£6.95 AUGUST 2023 ISSUE 228
Brilliant filly Blue Rose Cen blossoming in the care of Christopher Head
PLUS
Bonneval’s best boys
Siyouni and Zarak excelling at stud
Saffie Osborne
‘We all want to be champion jockey one day’
WH Bloodstock
Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh on a roll
Editor: Edward Rosenthal
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Christopher Head is the latest member of his famous family to make his mark on the racing world, yet he is not relying on his name or resting on his laurels when it comes to his profession.
Training racehorses is almost certainly in his blood – grandfather Alec, father Freddy and aunt Criquette are all synonymous with success at the highest level – and while there may have been a temptation to simply replicate their tried and tested methods when it comes to preparing thoroughbreds for the racecourse, nothing could be further from the truth.
In just a few seasons, Head has carved his own identity upon the French racing landscape and this campaign can already be labelled an outstanding success, with horses of the calibre of Blue Rose Cen, a dual Classic heroine, French Derby runner-up Big Rock and exciting two-year-old Ramatuelle, easy winner of the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.
How has he made such an impact in so short a period of time? Certainly, his partnership with Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, the man behind Yeguada Centurion, owner of Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock, cannot be underestimated, but neither can Head’s confidence and belief in his own approach to training.
“I probably could have done something else [apart from training]. But now I understand that horses would have come into my life at some point,” Head tells Adrien Cugnasse (The Big Interview, pages 26-29)
“It’s a bit of a cliché to say it but I think horseracing really is in the blood of my family.
“It’s hard to define a precise date regarding my decision to start training. But I knew that I wanted to follow my own path and bring something new to the sport. I felt I had to try things differently to find my place in such a competitive industry.”
Interestingly, it was a spell working for Guillaume Macaire, master of the French jumping scene, that proved invaluable to Head
as he picked up experience with a variety of trainers around the globe before taking out his own licence.
He says: “I spent a summer with him, and it was fascinating – I realised that constantly improving details could have a decisive effect on the results on the track. You can start with small things, such as weighing horses. Step by step, I have changed more things in my method.
“I’m increasingly using data, collecting various pieces of conditioning information like heartbeats at exercise and recovery rates. Having data is one thing, but you have to enjoy the cerebral work of analysing the results.”
Also flying high across the Channel are the stallions Siyouni and Zarak, who are based at the Aga Khan’s Normandy base at Haras de Bonneval.
Nancy Sexton caught up with stud manager Georges Rimaud to uncover the story behind these two stars of the French stallion ranks and finds out how the pair caught the imagination of breeders globally (pages 20-24)
Also in this issue, James Thomas talks to Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh, the young duo behind flourishing consigning operation WH Bloodstock (pages 30-34), while Graham Dench hears from up-and-coming jockey Saffie Osborne about her background with horses, rapid rise up the ladder and future ambitions in the sport (The Finish Line, page 80)
“He has carved his own identity
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The deadline for the industry to respond to DCMS regarding the levy review will have passed by the time this edition of Owner Breeder is published. An enormous amount of work has been carried out by the industry team responsible, along with help from third-party consultants. In addition, I am delighted to say that there has been constructive dialogue with the major bookmakers and their representative body the Betting & Gaming Council.
Government have made it perfectly clear that the preferred position is for the industry representatives and the bookmakers to come to some sort of agreement and avoid the squabbles that used to epitomise the once annual levy negotiations. It is especially pertinent as the BHA-led strategy work has been developed with significant input from the betting industry in terms of betting patterns, what works and what doesn’t. A collaborative approach to the future racing product has shown that we can work together; let’s hope we can reach agreement on the future levy structure for the benefit of us all.
What gives us more cause for optimism is the mood music coming from government. There is no doubt that they understand that racing is a very different proposition to online gaming products and as such needs to be treated differently. There have been suggestions that levy reform can be used to mitigate the unintended consequences of affordability checks and sponsorship restrictions. What is undeniable is that in a high inflation era, the levy return in real terms is nowhere near the levels that were envisaged in the 2017 review, so we will have to wait and see if we get the result racing so desperately needs.
In compiling the case for levy review, a new calculation of the cost of putting on the racing product has been developed. In simple terms, revenues into the industry were analysed along with costs for both racecourses and participants. What has made our case so much stronger than in 2017 is the staggering increase in the costs of owning and training our horses. One only has to look at a monthly trainer’s bill to see what owners are up against.
Trainers’ daily fees have risen dramatically in the last two years, with some daily rates now very close to £100 in response to the rise in costs in the wider economy, such as feed and staffing. In addition, a casual glance through the bills and the charges raised by the BHA and Weatherbys give a further insight, with owners paying more for farriers, vets, vet supplements, feed supplements, staff expenses for travel, box costs for racing visits, trainer expenses, dentist fees, vaccines, gallop fees, race entry fees, jockey riding fees,
jockey insurance contributions to career ending and PRIS, sponsorship registration fees, colours registrations etc – the list goes on.
The mind boggles when you add up the true costs of keeping a horse in training. Another aspect of the calculation is what happens when the horse is not in training for whatever reason, be it rest, recuperation or injury. Previously these costs were ignored from the calculation but have now been included, and as we know these can be significant, especially as there will be no prospect of any earnings during this period.
All of these costs have been factored into the calculation along with the rise in racecourse costs.
The gap between prize-money and the costs of ownership will never be closed completely, however with spiralling costs there comes a point when ownership just becomes unaffordable. That is why an increase in the levy is crucial to bolster prize-money across all parts of the race programme.
The strategy work will hopefully produce a new and exciting racing product, which will increase engagement, gate receipts and betting turnover. If we can also introduce other new sources of income into the pot along with levy reform, we can build on the prize-money levels and then begin to offset some of the eyewatering increases to owners’ costs.
The harsh reality is that if we don’t try to redress the balance then the pressure on owners will inevitably see more and more cry enough, the consequences of which would be dire for the industry.
“What has made our case so much stronger is the staggering increase in the cost of owning horses”
The Pattern-race system, providing a balanced programme of high-class, non-handicap events for horses in each age group over all distances through the season, came into being in 1971 in a joint effort between Britain, France and Ireland. It has been copied throughout the thoroughbred racing world, and the subsequent addition of ratings parameters to the groups means breeders and owners continue to recognise a benchmark for these races and the quality of horses that perform in them.
The designation of Pattern races with ‘black type’ references in sales catalogues enables everyone to become used to the meaning and acknowledge how much such recognition is sought after. Everyone involved in breeding, owning and racing thoroughbreds relies on these races as a guide to the ability and performance of horses who are able to obtain that status.
The 60th anniversary of the initial work that resulted in the establishment of the Pattern is fast approaching. It was carried out in 1965 and 1967 by committees led by two denizens of post-war British racing, the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Porchester (later Lord Carnarvon). Their findings were extended in 1970 to include France and Ireland, and the following year a system whereby Pattern races were split into three groups was introduced in the three countries.
In 1979, by which time ratings for horses who raced in the three founder-member countries had been introduced and Germany and Italy had been admitted to the European Pattern, ground rules were drawn up to cover the requirements for bringing in new Pattern races or changing the conditions of existing ones.
The original aim of the European Pattern was to ensure a regular spread of races of every grade and distance, which did not clash, especially at the top level, ensuring that each race was competitive and that as far as possible the best horses competed against each other and did not ‘farm’ easy races.
This remains the objective and the race programme in each country is carefully assessed each year to monitor clashes wherever races move for fixture or other reasons. However, the programme is generally fairly stable in mapping out a series of races so that horsemen familiar with the system can plan and find opportunities to suit a particular horse in the same place each season.
The advent of co-ordinated handicap ratings, which was completed in 2006, two years after the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities took over their responsibility, means Pattern committees can set parameters for the quality of each race based on the ratings of the placed horses. Consequently, a much firmer stance can be taken on grading the races and setting a benchmark to their status.
The European Pattern Committee has developed terms of reference that cover membership and ground rules dealing with the upgrading and downgrading of races, so that owners and breeders can be satisfied that a horse earning black type has performed in a race that reaches the quality threshold required.
British racing is blessed with considerable quality in the depth of runners in our Pattern races and so can be strict about grading. Some smaller racing jurisdictions are naturally disappointed when their races perform poorly and are downgraded, but that action has to be a reflection of the quality of runners taking part.
The Pattern system has spread throughout the thoroughbred world and with internationally co-ordinated handicapping it is now possible to assess every race around the globe. Quite clearly the grading of some international races would not stand the test of the European Pattern Committee’s scrutiny. Yet while any temptation among overseas jurisdictions to lower these parameters to help races that underperform in other countries might be obvious, it must be avoided.
There is also a move to lower the ratings needed in threeyear-old-only races, supposedly to ensure these events remain at a higher grade than they would normally achieve. This too threatens a significant dilution of the Pattern, which must be avoided if the ability to compare one generation with the next is to be retained.
The Pattern system and its firm policing of quality must remain at the heart of a robust policy and any attempts to downgrade or weaken the system should be strenuously resisted.
“Any attempts to downgrade or weaken the system should be strenuously resisted”
Dual Classic-winning jockey Martin Dwyer was last month forced to announce his retirement having failed to recover from a serious knee injury.
The 48-year-old had been on the sidelines since March 2022 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament sustained in a fall while riding out for Brian Meehan. The Liverpudlian has undergone several surgeries on his knee, but they have failed to offer enough improvement to enable him to return to the saddle.
Dwyer is among the exclusive club of jockeys to have ridden the winner of both the Oaks and Derby. He struck on the Andrew Balding-trained Casual Look in the 2003 Oaks and then three years later, in one of the most exciting and closest Derby finishes in living memory, prevailed on the Marcus Tregoning-trained Sir Percy by a short head from Dragon Dancer, with a head and a short head back to third and fourth Dylan Thomas and Hala Bek.
Starting out as an apprentice with Balding’s dad Ian, Dwyer rode more than 1,500 winners in a successful career, seven at the highest level.
He also won the Dewhurst on Sir Percy, the 2004 Hong Kong Vase and 2005 Dubai Sheema Classic on the Baldingtrained Phoenix Reach, the 2011 Gran Criterium on Nayarra for Mick Channon, and the 2021 Coronation Cup on
Pyledriver, for father-in-law William Muir. He also became widely known as the partner of the great Persian Punch in the final 15 races of his career, a highlight of their association being the memorable and heart-stirring short-head win over Millenary in the 2003 Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket, which proved the legendary stayer’s final success of 20 career triumphs.
Dwyer’s personal-best winners tally came the year before, with 106, while his last victory came on Lucky Eva at Chelmsford in February last year.
“It’s tough saying it out loud, I’ve got my head around it, I’ve known for quite a while now I’ve been struggling with the injury,” Dwyer told reporters.
“I’ve thrown the kitchen sink at the rehab. I went to see the surgeon again when I had another operation two months ago and he said it’s not going to be stable enough or strong enough to ride professionally.
“It is what it is, and I’ve just got to get on with it. It’s been tough, obviously. I’ve been in pain for a long time, it just throbs constantly, but I’ve been in good hands and the team at Oaksey House have been brilliant.”
Dwyer, who also landed the King Edward VII Stakes and Great Voltigeur – both Group 2s – on Pyledriver, due to contest the King George at Ascot after
Owner Breeder went to press, added: “I’m getting back to some normality, but I’ve just got to accept my career is over and I’ve just got to get on with things.
“It’s tough because I’m not finishing on my terms. I’d like to go out like Frankie [Dettori] and do a world tour, but I’d probably be at Wolverhampton and Southwell! It’s been a tough year or so, but it’s time to move on to the next chapter. It’s been a journey that has been unbelievable.”
Racing in northern California will be consigned to the history books later this year with news last month that Golden Gate Fields will permanently close after its final fixture of 2023. The storied track, which straddles the cities of Albany and Berkeley along the shore of the San Francisco Bay, opened in 1941.
Among the horses that have competed at Golden Gate Fields are 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, John Henry, Shared Belief, and come-frombehind specialist Silky Sullivan, who is buried in the track’s infield.
The track has been immortalised in book and film, most notably in Jack Kerouac’s cult 1957 novel On the Road and the 1997 movie Metro starring
Eddie Murphy – his character visits the track to gamble and blames jockey Russell Baze for losing his money.
Retired Hall of Famer Baze won his 10,000th race at Golden Gate Fields in 2008. He earned 54 riding titles and won 5,765 races there during his career. The closure will leave northern California without a major racetrack, with Bay Meadows shut down and turned over to developers in 2008.
Golden Gate Fields’ owner, the Stronach Group, said it intended to shore up racing at Santa Anita and training at San Luis Rey Downs in southern California.
It said it will focus on moving horses from the Bay Area to Arcadia, with the
David Conolly-Smith, the English language authority on German racing for more than four decades, died last month at the age of 83.
Conolly-Smith was the International Racing Bureau’s (IRB) man on the spot from his base in Munich right up until the last few months, while he was also the Racing Post’s Germany correspondent from the newspaper’s inception in 1986 until 2017.
British and Irish runners in Germany’s Group races are a regular sight nowadays, and it was Conolly-Smith who was instrumental in helping to popularise the nation as a racing destination for connections in Britain and Ireland, while also marking cards for German trainers and owners when it came to them travelling horses abroad.
Conolly-Smith was also well known for running the Anglia English Bookshop in Munich, and as a punter, in which arena he was successful when it came to large multiple bets. He headed a syndicate of friends, the Munich 8, who won £917,021 on the Scoop 6 in January 2000.
Newmarket trainer Sir Mark Prescott is a regular competitor in Germany, and does not often return home empty-handed, for example saddling Albanova to a trio of Group 1 wins in 2004 and doing likewise with
goal of increasing field sizes and adding a fourth day to the weekly schedule at Santa Anita, beginning in January.
“The Stronach Group remains steadfastly committed to racing in California,” company CEO and President Belinda Stronach said in a statement.
“Focusing on Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs as state-of-the-art racing and training facilities that offer enhanced programme quality, increased racedays, expanded wagering opportunities and premier hospitality and entertainment experiences is vital to ensuring that California racing can continue to thrive on a national level.”
Stronach said the company realises its decision to close the track will have “profound effects” on owners, trainers, jockeys and stable workers.
Alan Balch, Executive Director of the
her granddaughter Alpinista in 2021, both for Kirsten Rausing.
Fondly recalling Conolly-Smith, Prescott told the Racing Post: “David’s great moment was winning the Tote jackpot in its very early days, which changed his life.
“He ran a very esoteric bookshop in Germany and was just a lovely, old-fashioned person. He could almost have been a character in a spy film.
“He was a great help and would do the form for you in the days when you couldn’t see all the races for yourself. He would then back yours accordingly but swear he hadn’t.
“I think he did the same for lots of other people. In return for all his kindness I’d send him the latest Timeform Black Book, conveyed by means of the travelling head lad.
“Terry Hellier rode me a couple of Group 1 winners and I’d never have had him without David’s guidance. He was a lovely man who loved the game and liked punting.”
Conolly-Smith was considered an authority by the media in his adopted homeland, contributing to a SportWelt DVD on the history of German racing between 1990 and 2020 alongside Arc-winning jockey Andrasch Starke and official handicapper Harald Siemen.
California Thoroughbred Trainers, said in a statement: “The ramifications of this Stronach decision will be far-reaching.
“They will include, we believe, a great many unintended and mainly detrimental consequences for all of racing and thoroughbred breeding throughout California and the west, including in southern California. We can only hope we’re entirely wrong.”
Scott Chaney, Executive Director of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), noted that Golden Gate Fields has been racing nine months out of the year and the board will begin discussing allocating those racing dates in August for 2024.
Chaney said: “I’m acutely aware of the human impact of the closure – be they CHRB employees, CHRB contractors, licensees, or Golden Gate
In reporting news of his death, GaloppOnline said: “German racing mourns the loss of a great personality and one of its most important international ambassadors.”
The IRB’s Managing Director Alastair Donald said: “I joined the IRB in 1984 and he was already there. He was an extraordinary guy in so many ways.
“David was a fantastically enthusiastic friend and colleague, who loved his racing and was hugely respected in Germany.”
Conolly-Smith had been undergoing radiotherapy treatment before being transferred to a nursing home, and is survived by his partner of many years, Hildi.
employees – and will be working hard to ameliorate any negative consequences and create job opportunities.”
Golden Gate Fields, which the Stronach Group bought in 2011, follows Calder in Florida, which was leased by Churchill Downs Inc to the Stronach Group, and Arlington Park in Chicago, sold by Churchill Downs Inc to the Chicago Bears, into oblivion in what is another loss to the US racing landscape.
It remains to be seen how many of the horses from Golden Gate Fields move to race at Santa Anita, with the northern California venue typically racing for much smaller purses. Juan Hernandez, one of the leading riders at Santa Anita and Del Mar, made his name at Golden Gate Fields, as did Abel Cedillo, also now ensconced in the southern California jockey colony.
A settlement of £3.25 million will be paid to socially responsible causes by bookmaker Betfred after a Gambling Commission investigation found failings in anti-money laundering (AML) and safer gambling measures at the firm’s betting shops.
The investigation, between January 2021 and December 2022, found that Betfred, which this year agreed deals to sponsor the Derby and Oaks at Epsom and St Leger at Doncaster, failed to comply with licensing obligations on “appropriate risk assessment and implementation of appropriate policies and procedures . . . with the objective of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing”, and did not “interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of experiencing harm associated with gambling”.
Examples given, in a statement published last month by the Gambling Commission, were one customer losing around £61,000 in a four-month period, with no action taken by the bookmaker as it had previously concluded there
were “no AML concerns”; and failing to obtain ‘know your customer’ and source of funds documentation, including from customers who lost £72,000 in a nine-month timeframe and £120,353 in an 11-month period, due to Betfred “relying on uncorroborated open-source information”.
Also cited were examples of a failure in customer interaction around safer gambling, which included one customer who placed 1,375 bets over five months for a loss of £19,336.28.
That customer was interacted with 12 times during those five months, with staff saying the conversations were “positive” and the customer was “happy
at this level of spend”, despite concerning signs such as his card being declined and placing large bets.
The Gambling Commission said: “The interactions did not escalate in any way and there is no evidence to suggest this customer was offered any information or support. The only factor that appears to have been considered was whether the customer appeared happy to continue to gamble.”
The Gambling Commission said Betfred had taken significant steps to “remedy its failings”, was cooperative in its dealings, and engaged in “early and voluntary acceptances” of the findings against it.
The Racing Foundation’s annual review, published last month, revealed that it had granted more than £7 million to charitable causes in British racing in 2022, matching its giving record from the previous year in the areas of people, equine welfare, community engagement and environmental sustainability.
The Levy Board received £3m, as part of the Racing Foundation’s bid to align its giving capacity with other funders within the sport.
Key equality, diversity and inclusion projects, such as the Riding a Dream Academy and Racing Media Academy, likewise benefited from the backing of the Racing Foundation last year.
The organisation also instigated and contributed to the formation of the Industry People Board, increased its funding commitment to National Racehorse Week, and delivered the Horseracing Industry Conference with
record attendance.
Since being founded in 2012, the Racing Foundation has awarded more than £37m in grants.
Referencing people, equine welfare, community engagement and environmental sustainability, Rob Hezel, the Racing Foundation’s outgoing Chief Executive, said: “We believe our four key areas of focus are crucial for the long-term sustainability and success of the horseracing industry.
“Whilst once they may have been considered ‘nice to have’, they are now fundamental issues every sport and industry must manage.
“The Racing Foundation’s purpose is to make a difference in racing by acting as a catalyst and funder of improvement. However, it can never be a long-term panacea for each and every issue we support.
“Instead, we are adamant the challenges we fund in the short-term
need to be managed and funded by the sport more generally in the future.
“This will require shifts in thinking and changes to business models if the sport’s long-term sustainability is to be assured.”
Hezel, who is leaving to pursue a portfolio career after eight years at the helm, continued: “I remain convinced that the current structures of the sport, and its over-reliance on charitable donations, do not provide for a sustainable future.
“The creation of an industry strategy provides an opportunity for the leaders of the many organisations involved in the running of racing to be brave and bold to radically change the landscape and the economic models.
“Positive action to restructure the organisational landscape can release funding, increase flexibility and provide the basis for longer-term sustainability.”
Arena Racing Company has renewed its valuable All-Weather Bonus Scheme with £1,000,000 on offer to owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff between October 17 and March 29, 2024 (Good Friday).
Taking in races at Newcastle, Lingfield, Wolverhampton and Southwell, the bonus fund rewards the most prolific and consistent performers across the four tracks, with runners picking up points for top-five finishes in their first three runs during each monthly period.
Every month during the season the leading points scorer will win the Horse of the Month bonus, while the runnerup and third-paced horse will also receive a bonus.
The Horse of the Month competition offers prize funds of £30,000 in October/November and December, doubling to £70,000 in January,
February and March.
In addition, the staff connected to the top three horses will share a prize of £10,000 each month while bonuses will also go to the top jockeys and apprentices.
The Horse of the Year accolade – won this year by the Grant Tuer-trained Walking On Clouds, owned by syndicate Moment of Madness – will earn their connections a first prize of £100,000. Over £650,000 will be paid down to 20th place – the runner in that position will pick up a £10,000 bonus.
Mark Spincer, Managing Director of ARC’s Racing Division, said: “We are delighted to confirm the £1 million Bonus Scheme for the coming winter season. As with many new ideas in racing it took a bit of time to bed in last year, but we were glad to get plenty of positive feedback from many owners who got involved.
“It has been equally great to hear from owners who were involved last winter – they’ve been able to reinvest some of their winnings into looking to win some more races this year. We are really looking forward to seeing how people approach the challenge of tackling either the Horse of the Month competitions or the bigger Horse of the Year pot across our four all-weather racecourses over the winter months.
“As with last season, we have prizes available for the yards associated with the Horse of the Month winners, as well as the top jockeys and apprentices across our four all-weather racecourses, so I’d encourage any owners interested in finding out more to look on our website where we will have all the details regarding the Bonus Scheme.”
See www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk for further information on the £1 million All-Weather Bonus Scheme.
Calls time on riding career aged 21 after struggling with his weight. He won the Prix Ganay and Prince of Wales’s Stakes on State Of Rest.
Dylan Kitts
Zac Purton
Breaks Joao Moreira’s record of winners in a single season in Hong Kong after notching victory number 171 on Magic Supreme at Sha Tin.
Newmarket-based body welcomes Julian Dollar, General Manager of Newsells Park Stud, and former trainer Chris Wall to its Board of Trustees.
Alan Doyle
Jump jockey is banned for six months after testing positive for cocaine in May. The 30-year-old will enter a 28-day residential rehab course.
Bob Baffert
Trainer’s ban on saddling runners at Churchill Downs is extended until the end of 2024. It follows a positive drug test for Medina Spirit in 2021.
Eddie Ahern
45-year-old considers reapplying for his jockey’s licence after his ten-year ban for corrupt practices comes to an end.
Lord Bolton 69 Farmer, conservationist and humanitarian who enjoyed flying planes and rode over jumps as an amateur in Britain and Australia.
Conditional rider has his licence suspended following his performance on Hillsin at Worcester in July while the BHA investigation continues.
Gina Mangan
Jockey vows to adjust her riding style after receiving a 35-day ban having broken the six-strike whip rule on three occasions in May and June.
Paul Darling
Reappointed as Levy Board Chairman until March 2028; government-appointed member Anne Lambert’s term extends to December 2026.
Dane O’Neill
Veteran jockey undergoes surgery after sustaining fractured ribs and vertebrae in a fall at Wolverhampton in mid-July.
Les Ward 92
Newmarket-based owner-breeder who enjoyed Listed victories with Arriving, Intrepidous and Attune under the name of Wyck Hall Stud.
Robin Grossmith 74
On-course bookmaker based in the south of England who was Managing Director of the Federation of Racecourse Bookmakers.
Ascot
Track reveals turnover of over £100 million and pre-tax profit of £3.4m in its financial results for 2022. It follows a loss of £12.8m in 2021.
Frankie Dettori
Soon-to-retire rider ends working partnership with Peter Burrell, who has been the jockey’s manager since 1987.
Star Sports
Online operator is fined £594,000 by the Gambling Commission for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures.
Conor O’Farrell
Dislocated shoulder sustained in a fall at Market Rasen will keep the 33-year-old on the sidelines for up to six weeks.
David Conolly-Smith 83
Reporter for the Racing Post was the International Racing Bureau’s agent in Germany for more than 40 years and also a successful punter.
Derek Malcolm 91
The Guardian’s chief film critic for 26 years rode as an amateur over jumps in the 1950s and was also the paper’s racing correspondent in the late 1960s.
Indian Haven 23
Winner of the 2003 Irish 2,000 Guineas for the Paul D’Arcy stable, he sired plenty of winners, including Group 3 scorer Aspen Darlin.
Tamarinbleu 23
Top performer for the Pipe stable and Arthur White Partnership, his eight wins included the 2008 Grade 1 Victor Chandler Chase.
Captain Tom Cat 8
Trained by Dr Richard Newland for Deva Racing, the Dylan Thomas gelding won six races including a Grade 2 contest at Wincanton.
Bad Company 6
Stalwart for Jim Boyle’s Epsom stable, winning eight races and earning almost £100,000 for owners The Clean Sweep Partnership.
Funny Cide 23
Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner in 2003 for owner Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg.
Talented handicapper for Chelsea Thoroughbreds and Ralph Beckett, winner of five races and £150,000 in prize-money, is retired aged seven.
Zoology
Jersey Stakes second leaves James Ferguson’s stable after Qatar Racing sells a 50% stake in the colt to Australian trainer Ciaron Maher.
Remarquee
Wathnan Racing, owner of Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami, buys Coronation Stakes runner-up from her breeder Julian Richmond-Watson.
Top-class chaser for Rich Ricci and Willie Mullins, winner of six Grade 1s, is retired aged 11. His new home is with RTE presenter Katie Walsh.
returns to ARC All-Weather Racecourses this winter!
Starts from Tuesday 17 October 2023 and runs to Good Friday 29 March 2024
Horses placing in the top five in every all-weather race at an ARC racecourse win points that go towards monthly and end of season bonus prizes.
HORSE OF THE MONTH BONUS POT
Paying to 3rd place
Oct & Nov & December
HORSE OF THE MONTH BONUS POT
Paying to 3rd place
Jan – March
HORSE OF THE YEAR FIRST PRIZE
Prizes to 20th place
Oct – March
Scan the QR code for competition rules and full terms and conditions. or visit arenaracingcompany.co.uk
Only four runners lined up for the Coral-Eclipse, Sandown’s showpiece Flat race, yet it still produced a thrilling finish between three-year-old colt Paddington (left) and four-year-old filly Emily Upjohn. It was the Aidan O’Brien-trained Paddington, in receipt of 7lb from his older rival on his first run over a mile and a quarter, who gained the day by half a length under Ryan Moore for owners Coolmore, adding to his Group 1 victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes.
There’s a regular section in Richard Osman’s House of Games TV programme entitled “If the answer is so-and-so, what is the question?” Taking a cue on behalf of British racing and UK betting, the equivalent might be: “If the answer is ‘debilitating government intervention’, what is the question?”
Without needing to send readers to the bottom of the page to unravel the conundrum, the answer is: “What do the following have in common – Singapore, Ireland, Hong Kong and Ohio.”
These normally unconnected outposts have recently undergone stringent examination by their respective national or state governments, and in at least three cases the outcome has not been pleasant. At the time of writing the third has still to reach a resolution, but the portents for those under the microscope are less than good.
Singapore is the most distressing example, after its government ruled that Kranji, the country’s sole racecourse, would be handed back for development once the last fixture has taken place on October 5 next year.
Opened to international standards in March 2000, Kranji steadily moved on to the world stage with two major races in April that fitted neatly into a slot between Dubai and Hong Kong and reached a peak with home-trained Rocket Man’s KrisFlyer
Staying on the theme of questions, here’s one for turf followers and animal lovers alike: What do the following have in common – the Javan rhino, the Amur leopard, the Sunda Island tiger, the Tapanuli orangutan and the British racecourse reporter?
Answer: they are all endangered species, the first four as noted by WWF, the world’s leading conservation organisation, and the fifth acknowledged by few media outlets, it seems.
The thought came to mind firstly when Frankie Dettori received a nine-day whip ban from Royal Ascot, and secondly following the inexplicable ride given by conditional jockey Dylan Kitts at Worcester that resulted in his suspension. Dettori’s misdemeanour was first recorded on Twitter by fellow rider Neil Callan, while Kitts’ case also exploded into public debate from an entry on social media.
Although each issue was quickly picked up by regular print, audio and visual racing journalists, neither originated from a reporter based on the racecourse. How times have changed.
When plans for the upstart Racing Post were formulated early in 1986, top of the list of operational requirements was to instal a BT line in every racecourse press room for the exclusive use of the newspaper’s representative, allowing immediate contact with Raynes Park HQ through the landline and its associated prewireless dial-up system executed via the Tandy machine.
Personal experience confirms the difficulty of producing a rota covering every meeting that balanced blanket attendance with a convenient spread of engagements for each reporter. A full house of engagements was the priority, and it was achieved even as the fixture list grew from 474 meetings, with 92 evenings, in 1986 to 682 and 162 in 2000, as all-weather fare was introduced in 1989, and as the inaugural run of 24 Sunday fixtures in 1995 ballooned to 132
Sprint success in 2010. Sadly for Singapore’s addition to the global programme, overseas horses began to scoop up the major prizes on a regular basis and local owners queried whether the valuable prize-money might be better spent elsewhere. When sponsorship became an issue, the Singapore Turf Club pulled the plug.
Professional elements blamed management failings for the subsequent downturn in racing’s fortunes but there were other negative forces at work. Notably, the government worked a punitive
in 2004, thanks to the enterprise of Peter Savill.
Then, as recession took hold, pull-back began and the Racing Post was no longer represented at every meeting. Evening and smaller midweek fixtures became the first casualties, and today the experience extends to many other venues on both weekdays and weekends, although Ireland, where perhaps financial incentives are at play, seems to have escaped totally unscathed.
Instead, coverage of these meetings that does make it into print is drawn initially from in-office or in-home observation on Racing TV or Sky Sports Racing. The satellite channels’ on-course reporters and pundits are crucial but inevitably limiting for sofa-bound observers, and it shows. Yet the Post is not alone in relying on these channels for visual and follow-up information.
Correspondents on most other national newspapers and major regionals have given up regularly attending anything other than the most important festivals. In the south of England, I am reliably informed that on most days of the week racecourse press rooms are inhabited by just one veteran reporter, who ironically has been refused an annual badge, and the paddock judge Ken Pitterson.
Little wonder then that Twitter has become the fastest and most used news service in media experience. Yet its ability to infuriate and educate apparently in equal measure removes the pursuit of personal contact that was once the best journalist’s stock in trade. The media toolbox has lost its most useful implement to the advance of online development.
Is this a dangerous situation for British racing overall? Possibly, because it threatens independent assessment, but it’s not life-threatening to the sport. Is it a disappointing development? Most definitely, and especially for the future of racing reporting, which rests with emerging talent who, maybe for reasons of convenience, seem to put Twitter, Instagram and TikTok above personal contact. That’s the real shame of the situation.
betting-tax regime and deployed an ultra-conservative restriction on the promotion of racing, on account of its association with gambling, which played against the culture of a population that according to the 2020 census is 15.6 per cent Muslim.
Ireland’s example is not so extreme, but last month’s explosive Public Accounts Committee hearing, which unearthed some alarming elements of financial governance surrounding the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and its predecessor the Turf Club, demonstrates the close association between government and sport.
permission from a chief executive and legislative council, who in turn will usually consult central authority in Beijing.
The HKJC has been able to take more expansive measures in recent years, but that developing association did not prevent the legislative council from overriding the HKJC’s objections and imposing a special football betting duty that will cost the club, which handles all betting in the special administrative region of China, HK$12 billion over the next five years.
HKJC officials argued, unsuccessfully as it turned out, that the new betting tax would have a significant impact on the central purpose of raising money for good causes. Punters and operators in Ohio will almost certainly share their concerns, though maybe not for such philanthropic reasons, after state governor Mike DeWine signed off a budget that raises the tax on sports betting from ten to 20 per cent.
Irish racing depends hugely on a direct grant from the national government, which this year will amount to €11.4m, and PAC’s involvement highlights a level of scrutiny that could not be replicated in Britain, for all that some Westminster MPs would probably appreciate a more hands-on role.
Hong Kong racing’s governing body, the Jockey Club, also has a direct link to government, so strong that the HKJC is both the country’s biggest taxpayer and its largest donor to local charities. The HKJC cannot change its racing programme without receiving
Ohio is one of 37 states that have taken advantage of a change in the law in 2018 that legalised sports betting but the first to increase the tax rate in a move that the state government estimates will bring in an extra $100 million in revenue. Not surprisingly, opponents of the rise warn that the state could lose out on licensing fees from a potential decline in operators.
So, the follow-up question is: “What does all this have to do with British racing and UK betting?” Simple. If relations with the government in Westminster do not gel over the Gambling Review white paper, the game could be up. The next few months, during which various elements of the proposals are debated through a series of consultation processes, are crucial. British racing and UK betting cannot afford to fall into the traps that have been laid elsewhere.
“If relations with the government do not gel over the white paper, the game could be up”
As home to Siyouni and Zarak, the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval is playing a major role in the resurgence of the French bloodstock industry
Words: Nancy Sexton
Hosting two of Europe’s most popular stallions is an enviable position to be in under any circumstances. But when the horses in question have made their name by rising through the ranks, having initially been the result of years of cultivation, then such success is all the sweeter.
The Aga Khan Studs has housed various leading stallions over the years, ranging more recently from Darshaan and Dalakhani to Sea The Stars in his current position at its Gilltown Stud in Ireland. Much of its weight, however, currently rests in the hands of its Normandy arm Haras de Bonneval, which is doing plenty to help drive forward the French industry as home to Siyouni and Zarak, two leading lights of the European stallion scene.
Neither began their stud careers at an exorbitant level, despite both being Group 1 winners with fine pedigrees. In that respect, they have both assisted smaller breeders; in the case of Zarak, his current crop of yearlings were bred when the sire stood for €12,000.
Today both operate very much at the higher end of the market, with Siyouni’s profile boosted by a relentless stream of top-level performers and Zarak’s fledgling reputation highlighted by some eye-watering statistics.
Siyouni’s rapid ascendancy marks him down as one of the best stallions to stand in France for many years. Such excellent fillies as Laurens, a six-time Group 1 winner for Karl Burke, and the Aga Khan’s homebred Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Coronation Stakes heroine Ervedya provided early examples of his capabilities.
Both were bred when he stood for
just €7,000. Needless to say, his fee has increased many times over since then but in return, his results have kept pace with expectations, with Arc hero Sottsass, Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Dream And Do and Coolmore’s St Mark’s Basilica, successful in the Dewhurst Stakes, Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Prix du Jockey Club, Eclipse Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes, among those to promote the sire in recent seasons.
However, this year has arguably taken the son of Pivotal to a new high, one which currently sees him second to only Frankel as Europe’s leading sire.
In May, he joined Galileo and Danehill Dancer as one of only three stallions within the past 60 years to provide the winners of both the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas. The horses in question, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Paddington and the Aga Khan’s champion twoyear-old filly Tahiyra, have both further enhanced their reputations since, with Paddington landing the St James’s Palace and Eclipse Stakes and Tahiyra running out the impressive winner of the Coronation Stakes.
They’re fitting results given that the pair hail from Siyouni’s first €100,000 crop.
“Siyouni has been good to everyone,” says Georges Rimaud, manager of Haras de Bonneval. “He was a champion twoyear-old in France, when he won the Lagardere. So he was a fast horse.
“We decided to retire him after his three-year-old year as although he had been placed in a couple of good races, including over a mile which may have stretched him a bit, he hadn’t won.
“When he retired, we thought it would
be a good idea to syndicate him to help get support from breeders. And we did receive a lot of outside support, for which we are thankful because without those breeders it might have been different.”
Siyouni’s family joined the Aga Khan fold with the lock, stock and barrel purchase of 222 horses belonging to the Jean-Luc Lagardere estate in early 2005. Several months later, the Lagardere-bred Sichilla won the Listed Prix Amandine at Longchamp and it is that Danehill mare who would go on to produce Siyouni to the cover of Pivotal.
To this day, Siyouni remains one of the most precocious runners ever produced by the Aga Khan Studs, one who was forward enough to make a winning debut for Alain de Royer-Dupre in early May of his juvenile campaign. It is that ability to impart a measure of precocity that has gone on to stand him in good stead at stud.
“He tends to produce very goodlooking horses – he’s very good-looking himself,” says Rimaud. “Even when he was a cheaper stallion, he got good sales results – the first yearlings averaged ››
Zarak: one of Europe’s most popular stallions off the back of some excellent early results
›› around five times the stud fee. Then the quality increased and the prices went up and up. And the publicity that he made for himself when they sold well helped.”
He continues: “He had 14 two-yearold winners in his first crop, which was impressive, and then Ervedya came up and put him up to a different level.
“He passes down his looks and soundness, and they are reasonably precocious. But it is his acceleration, the capacity to quicken off a very good pace, that really is his trademark. They have won all the Classic races in France as well as the Irish 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas, and then Sottsass won the Arc – they are able to use that turn of foot over all sorts of distances.”
The buzz surrounding Siyouni in recent years has been relentless, to the extent that shares in the horse have sold publicly for up to €960,000, meaning that a melting pot of leading international breeders have now invested in him. He was also responsible for last year’s €2.1 million Arqana August top lot, a brother to Sottsass knocked down to Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi.
An immediate ability to click with Galileo mares, highlighted by St Mark’s Basilica and Sottsass, has also been a major feather in his cap and ensured that a good chunk of his 2023 book, covered at a career high fee of €150,000, are daughters of the former Coolmore titan.
“He’s covered an average of 130 to
135 mares every season in recent years,” says Rimaud. “The quality has improved and with that, the quality of his runners has also improved. And the rest he has done himself – he’s a very good stallion.
“He covered 135 mares this year. Zarkava is back in foal to him. Tarnawa is also in foal. 40% of his book were either Group 1 winners or Group 1 producers. And a quarter of his book were Galileo
The days when the French stallion scene was topped by Elusive City at €20,000 are long gone. The deaths and retirements of Linamix, Bering, Highest Honor and Anabaa had left a massive void and with various stallions still to come through, the late noughties were something of a bleak time for any breeder looking to invest in France. How times have changed. And nor is it all about Siyouni and Zarak.
Haras de Colleville have been one of the driving forces in the renaissance of French breeding, initially as the home of Kendargent, who rose from an obscure €1,000 stallion to Group 1 producer. Kendargent’s success can be largely attributed to the belief and support of his owner Guy Pariente and now a similar scenario is playing out in Colleville’s latest rising star, Galiway. The Listed-winning son of Galileo started out at €3,000, the fee at which he sired Champion Stakes winner Sealiway (himself one of the most popular stallions in France this year at Haras
de Beaumont) as well as top hurdler Vauban.
In all, Galiway is the sire of 13 stakes winners in five crops and as befits his connections, has forged a fine relationship with Kendargent mares along the way, as illustrated by the stakes winners Sealiway, Rubis Vendome, Kenway, Gregolimo and Galik. And perhaps there is another star waiting in the wings in Sealiway’s brother Sunway, another Pariente homebred who made a striking impression when winning on debut at Sandown Park for David Menuisier in June.
Galiway has stood the past two seasons at €30,000 but such a rise hasn’t deterred breeders, as a book of around 150 mares this year shows.
Colleville’s other inmate, Kendargent’s Group 3-winning son Goken, also covered a three-figure book, in his case at a fee of €15,000. A reliable source of speed, his seven stakes winners are headed by the Group 3 scorers Fang, Go
mares. Obviously Galileo mares are very good broodmares anyway, but they have a wonderful relationship with Siyouni.
“Having said that, he produces 23% stakes winners to runners out of Shamardal mares and then Cape Cross is also the damsire of Laurens and Tahiyra.”
Siyouni is already a two-time French champion sire and it doesn’t take too much imagination to envisage further titles coming his way, especially with the quality of crops to come. At the same time, more of his sons are retiring to stud each year – one of the first, Group 1 sprinter City Light, has already sired several first-crop winners – while his daughters, the oldest of which are 11, are showing encouraging signs as broodmares. He is, after all, a son of an outstanding broodmare sire in Pivotal.
“It’s early days but he’s had five
Athletico and Livachope.
The Scat Daddy stallion Seabhac, meanwhile, might be on the verge of receiving an uptick in popularity in light of a first crop that includes German 2,000 Guineas winner Angers and recent Group 2 Prix de Malleret heroine Rue Boissande.
They were bred off a lowly fee of €5,000, which has since dropped even lower to €3,000 at his new home of Haras du Taillis. The sadness is that Larissa Kneip, who imported Seabhac from the US to stand at her Haras de Saint Arnoult, passed away before she could witness his success.
Seabhac covered around 50 mares this year, approximately half that of fellow Scat Daddy stallion Seahenge, whose first crop includes Listed scorer Winter Pudding. The Champagne Stakes winner stands for €3,500 at Haras de la Haie Neuve.
While Haras de Bouquetot’s impressive roster includes several proven sires in Galileo Gold, Olympic
stakes winners as a broodmare sire, three of whom are Group 1-placed [Erevann, Times Square and Dr Zempf],” says Rimaud. “So fillies from his earlier crops are already producing well and we can be very hopeful that it will continue, especially with the quality of fillies that he’s producing now.”
Both Siyouni and Zarak are available to southern hemisphere breeders again this year. Siyouni has already made his presence felt in Australia with four stakes winners batting for him from fewer than 40 runners. They include Peter Walsh’s brilliant filly Amelia’s Jewel, winner of last season’s Group 1 Northerly Stakes.
“Siyouni will be as busy to southern hemisphere time as we will allow him to be,” says Rimaud. “People might have been a bit concerned at first that he was by Pivotal but the dam being by Danehill resonated with them, and physically he’s quite in line with what Australian breeders and trainers are looking for in a horse. He’s done very well in Australia, Amelia’s Jewel is obviously a very good filly, and there’s more to come.
“We have accepted 20 mares to him. Bumbasina, the dam of Amelia’s Jewel, is in foal to him and coming back. There are a few others coming from Australia as well and several others already in Europe.”
If the level of demand from European breeders is anything to go by, then Zarak will not be resting on his laurels either. A beautifully-bred Dubawi son of Zarkava and a Group 1 winner to go with it, Zarak possessed plenty of the attributes to help him be successful at stud. Still, he had to do it the hard way off an opening fee of €12,000, making his bright start, highlighted by Group 1 performers such as La Parisienne, Zagrey, Crown Princesse and Times Square and underlined by some statistics that place him within Europe’s elite, all the more notable.
“Things are only going to get better with Zarak from now on, it’s all in front of him,” says Rimaud of the stallion, who stood for €60,000 this year. “It’s very satisfying as we’ve worked with that family for a long time. Zarkava did what she did, which was a very important stage in that family, and then she
Glory and Zelzal, it also has a number of Group 1-winning young stallions coming through to place them in a strong position going forward.
Waiting in the wings with first yearlings is top sprinter Wooded, a wellbred son of Wootton Bassett, and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Romanised. Both are represented in this month’s Arqana August Sale.
Great hopes are also pinned on the Haras d’Etreham duo of Persian King and Hello Youmzain. Persian King, by Kingman from a fine Wildenstein family, captured the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Prix d’Ispahan and Prix du
Moulin for Andre Fabre and has been well supported at €30,000 by some of Europe’s leading breeders as a result. He has 19 entries in the Arqana August Sale, while Hello Youmzain, a son of Kodiac who won the Sprint Cup and Diamond Jubilee Stakes for Kevin Ryan, has 21 entries bred off €25,000.
The Arqana August Sale will also offer an early opportunity to gauge the first crop by another former top British sprinter, Golden Horde. A member of the Acclamation sire line, the Commonwealth Cup winner has been well supported by his Sumbe connections at Monfort et Preaux.
“They are able to use that turn of foot over all sorts of distances”Sealiway: an early advert for the capabilities of his sire Galiway BILL SELWYN
produces a horse like Zarak, a decent racehorse who turns out to be a good stallion. His Highness has been operating his broodmare band with great wisdom and continuity for so long, and a horse like Zarak shows that it does pay off in the end. It’s very rewarding for the whole operation.”
It is worth reiterating that Zarkava, who capped her incredible unbeaten career with a win in the Arc, wasn’t the only outstanding filly to emerge from her family since she descends directly from Prince Aly Khan’s 1959 1,000 Guineas and Oaks heroine Petite Etoile, regarded by Lester Piggott as one of the best fillies he ever rode.
A direct descendant herself of Aga Khan III’s flying filly Mumtaz Mahal, Petite Etoile left behind only one filly at stud, Zahra. Yet despite such a fragile thread, the family has blossomed over time.
“Zarak is taller than one would suspect when you come to see a son of Dubawi,” says Rimaud. “He’s an impressive horse himself who produces size and scope –he’s a very interesting horse for that.”
Indeed, Zarak’s first crop of fouryear-olds also includes the Grade 1 jumpers Bo Zenith and Zarak The Brave,
produced out of mares by Presenting and Boris De Deauville.
“He doesn’t carry Sadler’s Wells or Danzig blood and that makes him very easy to use,” continues Rimaud. “He’s also very popular with French breeders because of Zarkava. That all helped when it came to syndicating him at the start.
He adds: “We had crazy demand for him for this season. He’s unbelievably popular. We had to limit him to 130 mares, which unfortunately meant turning away people. His results were so good last year that people were very keen to use him.
“His statistics are unbelievable – he has very high strike-rates for both winners to runners [46% at the time of writing, second only to Wootton Bassett in Europe] and stakes winners to runners – which suggests that he could become a very important sire of the future.”
With the early crops still filtering through, Zarak is doing his bit to reward those who supported him at a cheaper figure. A share in the horse sold for 350,000gns on the Tattersalls online platform to Andrew Black’s Chasemore Farm in January, while last year, 30 yearlings realised an average six times his 2020 fee of €12,000.
“Another thing he passes on is the capacity to accelerate, something that Zarkava had as well. Two of his Group winners [Baiykara and Lavello] are out of Montjeu mares and one could think that such a cross could produce a real middledistance horse, but we’ve seen that there’s still a lot of natural speed in there.”
“Siyouni and Zarak are on a real upward trajectory and it’s a very exciting time for us,” says Rimaud. “But it’s important to recognise the role that breeders have played in both horses. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them and we are very thankful for their support.”
“We’ve had crazy demand for Zarak – he’s unbelievably popular”Outstanding colt Paddington has also placed Siyouni’s name in lights this year
Christopher Head’s family are French racing royalty yet his unconventional approach to training, highlighted by his campaigning of brilliant filly Blue Rose Cen, shows a man determined to succeed on his own terms
Words: Adrien Cugnasse
Milan Kundera passed away last month. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the CzechFrench novelist challenges the concept of eternal recurrence – the idea that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum
Competitiveness is a cycle: Frenchbred, trained or sired horses are having a very strong year, with the likes of Ace Impact, Unquestionable, Bucanero Fuerte, Paddington and Feed The Flame showcasing their ability on the big stage.
History shows that during the successful times for French racing, there was often a young member of the Head dynasty on the rise. Between 1956 and 1959, Alec Head won the equivalent of nine Group 1s in Britain, including three Classics.
Seven decades later, his grandson Christopher was set to target the Nassau Stakes with Blue Rose Cen. The daughter of Churchill is only the fourth filly in history to have secured the triptych of the Prix Marcel Boussac, French Guineas and French Oaks.
Only three of the ten French Group 1s during the first part of the season have been won by foreign raiders. On the French team, Christopher Head is the top scorer, with two Group 1 victories – and there is a lot more to come for the young trainer.
Exciting two-year-old Ramatuelle, a daughter of US Triple Crown victor Justify, will be one of the favourites for the Prix Morny while Rock Of Gibraltar’s three-year-old son Big Rock looks a solid contender for the Prix Jacques le Marois.
A self-made trainer with a big name, Head kicked off his training career at the end of 2018 with eight horses, including three owned by family members, two of them low-class individuals. And that was it.
Thinking the young trainer was heavily supported by the Head family is inaccurate; he had a name, for sure, but he did all the hard work himself.
Back in 2019, Freddy Head was coming towards the end of his training career. His son and former assistant was astute enough to source two cast-offs
more horses in my yard. That’s why we made an offer on them.
“It was during Covid and this turned out to be an opportunity. I said to my clients that lockdown is like a winter for the horses, so we gelded them. They both improved significantly.’’
He continues: “I probably could have done something else [apart from training]. But now I understand that horses would have come into my life at some point. It’s a bit of a cliché to say it but I think horseracing really is in the blood of my family.
“It’s hard to define a precise date regarding my decision to start training. But I knew that I wanted to follow my own path and bring something new to the sport. I felt I had to try things differently to find my place in such a competitive industry.
“This is a job that you only really understand when you start doing it. You can spend as much time as you want as an assistant, but practice is the best way to learn and improve as a trainer.”
from the parental yard. Deacon changed hands while he was rated 77. Three victories later, the French handicapper rated him 101 and he was sold to Saudi Arabia. Previously rated 75, Reux also improved greatly under Head’s tutelage. He was later sold to America having progressed to a mark of 107.
Head, who studied informatics and learned different languages – he is currently working on his Japanese –before starting his training career, explains: “Deacon and Reux were on the market and I needed dramatically
While his family is associated with some of the great names to have graced the turf on the Flat, it was a spell with master jumps trainer Guillaume Macaire that really opened the young man’s eyes.
Head says: “Having worked in different yards with Flat horses, including my father and my aunt Criquette, I wanted to see something different, especially a trainer that started his own business from scratch and without strong support, because that was my own situation.
“I wanted to follow my own path and bring something new to the sport”
Christopher
is focused on quality over quantity at his Chantilly stable and has rapidly made his mark on the
“Guillaume Macaire changed the game of jump racing. The way to train, to race and to breed National Hunt horses in this country is completely different since he started. I really wanted to understand how he managed to do it.
“I spent a summer with him, and it was fascinating – I realised that constantly improving details could have a decisive effect on the results on the track. You can start with small things, such as weighing horses. Step by step, I have changed more things in my method.
“I’m increasingly using data, collecting various pieces of conditioning information like heartbeats at exercise and recovery rates. Having data is one thing, but you have to enjoy the cerebral work of analysing the results.
“With time, you create your own pattern that helps you to be more precise. But you can’t rely on that to train: the eyes of the trainer, the instincts, the feedback of the staff and horsemanship are the backbone of this job.
“The results of data analysis will never replace your own judgement, but it is useful in the decision process –once you have decided something, the figures will confirm whether or not you are going in the right direction.
“The big thing is trying not to pass up opportunities for talented horses. Sometimes you might plan something that’s a bit bold and in this risky process the data will give you the nerve to carry on.”
With only 27 individual runners since the beginning of 2023 (up to mid-July), Head has already secured seven Group victories, aided by the support of one man in particular.
“A big part of these achievements is based on the success of Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals as an owner and breeder,” Head explains. “His operation, Yeguada Centurion, is designed to produce high-quality animals.
“As a trainer, I knew I was there to adapt my work to the goals of my clients. Training horses of that calibre is completely different from preparing handicappers, like I did at the beginning. To be competitive in Group races, you have to ask them a lot at home because at that level the competition is so tough.”
Fernandez Pujals, a famous falcon and dressage horse breeder, wanted to take a chance with thoroughbreds. In the last few years, he has bought a farm in Normandy for his 60 broodmares and spent $12 million at the sales, and more
in private purchases.
His first homebred generation is only small – bigger crops are coming – yet has still delivered three high-class performers this season in the shape of Blue Rose Cen, Big Rock and Ramatuelle.
Head says: “Meeting Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals was pure luck – you need some of it in this game. At that time he did not have any racehorses but was planning to invest.
“A mutual acquaintance organised a dinner and at the end of the evening he promised to send me a horse in 2020. That first horse was the beautifully-bred Sibila Spain. Her win in last year’s Group 2 Prix du Muguet was our first Patternrace victory. Based on the success of this filly, he sent me more horses – and the rest is history.
“I can never thank him enough for his support. To be completely honest, this year’s results are beyond my expectations. It won’t be easy to replicate this season, but my goal is to have horses to compete every year in Group races.”
Freddy Head’s former rider Aurélien Lemaitre is now working with his son. You could, perhaps, compare the duo to Sir Henry Cecil and Steve Cauthen in the
1980s. Cauthen had great pace judgement from his days riding in America. Cecil would get his horses very fit, and they often successfully made the running.
In 2023, Christopher Head’s winnersto-runners strike-rate is an impressive 30%, with around three-quarters of his horses being front-runners or racing close to the pace.
Head says: “I met Aurélien years ago when we were riding in the morning together at my father’s. You could not expect we would travel so far together!
“He is the perfect jockey for tough horses that enjoy going out in front. We tend to train them this way but I’m sure some of them would be just as competitive if we raced them from off the pace.
“Aurélien knows precisely the speed of his horse: he has a clock in his mind, like an American jockey. There is a lot of confidence between us and he believes in our training method.
“Funnily enough, we also worked together at Julio Canani’s in California. During that American experience it was not hard to understand how important the use of the clock is to train racehorses. Just like Macaire, Canani was a real self-made man and that’s a massive inspiration to me.”
Everybody used to say you can’t clock-train in Chantilly, where there is such a diversity of gallops. But Head believes that’s also an advantage, saying: “This variation of weather, surface and gallops profile is a massive opportunity. It means our horses can cope with everything at the races.
“This imperfection of Chantilly, with ever-changing training conditions, makes it perfect to train horses!”
Head admits it is a very Macaire state of mind, the master trainer changing constantly the profile and disposition of jumps in the morning.
He continues: “Obviously, in the Chantilly forest you can’t clock the animals with the method used on American racetracks. But the GPS on the horse’s girth makes it possible.
“Using time in the morning is not only useful for horses, but also a massive help for riders. It makes them understand when they go too fast or not fast enough. And it’s a way to involve them in the process as they have a better comprehension of their work.
“They have the desire to improve, and their hard work is a key element in the amazing year we are having on the racecourse.”
The respected French bloodstock
agent, Gérard Larrieu, was one of the first to believe in Head’s potential as a trainer, saying: “I have to say we share a keen interest in using technology for training. I do a lot of cycling myself and training for that sport is based on cardio.
“Christopher is one of the very rare trainers I have worked with to have such an expertise in the use of data. On top of that he knows every single line of the racing programme by heart.
“He has a plan for the next two races with every horse and sets long-term objectives. This trainer learns very quickly – and being able to involve owners in the race planning, like he does, is such a great thing.”
Head relates: “I’m working hard on involving my owners – they are the cornerstone of our world. They need to feel the trainer does not deny their ability to control their horse’s career.
“You need to have a dialogue with your client and that’s a part of the job I really appreciate, because they actually teach me a lot. Leopoldo is an incredible entrepreneur and working with him has made me improve the way I operate my own business.”
Head retained two aspects of his father’s training method, who was himself influenced by the legendary Francois Boutin. The first is to never break a horse’s action: if they want to go off in front, let them do it and don’t disturb them. That’s also an element of Macaire’s method.
The second thing is that you need to ask the horses a lot in the morning to toughen the good ones. Of course,
some of the others will find it difficult, but the animals with class and soundness may reach another level of competitiveness.
Head explains: “One important thing, to my mind, is to receive the horses as early as possible. For cost reasons they tend to stay longer in pre-training these days. But when you have them very early you can increase the intensity of work as gradually as you want.
“Having said that, going slowly on the gallops is not doing them any favours. I really believe that. The lack of preparation for competition is more harmful than a very intense preparation.
“I’m not afraid to start horses early on over a distance too short for them, just like I did with Blue Rose Cen. The most important thing is what they learn: I don’t care about winning first time out.
“We decided not to give tough experiences to Blue Rose Cen before her big targets at a mile as a two-yearold. But the key to our plan was to have the perfect number of races – five –before the Prix Marcel Boussac.”
Head’s strike-rate has improved every year: 10% in 2019, 17.5% in 2020, 24% in 2022 and 30% so far in 2023 (to the middle of last month).
“Studying the form and the entries is something I really like,” he says. “You have to understand the logic of the racing programme. I think the French one is exceptionally well-designed.
“If you search hard enough, there is a race for every horse. The team in charge of the programme at France Galop is doing an amazing job.”
At present the handler’s string stands at 50. One of his boldest decisions was to refuse horses to keep things under control. He is slowly increasing his numbers, mindful that growing too fast would be a risk considering the staffing problems in the racing world.
Head states: “I would like to concentrate on clients with a long-term perspective. My plan is to not have a massive number of horses. I want to remain with a good team of young and motivated people, just like now.
“My father and grandfather have always set an example. They taught me that you have to show respect to all the members of the industry – never belittle others in the quest for success.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my grandparents. They have always been my strongest support.”
The greatest legacy of the late Alec and Ghislaine Head is this: passion, hard work and determination make the difference.
and Violet Hesketh
Words: James Thomas
Like all good friends, Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh have a tendency to finish each other’s sentences. That is not the only evidence of the synchronicity that exists between the pair, either, as their joint efforts under the WH Bloodstock banner show they possess a flourishing talent for raising and trading high-quality thoroughbreds.
In a relatively short time and from only select numbers they have already sold eight black-type winners, most notably the Irish Oaks heroine Magical Lagoon and this year’s Nell Gwyn Stakes scorer Mammas Girl, as well as yearlings that have cost as much as 650,000gns. Their list of achievements grew further at this year’s Tattersalls July Sale when they sold the top lot, Seventh Heaven’s sister Sweet And Lovely, to BBA Ireland for 350,000gns.
The pair, both 32, established WH Bloodstock in 2018 after meeting on the Godolphin Flying Start programme. Although they have rapidly become serious players on the sales scene, they concede the notion of setting up a business together began as little more than a distant ambition.
“We were really good friends and thought it would be really good fun to set up a business together, but it was a dream rather than an actual plan,” says Wadham,
before Hesketh picks up the thread, saying: “We were both interested in consigning and pinhooking but we left the Flying Start and went to do different jobs; Mimi went to Highclere and I worked for Charlie GordonWatson, amongst other things.
“It wasn’t until about a year after the Flying Start that we decided we definitely wanted to do it. We’d both moved up to Yorkshire, Mimi to work for Kevin Ryan and I was working a breeze-up season with Roger Marley, and that’s when we started putting the plan together.”
Having devised their strategy in Yorkshire, Hesketh and Wadham decamped to Berkshire to set up base at Hollington Stud, just a stone’s throw from Highclere. The importance of finding suitable premises is not to be underestimated, and the WH team had something of a Sliding Doors moment before signing the lease on the place they now call home. They have since added to their capacity by renting additional paddock space from their neighbour, Georg von Opel of Westerberg, taking their patch to 120 acres.
“We’d looked at a few places that just didn’t have the right feel,” says Wadham. “Then I bumped into a friend of my parents called Sue Huntingdon, who I told we were on the lookout for a place. It almost feels like fate as the very next day she went to a dinner party with our now ››
“We thought it would be really good fun to set up a business together”
›› landlord and found out about the stud. She rang me straight away and when we saw it, it was hard not to fall in love with it. It’s incredibly beautiful and has great land. We’re so lucky that the opportunity to rent from Georg came about too, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to expand as we have done.”
WH Bloodstock’s steep upward curve has been, at least in part, underpinned by some astute, and not to mention bold, pinhooks. The signs were there from the start as the very first public offering under their own name, a 35,000gns Tamayuz colt, went the way of Shadwell for £110,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Sale.
That initial outlay is comfortably eclipsed by the kind of investments the pair have become accustomed to in more recent years, such as the 375,000gns they gave for the Invincible Spirit colt subsequently named New York City. That six-figure gamble paid off in style when the youngster was knocked down to Coolmore’s MV Magnier at 600,000gns the following year.
It is tempting, then, to think the transformation from rookies to high-rollers has been little short of seamless, but the pair are quick to set the record straight.
“We’re not afraid to admit we were very green back in 2018,” says Wadham. “We did actually have a lovely touch that year with a Tamayuz colt, which helped put us on the map, but the following year was a bit disappointing. From then it feels like we’ve progressed each year as we’ve fine-tuned the process.”
“You certainly learn from your mistakes,” Hesketh adds in a tone that suggests there have been plenty. “Touch wood, we don’t seem to be making the same mistake twice.”
Although there may have been some harsh lessons along the way, the market gave Wadham and Hesketh’s work an A star grading during a buoyant sales season in 2022. Among a host of fruitful results they doubled their money on a Wootton Bassett filly who went the
because all eyes are on you and if it doesn’t go well you know everyone is talking about it,” says Wadham. “But when it does go well you get serious kudos for having the balls to actually try. Last year we had two that cost over 200,000gns and both doubled their money, which is fantastic.”
Having refined their pinhooking formula, one success has quickly led to another. They have not only been able to increase the scale of their investments but their slice of the action too.
Reflecting on their pinhooking triumphs, Hesketh says: “We’ve increased our numbers every year and each year we’ve managed to turn a profit. Some years it hasn’t been a massive profit, but last year was particularly good so we piled in again and bought 12 foals.”
way of Justin Casse, acting on behalf of MV Magnier, at 500,000gns, while the promising New Bay colt Devil’s Point went from €200,000 foal to 475,000gns yearling when signed for by Richard Knight.
“The expensive pinhooks are tough
“We’ve got a few syndicates but what’s fantastic about the successes is that we’ve been able to put more of our own equity in,” adds Wadham. “Yes, that means more risk but also more reward, whereas in the early days we were very much the minority shareholders.”
“Touch wood, we don’t seem to be making the same mistake twice”Magical Lagoon: Irish Oaks and Ribblesdale Stakes heroine is another top graduate
Selling such valuable young thoroughbreds is not without its pressures, even if great risk can mean great reward. So how do the pair cope with the tension?
“Violet used to be a terrible boxwalker but she’s got better… and I’ve got worse!” says Wadham, while Hesketh adds: “You’ve got to have thick skin to do it but I can still get very, very nervous before they head into the ring.”
Not all of WH Bloodstock’s offerings are pinhooks, though, as they have also been entrusted with the stock of a growing number of significant breeders.
Their expanding client base includes Coolmore, for whom they sold Magical Lagoon. The daughter of Galileo was purchased by Yulong Investments through BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe for 305,000gns. She went on to win the Group 1 Irish Oaks and the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.
“She had the most amazing temperament,” says Hesketh, before Wadham continues: “She was a stunning filly; she had that proper Galileo walk,
a real swagger, and she was absolutely bombproof at the sales. You never know, do you, but she had all the right attributes to be a proper racehorse.”
It is clear how much the pair value the backing of their various clients. So
too is the satisfaction that their results are being recognised. Although they are unable to name names, WH Bloodstock will be selling on behalf of two new “significant” breeders in 2023, business they believe has been picked up on the back of their successes in the ring and on the track.
“We don’t want to be a massive consignment but it’s great consigning for a range of different clients,” says Hesketh. “That’s something we’ve been working on and is picking up. We’ve been very lucky to know Jamie McCalmont, who’s been a big supporter of ours. He’s introduced us to a lot of good clients, namely Westerberg, who we’re fortunate to consign some horses on behalf of.”
“These two new clients came to us via bloodstock agents, and I think that came about through them seeing our horses at the sales, recognising that they look well and that we do a good job and then recommending us to their clients,” says Wadham. “It’s a huge compliment to get business that way and we’re fortunate that we don’t have to go out looking for it too much. This isn’t meant to sound complacent, but the better clients tend to come to you.”
When WH Bloodstock was founded they initially offered breaking and pre-training, but that has been shelved and the focus shifted solely to the mares, yearlings and foals that reside at Hollington. They have also begun breeding their own stock and the pair’s first homebred, a Kodiac colt out of Sky Lantern’s relation Forty Four Sunsets, is among this year’s juvenile crop.
“We have two broodmares,” says Hesketh. “Forty Four Sunsets is in foal to Havana Grey and has a Kodiac in
training with William Haggas. We’ve also bought our first stallion share in Dubawi Legend. We bought a mare by Harzand especially to go to him so she’s in Ireland with Luke Barry at Manister House. If we have a good year we’ll definitely look at buying more mares.”
They have also dabbled in the horsesin-training market having bought into Nizaaka, a daughter of New Bay who rattled off a hat-trick at the July course last summer and took her official rating from 72 to 98 in the process.
“We bought into her with clients of ours called Jastar Capital and sent her to the best trainer of New Bays around in Jane Chapple-Hyam!” says Hesketh. Wadham adds: “We’ve had great fun and that’s been a really enjoyable experience. She’ll stay in training this year and then head to the breeding shed, or possibly the sales. We wouldn’t rule out doing something similar again, provided we can find the right filly at the right price.”
The operation is boutique in the truest sense of the word, with the emphasis firmly on quality over quantity. This means that WH Bloodstock runs with the support of just two full-time staff in stud groom Masawwer Alam and stud hand Jamie Howarth, and a sales team headed up by the experienced Brian Cahill.
“We’re so lucky that we have a really good team,” says Hesketh. “They’re amazing and it’s great to know that when we’re at the sales everything is being really well looked after at home. We all muck in together, mucking out, lunging. We try to split it up evenly so everyone does a bit of everything.”
On the future direction of WH Bloodstock, Wadham says: “We’re determined to stay a boutique operation. Although we’ve expanded since 2018, the quality has also improved and I don’t think we’d ever want to get too big. We’re boarding seven mares at the moment and I think we’d like to get that up to around 15, with maybe five of those being our own. That’s the level we’d like to be at. Not too much bigger.”
Hesketh joins in to add: “We’d like to up the quality of our broodmares though as it would be great to be selling some Dubawi and Frankel yearlings down the line!”
While running a business invariably means focussing on matters like clientele and profit margins, there remains an essential quality at the heart of WH Bloodstock: a deep bond between friends who are committed to their craft.
Given how far they’ve already come, there’s no telling what the future holds.
WH Bloodstock will be busier than ever during the upcoming sales season with 40 yearlings to sell between the key auctions in Britain, France and Ireland. Proceedings begin at Arqana, with their debut Deauville draft consisting of colts by sire on fire Wootton Bassett and the exciting first-crop representative Pinatubo.
The former, the first foal out of Airlie Stud Stakes runner-up Precious Moments, cost 250,000gns as a foal, while the latter, a half-brother to Pavilion Stakes scorer Dubai Station, fetched 140,000gns when sourced in conjunction with Atlas Bloodstock.
“It’s slightly unknown territory but we’re really looking forward to it,” says Hesketh. Wadham chimes in to add: “Violet made a valid point the other day that these yearlings were conceived the year that France wouldn’t allow mares to travel out of the country, so there might be a bit more scarcity value selling stock by British or Irish sires. They both look like nice, solid two-year-old types with very good pedigrees.”
There will also be consignments offered at Goffs UK in Doncaster and at Goffs in Ireland, with a well-related Zoustar colt leading the line at the latter. “He’s a lovely, strong, strapping colt and the stallion is doing well,” says Hesketh, before Wadham adds: “This colt is an absolute beast so he could
be the type who’ll appeal to American buyers that come to the Orby Sale.”
WH Bloodstock have enjoyed some memorable days at Tattersalls and are set fair to bring another strong draft to Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale, where their pinhooks are a 130,000gns son of Kitten’s Joy and a €95,000 daughter of Dark Angel.
“I think we have five or six for Book 1, of which two are pinhooks,” says Hesketh. “There’s a Kitten’s Joy colt who was bred by Ringfort, who are very good breeders. He’s very, very nice. And we have a Dark Angel filly from the family of Tahiyra, so she’s from a lovely Aga Khan pedigree. Then we have three or four for clients. Hopefully we might be selling one by Justify too. He can do no wrong at the moment so that’s exciting.”
An optimistic outlook is essential for anyone who trades bloodstock for a living, but there are plenty of solid reasons for positivity too as the market continues in seemingly rude health.
“I couldn’t believe the strength of trade last year. It was across the board but I’ve never seen Doncaster so busy. We barely sat down, we were just showing all day,” says Wadham, before Hesketh adds: “Looking at the results from this year’s breeze-ups has to bode well for the yearling sales. It looks like everyone got well paid there so they’ll certainly be looking to fill up their stables again.”
‘I couldn’t believe the trade last year’
www.bbag-sales.de
Fantastic Moon
August Online-Sale: 18th August 2023
Premier Yearling Sale: 1st September 2023
October Mixed Sales: 13th and 14th October 2023
The market’s fixation on speed and precocity has been an issue bubbling away for some time now but from time to time it raises its head to a wider audience, and rightly so.
‘Why breed a stayer’ was one of the topics covered at last month’s inaugural TBA Bloodstock Conference, at which it was revealed that the TBA is on the cusp of launching a campaign to market the viability of breeding a staying horse.
Firstly, it must be recognised that the appeal of patronising faster stallions, especially those with two-year-old form, is completely understandable. Their progeny are likely to come to hand quicker and therefore stand more of a chance of providing a swift return in a jurisdiction restricted by desperate levels of prize-money. That is always going to be music to the ears of agents and trainers, two entities that drive the market, and therefore an appealing route for breeders.
The knock-on effect for the breed, however, is a serious one. The ongoing success of Japanese horses, produced in an environment that prides stayers and older runners, should be proof enough of how valuable these types of horses can be to the gene pool. As TBA Deputy Chairman Philip Newton said himself at the conference: “It is vital from both a genetic pool diversity aspect and a legacy aspect for us to maintain stamina in our pedigrees.”
The outlook isn’t entirely bleak, however. Breeders would do well to remember that a number of Australian and American buyers shop at our yearlings sales now with an eye on the three-year-old type. That is particularly true of Australian buyers, who tend to target that staying model of yearling. As such, the rewards in the ring for those yearlings that fit the bill tend to be greater; as with every level of the market, the horse in question just has to be the right type. The same is even more true of the horses in training market, where extraordinary figures can be paid for progressive middle-distance runners, particularly from Australia and Saudi Arabia.
Yet ‘stayer’ remains a dirty word. The incentives for studs to stand such stallions are few and far between,
especially when so many of these types of horses command so much in the first place to run abroad. It makes very little financial sense for studs to pursue them, especially when they know that it will be an uphill battle to then promote them to breeders.
In that sense, it would be wonderful to see a horse like Darley’s Masar start firing in the winners out of his first crop. The son of New Approach is primarily remembered for his win in the Derby, but he actually had the speed to beat the high-class sprinter Invincible Army on his debut in a May six-furlong maiden at Goodwood. A successful Derby-winning stallion, especially one based in Britain, would be a valuable addition to the breed.
It is also encouraging to hear that Stradivarius has covered over 100 mares in his first season at the National Stud. A well-bred horse who never missed a beat in seven seasons of training, during which time he won 18 Group races, he is surely the type of runner that we should be aspiring to breed – he would certainly be well appreciated in Japan. By all accounts, he has been supported by some smart international breeders and it will be fascinating to see how he gets on.
There were some very deserving winners at the TBA’s Flat Breeders Awards last month, in particular Jeff Smith, who received the Andrew Devonshire Bronze for outstanding achievement and contribution to British thoroughbred breeding. A second consecutive TBA Silver Rose Bowl went
the way of Kirsten Rausing’s Lanwades Stud following another excellent year on the track, in this instance one capped by the brilliant Arc heroine Alpinista.
Away from exploits on the track, it was good to see Kevin Needham, Managing Director of BBA Shipping and Transport, awarded the Dominion Bronze in recognition of his work in response to Brexit and Covid-19. The shipment of bloodstock suddenly became extremely complex and costly following Britain’s departure from the European Union and Needham was among those leading the charge in the industry’s efforts to navigate the various difficulties.
And just as transporters were getting their heads around Brexit, a double whammy was served up not long after by the Covid pandemic, which served to make the smooth shipment of horses only harder.
In the words of the TBA, Needham became “a vital figure in the industry’s post-Brexit and Covid-19 pandemic response and whose efforts to support the industry included countless hours of representation, consultation and guidance”.
Agent Oliver St Lawrence was also among the winners as recipient of the Industry Merit Award in light of his services to charitable causes. St Lawrence co-ordinated the hugely successful Tattersalls-hosted online stallion nomination auction, which raised over £370,000 for Giving To Ukraine and the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal.
Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch ought visit this sale to witness vibrant overseas demand. Year on year it pulls in global visitors and online buyers seeking goods under the headings ‘luxury,’ ‘mid-range’ and ‘basement’.
Why is it popular? Expanding racing jurisdictions, notably in the Middle East, and demand at the top end from buoyant Australian racing interests have increased demand for European horses with form on the racecourse, and no other midsummer sale offers more choice. There is also the appeal of visiting a historic auction house (offering plenty of locations for selfie specialists), visiting top-level stud farms and taking in high-class racing on the July course, where, coincidentally, Bahrain has been a sponsor since 1991.
At the latest renewal buyers had even more choice, for an additional 105 horses were catalogued forcing Tattersalls to include a fourth session. There was the usual high number of withdrawals – 329 on this occasion –
but that still left 635 options for buyers to consider, and on 574 occasions a horse changed hands at a highly worthy 90 per cent clearance rate.
The bigger catalogue helped nudge turnover up one per cent to a figure just shy of 17 million guineas, the median
remained level at a record 15,000gns while the average price was nipped eight per cent to a figure just under 30,000gns.
Pleasingly for Tattersalls and vendors of higher-end lots there were 12 sales of horses valued at 200,000gns or above, while 35 made 100,000gns plus, which were both records. In 2022, two horses broke the 500,000gns barrier, but that was unachievable on the latest occasion.
The key component on the top-ten board was Michael Donohoe, who helped ensured the BBA Ireland was by far the leading buyer with nine bought for 1,711,000gns. He was especially active during the opening breeding stock session, but while maintaining his invariably helpful stance towards media questions he could not name his client. Donohoe has been a key figure in the establishment of Chinese billionaire Zhang Yuesheng’s racing and bloodstock empire, but if he was acting for that buyer on this occasion it was not for public consumption.
Top of Donohoe’s purchases was the four-year-old mare Sweet And Lovely, a
daughter of Galileo carrying a colt by Wootton Bassett. Consigned by WH Bloodstock, Sweet And Lovely, a full-sister to the Yorkshire Oaks and Irish Oaks heroine Seventh Heaven and a half-sister to Middle Park Stakes winner Crusade, joined Donohoe’s shopping trolley following a bid of 350,000gns.
A close relative of Sweet And Lovely, the Dubawi four-year-old mare Over The Rainbow, also made a mark at this sale when knocked down to the Mariga family’s Coolmara Stables for 270,000gns. Over The Rainbow, a daughter of Dubawi carrying to St Mark’s Basilica, could well have a defining role at the Cork farm, which has risen to prominence through purchases of high-end jump-bred mares who are now producing stock of similar value.
The Marigas, and farm manager Paul McGrath, have been considering branching into Flat breeding for some time, and Over The Rainbow represents their first significant foray, one that is unlikely to be the last.
From the same Castlebridge Consignment draft came three-year-old filly Different Light, a Galileo sister to Belmont Invitational Stakes winner Deauville and sold to Donohoe for 330,000gns, plus Divinitus, a four-yearold mare by Galileo carrying to Blackbeard, who was also sold to the BBA Ireland agent.
The old adage ‘they’re not making them any more’ can hardly be more relevant than in the case of young mares by Galileo, and it was soon clear
that Donohoe’s client was keen to grab as many as possible. To emphasise the point, Donohoe also lifted the unraced three-year-old Galileo filly Evening Hush – whose dam, Wuheida, was a dual Group 1 winner – from the Godolphin draft for 250,000gns.
Willie Mullins’ dominance of Irish jump racing – let alone his influence on the Cheltenham Festival – may be seen as too much of a good thing by some, but if he can win a Melbourne Cup or two that will be regarded as a plus. His purchase of three-year-old gelding Ethical Diamond for 320,000gns provided him with a possible arrow for Australia’s famous race, and in bringing down the hammer he ensured the horse would represent a northern European
yard rather than one in the Antipodes.
Mullins’ advisor Harold Kirk said Ethical Diamond had been purchased with a dual-purpose career in mind. The son of Awtaad is a pin-up for the small stable of Michael O’Meara, who trained him to win a 12-furlong maiden race for owner-breeders William and Emma Kennedy just ahead of the sale.
Rebecca Menzies, another trainer on the up, can take similar pleasure from the part she has played in the career to date of winning three-year-old filly Balalaika, who was third at 66-1 in the Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot. Bred by Sir Robert Ogden and offered for sale by his widow, Balalaika was knocked down to Donohoe’s colleague Eamonn Reilly for 330,000gns.
‘Polarisation’ has become a buzzword in discussions as wide-ranging as European politics and thoroughbred bloodstock sales.
Not that polarisation is in everyone’s best interests and it is rarely seen as a positive, unless you are a politician who has managed to polarise opinion and galvanised hitherto unforeseen support, or you stand a stallion whose progeny have only to turn up at a sales complex to receive a flood of interest. Winners and losers come to mind, but as for the greater good
Simon Kerins, Chief Executive of Tattersalls Ireland, referred to polarisation in his summary of this sale of store horses, the number one in his company’s annual round of such auctions. Following on from the 2022 sale’s record trade and tremendous 93 per cent clearance rate, Kerins reflected on falls in all the key indicators, while pointing out that no fewer than 33 lots had sold for a six-figure sum, more than any other store sale in 2023.
Adding that the average price was also top among 2023’s store sale returns, Kerrins said: “Last year’s Derby Sale was a record-breaker, and it held its historic position at the top of the store sale table. This year’s statistics produce the same outcome, however, polarisation of the market and select choice of stallions has probably resulted in a drop in the clearance rate.”
If you wanted to be on the right side of polarisation it helped to be offering a French-bred store, for eight of the top ten were bred across the Channel, the exceptions being a Kayf Tara gelding fashioned in Britain by Cheshire’s Will Kinsey and whose sale for €265,000 made him the top lot, and a €205,000 son of Walk In The Park who joined Paul Nicholls. He was consigned by Peter Nolan and bred by Charlie Carter.
Timmy Hillman of Castledillon Stud consigned the aforementioned son of Kayf Tara, who he owned in partnership with Tally Ho-Stud’s Tony O’Callaghan. The two men had bought the youngster privately as a foal from Kinsey, who purchased the dam, Miss Bailly, from a farm near Paris during a shopping trip in 2018.
The first foal Kinsey bred from the mare turned out to be Romeo Coolio – also by Kayf Tara – who won an Irish point-to-point in March just before topping the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale at £420,000. Romeo Coolio was sold to Gordon Elliott, and his little brother joined the same trainer at this sale after being knocked down to Eddie O’Leary.
Getting off the ground as a fledgling trainer is a challenge for all, although
Elliott serves as a beacon of hope for anyone that is trying. One of his former acolytes, Warwickshire trainer Olly Murphy, is making steady progress towards the summit, and his investment at the Derby Sale in some choice lots can only help in that regard. Acting with his father, bloodstock agent Aiden Murphy, the two men reeled in a €250,000 Doctor Dino gelding from the Mariga family’s Coolmara Stables plus a €200,000 Saint Des Saints gelding from Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables.
Murphy’s Doctor Dino purchase was a half-brother to no less a pair than the multiple Grade 1-winning full-brothers Douvan and Jonbon.
Any vendor with a store by Doctor Dino was in a good place, as sales of nine of his offspring for an average of €137,778 attests. Those horses were bred off a fee of €12,000, and while Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables had to buy, not breed his offering, it proved to be a short journey with a great outcome. Collins had picked up his gelded son of Doctor Dino for £58,000 at Goffs UK’s January Sale, and little more than five months later cashed in when selling the same horse for £240,000 to Ian Ferguson.
Walk In The Park proved to be the leading sire by aggregate, although he had numbers on his side, his 35 sold lots generating just over €2.6m at an
Arqana cannot be expected to find a Classic winner to spice this sale every year, although the latest edition still involved a very good catalogue.
Turnover of just over €12m was down nine per cent – but would have been on a par with last year had the number of offered lots not shrunk by 30 – the average price was clipped just one per cent at €34,202 while the median gained 25 per cent. Of 411 horses who walked the ring, 346 found new homes, creating a clearance rate of 84 per cent, two points lower than last year.
When you bear in mind the key indicators all soared last year, rising by a minimum of 54 per cent, the latest set of figures look pretty good and further endorse the popularity of French-bred and raced stock, and since this sale offered jumpers and Flat horses it had something for a range of tastes.
The 2022 edition was graced by German 1,000 Guineas winner Txope, who set a record price for the sale of €1.2m when bought by Zhang Yuesheng. The daughter of Siyouni was
average of €75,114. Authorized, who moved to Turkey in 2020, has since looked like one that got away. His six sold lots generated an average price of €103,000.
Castledillon Stud took top consignor honours for the second year running, while the bold Doyle family of Monbeg Stables in County Wexford bought an army of fresh blood to pinhook via the point-to-point circuit, taking in 27 horses for an aggregate of €1,457,000. Fellow
point-to-point pinhookers Colin Bowe, Denis Murphy, Pat Doyle and Sam Curling all featured on the top-ten buyers’ list.
After two days of selling the figures were down, but the average and median prices were the third-best in the sale’s history. Turnover of €16,075,000 was a drop of 13.5 per cent, the average dipped 7.5 per cent to €53,583 while the median lost 14 per cent at €43,000. The clearance rate reached 81 per cent.
subsequently shipped to the USA and joined trainer John Sadler, but she made no show on her only start in August’s Del Mar Oaks.
The latest Summer Sale headline act was also a three-year-old filly, the Jean-Claude Rouget-consigned La Filomena, although being a two-time winner and Listed-placed she did not
have quite the same cache as Txope. Not that Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock was anything but delighted to sign for the daughter of Lope De Vega, who he considered well bought at €395,000.
Boman was working for an Australian client, Speriamo Bloodstock’s Larry Young, whose operation has been
watching but not investing heavily at a time when he felt the market was on the hot side. La Filomena proved irresistible, however, for she offered pedigree and stamina, two virtues he was keen to acquire, and if she can add a Group win to her CV even better.
The leading jumper proved to be four-year-old Jamaico, a €310,000 AQPS-bred son of Cokoriko consigned by trainer Emmanuel Clayeux on behalf of breeders Lord Daresbury and Jacques Cypres. A winner at Auteuil just before the sale, Jamaico was knocked down to agent Hubert Barbe on behalf of Professor Caroline Tisdall, whose horses are trained by David Pipe.
Willie Mullins, aided by his buying advisors Harold Kirk and Pierre Boulard, bought last year’s top-priced jumper – €360,000 Spanish Harlem, who has been placed three times over hurdles since – and this time they left with the leading jumping filly, who fetched €280,000. Full Of Shade, a No Risk At All half-sister to two black-type winners and herself placed at Auteuil in May, was offered by Katie Rudd of Busherstown, who owned the filly in a
small partnership.
Also Ireland bound was Hamsiyann, a dual winner over 12 furlongs for the Aga Khan and whose future could involve racing over jumps and on the Flat from the stable of Tony Martin. Toby Jones bought the hammer down for the three-year-old, whose dam was a half-sister to the Aga Khan’s Derby winner Harzand.
There was also an Aga Khan link to the sale of the leading store, a twoyear-old son of Zarak, who stands at Haras de Bonneval, and whose progeny are making early waves under both codes. Zarak’s colt named Nietzsche Has came from the immediate family of top chaser and now sire Nirvana Du Berlais, and was sold for €240,000 to agent Guy Petit acting for racehorse owner Edward James.
Oakgrove Stud manager David Hilton travelled from Chepstow to Deauville for the sale, and his bid of €185,000 secured Listed-placed filly Mqse De Maintenon for his boss, John Deer. The daughter of Muhaarar will bid to gain additional black type before joining Deer’s broodmare band.
• Some arithmetic involved in bloodstock buying and selling can raise eyebrows in seasoned observers, and must be baffling to outsiders.
Take the case of La Filomena, a daughter of quality sire Lope De Vega and with the looks and conformation to realise valuations of 210,000gns as a foal and 310,000gns as a yearling. She has since won twice in France and been Listed-placed, while full-brother Epic Poet has become a Listed winner and Group 3-placed. Perfect Power, who had given La Filomena’s page a wonderful update with his twoyear-old achievements before she was sold as a yearling,
subsequently added a win in the Commonwealth Cup and gained a place on the Darley stallion roster.
With all those updates, what would be the valuation for La Filomena when she walked into the ring at Arqana’s Summer Sale? Answer: €395,000, even though she has gained black type and won two races!
Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock was clearly happy to secure her at that price, and after adding to his compliments of “great pedigree, great physique”, he said: “She was a 310,000gns yearling, and now she’s Listedplaced. It’s a funny market we work in. You’re paying not much more for something that can run.”
A weak yen proved no bar to domestic buyers at this two-day sale of foals and yearlings held at Teruya Yoshida’s Northern Farm on the island of Hokkaido.
In October, the yen fell to a 30-year low against the US dollar, and while it has lifted marginally it appeared to be a good opportunity for overseas buyers with favourable currencies to invest in some choice horses, many with European or American heritage. Yet the visitors could barely get a look in due to the spending power of domestic racehorse owners.
A yearling filly by Japan Cup winner Suave Richard was sold to Qatar Racing’s David Redvers for ¥50m (€321,300), while Hong Kong buyer Karson Ka Ching Cheng bought two horses – including a foal daughter of Cheveley Park Stakes winner turned great broodmare Donna Blini – for a combined ¥410m (€2.6m), but otherwise the home team dominated.
On a social media post just before the sale, Redvers had posted a photograph with glowing comment on stallion Contrail, the Japanese Triple Crown winner, whose first foals were about to be offered. It was a prophetic note, for the freshman sire was to have a major impact in the ring – he is seen as the natural successor to his late sire Deep Impact, who duly carried out a similar role after his dominant sire, Sunday Silence, departed the scene.
Contrail’s stock have to prove they can run, but no top-level Japanese racehorse owner will be keen to bet
against it, and his 20 foals who walked the ring, including eight who made the US dollar equivalent of $1m, found a buyer. They helped drive turnover to a record high, up nine per cent, of just over ¥28bn (nearly €181m) at an average of ¥64.7m (€415,000, up 12 per cent) and average of ¥43m (€276,000, an increase of two per cent). The clearance rate of 96 per cent illustrates demand in a country where excellent prize-money performs the role of oiling the merry-go-round.
There was a fair amount of nepotism over the cream of Contrail’s foals, for the sale-topper, a Northern Farmconsigned ¥520m beauty (€3.345m), out of the Argentinian Group 1 winner Conviction, was sold to Koji Maeda. He bred the exalted young stallion, and pledged to send his new acquisition to
fledgling handler Yuichi Fukunaga, who rode Contrail to five Group 1 victories.
Koji’s brother, Shinji, in whose colours Contrail raced, joined in with the spending spree when investing ¥330m (€2.1m) on a colt by the same sire and offered by Grand Stud. This one had shamrocks in his veins, for his dam, the Galileo mare Bye Bye Baby, won a Group 3 for Aidan O’Brien and was a full-sister to that trainer’s Derby winner Serpentine among others.
Top among the yearlings on offer were a Northern Farm-offered pair who made ¥310m (€2m), the first being a son of Kitasan Black out of the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes winner Include Betty and the second a son of Silver State and the US-bred mare Palace Rumor, who was a half-sister to American Classic winner and sire Palace
Malice. Masahiro Noda of Danox Co Ltd, buyers of last year’s sale topper, a ¥450m (€2.9m) son of Maurice, secured the yearling by Kitasan Black, a Shadai Farm stallion and sire of the brilliant Equinox, while T N Racing bought the Silver State yearling.
A handful of horses by sires who operate in Europe were on offer, notably a Wootton Bassett yearling colt who realised ¥270m (€1.7m) to a bid from Deep Impact’s owner Makoto Kaneko. His purchase, a full-brother to the James Fanshawe-trained Breeders’ Cup winner Audarya, was foaled by Green Bananas. She had been bought by Teruya Yoshida in a private deal, another example of Japanese investment in top-class mares.
Although the yearling session of the Fasig-Tipton July Sale failed to live up to last year’s high bar, which had yielded a record-equalling median of $90,000, the day also offered some positivity for the American yearling sales season ahead, writes
Nancy SextonEarly in the calendar, the sale is a good spot for those physically forward yearlings, especially those without eye-popping pedigrees. It also offers a valuable early insight into the progeny of first-crop sires, an aspect that Fasig-Tipton has long played upon with its annual ‘Freshman Sire Showcase’
It was one of the highest-priced stallions among this year’s group, multiple Grade 1 winner Authentic, who supplied the sale-topper, a $475,000 filly from the family of Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods who was knocked down to owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong. One of only two catalogued by her sire, who navigated the Covid-
First-crop sire Authentic gained an early vote of confidence with this $475,000 filly
ravaged season of 2020 to win the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic, she was sold by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of her breeder Spendthrift Farm, who stand Authentic
alongside his champion sire Into Mischief.
Other first-crop sires to find favour included the top sprinter Volatile, a son of Violence who supplied a $285,000
With ofces and farms in Newmarket and Ireland, The Castlebridge Consignment has been Europe’s leading sales consignor over the past twenty years and we would like to discuss with you the foals, mares and fllies that you may be selling in 2023.
The Castlebridge Consignment always present extremely strong foal, mare and flly drafts at the Autumn Sales and will once again be selling at Tattersalls, Gofs and Arqana. Our executive team provide a level of service to buyers and vendors that is highly regarded within the industry. That team of Andrew Mead, Bill Dwan and Patrick Diamond are available for farm visits to inspect potential sale candidates at your stud, and give you their assessment as to which sale your horse can best be placed. Why not take the opportunity to talk to the sales consignor with the best track record in the business?
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filly bought by trainer Kenny McPeek.
Outside of the new sires, progeny of Hill ’n’ Dale Farm’s Good Magic – sire of this year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mage – were understandably in demand. A pair of his colts broke the $300,000 barrier, with Boardshorts Stables LLC going to $370,000 for a colt out of the winning Scolding and trainer Wesley Ward paying $330,000 for a colt out of Bola De Cristal, a Galileo member of Watership Down Stud’s Crystal Music family.
While European participation was thin on the ground, Irish breeze-up pinhooker Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud was busy hunting with an eye on next spring, coming away with a pair of first-crop colts by Global Campaign ($100,000) and Complexity ($65,000).
In all, 207 yearlings sold for a total of $20,507,000 and average of $99,068, a decline of 14% from last year. The median fell by 14.4% to $77,000.
The preceding day’s horses in
training section, meanwhile, was buoyed by the participation of Nashwa’s owner Imad Alsagar. The Derby-winning owner operates Blue Diamond Stud in Newmarket but has increased his presence in Kentucky in recent months and through agent Chad Schumer paid $550,000 to add another high-class member to his band in the Grade 2-placed Free Look. The Tapit filly, who is out of a half-sister to top sire Violence, ran second in the Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park and wasn’t beaten far when fifth behind Meditate in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year for Chad Brown.
Her price was matched by Steve Young’s purchase of the stakes-winning filly Malleymoo. From the further family of New Approach, the daughter of English Channel won a Dundalk maiden for Joseph O’Brien last year before returning to the US, where she landed the Penn Oaks. Plans call for her to join Todd Pletcher.
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The European season is in full swing and many intriguing moves are being made by a number of different stallions. Most of it amounts to very good news for British sires, who seem to have the whip hand compared to their European counterparts.
First thing to note is that it is almost a foregone conclusion that Frankel will regain his title as champion sire in Britain and Ireland, his second after a one-year break for fellow Newmarket stalwart Dubawi, who could conceivably end up with just one championship to show for his outstanding efforts. The truth is that the average Frankel is much better positioned in terms of aptitude to harvest all the big early- and mid-summer middle-distance prizes, particularly when we are talking about three-year-olds.
As things stand, Frankel is £2.2 million clear of seventh-placed Dubawi, but a fairer way to compare these two sires and others is their European stakes-winner totals for the year.
Frankel leads that list too, with 21 up to the end of the Newmarket July meeting. He enjoyed a flourish of stakes winners at Royal Ascot, which built on his Classic successes with Chaldean and Soul Sister. And even with three fancied previous Group 1 winners well beaten, the Juddmonte stallion still ended the meeting as the top sire, aided by three brand new top-flight winners in Prince Of Wales’s winner Mostahdaf, Queen Anne hero Triple Time and Gold Cup
scorer Courage Mon Ami.
Moreover, not only did Frankel add three first-time Group 1 winners to his already
impressive tally, he also unearthed a couple of potential new stars in the shape of Mostahdaf and Courage Mon Ami, both of whom were rewarded with career-high Timeform ratings of 129 and 128 respectively. Mostahdaf now sits behind only Cracksman (136) and Adayar (131) on his sire’s roll of honour, while Courage Mon Ami has joined Hurricane Lane as his sire’s joint-fourth top-rated horse. A Juddmonte International featuring an in-form Mostahdaf and Paddington is a race to savour later this summer.
Another of his progeny on the upgrade is his four-year-old daughter Nashwa, whose stunning Group 1 Falmouth Stakes success has seen her overtake Inspiral as one of his best daughters with a new Timeform mark of 125, which also places her among her sire’s top ten offspring.
Adding to and improving his top ten runners is the clearest sign possible that
BILL SEWLYNthe Banstead Manor Stud sire is at his zenith. It is usually a sire’s inability to do this that precedes a decline in fortunes. After his Royal Ascot flourish, plus the more recent Group 1 winners Nashwa and Westover, Frankel is now on a strike-rate of 17.2% stakes winners from runners, the best by an active sire anywhere in the world and just ahead of his Newmarket rival Dubawi.
Though they may be rivals, Frankel and Dubawi in partnership as sire and broodmare sire are turning out to be a potent force. Both Mostahdaf and the Prince of Wales’s third home Adayar are excellent examples of a cross that will have plenty of future opportunities. Right now, there are eight stakes winners (25%) and five Group winners (16%), also featuring Group 1 winner Homeless Songs, from just 32 runners with the cross. Who can argue with percentages like that?
Dubawi’s current three-year-olds have not really fired a shot this term, so it is a measure of how well his stock improve with age that sees him in second place with 14 stakes winners. He has two Group 3 winners this year among his Classic generation. But hot on his heels with 12 stakes winners is Banstead’s sire Kingman.
Kingman, too, is in hurry-up mode this season. The son of Invincible Spirit has been under the spotlight since this time last year as his current three-year-olds are from his best-ever book of mares, earned after his first crop featuring Persian King and Calyx did so well. The son of Invincible Spirit is responding with plenty of classy runners despite the setback of losing his Group 1-winning filly Commissioning to the paddocks.
He also may have lost out on the delayed return to action of the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Dewhurst Stakes third Nostrum, who served notice that he will be a contender for top honours with an impressive Listed victory at the July meeting. Nevertheless, Kingman has already posted 15 stakes winners from his 2020 crop and it is very likely, indeed almost inevitable, that this will eventually be his most successful one, eclipsing the 18 stakes winners from his first and 17 from his second.
Dreamer. In doing so, Calyx became one of only three first-season sires alongside Blue Point and Magna Grecia to have sired a single stakes winner so far this year and the first with a Group winner.
The new boys are being outshone by a couple of proven sires and a pair of second-season stallions when it comes to getting stakes winners, although Blue Point is matching all comers with 18 individual winners to July 16. Of particular merit is Wootton Bassett’s ten individual winners from just 19 runners, including Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber (TF111p), plus Group 2 Railway Stakes first and second Bucanero Fuerte and Unquestionable both rated 109p. That is three of the top six European two-year-olds on the Timeform scale. The very promising Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes heroine Matrika (TF102p) heads up No Nay Never’s three stakes winners.
The challenge for Kingman is to find another jewel or two from among the group and there are a few credible candidates. Note the impressive recent outings of Feed The Flame (Timeform 121p) who scored impressively in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and the aforementioned Nostrum (Timeform 118p).
On a side note, Kingman also became a Group-winning grandsire at the July meeting for the first time, his son Calyx providing the Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes winner Persian
Meanwhile, US sire Justify makes it a trifecta of Coolmore sires among the top four by stakes winners, his ultra-impressive son City Of Troy landing the Group 2 Superlative Stakes by six-and-a-half lengths to go top of the juvenile Timeform table with a rating of 119p. Moreover, he also has the best filly seen out so far this season in Europe in the shape of the impressive four-length Group 2 Prix Robert Papin winner Ramatuelle, now rated 111p.
The other second-season sire making headlines this year is the irrepressible Havana Grey, who in Elite Status (TF105+) and eye-catching Group 3 July Stakes winner Jasour (TF105p) has two stakes-winning juveniles to rival any he had in his first crop.
“Frankel is now on a strike-rate of 17.2% stakes winners from runners”Nashwa: confirmed herself as one of Frankel’s top ten performers with a stunning winning display in the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket
Bearing in mind that Oasis Dream had been the champion two-yearold of his generation before developing into the champion sprinter of 2003, the exploits of his first few crops of three-year-olds took a lot of breeders by surprise. Here was a horse who had narrowly missed breaking York’s fivefurlong record when he led throughout in the Nunthorpe Stakes, yet his secondcrop daughter Midday failed by only a head to win a rough edition of the Oaks.
Midday – the daughter of an 11-furlong winner – was to win six other Group 1 events, including the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille over a mile and a half, and she wasn’t alone in demonstrating stamina. Lady Jane Digby – out of a daughter of the stamina-packed Hernando – eventually became a Group 1 winner over a mile and a quarter; Monitor Closely won the Great Voltigeur Stakes before finishing third in the St Leger, despite being out of a Group-winning miler; and Tuscan Evening – out of a mare by Arc winner Suave Dancer –numbered a Group 2 win over a mile and a quarter among her string of American Graded successes. Other Group winners at around that distance included Sri Putra, Sandbar and Querari.
I’ve heard it suggested that Midday’s prowess over middle-distances was one of the worst things that ever happened to Oasis Dream because it encouraged breeders to send him more and more mares with stamina in their pedigrees. In the process, it was easy to forget that those early crops also contained numerous talented sprinters and milers, such as Aqlaam, Arcano, Prohibit, Approve, Misheer, Main Aim, Captain Gerrard, Starlit Sands and Mullein.
Consequently, Oasis Dream has more foals out of daughters of Sadler’s Wells than any other broodmare sire, with a total of 90. This cross produced Opinion, winner of a Group 1 handicap over a mile and a half in Australia, Approve, winner of the Norfolk and Gimcrack Stakes, and Button Down, a Grade 3 winner in the US, but it doesn’t rank as one of Oasis Dream’s most successful nicks. Nor does his association with Galileo’s daughters. There is just one black-type winner among this cross’s 71 foals of racing age.
In general, his most reliably productive
associations have been with daughters of speedier stallions, such as Selkirk, Pivotal, Indian Ridge, Machiavellian and Efisio, but there have been a few middledistance stallions which have bucked the trend, arguably the most notable being Montjeu, whom you’ll be hearing more of later in this article. From 34 foals by Oasis Dream, Montjeu’s daughters have been represented by nine black-type performers, with eight earning Racing Post Ratings between 100 and 110.
The explanation of why Oasis Dream’s speed has sometimes been overwhelmed by his mates’ stamina lies in the bottom half of his pedigree. His first three dams were daughters of the King George winners Dancing Brave, Mill Reef and Busted and his dam Hope was a sister to Wemyss Bight, who showed top-class form over a mile and a half in winning the Irish Oaks and finishing a close second in the Prix Vermeille.
Oasis Dream’s second dam Bahamian and third dam Sorbus were also accomplished performers. Bahamian won the Oaks Trial at Lingfield and later finished first in the Prix de l’Esperance over a furlong short of two miles, only to be demoted to third. Sorbus, for her part, was officially second in the 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger in Ireland, but she had crossed the line first in the Irish Oaks, only to be demoted.
All of this was surely relevant when Oasis Dream was joined at the Banstead Manor stallion unit by Kingman, a horse
bred along similar lines. Whereas Oasis Dream is by Green Desert, Kingman is by Green Desert’s son Invincible Spirit. And whereas Oasis Dream is out of Hope, Kingman is out of Zenda, a Classicwinning daughter of Hope.
John Gosden compared his two champions after Kingman’s impressive victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes: “Kingman has the speed of Oasis Dream; if you wanted to you could step him up in trip, but I don’t see the point. He has an amazing cruising speed. He is as quick as Oasis Dream, but he gets a mile.”
Gosden made it clear that Kingman would have a short break before his next likely target, the Sussex Stakes, but there was still speculation that Kingman could have successfully followed in Oasis Dream’s footsteps had he taken up his engagement in the July Cup. In fact, he never got to tackle six furlongs, with three of his victories coming over seven furlongs and the other four at Group 1 level over a mile.
It was virtually guaranteed that breeders would view Kingman as a prime candidate to inject speed and acceleration into classically-bred mares and this is borne out by the breakdown of his progeny by broodmare sire. Leading the way, with 89 foals of racing age (including around 20 two-yearolds of 2023), is Galileo. Other popular matches include Galileo’s half-brother
Sea The Stars, with 25 foals, and Montjeu, with 23 foals.
The six black-type winners out of Galileo’s daughters may not sound like a rich return, but one of them is Commissioning, the unbeaten Fillies’ Mile winner. Also among the six are the American-raced Grade 2 winner Serve The King, Musidora Stakes winner Nausha and the Listed winners Fox Chairman, Save A Forest and Sounds Of Heaven. It is worth pointing out that Serve The King, Nausha, Fox Chairman and Save A Forest were all black-type winners at a mile and a quarter or more.
A more positive slant to Kingman’s record with Galileo mares is given by Racing Post Ratings, with 12 of Kingman’s 54 starters out of Galileo mares having attained ratings of 100+ and a further 11 being rated in the 90s. And there is every chance that these figures will improve further, judging by the record of Kingman’s sire Invincible Spirit.
The Irish National Stud’s wonderful veteran, who did all his winning over six furlongs, has also been a very popular destination for Galileo’s daughters, with 87 foals of racing age. A very respectable 11 per cent have become black-type winners, including 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia, Al Quoz Sprint winner Danyah and Group 2 winners Babylone and Ancient Spirit. Four of the ten black-type winners won over a mile and a quarter or more, with Babylone taking the mile-and-a-half Prix de Malleret, while another scored over a mile and three-quarters.
Daughters of Sea The Stars have arguably made a better start with Kingman than those of his half-brother Galileo. From just 12 starters they have produced four black-type winners – an impressive 16 per cent. Leading the quartet is the four-time American Graded stakes winner Technical Analysis, the others being the Listed winners Raakib Alhawa, Ready To Venture and Mr Moliere.
Bearing in mind that Oasis Dream has a solid record with mares by Montjeu and that Invincible Spirit sired the top miler Charm Spirit from one, it isn’t too surprising that Kingman has made an eye-catching start with daughters of the 1999 Arc winner. Seventeen of his 23 foals have raced and no fewer than seven of them have achieved a Racing Post Rating between 100 and 115. The first to win at a high level was the American-raced Public Sector, who picked up three Graded stakes at up to nine furlongs in 2021.
Two others have been in fine form this year, with the five-year-old gelding Mashhoor hitting new heights with his wins in the Listed Orby Stakes over a
mile and a half and the International Stakes over a quarter mile less. Better still has been the French three-year-old Feed The Flame, who was winning for the third time in four starts when he finished in great style to land the Grand Prix de Paris over a mile and a half. The style of his victory suggested that he may well have a role to play in the Arc.
Incidentally, the 2022 Derby runnerup, Hoo Ya Mal, is another sired by a son of Invincible Spirit from a Montjeu mare, so Montjeu mares are certainly working very well with Invincible Spirit and his sons. I hardly need add that Charm Spirit – a son of Invincible Spirit and a Montjeu mare – is the stallion responsible for that remarkable sprinter Shaquille. Who would have expected to see a July Cup winner inbred 4 x 3 to Sadler’s Wells via Montjeu and Galileo, two stallions whose progeny have an average winning distance in excess of 11 furlongs?
Kingman now has seven northern hemisphere Group 1 winners to his credit.
winner over seven furlongs and a mile.
Juddmonte owes two of its best winners by Kingman to grand-daughters of Kingmambo. The dual ten-furlong Group 2 winner Headman has a dam by King’s Best, whereas the highly promising Nostrum has a dam by Dubai Destination. Green Desert’s outstanding son Golden Horn is another with a dam by Dubai Destination.
That terrific broodmare sire Pivotal has done consistently well with this male line, with his daughters producing 11% black-type winners to Oasis Dream, 12% to Invincible Spirit and now 12% to Kingman. Invincible Spirit’s nine black-type winners featured the Group 1 winners Mayson and Pearls Galore, so expect Kingman to add to his three black-type winners, which include Noble Style, winner of the Gimcrack Stakes, and Roseman, who went close to winning the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
With Kingman being based at Banstead Manor Stud, it was inevitable that he would be given every chance to prove himself with daughters of the high-class miler Dansili and of Dansili’s brother Champs Elysees. Although mares by Dansili had a distinctly moderate record with Oasis Dream, they are faring a good deal better with Kingman, with the Group 3 winners Tempus, Marbling and Cormorant among their four black-type winners.
In addition to Galileo and Montjeu, their broodmare sires include Nayef (Palace Pier), Dylan Thomas (Persian King), Street Cry (the American-trained Domestic Spending) and Soldier Hollow (the Japanese miler Schnell Meister). All these broodmare sires shone over a mile and a quarter or more, so Kingman’s stallion career is clearly not being hindered by his being sent so many mares by middle-distance stallions.
Of course there are also plenty of examples of Kingman doing well with mares by speedier stallions, such as the top miler Selkirk. Daughters of Selkirk provided Oasis Dream with as many as nine black-type winners – 13% – and they are doing even better with Kingman, with their three black-type winners representing 21%. Kingman owes that fine six- and seven-furlong performer Kinross to a Selkirk mare who raced at up to a mile and a half, but another smart son bred this way – the St James’s Palace Stakes runner-up King of Comedy – is out of a
Champs Elysees’ daughters have done even better, with the Group 3 winners Remarquee and Megallan among their eight foals.
One surprising name among the broodmare sires of Kingman’s black-type winners is none other than his relative Oasis Dream, whose daughter Marketeer produced the German Listed winner Merkur. This colt is inbred 3 x 3 to Green Desert and 3 x 3 to Hope, but it appears that the two lines to the comparatively stoutly-bred Hope has carried more weight. Merkur’s win came over 11 furlongs and he was then tried in the Deutsches Derby.
There’s one son of Kingman, though, who oozed speed. The quick-maturing Calyx never had the chance to tackle a distance longer than six furlongs, despite being the son of two very talented milers, but the early signs are that he is passing on plenty of speed to his progeny. With markedly fewer runners than the likes of Blue Point, Soldier’s Call and Inns Of Court, he is already responsible for Persian Dreamer, winner of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, Malc, runner-up in the Norfolk Stakes, and Classic Flower, third in the Prix Robert Papin.
“Montjeu mares are working very well with Invincible Spirit and his sons”
Ringworm is a highly contagious fungal infection of the skin. It can affect many species, including horses, dogs, cats and humans. In horses, the two types of fungi that cause the disease are Trichophyton and Microsporum species. Autumn, winter and spring are the most common seasons for outbreaks of infection, as the often-wet British climate is ideal for these fungi to proliferate. Ringworm infection can be transmitted by direct contact between horses, as well as indirectly via sharing of tack, rugs or grooming equipment, or on the hands or clothes of people handling multiple horses.
Ringworm is one of the most common skin conditions of horses. Horses of any age can be affected, but young horses in groups are most at risk, probably due to reduced exposure to the fungus. Older horses develop increased immunity as they age but can still be re-infected, although typically infection in older horses is less severe. Young racehorses in pre-training or training yards, as well as youngstock on studs, are therefore particularly at risk.
While not life-threatening, the contagious nature of disease means that horses with active infection should not travel, and as such training and racing schedules can be interrupted. The British Horseracing Authority require a veterinary certificate for horses with skin disease to state they are not contagious before racing.
The first sign of infection is often tufts of hair sticking up against the normal direction of the coat (Fig 1). Closer inspection of these patches will reveal an accumulation of ash-like particles between the hairs. As the fungus weakens the hairs, they break and fall out, leaving a bald patch that is typical of ringworm. While infection due to Trichphyton spp tends to leave dry scaly patches as the hairs fall away, infection due to Microsporum spp does not affect all hairs equally and so can sometimes result in large scabs of matted hair where the skin underneath is raw and oozing.
Despite the name, ringworm does not always result in circular lesions. In some
cases, there may be only a few small, circular patches, however in more severe cases the affected areas will coalesce together resulting in larger patches of bald, scaling and flaking skin (Fig 2).
Ringworm can affect any part of the body (Fig 3), however infection typically occurs where there is damaged or traumatised skin. Therefore, lesions are common at sites with tack or rug contact points such as the girth area, under the saddle, or around the neck where rugs sit.
While a diagnosis of ringworm is often made based on appearance alone, other diseases can produce similar lesions, and for biosecurity reasons obtaining a diagnosis can be important.
Ringworm diagnosis can be confirmed by taking hair plucks or skin scrapes and looking for fungal spores under a microscope (Figs 4 and 5). There is a PCR test that looks for DNA within the hair pluck or skin scrape. Both PCR and microscopy give quick results (same day or within 24 hours), which is important where clearance is needed regarding a horse’s contagiousness prior to racing. It is also possible to culture the causative fungi, however this is difficult and may take up to 30 days, making it unhelpful in practice.
Ringworm infection is usually selflimiting; however, it can take five to ten weeks for infection to resolve. The contagious nature of the disease means that in racing establishments, treatment is usually preferred to hasten resolution of disease in affected horses, reduce spread of infection, and reduce environmental contamination.
The main principles of treatment of ringworm are treatment of active infection in the affected horse(s), and removal of infective spores from the environment.
Treatment of affected horses relies on topical application of anti-fungal medications in the form of shampoos or washes. The first stage is to remove debris from the skin such as broken hairs, scale and scabs, all of which have a heavy burden of fungal spores. When the coat is long, clipping may be required to achieve this and allow close contact between the skin and medication. The whole horse should be washed in anti-fungal medication initially, but for the subsequent treatments only affected areas of skin need to be treated. A minimum of four treatments should be applied at threeday intervals.
The topical anti-fungal Enilconazole (trade name Imaverol) is licensed for treatment of ringworm in horses and is the most commonly used preparation. While systemic anti-fungal medications exist that can be given in feed, there is limited evidence for their efficacy for treating ringworm, therefore these drugs are rarely recommended.
As well as treating affected horses, it is also important to disinfect tack, rugs, and equipment to prevent re-infection of the affected horse as well as spread of infection between horses. Anti-fungal disinfect agents that are effective against ringworm include Virkon and Trigene.
Reduction of fungal spores in the environment is more difficult; all bedding should be destroyed, and stables, horseboxes and horse-walkers should be disinfected using washes or by fogging. Ringworm spores can survive on surfaces such as wood for weeks or even months, therefore particular care should be paid to disinfection of wooden stables and fences.
As ringworm is zoonotic, it is important to wear gloves when handling affected horses and treating lesions.
The incubation period for ringworm (the time between infection and signs appearing) can be one to three weeks, therefore by the time clinical signs are observed in one horse, other horses may already be infected.
If a horse is suspected to have ringworm, it should be kept isolated from other horses; quarantine in the horse’s normal stable or paddock is acceptable as long as there is no horsehorse contact. Other horses on the yard should be inspected for early signs of infection. Any tack or equipment that has been used on infected horses should be disinfected immediately, and ideally tack, rugs and grooming equipment should be restricted to individual horses.
Attention should also be paid to clothing and equipment belonging to riders and staff, particularly items such as riding boots which are likely to be exposed to a large number of fungal spores if ringworm lesions are present around the girth region.
Under current British Horseracing Authority rules, horses with active ringworm infection are not allowed to enter racecourse premises. Horses with signs of dermatitis (skin disease) should have a Certificate of NonContagiousness completed by a veterinary surgeon in order to enter the racecourse. This requires the veterinary surgeon to certify that a) the dermatitis present is not contagious to other horses, b) the horse is negative for ringworm based on fungal culture,
microscopy or PCR, and/or c) the horse has been treated for ringworm with a licensed product and there is no evidence of active ringworm.
Although typically a self-limiting problem in the individual horse, ringworm outbreaks at equine establishments can be a frustrating and time-consuming problem. Good hygiene should be practised on yards including reducing sharing of tack and equipment and regular disinfection where tack is shared. Prompt identification of cases is important to allow the early treatment of disease, thereby reducing spread to other horses and contamination of the environment with fungal spores.
Licensed anti-fungal medications such as enilconazole (Imaverol) are effective and hasten the resolution of disease such that affected horses can usually return to the racecourse within two weeks of initiating treatment. The disease is zoonotic (a risk to humans) and this should also be considered when managing outbreaks.
#ThoroughbredCensus2023
In a groundbreaking initiative, British Racing’s Horse Welfare Board has partnered with research experts at Hartpury University to launch the first-ever thoroughbred census in Great Britain. The ambitious six-month project aims to enhance the sport’s data bank and improve traceability of thoroughbreds after they have been retired from racing, a key commitment from the sport’s welfare strategy, ‘A Life Well Lived’.
With improved data, British Racing and its aftercare charity, Retraining of Racehorses (RoR), can better support owners with access to educational resources and routes to compete if desired, as well as continue to build informed and helpful communities. Improved data at this stage of a thoroughbred’s life can also help the Horse Welfare Board and RoR improve and adapt welfare initiatives and will, most importantly, enable fast and effective contact in the event of an equine disease outbreak.
The primary source of traceability for all horses in Great Britain is the equine identification document (passport),
which new owners of any horse are required to update within 30 days of new ownership. Data for former racehorses reduces significantly after their first step out of racing, when they go into private ownership, with general ownership change compliance at an average of 20% across the equestrian world. The reasons for this are presumed to be a lack of understanding of the importance of this step, confusion on costs, the desire to hold on to the document after a horse has died and general apathy to engage in the process.
As a result, an additional objective of the census will be to communicate to private owners and encourage them to take action, to check their horse’s passport and if needed, to get it updated. At the same time, owners of horses who were registered with a licenced British trainer in their past will be encouraged to register their horse for free with RoR to help with ongoing traceability via RoR’s annual status checks on all members’ horses.
The census will run until 31st December and will collect data including equine identification document (passport) numbers, microchip numbers, age, current
residence, and second career choices. This wealth of information will enable British Racing to build a comprehensive understanding of the retired racehorse population for the first time.
Over the next six months significant efforts will be focused on communicating to all corners of the British equestrian community to encourage participationfrom racing yards to riding schools. With an ambition to achieve around 15,000 completed surveys, help and support from across the racing community will be essential.
“Our call out is to the trainer, breeder, and owner community. Please get involved, complete the census for former racehorses still with you at home, promote the census to those who have purchased one of your former racehorses, and encourage any friends who have taken on a thoroughbred from the sport to participate. Together, we can make a significant shift to close the traceability gap in our sport”.
Helena Flynn, Programme Director Horse Welfare Board- Former racehorses who have been registered with a licensed British trainer
- Horses bred for racing in Britain that will never race
- Horses that have moved abroad and are no longer racing
- Horses actively point-to-pointing
- Broodmares
Excluded from the census:
- All horses that are intended to go into training or are currently in training
- When a horse comes out of training and the racing ownership is terminated, Weatherbys becomes the valid ownership recognised by DEFRA and the Central Equine Database.
- When a horse is retired from racing, the passport reverts back to the Weatherbys owner from the racing owner (usually the breeder) so the passport must be updated at this point.
- It is a legal requirement to register ownership with the Passport Issuing Organisation within 30 days of acquiring a horse. All Thoroughbreds are issued with paper and digital passports (ePassport). If the paper passport is updated the digital passport will also be updated www.weatherbys.co.uk/ epassport
- Weatherbys must be informed at point of death and the passport returned - the passport can be sent back to an owner as a keepsake if requested in a covering letter.
For information go to: www.weatherbys. co.uk/general-stud-book/horse-passports/ passports-gb
- Do you own a former racehorse? Complete the census at www.ror.org.uk/ registration Or use the QR code below to access the census directly
- Have you sold racehorses into private ownership?
- Have you gifted racehorses in their retirement?
- Do you know anyone with a former racehorse? Promote the census and actively encourage people to participate.
If you would like to contact the Horse Welfare Board about any of its ongoing work, please get in touch via info@racehorsewelfare.co.uk
Throughout the evolution of the horse, the hoof has altered in order to best cope with different environments. In the latter years, selective breeding has brought about breed-specific adaptions, such as the Clydesdale, who has been bred to have large, durable feet to assist in pulling heavy loads on hard/difficult surfaces.
Selective breeding can be somewhat of a double-edged sword, however, and has been detrimental in some breeds, such as the Quarter Horse, where it has been considered desirable for the horses to have small, delicate hooves. This has resulted in increased cases of navicular disease due to the mis-match of wellmuscled, heavily boned body types on small feet.
The thoroughbred breeding industry is, as a rule, results driven. This leads us to the natural assumption that breeding stock will have possessed adequate soundness to meet the demands of training and the racecourse test. This is certainly true when assessing prospective sires, and although mares do not always come under such rigorous testing (can be unraced and selected on pedigree alone), on purely an individual basis they play slightly less of a part to overall breed longevity, sheerly due to the number of foals entering the industry over their lifetime compared to a stallion’s lifetime progeny contribution. Of course, there are many reasons why a filly might not race, and poor feet can be but one part, however it is something to consider when assessing the conformational traits of mares as breeding prosects.
The foot of the horse is equivalent to the human middle finger, consisting of four bones: the long pastern, short pastern, pedal bone and navicular bone. These bones articulate to give the fetlock, pastern and coffin joint. Inside the hoof wall and sole is a delicate support structure made up of three bones, cartilage and tendons, which all hinge on the healthy exterior of the hoof for support and protection. The hoof surrounds the pedal bone, the navicular bone and the lower part of the short pastern bone. It is a highly specialised structure, designed to resist wear and tear, support the horse’s body weight
and absorb concussion.
The outer wall of the hoof, containing approximately 25% water, is made up of keratinized epithelial cells that run parallel to each other from the coronary band (where the horn is produced) down to the ground. These cells give the hoof its hard, horny surface, which is perfect for enclosing the sensitive structures within. The sole of the hoof (approximately 33% water) is comprised of similar material to the hoof wall, it is a layered crescent shaped structure and slightly less porous than the outer wall. The sole is not meant to be a primary weight-bearing surface but helps to protect the sensitive tissues beneath it and serves to hold the outer surfaces of the wall apart, as well as acting as a support structure for the hoof wall.
The frog, containing around 50% water, is a triangular shape of soft elastic horn, which acts as shock absorber, assists circulation and provides grip. When the frog comes into contact with the ground, it is compressed and expands sideways, therefore putting pressure on the digital cushion, which, in turn, allows for expansion. The digital cushion lies at the back half of the foot and acts as another shock absorber.
The development of healthy hoof growth is dependent upon many factors, such as breed, genetics, age,
season, loading, environmental moisture, farriery and nutrition. Each factor will play an integral role throughout a Thoroughbred’s life, with differing importance dependant on their current life stage. A well-balanced diet will often provide all that is required for optimal hoof growth and structure, however, where support is necessary, supplementation can prove very useful alongside proper farriery care.
When assessing the nutritional needs of the hoof, the first compound which comes to mind is Keratin, which is a structural protein forming the main constituent of hair, feathers, hooves, claws and horns in vertebrates. In order for keratinisation to occur (the formation of horn cells) the body requires sufficient energy, protein, minerals and vitamins.
All bodily processes require energy, and it has been proven that if a horse is in negative energy balance, then horn growth will be impeded. On the flip side, when the horse is in positive energy balance, horn growth can increase by up to 50% – this can often be seen purely from the calorific changes within grazing between seasons. The hoof wall is about 93% protein on a dry matter basis, and the three amino acids associated with horn growth are cystine, cysteine and methionine. You will often see methionine included in all feeds and/or supplements
targeted at healthy hoof growth – this is because a horse’s body cannot synthesis this amino acid, and actually requires this in order to synthesis the other two (cystine and cysteine).
The most important mineral required for keratinisation is calcium, along with the two trace minerals zinc and copper. Zinc deficiencies have been linked to hoof deformity in foals, copper deficiencies can cause hoof depigmentation and a calcium deficient horse is almost certain to suffer with decreased hoof strength and growth. The relationship between these elements is a complex one, a deficiency in one can cause an excess in another. For example, an excess in calcium (often via a high cereal diet) can impede the absorption of zinc, whereas an excess of zinc can lead to a deficiency in copper! Therefore, when adding another feed component to a horse’s diet, always consider the amount of these vitamins and minerals a horse is ingesting – an excess of any one can often be just as harmful as a deficiency.
It is of the upmost importance when selecting a supplement, balancer or primary feed that you choose from a reputable company (these will often have nutritionists on hand to advise you),
ideally with the backing of clinical trials. There are four major vitamins and ten lesser vitamins (micro-nutrients) which are all essential for overall hoof development and health. The most well-known vitamin associated with hoof growth is biotin; this is readily absorbed by the body orally, and due to it not
weeks may pass before a noticeable difference exists in new hoof growth near the coronary band, and it can be up to a year before the entire hoof has regenerated. Some thoroughbreds will respond to biotin supplementation more positively than others, but it is always a viable option for all.
Selenium, one of the micro-nutrients, is worth mentioning due to the welldocumented research regarding toxicity causing lesions of the hoof wall –however, a selenium deficiency can affect vitamin E’s important role with cellular respiration, again, the correct balance is of the upmost importance. Ultimately, ensuring optimum hoof quality for thoroughbreds is a collective result of excellent farriery, correctly balanced nutrition, targeted health care, and considered selection of breeding stock.
being stored it is safe to supplement as any amount which isn’t required will be excreted (a toxicity is extremely unlikely).
Studies have shown that biotin will improve hoof growth, as well as quality and decrease cracking. As biotin only improves the growth of new hoof horn, not existing hoof, its success depends on routine administration at optimum levels. Due to this, several
When prospective buyers are assessing the quality of potential purchases, whether for breeding or racing purposes, the hoof quality and shape is something that will form a vital part of the jigsaw puzzle. A close inspection of the hooves and coronet band will provide you with much useful information; is the coronet band smooth, dry and cool? Is the horse shod with standard shoes or have any remedial
“Studies have shown that biotin will improve hoof growth”Farriers play a vital role in the racing careers of thoroughbreds
shoeing techniques been used? Are the angles of the hooves matching the pastern angles, and in turn the slope of the shoulder?
As a general rule, the correct angle for the hoof will be in the region of 45° to 60°, however all horses are individuals, and there will always be an exception to the rule. Buyers will have different needs to be met dependent upon the age and use of the horse they are looking to buy. For instance, broodmares possessing balanced and healthy hooves will cause less seasonal management issues, and are less likely to become foot sore and require shoes, due to the excess weight bearing during gestation.
Yearlings and older horses will almost certainly be shod when presented for sale. Of course, shoeing is a necessity when horses are in training under high intensity work, coming across varied terrain, including roads. However, shoes can be detrimental to hoof quality in the long run, particularly if not fitted and monitored correctly.
As most farriers will concur, a horse with reduced hoof growth, cracking or brittle hooves is not ideal and can make their job much harder with regard to keeping these horses sound. Feet that are flat or too upright can have detrimental effects on soundness and gait, and will require careful farriery to keep ‘on top’ of these issues. If left to deteriorate, other areas of the body will begin to compensate, ultimately leading to asymmetry, discomfort and lameness.
Thin soles are also a common occurrence. This trait can be inherited, or it could be caused following a particularly bad foot abscess, which may have lingered too long and damaged the sole, therefore making the same area prone to abscesses/punctures. This
is why it is important to pick horses’ hooves up and assess the sole quality, as well as judging from afar.
When looking at foals it is so important to assess if the correct farriery has taken place from the very beginning. Sion Davies DipWCF advises: “It is important to visit and assess foals from a young age, even as young as two weeks.
“If they have a leg turned in or out by a disproportionate amount, a small rub with the rasp can make a big difference as the growth plates are very soft at this point. For example, if the foot is very straight or turns in then the medial side of the foot will require rasping. If this doesn’t work as much as you wish then an extension will need to be applied. All this will help with achieving better conformation, which in the long run gives you a sounder horse.
“The better the conformation, the more even the weight distribution through the skeleton. The straighter the horse moves, the less chance of injury
and the increased chance of optimum performance”.
Hoof health starts as early as in utero through the correct nutritional balance being provided to/by the mare, and will continue all the way through their lives. As discussed, the hoof is a complex structure which withstands an immense amount of pressure and in turn demands proper care and attention.
Davies adds: “Regular farriery and good nutrition helps to maintain good hoof quality, and the old saying ‘No foot no horse’ could not be truer”.
We are very fortunate in our industry to have such innovative and highly skilled farriers. Research is ongoing to improve the soundness and longevity of the thoroughbred. If we can contribute by ensuring the best nutrition and management possible, we will continue to improve our horses’ welfare, soundness, racecourse results and ultimately sustain the incredible thoroughbred breed.
Readily available amino acids to support muscle development in combination with vitamin E for challenged immune systems, and B-vitamins to support appetite and form.
On August 1 HMRC overhauled the online VAT application system. Whilst these changes brought challenges across the board, over the last 12 months the ROA VAT Solution has successfully applied for new VAT registrations and quickly pivoted to meet the changing requirements of HMRC.
The current lead time for new VAT registrations is 40 working days. However, we have been successful in registering owners for VAT within 50% of this timeframe.
So what do racehorse owners need to know about applying for a new VAT registration?
Sole owners
• Once you become VAT registered, if you are self-employed, all your activities will be subject to VAT.
• If you have a self-assessment UTR number, this will need to be provided alongside your national insurance number for the purpose of the application.
• During the application process HMRC may ask for further information relating to a recent pay slip, P60 or latest self-assessment tax return payment.
• Any bank account in the sole owner’s name can be used in the application.
• All partners/syndicate members included on the D2 form will need to provide their self-assessment UTR numbers alongside their national insurance numbers for the purpose of the application. Failure to do so may result in a delay.
• The bank account provided on the application must be in the name of the partnership/syndicate. If the partnership/syndicate holds a BHA invoicing account, this may be used to receive repayments from HMRC.
Companies
• Companies will need to provide their company registration number, company UTR and details of figures from any tax returns submitted.
• The Director’s details will need to be provided for the VAT application
• Requirements for racing clubs will be advised on an individual basis depending on whether they fall under S7.3 or S7.4 of the scheme.
With the economic situation prompting a number of owners to re-evaluate their current racing spend, and with the increase in Weatherbys Racing Bank charges, we continue to receive enquiries from owners who are looking to make
savings on their expenses.
One area owners may want to look at is the racing bank account options available and how switching to a different account could save you money.
The Racehorse Owners Association
HMRC now conduct an additional check of each first VAT return. Due to our MTD compliant processes we can turn around the information requested in the check within 12 hours of HMRC’s request, without the need to contact the client for further information. Once the first return has been submitted and refunded, subsequent VAT returns should be straightforward.
We charge just £30+VAT to administer the HMRC registration application. There is no fee to switch if you already VAT registered. Fees are invoiced after your first return has been submitted and there are no up-front charges.
Quarterly submission charges for ROA members start at £100 plus VAT for sole registrations and £135 plus VAT for partnership/syndicate registrations. If you have multiple VAT registrations, we apply a 10% discount across all your registrations. The VAT element of these charges is then recovered in your subsequent VAT return.
Contact our dedicated VAT team at vat@roa.co.uk or call 01183 385 685 for further information.
has produced a table that compares the account options with the BHA and Weatherbys which are currently available to registered racehorse owners.
Further details and a useful comparison table can be found on our Racing Accounts webpage at roa.co.uk/racingaccount.
Our contact details:
@racehorseowners RacehorseOwnersUK Racehorseownersassociation
Five candidates will stand for three places in this year’s ROA Board election. Existing Board member Gay Kelleway is standing for a second term and she is joined on the ballot paper by owners Stephen Appelbee, Luke Tofts, Mike Tudor and Dr. Jim Walker.
The election is administered by Civica Election Services, who have sent an email to all ROA and Racegoers Club members containing each candidate’s manifesto and details of how to vote. If you have not received this communication please contact us on info@roa.co.uk. Your vote could make all the difference so we encourage all members to participate.
Voting closes on Tuesday, August 29. The results will be announced at the ROA AGM.
Following the launch of Great British Racing’s Racecourse Ownership Days in 2022, the series returns to racecourses in 2023 for racegoers to enjoy an action-packed day and gain fascinating insight into what it’s like to be an owner of an equine star.
Four meetings have been scheduled for 2023, launching at Windsor as part of the Racing League Summer Series on August 17, followed by Musselburgh (September 16), Cheltenham (October 27 and 28) and Ascot (November 24 and 25).
Ownership ambassador Frankie
Foster will host a series of talks alongside a panel of syndicate managers, trainers and a list of racing personalities sharing their ownership stories. Syndicates and clubs will be on hand to discuss an alternative avenue into racehorse ownership and a parade of horses with shares available will take place ahead of racing.
Racegoers will also get the opportunity to meet a syndicate exracehorse up close and learn about their career on the track.
To get involved contact info@inthepaddock.co.uk
The Horse Welfare Board and Hartpury University launched the first ever thoroughbred census last month.
All owners of former racehorses are being asked to complete the census which will help build an improved data bank on former racehorses and the lives they go on to lead, improving traceability and aiding Retraining of Racehorses to better support owners.
The census will request
information on each horse’s equine passport number, microchip number, age, current residence, second career and more, to provide a robust view of the current retired racehorse population.
The 2023 thoroughbred census can be completed online at www.ror.org.uk/registration.
Responses are accepted until December 31 with full results reported during the first quarter of 2024.
The RCA has confirmed that all non-registered owners have now been given access to the RCA PASS website in order to book their Racecourse Badge Scheme for Owners tickets.
If you have not received your Welcome to PASS email, please call the RCA PASS helpdesk on 01933 270333.
Please note that fixtures will only be available to book at the entry stage of the meeting, which is six days prior to the event.
This year we have partnered with the RCA to establish the RCA/ROA Racehorse Owners’ Racecourse of the Year award, which will be presented at the Showcase Seminar & Awards at Aintree on November 23. The new award seeks to reward racecourses that put the ownership experience front and centre of the day’s racing. The award will be an open vote taking place between August 28 and September 10. Look out for an email on how to cast your vote coming soon!
Ascot has announced a pre-tax profit of £3.4 million in 2022, with turnover rising by 161% to a record level of £101.4m. However, the profit is still some way short of the £7.3m preCovid, which highlights the significant overheads and operating costs the course is facing.
The strong 2022 performance enabled record planned prize-money in 2023 with a total of £17m on offer, an increase of £1.33m versus 2022. This excludes the £4.45m on offer at QIPCO British Champions Day. Prize-money at Royal Ascot 2023 was £9.52m, an increase of 10% over 2022.
The Jockey Club also posted a record turnover in 2022 of £236m, which was a 9% increase on 2019-levels. However, core operating profit had yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, although it recovered to £18.5m compared to £20.5m in 2019. The pandemic wiped more than £160m from the Jockey Club’s revenues during 2020 and 2021, with
Tony Linnet and friends had enjoyed some success with their filly-on-abudget Free Love and were looking forward to more adventures in 2020. The North South Syndicate even had hopes of a crack at a big race in what was to be the filly’s last season.
August
restrictions on spectators not being fully lifted until July 2021.
The overall number of racegoers attending the 325 fixtures staged by Jockey Club courses in 2022 was 1,526,596, while the group distributed more than £57m in prizemoney, including a record executive contribution of more than £28m.
Tony had already penned two books on their story – A Year of Free Love and Another Year of Free Love – and Farewell to Free Love was intended as the final chapter on his experiences of racehorse ownership.
But like most people’s plans that year, things did not pan out as expected, with the Covid pandemic
The Jockey Club also spent £11.4m on capital expenditure projects in 2022, compared with £7.7 million in the previous 12 months, including more than £1.3m on the refurbishment and reconfiguration of the weighing room at Newmarket’s July course and more than £1m on facilities at Haydock Park.
stopping racing in its tracks, and Tony’s own health then becoming equally as debilitating.
He has now published the final book in the trilogy which is available through Amazon, with all proceeds going to the Bob Champion Cancer Trust. To purchase or to find out more go to amazon.co.uk.
1-3 – Tote World Pool at Glorious Goodwood
17 – Ownership Day at Windsor
23-25 – Tote World Pool at York Ebor meeting
23-26 – RoR National Championships
31 – Racing Welfare Golf Day, Newcastle
September
3 – RoR Racing to Cricket event, Wormsley
8 – Racing Welfare Haydock Park Raceday
9-17 – National Racehorse Week
10 – ARC Malton Open Day
16 – Ownership Day at Musselburgh
23 and 24 – Sir Henry Cecil Newmarket Open Weekend
October 21 – Tote World Pool at British Champions Day, Ascot
27 and 28 – Ownership Days at Cheltenham
November 23 – RCA Showcase, Aintree racecourse
24 – Horseracing Industry Conference, York racecourse
24 and 25 – Ownership Days at Ascot
December
1 – Racing Welfare Northern Racing Awards, Newcastle racecourse
2 – Racing Welfare Epsom Racing Awards, Epsom racecourse
7 – ROA Horseracing Awards
Communities can celebrate racehorses on September 9-17
National Racehorse Week returns this year from September 9-17. With 107 training yards, ten aftercare and rehoming centres open and 30 community events, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved.
Whether it is through booking online and visiting a yard or volunteering at an open day, it is a great opportunity for you to show your passion for the industry and its horses. You can talk to the general public and answer questions about racing, channel your bake-off skills by offering to make a cake, or man the tea and coffee stands and assist with parking. It is a great opportunity to introduce people you know to the sport and give them a behind-the-scenes look at the high level of care that racehorses receive on a daily basis.
This year trainers and owners will be taking former racehorses to local schools, care homes and into urban communities, offering those who would not ordinarily have the chance to see a racehorse up close the opportunity to be part of the week-long initiative.
To book a place during National Racehorse Week visit nationalracehorseweek.uk.
If you would like to take part or need any more information, please contact Sally Lyons, National Racehorse Week Project Manager, at slyons@greatbritishracing.com.
Tickets on sale for Newmarket
Newmarket’s Henry Cecil Open Weekend takes place over the weekend of September 23-24, raising funds for Racing Welfare, the British Racing School and Newmarket Open Door.
The yards will be open on Sunday, September 24 only, whilst on the Saturday tours of the British Racing School, Peter O’Sullevan House, Jockey Club Rooms and Newmarket Equine Hospital will be available. Visitors can also meet the resident mares and stallions at the National Stud.
Tickets are £15 when booked in advance (£20 on the day). Book online at https://www.thehenrycecilopenweekend.co.uk/.
As Cheltenham continues its countdown to the 100th Cheltenham Gold Cup next March, we continue to look at the owners who have been lucky enough to experience the ultimate thrill and lead their Gold Cup horse back into the hallowed winner’s enclosure. We have now reached the 1950s, where horsepower on and off the track was coming to the fore.
Although Sir David Brown’s family owned a machine-tool business, a young David was just another apprentice in the factory he worked at when leaving school at 17, cycling the six miles from home to be at work by 7.30am.
Having a keen interest in motorcycles, his father offered to buy him one to make the journey easier. Not sharing his son’s passion for all things fast, his father brought him a 1,000cc V-twin Reading Standard, which he instantly modified, and at weekends entered hill-climb competitions. Such was his success he qualified to ride in the Isle of Man TT race, but due to the race’s fearsome reputation, his father forbade it.
Adventures abroad in South Africa – where he was employed in overseeing the installation of geared machinery in gold mines – and in America, meant that Brown now had
management skills as well as geardesigning skills, and on his return he diversified the family business, firstly into a steel foundry, and then into tractor manufacturing. With the onset of World War II and the increase in the production of gears and gearboxes for military equipment, both ventures proved inspired.
Intrigued by an advert offering for sale a “high-class motor business”, Brown haggled the price down to £20,500 for Aston Martin. With his hands-on approach and gear-designing skills he became instrumental in the production of their Aston Martin 2-litre sports car – or more commonly known at the DB1, a moniker coined after his initials.
A polo player during the summer, he was regularly seen hunting in the winter, and bred racehorses from his Buckinghamshire base. But an Irish point-to-pointer, originally named Floral Tribute, was to be his most well-known representative on the track.
With his name changed to Linwell, the son of Rosewell went into training with Charlie Mannon, a cover for the real trainer Ivor Herbert, whose position as a journalist was thought to be a conflict of interest with training horses. Herbert had also ridden Linwell in his first point-to-point, an ignominious start as the pair fell. Replaced by Michael Scudamore, the pair progressed
through the ranks and won the Anthony Mildmay Memorial at Sandown.
Lining up at Cheltenham for the 30th renewal of the Gold Cup, he faced his close relation Kerstin – their dams being full-sisters. She was made favourite for the 1957 race, which also saw the likes of Grand National-winner ESB and three-time Champion Hurdler Sir Ken line up. Held up at the back of the field, Linwell made progress with Kerstin and Pointsman round the bend. Kerstin made a mistake at the second last and badly impeded Pointsman, leaving cousin Linwell to take the spoils.
His luck was to run out in his other two appearances in the race, as he was brought down by Taxidermist the following year – allowing Kerstin to reap her revenge and become only the second mare to win the Gold Cup. Linwell was then baulked by Pas Seul’s fall at the last in 1959, and just failed to peg back Roddy Owen at the line.
Both Linwell and Kerstin are remembered by residential street names in Cheltenham, whilst Brown went on to be knighted in 1968 for services to Industry. He sold Aston Martin in 1972, but in 1993 and newly purchased by Ford, Brown accepted the position of Honorary Life President of Aston Martin Lagonda and the DB model designation was reintroduced with the DB7.
How was your Royal Ascot? Mine was a mixture of huge enjoyment mixed with punting disappointments. Frankie Dettori rose to the occasion on his final appearance at the Royal Meeting, bagging his ninth Gold Cup, the King and Queen had their first Royal Ascot winner and Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien predictably took the top jockey and top trainer awards.
But the overriding theme was the unpredictability of the results. I should have known from the first race what sort of meeting it was going to be, with my fancy, Inspiral, succumbing to 33-1 shot Triple Time. There followed another three seconds for me on the first day – the day that I thought was going to be the best day for punters.
What followed for the rest of the meeting was the occasional fancied horse winning amidst multiple doublefigure priced winners. Now, who doesn’t love a big field cavalry charge on the straight course at Ascot? I certainly do, but with the introduction of an extra race each day over the last few years, it does feel as though there are too many of these now. We moan about small fields for most of the year, so maybe we should just suck it up and accept there will be unfathomable results at the Royal Meeting. Although it can be disheartening when your selections finish second to 50-1 and 80-1 winners, but that’s racing.
With the introduction of additional handicaps and increased numbers of overseas runners, maybe what we’ve been used to at Royal Ascot has changed. Maybe it’s time to approach the meeting from a different perspective. There wasn’t much point in betting ante-post this year, as the on-the-day prices were similar or even better, plus the enhanced place terms provided some fantastic value. And you can add in the advantages of betting into the World Pool. It will be worth remembering all of this for next year.
One final point on the Royal Meeting – it was made more enjoyable when I attended on the Tuesday because the WiFi issues that I and many others experienced in 2022 weren’t repeated. Well done to Ascot for listening to your customers.
I mentioned in last month’s article that I’d finally invested in some micro shares with RaceShare and how impressed I’d been with their communications. I am pleased to say the raceday experience with them is also to be applauded. I was fortunate to be selected as an owner for the day when La Pulga ran at Goodwood during Royal Ascot week. It was great to meet up with fellow owners in the paddock and our RaceShare host for the day, Ash, was very welcoming.
As the runners left the paddock, we headed to the Richmond Enclosure stand to watch the race from the owners and trainers’ area. La Pulga ran another solid race to finish third. In the winner’s enclosure afterwards I asked Mark Johnston if La Pulga might return for Glorious Goodwood. He said there’s a good chance he would, but he’ll be running again before then…. and typically for a Johnston horse, he already has. The day was completed with a complimentary meal for me and my guest.
My most enjoyable raceday in the last month has to be Eclipse day at Sandown. It’s always a day I look forward to each
year and once again it didn’t disappoint. Equality kicked the day off with an impressive win in the Coral Charge, but the highlight has to be seeing Paddington and Emily Upjohn battle it out up the Sandown hill in the Eclipse. Paddington had to fend off the Gosden filly twice to take his third Group 1 in six weeks. There’s talk of him taking the Giant’s Causeway route of the Sussex, followed by the Juddmonte International - how exciting! I wouldn’t discount Emily Upjohn though. She ran a great race and will be formidable when returning to a mile and a half. It was somewhat disappointing that there were only four runners but it proved you don’t always need a big field to make a great race.
It does seem the trend for smaller fields in the Eclipse nowadays and I wonder if the proximity to the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot has contributed to this. It would be good to see the current trend reversed and a return to more competitive fields in future. But for the time being let’s enjoy the latest winner and relish seeing him confirm the standing of the Eclipse as one of the most important and influential races of the year.
Last month the ROA and Racing Welfare announced the launch of the new Bid to Give monthly auction. The inaugural lot, a luxury two-day Glorious Goodwood experience, was won by Patrick Plews with a bid of £3,000, which will directly benefit racing’s people.
The next lot to be auctioned is a memorable two-day celebrity golf experience at His Grace the Duke of Bedford’s Woburn Golf Club on April 30
and May 1, 2024.
Day one will see the winning bidder treated to a four-ball with a Woburn professional golfer before heading to The Woburn, a charming 18th century hotel and restaurant at the heart of the picturesque village, for dinner and accommodation for three people.
Day two of the package takes the winning bidder back to the golf club for a 4-ball on the Marquess Course
with Sir AP McCoy. Breakfast before the round is included, as well as hospitality throughout the day as part of Racing Welfare’s annual Woburn Golf Day – an extremely popular event that attracts personalities from across the horseracing industry year-on-year.
Bidding for this exclusive Woburn golf package runs from August 1-18. Head to www.bidtogive.co.uk to place your bid.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has announced that it has renewed a five-year World Pool partnership agreement with Ascot racecourse to continue to promote racing as a global sport. The first World Pool partnership between the two organisations started in 2019 and this new deal sees them combined until 2028. This followed on from the UK Tote signing a new fiveyear agreement with the HKJC which sees the UK Tote become the exclusive partner for World Pool in the UK and Ireland.
A successful Royal Ascot this year saw the record turnover for a single World Pool race when Khaadem took the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on the Saturday. A total of £6.6m was wagered into the pool, with Friday’s Commonwealth Cup and the Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday the next most popular, both turning over £5.1m.
Saturday’s total turnover of £32.5m rates as the third-highest World Pool
day of all time, behind the Friday (£34.7m) and Saturday (£33.7m) of Royal Ascot 2022. The whole week saw £154m wagered in the World Pool.
Those betting into the pool also gained, with the Tote+ dividend beating the starting price in 29 of the 35 races,
whilst the Exacta bet averaged an 85% better pay-out than the Forecast.
At each World Pool event there is a ‘Moment of the Day’ which is awarded by an industry representative, with the moment decided by a standout performance.
The prize fund was significantly increased this season with each winning groom receiving £4,000 for their Moment of the Day prize, up from £1,000 in 2022, as well as being entered into the World Pool ‘Moment of the Year’ draw where they could win a VIP trip to Hong Kong in 2024.
The winners were:
- Tuesday: Sydney Cale, groom of Bradsell, who won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes, making Hollie Doyle the first female jockey to win a Group 1 at Royal Ascot.
- Wednesday: Viktor Konya, groom of Mostahdaf, the impressive winner of the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
- Thursday: Jack Abbey, groom of Desert Hero, winner of the King George
It has been a busy year to date for Racing Welfare, staging several fundraising events whilst continuing to respond to high levels of demand for support from racing’s people as the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact so many in myriad ways.
Events season began with nearly 450 supporters joining Racing Welfare for their annual Aintree lunch. This year the event was supported by the ROA as a continuation of the partnership and raised over £63,000 for the charity.
This summer’s mass-participation fundraiser saw 100 people from across the racing community, including a team from the ROA, come together to take on the stamina-sapping Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge. The challenge was sponsored by the Tote and Tattersalls and has so far raised over £50,000.
Further fundraising events this year have included the ever-popular ARC Middleham Open Day and the Woburn Golf Day, which each raised in the region of £25,000 for racing’s people.
In addition to staging these largescale events, Racing Welfare’s team
V Handicap, who gave the King and Queen their first Royal Ascot winner.
- Friday: Page Harrison, groom of Shaquille, who won the Commonwealth Cup, giving trainer Julie Camacho her first ever Group 1 and first win at Ascot.
Saturday: Babu Singh, groom of Pyledriver, who landed the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the World Pool Moment of the Day for a second time, having been named the winner after his success in the 2022 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Owners who are currently utilising the ROA/Tote Owner Sponsorship Scheme will have their usual red Tote logos replaced by the World Pool insignia on World Pool days. This initiative came into effect at Royal Ascot, with 25 sets of silks displaying the logo over the five-day meeting. Watch out for more runners at Glorious Goodwood and York’s Ebor festival.
have hosted numerous community events up and down the country throughout the first half of the year, the jewel in the crown being the annual retired beneficiary holiday which took place in May and saw over 50 retired racing staff treated to a week’s trip to Cheshire, where they enjoyed a visit to Michael Owen’s Manor House Stables.
Kirstie, daughter of two of the beneficiaries on the holiday, commented: “It has been so lovely to see [my parents] enjoying themselves and having the opportunity to socialise with so many like-minded people. I appreciate that these opportunities require a huge amount of planning and time but to see my parents – especially my dad – up on the dance floor and beaming is so lovely for me. Thank you.” Racing Welfare continues to work hard to raise awareness of the holistic support available to all those in the racing community, with May’s Mental Health Awareness Week campaign (as reported in the June issue of Owner Breeder) being a prime example. That work continued with the seventh
Racing Staff Week at the end of June, which brought together the whole of the racing community to celebrate the hard work and dedication of racing’s workforce.
Activities during Racing Staff Week included five charity races, giving 53 members of stable staff the once-ina-lifetime opportunity to ride in a race whilst also raising vital funds for Racing Welfare. Racing Welfare’s regional teams also hosted 14 community events at locations across the country. Events ranged from rounders and BBQs to bingo nights and quizzes, bringing together almost 500 members of the racing community whilst also raising awareness of the charity’s services.
The ROA’s partnership with Racing Welfare works to directly support people working in racing, people like Lucy*, who approached the charity for support when struggling with her family’s finances.
Lucy is a mother of two who has been working in the racing industry for over ten years. She’s been in receipt of financial grants to help with the rising cost of living, as well as to help with the cost of school supplies for her children.
She said: “The cost of living has just been awful really… racing is a great job to have, but it’s not the best pay.”
Lucy even had to give up her car, saying: “I just couldn’t do it any more, it was too much. I was getting to the point where I was having nothing left over. I was paying £40 a month for gas and electric and that’s now £110 when I’m using less!”
The pressure was such that it started to affect her mental health, as she was torn between paying the bills whilst also wanting to provide for her children.
“It was getting to me, like affecting my mental health, because I was just constantly counting every pound I was spending. But you just don’t want the kids to grow up not having memories of going places and stuff because we can’t afford it. I’d rather go without so that they can have.”
But having access to Racing Welfare’s targeted grants has helped take some of the strain.
‘When you think about school uniform, a pair of school shoes are around £30 alone and then you can quickly spend another £30 on just a couple of cardigans. Having the grant was just really helpful.
“I’m so grateful for the [financial grants] I’ve had. It’s a massive help. For me, it means the kids don’t have to go without.”
Racing Welfare will offer financial support to eligible families with school-age children throughout the summer of 2023. To find out more go to racingwelfare.co.uk.
*name changed for anonymity
Ralph Beckett was not the only trainer at Royal Ascot 2023 to saddle a one-two, but that both horses concerned carried the same silks gave this year’s Hunt Cup double act a remarkable aspect.
Chelsea Thoroughbreds were the proud owners of the duo, Jimi Hendrix and Sonny Liston, the former defeating his stablemate by two lengths in one of the most competitive handicaps of the year.
As its name implies – along with those of its string like New Kings Road, Cadogan Gardens and South Kensington – Chelsea Thoroughbreds is towards the more exclusive end of the shared ownership experience, although the share price covers everything in year one, with a smaller additional sum for the second and consecutive years after, for training fees and racing costs. In other words, you don’t need to own an SW3 mansion to get involved.
“Partnership is the best way of describing it,” says Managing Director Emma Spencer. “Syndicates could mean 5,000 members but we’re not that, we are small partnerships of likeminded people that come together.
“Winning on your own can be quite lonely sometimes, standing there cheering a horse on, all on your own. We’ve up to ten people in a horse, and they’re never on their own, even if
they’re in different horses.
“One of the owners in Jimi was saying that he went to Bath for his own runner on the Saturday before Royal Ascot and he was there on his own.
“We don’t have 20 or 30 people in a horse and we’ve never advertised. It’s totally transparent, including the sharing of vet reports if a horse has had an injury. I think it’s the only way to be.
communication very good. If someone wants to go and see a horse, they can go and see a horse. It is easy to arrange. I’d like to think we look after our owners.
‘’We also have The Sydney Arms pub in Chelsea as our clubhouse, where we have a Cheltenham preview, a Royal Ascot preview, and might meet there for a drink as it’s a sports pub really.
“And we have events, for example a Royal Ascot picnic, a virtual yearling parade over lunch, which is in Chelsea in November and is always fun. We do a lot, and people end up getting to know each other.”
One member of Chelsea Thoroughbreds who had a particularly fun time at the Royal Meeting was Albert Mackie, as he is an owner in both Purple Haze, for Jimi Hendrix, and The Big Bear, for Sonny Liston.
“Unbelievably he also had a reverse forecast that paid 500-1,” says Spencer.
“There’s a management fee but once they’ve paid, nothing further goes on the bill, even if there are additional costs for us. Also, horses are bought and then shares sold, rather than pre-sold. Owners receive their share of prize-money and proceeds if the horse is sold.”
She continues: “We do a lot of videos from trainers, when a jockey gets off a horse a recorded interview goes straight to the owners, and we try to make
“They’re two very different horses,” she continues. “Jimi Hendrix is pretty good at Ascot, he was third in the Britannia, then of course he won the Hunt Cup – by nine lengths on his side – and is a talented horse who just took a bit of time to figure out.
“We put a pair of blinkers on, and maybe he had been feeling a bit claustrophobic as he didn’t run his race in the Cambridgeshire or the Lincoln.
“Ralph had always thought he was
“We are small partnerships of like-minded people that come together”BILL SELWYN
a Group horse, from when he won his maiden at two. It’s just taken a bit of time to get to where he’s at.”
She adds: “We had Sonny gelded, he’d lost his way, and sent him to Adam Kirby in November – we send quite a few yearlings to Adam to be broken in – and he is brilliant to deal with. Sonny probably didn’t go back into training with Ralph until at least April, having been with Charlie [Hills].
“We put a pair of blinkers on him at home, and it was like, ‘Wow!’ So Ralph was very confident he’d run well at Royal Ascot; you can never know for sure but blinkers worked with him. He was ridden cold by Ryan [Moore] and that seemed to suit him, he was last off the bridle but just on the wrong side.
“I was watching them both and genuinely didn’t have a preference. It was quite nice a furlong out to know you’ve got it covered!”
Both horses ran next on ‘Super Saturday’ last month. Jimi Hendrix acquitted himself well in his first run at stakes level, finishing third in the Group 2 Summer Mile back at Ascot, while Sonny Liston ran too freely to give himself a chance upped in trip in the John Smith’s Cup at York.
Spencer runs Chelsea Thoroughbreds with President and founder Richard Morecombe, while Ella McNeill is the National Hunt Racing Manager.
“Myself or Ella will always try to be on course, or else one or two others we work with,” says Spencer. “Ella loves going racing. There’s a lot of work involved for us, but it’s a ‘nice busy’ job.”
Aside from Beckett and Hills, the trainers’ roster for Chelsea Thoroughbreds, whose string currently numbers around 17, three of which are jumpers, includes Richard Hannon, Andrew Balding, Hugo Palmer, James Ferguson, Olly Murphy and Alan King.
Explaining the process of equine recruitment, Spencer says: “Ralph has a good record for us and picks his horses himself; he buys his own, with Alex Elliott and our involvement. He knows what we like, so there’s a good understanding.
“Otherwise, I have worked with Stu Boman for the last couple of years; he bought Sydneyarms Chelsea for
nine grand and she won a Group 3 last year. There’ll be a shortish list, then I’ll look at them and say what I like and what I don’t. Richard will look at the pedigrees. We then put a price on it and if it goes for too much, it goes for too much. That’s worked well.
“Charlie Gordon-Watson normally buys one a year for us – he bought Sonny Liston – and Kerri Radcliffe bought one at Tattersalls last year and one the year before. We narrow them down, look at them and decide between us, and if we can get them at the right price, away we go.
“We mainly buy from Newmarket, Ireland a little bit, and we did have one from Germany last year. We get them as yearlings, we’ve not done any breeze-ups recently, though that’s not to say we won’t.”
She adds: “Basically, it’s a twoyear commitment, but if something is worthwhile then we’ll continue with them as an older horse. If the right offer comes along, well, you have to put some money back in the bank account sometimes.
“The older horses like Sam Cooke are always really satisfying, though. When they get to seven and are still trying their heart out, that’s pretty good.
“Sam Cooke has been a star, a real fun horse who seemed to get better every
year. It’s a shame we’ve had to recently retire him, but he’ll have a lovely life.”
The Wednesday of Royal Ascot this year will live long in the memory, but Spencer definitely has a soft spot for the aforementioned Sydneyarms Chelsea when it comes to magical moments.
“Sydneyarms Chelsea winning the Prix Six Perfections at Deauville last year would be a real highlight, that was pretty cool,” she says.
“We have never otherwise bought one at that sort of price, but we thought we’d do that and incorporate some people from the pub and make it more accessible – there were about 16 owners in her. She ran in the colours of The Sydney Arms, managed by Chelsea Thoroughbreds, until we sold 50% of her to Cornthrop Bloodstock. She’s had a niggle but is on the way back.”
Chelsea Thoroughbreds are certainly already here, and the ethos is crystal clear.
“It’s just a case of building and expanding but at a manageable level, so that everyone’s looked after and it’s not too big that you can’t do that, and it all gets slapdash with runners everywhere,” says Spencer. “We want to have runners at nice meetings, that’s the aim. Along with making it a fun experience for everyone.”
This year the TBA are seeking to appoint two elected members to the TBA Board for a fouryear term of office, to represent the range of breeding interests within the membership.
Four candidates have been duly nominated to stand for election for the
two seats available on the TBA Board. The candidates and their individual profiles are detailed below.
Details of how to vote for a candidate, along with voting papers, will be sent out to all TBA members at the beginning of August. Voting for candidates opens on Tuesday, August
Barton Stud is one of the largest commercial boarding farms in the country. Still at a young age, I consider myself to be in touch with all current issues, both locally and globally, and am totally committed to the continued development of the industry.
Following time at Blandford Bloodstock Ltd and Cheveley Park Stud, I have been exposed to all aspects of the breeding industry and am acutely aware of the problems facing it. I am dedicated and well placed to confront these problems head on.
I am passionate about the breeding of top-quality racehorses. As a business, Barton Stud breeds and consigns a large number of high-class thoroughbreds each year. I am keen to help make sure that the focus remains on breeding quality
DAVID BROCKLEHURST
Career
I worked in the City as a chartered surveyor and insurer and am experienced in boardroom conduct in a regulatory environment.
I was brought up on a family farm in Cheshire breeding NH horses and have run Charlock Stud in Northamptonshire for the past 25
Following the success of the TBA’s Flat Awards evening in the middle of July, which she had organised for the past three years, the TBA said a sad farewell to Olivia May, who is off to join the NFU Mutual as a consultant.
Olivia, who had worked at Stanstead House for five years, had operated in most departments of the organisation, but had latterly been
1 and closes on Friday, September 29. Should you have any questions or require further information please do not hesitate to contact the TBA office.
The two successful candidates will be announced at the TBA’s AGM due to be held at the Jockey Club Rooms on Friday, October 6, commencing at 6.30pm.
stock, and, like many I am concerned about over-production and determined to aid in finding solutions.
I am extremely conscious of the current obsessive focus on breeding faster, earlier horses and wish to promote change and explore ways of making breeding classic distance horses more commercially viable. Although my career has predominantly been centered around Flat racing, I also love National Hunt racing and follow it avidly.
During my time as Managing Director, I have overseen significant growth at Barton Stud. A hands-on approach and attention to detail has meant that the stud boards horses of all values, from small owner-breeders to some of the biggest breeding operations in Europe.
This position has given me a broad ranging insight into the weaknesses within the industry at all levels. The current, very real, employment issues also require huge focus. Being relatively young myself, I am always keen to help those wishing to start a career in the industry and recognize the importance of helping them in these early stages.
years with my wife, breeding our own stock as well as having boarders and consigning yearlings and foals at the sales. After leaving school, I worked for Toby Balding and for Charlie Millbank in Chantilly and rode in point-to-points.
Profile
I aim to improve the lot of all breeders. My initiatives would include:
• Introduction of standard Risk Assessment templates to ensure uniform best practice at studs to prevent injury.
• Action to ensure breeders are included within the ELM scheme to compensate for the loss of RPA payments.
the Marketing and Communications Executive since November 2019.
The entire TBA team will greatly miss Olivia, as will many of our members who have come to know her. We wish her well in her new role and are sure that she will flourish in it.
Olivia May with fiancé Benedict, whom she will marry in September
• Lobbying government on issues such as restoring the Tripartite Agreement, which allowed the free movement of racehorses between the UK, Ireland and France, and working visas for overseas employees to alleviate acute staffing shortages.
• Updating standard Nomination Agreements to provide
As an agricultural scientist, I worked as an animal nutritionist for a major animal feed manufacturer. I was then in charge of marketing their horse food range before moving into corporate planning. After retraining, I became a teacher and until very recently a private tutor. During this time, I also stood on the ROA Council.
Racing came first. Starting with the very smallest of shares, I eventually owned a Flat filly who retired and became my first broodmare. I now have four mares, three of whom are descended from that original mare. I have owned mostly homebred Flat racehorses for about 40 years, luckily with a number of notable successes. I have kept horses at home, but the mares now are largely boarding.
Currently run Peel Bloodstock & Stud, a business I set up and started from scratch at my family home at Peel Hall in Cheshire, which was a former arable and dairy farm. We breed predominantly National Hunt horses with a small number of Flat ones too. We also pinhook, foal and board as well as consign for the major sales. I am also the co-founder of ThoroughBid, racing’s online auction house, and a former amateur jockey and former trainer from 2012 to 2017. I have also contributed to the TBA over many years as a member of the National Hunt Committee and more recently the Veterinary Committee.
We would have anywhere between 30-40 broodmares on the farm with many being for outside owners as well as the ones
mare owners with greater protection against stallions being shipped out before their progeny have run.
• Greater e-communication with and feedback from the TBA membership.
• Developing a future strategy to ensure the TBA maintains and increases its relevance to its members.
I hope that my experience as a small breeder and owner with a background in education and agricultural science would allow me to play an active role in the TBA. I am particularly keen to:
• Help in the continuing development of education and training for the stud sector. In particular, TB-Ed, the TBA's online education platform, which I believe adds an important dimension to the training on offer and is a valuable resource.
• Support the work to improve the precarious profitability of racehorse breeding, particularly for the small commercial farms and owner breeders.
• Encourage the celebration of the breeding sector, both in the media and on the racecourse. Royal Ascot’s Breeders Day is a fantastic initiative, allowing the achievement of breeders of winners at the Royal Meeting to be congratulated. I would like to see more racecourses finding ways to involve breeders in the raceday and to recognise their success.
we own ourselves and in partnership. We also run a few racing syndicates primarily to race the fillies. Notable graduates from Peel would be Impervious, Bags Groove and French Dynamite, and I am co-owner of the Grade 1 winning mare Stormy Ireland who is now retired to stud. I currently have horses in training with Martin Keighley, Ben Pauling, Jonjo O’Neill, Ian Williams, Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins. I have a huge passion for both the racing and breeding industry.
Profile I would like to:
• Help develop a better connection between the breeder and the end users – owners, trainers and racecourses. Without the breeders there would be no racing.
• Educate people on the entire process from the breeding shed to the finishing line.
• Promote what enjoyment there is to be had from breeding to a much wider audience. I think there is a huge opportunity to showcase the benefits of broodmare ownership to racehorse owners and in particular syndicates.
The penultimate members’ day will take place in Scotland on September 28 with a visit to Lucinda Russell’s Arlary House Stables. A dual Grand National-winning trainer with over 700 winners, Lucinda and Peter Scudamore have formed the most successful racing yard in the history of Scottish National Hunt racing, and the TBA are extremely
grateful to them for agreeing to open their stable to our members. Earlier this year it was announced that Peter’s son Michael, the Welsh National-winning trainer, would join forces and relocate from his Herefordshire base to Scotland.
Perth racecourse for the last day of the Glorious Finale, their oldest fixture, is the next destination. Before racing,
members will be given the chance to catch up on all the latest industry news and discuss some of the key points raised at both the bloodstock conference and the worm workshop.
To book your place please visit the events page of the TBA website or for further information email alix.jones@thetba.co.uk.
three stakes winners in the month was Shadwell. Sold as a two-year-old unraced, Admiral De Vega gained a Group 3 win in the Stockholms Stora Pris at Bro Park. The same day Al Asifah (Frankel) stormed to victory in the Agnes Keyser Fillies’ Stakes. Earlier in the month, Munhamek was the winner of the Spear Chief Handicap at Eagle Farm.
Also down under, the St Clare Hall Stud-bred Selino captured the Group 2 Brisbane Cup at Eagle Farm and the Stetchworth and Middle Park Studsbred Luncies (Iffraaj) won the Group 3 Tattersall’s Cup, also at the Brisbane venue.
This year’s Royal Ascot was the first without the late Queen, but her influence as a breeder was fittingly highlighted through the exploits of the William Haggas-trained Desert Hero, who prevailed to take the King George V Handicap in the colours of HM The King and HM The Queen.
For all that there are 35 races through the week, the Gold Cup is the feature event. Courage Mon Ami, a son of Frankel bred by Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe and Valiant Studs – also successful with homebred Crack Of Light (Kingman) in the Prix de Thiberville – was thrown in at the deep end, having only raced three times, latterly in handicap company. However, the four-year-old handled the occasion with aplomb, taking the lead over a furlong out and finding plenty to score by three quarters of a length from Coltrane.
His victory was a notable success for Wathnan Racing, the racing operation headed up by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Twenty-four hours earlier, the entity had achieved its first Royal Ascot success through the exploits of the Golden Horn colt Gregory in the Queen’s Vase. The threeyear-old, who is now unbeaten in three starts, was bred by Philippa Cooper’s Normandie Stud.
Dropping down to the minimum distance for the first time proved no issue for Bradsell, who doubled his Royal Ascot tally. The son of Tasleet,
who was bred by Deborah O’Brien, completed a notable Coventry StakesKing’s Stand Stakes double.
The feature event for three-year-old sprinters, the Commonwealth Cup, went to the upwardly mobile Shaquille. The son of Charm Spirit, bred by Martin Hughes and Michael Kerr-Dineen, overcame a poor start to power home and take the Group 1 in impressive fashion.
Fellow three-year-old Paddington, bred by Dayton Investments Ltd, ran out the near four-length winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Having previously won the King Edward VII Stakes at the Royal Meeting in 2020, the Knox and Wells Ltd & Roger Devlin-bred Pyledriver (Harbour Watch) returned from a near 11-month layoff to impressively win the Hardwicke Stakes on the final day.
At the beginning of the month the Coronation Cup went the way of Emily Upjohn. Bred by Lordship Stud and Sunderland Holdings, the four-year-old filly became the first of her sex to win the race since In The Groove in 1991.
At the Derby meeting, Regal Reality, a son of Intello, took the Diomed Stakes. He was bred by Cheveley Park Stud, for whom there were a pair of homebred Listed victories in the month. Vetiver, a daughter of Twilight Son, took the Eternal Stakes at Carlisle, whilst earlier in the month the Ulysses filly Peripatetic won the Tapster Stakes at Goodwood. Another operation to achieve
Stateside there was further Grade 1 success for the Fairway Thoroughbredsbred Dubawi mare In Italian, who added the Just A Game Stakes to her previous three top-level wins. The Godolphinbred Siskany, another by Dubawi, won the Belmont Gold Cup Stakes. At Churchill Downs, the Juddmonte-bred Set Piece, a son of Dansili, captured the Arlington Stakes. Meanwhile, over at Parx in Philadelphia, Bipartisanship, a daughter of Bated Breath bred by Ebonos, the breeding entity of Roger and Hanako Varian, won the PTHA President’s Cup Stakes.
France was a happy hunting ground for British-breds. The Al Shahania-bred Ottery, a daughter of Dubawi, confirmed previous promise when taking the Prix de Royaumont. The same day and the Sally Nicholls and Bumble Mitchell-bred Perdika captured the Prix Marchand d’Or. Later in the month and Tribalist, a son of Farhh bred by Car Colston Hall Stud, won the Prix Bertrand du Breuil. All three wins were achieved at Chantilly.
At Longchamp, the Whatcote Farm Stud-bred American Sonja (Tasleet) won the Prix Volterra. On the same card, Left Sea, a Wertheimer et Frere-bred daughter of Frankel, captured the Prix Melisandre.
In Germany the Mette CampbellAndenaes-bred Nastaria, a daughter of Outstrip, won the Langer Hamburger.
Closer to home, Quickthorn, bred by Lemington Grange Stud and a son of Nathaniel, took the Grand Cup at York, whilst the same day, the Anita Wigan and London Thoroughbred Servicesbred Chichester (Dansili) won the Ganton Stakes.
Bred by Montcastle Bloodstock, Moon De Vega gained a maiden stakes win in the Glencairn Stakes. Regional (Territories), bred by Razza de Sole, was another to break through in the Achilles Stakes.
Results up to and including June 30. Produced in association with GBRI.
On June 27, the TBA staged its first bloodstock conference, and the event was well supported, with more than 200 breeders, owners, enthusiasts, and industry professionals turning out for the full-day event at Park Paddocks. The day was steered in excellent fashion by Lydia Hislop.
Sir Mark Prescott provided the keynote speech of the day, and the maestro of Heath House was in fine form. Featuring tales and anecdotes, the guest speaker ran through what it was like to train for the ownerbreeder, knowing the familial traits of different families, and the importance of owner-breeders within the sport. In fact, all his Group 1 winners have been homebred by their owners.
Feedback from attendees was positive with comments including “Very interesting topics discussed and lots of food for thought,” and “Such a wide range of subjects were covered, and it certainly opened my eyes about the future of our sport.”
Split into three key topic areas, the morning session explored themes related to the horse. Dr Paull Khan, Secretary General of the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF), gave a thought-provoking
overview of social licence in the context of the thoroughbred breeding industry.
The second speaker was the Newmarket Equine Hospital’s Jodie Daglish, who showcased a number of presentation slides, highlighting the benefits of equine physio and rehab techniques for convalescing thoroughbreds.
Titled ‘The myths we live by’, journalist and consultant Bill Oppenheim talked through a few common misunderstandings regards matings and stallion decisions. This was followed by a discussion panel featuring Hislop, the TDN’s Emma Berry and the TBA’s Deputy Chairman Philip Newton, on the staying horse. Race programme enhancements, global demand and what could be done to make this segment of the breeding population more attractive to breeders featured.
After lunch the second session focused on the industry’s people and its participants. Chasemore Farm owner Jane Black and TBA trustee
Kate Sigsworth, in a discussion with Hislop, ran through the importance of building and maintaining teams on studs and creating a good working environment. This was followed by an engaging presentation on diversity and inclusion and its relevance within the racing and breeding industry by Chris Gibbons, Director of Inside Inclusion.
The third and final session of the day included talks about business.
Terry Finch of agricultural agency ADAS presented an overview of the latest environmental schemes available to breeders and how to access the benefits these schemes can provide.
Two panel sessions concluded proceedings. The first, consisting of Tom Blain (Barton Stud), Anna Kerr (National Stud) and Sophic Buckley (Culworth Grounds), focused on ways in which the industry could be more accessible for those wishing to make a start in the industry. Options discussed included shared ownership with a particular focus on micro-ownership.
The second panel session saw Alayna Cullen Birkett (TDN), Lester Futter (Yorton Stud), Max McLoughlin (Cheveley Park) and Alice Thurtle (Tweenhills) discuss their routes into the industry, which were varied. The main overarching thread amongst the four was to take opportunities to travel and working hard will gain respect and responsibility.
The Worm Workshop will take place at Askham Bryan College in York on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 22, the eve of the Ebor Festival. Delegates will arrive from midday for registration, with the event scheduled to conclude by 5pm.
An educational event certified with six industry CPD points, it is aimed at breeders, stud owners and managers, stud secretaries responsible for coordinating equine health programmes, as well as stud employees in, or looking to progress to, supervisory and leadership roles. The afternoon will be divided into two sessions, with a panel Q&A following each, giving plenty of opportunity to seek guidance and further information from the assembled experts.
Understand the key principles of
constructing a worming and faecal sampling programme with veterinary surgeon, Dr Charles Cooke (MRCVS); listen to Kate Sigsworth (TBA Trustee and owner of West Moor Stud) learning how to optimise paddock management
with help of independent agronomist, Paul Overton; look at worm eggs under the microscope with parasitologist, Kathryn Knock; recognise the risks of anthelmintic resistance with Dr Laura Peachey; and glean insight on what the latest research has revealed with Professor Jacqui Matthews (FRCVS).
TBA members and ACCESS subscribers are encouraged to apply for their free ticket to reserve their place as soon as possible, via the events page on the TBA website. Non-members can purchase an annual ACCESS subscription at £60, to gain admittance to this event, and others, as well as access to the TBA’s educational resources on the e-learning platform, TB-Ed. For more information regarding the event, contact victoria.murrell@thetba.co.uk.
Racing Staff Week, launched by Racing Welfare, returned for its seventh year and took place from June 24 – July 1.
Racing Staff Week brings the racing and breeding industry and its followers together to showcase the passion, skill, and dedication of all the staff across the breadth of the industry.
For the second consecutive year, the TBA sponsored 15 stud staff summer parties across the country to celebrate employees
and teams for their hard work and success.
Each stud received a £100 contribution to their parties, a party pack and personalised cookies. The party packs included bunting flags, sweets, pens, quizzes, party poppers, fairy lights, and much more. The quiz winners received TBA branded beanie hats for each member of their team.
Thank you to all of the studs who took part and thank you to all of the industry’s hard-working teams.
August 22
Worm Workshop, Askham Bryan College
August 31
Stage 3 GBB deadline (2020-born NH 3yos)
September 28
Regional Day at Lucinda Russell & forum at Perth
September 30
Stage 1 GBB deadline (2023-born foals)
October 6
Annual General Meeting, Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket
October 19
Regional Day at Paul Nicholls & the Glanvilles Stud
Strengthens the broodmare band
Incentivises the racing of British-bred fllies and mares
Supports the entire British thoroughbred industry
Encourages new owners, syndicates and breeders
Creates a demand for British-bred fllies at the sales
Your next deadlines are:
Increases the median value of British-bred fllies at the sales
Incentivises the use of Britishbased stallions
Stage 3 for 2020 NH fllies closes on 31st August 2023
Stage 1 for 2023 fllies closes on 30th September 2023
Magic would hardly be the word to describe Martin Hughes’ first steps in bloodstock breeding. Then along came Shaquille, whose success in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot earned him recognition as the TBA Breeder of the Month for June, with the three-year-old’s prowess enhanced from further Group 1 success in the Pertemps Network July Cup.
The epithet is deliberate, for Shaquille’s dam is Magic, a filly whose racing and breeding exploits were remarkable only for their lack of success, until her tryst with the Group 1-winning miler Charm Spirit in 2019.
Hughes, who lives in London, is used to dealing in big numbers in his day job as an investment manager, founder of Toscafund Asset Management in 2000 and currently holder of £4 billion in assets.
His racehorse ownership interests, usually enjoyed in partnership with City friends, including recently retired fellow investment manager Michael Kerr-Dineen, have also hit the heights, notably with Tangled, a £67,000 yearling purchase with Nick Robinson who collected more than £184,000 in the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Stakes at York in 2017.
However, that same year, Hughes and Kerr-Dineen had privately bought two three-year-old Galileo fillies out of Cheveley Park-bred Danehill mares in training with John Gosden. Tinted ran once, in an October 12 furlong maiden at Kempton, and beat two of her 11 rivals, 24 lengths behind the winner. Magic never raced.
“They were absolute rubbish,” is how Hughes has since described their
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lived up to her name with her third foal, produced to a Tweenhills mating with Charm Spirit, and named Shaquille after the 7ft former American professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, whose big rival was Magic Johnson.
combined ability. But rather than dispatch the pair to the horses in training sale, he and Kerr-Dineen decided to hang on to their assets. “We thought that rather than give them away, let’s see what they can do at stud,” Hughes said later.
The outcome was not an immediate success. Of Tinted’s first two foals to race, to the start of July one had managed a single third placing from ten outings and been sold for 4,000gns, while the other beat one home in an 11-runner, November Newcastle novice.
Magic’s early progeny fared little better in making a noticeable return on her joint investment managers’ belief. Sleight, her first foal, by Showcasing, failed to appear in public in the now-familiar blue-andwhite diamond Hughes colours and was sold as a two-year-old for 2,000gns. Helpful, her second produce, by Oasis Dream, took until his fourth year to make his racecourse debut, finished last of ten on his sole outing for Hughes, beaten more than 46 lengths in a Warwick bumper, and was sold two months later for £1,200.
Such a bare catalogue of returns might have deterred others, but small breeders have to be made of stern stuff, and Magic
Seven ultra-progressive wins from Shaquille’s eight outings, adding up to more than £780,000 in prize-money, have catapulted Hughes and his racing partners Messrs Rawlings and O’Shaughnessy to national headlines. They have also fortified Hughes’ breeding operation, which has been expanded from Magic and Tinted to include Separate, a solid Cable Bay mare whose racing career, split between Richard Hannon and Julie Camacho, produced two wins and a peak ratings performance when third in the Oh So Sharp Stakes.
The Yorkshire-based Camacho family connection is important and all-embracing. Julie Camacho and her husband Steve Brown, who have trained for Hughes since 2021, with Shaquille emerging from their second ‘crop’, took over the Star Cottage stable at Norton from her father Maurice. He now manages Hughes’ broodmare band based at Ian and Kath Hutchinson’s Battlefield Stud just down the road in Burythorpe. Julie’s younger brother Matthew acts as Hughes’ adviser, after stepping out of a City stockbroking career to become Bloodstock Director at the Racing Post and finally returning to his home county as partner in Additiv+.
Summing up his breeding project so far, Hughes told one inquirer: “We’ve gone with relatively low-cost covers and have had a bit of luck.” As far as the future is concerned, Shaquille’s immediate siblings, both colts, are a Cable Bay yearling and an Iffraaj foal. Maybe some of the newfound magic of the season’s top sprinter will rub off on them.
and also give confidence to those who provide such generous support.
Another exciting initiative recently launched by RoR is the `Horses For Courses’ where racecourses adopt an equine ambassador and showcase the care given and opportunities open to former racehorses after they retire. To date, five Jockey Club and several independent racecourses have announced their ambassadors to promote and appear at selected racedays throughout the season, as well as promoting their offcourse adventures on social media.
The initiative is generously supported by Godolphin, who are huge supporters of aftercare in the UK, and were instrumental in establishing the ‘International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses’ (IFAR).
The welfare of racehorses has never been more in the spotlight and questions continue to be raised about what happens to racehorses after they retire. Despite many thousands of horses going on to enjoy long and happy lives after racing, the reality is that not every story is a success.
In recent months Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) has undertaken a review of its Vision and Mission and is developing a comprehensive strategy including a number of new initiatives to provide more assurance around aftercare.
RoR’s Vision is: ‘For all former racehorses to enjoy a good life. ‘A life well-loved is a life well lived’ and our Mission is: ‘To safeguard the wellbeing of all former racehorses by:
l Setting and assuring retraining standards to support their successful transition out of racing and provide training and education for their new owners to help develop lifetime partnerships.
l Creating an engaged and engaging RoR community.
l Increasing the demand for former racehorses by promoting their versatility in a wide variety of equestrian activities and provide opportunities for participation in competitions.
l And on behalf of the racing industry, we will keep track of them and support any former racehorse in need.
To enable the delivery of our mission, we have recently received positive approval and support of our direction from British Horseracing Authority and Horseracing Betting Levy Board and working closely with Horse Welfare Board, RoR is now progressing with a number of new initiatives to deliver some key steps to provide more assurance around aftercare. With the help of trainers, we are currently designing protocols that can ease the process of finding suitable new homes for horses retiring from racing and are also working to develop an accreditation scheme for retraining centres. Additionally, we are establishing an assessment panel for a more centralised distribution of grant funding to the aftercare sector. This will help to reduce the complexity for those applying for funding
Magical Memory won the Stewards Cup at the 2015 Qatar Goodwood Festival with jockey, Frankie Dettori. Since retiring he has been on loan to Sue Scott-Collis. The pair attended their first parade at Goodwood Racecourse and are enjoying success in dressage competitions.
Side Glance, the equine ambassador for Ascot Racecourse, has welcomed school children from Ascot Heath Primary School as part of a behind-the-scenes tour. After retiring in 2012, Side Glance has enjoyed a new career with Leanne White, who took care of him during his racing career. Initially retrained for showing, he has since been learning dressage and Leanne uses him regularly as part of her work as an Instructor at the National Horseracing College.
Every year approximately 2,500 horses leave racing. RoR helps to ensure their wellbeing by providing their new owners with training and education to set them up for success in their new career. RoR believes that every racehorse deserves a life well lived at every stage of their life. We cannot do this without your support n
For more information and to donate to RoR please visit www.RoR.org.uk
Saffie Osborne might have gone to the top in the world of eventing if she had pursued that route, but as the daughter of jockey-turned-trainer Jamie Osborne and acclaimed equine artist Katie O’Sullivan, racing was in her blood from a very young age. While making a name for herself on ponies she grabbed every opportunity afforded to her in the thoroughbred world, including work experience with Aidan O’Brien and Gai Waterhouse, so it was no surprise she already looked the part when taking her first rides just three years ago. Her earliest success was for her father, who continues to supply a significant proportion of her rides, but she is in increasing demand elsewhere. She might have been champion apprentice in 2021 but for injury, and though still only 21 she has already accumulated an impressive portfolio of international experience.
Interview: Graham Dench
I’ve got three older brothers who wouldn’t know one end of a horse from the other, but for me it was always going to be horses. Whether that was as a jockey or in eventing was unclear until I was about 12, but as soon as I sat on a racehorse it was clear that I was going to be a jockey. I went eventing first and was very lucky, as I did three European Championships and won six medals. I was successful at youth levels, and taking eventing further was an option, but financially it’s pretty hard and I always wanted to be a jockey, as I love racehorses and love racing.
I was so lucky with two ponies I had to ride, Little Indian Feather and Lakantus, both owned by Lord and Lady Blyth, who have Quickthorn and Not So Sleepy. The Blyths were amazing – it was their backing which allowed me to be so successful, so it was great to ride a winner for them on Ormolulu at Southwell in January. Little Indian Feather had quite a backstory as she was a rescue pony who was pretty much dragged off the back of a meat lorry and then went on to do well for the Connells, who also breed racehorses, in Ireland before I got on her. It was amazing when I won the European Championships for ponies at Bishop Burton on her in 2018 and I didn’t think it could get any better.
Growing up, AP McCoy was a big influence and he only lived down the road, so I was lucky enough to know him from childhood. Sea The Stars was a favourite of mine too, so Mick Kinane was my favourite jockey, and Ryan [Moore] has been another influence. I never really got to appreciate dad as a rider as he was finished before I was born, but it’s quite cool when people come up to me and say things like, ‘Your dad was some pilot’. I think he’s planning to ride Cliffs Of Capri [in the Legends race at Doncaster], but I’ve told him he mustn’t embarrass me.
It’s mad to think that my first win on Hot Scoop at Windsor was only three years ago. I’ve always been in a bit of a rush – whether I was eventing or racing, I’ve always been looking to the next thing. Things happened pretty quickly for me after that, but in my own head it didn’t seem like that. I didn’t really feel as if I really got going until the second half of last year, and it’s only this year that I’ve really felt I’m starting to establish myself.
I’ve had a few injuries since I started racing but I’ve never questioned whether it was worth it. Three months after my first win I had the Windsor fall, in which I punctured both of my lungs, did ten ribs, had two fractures in an arm and had a dislocated elbow and wrist. I was knocked out for a very long time and don’t have any recollection of it, but I’ve watched it plenty of times. I was out for six months with that and then had another operation on it at the end of the following year. I also fractured a leg in July that year when I got dragged under the front of the stalls at Newmarket. I was leading the apprentice championship at the time, and that was the end of that. Hopefully I’ve already had enough falls to last the rest of my career.
Winning the Chester Cup on Metier was my best day in the saddle so far. I won the November Handicap on him last year and I’d been saying since January that if it rained, we’d win the Chester Cup, so it was unbelievable when we did. We didn’t have the best draw and plans to be in the leading handful went straight out of the window, but he proved what a good horse he is by picking up quickening rivals in the last half mile while going wide round the outside. It’s so good to have horses like him and Random Harvest to help take me to another level in my first year without a claim. I won a Group 3 on Random Harvest in Italy last year and we’ve been second twice at Royal Ascot. She’s been unbelievable for me, and so has Ed [Walker, her trainer].
I don’t know that I’ve had more online abuse than any other jockey, but dad was incensed and chose to draw attention to it. It wasn’t nice and it made the news in 2021, but I don’t know how it can be brought under control unless people posting on social media are obliged to provide their IDs, and I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen. If you ride a favourite which gets beat you just know that there will be texts waiting for you when you come back in. That’s the world we live in, unfortunately.
Tony Hind is my agent now and that’s been brilliant. I was with Niall Hannity, but he had loads of other commitments, so I rang Tony to see if there was any way he would take me on. He had a think about it before saying yes. Tony’s the agent of champions and there’s nobody better. Everybody wants to be champion jockey one day but besides that I just want to ride big winners on big stages around the world. I’ve already been given some great opportunities and I’ve ridden in Bahrain, Saudi, Dubai, Italy and France. I was lucky enough to get to ride in Dubai during the Carnival and on World Cup night, and I just want more of that.
His signature influence – quality, speed and toughness – is now emerging through his sire sons, too. Blue Point has made the best start at stud of any freshman ever to sire a first-crop Royal Ascot winner. At the sales soon: first yearlings by Horse of the Year Pinatubo and record-breaking Champion juvenile Earthlight, and the first foals of Classic miler Victor Ludorum.