’s incredible will to win and the legacy of the champion Winx can continue for another generation.”
A horse that made a million and memorable results for two former jump jockeys gave the first British breeze-up of the year some heart-warming tales.
The weather for the breeze on the Rowley Mile was terrible, but the figures came good and with a combination of luck and skill, some nourishing pinhooks were achieved. Turnover in excess of 14.5 million guineas was the second-highest at the Craven Sale, five per cent down on last year’s record figure but from a catalogue containing 19 fewer offered lots. The clearance rate was four points lower at 72 per cent, but the average price of 137,590gns was up 13 per cent and the median was unchanged at 80,000gns.
The ’millionaire’ was, fittingly, a son of legendary sire Galileo, and one of just 12 juveniles from the great horse’s final crop. Rarity value, sire power and a successful dam line meant the colt was always likely to command a hefty sum, and he would not have been put through a breeze auction if incapable of raising a gallop. However, as he padded around the ring and the sales board began ticking over one was tempted to ask, how did vendor Roderic Kavanagh of Glending Stables buy such a gem for 125,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale, and why did his breeders, Coolmore, elect to let him go?
After Godolphin’s Anthony Stroud had posted the successful seven-figure bid, suppressing interest from Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing, Kavanagh admitted he had asked himself similar questions before
investing in the colt less than five months earlier, and reasoned he had been successful because other potential buyers held back with similar doubts. He had been spurred to stretch for the colt by a vet’s report that gave the thumbs up. Adding extra gloss to Kavanagh’s achievement was the fact that his relatively young Glending operation had also sold the top lot one year earlier, albeit on that occasion it was an honour shared with an Oak Tree Farm-consigned Blue Point colt. That horse and Glending’s Havana Grey colt each sold for
625,000gns, but the last-named went on to become unbeaten two-year-old Vandeek, who is trained by Simon and Ed Crisford and races in the colours of Bahrain’s KHK Racing.
The former jockeys who enjoyed some stellar results were Charlie Poste and Katie Walsh. The last-named’s Greenhills Farm operation, which is no stranger to breeze-up success, pulled off a superb 525,000gns double via a New Bay colt and a Havana Grey filly. Stroud bought both horses, the colt in the name of Godolphin, the filly through his Stroud
• The Tattersalls June Online Sale will include a section of breeze-up horses for the second year running, with Chelmsford racecourse now becoming part of the event.
When breezers were added to the June sale for the first time last year, catalogued lots were filmed going through their paces at Dundalk. That track will be used again, but consignors have the option of heading to Chelmsford instead. Potential buyers can attend both venues.
Given the costs and paperwork involved in shipping horses across the Irish Sea, the opportunity to breeze at Chelmsford is of obvious appeal to consignors based in Britain. Last year, the sale comprised 19 breezers of which 13 found a buyer with a top price of 23,000gns.
Coleman Bloodstock agency.
Walsh had purchased the New Bay for 125,000gns at Book 1 of the October Sale, and while the Havana Grey had been knocked down to Mags O’Toole and Norman Williamson at the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, Walsh had persuaded the buyers that she was the woman for the job and the filly went straight to her yard to begin breeze prep.
Poste and his wife Fran are no strangers to a good pinhook, but only through buying three-year-old stores, prepping them at their Warwickshire yard
and then trading them on after a good performance in a point-to-point. The couple are clearly skilled at working with raw material, and when some friends agreed to join them in buying a couple of Flat-bred yearlings to breeze at two, an idea became reality.
Opting not to start in the basement, as many first-timers would, they invested €78,000 in a colt and 72,000gns in a filly, and added to their chances of success by punting on rising young stallion Blue Point, the sire of both yearlings. When the colt did a very impressive, fast-time breeze (despite conditions), the omens were looking good, and after covering the filly’s costs with a 100,000gns sale, the Postes entered jackpot territory by gaining 800,000gns for the colt.
Once more it was Stroud who had the final bid, and within three lots he was at it again, spending another 800,000gns on a Kingman colt from Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge Stud – both horses were bought for Godolphin.
Across the two-day sale Sheikh Mohammed’s operation accounted for four horses, spending 3,125,000gns and becoming leading buyer, while the O’Callaghan family of Tally-Ho Stud took the role of top consignor through trading
seven lots for 1,602,000gns. Blue Point, who stands under the Darley banner at Kildangan Stud, led the sires’ table through nine sales to the total value of 2,070,000gns.
In his end-of-sale statement, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony praised the professionalism of consignors and their young steeds for the way “they coped with the extreme weather conditions which we encountered on the morning of the breeze,” acknowledged overseas contributions in particular from Saudi Arabian and US buyers and noted a record number of 500,000gns lots. However, in a reference to the clearance rate, he added “the lower levels of the market have not matched the robust demand at the higher end”.
Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, the bloodstock world had to ponder what life will be like after Sheikh Mohammed.
C
C
One of the sales of the century (so far) and a man wearing pyjamas who dropped A$3m on a filly were but two tales to emerge from this famous auction.
Highlighting the event, and probably every yearling sale to be held around the world this year, was the A$10m transaction (£5.165m or €6m) involving the first and only offspring to date of stellar racemare Winx who retired in 2019. Winner of a record 25 Group 1 races and 37 of her 43 career starts over five seasons, Winx’s first foal was stillborn, but her second proved to be a good-looking Pierro filly whose appearance at this auction was intended to dissolve the three-way partnership that owned her and continues to own her dam.
Coolmore Stud, where the filly was raised, handled the preparation, Inglis put the marketing burners on and focus turned to the company’s two-day Easter Sale at Riverside Stable in Sydney where the filly was greeted like Taylor Swift at a Swifties convention.
Japanese buyers registered an interest as did US businessman and underbidder John Stewart, but at A$10m the decisive bid lay with Woppitt Bloodstock’s Debbie Kepitis, one of the partners in the filly. An emotional Kepitis, surrounded by family at the post-sale media gathering, said that in the few weeks before the sale the prospect of losing the filly, who she described as “our daughter, our granddaughter” had become less appealing. “Hopefully she’ll do a Winx, but it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t” said Kepitis, who confirmed Chris Waller
would become her trainer, as he was of Winx.
Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster, who was underbidder in the ring, revealed he was acting for Stewart, a former $10 an hour car worker from Kentucky who set up his own private equity investment business and in just the past two years has become involved in racing and breeding. He owns Kentucky Derby hopeful Just A Touch in partnership with Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel.
Webster said Stewart and friends had attended Keeneland races and were enjoying a post-racing party when the Winx filly came up for auction. The party broke up when the host was thwarted in his goal, but Webster reminded him that another Coolmore Stud offering, a filly by I Am Invincible who was selling later in the session, might be of interest. Stewart agreed, said he was going to bed (Lexington being 15 hours behind Sydney) but that Webster should ring him when the filly came up for auction.
Congratulations to Francesca & Charlie Poste and all the team at Station Yard Racing for the sale of their Blue Point colt who sold at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale for a staggering £800,000.
“We have fed Spillers for the past 8 seasons and are delighted with the results we have had both with the pointers and most recently our new venture with the breezers. They have held their condition brilliantly and it has shown that the feed is efective for horses at all stages of their careers.”
- Francesca Poste
©Mars, 2024. www.spillers-feeds.com
In bed and in pyjamas, Stewart duly offered $3m for the daughter of Group 1-winning mare Booker and the hammer fell. The filly was one of six purchases made by Stewart’s Resolute Racing for a total spend of $5,440,000, a welcome investment given that Yulong Investments, which in 2023 had been the leading Easter Yearling Sale buyer with 24 lots for just under A$12m, bought not a single horse at the latest edition.
Yulong did participate as a vendor, however, trading 19 of 28 offered lots for an aggregate of A$7.3m. Coolmore Stud, which put 35 yearlings through the ring and sold 33, took leading vendor honours through sales valued at A$27.7m.
A daughter of Zoustar who was
Top lots
Sex/breeding
F Pierro – Winx
F I Am Invincible – Booker
F Zoustar – Prompt Response
C Zoustar – Fundamentalist
F I Am Invincible – Notting Hill
Few bloodstock sales are noticeably affected by the weather, but this was an exception.
Not that it was hit on the day by snow or thunder and lightning, but in the run-up to it weeks of incessant and often record rainfall had led to a raft of abandoned or postponed point-to-points on both sides of the Irish Sea. Those fixtures which took place were held on bottomless ground, with the result that numerous young horses missed opportunities to race and advertise their talents before heading to auction.
Goffs still pulled together a catalogue involving 26 horses and 23 found a buyer, but the company was forced to be a little less selective in its choice and the average price of £90,218 was down 26 per cent and below a six-figure sum for the first time. Turnover topped £2m, but was 30 per cent down.
Held after racing on the first day of the Grand National meeting, the sale made its debut in 2016 and has on a couple of occasions included a Grand National entrant. No such horses were on the market this time, although buyers had the opportunity to purchase a very useful racemare sold out of training, and if the catalogue was not quite to the high spec
consigned by Widden Stud on the first day briefly held the Australian record for a yearling filly at auction when selling to James Harron on behalf of Winx’s breeder John Camilleri for A$2.2m, a sum that was more or less certain to be overhauled the following day – and was . . . twice – while Coolmore’s Tom Magnier gained the sale’s leading colt, a son of Zoustar from Segenhoe Stud.
Sires I Am Invincible, Zoustar and Snitzel had plenty of representation and duly finished in that order on the top sires’ table by aggregate. Of I Am Invincible’s 38 yearlings, 30 changed hands for a total of A$19.3m at an average of A$644,167. He stands at Yarraman Park Stud where his 2023 covering fee was A$300,000.
Vendor
Coolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud
Widden Stud
Segenhoe Stud
Yarraman Park Stud
Pleasingly for Inglis, the sale of Winx’s daughter did not entirely skew the end-of-sale figures, for turnover rose by more than A$12m and would therefore have been up without her participation. Helped by an additional 23 offered lots, the auction’s aggregate figure was up nine per cent, the average gained ten per cent and the median seven per cent, but the 80 per cent clearance rate was down five points.
Statistics
Sold: 360 (80% clearance)
Aggregate: A$152,040,000 (+9%)
Average: A$425,882 (+10%)
Median: A$300,000 (+7%)
Price (A$) Buyer
10,000,000 Woppitt Bloodstock
3,000,000 Resolute Racing
2,200,000 James Harron Bloodstock
1,900,000 Tom Magnier
1,800,000 Hilldene Farm
Gordon Elliott will train £300,000 sale-topper He Can’t Dance, a Monksgrange point winner
of previous years, it still contained winners and horses who had run well in defeat.
It also provided a market opportunity for some point-to-pointers whose handlers might not have expected them to get a slot at one of jump racing’s leading festivals.
That was never going to be a problem for the imposing and handsome grey four-year-old He Can’t Dance, a son of
Jukebox Jury who had won a maiden point-to-point at Monksgrange in County Wexford ahead of the sale. A €45,000 Derby Sale graduate trained in the same county by Rob James and foaled by a half-sister to outstanding two-miler Master Minded, He Can’t Dance was knocked down for £300,000 to Eddie O’Leary and Gordon Elliott who fended off interest from Dan Skelton.
Burgage Stud’s Jukebox Jury was also sire of the next horse on the top-ten board, this one being the filly Holloway Queen who had run on the same card as He Can’t Dance, but who had finished runner-up in a maiden race confined to her sex. Agent Jerry McGrath was more than happy with the performance and his £180,000 bid, on behalf of an undisclosed client who will keep their purchase in Britain, denied underbidder Tom Malone. It also provided vendor Denis Murphy with a useful profit following his purchase of her for €40,000 at the Derby Sale.
McGrath said a mistake at the final fence may have cost Holloway Queen victory, but that she had more than enough potential to justify an investment. Her conqueror, Jackie Hobbs, a daughter of Jack Hobbs from Paul Pierce’s yard, also found a buyer when selling to syndication team Noel Fehily and his ally Dave Crosse for £130,000. The two men also placed a successful £115,000 bid on Cobbler’s Boy, a Diamond Boy four-yearold who had taken the runner-up spot at Portrush for handler Pat Turley.
These two purchases were in part paid for by the £135,000 sale of Love Envoi, the eight-year-old mare who has been a poster girl for Fehily’s syndication operation with eight victories, a
• Tattersalls Cheltenham stages seven sales specialising in young pointto-pointers and Goffs’ UK division holds Aintree and Newbury versions and includes a separate section for such horses at its Doncaster Spring Sale.
That is ten opportunities to buy a promising future hurdler/chaser in Britain out of catalogues dominated by pointers trained in Ireland. Yet the Goffs Punchestown Sale held in late April has been the only sale held in Ireland for such horses. An alternative was announced in March from an unexpected source when Goresbridge, which has focussed on non-thoroughbred sales since handing over its twoyear-old breeze-up auction to Tattersalls Ireland four years ago, said it would hold a select auction of pointers topped up by jumpers in training.
Cheltenham Festival runner-up slot in the Grade 1 mares’ hurdle and a haul of £252,000 in prize-money while racing from Harry Fry’s stable. Fehily admitted to mixed emotions at selling one of his chief
The event duly went ahead on April 18, but with numerous pointto-points having been cancelled or held on very heavy going, the company missed its objective of pulling together a 50-lot catalogue and after withdrawals, 32 horses walked the ring. Leading trader Mick Goff sold the expected top lot Justatan, a dual-winning fiveyear-old son of Estejo who made €74,000 to a bid from Friars Lodge Stables, while Donnchadh Doyle gained €60,000 for Epic West, a five-year-old son of Mount Nelson who had won a point-to-point and who was knocked down to agent Tom Malone.
Clearly the event was not on the scale of others in the category, but buyers from Britain were noticeable on the sales board, and with kinder weather Goresbridge’s new auction could have a future.
assets but said his business lay not in breeding and he wished buyer Peter Molony good luck. Molony, who was acting for an undisclosed breeder based in Ireland, said the daughter of Westerner would be visiting a stallion once settled in her new home.
Goffs UK’s Managing Director Tim Kent acknowledged that results reflected “a difficult few weeks for us and our vendors” caused by weather which had made it challenging to pull together a catalogue. He thanked vendors and Aintree racecourse and said he looked forward to restaging the event in 12 months’ time.
Statistics
Sold: 23 (61% clearance)
Aggregate: £2,075,000 (-30%)
Noel Fehily/Harry Fry Racing
Paul Pierce
Every new season brings with it a fresh set of aspirations for studs and 2024 is no different to any other. But there is a small cohort of stallions – those that breeders have placed their faith in after initial early successes – that will be held to account more than any others. There is also part two of the narrative begun by last year’s intake of new stallions, especially those that stood at fees that guaranteed them access to the best mares. More will be demanded whatever their achievements with their first set of juveniles.
Too Darn Hot falls into this category. Since 2013, when Frankel covered his first book of mares, there is no other stallion before or since with a better first book, with the possible exception of Baaeed. So whatever Too Darn Hot achieved last term – and with four Group winners it was quite a lot – more will be expected of him this term. But there is no doubting his promise and events in Australia recently just serve to whet the appetite even further.
At the time of writing, Too Darn Hot is the leading Australian first-season sire by both earnings and number of winners. His first-crop star is the Godolphin colourbearer and Group 1 Champagne Stakes winner Broadsiding. Significantly, he is also represented by Group-placed fillies Too Darn Lizzie, Silmarillion and Arabian Summer in Australia.
Too Darn Hot has also already sired his first three-year-old Group winner in the shape of the Japanese filly Etes Vous Prets, who scored in the Group 2 Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue at Hanshin before running a creditable fifth, beaten just over a lengthand-half, in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas) at the same venue.
Expectation also runs high for Darley’s Blue Point. He too was blessed with an excellent first book and all eyes will be on Rosallion to see if Blue Point can generate traction as something other than just a source of speed and precocity. That said, it would be perfectly acceptable if Blue Point produced more crops of fast and classy two-year-olds and became a rival to the likes of No Nay Never, with one or two good older horses thrown in.
The class of 2020 has several more, including middle-distance stars such as Masar, Waldgeist and Study Of Man, who will have been excused their first-year results but will be required to up their game this term if they are to endure.
For those stallions that earned big upgrades to their mare quality after early
success, the expectation is even more intense. This year we see the first two-yearolds by Mehmas produced after his phenomenal first season in 2020 when he sired a world-record number of two-yearold winners (56) interspersed with plenty of high-achieving types.
By my calculations, Mehmas attracted just 29 elite mares in his first four years at Tally-Ho Stud but look what has happened since. Among the 771 mares he covered in the past three years are 221 elite mares. His fourth book of mares had only five elite mares, but his fifth – those responsible for this year’s two-year-olds – feature no fewer than 59. There’s no question about it, Mehmas is due some very exciting times.
Another Dubawi stallion with the potential to add to or even rewrite his story is Night Of Thunder. If you start to see some progressive three-year-olds emerge by the Darley stallion, don’t be too surprised. Like Mehmas, Night Of Thunder is now dealing from a stacked deck. The quality of his 2021 crop can be put down to his own fantastic start in 2019 when he sired 28 juvenile winners, featuring seven stakes winners. That crop matured to feature 22 stakes winners in all, including two of his three Group 1 winners, Highfield Princess and Thundering Nights.
His 22 first-crop stakes winners were produced at an outstanding rate of 24.2% from runners, which form the backbone of his career score of 10.1% stakes winners. Moreover, from his better mares, Night Of Thunder’s stakes winner strike-rate is
hovering around 13.5% and a brilliant 10.1% Group winners.
The extra ammunition in his fifth crop delivered a career-high 36 juvenile winners last season, 12 more than he achieved from his first crop, including the Group 2-winning Vespertilio. Given that this fifth crop are from a book that contained more elite mares than his first four put together, much more is required of this group now they have turned three. For starters, it would be nice to see a top-class son or indeed more stakes-winning sons to counter the current filly bias on his CV. Currently, Night Of Thunder has sired 24 stakes-winning fillies (13.3%) and just 13 stakes-winning colts and geldings (7.0%).
To a lesser extent, New Bay is another Dubawi looking to kick on after the increase in his year-five mare quality. This batch of mares featured twice as many elites as either of his first two, which together are responsible for 11 of his 13 career stakes winners. So watch out for his current two-year-olds, particularly in the second half of the season.
Belardo is another sire with greatly improved opportunities with this year’s two-year-olds, his mare quality easily the best of his career following his three first-crop juvenile Group-winning fillies, Isabella Giles, Lullaby Moon and Elysium –they have since been joined by Grade 1 winner Gold Phoenix. Unfortunately, the market has already decided his fate, sending him just 32 mares the year after he covered 172. Will he redeem his reputation?
Several factors will always come into play when evaluating the potential of emerging broodmare sires. There are the champion stallions who naturally progress to the role of leading damsire because they are such good all-rounders. Galileo obviously falls into that bracket and Frankel, given his early results in this department, already looks to be following suit.
Others might be more effective because they’re outcrosses. For that, perhaps take the example of Dream Ahead, already the damsire of Group 1 winner Poptronic alongside Classic hopeful Romantic Style and smart sprinter Cold Case. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that he is one of the last representatives of the Warning and Known Fact sire line and out of a mare by Cadeaux Genereux; either way, it can’t hurt that his daughters are easy to cross in a world that has become increasingly saturated with Northern Dancer.
Then there are those who owe some of their success through their daughters to the early opportunities afforded to them. The likes of Henrythenavigator and Duke Of Marmalade, both of whom covered numerous high-performing and wellconnected mares in their first seasons at stud, aren’t far off from falling into this category.
Such horses aren’t always easy to identify but in light of Dalakhani’s profile, it would have been surprising if he hadn’t developed into a desirable broodmare sire. Firstly, he was a brilliant performer under the care of Alain de Royer-Dupre, a Group 1 winner at two who won the Prix du Jockey Club and Arc in a championship threeyear-old campaign. The only blemish on a near perfect record was a narrow second to Alamshar in the Irish Derby.
Both colts were owned and bred by the Aga Khan. But while Alamshar was by far the best sired by Key Of Luck, presumably a factor that played a key role in the decision to sell him to stand in Japan (where he failed to cut much ice), Dalakhani was one of the last major runners by the Aga Khan Studs’ flagship sire Darshaan and out of its excellent producer Daltawa, also the dam of Daylami.
Dalakhani was duly retired to the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Ireland for the 2004 season and having been well supported by his owner and an array of
successful breeders, got off to a quick start as the sire of champion Conduit, Irish Oaks heroine Moonstone and fellow Group 1 winners Chinese White and Duncan out of his first crop.
It was at that point that Dalakhani looked like he might be the one to push the Darshaan sire line forward.
Unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case, for all that his Prix du Jockey Club-winning son Reliable Man has had his moments in the sun at stud, particularly in Australasia. But daughters belonging to the sire line have long been coveted by successful breeders and given Dalakhani’s other attributes, notably his own ability and the access granted to good female families at stud, there was always going to be a good chance that he would exert a major influence through his daughters. So it has proven.
Champion two-year-old Pinatubo (by Shamardal) was an early example as was Tower Of London (by Raven’s Pass), another Godolphin flag-bearer who was a top sprinter in Japan. In fact, Godolphin have reason to look fondly upon Dalakhani mares as it also campaigns last year’s Group 1 Futurity Trophy winner Ancient
While it’s true that families tend to ebb and flow over time, it’s rare for one to be represented at Classic level by multiple entrants at the same time.
That is exactly the lofty position currently assumed, however, by the line originally cultivated by breeder Debby Oxley from Darling My Darling, a Deputy Minister half-sister to top Japanese runner Zenno Rob Roy foaled as recently as 1997.
Darling My Darling had a productive racing career herself for Oxley as winner of the Listed Doubledogdare and Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland and twice Grade 1-placed. Now through daughters Heavenly Love and Forever Darling, the mare is the granddam of Sierra Leone and Forever Young, two colts who head to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in early May with legitimate chances.
That is especially true of Sierra Leone. Few horses live up to expectations at
Wisdom. Out of the high-class Dalakhani mare Golden Valentine, he was one of two Group 1 winners bred on the DubawiDalakhani cross to ply their trade last season alongside Nassau Stakes heroine Al Husn.
Overall, Dalakhani’s daughters are responsible for five Group 1 winners and 58 stakes scorers, a total that was well enhanced during the Classic trials staged in mid-April.
French Guineas trial day at Longchamp provided a particularly fine advert as the three-year-olds Candala and Ramadan took the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte and Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau within an hour of each other.
Aga Khan-homebred Candala was making her return following a wide-margin score in a Chantilly maiden in September. She is out of one of Dalakhani’s most accomplished daughters in Candarliya, who was trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre to win a pair of Group 2 races, the Prix de Royallieu and Prix Maurice de Nieuil, and by Frankel, meaning that she is bred on a loose variation of the famed Sadler’s Wells - Darshaan cross.
Ramadan’s victory in the Prix de Fontainebleau, meanwhile, continued a real purple patch for his owner-breeder Nurlan Bizakov, whose Sumbe operation also campaigns Group 3 Prix Djebel scorer Lazzat and well-regarded Cashanda, an impressive debut winner at Saint-Cloud for Andre Fabre. The trio are just some of the
differing junctions of their lives; A.P. Indy, a sale-topping yearling who went on to win an American Classic before becoming a champion sire, is one of the rarities. Sierra Leone has a long way to go if he is to follow A.P. Indy’s example but he’s on the right path.
From the third crop of Gun Runner, Sierra Leone was offered by Oxley through Gainesway at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, where he sold for a sale-topping $2.3 million to Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm and MV Magnier. He is the second foal out of the 2017 Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes winner Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon, and has only been beaten once in four starts for trainer Chad Brown, with impressive wins in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes ensuring his place as one of the favourites for the Kentucky Derby while reserving him a likely slot on the Ashford Stud roster when the time comes.
The manner in which Sierra Leone rolled past Just A Touch in the Blue Grass
Dalakhani: his daughters have produced three of this year’s Classic trial winners
rewards emanating from a series of high-profile investments made by Bizakov early on in well-related yearling fillies.
The unbeaten Lazzat is a grandson of Lashyn, a Mr Greeley daughter of the 1,000 Guineas winner Sleepytime from Charlie Wacker’s Alidiva family who was bought for $625,000 as a yearling in 2010. Cashanda is out of €600,000 yearling purchase Caskelena, a Galileo half-sister to
suggests that connections have really only touched the tip of the iceberg with him but regardless of what happens at Churchill Downs, his presence among the leading three-year-olds further underlines Gun Runner’s place as one of America’s most important young stallions.
Three Chimney Farm’s son of Candy Ride, a multiple Grade 1 winner himself, sired no fewer than six Grade 1 winners in his first crop, of whom Cyberknife, Early Voting and Taiba are now at stud. His second crop was quieter (just the four stakes winners so far) but his third has already outstripped that preceding group, with Sierra Leone leading the way among a septet of stakes winners.
Gun Runner is a now sire of global importance at a fee of $250,000. Coolmore, for their part, entrusted him last year with mares such as champion Gamine, a $7 million purchase, Churchill’s Group 1-winning sister Clemmie, Group 1-winning globe-trotter Magic Wand and top sprinter Campanelle.
If there is a criticism from an
the Group 1 winner Turtle Bow, while Saint-Cloud conditions winner Narkez is out of Nazym, the 1,700,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 sale-topper of 2011.
As for Ramadan, he is out of 400,000gns yearling purchase Raushan. She descends from the illustrious Eljazzi family – also source of the aforementioned Pinatubo – via Group 3 winner Chiang Mai, and had previously served Sumbe well as
international perspective then it is that the bulk of his success has been achieved on the dirt – he has sired just one minor stakes winner on turf so far – but if those high-profile turf mates from Coolmore are anything to go by, then he’ll obviously have every chance to rectify that omission in due course.
The Japanese-bred Forever Young, who is out of Heavenly Love’s elder half-sister Forever Darling, brings a more seasoned profile to the table as this spring’s winner of the Group 3 Saudi Derby at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Group 2 UAE Derby at Meydan in Dubai. Well-travelled, he is trained by someone in Yoshito Yahagi who knows what it takes to win at the top level in the US and shouldn’t be underestimated.
In contrast to Sierra Leone, Forever Young’s dam Forever Darling was friendless when she came under the hammer as a yearling, selling for just $8,000 to Machmer Hall and Haymarket Farm at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale. That figure was despite the fact that
the dam of Lingfield Listed winner Rasima. Ramadan could well end up being an important horse for Sumbe. Unbeaten in two starts this year for Christopher Head, he will head to the Poule d’Essai des Poulains as one of the stronger fancies and should he run well, then a place on the Sumbe stallion roster may well beckon. As a son of the late and much-missed Le Havre, one of the last significant members of the once powerful Blushing Groom sire line, he would surely be a very welcome addition.
Just days after Longchamp’s trial action, Dalakhani’s influence was felt yet again, this time at Newmarket through the Feilden Stakes winner Jayarebe. Oliver Pawle bred the Zoffany colt, now the winner of two of his three starts for Brian Meehan, out of Dalakhani’s Listed-winning daughter Alakhana, a relation to the German Group winners Davidoff and Denaro. Zoffany is invariably an influence for speed but Dalakhani’s influence should stand Jayarebe in good stead should connections decide to go the Derby route. With the likes of Candala, Ramadan and Jayarebe working for him among others, the chances are that Dalakhani will be represented to good effect through his daughters on this year’s European Classic scene. So while there’s little hope of his sire line maintaining a foothold, at least his daughters are ensuring that the popular grey will remain a force in bloodlines for some years to come.
she was by a respectable sire in the A.P. Indy horse Congrats and within 18 months she had joined his sizeable group of stakes winners thanks to a victory in the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita. Forever Darling later sold to Katsumi Yoshida, whose family’s Shadai Stallion Station at that time stood Zenno Rob Roy.
Forever Young is her fourth foal following a pair of winners and is by far the best sired so far by the Group 1 Dubai Turf winner Real Steel. The Shadai-based son of Deep Impact, who descends directly from Miesque, is the sire of three stakes winners in two large crops to date. The Deep Impact sire line, as we know, is predominantly turf-orientated but let’s not forget that his sire Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, forged his mighty career on dirt.
With Forever Young supported by that deep American family replete with dirt class, perhaps this is the year that the Deep Impact sire line provides Japan with a coveted first Kentucky Derby winner.
Reduced starch, specialist prepping formula sympathetic to the digestive system
Stand out condition without the stand up!
Calorie dense for reduced volume feeding
TARGETED AT
Those prone to excitability when fed traditional prepping feeds
Foals and youngstock needing to gain condition and top line
Consignors looking for a simple all-in-one feed solution
The Flat turf season is well under way, foals are arriving, and stallions are busy establishing their 2025 progeny. It may seem a while away but before we know it the summer will be coming to an end and the anticipation of the yearling sales will be upon us. Preparing yearlings for the sales takes real skill and is not something that can be left to the last minute.
The multi-factorial nature of selling thoroughbreds provides the racing and breeding industry with much excitement as well as, in some cases, disappointment. “Prepping yearlings successfully for sale can be a challenging time for many reasons,” says Red Mills nutritionist Nicki Reynolds. “Nutrition is fundamental to the prepping period and has the potential to impact all aspects of your prepping protocol, including sound growth and development, exercise tolerance and behaviour/temperament.”
It cannot be denied that luck also has a part to play, but what can we do to improve our chances of success? Liz Bulbrook, Director of Nutrition at Baileys Horse Feeds, says: “Breeding horses is all about getting a return on your investment and that involves hard work and attention to detail, encompassing good balanced nutritional programmes and sensible exercise regimes alongside overall health and general management. It’s the allimportant balance between genetics, management and nutrition.”
Up to this point, a thoroughbred yearling has led a relatively easy life, being turned away in a herd since weaning, with sales preparation usually beginning around two to three months before the intended sale. Nutritionally, the needs of the yearling are going to change drastically over a very short space of time and anything we can do to better support this is going to benefit the individual in the long run, and ultimately help produce the much desired strong and sound racehorse. Reynolds continues: “Bringing yearlings in from living as essentially a herd animal, to what can be a more isolated stabling environment, will affect stress levels and as a result could influence growth, behaviour, and digestive health.”
The topic of feeding yearlings during sales preparation is somewhat subjective; the desired body condition will be dependent on various factors, such as the individual’s conformation, foaling date, pedigree and current buyer preference. Des Cronin, Head of Nutrition at Mervue Equine, says: “The appearance of a foal or young horse in the sales ring can have a significant impact on its price and nutrition plays a key role.” Bulbrook adds: “Sales preparation doesn’t start eight weeks before the intended sale – it starts right back at conception and attention to correct nutrition throughout the foal to yearling stages should result in a wellgrown youngster with sufficient muscle and condition to progress smoothly into sales preparation.
“At 12 - 15 months of age, the typical yearling should have achieved 90% of its mature height, 95% of its bone length and 75% of its adult weight; growth rates may now be slower (0.45 - 0.5kg per day) but it is still an important phase in the horse’s athletic life.”
The change from living outside to being stabled for a substantial part of the day will mean reduced access to forage via pasture. Therefore, increased amounts of hay or haylage should be provided. This will help to maintain gut function and health, relieve boredom, and prevent stereotypical behaviour, such as cribbing and windsucking. Forage intake should be equivalent to a minimum of 1.25% - 1.5% of bodyweight daily and will provide the yearling with energy via fermentable fibre and non-heating calories.
Good quality forage is a must and although it will not solely provide enough energy, protein, vitamins and minerals for
a yearling during the prep period, it should still be at the forefront of any nutritional regime. Reynolds comments: “The success of any feeding plan is underpinned by the yearling’s gastro-intestinal health; an optimal supply of good quality forage is key to maintaining a healthy gut and optimising utilisation of hard feed.” By ensuring access to high quality, readily digestible fibre in the diet, it will help to reduce the need for large portions of hard feed to maintain condition. It will also help keep excitable behaviour under control whilst ensuring a sufficient amount of chewing.
The best and most readily available forms of fibre are alfalfa and soaked beet pulp. Bulbrook explains: “The more digestible the forage, the lower the risk of ‘hay belly’ and, if the nutritional quality of the forage is in question, an alfalfa chaff can be fed to help raise the overall protein and fibre content of the diet.
“Chewing is a natural stimulus to producing saliva, which is a natural buffer to the acids produced and required by the stomach for digestion but reducing the risks of ulcers through excess acid production. The horse has a psychological and physiological need to chew, so meeting these needs is paramount when we start bringing in and preparing for sales.”
It is important to introduce feed changes slowly over time, and this rule should be applied even more stringently during this preparation period. Feed changes should go hand-in-hand with increased exercise. It is good practice to review a yearling’s feed and exercise
programme every two weeks. The rule ‘little and often’ is an appropriate approach. This will help reduce excessive glycaemic response and avoid starch overload.
High carbohydrate or starch meals are thought to affect the usual hormonal responses of digestion in the individual. This can interrupt the conversion of cartilage to bone so, when feed quantities need to be increased, upping the number of meals per day from two to three, or even four, is beneficial.
Bulbrook continues: “The ultimate goal during this period is to provide the yearling with the necessary nutrients for healthy growth and development, without providing such an excess of calories that the yearling becomes too heavy, coupled with an unnatural growth rate.” Often, a yearling destined for the sales will receive surplus calories in order to achieve the athletic, mature-like, conditioned body type typically desired at major thoroughbred auctions globally.
One of the main concerns when breeding and prepping for races and sales alike is the threat of developmental orthopaedic diseases (DODs), or growth disturbances resulting from abnormal bone development. The causes of DODs are complex, with management, genetics and nutrition being three of the main factors.
Due to the change in management and reduction in turnout, bone demineralisation (loss of minerals from the bone) and therefore a decrease in bone strength, yearlings are at an increased risk of DODs. The thoroughbred skeleton responds to loading (exercise) by laying down or adding bone (bone mineralisation), which is why turnout is so very important in the early life stages and if it can be maintained to some degree throughout sales preparation, it will certainly be of a long-term benefit. Particular care must be taken to ensure the yearling is receiving adequate minerals to assist bone development, and exercise or loading must be increased gradually to allow bone mineralisation to ‘catch up’.
Yearlings will still require high amounts of energy, protein, amino acids and minerals (most importantly calcium, phosphorus, copper and zinc) in order to allow optimum growth. Any concentrate feeds produced specifically for youngstock and/or young racehorses should have the correct vitamin to mineral ratios –supplementation can be risky as they need to be balanced correctly; toxicity can occur if too much is fed, or nutrient absorption can be inhibited.
Ensuring protein requirements are met is also a very important component in helping to achieve the desired
development and soundness of the yearling. The most noteworthy amino acid for our yearlings is lysine, which is supplied in its most optimum form via soy. Lysine is heavily involved with muscle growth and repair.
It is important to note that a low-starch, high-fat feed is significantly more beneficial for many reasons. The horse’s digestive system is much more efficient at breaking down fat than starch, and you will often need to feed a higher quantity of grains (corns or oats) to achieve the same calorie intake compared to fat (oil or rice bran). Feeding large amounts daily greatly increases the risk of equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS), particularly when coupled with limited forage and/or turnout.
Cronin says: “There’s a high risk of gastrointestinal issues impacting on the gut and these conditions will affect growth, top line and the immune system. Mervue Equine Pro-Bio is an ideal gastric supplement to introduce. For yearlings with poor appetite or fussy eaters, this product is also available in paste format.” High starch intake can also cause diarrhoea, colic, EGUS, laminitis and behavioural issues such as excitable behaviour.
Correctly balanced diets can help remove the guesswork from feeding. The type of diet required for sales preparation will be influenced by size, age and individual metabolic variation as well as the forage quality and quantity that will be available. Bulbrook says: “Highly strung, excitable individuals might benefit from the lower starch No.22 Prep Ease product. It has less cereal, and more alfalfa, super fibres and oil as a means of supplying calories.” Cronin adds: “For backwards foals a longer preparation is advisable. Consideration to bone and frame should
be given. Mervue Equine Equocalomin, with key bone-forming nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, is an excellent supplement.”
To summarise, there are many risks associated to this stressful and somewhat rapid period of transition in a young thoroughbred’s life, and the combination of careful management through all avenues is crucial. Reynolds says: “Being proactive with your feed and supplement choices is important. Ensuring an optimal and balanced supply of vitamins, minerals, quality protein and getting the energy type and intake correct are all integral to the yearling’s ability to tolerate exercise, maintain manageable behaviour, ensure sound musculo-skeletal development and maximise immune health, as well as optimising skin, coat and hoof quality.”
Always provide turnout where possible and allow time between changing from living out to being mainly stabled. Implement exercise changes gradually and make changes accordingly. Always feed high quality forage (in as higher quantity as possible) alongside a formulated concentrate feed specific for young thoroughbreds, from a reputable feed company, most of which will have fully qualified nutritionists on hand to help and advise.
Bulbrook concludes: “Clearly each horse is an individual and should be fed as such and, with the range of products now available, it should be easier than ever to achieve the correct nutritional balance to support growth whilst achieving the head-turning physique required for the sales ring.
“We may not be able to alter the genetic make-up of each individual but with good feeding practices, alongside a well-managed exercise regime, we can certainly improve the chances of achieving the best price for each individual horse.”
WIN
A high-calorie pellet rich in key amino acids and omega-3 oils, designed to top dress your sales prep daily ration when additional weight gain, topline, and coat condition is needed most.
FORMULATED TO SUPPORT
Weight gain
Muscle and topline development
Outstanding coat condition
BREEDING
> Safe to use from 24 hours old
> Very palatable which can aid the handling of foals
IDEAL FOR
> Complementing mares milk in all foals up to weaning
> Foals during periods of stress
- highlights include
Middle Park Stakes Prix Morny
Richmond Stakes
King’s Stand Stakes
Irish St. Leger Prix du Cadran
Doncaster Cup Stakes
Dubai City Of Gold
Hungerford Stakes
Rockfel Stakes
German 2000 Guineas
Craven Stakes Prix Texanita Prix de Barbeville
Respiratory health is a crucial factor in keeping racehorses in optimum health and fitness. Alongside lameness, respiratory illness is the most common cause for loss of training/race days. In an ideal world, horses would have access to turnout every day, although we know this is not always possible. Horses in training can spend up to 23 hours per day standing in their stable, and at this time of year breeding stock will be spending more time stabled during the northern hemisphere foaling and covering season. This said, stable environment and ventilation cannot be overlooked as a vital component to keeping our horse’s respiratory system healthy. Ben Tuckey, Founder of Equine Bio Genie, agrees, saying: “Equine environmental health has become an increasingly emotive topic across all equine disciplines, and none more so than within the thoroughbred breeding and training ranks, where a variety of equine pathogens can pose a threat to productivity and performance.”
“Pathogenic fungi and bacteria can greatly affect the respiratory system”
A horse’s respiratory tract, designed to transfer large volumes of air in and out of the lungs, is a vast and delicate system. The harder a horse works, the more imperative respiratory health becomes. A horse at rest will move 50/60 litres of air per minute in and out of their lungs and this increases to 1,800 litres per minute at full gallop.
The primary function of the respiratory system is to facilitate oxygen and CO2 exchange. The upper and lower tracts work systematically for this to occur and meet the required oxygen levels in line with exercise demand. Air is inhaled only through the nostrils (horses cannot
Pregnant mares should spend as much time as possible out grazing
breathe through their mouths) and into the nasal cavity. Here it is filtered and warmed by three thick, soft, mucous membranecovered scroll-shaped bones, called turbinates. The air then passes through the pharynx and larynx into the trachea or, as it is more commonly known, the windpipe. The trachea is kept permanently open via C shaped rings of cartilage, before separating into two bronchi at the lungs. The air then travels through smaller and smaller passages within the lungs, from bronchi to bronchioles and into the alveoli where gaseous exchange takes place.
Gaseous exchange is the process of oxygen passing across the alveoli membrane into the red blood cells circulating in the capillaries. CO2, the byproduct of energy use, does the opposite, travelling from blood stream to alveoli and back up the respiratory tract to be expelled out of the nostrils.
The surface area of a horse’s lungs is quite spectacular – if the airways within the horse’s lungs were laid out flat, they would occupy a staggering total area of ten tennis courts! This is due to their estimated 3,000 million alveoli.
The respiratory system has its own defence mechanisms to avoid contaminates being inhaled and travelling into the lungs. As well as filtering the air, the turbinates trap any large airborne particles, helping to prevent them travelling further into the respiratory tract. Also, the airways are lined with cilia, which are minute finger-like projections. They help to trap and move
foreign particles and mucous back up the tract towards the nostrils for expulsion.
Airways are lined with mucoussecreting cells – in a healthy state, the mucous is thin and can be moved easily and naturally through the tract. If the horse is unwell, with an infection for example, the mucous will become thick and sticky, causing an obstruction and compromised respiratory function. There are also white blood cells (lymphoid cells) present throughout the airways to support immunity from various pathogens.
A final but crucial defence barrier exists within the alveoli. Tiny, inhaled particles that manage to make it all the way to the alveoli and are cleaned up by cells called macrophages. These cells engulf material ranging from tiny particles of dust to bacteria. However, they can be overloaded. The macrophages of a horse living in a dusty environment will have a decreased ability to fight infectious agents. Therefore, they will be more prone to infection than a horse in a clean, well-ventilated environment.
It is clear to see just how easily a horse’s respiratory system can be compromised if they are not kept in a suitably clean air space. Pathogenic fungi and bacteria, when present in large numbers, can greatly affect the respiratory system of a horse and therefore performance. Renowned trainer Sir Mark Prescott says: “I have always thought that the control of respiratory disease is one of the most important aspects of training a young thoroughbred and good ventilation is a significant factor in that”.
Airborne dust and pathogens, which can be present in many areas and materials, such as bedding and damp, are two of the main causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Exercise Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH), also known as bleeding, and Irritable Airway Disease (IAD) – all of which can significantly affect a racehorse’s performance. At this time of year, pollen can be an additional irritant for some horses. Horses with COPD are particularly sensitive to pollen and efforts should be made to eliminate build-up in their environment. Yards that are contaminated with a pathogen of any kind will suffer from the direct respiratory effect but will also endure recurring bouts of secondary bacterial and viral infections due to immune suppression. Until the pathogen is located and eliminated, performance will be inconsistent. Stable ventilation plays an enormous part in the removal of these airborne pathogens.
Equine influenza is considered to be endemic in the UK. Due to the strict vaccination protocols present within the racing industry, it is rare for horses to become ill from catching the virus, although care should be taken when stabling younger horses with a lack of immunity build-up or mixing with unvaccinated horses from different disciplines. It is an airborne virus and can easily spread via infected droplets from an infected horse coughing.
EHV (Equine Herpes Virus) 1 and 4 is the most worrying viral infection within the breeding sector. Although it can cause respiratory issues, they are often mild and easily resolved within vaccinated groups, which is most of the racehorse population in the UK. The neurological strain of EHV is catastrophic but, thankfully, rare and cannot be vaccinated against. The abortion strain of EHV is, sadly, not unheard of within the thoroughbred breeding industry, despite thorough vaccination protocols. Heavily pregnant mares should be kept in as smaller groups as possible and kept with other mares of similar due dates. They should always be kept away from all other horses, e.g. barren/maiden mares, youngstock, stallions and horses out of training. Pregnant mares should spend as much time as possible out grazing. They should not be stabled, particularly in shared air space stabling, such as American barns, unless absolutely essential. Shared airspace stabling greatly increases the risk of transmission of infection to mares if an abortion does occur.
Tuckey explains: “Our role as custodians of the equine population is to manage the pathogenic load in our horses’
environments, as we keep them in a stabled environment for a large proportion of their day-to-day life. Many of the equine pathogens are known as ‘opportunistic’, which means the horses will co-exist in the presence of certain harmful microorganisms until such a time when they become immunosuppressed – whether through travelling, workload, residual illness, foaling or other, this is when horses are most at risk of picking up infection, so the condition in which they are kept must be as healthy as possible.”
The simple objective is to ensure stabled horses have a constant supply of fresh air, with appropriate openings within the stables and/or buildings so that fresh air can enter and stale air can exit freely, without causing a draft. There are two forms of ventilation which we need to consider – controllable and permanent.
Permanent ventilation, other than that of the stable door, should be provided at above horse head height. Air inlets are usually, and most effectively, situated along the side walls and ridge, allowing air to enter regardless of wind direction. The outside air enters the stable, travels downwards towards the floor, warms up due to the hot air already present from body heat etc, hopefully collecting any moisture, dust, heat, pathogens and ammonia before rising and exiting via air outlets. Fresh cold air then enters the stable, replacing the stale air and the cycle continues. This process is called thermal buoyancy. Air outlets should be placed at the highest point possible within the roof, allowing warm air to rise and escape. The higher the air outlet points are, the more
effective the ventilation will be. Controllable ventilation, such as via doors, windows and louvers are at horse height and can be open or shut depending on weather conditions. Closing all forms of ventilation, even during awful weather conditions, is never the best option for the horse’s health and should be avoided at all costs. It is easy to fall into the trap of wanting to keep our horses extra warm during real cold snaps. However, even during the lowest temperatures, stables should only ever be between 3 and 6 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Ventilation can be measured by air changes per hour, or AC/H. The recommended minimum air changes per hour is 6. Some stabling/barns will have as little as 1 AC/H; this will lead to dust, grime and ammonia build up. Moisture will also build up, resulting in increased growth of mould and bacteria.
The level of ventilation seen in various stables and barns varies greatly. As a rule, the older yards that are still in use today tend to have very efficient ventilation systems. As time has gone on, many stable and yard designs have become focused on the ‘look’ of the building. This often leads to suboptimal ventilation, with adequate thermal buoyancy and air change frequency not being met.
Windows and sky lights provide light and UV rays (use UV light translucent safety glass), which is not only beneficial for horses’ circadian clocks, but also kills a range of airborne viruses, bacteria and parasites. Rubber matting allows for less bedding to be used, therefore decreasing dust, mould etc. Sticking to ‘good practice’ stable management is also imperative. Mucking out regularly will prevent ammonia build-up. Good ventilation will be, ideally, designed into the original barn plans or stable and take advantage of natural wind, air currents and thermal buoyancy. Although fans and duct systems can be used, they are no replacement for traditional ventilation methods.
Tuckey concludes: “The focus on biosecurity needs to be all encompassing and cover 360 degrees across air, surfaces and water… equine pathogens can survive and thrive in the environment and in water for extended periods of time given the right conditions, and we must be cognisant of this to prevent ingestion of these harmful micro-organisms. A regular and effective treatment and biosecurity protocol that is efficacious and safe for horse, user and the environment is paramount to maximising the potential of our horses, on and off the racecourse. Keeping the bacterial, fungal and virucidal load as low as possible is critical.”
TEOFILO - MADANY (ACCLAMATION)
Fee: £3,000 1st Oct S.L.F
Brother to Gr.1 Commonwealth Cup winner EQTIDAAR
Gr.1 placed at 2, 3 and 4, Gr.2 winner over 7f
Off to a great start at stud, multiple winners incl. LR Pat Eddery Stakes Placed Mascapone, Docklands (Royal Ascot winner), etc.
Yearlings sold for £45,000, £44,000, £43,000, etc.
KODIAC – LADY LISHANDRA (MUJADIL) Fee: £5,000 1st Oct S.L.F
Winner of three races and £116,503 all over 5f including: EBF Novice Stakes Doncaster LR National S. Sandown
Gr.2 Flying Childers S. Doncaster Also 3rd Gr.2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf
Foals
All-Weather Finals Day on Good Friday saw Artisan Dancer crowned ARC All-Weather £1,000,000 Bonus Scheme Horse of The Year.
Points for the Horse of the Month and Horse of the Year competitions have been awarded to horses that have finished in the first five on any of their first three runs in any monthly period at Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Southwell or Wolverhampton racecourses.
The Horse of the Year competition offered a £100,000 first prize, which was won by Artisan Dancer, owned by The Makyowners and trained by Charlie Johnston.
The competition ultimately hinged on a 0-85 handicap at Southwell on Thursday, March 28 where a third place for Artisan Dancer put him just
• March: A four-way tie saw Danielsflyer (Elliott Brothers and Peacock), Cephalus (Veljko Jovanovic), Lough Leane (Twenty Stars Partnership) and Mamalouka (D Macauliffe) all winning £17,500.
Godolphin won the All-Weather Champion Owner title for the tenth consecutive season following another productive campaign, headed by Military Order winning the Group 3 BetUK Winter Derby.
Hugh Anderson, Godolphin Managing Director (UK & Dubai), said: “To begin 2024 with a tenth consecutive owners’ championship on the all-weather for Godolphin is absolutely fantastic.
“The all-weather season is an incredibly important feature of the racing calendar for older horses. Military Order and Rebel’s Romance have been notable winners for Godolphin this year, plus as a springboard for younger horses to go on to greater success later in the season.
“As ever, winning the championship has been a huge team effort from the trainers, jockeys and everyone working in the racing yards. We are all now looking forward to an exciting season on the turf.”
two points ahead of the Tony Carrolltrained Mumayaz.
ARC’s All-Weather Horse of the Month competition offered a total of £35,000 a month in prizes in October/ November, December and January, with the total monthly prize pot doubling in February and March to £70,000. The winners for each month were:
• October & November: Eagle’s Realm (The Good Racing Company) and Bankrupt (Mulligans Racing Club) won £15,000 each.
• December: Intervention took the £30,000 top prize for The Horsewatchers.
• January: Five winners all took home £14,000 – Bobby Joe Leg (Angela Clark), Beauzon (Beaunus Hunters), Bonito Cavalo (Whitestonecliffe Racing Partnership), Optik (John Cook and Partner) and He’s An Angel (G Lavery).
• February: Joint winners Pallas Lord (Donald Whillans) and Sennockian (The Burke Family) both won £30,000.
We are delighted to welcome Rebecca Bowtell to the ROA VAT Solution team. Rebecca first joined the ROA in 2016 as Subscriptions Secretary having completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Equine Management at the Royal Agricultural University.
For the past few years, she has worked with the ROA as a trainer liaison, alongside working at numerous racecourses. She has now moved over to the VAT team as a part-time VAT Solutions Administrator.
Rebecca, who has been interested in horseracing from a young age, later riding out at local racing yards, now owns two retired racehorses who, alongside various rescued animals, keep her busy outside of work!
The VAT Solution team can be contacted at 01183 385685.
Our contact details:
Congratulations to ROA Board member Philip Davies, who has been granted a knighthood by Rishi Sunak in an announcement at the start of the parliamentary Easter recess. Philip has been MP for Shipley since 2005. Speaking about the honour, he said: “This came out of the blue as a very pleasant surprise.
“I am extremely grateful to all the people who have supported me throughout my time in Parliament – in particular the Shipley Conservative Association who selected me as their candidate 22 years ago and who have wholeheartedly supported me ever since, and the people of the Shipley constituency who have elected me to represent them in Parliament five times over that period.
“Without them this honour would not have been possible, and I will never forget that”
Former sports minister Tracey Crouch, an independent member of the Horse Welfare Board, has also been honoured with a damehood for public and parliamentary service.
The BHA is inviting people from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds working in British racing to share their views and experiences of the industry through a short feedback survey. The survey, which can be completed anonymously, will run until Friday, May 31.
It is open to everyone working in British racing, particularly people from ethnically and culturally diverse
Ahead of the Grand National meeting, the British Horseracing Authority and Great British Racing launched a new campaign, designed to promote the facts around welfare in horseracing, and to challenge and correct inaccurate information shared by people who are opposed to our sport.
Called HorsePWR, the campaign was designed to put the industry in a much better place to stand up for our sport and educate people about the facts, hosted on the campaign website www. horsepwr.co.uk.
Owners and enthusiasts alike were asked to get involved and share the campaign through their own contacts and social media channels.
HorsePWR will continue to grow in 2024 and beyond. Welfare concerns are the single biggest barrier to engagement with the sport amongst potential fans. HorsePWR aims to improve the perception and reach bigger audiences with the facts to ensure racing continues to thrive into the future.
backgrounds, as well as those who might have worked with or observed the experiences of their ethnically diverse colleagues. Funded by the Racing Foundation, the survey is part of a wider research project to explore the opportunities and barriers that might exist for those from ethnically diverse backgrounds looking to fulfil their potential within racing.
Anyone interested in taking part in an interview, joining a focus group or finding out more about the research into the experiences of ethnically diverse communities is encouraged to contact the research team directly.
The survey is available at https://www.smartsurvey. co.uk/s/Exploringyourexperiencesworkinginhorseracing.
The BHA advise that if you know of anyone who needs help, or you experience or witness unsatisfactory behaviour, please report it by email to respect@ britishhorseracing.com.
The BHA has released an updated list of the Flat and jump fixtures at which all-card trot ups and pre-race examinations are expected to take place in the coming months. This now includes a provisional schedule up until the end of September 2024.
In advance of the raceday your trainer should contact the BHA to discuss a horse that may be described as a ‘poor mover’ or having an ‘asymmetrical gait’. The easiest way to do this is via email at vetreports@ britishhorseracing.com. A full list of the fixtures scheduled can be found at www.roa.co.uk/trotups.
The racing activities of Andy Peake can be split into two distinct periods. His first venture into ownership ran from the mid-1990s until 2008 and yielded 64 winners, more than half on the all-weather with 34 trained by Norma Macauley.
Peake’s second spell as an owner began in 2021, focused very much on French-bred National Hunt runners, and hit new heights last month when Sans Bruit produced a dazzling front-running performance under Bryony Frost to capture the Red Rum Handicap Chase on the opening day of the Randox Grand National meeting.
Yet had events taken a different course, Sans Bruit would not have lined up for the two-mile contest at Aintree. Indeed, the Triple Threat gelding would not be racing in Britain at all but for fate intervening, something his owner acknowledges.
“Sans Bruit was never supposed to move to England because he was owned jointly with his French breeder,” explains Peake, 55, a successful businessman and entrepreneur from Newton-le-Willows on Merseyside, who is now based in Hale.
“I bought a half share from his ownerbreeder Louis Baudron with the aim of winning a Grade 1 hurdle in France.
“Then there was an approach to buy him. I didn’t want to sell Sans Bruit – he was my best horse – so I offered to buy out Louis.
“I was in France to watch him at Auteuil and Paul Nicholls was at the track. I asked him about training the horse in
“I’ve created a bit of a niche in France with runners in the big races”
England – there wasn’t a programme over two miles in France – he said yes, and I subsequently brought him over.”
Prior to Sans Bruit, Peake’s best jumps horse in the UK had been Colourful Life, owned in partnership with David Jackson. Colourful Life, who had provided Peter Niven with his 1,000th winner in the saddle, captured the 2005 Great Yorkshire Chase when trained by Nicholls, later moving to Keith Reveley, and won
nine races in total before being killed in a fall at Uttoxeter.
Not long after the death of Colourful Life, Peake withdrew from the sport, but having sold his businesses three years ago, he decided to come back in. A call to renowned bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley got the ball rolling for Peake’s second spell as an owner.
He says: “Norma Macauley’s son, Simon, was involved in the businesses I sold. Together we bought a couple of mares from the Sullivan Bloodstock dispersal – Cut The Mustard and Eglantine Du Seuil.
“Anthony called me to say he had found a nice horse in France called Hussard D’Arthel, but he would be best suited to staying in France. I’d subsequently seen Sans Bruit win a juvenile hurdle and the late David Powell, who worked with Anthony, brokered a deal with Louis where I bought a half share.
“On his first run in my colours he was third in a Grade 2 event. He won two hurdle races and a chase and was seventh on his penultimate start in France in the French Champion Hurdle [Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil] before he came over to Ditcheat in the summer of 2023.”
Having undergone a wind operation,
hopes were high that Sans Bruit would hit the ground running in the UK, but a brief hurdling campaign proved somewhat underwhelming.
Peake says: “He ran okay at Doncaster first up and we thought he’d go really well in the Imperial Cup, but he finished nearer last than first.
“We then went to Chepstow over fences and saw the real Sans Bruit –he was unlucky not to win as he lost momentum at the last fence and was mugged near the line.
“It was galling to be beaten but we knew the horse was back and we went to Aintree with plenty of confidence.”
Having been held up by Lorcan Williams at Chepstow, different tactics were employed at Aintree in the Red Rum – which saw two false starts – with Frost sending Sans Bruit to the front from flag fall.
Peake says: “Although he was 2lb out of the handicap, Sans Bruit had previously had a much higher rating in France, so it wasn’t a major concern. I was worried about the quick turnaround, as it was only ten days after his Chepstow run.
“Bryony got Sans Bruit into a lovely rhythm – they met every fence on a stride, taking lengths out of the field at every jump, and while it sounds corny it really was poetry in motion.
“After his first run here at Doncaster, Paul said that Bryony and Sans Bruit would click and it would be just like it was with Frodon. He got it right.
“In Love won a Grade 3 race for me at Pau in February, but I wasn’t there to see it. Aintree was my biggest win when I’ve been in attendance and was very, very special. Just two hours earlier, General En Chef, who I own in partnership with Nicolas de Lageneste, won at Auteuil.
“General En Chef and In Love are being aimed at the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris later this month and I’ll be heading over with my wife Melanie, three kids plus in-laws for the weekend.”
While Sans Bruit is not the only jumps horse Peake has in Britain – Ubetya and Ip Up have both won this season for Jedd O’Keeffe, as has sole Flat runner Percy Willis, while Alan King trains Ernest Gray, victorious at Southwell earlier in the year – most of his runners are based across the
Channel and owned in partnerships.
“I can’t really compete with the big owners in the UK, but I’ve created a bit of a niche in France,” Peake explains. “I’m having runners in the big races whereas I couldn’t do that at home, and I couldn’t have the numbers I do if I raced exclusively here.
“With a horse like Imbatable Du Seuil, who won a Grade 3 chase in April, I own 60% so I’m getting 60% of the prizemoney but I’m only paying 60% of the cost – and I can honestly say I get as much pleasure as if I owned 100%.
“I’m currently in tenth place on the leading owners’ list in France having banked just over €190,000 so far this season.”
Peake continues: “In France you also receive a transport allowance while fourand five-year-old fillies receive a 15% bonus on top of prize-money.
“The programme book provides more opportunities and there’s a big claiming programme. Vazir, a former Aga Khan horse, couldn’t win in the UK but Mickael
Seror sent him to a provincial track, La-Roche-Posay, and he won a €15,000 race.”
With an exciting two-mile chaser to look forward to – Sans Bruit followed up his Aintree effort with a respectable third at Ayr nine days later – and some promising youngsters in France, Peake looks sure to enjoy plenty more magical moments on the racecourse, potentially in future with some homebred stock.
“The idea now is to breed my own runners,” Peake explains. “I’ve got six broodmares – some owned outright, some in partnership – with Richard Powell in Normandy, all covered with three so far confirmed in foal, plus a yearling and foal on the ground.
“I never planned to start breeding, but when Cut The Mustard and Eglantine Du Seuil came to the end of their racing careers, I was wondering what to do with them and Richard suggested I give breeding a go.
“Hopefully in a few years’ time I won’t have to buy anything!”
This month’s exclusive auction package for ROA members in partnership with Racing Welfare is a two-night stay with dinner on both nights for two people at Tom Kitchin’s Bonnie Badger in Gullane, Scotland.
Proud holders of a Michelin Guide
Bib Gourmand and 5 AA Gold Stars, the Bonnie Badger presents an enviable range of dining options. Each room has been carefully designed to enhance the original features of the building, while introducing thoughtful and modern elements of luxury throughout.
Racing Homes is Racing Welfare’s housing provider which owns and manages 165 properties across racing centres in Newmarket, Lambourn, Epsom, Malton and Middleham. The charity provides 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. For example, older, largely retired people from the industry and young people (18-24) who are starting out in their horseracing careers.
People like Kieran, 23, who was one of the first tenants to live in MacDonald Buchanan House in Newmarket.
Kieran said: “I found out about Racing Welfare’s accommodation whilst on a course at the British Racing
School. I was coming to the end of my residential course and would soon be looking for somewhere to live in Newmarket.
“One of the Welfare team came to speak to our group about all the support available, including housing options, and I took an application form for MacDonald Buchanan House.
“I applied for the accommodation and was accepted fairly quickly, meaning I could leave the Racing School and start work. I was pretty happy there for those two years. It was an ideal place to return to after a long day at work. Plus, it was fairly close to the yard so it made the early starts a little easier!
“Living at MacDonald Buchanan House was a good first step towards independent living for me. Racing Welfare’s Housing Support Officer let
In addition, the winning bidder will enjoy a tour of Lucinda Russell’s stable in Kinross, Perthshire. Home to 2023 Grand National winner Corach Rambler, Lucinda’s yard is a must-see for all jump racing fans. With stable stars also including Apple Away and Ahoy Senor, Lucinda and assistant Peter Scudamore have a fantastic team of horses combined with state-of-the-art facilities. The prize winner will meet the horses before watching them on the gallops.
Dates are to be agreed with the successful bidder. Head to bidtogive.co.uk to place your bid before the auction closes at 5pm on Friday, May 24. All funds raised through the auction will help Racing Welfare continue its work in looking after racing’s people.
Thank you to all who took an interest in Racing Welfare’s work in the ROA marquee at Cheltenham and entered the prize draw. Congratulations to Fiona Bell and John Watson, both of whom won a pair of hospitality tickets worth £500 for the Racing Welfare Aintree lunch, supported by the ROA.
me get on with everything I needed to but was there if I had any questions or issues.
“I started to think about moving on after a couple of years. I knew of others that needed the support; I had some money saved up, so I started to look for a flat to rent with one of my friends.
“At first it was quite difficult to find my own place, as at that time of the year a lot of staff were coming back from abroad and places were going quickly. I continued to have support from Racing Welfare whilst I was looking for a new place.”
After two years he made the transition to independent living, holding his own tenancy within the town.
Kieran said: “I am now settled in my new place near to the racecourse. It is only a short scooter ride from work so hasn’t been too much of a change for me. I know that Racing Welfare are still there for me if I need them.”
Spring is here again. A season of optimism, when we are full of positive thoughts. The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer and hopefully the rain will have relented by the time you read this. It’s also a time of transition in racing, when we are saying “see you in the autumn” to our favourite jumps horses and starting to focus on the precocious talents of the latest Classic generation.
Before we park the jumpers, I’d like to reflect on the latest season. And where better to focus than on the Cheltenham Festival. I’m not going to spend too long on the subject, as an awful lot has already been written about the problems surrounding this year’s Festival. Despite all the criticism, there hasn’t been an awful lot coming out of the Jockey Club on what they are going to do to address the falling attendances. To be fair to Cheltenham, some of what happened, such as car park problems and the loss of the Cross Country Chase owing to flooding, was outside of their control.
However, the racing programme, ticket prices and making sure customers are treated well and given value for money are within their gift, and they need to do something to address the concerns raised, because doing nothing is unacceptable. Those people who had a bad experience are unlikely to return next year unless something is done to entice them back. Freezing prices is better than putting them up, but how about offering a two-day ticket at a discount? The Wednesday attendance is in urgent need of a boost.
There’s also a new form of competition, with some punters choosing to fly off to warmer climes to watch the Festival from a sun-soaked bar. There were positive reports from those who experienced the ‘Costa del Cheltenham’ and it could become more popular, as there were several reports of the experience being cheaper than going to Cheltenham. It wouldn’t be for me, but each to their own. I’d rather spend my Cheltenham budget at the Festival. My two days including tickets, accommodation, travel and entertainment came to a
similar amount as the punters in Spain were spending on flights and hotels. In my opinion, it’s only cheaper if you’re actually spending less money!
This year’s Festival lacked an ‘I was there’ moment and it’s this that concerns me most. The racing needs to be more competitive, and we need to see the best running against the best. If it means culling some races then Cheltenham must be brave and make those difficult decisions. As I said earlier, doing nothing is unacceptable as it’s likely to result in declining attendances continuing next year.
Looking forward to the Flat season ahead, the Rowley Mile is the venue where we hope to see juvenile promise fulfilled in the first Classics, but we often see bubbles being burst, as last season’s top juveniles fail to train on.
The Guineas meeting recalls one of my favourite racing memories, going back 40 years when Pebbles left her two-year-old form behind and ran out an impressive three-length winner of the 1,000 Guineas. She went on to have an even better four-year-old season, when she became the first filly to win the Eclipse and then capped a brilliant career – and left an indelible mark on the sport – by becoming the first British-trained horse to win at the Breeders’ Cup. My favourite memory of her was in the 1985 Champion Stakes, when she routed a top-class field, with Pat Eddery sitting motionless as she cruised into the lead. Check it out online and enjoy her brilliance.
Here’s hoping one of our Classic winners creates memories that will last as long as those created by the magnificent Pebbles.
This month’s prizemoney analysis looks at the value of programmed races at core fixtures from January 1 to June 23, 2024. The adjacent tables rank racecourses by the average percentage above minimum values that their race programme is run at. For context, the number of core fixtures and the average class of race each racecourse is staging in this period are also included in the table.
OWNERSHIP KEY
JCR Jockey Club Racecourses ARC Arena Racing Company I Independently owned racecourse
Bay. 2016, 16.0hh, No Nay Never ex Theann (Rock Of Gibraltar)
Glorious Goodwood winner in his first crop SERRIED RANKS – Rated 97 TFR
£2,500
HEDGEHOLME STUD will be the new home of LAND FORCE for the 2024 breeding season, where he will stand for £2,500
l On the track, the son of No Nay Never was a precocious two-year-old and, after shedding his maiden tag over 6f at the Curragh, comfortably landed the Listed Tipperary Stakes by two lengths.
l Out of the Gr.3-winning Rock Of Gibraltar mare Theann, he is a half-brother to the dual US Gr.1 heroine Photo Call (Galileo).
l Land Force had good statistics with his first two-yearolds last season and sired 21 individual winners from 66 runners, at a winners to runners percentage of 32 per cent.
130 mares covered in 2023
21 First Crop WINNERS and already more in 2024
Consistent six-figure sales
€250,000, 180,000gns, 135,000gns, 120,000gns etc.
The TBA’s Shona Rutherford is swapping horse power for pedal power by cycling a whopping 170 miles in two days to raise funds for diabetes research.
Having worked in the bloodstock industry for more than 25 years, Shona, who has type 1 diabetes, is leading the ‘Chippenham Challenge’ from Chippenham Cricket Club in Wiltshire to Chippenham Cricket Club in Cambridgeshire, covering around 85 miles a day.
Taking place at the end of May in aid of the charity JDRF, Shona will be joined by five others and aims to raise £2,000 to support vital JDRF research.
Shona was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes aged 25 and said: “I’ve decided to take on this challenge to mark my 25th anniversary of living with type 1 diabetes.
“It would mean so much to find a cure and to alleviate the constant routine of finger pricks, blood tests and injections that people living with type 1 have to do on a daily basis.”
Shona added: “If it’s going to be a challenge, we have to go big, and one of the other cyclists taking part also has type 1 diabetes, so there will be two of us.”
The 170-mile route will stop in Buckingham after the first leg of the challenge.
To sponsor Shona, please visit https:// gofund.me/60e6d4cb
Tickets are selling fast for this year’s TBA NH Breeders’ Awards Evening, which celebrates its tenth anniversary and takes place on Monday, May 20.
Always an entertaining evening, which is hosted by Nick Luck, readers are encouraged to secure their place via the events section of the TBA website.
Supported by Goffs and taking place the evening before the Spring Store Sale, tickets are priced at £70 and include entertainment, a champagne reception, two-course meal and the presentation of awards, which celebrate successes from the 2023-24 National Hunt season.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Members have free access at over 1,000 UK fixtures to watch horses they have bred
One of the TBA’s most popular benefits is the Racecourse Badge Scheme for Breeders (PASS), which gives members FREE access to watch horses they have bred, but may no longer own, at over 1,000 fixtures at British racecourses.
In addition to racecourse entry, the TBA has introduced automatic text/email notifications to keep you updated when a horse you have bred has been entered to run.
Although the old-style swipe cards are still in use, the RCA has
Following the successful Worm Workshop event held at Askham Bryan College in York last year, the TBA has brought together a panel of experts to build on those themes and discuss a holistic approach to gastrointestinal health. This educational event will take place immediately following the TBA’s AGM at Newbury racecourse on Tuesday, August 13.
Professor Chris Proudman (FRCVS), Professor Celia Marr (FRCVS) and Dr Laura Peachey (MRCVS) will explore the impact of helminths and common veterinary medications on the gut microbiome and describe how these may influence the long-term health and
developed a new system allowing members to download the PASS card to your mobile phone. However, we always advise taking additional identification. Step-by-step instructions along with the fixture list can be found on the TBA website in the advice and info page.
To apply for this scheme, complete the online application form on the website and once approved the application will run for the duration of the TBA membership.
The TBA has a strong relationship with the racecourses and are grateful that they appreciate the
performance of the thoroughbred.
The talks will also cover important subjects such as antimicrobial stewardship and how the thoroughbred breeding industry can play its part in safeguarding the efficacy of these hugely important drugs.
Delegates will have the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers during a guided Q&A session, to be hosted by the Chair of the TBA’s Veterinary Committee, Dr James Crowhurst (MRCVS).
This event is free to attend for TBA members and ACCESS subscribers, but places need to be booked in advance via the events section of the TBA website.
Non-members may attend subject to availability, for a fee of £60, which will also include a one-year ACCESS subscription, providing access to additional events and educational resources online through TB-Ed (www.tb-ed.co.uk).
role breeders play in the industry by allowing them to apply for complimentary badges to premier fixtures such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham.
The process for this benefit is slightly different, so once your horse has been declared contact Alix Jones on 01638 661321.
To keep informed on other racecourse badge offers, keep an eye out for the e-bulletin and on social media, as there are several meetings that allow TBA members complimentary access even if they do not have a runner.
Whilst there was no Honeysuckle at this year’s Cheltenham Festival – she produced her first foal, a filly, later in March – mares still ruled the roost from a British perspective at Prestbury Park. In what was set up to be an intriguing clash in the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, Golden Ace provided Exmoor trainer Jeremy Scott with a well deserved first Festival winner.
A daughter of Overbury Stud-based Golden Horn, the five-year-old was bred by Meon Valley Stud and hails from the family of Prix du Cadran scorer San Sebastian and Japan Cup hero Alkaased. Golden Ace followed up in a Listed mares' novices' hurdle, also at Cheltenham, on April 18.
Meon Valley Stud also bred the Listed-winning Fairyhouse bumper mare Familiar Dreams, a daughter of the now Yorton Stud-based Postponed.
Both mares were purchased for 12,000gns and 4,000gns respectively from the Tattersalls July Sale.
In what was a heart-warming victory, this year’s renewal of the Festival Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase, or the Cheltenham Foxhunters’, was won by the prolific pointer and reigning John Corbett Cup heroine Sine Nomine Bred by Norfolk-based Shirley Bailey, owned by Robin Tate and trained by his daughter Fiona Needham, who is clerk of the course at Catterick, the eightyear-old was ridden by John Dawson, son of Nunstainton Stud owners Chris and Rachel.
Having been given a break through the winter to avoid the worst of the testing conditions that have prevailed, All The Glory sprinted up the Newbury home straight for a nine-length win in the Grade 2 EBF ‘NH’ Mares’ Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Final. She was bred by Mill Farm Stud.
At Cork over the Easter period, the Terry Harman-bred Lucky Zebo, a son of Mickley Stud-based Yorgunnabelucky, continued his progression through the ranks and won the Listed Easter Handicap Hurdle.
In France at the beginning of the month, the upwardly mobile Garrick Harmony, bred by G B Partnership, won the Grade 3 Prix Juigne.
In the US, West Newton, a son of Kitten’s Joy bred by the late Queen, won the Imperial Cup Handicap at Aiken in South Carolina.
Staying in the States, there was a British-bred double on the Florida Derby undercard at Gulfstream Park at the end of the month. The Essafinaat UK Ltd-bred McKulick, raised at Hazelwood Stud, won her fifth Graded victory in the Grade 3Orchid Stakes.
Placed multiple times in Group contests in France last year, the Wertheimer et Frere-bred Kertez made his first start Stateside a winning one in the Grade 2 Pan American Stakes.
Closer to home and the British turf season got underway with the Lincoln Handicap fixture at Doncaster. On the undercard, the Shadwell-bred Montassib scored a narrow victory in the Cammidge Trophy, his first victory in stakes company.
There was a Listed race double for Whitsbury Manor Stud’s star stallion Havana Grey. Got To Love A Grey, making her first start since Royal Ascot, was pushed out to win the Prix Ronde de Nuit at Chantilly – she was bred by the Regatta Partnership. The double was completed at Newcastle on Good Friday when the Christopher Liesack-bred Cuban Tiger captured the Burradon Stakes.
The Middle East season built
to a crescendo and in Bahrain, the Godolphin-bred Isle Of Jura, a son of New Approach, confirmed his status as the standout star of the season with victory in the Listed King’s Cup. The four-year-old was winning his fifth race over the winter and was most impressive in taking the 1m4f race.
At Meydan, Godolphin’s homebred Cinderella’s Dream took the Jumeirah 1,000 Guineas on turf on Super Saturday. She was one of three winners on the day for Godolphin, which also owned the Lordship Stud and Sunderland Holding-bred Legend Of Time, winner of the nine-furlong Jumeirah Classic. The three-year-old quickened smartly and won as he liked.
One of the features on the day was the Group 2 Al Maktoum Classic in which the Qatar Bloodstock Ltd-bred Military Law, a son of Dubawi, led home a one-two for British-breds ahead of Walk Of Stars.
Finally, in Australia, Cascadian, a New Approach full-brother to the aforementioned Isle Of Jura, captured his fourth Group 1 in retaining the Australian Cup at Flemington, mowing down the bold frontrunner Pride Of Jenni. The evergreen nine-year-old is a homebred of Godolphin’s and trained for them by James Cummings.
Results up to and including March 31. Produced in association with GBRI.
Details of the morning session of the TBA’s annual Bloodstock Conference, which is entitled ‘The Horse’, have been announced. The one-day conference, taking place at Tattersalls on Tuesday, June 25, will be hosted by Lydia Hislop and will cover three key themes over the course of the day, with Richard Phillips, trainer and founder of National Racehorse Week, delivering the keynote speech.
The first session of the day will welcome Professor Madeleine Campbell, who will present on how greyhound racing has responded to welfare challenges and the ethical justifications for the use of animals in sport.
This will be followed by an interactive panel session on why aftercare can never be an afterthought, with a focus on life outside of breeding and racing for racehorses and broodmares.
Joining the panel will be Louise Robson from Thoroughbred Dressage, Gabi Whitfield on behalf of HorsePWR, Roly Owers from World Horse Welfare, and Philippa Gilmore from Retraining of Racehorses.
The morning will conclude with a live Q&A session with Louise Robson who will be bringing along Quadrille, crowned ROR Horse of the Year in 2020 and 2021. Owned by the late Queen Elizabeth II and now HM King Charles, Quadrille has been retrained as a dressage horse.
This will be followed by a break for lunch, with opportunity for networking and to browse the marketplace,. Details of exhibitors is available on the TBA website.
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 at the TBA.
The prestigious TBA Stud Employee Award celebrates the significant contribution that stud employees make to the breeding industry.
Nominations are encouraged for those individuals who have shown:
• A willing attitude to learning and taking on new responsibilities
• Promise as a future leader
• Excellence in their day-to-day role
• Exceptional performance in a specific situation
• A team player who motivates or acts as a mentor to others
Nominations close on May 3 and studs are invited to nominate deserving employees from Flat and National Hunt stud farms.
Sponsored by the Hon Peter Stanley’s New England Stud, the winner will receive a £2,000 cash prize and a perpetual trophy, while shortlisted nominees each receive £250 and a certificate of recognition. To nominate, visit the TBA website.
Thursday, May 2
East Regional Day
Members will visit Beech House Stud in Newmarket before making their way across to Newsells Park Stud.
Monday, May 20
NH Awards, Hilton Garden Inn, Doncaster
Come join us as the TBA celebrates the tenth anniversary of its NH awards, held the evening prior to the Goffs Doncaster Spring Store Sale. The event will celebrate successes from the 23-24 NH season, as well as from the previous nine years.
Tuesday, June 11
South West Regional Day
Andrew Balding and Jake Warren will open their doors to members on a regional day to Kingsclere and Highclere Stud respectively.
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
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’ focussing 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.
Readers are reminded that the deadline to register their 2023-born yearlings for stage 2 of GBB is Friday, May 31. Late registrations are strictly not permitted. If you were not the payee of stage 1, it is advised that you check to see
that you have changed ownership of the yearling.
To register for the stage 2 payment, visit greatbritishbonus.co.uk, alternatively call Weatherbys Stud Book (01933 440077) or the TBA office (01638 661321).
OF THE MONTH (March 2024)
Irony oozes through the nomination of Mill Farm Stud as TBA Breeder of the Month for March, following the success of All The Glory in the Grade 2 British EBF BetVictor NH Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury.
Celebration is muted by the fact that Mill Farm has quit breeding and its owners Philip and wife Lesley Rann, who ran their horses in training as The Rann Family, have given up racing in Britain.
Their interests began in the 2012-13 jumps season, and were shared variously among Chris Bealby, Laura Morgan and Amy Murphy. Few of the horses stayed with their trainers more than two seasons and have now been dispersed after clocking up a total of ten wins and earnings of £69,133 over the 11 seasons.
Mill Farm, which was incorporated as Broken Arrow Stud in October 2013, has had three name changes in the meantime, and although always put through its statutory Companies House paces as a going concern, has made an operating loss each year. Its latest accounts, for the year ended December 31, 2022 show a deficit in this column of £416,428, up from £338,960 the previous year.
All The Glory was typical of the circumstances, being the produce of a €7,000 covering fee that mated Fame And Glory in 2017, the year he died, with her German dam Glorybe, a hurdle winner whose half-brother Ghizao found his way from France to Jack Barber’s point-topoint stable, winning a Grade 2 for Paul Nicholls along the way.
The Accountant, who raced for The Rann Family, was the best of Glorybe’s previous three foals, winning two of his last three handicap hurdles, but they came in
the autumn of 2019, too late to influence All The Glory’s first public appearance at the Goffs UK Sale in January 2018, where she was led out unsold at £10,500.
Sent back to Doncaster as a three-yearold in July 2020, she sold for £10,000 and eventually found herself in the ownership of Martin Peyton, for whom she has been a slow-burner. She won twice in 11 runs in maiden or novice hurdle company before tackling her first handicap at Newbury, where she produced a much-improved performance after a three-month break.
Typical of British jumps breeding, All The Glory has been the epitome of patience, of which Philip Rann’s has run out, hence Mill Farm comes into the category of those small studs highlighted in the last TBA Economic Impact Study which have left the breeding industry in recent years.
“All the Glory has turned out to be the most successful of the colts and fillies we bred over 11 years,” he says. “During that period, we had four broodmares and would have an average of three foals
a year. The person entirely responsible for the success of All The Glory is Jade Taylor, who was our stud manager from the beginning. The love and attention she heaped on our horses was exceptional.”
Then comes the sting in the tale. “Sadly, we have stopped breeding,” he reveals. “We could no longer justify the cost in a sport where the prize-money is derisory. We have horses in training in America, where we are well rewarded for our efforts. And were we to re-enter the breeding world in Europe, we would base ourselves in France and breed Flat horses.”
The further irony to the story is that 73-year-old Rann’s day job is in finance, having set up Totemic as the holding company for a group of financial services and IT providers in 1992. According to its website, the company that is Grantham’s largest employer has “over 700 staff over ten trading companies, with offices in Lisbon alongside the head office in Lincolnshire” with “over 100,000 clients and has distributed more than £300 million to financial institutions.”
Brian Finch has been retired from business for several years, but he is far from idle. The lessons learned from a lifetime’s passion for our sport and an international career in marketing are being employed to very good effect in a variety of roles in racing, notably as Non-Executive Chair of Epsom Downs, which is the Zimbabwe-born 61-year-old’s local course. The Derby has been an annual sporting highlight wherever he has been in the world – he even named his son Troy after the 1979 winner – and making more of the event, especially among the local community, is among his ambitions. As the first black Chair of a British racecourse, Finch is also understandably just as passionate about promoting diversity in all of its forms. Having been an owner and breeder in South Africa, he is now involved in a syndicate with Ralph Beckett.
Interview: Graham Dench
My dad got me into racing in Zimbabwe where we had one racecourse, Borrowdale Park. It was a thriving little community, with racing once a week on Saturday, and we’d go as a family. I was fascinated by the sport, particularly the horses themselves and their pedigrees, and although dad had no connections in racing, he spoke to people who knew people, so it all grew from there. I worked at a bank but would clerk on my afternoon off for a bookmaker covering racing in South Africa, and also on Saturday at the track. Racing is a rather complicated, funny and unique sport, but it can grab you by the heart and I’ve found that if you make the effort, you quickly start joining up the dots with people through common interest.
I was living and working here in England when I got my first racehorse. It was a lot more affordable to have a horse in Zimbabwe. She was called Debutante Dancer, which became my ‘X’ handle – she raced twice, won twice, and I thought it was easy. I bred from her, raced the progeny, and subsequently sent her to South Africa to access better stallions. Of course, one became two, two became three and so on. It was just a hobby, and I didn’t see them very often, but then my professional life and my hobby collided when I transferred to South Africa. It led to me doing stints on various racing boards in South Africa and through those roles, and particularly through Bernard Kantor, I met some Jockey Club members in South Africa. On my return to England one thing led to another and I got involved with the Jockey Club at Sandown Park and Epsom, as well as the National Horseracing Museum.
I succeeded Julia Budd as Non-Executive Chair at Epsom Downs immediately after Desert Crown’s win in the Platinum Jubilee Derby in 2022, which was a fabulous event. The Chair role is largely ambassadorial, representing the course, assisting the executive and connecting with the local community. It’s fair to say the changes in my first two years haven’t
perhaps been as quick as I’d expected, but collectively we are clear what needs to be done to get Epsom and the Derby where we want it to be. The Derby is still the people’s race – we will do more to demonstrate that.
We have a clear strategy for the Epsom site, which will require investment. Conferencing and events provide a growing income stream with potential to grow further. However, our priority focus is to develop the site in a manner fitting to host the world’s greatest Flat race. Whilst Epsom can host up to 16 race days by legislation, we will continue to work on enhancing the nine fixtures outside of the Betfred Derby and Betfred Oaks before trying to expand. We have a huge catchment area and broad demographics on our doorstep; we can do a lot more with what we’ve got.
Developing the Derby festival into a weekly carnival of activity is a key objective. We are quite advanced in building activity that’s relevant to the event and its stakeholders. Having piloted a very well received community day two years ago, we know it works. On the racing side we are building on what we see at racing carnivals locally and elsewhere in the world. It takes time to secure the agreement of all the stakeholders, but I really do hope that we will one day see an additional race day within Derby week.
Attracting a younger audience to racing is vital but you have to offer an experience that makes people want to invest time in the sport. Racing’s social licence is a big talking point. We must be prepared to talk about horse welfare because young people want to have the conversation and debate – racing is facing up to this conversation and putting facts forward. The new HorsePWR initiative is impressive and should be commended. Racing must keep showing the evidence so people can judge for themselves that the sport recognises the issues and is working on them. I am eight years out of the tobacco industry, but
I look back at the way the industry boldly addressed the dangers of its products and how it fronted up about this. There is learning in other industries for racing.
In my view, there’s a solid business case for attracting and integrating the various diverse elements of our community by making racing relevant to them. The BHA’s new diversity group is asking the right questions and is hopefully setting the right recruitment plans. As soon as there are defined targets and metrics, you will see rapid improvement in the profile of diverse persons within the sport. I know it’s a journey, so I’m not expecting to see multiple ethnic minority chairs or CEOs overnight. What matters most is that it won’t just be Brian and that there will be others after me.
Epsom is on the up again as a training centre. Everyone was thrilled when Adam West won the Nunthorpe with Live In The Dream, and there are exciting developments at Jim Boyle’s yard, where a new barn has been built and another is under construction. Downs House, right on the racecourse, has been beautifully redeveloped by Mark Travers who hopes to have it up and running early next year, whilst Craig Benton is a new trainer to the community, based in an old established yard, The Limes. It’s all exciting.
I’m positive about the town, I’m positive about the racecourse and I’m positive about the Derby itself. My journey in racing has been beyond my wildest dreams, and I’m hugely optimistic about where Epsom can grow too. At £1.5 million, the Derby is still the most valuable and desired race in the British racing calendar as it deserves to be. I firmly believe there are no bad Derby winners but they’re not all champions. We all long for another Mill Reef, Nashwan, Galileo, Sea The Stars or Auguste Rodin, who was sensational last year. Hopefully another future champion will come through this year to get the heart racing faster than ever.
CHESTER - HOSPITALITY
Wednesday 8 May
Enjoy the opening day of the Boodles May Festival with a three-course lunch, wine and champagne reception for £260per person or a table of 10 for £2600.
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.
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
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT roa.co.uk/events
Since Easter, there’s been any number of Darley-sired Group winners –many of them, including undefeated Classic trial winners A Lilac Rolla (by Harry Angel) and Lazzat (Territories), the result of May covers. And Farhh’s French Derby prospect Atlast wasn’t even foaled until 31 May. The moral of the stor y? It’s never too late to breed a top-class Darley-sired horse. Call to discuss your options...