Thoroughbred Owner Breeder

A royal procession

Triple Time

b c FRANKEL - Reem Three

Queen Anne Stakes Gr.1

Bred by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum

Mostahdaf

br h FRANKEL - Handassa

Prince of Wales’s Stakes Gr.1

Bred by Shadwell Estate Company Limited (IRE)

Courage Mon Ami

b g FRANKEL - Crimson Ribbon

Ascot Gold Cup Gr.1

Bred by Hascombe & Valiant Stud Ltd

Coppice

b f KINGMAN - Helleborine

Sandringham Stakes

Bred by Juddmonte

Snellen

b f EXPERT EYE - Illumined

Chesham Stakes L.

Bred by L H Laroche

Age of Kings

b c KINGMAN - Turret Rocks

Jersey Stakes Gr.3

Bred by Farmleigh Bloodstock Ltd

More 2023 Royal Ascot winners than any other stallion farm…

www.juddmonte.com

Editor: Edward Rosenthal

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Royal approval of heightened importance in trying times

In last month’s magazine George Weaver offered a no-nonsense description of his previous raid on Royal Ascot. “We came over in 2015 and got our ass kicked pretty good,” he told me ahead of his return bid with juvenile duo No Nay Mets and Crimson Advocate.

Weaver has returned to the USA as a Royal Ascot-winning trainer after Crimson Advocate held the late thrust of Relief Rally to take the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes by a nose under veteran rider John Velazquez. If at first you don’t succeed, as the old saying begins.

Alongside that overseas success, this year’s spectacular really did have a bit of everything. Frankie Dettori followed his Classic victories on Chaldean and Soul Sister with Gold Cup glory on the inexperienced Courage Mon Ami for new ownership group Wathnan Racing – the combination also claimed the Queen’s Vase with Gregory – while the King marked his Royal Meeting debut as monarch by watching his silks being carried to success in the King George V Handicap on Desert Hero, owned with the Queen, having been bred at the Royal Studs by his late mother.

Queen Elizabeth II was synonymous with Royal Ascot – it has been said many times that those five days were the first marked in her diary each year –and her association with the meeting proved a terrific boon to horseracing in Britain. With the threat of protest from animal rights activists hanging over our sport this year, it was reassuring to see our King and Queen embrace and enjoy Flat racing’s highest-profile fixture, and I’d suggest that Desert Hero was one of the most popular winners of the week.

Lady Bamford was a guest in the royal carriage procession with her husband Lord Bamford and she came mightily close to her own Royal Ascot triumph in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes with Random Harvest, who ran Rogue Millennium to a hard-fought neck in the Group 2 contest for fillies and mares.

The owner-breeder struck gold at the Derby festival when homebred Soul Sister produced a dazzling performance under man-of-the-moment Dettori to claim the Betfred Oaks in decisive

fashion, a victory that came 14 years after her previous victory in the fillies’ Classic with Sariska.

Martin Stevens spoke to Chris Lock, manager of Lady Bamford’s Daylesford Stud, to uncover the strategy behind the operation’s methods, which are very much focused on producing Classic performers as opposed to speedball two-year-olds (pages 34-38).

By contrast Whitsbury Manor Stud is far more focused on turning out sprint winners, with stallions Showcasing and Havana Grey on its roster, yet the Hampshire outfit enjoyed its own Classic triumph this year as the breeder of 2,000 Guineas hero Chaldean, who was bought by Juddmonte Farms for 550,000 guineas as a foal in 2020.

The stallion business is not for the faint-hearted and Whitsbury’s Stud Director Ed Harper tells Julian Muscat about the sire gambles that have gone awry as well as the ones that have helped the

and

embrace

Ascot”

operation on the road to success.

“If Havana Grey had been a failure the appetite for us carrying on with stallions would have been seriously diminished,” he explains (pages 28-32). “It could have been the final nail in our coffin.

“We could well have gone the same way as so many other studs by doing away with stallions and reducing the broodmare band to 20.”

There is no doubt that horseracing lags far behind other sports when it comes to the regular use of statistics and analytics in the quest for success. Alysen Miller asks whether racing could embrace ‘big data’ in the future and speaks to those participants who have invested in technology to try and gain a competitive edge (pages 40-43).

“It was reassuring to see the King

Queen

Royal

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Bookmaker input key in bid to boost revenue

Ihave lost count of the number of times that British racing is looked at through comparison with other jurisdictions. Often these comparisons are meaningless given the different laws around bookmaking, tax, ownership and access. However, one element does drive all the industries and that is revenue generated by betting on the product. Ticket sales, fan engagement, hospitality and sponsorship obviously form a major part of the industry’s profit and loss account, but at the heart of the business it’s the medium of betting that drives the worldwide revenues.

In Australia, so often quoted as the model to be envious of, two very interesting developments have recently taken place. A fall in gambling revenues, following the post-Covid spike, has led Racing Victoria to announce significant prize-money cuts. What is interesting is that the cuts have been aimed at the so-called better end of the racing calendar. Group 1 races have been targeted to reduce their prize pots significantly, as have a series of lesser Group races. The so-called grassroots have been largely left alone.

Even more intriguing is the proposal to add a tenth race to fixtures; it is forecast that this extra race will add $5 million to net gambling revenues and provide extra prize-money to compensate for some of the planned reductions.

What is interesting is that the two main pillars of the British racing strategy – focusing on fewer fixtures and targeting the better meetings with more funding – is at odds with the approach being taken by Racing Victoria in its own efforts to tackle a financial crisis. The strategy work carried out by the new Commercial Committee has been heavily influenced by betting data and bookmaker input, so we can be fairly confident that the right buttons are going to be pressed, but it does pose a question that will not be answered until the twoyear trial has been concluded.

British racing’s own finances are firmly linked to the levy. A better than forecast outcome for the financial year just ended of £99 million is obviously welcome, however in real terms with inflation running at 10% the levy return since 2017 has not met expectations. As part of the process around the publication of the gambling white paper, the government has made a series of welcome commitments to the levy review, which is due to take place next year.

Whilst calling for responses from the industry and bookmakers within a very short timeframe, having pretty much done nothing for three years, we now, as the industry, have the chance to make a significant and long-lasting change to a fundamental financing tool.

There has been much talk over the last few years of a

possible switch in the way the levy is collected from gross win to turnover. The subject is complex but what is vital is that we have a levy mechanism that is in line with the trends in betting habits. We also need to close the overseas betting hole that currently means that we lose something in the region of £25m on bets placed on overseas racing. There is a lot of work to be done in a short space of time to ensure that what we submit to government has the best chance of making it into law before the next election.

One of the issues facing racing participants and the BHA is that whilst the bookmakers invest and pay for our product in different ways through media right payments, sponsorship

and of course levy contributions, racing itself only really has a say on the levy finances. This age-old issue will again come into focus when the industry unites behind a view of what we want the new levy system to look like.

Royal Ascot was a quite brilliant success and congratulations to everyone at the racecourse for putting on such a wonderful week. The weather held, there were no disruptions, the 35 races were won by 25 individual trainers, King Charles had a winner, as did sole owners and syndicates, and of course Frankie Dettori was at his brilliant best in his final ever appearance at the Royal Meeting. The BHA data pack continues to offer encouragement and with the summer in full swing we can, and should, afford ourselves some optimism.

“It is vital that we have a levy mechanism that is in line with the trends in betting habits”

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Natural cover our best bet to uphold integrity

AI: a hot topic at the moment, as it applies to Artificial Intelligence. In the equine breeding world, it stands for Artificial Insemination, and that comes into focus here because earlier this year a group comprising members of the TBA Board and major stallion owners visited the Stallion AI Services operation in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

The first thing to point out, of course, is that AI is not permitted worldwide in thoroughbreds. Conditions of entry to the General Stud Book are specific: “Any foal resulting from or produced by the processes of Artificial Insemination, Embryo Transfer or Transplant, Cloning, or any other form of genetic manipulation not herein specified, shall not be eligible for registration in The General Stud Book.”

However, I believe it is always useful to understand and learn about other breeding methods and activities that are taking place among animals, and particularly across the equine sector.

Many of the great advances in equine reproductive knowledge and techniques in this area are relevant to all horses and horse breeding, and realistically the only difference rests between the act of insemination on one side against natural covering on the other. All other veterinary and horse management practices are very similar, and horse welfare and care are just as important in both sectors.

On our visit to Stallion AI Services, which describes itself as “the UK’s largest semen storage and distribution centre, with frozen semen available from over 800 stallions,” we were made very welcome by founder Tullis Matson and his team, who not only gave a guided tour of their facilities but spent considerable time explaining all they can do on site, as well as what they cannot do due to various restrictions, legislation, or current shortcomings in equipment or expertise.

AI has come a long way and they would argue its percentage success rates are getting closer to natural covering. There is no doubt that AI needs some extra and different expertise to achieve the best results and, of course, it is in their interest to make sure as many vets as possible are trained up to support their business.

Thoroughbred breeding is already an outlier in the larger domestic and commercial animal worlds, where AI and other such techniques are regularly used, and is almost on its own in the competitive horse sector as a champion of natural breeding.

Insisting on natural breeding remains some form of guarantee that no particular stallion will compromise the genetics and bloodlines of the breed by siring too many foals, and even though many stallions are covering substantially more mares than in the past, this obviously does create a physical limit. It also removes the risk of any tampering with the semen or

embryo, a science that is rapidly changing breeding techniques and practices in other breeds.

Being able to remove a faulty gene that causes an animal to be born with defects sounds a good idea, until the technique is used by those with lower scruples who insert an enhancing gene to give the new-born animal advantages over its naturally conceived contemporaries.

DNA testing provides confidence about the parentage of a horse, and as we try to keep up with more sophisticated gene editing or manipulation, it is to be hoped that any unlicensed attempt to make changes would be discovered. However, it will never be easy to keep up with some of the more dubious practices, as in doping and other nefarious activities.

The practical advantages of artificial insemination would be considerable, in lessening disease risk and boosting welfare by not travelling mares and their foals. Additionally, AI would aid the industry’s carbon footprint and help in the case of a major equine disease outbreak that restricted movement.

The breeding industry should have a template for such an eventuality. It would be irresponsible of breeders’ organisations around the world not to have a plan in place should such a disaster strike.

However, as techniques improve, the problem is not equine, it is human, involving the challenges that unregulated and illegal practices could bring to the thoroughbred breeding industry. Until we have confidence around the world that these issues can be addressed, we will have to continue with the cycle of natural covering.

“It is always useful to learn about other breeding methods that are taking place among animals”

Paul Barber, joint-owner of Denman, dies aged 80

Dual Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning owner Paul Barber was remembered with admiration and affection last month following his death at the age of 80.

Barber twice reached the pinnacle of jumps racing thanks to the victories in the Gold Cup of See More Business and Denman, though he owned numerous other big-race winners as well, both outright and with partners, such as See More Indians, Call Equiname, Topofthegame and Clan Des Obeaux, who like See More Business was a dual King George VI Chase hero.

Owning point-to-pointers from a young age, Barber scored his first win with Crazy Slave at the Wilton Hunt meeting at Badbury Rings in 1969, and his first under Rules with Spats at Taunton in 1975.

The landlord of 14-time champion jumps trainer Paul Nicholls, he was well known for the family’s dairy and awardwinning cheese production business, which funded his passion for racing.

Nicholls likened his relationship with Barber to having a second father and said: “Everyone involved with team Ditcheat is feeling his loss deeply because, day by day,

he took such an interest in everything that happened in the yard, on the gallops and on the racecourse.

“He loved racing with a fierce passion, enjoyed plenty of success at the highest level and is warmly remembered as a man who helped give so many youngsters a decent start in life.

“Paul had a massive influence on my career from the day he chose me from a dozen applicants to train at his stables below his farmhouse in Ditcheat. From the moment Paul gave me the keys to his yard and gallops in October 1991, he backed me to the hilt.

“What began as a business arrangement swiftly developed into a friendship that grew stronger with the years.”

Nicholls added: “From the start he took

me under his wing and in some ways treated me like one of his sons. I certainly saw him as something of a father figure. He taught me so much about running a business, especially in the early years.

“I think the horses were a release for him from running such a successful business, and he just loved racing and he just loved horses. At five o’clock at night I think his work used to go out of the window and he used to walk down to the yard and walk around with Clifford [Baker, head lad] and I.

“He used to have some horses in the field beside his house and right up until he was unable to do so, he used to go over there with his stick and talk to them; he could stand there and talk to Clan [Des Obeaux] for an hour, he loved all that.

“One of the last big days we had

together was when Clan won the Punchestown Gold Cup and that was a magical day. The Cheltenham Gold Cup was always the race he wanted to win, so I’m proud we were able to do that for him.”

That first strike in the sport’s most prestigious jumps race came with See More Business in 1999, when Mick Fitzgerald was in the saddle.

The former rider turned presenter said: “Being on top of See More Business when Paul was leading him into the winner’s enclosure that day after winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup is a memory that will live forever for me. It’s one of my proudest days in the saddle and I was just privileged to be allowed to ride the horse.

“I know what it meant to him to have a Gold Cup winner, and I think that is how I would like to remember Paul Barber.”

Barber’s best horse was his other Gold Cup hero, Denman. The former top novice proved his greatness in the 2007-08 season with imperious victories in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury under top weight of 11st 12lb, the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown and the Gold Cup, in the last-named scoring by seven lengths from stablemates Kauto Star and Neptune Collonges.

Denman was runner-up in the next three Cheltenham Gold Cups and won a second Hennessy under 11st 12lb.

All those triumphs with Denman were shared with Harry Findlay, a professional gambler whose half-share was registered in the name of his mother, Margaret.

For Owner Breeder’s ‘The Finish Line’ article in December 2019, Barber reflected on that unlikely combination, saying: “When I was in partnership with Harry Findlay in Denman, people often referred to us as ‘the odd couple’ and I didn’t mind that at all – it was a very good description!

“I’d sit down and work things out, and never have a bet, whereas I once watched Harry lose £2.5 million on a game of rugby. I still speak to Harry occasionally. We never fell out, and he came up to see us last year.”

In the same article, and emphasising his interest was purely sporting, rather than betting, he recalled: “My first good horse was Artifice, who won 21 races and was placed twice behind the remarkable Badsworth Boy in the Champion Chase.

“Then after Paul started I had quite a few good horses, including See More Indians, See More Business and Call Equiname before Denman came along. I’ve been very lucky over the years and I do enjoy them – but I never back them.”

Barber is survived by his wife, Marianne, his two sons, Chris and Giles, and six grandchildren.

Rule exemption may help lure runners from Japan

The British Horseracing Authority announced last month that horses trained under the umbrella of the Japan Racing Association (JRA) are no longer subject to the BHA’s antidoping foreign runner requirements.

Under the Rules of Racing, where such exemption does not exist, any foreign horse intending to race in Britain must have been in the country for at least ten working days prior to the race and provide a sample for analysis before being permitted to compete.

Following a review of the JRA’s anti-doping rules and procedures, the BHA is satisfied that Japanese runners should be exempt from these requirements – a move which can only help in the uphill battle to attract Japan’s biggest names, who tend not to roam far, or frequently, given the huge purses back home and likelihood of their favoured fast ground.

Brant Dunshea, Chief Regulatory Officer at the BHA, said: “Japan is a proud racing nation enjoying tremendous success globally and, like

in Britain, their outstanding reputation is underpinned by a strong commitment to integrity and fairness.

“The presence of Japanese runners only enhances the key races anywhere in the world and we very much look forward to welcoming more of Japan’s best to the biggest meetings in Britain for many years to come.”

Dr Atsushi Kikuta, Director of Equine and Stewards department at the JRA, said: “The decision to grant this exemption signifies the BHA’s confidence in the JRA’s robust anti-doping standards and carries substantial significance for all participants within the Japanese racing industry.

“I’m confident this development will facilitate a greater number of Japanese runners travelling to Britain to engage in fair competition on a level playing field in the foreseeable future.”

Other nations granted exemption from the BHA’s anti-doping foreign runner requirements are Ireland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway and Sweden.

New chapter beckons for Oliver Sherwood

Grand National-winning trainer Oliver Sherwood has announced he will relinquish his licence after the summer jumps season, bringing to an end a career that has lasted almost 40 years.

However, the 68-year-old won’t be lost to the sport, with a new role as assistant to upwardly mobile trainer Harry Derham set to ensure that Sherwood remains a familiar face within the Berkshire racing community.

The familiar story of declining numbers was cited as the central reason for Sherwood’s decision, with his stable strength down to around 35 horses. Having overcome his own battle against cancer, he is also keen to make the most of life, having lost his good friend Richard Aston, co-owner of Goldford Stud, to the disease

earlier this year.

Sherwood told Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast: “It’s a very tough decision but in a few months time I’m sure it will be the right decision.

“Horses have been my life, so I’ve got to stay with horses. The only difference will be it’s not O Sherwood, trainer next door – that will be a little bit difficult to take, but I’m going to a very young and hungry person, and we know the family very well. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter.

“This time next year I’ll be approaching 70. Training racehorses is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and suddenly your life has gone by and all I’ve done is train racehorses. As much as I’ve loved every single minute of it, you have got to realise

life goes by very quickly. Our son lives out in New Zealand and we want to go and see him, and there are other things I want to do before it’s too late.”

Sherwood has enjoyed plenty of magical moments in the sport, none more so than when Many Clouds defied 11st 9lb to take the 2015 Grand National for the late Trevor Hemmings, who was a huge supporter.

Having ridden three winners at the Cheltenham Festival, Sherwood doubled that tally as a trainer, including two strikes with The West Awake in the 1987 Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle and 1988 Sun Alliance Novices’ Chase.

Talented hurdlers Cruising Altitude and Aldino put Sherwood’s name in lights in the late 1980s, while the 1990s were particularly productive, with horses of the calibre of Young Pokey, Large Action, Berude Not To, Coulton, Silver Wedge, Buddy Marvel and Lord Of The River all delivering big-race success.

Sherwood, who enjoyed his first triumph as a trainer in November 1984 and has sent out almost 1,200 winners in total, handled the early career of Andy Stewart’s top-class chaser Cenkos, capturing the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree before the Nikos gelding was transferred to Paul Nicholls.

Many Clouds won 12 races for the trainer, all under Leighton Aspell, and earned over £920,000 before his tragic demise shortly after landing the 2017 Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham.

It is believed a number of Sherwood’s current inmates and staff will make the move with him to join Derham, who is due to relocate from a temporary yard in Lambourn to a purpose-built facility near Newbury.

Joe Saumarez Smith treated for cancer

British Horseracing Authority Chair Joe Saumarez Smith has been diagnosed with lung cancer, the sport’s governing authority revealed last month, when he was due to start treatment.

The shareholders of the BHA have agreed they would like him to continue in his role as Chair for as long as he is happy to do so.

Saumarez Smith said: “In the interest of transparency and openness from the BHA, we thought it was best to confirm this news publicly.

“It’s obviously not ideal to have this diagnosis but I’m confident I can keep working with all our stakeholders to deliver the strategic priorities that were

agreed last September.”

Julie Harrington, Chief Executive of the BHA, said: “While we are of course concerned for our friend and colleague, we know Joe will fight this illness with all the determination and resilience that has been a feature of his career to date.

“It’s testament to him that he’s keen to continue in his role for as long as the treatment allows. He has the full support and best wishes of everyone on the BHA Board in doing so.

“I’m sure I can speak for everyone at the BHA and across the industry in wishing him good luck during his treatment.”

Saumarez Smith asks that his privacy

and that of his family and friends be respected during this period.

David Jones, Senior Independent Director of the BHA, will be available to substitute for Saumarez Smith at industry events in the event he is unable to attend, as will other BHA board members when required.

Owners asked to complete first thoroughbred census

The Horse Welfare Board (HWB) has launched the first ever thoroughbred census in Britain in collaboration with research experts at Hartpury University. Owners of former racehorses are being asked to complete the census, which will help build an improved thoroughbred data bank about ex-racehorses and the lives they go on to lead.

The primary objective is to improve traceability of thoroughbreds after they have retired from racing. With enhanced data, Retraining of Racehorses (RoR), British racing’s aftercare charity, can better support owners with access to educational resources and also improve welfare initiatives.

The census will request information on each horse’s equine identification document (passport) number, microchip number, age, current residence, second career and more, to provide a robust view of the 2023 British retired racehorse population.

Helena Flynn, the Horse Welfare Board’s Programme Director, said: “Improving the traceability of thoroughbreds after they retire from racing is a fundamental part of the Horse Welfare Board’s five-year welfare strategy. The launch of this census is a significant project to help increase the depth, quality, and volume of data about thoroughbreds at this important stage of their lives.

Group 1 winner Side Glance enjoyed a second career after retraining with RoR

“Just as importantly, this campaign will help us talk about responsible ownership and the critical part every thoroughbred owner plays in ensuring their equine identification document is up to date. We are delighted to be working with Hartpury University on the census and hope that between us we can encourage as many owners as possible to participate.”

The census, launched in partnership with RoR, funded by the Racing Foundation and supported by World Horse Welfare and Weatherbys General Stud Book, is open until December 31 and can be completed online at https://www.ror.org.uk/registration.

New collaboration

The Horse Welfare Board has announced a new three-year collaboration between

British racing and the Royal Veterinary

College (RVC).

Funded by the Racing Foundation, the partnership brings together racing industry experts and academic researchers to further understand the factors associated with injury in racehorses and allow for the development of scientifically-informed, data-driven strategies to improve racehorse safety and welfare on and off the track.

Part of racing’s five-year welfare strategy ‘A Life Well Lived’, it will focus on two main projects: risk factors associated with injury and falls in jump racing in Britain (Jump Racing Risk Models), and risk factors associated with injury during training.

James Given, Director of Equine Regulation, Safety and Welfare at the BHA and HWB member, said: “The appointment of the epidemiological team at the Royal Veterinary College to support the Jump Racing Risk Models and other projects is a significant step forwards in our efforts to continuously minimise risk in British racing.

“Their work will develop models that will enable evidence-based decisions that will ultimately make a difference to the horses at the heart of our sport. The academic expertise and independence brought by the RVC to our work will be invaluable.”

Changes People and business

Churchill Downs

Spate of fatalities at the Kentucky track sees its spring/summer schedule cancelled, with fixtures moved to Ellis Park.

James Crespi

Appointed new Racecourse Director at Goodwood having previously spent ten years at the track.

Singapore

Racing in the country will cease in October 2024 after the government designated Kranji racecourse’s 120 hectares for new housing developments.

Ian McMahon

Leaves his role as Chief Executive of the Professional Jockeys Association after one year following unrest among the organisation’s members.

Paul Henderson

Calls time on training career that yielded 141 winners, saying he has been “priced out” of the sport due to the rising cost of sourcing horses.

Micheal Nolan

33-year-old is appointed stable jockey at Philip Hobbs and Johnson White’s Sandhill Stables, succeeding Tom O’Brien who retired in April.

Lee James

Former trainer has his licence withdrawn for three years after failing in his duty of care to horses in his yard following an inspection by BHA officials.

John Hernon

Named stud manager at Childwickbury Stud after 14 years at Cheveley Park Stud, latterly as yearling manager.

Aidan Coleman

Jump jockey will be out of action for some time after injuring his knee when his mount crashed through the wing of a hurdle at Worcester.

Louis Steward

Jockey announces his retirement from the saddle aged 27. He rode 182 winners and captured the Ebor and Cambridgeshire in 2014.

Kirkland Tellwright

Haydock’s Clerk of the Course will retire next spring after serving in the role for 23 years.

People obituaries

Eric Wheeler 85

Trainer sent out around 150 winners in total and enjoyed 25 victories with the tough and talented sprinter Dancing Mystery.

The Earl Cadogan 86

Former Deputy Senior Steward of the Jockey Club whose light blue silks were carried to Group 3 success by both Right Wing and Jedburgh.

Paul Barber 80

Somerset dairy farmer and cheesemaker who co-owned Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Denman and See More Business.

Martin Tate 99

Worcestershire trainer landed a big gamble with Rogers Princess in the 1989 Coral Golden Hurdle Final at the Cheltenham Festival.

Terry Lucas 72

Australian rider enjoyed a long and successful association with trainer Mick Easterby and rode more than 1,500 winners globally.

Racehorse and stallion Movements and retirements

Asadna

Exciting two-year-old joins Alice Haynes after owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah removes his string from George Boughey’s stable.

Ace Impact

French Derby hero will begin his stallion career in France after Haras de Beaumont purchased a 50% interest from owner Serge Stempniak.

Zarak

Aga Khan Studs stallion is made available to cover on southern hemisphere time, a route already taken with French champion sire Siyouni.

New Energy

Talented miler for the Sheila Lavery stable moves to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace in Victoria after being bought by Australian Bloodstock.

Zenyatta

Waipiro

Horse obituaries

Repertory 30

Talented sprinter won 13 races and was successful three times in the Group 3 Prix du Petit Couvert for trainer Malcolm Saunders.

Ashley Brook 25

Bold front runner defeated future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition in the 2005 Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree.

Lion Heart 22

Turkish-based son of Tale Of The Cat was a dual Grade 1 winner in the US and sired Breeders’ Cup Turf victor Dangerous Midge.

Kalanisi 27

The Aga Khan’s Champion Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner sired a host of top jumpers such as Champion Hurdle victor Katchit

Flemensfirth 31

Dual Group 1 winner was a leading NH stallion, his progeny including top-class chasers Imperial Commander, Tidal Bay and Lostintranslation.

Fiorente 15

US champion racemare is retired from breeding duties aged 19 after foaling a filly by War Front at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky.

Widden Stud reveals the passing of the 2013 Melbourne Cup winner, bred by Ballymacoll Stud.

The Big Picture

Artist in the saddle

Amo Racing’s King Of Steel looked like pulling off one of the great Classic upsets when he shot clear of his rivals in the Betfred Derby under Kevin Stott. Yet Ryan Moore had other ideas on Auguste Rodin, producing the son of Deep Impact with a perfectly-timed challenge to overhaul King Of Steel near the finish and hand trainer Aidan O’Brien his ninth Derby victory. It was a third Blue Riband for Moore and a tenth for the Coolmore partners (right).

The Big Picture

Soul Sister sensational

Frankie Dettori’s farewell campaign is developing a momentum of its own and the Italian collected his second British Classic of 2023 with a finely-judged ride in the Betfred Oaks on Soul Sister, a daughter of Frankel trained by John and Thady Gosden for owner-breeder Lady Bamford. Settled at the back of the ninerunner field, Soul Sister made rapid headway on the outside rounding Tattenham Corner, with Dettori looking in control all the way down the home straight as he guided his filly to a ready success over favourite Savethelastdance and Caernarfon.

The Big Picture

Hero status

The King and Queen attended all five days of Royal Ascot 2023, following the example set by the late Queen Elizabeth II, and they had plenty to celebrate on the track as royal homebred Desert Hero and Tom Marquand finished best of all to claim the King George V Handicap, defeating Valiant King and Oisin Murphy by a head in a thrilling finish. Desert Hero, a three-year-old son of Sea The Stars, will enter the record books as the first winner for the monarch at Royal Ascot, and is seen above with his owners, jockey, trainer William Haggas and groom Jack Abbey.

Photos Bill Selwyn

The Big Picture

Top-level triumph

There’s no better place to make your breakthrough at the top level than Royal Ascot and Mostahdaf dented some big reputations when his potent turn of foot was unleashed in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, sweeping down the outside under Jim Crowley to romp home four lengths clear of Luxembourg. Sheikha Hissa collected the owner’s trophy from the Queen.

Photos Bill Selwyn

Others to enjoy maiden Group 1 victories included Sheikh Obaid’s Triple Time in the Queen Anne Stakes under a delighted Neil Callan, riding for staunch supporter Kevin Ryan (top), Victorious Racing’s Bradsell and Hollie Doyle proved too good for Highfield Princess in the King’s Stand Stakes, marking the first Group 1 strike for a female jockey at the Royal Meeting (middle), while some Jamie Spencer magic saw Jim and Fitri Hay’s Khaadem edge out Sacred in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes for the Charlie Hills stable (bottom, nearside)

Royal Ascot

The Big Picture

Wathnan strikes at the double

Wathnan Racing is a new name to the ownership ranks but looks set to become a major player if Royal Ascot is any guide. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is the man behind the new operation, which has purchased a number of high-class horses in training and saw its silks carried to victory by Courage Mon Ami in the Gold Cup (main image) and Gregory in the Queen’s Vase (inset). Both winners were trained by John and Thady Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori.

The Big Picture

Theatre of dreams

Reputations are both enhanced and made at Royal Ascot and Ryan Moore showed once again why so many judges rank him as the best jockey in the world. He ended the week as leading rider, claiming six victories over the five days including the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes on Paddington, who saw off 2,000 Guineas hero Chaldean in decisive fashion.

Royal Ascot

The Howard Wright Column

Influence in Westminster key to industry’s fortunes

If ever there was a time when British racing, and UK betting come to that, needed as many friends as possible in the Palace of Westminster, it is now, as the dust is blown off the government’s gambling review and its implications undergo serious debate.

For all that the 256-page document answered some questions, it left others to be discussed, with unintended consequences to be headed off. This is why, and where, British racing and betting will need support.

The anti-gambling lobby had a largely free run over the years leading to April’s white-paper publication. Fortunately, some comfort can be drawn from an observation by the erudite commentator Dan Waugh, of Regulus Partners, who in a webinar organised by law firm CMS London referred to “fraudulent comments” made by various organisations but added: “The government didn’t get sucked into falling for falsehoods.”

That said, racing cannot afford to take its foot off the pedal, but the question is: who’s doing the driving?

For several years, Will Lambe and Ross Hamilton forged a formidable BHA duo roaming the corridors of Westminster and Whitehall, but Lambe left in August 2021 and Hamilton is on his way to Ofcom Scotland.

Hamilton’s most recent incarnation as Head of Policy and Advocacy, in a BHA career lasting ten and a half years, has been taken over by Jack Barton, who came through the BHA graduate programme and steps up after almost four years in the role of Public Affairs Executive, a job with an advertised annual starting salary of £30,000, which hardly screams experience.

The Jockey Club has invented a vaguely similar role, which has been boosted by extra international responsibilities once delivered by Stephen Wallis and is being undertaken by Matt Woolston, who has been with the organisation for eight years. His LinkedIn biog notes that his first job was 18 months spent as a parliamentary assistant in the House of Commons –without revealing the political persuasion of his employer – so he should at least know his way round the Westminster building.

Between them, Barton and Woolston must cultivate friends as well as get among the enemy in Parliament, working out who will still be there in the event of a 2024 general election, and, in the dreadful words of marketing-speak, singing from the same hymn sheet.

Meanwhile, it’s to be hoped that someone with the right authority has penned a letter to another palace, Buckingham

Culture change required in new whip-use world

Walter Mitty would have had a field day getting behind Britain’s new whip rules. The hero of James Thurber’s short story, who indulged in extravagant dreams of his own triumphs, would have imagined their arrival as a seamless process.

However, as Thurber intended to imply, real life is a very different matter, and the introduction of the revised whip rules was always going to be a tough ask, given the apparent discord between the jockeys’ representatives on the review panel and a band of brethren who finally came through with

jockeys probably reckon that should have happened to the whip review panel but, after one change of mind, sense prevailed in framing the new regulations.

Implementing them has proved to be a different matter, and it was always going to be, given that the process involved a fundamental change of culture for most of the participants.

I am reminded of a recent car journey from Epsom to the centre of London, the first since before Covid. Ten years ago, the 14-mile trip could have been covered in about an hour; five years ago, it would have been an hour and a half. Now, the tedious stop-start excursion took two hours, the result of changes that have added cycle and bus lanes to the route and reduced cars to a single passage for much of the way, and exacerbated by the arrival of 20mph speed-limit zones and a maddening proliferation of road works.

The rapid spread of 20mph areas, a stranglehold which has crept across cities, towns and villages faster than Japanese knotweed, provides a topical comparison with the immediate outcome of Britain’s new whip rules.

On my latest speed awareness course – the result of not spotting an instant drop from 60mph to 30mph on a road administered by the extra-vigilant Essex constabulary – the majority of miscreants were there for breaching the 20mph limit, which has been introduced by more than one-third of the UK’s 120 councils, and their example has been borne out by the latest nationwide data.

Numbers vary by region. Last year, Avon & Somerset issued nearly 24,000 notices of intention to

Palace, pointing out that in 2024 the Derby will be run at 4.30pm on Saturday, June 1. Set aside Royal Ascot – the clue is in the name – but British racing’s public credibility hangs on a strong royal presence at Epsom on the first Saturday in June.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was said to make the date one of her first diary entries, but the message seems to have got lost following her death last September, for there was no senior UK royal present for the premier Classic at Epsom this year.

The King was on holiday in his Transylvanian bolthole, while the Queen, the Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of

“Racing cannot afford to take its foot off the pedal, but the question is: who’s doing the driving?”

Gloucester had no engagements listed in the Court Circular. The Princess Royal set off that day for official duties in Canada, while the Prince of Wales, President of the FA, was at the Cup Final; the Duke of Gloucester was in Cardiff, and the Duke of Kent was in Wells-next-the-Sea in his role as RNLI President.

That left Zara Tindall to shoulder the Royal family’s attendance alone. For all her racing involvement, including as a member of the Cheltenham racecourse committee, she hardly carries the same consequence as her uncle. Hence the need for a swift and early reminder to the Palace.

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prosecute for speeding in a 20mph zone, while none emerged in Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Humberside, Devon or Cornwall. But taken overall, 236,480 motorists were successfully prosecuted for speeding offences in England and Wales in 2022, the highest number since records began in 2014 and a 16 per cent rise on the previous year.

Motoring organisations believe the uplift can be largely blamed on the increase in 20mph zones, which, as anyone who has sat behind the wheel of a car in recent times will tell you, require a whole new approach to driving.

Compare the vast increase in those figures with the rapid and spectacular rise in the number of whip offences since the new rules were introduced in February – a total of 279 rides by the middle of June – and it’s easy to see where a change to established practice is liable to lead.

Just as the totting-up system for speeding offences will have advanced the timing of driving bans for many motorists, so a similar procedure in racing has hit repeat offenders breaching the whip rules. Notably, Jonjo O’Neill jnr, Marco Ghiani, Paula Muir and Kielan Woods were handed bans of 20-plus days, totalling 123 days.

Woods topped the list on 42 days for five infringements. That’s five breaches in about four months, suggesting he is a slow learner in the art of counting, rather than being worthy of one broadcaster’s shouting and screaming about the new rules, or jockey Martin Dwyer’s amusing but misguided view “it’s like going to jail for nicking a loaf of bread.”

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Whitsbury Manor Stud

Rude HEALTH

With sires Havana Grey and Showcasing thriving and Classic winner Chaldean coming off the land, Whitsbury Manor Stud has much to celebrate

Words: Julian Muscat

Aportent of the future came with Chris Harper’s decision to hand over Whitsbury Manor Stud to his son, Ed, back in 2010.

Harper spent 36 years building up the stud but he still thought of himself as a dairy farmer. He’d worked in that capacity at Whitsbury since 1963 when, aged 22, he was appointed farm manager of the estate. So you can imagine his chagrin when the first thing Ed did on succeeding him was to sell the dairy.

“It broke dad’s heart,” Ed relates, “but he could hardly ask me to take over the business and then kibosh my first decision.”

That was 12 years ago, since when the stud has evolved apace. In Showcasing and Havana Grey, it is home to two of the most desirable stallions in Britain. And it basks in the reflected glory of having bred a Classic winner in Chaldean, which Whitsbury Manor sold to Juddmonte for 550,000 guineas as a foal in 2020.

All of this is Ed’s doing. Hindsight relates that the sale of the dairy telegraphed his intention to do things his way.

His father confirms this. “Ed always comes to me and tells me what he has done once he has done it,” Chris says. “The stud has been my life and I like to know what is going on, but I don’t tell Ed what to do.”

The consequence is that Whitsbury Manor has never been in ruder health. It is that rare, 21st century outfit: one of a shrinking handful of British entities that stands stallions and breeds commercially from around 100 broodmares.

In truth, time’s passage demanded a changing of the guard. Chris barely recognises the business he embraced

when he stood his first stallion at Whitsbury, Philip Of Spain, back in 1973. That detail is never more evident than in the background to Havana Grey’s purchase five years ago.

“When Ed told me he had just bought the horse and asked what I thought, I said Havana Grey was just the job,” Chris recalls. “But when Ed told me what he’d paid, I nearly fell off my chair. It was twice as much as I thought the horse was worth. I thought Ed had made a serious cock-up but he insisted that was the going rate. I would never have paid that money, which shows how much things have changed.”

For his part, Ed is quick to acknowledge good fortune has played its part in Whitsbury Manor’s success story. Showcasing was the first stallion prospect he bought, while Havana Grey’s stock continues to rise with the exploits of his first three-year-old crop this year.

There have been failures, of course, but Harper has displayed a knack of hitting the mark. Are there any golden rules when assessing stallion prospects?

“There are absolutely no rules except for one,” he responds. “We always ask ourselves: ‘Would we be pleased as punch to send several of our own mares to his horse?’ If the answer is no, the horse is not for us. It’s as simple as that.

“The other factor is that you can’t have the whole package or you’d been trying to buy a Baaeed, which would be a waste of time,” he continues. “You have to forgive something at our level, although it’s laughable when you listen to some of

the things that are said [about the dos and don’ts] in this industry.”

So how much is down to luck? “About 60 per cent,” Ed replies.

years before I took over, there were a hell of a lot of people working bloody hard at Whitsbury with dad at the helm.”

Those 40 years were the proverbial roller-coaster. It’s a fact that most stallions are destined to fail, yet in Compton Place and Young Generation, together with the latter’s son Cadeaux Genereux, Whitsbury often had one successful stallion to carry the rest of the tribe.

Whichever genes have passed from father to son, the archetypal farmer’s reserve is evident in Ed. He baulks when told he deserves rather more of the credit.

“It’s not really for me to judge,” he responds. “What I do know is that for 40

Standing stallions, always a high-risk business, has become even more fraught – not least for the damage a dud inflicts on the stud’s broodmare band. That was Whitsbury’s experience with Sakhee’s Secret, whose innings was abruptly curtailed towards the end of 2014, when his oldest crop were four-year-olds.

The wreckage was plain to Ed, who’d returned home from a three-year stint with the estate agents Savills, soon after Sakhee’s Secret arrived at Whitsbury towards the end of 2008.

“I always try and learn from things that haven’t worked”

Whitsbury Manor Stud

“I always try and learn from things that haven’t worked,” Ed says. “Sakhee’s Secret blew a huge hole in our business which took years to repair. But you know what? I didn’t feel bad about it.

“For whatever reason we got it wrong with that horse and we had to bear the consequences,” he continues. “But it’s much more frustrating when you feel you have got it right with a stallion but don’t get support from the market because you haven’t shown the market what it needs to see.”

That has been Harper’s experience with Due Diligence, whose first two-year-old crop showed ample promise in 2019 but was hamstrung by having covered too few mares in the previous two years to capitalise. That has since changed: Due Diligence’s two-year-olds of 2023, the first

since his debut juvenile crop of runners, are more plentiful.

“At the time I felt we couldn’t have done much more,” Harper reflects. “We cannot do it on our own; we needed the help of British breeders [in years two, three and four]. It’s a fairly strange business whereby even if we make good decisions, it still comes to nothing unless we get other people on board.”

Harper resolved the conundrum by ensuring strong support for Whitsbury’s stallions in those fallow years. And since Havana Grey followed Due Diligence to Whitsbury, the stud reaped a significant financial dividend last year through the sale of yearlings and foals by Havana Grey.

In official sales company returns for 2022, Whitsbury was listed as having sold 11 yearlings by Havana Grey for gross receipts of £954,000 at an average price of £86,727. The stud also sold five foals for £402,000 at an average of £80,400. Havana Grey’s covering fee for the two years in question was £6,500 and £6,000 respectively.

The same process has been followed with the stud’s newest recruit, Sergei Prokofiev, whose first crop are yearlings this year. It’s a necessity for every stud standing stallions even if the business model leans overtly towards having too

many eggs in one basket.

The vast majority of British breeders are cognisant of the risks in standing stallions without necessarily appreciating the harsher financial implications. Harper’s frankness in spelling them out is nothing less than startling.

Despite the ongoing success of Showcasing, who has been covering at an average fee of £40,000 for the last nine seasons, Havana Grey was bought with borrowed money. “We maxed out our limit so much to buy him,” Harper relates.

“We had to borrow money on top of money we had already borrowed. I thought to myself there was no middle ground: we would either make a success of it or go down in flames.

“If Havana Grey had been a failure the appetite for us carrying on with stallions would have been seriously diminished,” he continues. “It could have been the final nail in our coffin. We could well have gone the same way as so many other studs by doing away with stallions and reducing the broodmare band to 20.”

It’s not just a farmer’s reserve that has passed from father to son. “Dad and I both have a cavalier streak in us,” Harper says. “At the end of the day we are adrenaline junkies.

“I’ve had discussions with bank managers [about borrowing money against land assets] which made them look at me with pity. I could see what they were thinking: just give us the deeds to the acres

“We would either make a success of it or go down in flames”

and we’ll take that from you when it all goes tits up, thank you very much.

“But I don’t think I would have the risk-taking philosophy unless I’d seen that dad had started with nothing,” he continues. “This isn’t some fifth-generation aristocratic thing where we are worried about what we might lose. Even if it crashes down around us at least we can say we gave it a proper lash.”

In 12 years at the helm Harper, 39, has come to view the business in a different light. All commercial concerns have to make money but he now sees the merit in leaving enough within a sale for the buyer to make a turn further down the line.

He admires the Irish mindset whereby all horsemen are delighted when one of

Whitsbury Manor Stud

their competitors makes a handsome sale. And he hopes that the four-strong collective which owns Lope Y Fernandez (comprising Coolmore, the National Stud and Nick Bradley, together with Whitsbury) is something of a template.

“It has been a great success so far and a new string to our bow,” Harper says. “The four of us coming together has opened our eyes to the opportunities of working with other operations. Perhaps it’s a glimpse into the future.

“I have spoken to others before about standing horses as partners and got the impression they wanted us to do all the heavy lifting while they receive a paycheque. Well, that doesn’t work for us. We have a vision; we want to work with people who share it. If people appreciate what we can do for a horse, we take that as a compliment and want to rise to that challenge.”

Rising to the challenge involves a “team Whitsbury” philosophy. Harper is at pains to emphasise the contributions made by his key personnel, among them stud manager Phil Haworth and broodmare manager Ben Tappenden. They have been joined by Joe Callan, head of bloodstock and sales, whose arrival six months ago released Harper from what he describes as “ten years of having no personal life whatsoever.”

“We’re forever discussing our business strategy and testing each other out,” Harper says. “They are invaluable, and I find you come up with less shockers when you bounce ideas off others. Phil has looked after the horses for the last ten years and I see us as a bit of a duo. I wouldn’t be able to do it without him.”

Whitsbury has never been as well placed to anticipate the coming years with optimism. Harper with his farmer’s reserve rebuts the thought, yet having initially resolved to walk away from the business, he must reflect that his decision to leave Savills and return to the fold was very much the right move.

It was something of a calling. “At the time I didn’t realise how boring a real job was,” he reflects. “I’d go home at weekends and see all the young stock, with dad, who was then in his early 70s, having put his whole life into it without having anybody to hand it over to.

“I felt a bit selfish,” he adds. “Dad had created this amazing opportunity and I was not going to take it. What put me off initially was seeing how hard he worked, but your priorities soon change when you do a nine-to-five.”

Hard work never hurt anyone. Least of all those who work with horses.

The gloaming of a late November afternoon at Tattersalls last year made the perfect setting for the apogee of Chris Harper’s long involvement in the horse business.

A reverential hush greeted the ringside arrival of Lot 1025, a Kingman half-sister to Chaldean consigned by Whitsbury Manor, which Harper had put on the thoroughbred map. The foal was out of Suelita, the last mare Harper bought before he passed the Whitsbury reins to his son Ed in 2011.

Little wonder, then, that Harper was engulfed by a torrent of emotions when the gavel came down at 1 million guineas. The bell had rung loudly for a man synonymous with breeding in the west country.

“It was a culmination of 50 years of battling through and hoping that one day we might have a real killing, and there we were,” Harper relates. “It was a tremendous triumph for everybody at Whitsbury because the whole team watches over these animals, picking up on any problems they might have.”

Harper bought Suelita for 21,500 guineas in 2013 largely because her granddam, Horatia, descended from a distinguished female line cultivated by Gerald Leigh at his Eydon Hall Farm. Leigh and Harper were friends who’d shared the odd horse until Leigh passed away in 2002.

Since Suelita’s purchase, her progeny have generated auction-ring receipts of £2.4 million for Whitsbury. Chaldean had been sold through the same ring as a foal two years earlier

for 550,000gns and added the 2,000 Guineas in May to his Dewhurst Stakes triumph for Juddmonte last year.

The irony is that Chaldean might never have been foaled at all. Born on May 10, he was conceived to Suelita’s solitary cover by Frankel in June when Suelita might just as easily have been rested. “It was very much last-chance saloon,” Harper recalls.

Harper was employed as farm manager at Whitsbury, which was then owned by the bookmaker William Hill, as a 22-year-old in 1963. “I knew nothing about racing, he says, “but William [Hill] asked me to sort out the horses he had and introduced me to people he knew in Newmarket. That’s how it started for me.”

Harper became a tenant farmer at Whitsbury soon after Hill died, when the property was sold to the Legal and General Company in 1986. He borrowed heavily to buy the estate, which now embraces 2,000 acres and which he still farms. The stud itself sits in 600 acres.

“I am basically a farmer who had horses, rather than a horseman with a farm,” he says. “There were times when the farm carried the stud financially but I never thought about selling up. In hard [economic] times my approach was to go to the bank and borrow even more money to buy more land.”

With those loans now repaid, Harper can sit back and savour the rest of Suelita’s legacy. She has a colt foal by Showcasing and is safely in foal to Frankel once more.

‘Tremendous triumph’ 50 years in the making

USBREDs had a 30% strike rate in the group races during the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting with victories by VALIANT FORCE (USA) in the Norfolk S. (G2), KING OF STEEL (USA) in the King Edward VII S. (G2), and CRIMSON ADVOCATE (USA) in the Queen Mary S. (G2).

VALIANT FORCE (USA)

By Malibu Moon (USA)

KEE Sept. ’22 - $100,000

Consignor: Eaton Sales

Owners: AMO Racing/ Mrs. Rachel O’Callaghan/G De Aguiar

Breeders: Ramon Horta Rangel & Spendthrift Farm (KY)

Trainer: Adrian Murray

KING OF STEEL (USA)

KEE Sept. ’21 - $200,000

Consignor: Gainesway

Owner: AMO Racing LTD.

Breeder: BCF Services LLC (KY)

Trainer: Roger Varian

CRIMSON ADVOCATE (USA)

By Nyquist (USA)

OBS Oct. ’22 - $100,000

Consignor: Beth Bayer

Owners: R.A. Hill Stable, Swinbank Stables, Black Type Thoroughbreds, RAP Racing, Chris Mara, BlackRidge Stables LLC, and Amy Dunne

Breeder: Whitehall Lane Farm (KY)

Trainer: George Weaver

Just REWARD

Soul Sister’s victory in the Oaks is testament to the long-held commitment of Lady Bamford’s Daylesford Stud to produce Classic stock

Words: Martin Stevens

Lady Bamford’s wonderful achievement of owning and breeding a second winner of the Oaks – Soul Sister’s clear-cut victory in June coming 14 years after Sariska defeated Midday at Epsom – is just reward for her long-held commitment to producing Classic stock instead of ephemeral two-year-old talents, a deep investment in the best bloodlines and all-important patience in the process bearing fruit.

Soul Sister’s dam, the 15-year-old Group 2-winning and multiple Grade 1-placed Dream Peace, and the two-yearsolder Sariska are among 28 mares who reside at the accomplished horsewoman’s stud on 110 acres of the famed Daylesford estate in a patch of heaven on earth near Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

Lady Bamford has made Daylesford Farm a pioneer in organic farming and food production, with a respect for nature its core tenet, and it is a similar story when it comes to thoroughbreds.

Chris Lock, who formerly ran the nearby Stratford Place Stud and became manager of Daylesford Stud upon the retirement of Charlie Brewer three years ago, is the man charged with the task of raising traditionally bred racehorses with the same ethos.

“It’s difficult to be 100 percent organic with horses but we do all we can to be as natural as possible,” he says. “The stud has been going around 30 years, and was started when Lady Bamford retired four or five of her racehorses. It developed into a passion and a broodmare band grew from that, and we’re all very proud that there are still mares from some of those earliest families on the farm.

“Lady Bamford has always loved the

Classics; she isn’t so interested in having five or six-furlong two-year-old winners, and the aim is to keep improving the stock. We have some exceptionally nice mares with top pedigrees now, and they go to the right stallions, so we’re doing all we can to achieve success.”

Lock reports that his employer is a regular presence on the stud, and takes a keen interest in the mares and young stock.

“She’s very hands-on, and at least once a week we’ll go round the farm looking at the mares, foals and yearlings, and she comes out to see plenty of foalings,” he says.

“She knows all her old families and enjoys seeing the horses develop throughout the year.

“She’s always been a keen rider so she’s very switched on. There’s no point trying to hide a bad horse from her with a good one, put it that way! She has a good

Soul Sister: provided a second homebred Oaks success for her owner-breeder Lady Bamford (inset)

eye and picked out Dream Peace at the sales.”

Dream Peace, a high-class racemare whose first three dams – Truly A Dream, Truly Special and Arctique Royale – were also Pattern winners, and whose threeparts brother Catcher In The Rye ran second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains,

cost a cool 2,700,000gns when she was offered as a broodmare prospect at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale of 2013.

Soul Sister, by Frankel, is her fifth winner from as many runners, and her fourth black-type runner after Prix Thomas Bryon winner Dreamflight (also by Frankel) and the Listed-placed pair

Herman Hesse (by Frankel again) and Questionare (by Galileo).

“A shortlist of five or six fillies and mares would have been drawn up for Lady Bamford by Hugo Lascelles and Charlie [Brewer], and then she would have looked at them herself,” says Lock. “She tells me that as soon as she saw Dream

Peace she fell in love with her, and wasn’t going to leave Tattersalls without her.

“Hugo warned her she’d be expensive. A filly coming straight off the track with that sort of race record, pedigree and physique always will be. But sometimes you’ve got to be brave and go for it, and thankfully it’s worked out.”

Daylesford Stud

›› Lock and the infant Soul Sister arrived on the farm at a similar time three years ago. He says: “It’s easy to say now, but she was always a nice filly and was consistently high up on our grading system. She was strong, a great walker with a calm attitude and good bone. We couldn’t have dreamt that she’d be this good, of course, but we had an inkling that she might be all right.”

Dream Peace herself doesn’t tend to put her own head above the parapet, though. “You’d nearly forget she’s here,” says Lock. “She’s the quietest mare. You can put her in a field with any horse, and there’s never any fuss or fighting; she’s almost hidden in the herd.

“She’s 15.3 hands, nice and compact, with good bone and a great hindquarter. She’s the perfect mare, really: not too big and not too long. She’s quite attractive for a Dansili, with a nice head on her.”

Soul Sister was Dream Peace’s sixth offspring but first filly – “we were getting a bit worried until she came along,” admits Lock – but she now has a yearling half-sister by Le Havre (“great hind leg and good shoulder, excellent walker”) and foal half-sister by Sea The Stars (“very attractive and similar to Soul Sister”).

Dream Peace also has a two-year-old colt named Son Of Peace in training with Andre Fabre. “He’s a typical Sea The Stars but Andre has told us he’s not far off coming out, so he could be a fair bit more forward than Soul Sister.”

So enamoured were the Daylesford Stud team with Son Of Peace that Dream Peace is back in foal to Sea The Stars.

“Lady Bamford is a big fan of Sea The Stars, so we like to use him as much as we can, although I’d imagine the mare will go back to Frankel next year – we’d be mad

“She hasn’t worked out quite as well as we’d hoped, and she’s now retired, but her three-year-old Kingman filly Tygress ran well on debut for Andre recently and her last offspring is a two-year-old filly by the same sire called Pellegrin,” says Lock.

“Sariska owes us nothing, though. She was phenomenal, especially in the Irish Oaks that day – Jamie Spencer was just a passenger. Snow Moon is producing some really nice foals for us, too.”

“It’s remarkable that Gull Wing turned out to be the better broodmare,” says Lock. “But unfortunately she only gave us one daughter, The Lark, and in turn that mare sadly died of colic at a relatively young age, leaving us only two colts.”

not to,” says Lock.

Sariska, a homebred daughter of Pivotal and early yearling purchase Maycocks Bay who notched the AngloIrish Oaks double by winning at the Curragh practically on the bridle, sadly hasn’t been quite so brilliant at stud. She has produced three winners, albeit one of those is the Listed third Snow Moon.

As so often seems to happen, Sariska was outshone in the breeding shed by a less talented half-sister. Gull Wing – a daughter of In The Wings and Maycocks Bay who wasn’t entirely devoid of talent, as a winner of the Further Flight Stakes –clicked with Pivotal to produce Group 2 victors and King George runners-up Eagle Top and Wings Of Desire, as well as Oaks

Star Of Seville, a third Oaks winner of sorts bred and owned by Lady Bamford, having struck in the 2015 Prix de Diane at Chantilly, is yet to be represented by a winner but her future lies ahead of her.

“She has three-year-old and two-yearold colts by Dubawi and a yearling filly by the same sire, and we’re pleased with what she’s got, and so is John Gosden,” says Lock. “She’s in foal to Baaeed and Star Spirit, her daughter by Deep Impact, has a filly foal by Starspangledbanner and is in foal to Havana Grey. We’re trying to

“Dream Peace is the perfect mare, really: not too big and not too long”

bring in a little bit of speed here and there.

“This is a family that Lady Bamford has done well with, as she also bred the St James’s Palace Stakes runner-up King Of Comedy from their dam Stage Presence, who was a brilliant producer. Queen Of Comedy, a winning Kingman full-sister to King Of Comedy, has been to Sea The Stars for her first cover this year.”

All’s Forgotten, a winning Darshaan half-sister to stakes winners Parole Board and Remain Silent bought from Tattersalls for 140,000gns in 2007, was also a grand servant to Daylesford Stud. She clicked with Galileo, sire of her earlier 2,000 Guineas third Gan Amhras, to produce Lady Bamford’s Bahrain Trophy winner Shantaram and Listed scorers Forever Now and To Eternity.

“All’s Forgotten was very good to us

and fortunately she gave us some very nice daughters we’re breeding from,” says Lock. “To Eternity’s first foal True Testament, by Siyouni, ran third in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano and Prix Niel last season and has stayed in training at five as Andre is very sweet on him and thinks he might be an Arc horse.

“To Eternity has been a touch unlucky since, as she had a lovely Lope De Vega foal who passed away and a Siyouni full-brother to True Testament who succumbed to colic.

“Fortunately we also have Sacred Path, a winning Galileo full-sister to To Eternity, who has a three-year-old filly by Siyouni named Shiva Shakti who placed at two for John and Thady Gosden, along with a Siyouni yearling filly and Wootton Bassett filly foal.

“All’s Forgotten is also the dam of One Morning, a Gleneagles filly who has won and shown some good form for Michael Bell, and it’s likely she’ll come back to the stud to carry on the line, so we’re lucky to have lots of young fillies from this family.”

Another Daylesford Stud family buzzing with relevance is that descended from Seta, a Listed-winning daughter of Pivotal out of a Generous half-sister to Gerald Leigh’s Classic-winning siblings Barathea and Gossamer. The 16-year-old is the dam of Random Harvest, runner-up in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes and Duke of Cambridge Stakes, and One Evening, second in the Pontefract Castle Stakes.

“Random Harvest is a lovely, genuine mare who is hard to pass when she gets in front, as she loves a bit of a fight, she’s just been a bit unlucky this season,” says Lock. “We’ll let her have a go in the Falmouth Stakes. It’s a bit of a punchy target but she’ll be retired at the end of the year so why not go for it? One Evening is also a good filly and John is adamant that there’s a nice race in her.

“Seta has a Too Darn Hot two-year-old gelding named Jazz Scene who’s working away nicely for Sir Mark Prescott – he only had the operation as he was a rig so just had a bit of discomfort, he has no temperament issues – and she’s in foal to New Bay.”

Daylesford Stud also recently reaffirmed its belief in stamina with its 1,000,000gns acquisition of dual Group 3 winner and Prix Jean Romanet second Rosscarbery through Charlie GordonWatson at Tattersalls in December. She is by Sea The Stars from a stout German family, with her Listed-winning dam Rose

Daylesford Stud

Rized being a daughter of Authorized and German Oaks winner Rosenreihe.

Rosscarbery, who was left with Paddy Twomey to race on at five this year, justified the purchase by winning the Munster Oaks at Cork in June on her seasonal bow.

“Lady Bamford was keen to get a strong German family onto the stud farm, and it’s a pedigree that’s still developing,” says Lock. “She does have a lot of stamina in her background so we’ll have to be careful how we mate her when the time comes, but the best thing is she’s incredibly tough and takes her racing well. Looking at prices last year, she probably wasn’t bad value, really.”

All those families are highly distinguished, but according to Lock it is Spirit Of India, a non-winning, nine-yearold Galileo mare out of Sundari, a Group 2-placed Danehill half-sister to Bahrain Trophy winner Mr Singh, that gives Lady Bamford the biggest thrill.

“Spirit Of India is the only mare we still have from Lady Bamford’s original My Ballerina family,” he says. “She’s very proud to be breeding from a descendant of that first purchase. Spirit Of India has made a fair start, and her two-year-old colt, a son of Caravaggio named Veer, is in training with Charlie Hills.”

Lady Bamford might have a healthy respect for history but she is also cognisant of the fact that broodmare bands need regular injections of new blood, and that there is a danger of staying families becoming too slow.

To that end, Gordon-Watson went to market in recent years to buy some sharper fillies.

Pamplemousse, a Siyouni half-sister to Prix Jean Romanet winner Odeliz, was bought from the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale of 2016 for €400,000 and was a Listed winner over seven furlongs at Chantilly at three, while Suphala, a Frankel half-sister to Listed sprint-winning two-year-old Sivoliere, was sourced from the same company’s August Yearling Sale a year later for €650,000 and took the Prix Chloe.

Gordon-Watson’s buys from the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale in 2019, meanwhile, included Queen Of Love, a Kingman half-sister to smart two-yearolds Dark Liberty and Sunstrike who cost €650,000 and became a Listed winner over a mile at Saint-Cloud, and Tropbeau, a filly by Showcasing out of a daughter of July Cup heroine Frizzante who cost €180,000 and went on to win at Group 2 level and finish placed in the Cheveley Park Stakes and Prix Maurice de Gheest.

“It’s been a concerted effort to try to

bring in some speedier, sharper bloodlines after one or two generations of breeding for Classics,” says Lock. “We’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, though; when we talk about speed we’re looking for milers rather than sprinters, but with a bit more juvenile form.

“Pamplemousse has a Galileo threeyear-old filly named Jade Vine with Andre who was due to make her debut recently but pulled a muscle. The trainer speaks highly of her. She has a nice Too Darn Hot yearling colt and has gone back to that sire on the strength of him. Unfortunately she’s a little difficult to get in foal.

“Suphala has a very nice Lope De Vega yearling filly and a smart Wootton Bassett colt foal, and she’s gone to No Nay Never this year. Tropbeau has taken to motherhood like a duck to water and her first foal is a Frankel colt foal who we’re over the moon with. She’s back in foal to Night Of Thunder.

“Queen Of Love also produced a Frankel colt as her first foal this year, and she’s in foal to No Nay Never.”

Daylesford Stud is also adopting a commercial edge in another way that will soon become public when catalogues for the yearling sales are published, but is being revealed here for the first time.

“We’re having a bit of a shift and going back down the traditional ownerbreeder route of selling colts and keeping fillies,” says Lock. “In the past we’ve kept everything, but our horses in training numbers have become a bit high, and

so we’re taking some to market. We also want to be a bit more proactive commercially.”

Among the yearlings who are under consideration for being sold at Arqana in August are the Too Darn Hot colt out of Pamplemousse and the same sire’s filly out of Seta – what would be a rare female offering “only because we have lots of fillies from the family,” Lock says.

Pencilled in for Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale are a Wootton Bassett colt out of Pioneer Spirit, a winning daughter of Galileo; a No Nay Never colt who is the first foal out of the well-bred Invincible Spirit mare Spiritus Sanctus; and an Oasis Dream colt out of Halfwaytothemoon, a placed Sea The Stars mare from the family of Classicwinning siblings Bosra Sham, Hector Protector and Shanghai.

Bound for Tattersalls in December, meanwhile, are an Oasis Dream colt out of Spirit Of India and a No Nay Never colt out of Made By Hand, a half-sister to Haydock Sprint Cup hero G Force. The Castlebridge Consignment will present the stud’s lots.

The market can be a little wary when owner-breeders decide to put their yearlings up for sale for the first time, but ignoring such well-bred lots from the farm that has produced the exciting Soul Sister and stakes-placed half-sisters Random Harvest and One Evening in the last few weeks alone would be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Crunching NUMBERS

Sports across the globe have invested in statisticalled models in the hope of achieving success

with its potential to analyse equine performance and health, is racing ready to embrace big data?

Words: Alysen Miller

If Brighton & Hove Albion FC were a stud farm, they would not be Coolmore. They would not be Darley. They certainly wouldn’t be Juddmonte. And yet Roberto De Zerbi’s team are proving that you don’t need bottomless pockets or the footballing equivalent of Frankel in your starting lineup in order to compete with the big boys.

In a banner season, the south coast team reached the FA Cup semi-finals and even clinched a lucrative European spot for the first time in the club’s history, and all with a budget a fraction of the size of that of rivals such as Manchester City.

The key is owner-chairman Tony Bloom and his embrace of big data. The 53-yearold sports betting entrepreneur has his own software that filters the whole of the transfer market. The club’s scouts are sent a list of names to watch, and then compile reports on players who have passed the data checklist. The exact algorithm is a closely guarded secret, kept even from those inside the club. But whatever is in Brighton’s secret sauce appears to be working.

Big data. Analytics. Moneyball. It goes by many names, but the use of data in sports is nothing new. It was brought to popular attention by Michael Lewis in his 2003 book Moneyball and by 2011 film of the same name starring Brad Pitt. It charted the fortunes of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. Due to their smaller budget compared to rivals such as the New York Yankees, the A’s applied an analytical, evidence-based approach in order to identify players who were undervalued by the market and then

snapped them up.

Two decades on from the release of Lewis’s book, the term ‘Moneyball’ has become a metonym for the chase for efficiency and perfection in sport. All big-money leagues now employ legions of data nerds to crunch the numbers on all aspects of their players’ performance

Premier League Arsenal, for example, use the STATSports system to gather physical data on all their players, from the under-12s through to the men’s and women’s first teams. They record some 250 separate metrics, including accelerations and decelerations, average heart rate, calories burned, distance per minute, high-speed running, high-intensity distance, max speed, sprints and strain. The statistics are available live during training sessions so coaches can make real-time adjustments where necessary.

Horseracing – a sport where milliseconds, mere pixels in a photo finish, mark the line between success and failure – seems like a perfect candidate for the Moneyball treatment. After all, horses are data-generating animals. A standard racecard is packed with reams of data. If a punter wants more information, there are periodicals devoted entirely to providing historical data on every aspect of a horse’s pedigree and performance. And yet it is apparent that racing trails the field behind other professional sports in terms of how it measures its athletes.

Nevertheless, there are signs that a big data revolution could be on the horizon; one that will not just change the face of horseracing, but which could help ensure

its very survival as an industry.

Perhaps it is no surprise that first applications of data in horseracing were in gambling. Harvard dropout Andrew Beyer was the first person to hypothesise that a horse’s performance could be empirically quantified and created a metric to collapse all the variables that can affect a horse’s performance (surface, going, distance, field

size) into a single number: the Beyer Speed Figure. (In the UK, data provider Timeform had an almost identical genesis.)

While Beyer’s mathematical approach has survived and thrived in its modern iteration of Computer Assisting Wagering (or CAW; that is, the use of algorithms to analyse statistics, race history, and other relevant data to develop a prediction

model for a race’s outcome), outside of betting, the industry itself has seemed slow to embrace the potential of big data.

Despite that, there are indications the industry is waking up to its potential. A number of new systems have recently hit the market that use the latest technologies to provide detailed insights into the horse’s performance. One of these systems is

StrideSafe. Using a combination of GPS and motion capture technology, the system is capable of detecting minute variations in the horse’s stride that are effectively invisible to the human eye.

“From an observational point of view, humans can’t detect these sorts of changes that we’re picking up. It’s simply happening too fast,” explains David Hawke,

Managing Director of StrideMaster, the company which produces StrideSafe. The sample rate in StrideSafe’s sensors is 800 hertz, or 800 frames per second. The human eye, by contrast, cannot directly perceive more than about 60 frames per second. Yet despite promising trials in America, take-up in Europe has been less than enthusiastic. “We’ve had some inquiries, but we haven’t had anything concrete in terms of take-up outside of Australia and the US,” says Hawke.

Indeed, Australian racing appears to be something of a pioneer when it comes to the use of big data. In a suburb north of Ballarat, Victoria, Ciaron Maher uses big data to collect and analyse performance and health data on his 700 equine athletes. Josh Kadlec-Cavanagh is Head of Data and Performance at Ciaron Maher Racing. “I would say I’m pretty similar to the Jonah Hill character in Moneyball,” he explains. “I’m the guy sitting behind the database cranking out numbers.”

Maher’s journey into big data began with the appointment of Katrina Anderson as Head of Sport Science in 2020. KadlecCavanagh came on board two years later. “I was hired as a data scientist to come and look after the database and do some of the modelling in terms of the predictive analytics of looking at their

Arioneo and StrideSafe are just two of the technologies that are helping to bring racing into the 21st century. But the industry has some way to go before it catches up to other professional sports.

“If I walked into a major football club and said, ‘Who here’s got expertise in biometric sensor analysis’, half the football department would put their hand up,” says Hawke. “They’ve been doing it for 20 years. But the information can be used in so many different ways in terms of performance, breeding and training techniques. We’re just scratching the surface.”

Unlike human athletes, horses can’t talk, so any attempt to interpret how they ‘feel’ is, to some extent, an act of ventriloquy.

on the project, which is operated in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary College. “In terms of our current understanding of risk factors in jump racing, there hasn’t really been any work done on data from Great Britain since 2013, but that study only used data up until the end of 2009,” she explains.

The JRRM will analyse all race starts from 2010 through to the end of the 2023 core jump season to produce six different risk factor models: one each for fatalities, long term injuries (defined as an injury sustained on raceday that requires at least three months recovery time) and falling. These will be further subdivided into separate models for steeplechase and hurdle races to give the six models.

trainings, looking at their races and the correlations between the two, and what you can possibly correlate between how they recover in training and what they can produce on a track,” he says.

Maher’s yard uses trackers made by French company Arioneo to ensure no margin is left ungained in his quest to optimise performance. “Athlete feedback is key,” says Kadlec-Cavanagh. “It just seems like a no-brainer to get some sort of feedback that we can’t get through communication [with the horse]. We want to implement technology to be able to monitor things that are happening in the human sports performance world, such as sleep patterns, heart rate variability and recovery rates, all that sort of analytics that’s going on in the human space. We want to be able to do that for horses, too.”

“Any data is giving us more context than just eyeing up the horse. Horseracing is an art but now there’s a little bit of science and evidence to back that up,” adds Kadlec-Cavanagh. Indeed, the most persuasive argument in favour of big data is surely the welfare argument. With racing already sweltering through a summer of discontent, equine safety is in the spotlight like never before. If more information about horses’ movements, their bodies and behaviour were able to be collected and analysed, this information could be used to handicap and place horses in races as well as reduce injuries and improve outcomes.

That is the thinking behind the BHA’s Jump Racing Risk Model (JRRM). Forged out of the ashes of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival Review, the JRRM is a powerful data and epidemiology hub created to identify risk factors in jump racing. Its data set includes 41,438 horses, 45,235 races and 384,418 race starts.

Dr Sarah Allen is the lead researcher

Dr Allen’s team will initially use classical statistical methods such as multi-level logistic regression modelling (essentially, the concept of using data to estimate the odds that an event will occur – the yes/no outcome – while taking into account the dependency of data) in order to determine the independent effects of the different risk factors. “From there, we can look to identify opportunities to make changes –whether that’s changes in race distances, the age at which horses can compete, and so on – but also look to identify particular individuals who are at higher risk, and then determining how we manage this higher risk population,” she explains.

Machine learning is also likely to play a role: “If we’re looking for individual horses who are at increased risk of injury, that’s where the machine learning will come in,” she says. “Even with the traditional models there is still an element of uncertainty around our ability to predict risk. How do we then improve our ability

“Arioneo and StrideSafe are helping to bring racing into the 21st century”

to detect these higher-risk horses? It’s a case of identifying which are the most important factors that we should be looking at. And that’s where the machine learning is going to help us, so we can increase the predictability of being able to correctly identify horses at increased risk before they race.

“The classical methods give us a much broader overview of all the factors associated with risk,” she continues, “whereas with the machine learning, we can really drill down and distil which are the key factors we need to be considering.” So far, she explains, the role of additional factors such as a horse’s biomechanics in its risk profile has been somewhat undertheorised due to the relatively small amount of data available:

“That’s something that’s only really done in quite small numbers at the moment,” explains Dr Allen. “It’s going to be quite difficult to scale that up to every single race start. But in time, as the technology advances, that may become more and more easy to do.”

That’s where technologies such as StrideSafe come in: in a trial in New York, StrideSafe was placed on every runner in the summer of 2021. A retrospective analysis of the data it captured showed that the system had correctly predicted 90 per cent of fatal injuries that occurred on the track by ‘red flagging’ the horses in running during their final race. The value of such information, which could enable jockeys to pull up at the first sign of trouble or even help trainers decide whether or not to run their horses in the first place, cannot be overstated.

What is big data?

Big data refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data-processing application software. These may include, for example, messages, images, readings from sensors and GPS signals, as well as other metrics. Generally speaking, the ‘bigger’ the data, the greater the statistical power.

Big Data Analytics (BDA), meanwhile, refers to the use of processes and technologies, including machine learning and deep learning, to combine and analyse these massive data sets with the goal of identifying patterns and developing insights.

Machine learning and deep learning are both types of artificial intelligence (AI). ‘Classical’ machine learning is AI that can automatically adapt with

Yet part of the battle has been trying to persuade owners, breeders and trainers to embrace the technology. “We just don’t have the information from training sessions in this country that would allow us to get to that next level in terms of predictability,” says Stephen Wensley, Project Lead (Welfare Data) of British racing’s Horse Welfare Board.

“Here in Europe, it’s much more traditional,” he continues. “The attitude is, it’s about the horseman’s sense and feel. And what we’re trying to do is find ways to help them prevent injuries in the first place by providing them with the education that will help them to know when to intervene in training. There’s a lot of research out there but it’s just not getting through to the right people in the right way to be able to act upon it.”

However, there are indications that

attitudes are changing: “The younger trainers in particular are following along on that kind of route,” Wensley continues. “We’re getting people coming in from outside the industry without that horsemanship background, so they’re going to have to rely on these data sources because the level of horsemanship just isn’t there.”

“Everybody within the industry wants to reduce injuries,” adds Dr Allen. “The main thing is getting the research out there. But we can’t do that without the support of the industry. That’s the strength of [the JRRM]. We bring our research expertise to deliver that impact and reach the right people.”

The JRRM is due to publish its finding later this year. While its downstream effects might not be felt for some time, the ghost in the machine could yet be the saviour of horseracing.

minimal human interference. Deep learning is a form of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks to mimic the learning process of the human brain by recognising patterns in the same way that the human nervous system does, including structures like the retina.

Deep learning is much more computationally complex than traditional machine learning. It is capable of modelling patterns in data as sophisticated, multi-layered networks and, as such, can produce more accurate models than other methods.

Chances are you’ve already encountered a deep neural network. In 2016, Google Translate transitioned from its old, phrase-based statistical machine translation algorithm to a deep neural network, with the result that its output

improved dramatically from churning out often comical non sequiturs to producing sentences that are close to indistinguishable from a professional human translator.

Natural language processing (NLP) refers to the branch of computer science – and more specifically, the branch of artificial intelligence or AI – concerned with giving computers the ability to understand text and spoken words in much the same way human beings can. NLP combines computational linguistics – rule-based modelling of human language – with statistical, machine learning, and deep learning models. Together, these technologies enable computers to process human language in the form of text or voice data and to ‘understand’ its full meaning, including nuances such as intention and sentiment.

KÜBLER RACING – WHERE HORSEMANSHIP IS ENHANCED WITH DATA

Daniel and Claire Kübler train together with a team of horsemen and women at stunning Sarsen Farm. A purpose built yard in the heart of Upper Lambourn. Key to the team’s success is skilful horsemanship augmented by the use of data. “Data is like an extra pair of eyes, it gives you deeper insight into each individual” explains Claire, who holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge. “For us training is about watching, feeling and listening to each horse. Communicating within the team is critical, so that we can get the best from every horse. The data we collect adds to that conversation”.

test that indicated a suitability for sprinting. By the end of her three year old career no horse had won more races in Britain or Ireland from that entire foal crop. Impressive for a yearling bought back in for just 10,000 Guineas.

The Kübler’s experience of using data and also being aware of its imperfections is fundamental to the process. A good example might be analysing the heart rate on a sharp filly. A high heart rate post gallop could be indicative of a lack of fitness, or it can be the consequence of the excitability. One conclusion might lead you to think more work is required, the other suggests that the path to winning lies in quelling that excess.

“Whilst the numbers don’t lie, you need the horsemanship,” Claire points out. “Feedback from work riders and grooms can provide as much insight into a horse’s state of mental and physical state as numbers. Winning both Lycetts Team Champions and Leadership Awards recognised we’ve worked hard to build up a great team of horsemen and women to care for the horses here at Sarsen Farm. They can pick up on the subtle cues of a horse, such as if it’s still maturing physically or doesn’t quite mentally understand what it’s doing. Then you can come up with ideas together as a team. You’re always trying to find ways to help get an edge on the track—to get more winners” says Claire.

Daniel is keen to emphasise the team’s approach to training with a scientific perspective: “Lots of things are done the way they’ve always been done, and you can normally work backwards and find that the reason they work is because, scientifically, it stacks up. The exciting times are where you look at the science and you identify a better way.” Daniel loves reading about sports science, studying scientific papers and listening to podcasts to get ideas. “It’s about looking for winning edges and ways to deliver better care. You only have to look at other sports to see the massive changes the use of data is making. From the way athletes are identified, how they are developed, and ultimately the way games or races are won.”

From simple measurements like weights through to heart rates and stride patterns, if you can measure it on a horse; it is safe to say the team at Sarsen Farm are probably doing it. It can be analysing changes to the feeding regime, or calculating the airflow in the barns to ensure optimal respiratory health. “The thing about data is that the more you collect and study the more you can learn from it, every day we can improve on the past because we’ve got more insight” offers Daniel.

Amongst the many examples of data highlighting the potential of a horse that conventional thinking might have missed is Chitra. The seven time winning sprinter remains the only progeny of German Derby winner Sea the Moon to win over five furlongs. Her aptitude for sprinting was obvious from the data collected on her stride pattern in her early fast work. This was backed by a genetic

Utilising science allows the Küblers to develop happy, healthy horses—“I’d like to say our horses are very sound and durable,” notes Claire. Something that the results seem to back up, their string contains many multiple winners, often continuing to improve with age. Don’t Tell Claire at the age of six was inches from winning at Royal Ascot and posted the best figures of her career. The couple’s clients benefit in other ways too “Owners enjoy the insights and gain a better understanding of how their horse is developing and where their potential is,” she says. Daniel adds “It’s very much a team game at Sarsen Farm, we all win together.”

Duty

In 2021, the Horse Welfare Funding Review and the management and aftercare segment.

“You want to do the best for each horse so you’re developing a sound horse that can achieve its optimum.” At Sarsen Farm data analysis enhances excellent horsemanship to develop winners n

Contact Daniel on 07984 287 254 or Claire on 07714 294 172 Sarsen Farm, Upper Lambourn, Berkshire www.kublerracing.com

The report found that provision has grown organically provide a blend of promotional opportunities for thoroughbreds career. While retraining offered by a mixture of charitable bodies, there assessment, methodology health and welfare provision to forecast and budget

The review’s recommendations areas to improve the sector welfare commitments: traceability and data; accreditation; education; communication. improvements on behalf Retraining of Racehorses to be provided by the

Breeders’ Digest

Landmark Royal successes bode well for the future

This sport’s ability to attract the high rollers never disappoints. There is no shortage of opportunities for owners to invest heavily should they wish, but on the other hand, that places the pressure on when it comes to the swift arrival of success, and there will always be those for whom that comes more easily than others.

As such, time will probably tell us that the Royal Ascot victories of Courage Mon Ami and Gregory for Wathnan Racing were far more significant than they may have seemed on the day. The John and Thady Gosden-trained pair were purchased by Wathnan Racing from their owner-breeders – Anthony Oppenheimer in the case of Courage Mon Ami and Philippa Cooper in the case of Gregory – in the run-up to the Royal Meeting through Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock and went on to oblige impressively in their assignments, the Gold Cup and Queen’s Vase respectively.

Nor did the week’s success end there since Bolthole, purchased for 130,000gns at Tattersalls, followed up his recent win in a Listed race at Bordeaux Le Bouscat with a victory for trainer Alban de Mieulle in the Listed Grand Prix de Compiegne, run on the Saturday of Royal Ascot. Another earlier purchase, Isaac Shelby, also ran fourth in the St James’s Palace Stakes. The son of Night Of Thunder was acquired following his win in the Greenham Stakes and went close to providing Wathnan with a first Classic success not long after when second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains.

As the week of Royal Ascot progressed, chatter surrounding the identity of Wathnan Racing understandably gained momentum and come the end of the week it was confirmed to be the racing vehicle belonging to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Various members of the Al Thani family, of course, are already involved in racing including the Emir’s brother Sheikh Joaan, who operates Al Shaqab Racing and owns Haras de Bouquetot in France, and their uncle Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani. His son, Sheikh Fahad, operates Qatar Racing.

Wathnan Racing initially came to

the attention in this part of the world last autumn when sourcing 1.75 million guineas worth of horses at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. With Olly Tait, formerly Chief Operating Officer of Darley and owner of Twin Hills Stud in Australia, on bidding duties, Wathnan Racing signed for nine horses including the 90-rated handicapper Persian Royal, who cost 450,000gns, and 94-rated Inverness, who cost 380,000gns and went on to land the Listed Khor Al Adaid Cup at Doha under the care of de Mieulle. Wathnan was also underbidder on the 850,000gns top lot I’m A Gambler.

It was outlined at the time that the operation had purchased with an eye on the programme on Qatar, a plan that has obviously come to fruition in the case of Inverness as well as Band Width, who ran a close second to Order Of Australia in a lucrative local Group 2 at Doha in February.

As mentioned above, fellow Tattersalls acquisition Bolthole is now plying his trade in France, and to great effect.

The signs suggest that the sight of Wathnan Racing’s colours will soon become a regular one on British racecourses. And in Courage Mon Ami and Gregory, there is surely the prospect of further important successes given the pair’s lightly-raced yet progressive profiles. Whether or not each transaction

involved the eye-watering sums rumoured, the fact that both obliged at Royal Ascot, certainly the sport’s most important stage in Europe, will surely encourage Wathnan Racing to continue investing, all of which is very good news for British racing. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if Wathnan assumes a prominent buying role at the upcoming Tattersalls July Sale.

FAREWELL JOHN CLARKE

There was sad news last month with the death of John Clarke, former Chief Executive of the Irish National Stud.

Clarke’s lengthy stint at the Irish National Stud coincided with Ahonoora, whose success prompted a high-profile acquisition by Coolmore, and his equally influential son Indian Ridge. Clarke was also at the helm when Invincible Spirit was acquired for stud duty; now 25 years old, the son of Green Desert boasts 22 Group 1 winners and a burgeoning reputation as a sire of sires.

More recently, Clarke oversaw the bloodstock interests belonging to the Tsui family, the owners and breeders of Sea The Stars. No doubt he would have taken great pride in the victory of the Sea The Stars filly Sea Silk Road, a filly owned by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holding Inc, in last month’s Pinnacle Stakes at Haydock.

Paying tribute to Clarke, Ling Tsui said: “For the last 23 years, he was my adviser, my best friend and mentor, and my family and I will miss him forever.

“His passion for horses had no limits. From horseracing to breeding to purchasing to selling, he was always so enthusiastic, positive and loyal.

“I should say that without John there would be no Sea The Stars. He introduced me to John Oxx and recommended I entrust his racing career to his best friend.

“He injected all his professional experience, knowledge and confidence in launching Sea The Stars’ stallion career. This stemmed from his love and belief in Urban Sea, the mare he cared for and lived with for ten years.

“He was an important person in my life and taught and helped me so much. I was lucky to have him as my friend and I will miss him dearly.”

Records set as Goresbridge closes breeze-up season

Tattersalls Ireland

Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale

Europe’s breeze-up season ended on a high at this event with a record 18 six-figure lots and increases in all the key indicators.

An additional 35 lots went on offer, but the market was happy to digest the bigger catalogue and 199 of the 239 horses to go under the hammer found buyers, a rate of 83 per cent. Turnover rose 29 per cent at just over €8.5 million, the average gained 13 per cent at €43,033 and there was a healthy 36 per cent gain in the median price to €30,000.

These pleasing figures came at the end of a breeze season which saw more than 100 additional horses enter rings in Newmarket, Doncaster, two French venues and at Fairyhouse. The market handled the extra lots and, barring some unforeseen international crisis, suggests breeze-up specialists will not be shy in coming forward when the yearling sales season opens in the autumn.

Top-lot honours at the Goresbridge sale went to a son of Zelzal who was sold to Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock on behalf of an undisclosed client who was said likely to place his purchase in a French yard. The colt had been bought as a yearling at Arqana for €35,000 by Adam Potts, who felt the sire’s ability had not yet been fully

recognised by the market. Potts placed the colt with Danny Donovan’s Donovan Bloodstock, a fledgling operation set up in 2022 and one that posted several six-figure sales this season.

Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm has an enviable record of success at Goresbridge, including trading a Saxon Warrior filly who headed last year’s sale at €520,000. Walsh’s top hat did not include a horse of that value this time, but a Sioux Nation colt she traded to Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock produced a handsome pinhook. Bought

for €40,000 at the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale, he soared in value to €240,000 at this event.

Adam Driver’s Global Equine purchased another son of Sioux Nation, this one a €25,000 September Sale yearling offered from Darragh Lordan’s Innishannon Valley Stud and resold for €230,000, while bloodstock agent Alex Elliott parted with €200,000 for a Ten Sovereigns filly offered by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill.

This sale will live long in the memory of three members of the profession,

one taking a valedictory turn on the auctioneer’s rostrum, the other two enjoying a cracking first pinhook with a cheaply-bought foal. The auctioneer was Ollie Fowlston, who deserved the standing ovation he received after 25

years with Tattersalls before heading off to a new position near his Newmarket home with Steve Parkin’s Dullingham Park.

The pinhookers were brothers John and Andy Shinnick who turned a Make

Believe filly from a €7,000 foal – who they noted could run and so felt a breeze was a good choice – into a two-year-old who sold for €170,000 when knocked down to Nick Bell and Middleham Park Racing.

Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale

Goffs UK Spring Store Sale

Richard Aston’s death from cancer in late April shocked members of the bloodstock and breeding industries, for he was only 68 and one of the most likeable personalities on the circuit.

How utterly fitting, then, that a horse he bred should top this sale and set a record of £210,000 for a store sold at a British auction. The horse in question, a Blue Bresil filly out of the homebred, stakes-winning hurdler Petticoat Tails, was accompanied to the ring by Aston’s widow Sally and his son Charlie, who said Richard had made them pledge to get his outstanding specimen to the sale as planned. He knew she was one of the best in a very long line of horses he had handled, and the market certainly agreed.

At least four agents were on hand to register bids, but David Minton, a long-time pal of Aston’s, made the decisive offer and secured the filly for Nicky Henderson.

This proved to be a clear highlight of the two-day sale and will be long remembered at Doncaster where the Astons’ Goldford Stud was so often leading vendor. Further down the scale vendors had to work hard to do deals on horses which had less appeal on pedigree or conformation, although an 81 per cent clearance rate through sales of 206 of the 254 horses on offer

Sales Circuit

indicates trade was generally good. Turnover of just over £6 million was 16 per cent down (albeit 18 fewer horses were offered), the average dipped seven per cent to £29,327, while the median was down eight per cent at £23,000.

County Kilkenny-based Peter Vaughan of Moanmore Stables pays regular visits to France in order to source the foals he later sells as stores, and one such trip paid off handsomely when a son of No Risk At All he bought was traded on at this sale for £125,000. The buyer was Monbeg Stables’ Donnchadh Doyle whose aim will be to resell the gelding after he has won or run well in a point-to-point.

Doyle also bought a Walk In The

Goffs UK Spring Store Sale

Park gelding for £100,000, which meant vendor Richard Collins was just about in break-even territory having bought the gelding as a yearling for €85,000. A more profitable transaction saw another son of the Coolmore stallion rise in value from a €30,000 foal to a £115,000 store – the vendor was Norman Williamson of Oak Tree Farm and the buyer Anthony Bromley, who said he was acting for racehorse owner John Hales and that Dan Skelton would be given the training role.

Ubiquitous Tom Malone was always likely to be a feature at this sale and he duly picked up six lots, headed by a £105,000 Doctor Dino gelding offered by Peter Nolan and heading to Ditcheat for a place with Paul Nicholls.

Goffs UK Spring HIT & P2P Sale

The spring of 2023 saw a small group of people protest against the racing of horses by staging or attempting to stage sit-ins on racecourses.

At the Spring Sale in Doncaster, a far larger group of people unintentionally protested against the protesters through buying 88 per cent of the horses on offer at the two-day horses-in-training auction, which included young point-topointers. They were acknowledging that all but a tiny fraction of racehorses are given professional attention from people who make a career of carrying out that role, and that the horses want for little. In exchange they have a job of work to do, one which is heavily policed by racing authorities.

A sign of this love of horses and racing saw large numbers arrive in Donny, buy 379 of the 432 lots on offer and generate new record turnover of nearly £9m. The average price rose nine

per cent to £23,545, while the median gained eight per cent at £14,000.

Demand for point-to-pointers was noticeably strong, with the result that six-figure lots in this category rose from seven in 2022 to 15 a year later, and pleasingly the buyers of these choice horses came from a wide range of yards. A record was achieved in this category through the sale of four-year-old Saunton Surf, whose valuation of £175,000 was a new high for a filly or mare from Britain’s point-to-point circuit.

Owned by Tim Talbot’s Ratkatcha Racing, the daughter of Sea Moon had been trained by Cheltenham Festivalwinning trainer/rider Bradley Gibbs to land a four-runner maiden point-topoint on debut. The strength of opposition did not truly convey her ability, so she tackled a 13-runner bumper at Aintree, won that with ease, and was duly knocked down to Tessa and Warren Greatrex in the ring. The Greatrexes’ landlords, Jim and Claire Bryce, are Saunton Surf’s new owners.

Jonjo O’Neill gained the £215,000 top lot Roadlesstravelled, a four-yearold son of Lauro and yet another winning pointer from Donnchadh Doyle’s County Wexford yard. Doyle had paid €44,000 for the gelding at last year’s Derby Sale.

O’Neill, who said his purchase had been bought on spec with a view to selling to a client in his yard, also picked up Tom Keating’s once-raced and placed pointer Peso for £100,000, this purchase in partnership with Matt Coleman. The last-named also teamed up with Herefordshire permit holder

Clive Boultbee-Brooks to buy five-yearold mare Della Casa Lunga, a daughter of Champs Elysees who arrived in Doncaster after showing good form in novice hurdles.

She was knocked down for £150,000, the same sum Lucinda Russell paid for the imposing and handsome five-year-old Primoz, a winning pointer trained by Paurick O’Connor, brother of ace amateur rider Derek. Leicestershire trainer Laura Morgan secured Ballymackie for racehorse owner Ashley Brooks with a bid of £160,000, while another Herefordshire trainer, Katy Price, bought Sean Doyle’s four-year-old pointer Face D’Music for £100,000.

Goffs UK Spring HIT & P2P Sale

The annual turnover of stock owned by the Million In Mind racing syndicate rarely fails to produce at least one gem, and on this occasion that proved to be Ioupy Collonges, who was consigned from Paul Nicholls’ stable having won three races.

Nicholls felt there was plenty more to come from the five-year-old, and with Tom Malone doing his bidding he bought the son of Kitkou for £165,000, adding he would find a buyer from within his client list. Sadly that esteemed group of successful owners no longer includes Nicholls’ landlord at his Ditcheat yard, Paul Barber, who passed away at the age of 80 just a few weeks after this sale was completed.

Sales Circuit

Goffs Arkle Sale

Renamed, but still one of the twin peaks of store-horse sales, this threeday event lived up to its billing when serving up a high-quality catalogue to an eager audience.

Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby, a positive man at the worst of times, was brimming with delight at the figures, and pointed to the parity between the average and median prices as a sign of market strength at both the main event and lower-tier Part II.

He also took a good deal of pleasure in having attracted the multiple champion trainers from either side of the Irish Sea, and to witness them engage in a tug of war for the event’s top lot.

That particular ring confrontation saw Willie Mullins outgun Paul Nicholls after a sustained duel for a €250,000 son of Galiway who was consigned by Tony Costello of County Clare’s

TALKING POINT

• When is an export an import?

It might be galling to devotees and marketeers of Irish breeding, but there is no stopping the influx to Britain and Ireland of horses bred in France, and their impact at the top of the store market. That was true at Goffs’ Arkle Sale and it was set to be a similar tale at Tattersalls Ireland’s Derby Sale (June 28/29), where French-breds were in the minority but sure to be impactful.

Not that French men and women are travelling their homebreds to such auctions, for in the vast majority of cases the horses are being imported by canny Irish pinhookers who buy foals, yearlings

Treannahow Stables. Costello deserved this success for in January 2021 during a Covid lockdown he had jumped through the hoops necessary to carry on his business, taken a flight to France, and bought the Galiway as a yearling at Osarus for €18,000. The horse moved like a dream then and had not lost that gift when placed under the noses of buyers at Goffs HQ.

Mullins and agent Harold Kirk landed a further five lots, the sextet costing a combined total of €625,000, although that expenditure fell behind the buying partnership of Nicholls and Tom

and two-year-olds direct from farms or sales across the Channel. And to whom do they sell their stock? Irish trainers – plus those based in Britain. Where would Willie Mullins be without his many French-bred stars?

Six of the top ten lots at the Arkle came with a ‘Made in France’ sticker, and while two of the ten were bred in Britain, they were sired by former French racehorse and stallion Blue Bresil during his final year at Yorton Stud. However, in 2020 he moved to the Cashman family’s Glenview Stud, which means that at next year’s store sales most of his stock will carry the Ire suffix. That will be some relief to the marketeers.

Malone, who left ‘the Arkle’ with six lots bought for €825,000, their haul led by a son of the popular Saint Des Saints stallion Jeu St Eloi from Ballyreddin and Busherstown – aka John Dwan and Katie Rudd – for €175,000.

Nicholls and Malone also teamed up to gain a good-looking grey gelding from the first crop of Haras de Montaigu’s Grade 1-winning hurdler Beaumec De Houelle with a bid of €160,000. Consignor Mark Dwyer of Yorkshire’s Oaks Farm Stables had pinhooked the horse out of last year’s Arqana’s Summer Sale for €70,000.

Mullins’s chief rival for training honours in Ireland, Gordon Elliott,

gained one of the sale’s gems in the form of a €185,000 Doctor Dino gelding out of the Kendargent mare Gargotiere from Tom and Alexandra Whitehead’s Altenbach Bloodstock.

The tussle to be leading consignor saw a close run thing between Peter Nolan Bloodstock, which took the top spot when selling 25 stores for just over €1m, and Michael Moore’s Ballincurrig House Stud, which gained €956,000 through sales of 21 horses.

At the top of the buyers’ list was the County Wexford-based Doyle brothers’ Monbeg Stables, which lifted 31 lots for a combined spend of €1,626,000. Expect to see the majority of those horses running in Irish point-to-points over the next 18 months.

These key buyers helped turnover for the main sale creep past €20m for the second year running, a sum that is more or less double the aggregate figure recorded as recently as 2018. Demand for potential Festival runners seems impervious to the financial challenges felt in so many walks of life.

There was a one per cent rise in the average price to €52,210 and, for the second year running, a seven per cent increase in the median, which reached a

mark of €48,000. Of 441 offered lots, 392 changed hands for a clearance rate of 89 per cent.

Part II, at which 79 per cent of horses found a new home, also showed gains in the key indicators. Turnover rose seven per cent to €3.3m, there was a ten per cent rise in the average price

Goffs Arkle Sale

to €19,725, while the median was up six per cent at €17,000.

The top price at Part II was one of €55,000, the sum paid by Kevin Ross for a Diamond Boy gelding who was consigned by The Glebe Farm and whose next stop will be with Harry Fry in Dorset.

Sales Circuit

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale

Returning to its eponymous home after a couple of years in Newmarket, this sale, which revolved around point-topointers from both sides of the Irish Sea, produced some curious figures.

Uber-priced horses were nowhere to be seen, yet the 97 per cent clearance rate was straight out of Disney. A smaller catalogue containing 37 offered lots – 19 down on last year and 27 fewer than in 2019 when the May Sale was previously held in Cheltenham – would have been a factor in this (almost) sold-out result.

No figure comparisons were made with the previous year’s sale in Newmarket – which included a section of stores – but the latest edition’s average price of £58,181 had been bettered only once before at a Cheltenham May Sale, while the median of £50,000 was a record. Turnover from sales of 36 lots achieved a mark of £2,094,500, which carried turnover for the sales year at Cheltenham – from November to May – to a record figure just shy of £23m. Tattersalls

Cheltenham sold 260 horses during that period at an average of £87,502.

Two horses shared top-lot honours and a valuation of £160,000 before the curtain fell. I See The Sea, an imposing son of Affinisea, had been narrowly beaten when making his pointing debut, but that did not deter joint-trainers

Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, who made the winning bid on behalf of a patron at their Somerset yard.

Donnchadh Doyle, who trained I See The Sea, had bought him for €48,000 at last

TALKING POINTS

year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.

Sharing top billing following another £160,000 sale was five-year-old Binge Worthy, a gelding by Walk In The Park who left Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables bound for Gordon Elliott’s Cullentra House Stables. Murphy had bought Binge Worthy at the 2021 Goffs Land Rover Sale for €40,000, then trained him to win on debut at Dromahane in April.

Bloodstock agent Hamish Macauley was busy with two six-figure purchases, the pair being Foxy Walk, a £145,000 buy out of Cormac Doyle’s yard, and Irelands Call, trained by Doyle’s brother Donnchadh, and knocked down for £100,000.

• It helps if your pinhooked four- or five-year-old pointto-pointer makes a winning debut ahead of a ring appearance, but being beaten does not mean disaster.

I See The Sea, the joint-top lot at Tattersalls

Cheltenham May Sale, finished second on debut in a race at Bartlemy in County Cork, but rose in value from €48,000 as a store to £160,000 less than a year later. Compare that to Chauffeur Driven, who beat him in the race at Bartlemy. He was a €62,000 store who resold at Cheltenham for £65,000.

• Tattersalls caused surprise in early June when announcing it would no longer hold sales at its Ascot sales venue and would move this year’s two remaining auctions – in July and November – to its Newmarket HQ.

Within days the ‘Ascot’ section of the Tattersalls website had been removed and decades of trading there under the guise of Botterills, Brightwells and then Tattersalls had gone in a flash.

Rehousing Ascot sales in Newmarket will be a costand-time saver for Tattersalls, and while customers in the

Irelands Call, a four-year-old son of Jack Hobbs who had been bought as a store for €22,000, will be heading to the US stable of Leslie Young, a trainer with whom Macauley is establishing a good record of buying horses with form on faster ground who go on to do well in American jumping races.

However, the sale’s most notable pinhook saw £2,000 store purchase Jorah D’Alma sell for £75,000. That profit came after the four-year-old son of Spanish Moon had scored impressively in a Toomebridge point-topoint for trainer Noel Kelly, a victory that caught the eye of buyers Dave Crosse and Noel Fehily who will add the gelding to one of their syndicates under Rules.

South and West of England and Wales will have further to travel, that is not a big deal. It is also worth pointing out that Ascot’s leading vendor in recent years, Godolphin, has a Newmarket base.

Of greater interest to people who have bought and sold at Ascot will be whether Tattersalls continue to stage similar sales that provide opportunities to trade inexpensive thoroughbreds. A statement from Chairman Edmond Mahony included the phrase: “We will continue to serve this sector of the market . . .” and he added that in Newmarket his company would be able to accept mares in foal and foals, “which was not an option at Ascot”.

The arrival of the internet – which has led to online auctions – has caused more changes to the bloodstock industry in 20 years than was seen in the previous 50. Now, at the lower-end of the market, which includes fun point-to-pointers and inexpensive mares, the comment “I bought him/her via Facebook” is commonly heard.

There is a market place for such thoroughbreds, but is public auction still the place to trade them? The closure of Ascot could bring that into sharper focus.

Goffs London Sale

With help from some high-calibre and famous sponsors, Goffs staged another splendid garden party in central London on the eve of Royal Ascot.

There was also an auction of horses, and a mighty fine one too for Bansha House Stud’s Marnane family who pulled off a scarcely-believable pinhook to match the occasion. However, for many who had gathered – some to shake off jet lag over a glass of Chateau Léoube’s fine rosé or admire an Aston Martin similar to one parked on their drive – it is a mix-and-mingle occasion ahead of the Royal Meeting. The trade in horses is irrelevant, but there would be no party without it.

“It is a sale like no other,” says Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby, and no-one can accuse him of a falsehood. It is a far cry from an early winter foal sale or horses-in-training auction, but after eight years it has settled into a pattern, established itself as unique, and, despite early doubts, proven completely worthy. Beeby must have a hotline to the weather gods, for, remarkably, it invariably takes place in perfect summer garden party conditions.

The figures are irrelevant, not least the clearance rate which has rarely gone much above 50 per cent, but horses with Royal Ascot entries are of particular interest. In some cases their owners set high reserves, but that is their right, and the catalogue is not restricted to such horses.

Classic-placed three-year-old filly Sauterne, a daughter of Kingman

Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale

consigned by trainer Patrice Cottier, had no engagement at the Royal Meeting, although at £1.2 million she was declared not sold.

By contrast the Marnanes are sellers who did not have to set a high reserve on two-year-old colt Givemethebeatboys to make a profit, for in November he cost them €11,000 at the Goffs Autumn Sale. A maiden win

followed by success in the Marble Hill Stakes for Jessica Harrington teed up a good ring result for the family, and an entry in the following day’s Coventry Stakes with Frankie Dettori booked put added tinsel on the package.

What followed was fantasy made fact, for Givemethebeatboys was sold to father-and-son team Con and Neil Sands of Bronsan Racing for £1,100,000. Their buy quickly recouped £8,000 when running a cracking race to finish fourth in the 20-runner Coventry, and being a strapping big boy he will hopefully reward them with more success as he matures.

For the Marnanes, this was another example of their ability to spot talent, which in terms of professional fulfilment probably means as much as the money, but they have a more pressing issue at home. Con’s wife Teresa, mum of Amy and Olivia, is in a battle with cancer and was unable to attend the sale, although Amy said the result had given her “a huge lift” and she was “doing a dance around her hospital bed”.

New York-based Liam Culman of Tuckernuck Racing had flown in for the party and with a bid of £800,000 he bought No Nay Mets, an Irish-bred two-year-old trained in the USA by George Weaver. The colt was also in Britain and subsequently ran in the Norfolk Stakes.

Australian trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott had also arrived 12 months after buying top lot Hoo Ya Mal at the London Sale for £1.2m. On this occasion, and with the help once again

Sales Circuit

of Johnny McKeever, they secured three-year-olds Cuban Dawn and New Endeavour for £300,000 and £260,000 respectively.

Other sales included one in which Jayne McGivern, the owner of stallion

Golden Horn, bought his son Nusret for £300,000, while China Horse Club gained a breeding right to sire Havana Grey for £205,000.

Eleven of the 21 lots changed hands and Goffs added just over £3.7m to its

Goffs London Sale

annual turnover. The average price, although down on last year’s figure, reached £342,727 and will not be bettered at many, if any, European auctions this year, while the median was £250,000.

Consign with Confdence, Consign with Castlebridge

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 yearlings, foals and mares that you may be selling in 2023.

Castlebridge have sold nine individual Gr.1 winners as yearlings including such Champions as Luxembourg, Night of Thunder and Ghaiyyath together with a host of other Group and individual winners, so not surprisingly our buyers keep returning to the source of their success.

Traditionally always presenting strong foal, mare and flly drafts, The Castlebridge Consignment is recognised as the leading autumn sale vendor with over twenty Castlebridge graduates having hit or exceeded the million-pound sale mark, coupled with an extremely high average price and clearance rate for all sales in England, Ireland and France.

The experienced 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 based on conformation, action and pedigree, as to which sale your horse can be best placed. Why not take the opportunity to talk to the Sales Consignor with the best track record in the business?

To see a full list of our best auction sale results and racecourse graduates, go to www.castlebridgesales.com

Contact:

Andrew Mead +44 7940 597 573 mead@castlebridgesales.com

Bill Dwan +353 87 648 5587 dwan@castlebridgesales.com

Patrick Diamond

+44 7745 526 233 patrick@castlebridge-agency.com

Growing sector backed up by results on the track

The list of Group-winning graduates from European breeze-up sales in the past five years is looking ever more impressive. From champion and Group 1-winning two-year-olds to Classic-winning milers all the way up to St Leger winners, it seems that these days you can find classy racehorses with just about any aptitude. The appeal of this sales format is obvious. You are so much closer to the finished product, and you know they have withstood a certain amount of training to get to this point.

I recall a conversation with Godolphin’s David Loder, who was seriously tempted to buy Native Trail as a yearling but was worried about his size. Seeing him working at the 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale allayed those fears and the rest, as they say, is history.

Best of all at the breeze-ups is the economics. The last five-year average selling price of subsequent Group winners in this sales format is only £137,545, but despite seeing them closer to their racecourse debut, they are still hard to find. By my reckoning, there have been 46 Group winners listed as sold in the past five years at the Craven, Guineas, Doncaster, Arqana and Goresbridge sales and if you were relying on price to find the 46 best prospects, you would have spent an average of £535,289 and unearthed just four of the 46. However, that four would have included Eldar Eldarov (£480,000) and the Mill Reef Stakes winner Sakheer (£467,464), plus the Group 1-placed Summer Romance.

It is safe to say that this year’s versions of the big five sales have collectively

GROUP WINNERS SOLD AT EUROPEAN BREEZE-UP SALES 2019-2023

been the most successful. Moreover, the additional benefits of this success are many and varied. For one, it drives demand at the yearling sales, and it will be no surprise to know that 76% of all horses sold at this year’s main five auctions were sourced at the yearling sales last term. Five years ago, that number was 67% but it has climbed steadily ever since with the exception of 2021 when the 2020 Covid pandemic interfered with many of the industry’s economic dynamics.

This year the average price at the five sales was £74,892, representing an increase of 17.3% from the 2020 average, which was itself better than the three previous years.

More significantly, the cost base also rose, which again is further proof that this sales format is becoming more popular with an ever-higher grade of yearling being selected by the yearlingto-two-year-old traders. Typically, the

John Boyce cracks the code

fewer than 174 (29%) of pinhooked yearlings failed to match last year’s purchase price, so there will be even more in the red once preparation costs are factored in. The corresponding percentages of loss-making two-year-olds in previous years are around 23%, 2021 being an exception as buyers behaved cautiously at the 2020 yearling sales due to the Covid pandemic. That year yielded 19% of unprofitable transactions.

Since the 2019 sale, Arqana has provided more Group winners than any other auction house. Its tally of 16 –featuring the Roger Varian-trained pair Eldar Eldarov and Sakheer – is five more

than supplied by second-placed Goffs UK at its Doncaster venue. The Doncaster Group winners are headed by dual Group 1 hero Perfect Power, plus Group 2 scorers A’Ali and Bradsell.

Doncanster’s 11 Group winners were purchased for an average of just £112,092, compared to the £187,384 for Arqana’s Group scorers. Tattersalls’ Craven Sale has had seven Group winners (average £149,250) in the period, featuring Classic winners Native Trail and Cachet, the same number as produced by its Guineas Breeze-Up Sale (average £71,475), while the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Sale (average £110,174) has supplied five.

average yearling cost £38,578, which is more than at any time in the past. It left a gross profit margin of £36,945 from which to fund upkeep and other associated sales costs, which represents a gross profit margin of 49%. We can therefore conclude that the 17.3% in average price was required in order to try to maintain profit margins of the previous two years, which came in at 50% and 54% respectively.

This year, there were more profitable transactions with 151 (25%) making a gross margin of £50,000 or more, while 80 (13.4%) recorded gross profits in excess of £100,000. In 2022, the corresponding numbers were 114 (23%) and 50 (10.1%). Two years ago, only 102 (21%) broke the £50,000 profit barrier and 42 (8.8%) the magical £100,000 margin. And in 2020, it was 49 (18%) and 26 (8%) that met or surpassed those two benchmarks. Again, all signs of a strong market place, but only if you have the right product.

Just as there were more winners this year, there were also more losers. No

TOP PRICES AT THE EUROPEAN BREEZE-UP SALES 2023

“This year’s versions of the big five sales have been the most successful”

Sexton Files

Enthusiastic investment sees Yeguada blooming

There were few more enthusiastic participants during the 2019 winter breeding stock sales than Leopoldo Fernández Pujals. The Spanish-based entrepreneur had turned heads at Goffs the previous November with the saletopping purchase of a Kingman filly foal, who was to become Group 3 winner Reina Madre, for €350,000 through Outsider Bloodstock, and one year on further underlined the extent of his ambition by making an array of breeding stock purchases in both Kentucky and Europe.

At the 2019 Keeneland November Sale, Pujals paid $3.3 million for 16 mares. From there, he went to Goffs, where he spent close to €600,000 on nine mares, and then on to Tattersalls, where he spent 1.12 million guineas on another four.

A native of Cuba who fled when Fidel Castro took power, self-made Pujals was the mastermind behind the home delivery pizza business TelePizza, which grew into the largest of its kind in Spain. Other successful and lucrative business ventures later followed and judging by the results now coming the way of the breeder – who operates as Yeguada Centurion – on the track, that same instinct and ambition that served him so well in business is now doing the same in the world of racing and bloodstock.

Pujals’ buying spree encompassed a mix of older and young mares. Hardiyna, a Sea The Stars relation to Harzand, was plucked out of the Aga Khan Studs’ draft at Goffs in foal to Rock Of Gibraltar for €72,000; the resulting foal is Big Rock, who followed up his wins in the Prix de Guiche and Prix la Force with a brave second to Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club. Among the older mares, minor stakes winner Needmore Flattery was purchased for $195,000 in foal to Uncle Mo. At the time, the Flatter mare had a Gun Runner weanling colt, now known as triple Grade 1 winner Taiba.

An exclamation point on Yeguada Centurion’s investment, however, arrived last month on Prix de Diane day at Chantilly when the fledgling operation was responsible for two of the day’s stars in Blue Rose Cen and Ramatuelle, produced out of Queen Blossom and Raven’s Lady respectively.

This year’s Prix de Diane was one of the deepest editions of recent years and by

storming four lengths clear of Never Ending Story, Blue Rose Cen laid down a strong claim to being Europe’s leading three-year-old filly. Indeed, she is only the fourth filly to sweep the Prix Marcel Boussac - Poule d’Essai des PoulichesPrix de Diane treble, joining a list of such luminaries as Allez France, Divine Proportions and Zarkava.

Rose Cen as a filly of exceptional ability.

Her exploits mean that her young sire Churchill, a top miler himself, has thrown two French Classic winners in as many crops. The Aga Khan’s Prix du Jockey Club hero Vadeni, who later followed up in the Eclipse Stakes, was the highlight of his first group of runners while Derby trial winners The Foxes (Dante Stakes) and Sprewell (Leopardstown Derby Trial) have joined Blue Rose Cen as other high-class runners out of his second crop.

Her win followed on the heels of that of the two-year-old filly Ramatuelle over colts in the Prix de Bois earlier on the card. The daughter of Justify was bred by Yeguada Centurion out of German Group 2 winner Raven’s Lady, a $300,000 Keeneland purchase, and sold for €100,000 as an Arqana August yearling. Nevertheless, as with Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock, she has wound up in the care of fledgling Chantilly trainer Christopher Head, for whom she appeals as another Group 1 winner in the making.

That is all in the future, however. For now, the attention rightly focuses on Blue

When Galileo’s ability to click with fast mares is recalled, Churchill is invariably a horse who springs to mind. His dam, the Storm Cat mare Meow, was a daughter of the top sprinter Airwave, herself a half-sister to the Nunthorpe Stakes winner Jwala, and was as fast and precocious as her pedigree suggested she might be, winning a five-furlong Listed race and running a neck second in the Queen Mary Stakes during a brief career for David Wachman.

Galileo’s influence has taken the family to greater heights altogether. A strapping colt, Churchill was forward enough to win the Chesham Stakes for Aidan O’Brien prior to rattling off victories in the Tyros, Futurity, National and Dewhurst Stakes en route to championship two-year-old honours. He returned to capture both the Newmarket and Irish 2,000 Guineas the following year but surprisingly failed to add to his record beyond that, with a second to Ulysses in the Juddmonte International on his first try over ten furlongs the best to

“Blue Rose Cen is another highclass product of the GalileoDanehill cross”

show in five subsequent starts.

A good-looking and well-bred Galileo with the pace to be a champion two-yearold was always going to be attractive to breeders and in his first season at €35,000 at Coolmore, Churchill was indeed one of the busiest stallions of his generation. Nor has he lacked for quality among his mates – The Foxes is one such example, being a half-brother to the Group winners Matterhorn, Bangkok and Tactic. Thus, opportunities have been plentiful and in return he has to date supplied 11 stakes winners out of two crops comprising a total of 295 foals.

Those figures don’t place him within the elite of stallions but, against that, the presence of two stars such as Vadeni, who hopefully will be back for Jean-Claude Rouget during the second half of the season, and Blue Rose Cen underlines that the ability is there to throw a top-notcher. First-crop daughter Ladies Church is also a high-class sprinter on her day, as she proved last summer when successful in the Sapphire Stakes, while it’s not hard to envisage more improvement coming from either The Foxes or Sprewell.

Blue Rose Cen is yet another high-class product of the tried and tested GalileoDanehill cross as a daughter of Queen Blossom, one of the five Group/Graded stakes winners sired by the Danehill Dancer stallion Jeremy during his time at the Irish National Stud. Originally trained in Ireland by Paddy Prendergast, who paid just €15,000 for her as a yearling, she won the Park Express Stakes over a mile at the Curragh before heading to the US, where she went on to score at Grade 3 level.

At the end of her racing career in December 2018, Queen Blossom returned to Europe to sell for 110,000gns to Ted Durcan on behalf of Peter Magnier. Sadly only weeks later, Magnier passed away, leading to the dispersal of much of his stock. Queen Blossom, then carrying Blue Rose Cen, was to form part of that draft at Goffs in November 2019 but she ultimately changed hands to Yeguada Centurion in a private transaction. Blue Rose Cen is the mare’s first and only foal to date, although she was covered by Frankel last year.

Yeguada Centurion has continued to add to its bloodstock holdings, most notably when investing close to $4 million at Keeneland in November 2020. But it says a lot for the way the operation has been launched and is currently managed that the likes of Blue Rose Cen, Big Rock and Ramatuelle have emerged out of a group of mares bought within the span of a month in 2019. No doubt there will be other big-race victories coming the way of Pujals before the year is out.

Loss of Arrogate further emphasised

The outcome to the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown run last month at Belmont Park, was rightly celebrated across the industry for varying reasons, not least due to the achievement of Jena Antonucci, who became the first female trainer to win an American Classic.

And what of the colt she so deftly handled to win the Belmont on only his fifth start? The three-year-old in question, Arcangelo, was sourced by his owner Jon Ebbert of Blue Rose Farm for just $35,000 as a Keeneland September Book 3 yearling despite owning a top-drawer pedigree.

Reportedly, Arcangelo was an immature young horse who headed to the sales with a veterinary report that highlighted signs of sesamoiditis, all of which would have required patience. Added to that, while his sire Arrogate had been one of the finest horses to grace an American racetrack for Juddmonte, his first runners had yet to set the world alight; in fact, a first stakes winner wouldn’t come Arrogate’s way until January the following year.

A raw youngster by a commercially cold sire with a questionable vet report goes some way to explaining how a colt from a thriving branch of the famous Best In Show family slipped the net. Bred by the Solari family’s Don Alberto Corporation, for whom Arcangelo is a first American-bred Grade 1 winner, the colt is out of Modeling, a $2.85 million purchase by the breeder who is a half-sister to the Grade 1-winning two-year-old Streaming. In turn, they are out of Teeming, a Storm Cat half-sister to the Belmont Stakes winners Rags To Riches and Jazil.

Thus there is abundant class and staying power within the immediate reaches of this family even before the fifth dam, Best In Show, is considered. Foaled in 1965, the daughter of Traffic Judge won the Comely Stakes during a busy career for Clearview Stables before forging an almighty legacy at stud that has come to include El Gran Senor, Try My Best, Almond Eye, Spinning World, Redoute’s Choice, Xaar, Bated Breath, Cityscape, Logician, Siskin and Peeping Fawn. That’s in addition to Rags To Riches and Jazil, whose Grade 2-winning dam Better Than Honour was knocked down for $14 million – a world record auction value for a broodmare – at Fasig-Tipton

in November 2008.

There is also the influence of Arcangelo’s sire Arrogate to consider. The son of Unbridled’s Song didn’t break his maiden until early June of his three-year-old season, yet by the end of the year was the country’s champion three-year-old colt following brilliant wins in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic. A lucrative early part to his four-year-old campaign also consisted of successes in the Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup, victories that contributed to his overall prize-money haul of $17.4 million.

The sadness, of course, is that by the time his first crop hit the track in 2021, Arrogate was dead having succumbed to an illness that had left him immobile.

Hindsight has since told us that Arrogate is a loss. That first crop came to include the Kentucky Oaks heroine Secret Oath and Grade 1 La Brea and Santa Monica Stakes winner Fun To Dream, co-bred by Arrogate’s trainer Bob Baffert. And while a number of his progeny have followed his example by thriving with time, Arrogate’s second crop contains two Grade 1-winning juveniles in Cave Rock and And Tell Me Nolies. Arcangelo is his fifth Grade 1 winner and eighth stakes winner overall.

One horse whose presence in Arcangelo’s background should not be underestimated is his damsire Tapit. The son of Pulpit has been the flagship stallion for Gainesway Farm in Kentucky for many years, rising from a $12,500 name to multiple champion sire. In 16 crops, he has thrown 31 Grade 1 winners and is the damsire of another 13. They include this year’s Kentucky Oaks heroine Pretty Mischievous as well as Cody’s Wish, an impressive winner of the Metropolitan Mile on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

All the while, Tapit has become something of a Belmont Stakes king. He’s sired four winners of the race, namely Tonalist, Creator, Tapwrit and Essential Quality, while his successful sire son Constitution threw the 2020 winner Tiz The Law. Tapit was also responsible for this year’s third in Tapit Trice; like Arcangelo, this Grade 1 winner is inbred to Unbridled.

Now aged 22, Tapit remains deservedly popular at $185,000, allowing for the highly probable opportunity of him playing a leading role in Belmont Stakes of the future.

Vet Forum: The Expert View

Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome

Gastric ulcers, also known as Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), are commonly recognised in thoroughbred racehorses, and in some cases can be associated with poor performance. EGUS describes the erosion of the horse’s stomach lining and spans a wide spectrum of severity, from an inflamed but intact stomach lining through to widespread erosion and bleeding.

Over the past 20 years, ulcers have been diagnosed much more frequently and our understanding of the risk factors involved has also increased. However, there are still many unanswered questions that surround this clinically and economically important disease process.

Why do horses develop gastric ulcers?

Horses secrete gastric acid continuously and have evolved to continually graze, such that saliva and roughage are constantly present within the stomach to help buffer and neutralise the acid. Ulceration occurs when there is an imbalance between the acid production and the stomach’s intrinsic protective factors.

EGUS encompasses two types of ulceration; squamous or glandular ulceration. These types of ulceration differ in several aspects including their location, mechanisms underlying ulcer formation, risk factors and treatment.

Squamous ulcers affect the top third of the stomach, which is lined by the white, squamous mucosa ( Image 1 ). This part of the stomach functions as a storage compartment containing a mat of fibrous feed material. Under normal conditions this part of the stomach has a more neutral pH and ulceration occurs when there is increased acid exposure of the tissue. Squamous ulcers are typically associated with factors such as forage deprivation, lack of access to water, high starch diets and intensive exercise.

Glandular ulceration affects the lower two-thirds of the stomach, which is lined by the pink, acidproducing, glandular mucosa ( Image 2 ). In normal circumstances this part of the stomach has a low pH due to the acid being produced. Ulcers

in this location therefore reflect a failure of the normal mechanisms (e.g. mucous coat and enhanced mucosal blood flow) that protect the glandular mucosa from acid. The mechanisms that lead to this type of ulceration are less well understood and it is likely that several different causes contribute to this failure.

How common are gastric ulcers?

EGUS is a common disease, however there is a wide variation in prevalence. The prevalence of ulceration in horses in training is reported to be up to 70-95%. This is largely due to their management and the number of risk factors they are exposed to. It is also reported that 37% of leisure horses, 63% of performance horses and 67%

of broodmares are affected by gastric ulcers.

What factors increase the risk of developing gastric ulcers?

In humans, many extrinsic factors can contribute to ulcer development, including non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), stress, changes in diet, gastrointestinal disorders and the bacteria Helicobacter pylori. Although clear evidence of bacterial involvement (e.g. Helicobacter) has not been identified in horses, the other factors are believed to be important. Over recent years studies have identified the following as increasing the risk of gastric ulcers in horses:

• Diet type and continuous access to forage appear to be an important factor, with ulcers more likely to develop in horses that do not have free access to forage or have high diets that are high in concentrates.

• High intensity exercise and frequency of exercise have both been suggested to play a role, however the exact mechanisms remain unclear. It is possible that decrease blood flow to the stomach during exercise and changes in intra-abdominal pressure resulting in increased acid exposure to the squamous mucosa, may play a role.

• Physical stress such as transportation, change of environment and stable confinement are proven risk factors.

• Medication with certain drugs, for example non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (e.g. Bute, danilon or flunixin) may inhibit production of the stomach’s protective mucous layer and could therefore increase the risk of ulceration.

• Horses that crib bite are at increased risk.

• Foals are particularly at risk during the first few months, particularly during periods of stress such as illness.

The high prevalence of gastric ulcers in racehorses can be explained by the fact that they tend to be exposed to several of these risk factors. For example, high starch meals, low roughage diets, stall confinement, intensive exercise, stress and frequent transportation, are commonplace.

What are the clinical signs?

• Clinical signs associated with EGUS in horses are variable and nonspecific but can include:

• Reduced appetite, weight loss and poor condition including a dull coat.

• Chronic or intermittent colic of varying severity.

• The development of behavioural changes such as resentment of girthing, bucking or becoming difficult to ride.

• Poor performance or failure to train

up to expectations.

One study demonstrated that neither presence nor type of clinical signs was correlated with prevalence or severity of ulceration and many horses with gastric ulcers may appear to be clinically normal or have more subtle signs. For example, in racehorses, squamous ulceration has been shown to reduce stride length, limit training progression and reduce time to fatigue. Clinical signs in foals are slightly different compared to adults and can include teeth grinding, excessive salivation, long periods of lying down, reduced feeding and diarrhoea.

How are gastric ulcers diagnosed?

Due to the non-specific clinical signs associated with EGUS, diagnosis based on clinical signs is unreliable. The only current method of confirmation is gastroscopy. This involves a three-metre-long narrow flexible video gastroscope camera being passed up the horse’s nose and into their stomach via their oesophagus ( Image 3 ). This is a safe and well-tolerated procedure and can be easily performed in the standing horse with mild sedation. The horse must have been fasted sufficiently prior to the examination to ensure the stomach is empty, allowing for a thorough assessment of all parts of the stomach.

Any ulceration identified is then categorised according to type (i.e. squamous or glandular, Images 4 and 5 ), location and severity. A specific

grading system (0-4) is used for grading the severity of squamous ulcers ( Figure 1, following page ).

Assessment of glandular lesions tends to be more descriptive, including the location, extent of the lesions and the overall appearance ( Figure 2, following page ).

Other tests have been reported, for example identification of blood/ albumin in the faeces. However, bleeding from gastric ulcers is not a consistent finding, making this an unreliable test for the detection of gastric ulcers. Furthermore, these tests cannot distinguish between squamous and glandular disease, and so targeted treatment is not possible.

Empiric treatment is often performed where gastroscopy is not available. However, given the potential costs of treatment and the importance of distinguishing squamous from glandular disease, the initiation of treatment without definitive diagnosis is not recommended. Furthermore, recent studies on omeprazole in horses have highlighted the potential for side effects such as rebound increases in gastric acidity following discontinuation of treatment and decreased calcium absorption during administration. In human medicine, long term treatment with omeprazole has been reported to increase the risk of fractures. While this is yet to be demonstrated in horses, it is worth

Vet Forum: The Expert View

considering the potential side effects of treatment, particularly when a definitive diagnosis of gastric ulcers has not been made.

Treatment of gastric ulcers

Treatment of EGUS involves both medication and management changes (see below). Because acid exposure is the most important component of squamous ulcer disease, treatment is based on suppression or neutralisation of gastric acid. The principal treatment that is used is Omeprazole, which acts to inhibit acid production in the stomach. Typically, treatment of at least 2-4 weeks is required and at an appropriate dose will result in resolution in over 80% of cases. This may be followed by prophylaxis depending on the animal’s exercise and environment.

The type of formulation is particularly important in order for the medication to work effectively and not all preparations are the same. An enteric-coated or specially formulated paste must be used to prevent the medication from being degraded by the stomach’s acid and allow delivery of the drug to the small intestine where it is absorbed. Alternative preparations are available but have been shown to have limited efficacy in clinical trials.

As mentioned previously, the mechanisms underlying glandular ulceration are less well understood, and it is unlikely that one single mechanism is involved. As a result, treatment can be challenging and a number of different options exist.

Although acid injury is not thought to be the primary cause of a glandular ulceration, a low pH may perpetuate mucosal damage. Therefore, acid suppression is still considered to be important for glandular ulcer repair. Omeprazole can be used but, unlike squamous ulceration, is not given as the sole form of treatment. It is typically given in combination with other medications such as Sucralfate (which binds to the ulcer sites and acts to increase blood flow and mucous production).

Misoprostol (a synthetic prostaglandin analogue) is another commonly used drug for the treatment of glandular ulceration and acts by inhibition of acid secretion and promotion of mucosal protection.

This medication does carry some risk to human handlers and has the potential to induce abortion

0Intact epithelium

1Intact epithelium, evidence of hyperaemia or hyperkeratosis

2Small, single or multifocal lesions

3Large, single or multifocal lesions or extensive superficial ulceration

4Extensive lesions with areas of deep ulceration

in humans and potentially horses. These risks must be considered and discussed with the handler and care should be taken when administering the medication.

Long-acting injectable omeprazole has also been recently suggested as an effective treatment and is given by intra-muscular injection every 5-7 days. Unlike oral omeprazole this has been reported to be successful as a sole form of treatment.

In cases of glandular ulceration, complete healing following treatment is reported in around 70% of cases, however a more prolonged course of treatment may be required compared to squamous ulceration. Glandular ulcers are less predictable and repeat gastroscopy at the end of the course of treatment is recommended to ensure an adequate response is seen. In cases that are refractory to treatment, investigation of potential underlying gastrointestinal disease is warranted.

In addition to the drugs mentioned above, a number of different dietary supplements are available.

Can gastric ulcers be prevented?

In addition to medical management, it is vital that management changes are introduced in order to prevent the recurrence of gastric ulceration. Such changes include:

• Continuous access to good quality grass is considered the ideal roughage. When access to pasture is not available continuous access to hay should be provided.

• Frequent feedings of hay at multiple feeding sites can encourage grazing like behaviour.

• Alfalfa has a good buffering capacity (i.e. neutralises acid effectively) so can be combined in the hay ration.

• Grain and concentrates should be

fed as sparingly as possible as they ferment to form acid by-products. The total starch intake should not exceed 2g per Kg of bodyweight per day.

• Concentrate meals should not be fed less than six hours apart.

• Constant access to fresh water.

• Corn oil can reduce the amount of stomach acid produced and could increase barrier mucus function in the glandular mucosa

• A small, roughage-based meal should be fed 30-60 minutes prior to exercise. This will help to buffer the stomach acid and reduce contact with the unprotected part of the stomach during exercise.

• A minimum of two rest days each week is recommended.

• Minimise management changes and other potential stressors.

• Minimise changes in equine companions and human care givers.

Gastric ulcers are one of the most common gastrointestinal problems diagnosed in horses. Multiple risk factors have been identified and managing these risk factors can help to reduce the risk of gastric ulceration. Clinical signs are variable and non-specific and in some cases can be subtle, therefore examination with a gastroscopy is essential for an accurate diagnosis. This also allows the type of ulceration (i.e. Squamous vs glandular) to be identified so that targeted treatment is possible.

Once ulcers have been diagnosed, treatment involves a course of medication in addition to management changes. The majority of horses respond well to treatment, however ongoing environmental management may be required in order to prevent the recurrence of disease.

Nutritional assistance for the ulcer-prone thoroughbred

Equine gastric ulcers are a common ailment within racehorses and youngstock alike. Studies have suggested that the prevalence of ulcers in horses in training can be as high as 90%, and between 25% and 50% in weanlings and yearlings. Although medicinal treatment is usually always required after diagnosis of equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) – around only 5% of non-glandulous ulcers will heal spontaneously – there are ways in which we can support recovery and help to sustain the absence of ulcers via an appropriate nutritious diet and targeted supplements.

The most effective way to manage ulcers in thoroughbreds is to, essentially, go back to the basic rules of feeding. Millions of years of grazing has caused the horse’s stomach to evolve in such a way that it is conditioned to always have digestible matter in it. As a result, the nonglandular part (upper half) of your horse’s stomach is unprotected from stomach acid, because for countless generations there wasn’t risk of contact as the stomach always had food to digest, and acid production wasn’t ever excessive. Therefore, we should always strive to provide ad-lib good quality pasture and/ or forage.

As a general rule, horses shouldn’t ever go without forage for more than a few hours and studies have shown that the risk of ulcers increases significantly when a horse’s stomach remains empty for six hours or more. The absolute minimum daily forage (dry matter) requirement for horses is 1.5% of their body weight. If a restricted diet is necessary, spreading the forage out into small amounts through the day will be beneficial.

There has been research published which suggests that daytime forage deprivation is much more likely to cause EGUS rather than night-time starvation. So, taking this information into consideration, it seems appropriate to prioritise daytime forage over larger amounts overnight. An alfalfa hay or alfalfa-based forage product is an ideal choice for the ulcer prone/recovering horse as it typically has higher calcium levels than the usual grass hay. Calcium is well known for its acid-buffering

properties, which means it is able to raise the pH of the stomach contents, therefore making the stomach acid less acidic.

Saliva is a natural acid buffer, which is only produced by the horse whilst chewing, and chewing is of course maximised by grazing/forage consumption. It is also advisable to ensure that a thoroughbred’s stomach is not empty prior to exercise; feeding just a pound of forage or alfalfa chaff around 30 minutes prior to exercise can help reduce the splashing of stomach acid which naturally occurs as the horse moves. Racehorses are particularly affected by this due to the high intensity exercise they carry out, increasing the severity/duration of gastric splashing.

The second most important point to consider is to significantly reduce the starch content of any hard feed. The intake of starch will cause bacterial fermentation within the stomach, causing lactic acid production; this will act synergistically with gastric acid and contribute to the development of equine gastric ulcers. When horses are

in high-intensity work, and therefore require a high-energy content feed, oil is recommended as the main energy source (as a replacement to starch). This can be included within the desired racing or stud mix/cubes, as well as added in its pure form.

Linseed oil is generally agreed as being the best oil for horses based on profile, availability, palatability and cost. Oil in its pure form is also very easily digested and delays gastric emptying (Vitamin E should be adequately balanced). Feeding starch in excess of 2 grams per kilogram of body weight increases the risk of ulcers, according to some studies, and trying to remain at or below the 1 gram per KG of BW is advisable. When assessing the performance feeds specifically targeted for the ulcer prone racehorse and youngstock available on the market currently, the low starch percentages range between 6% and 15%.

Other basic feeding rules to adhere to are to provide fresh, clean water at all times (limited water can limit the natural dilution of gastric acid), feeding little and

Equine Health Update

often, feeding at the same time each day, and making changes gradually. If your horse is in work, consider feeding fat-coated electrolytes as ordinary electrolytes can cause or worsen gastric ulcers. This is a benefit as the coated electrolytes will be more readily absorbed in the small intestine (rather than the stomach), and the fat coating is much gentler on the stomach lining/existing ulcers.

When looking at weanlings and their nutritional needs, they are traditionally fed high amounts of grainbased concentrates, such as oat, corn, and barley-based feeds. These are often the chosen type of feed so that the accelerated growth and muscle development can be achieved in readiness for the foal and yearling sales. This feeding strategy can have many implications for our youngstock, including developmental orthopaedic disease, angular limb deformities, physitis and EGUS. This is a topic which has received much research and interest over recent years.

Research now suggests that you can achieve just as much growth via a fibre-based diet when compared to a traditional cereal-based diet. Within this

Omeprazole results in increased stomach PH negatively impacting digestion, to name a few. For these reasons, many owners may choose to try feeding a supplement. Some supplements are aimed solely at gastric ulcers, whilst others will provide the combination of gastric ulcer treatment and large intestinal support.

research, the stomach pH of the weanlings was monitored, and this concluded that the weanlings fed on the all-fibre feed maintained a more consistent and less acidic gastric pH compared with those fed the cereal-based feed. Therefore, it is conducive to lessening the risk of EGUS.

Many feed companies are now producing feeds and balancers for young, growing horses containing high levels of digestible fibre, including beet pulp and soy hulls, with less reliance on grain-based concentrates.

There has been a significant amount of research into herbs, nutraceuticals, trace minerals, vitamins and plant extracts for the management of EGUS. This is due to many different reasons, including the increasing cost of medicinal treatment, high rate of ulcer reoccurrence, and evidence suggesting prolonged use of

As a general rule, the chosen ingredients for ulcer supplements are going to help coat/protect the stomach lining, act as buffers (decrease acidity), help stomach lining repair and supress acid formation. Common buffers include ingredients such as magnesium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, limestone (calcium carbonate), marine algae, magnesium oxide and sodium bicarbonate. In order for these to produce the desired effect on the horse’s stomach pH, they would require a dose of approximately 10-50g (dependant on the particular compound). Some horses may exhibit symptoms which are linked to issues within the hindgut, such as mild bouts of colic and loose droppings. If this is the case, a high dose of live yeast pre and/or probiotics can be of great help.

A variety of evidence supports the use of ingredients such as lecithin and pectin (coating agents), sea buckthorn, vitamin E and C, ficus glomerata extract and thioredoxin (repairing agents)

for gastric ulceration. There are many supplements available on the market, some of which may not prove to be effective. Always look for products that have been recommended or backed up via clinical trials; unusually long lists of ingredients should be avoided, and always purchase products from companies which are part of the BETA NOPS scheme. You can expect to see an improvement in symptoms within seven to ten days as a maximum, but changes can be seen within a few hours after feeding, dependant upon the severity/type of EGUS and the main aim of the chosen supplement.

As the research surrounding the causes and treatment of EGUS within the racing and breeding industries continues to thrive, we can remain hopeful that the incidence of this condition will decrease as the knowledge within the industry grows. The take home messages are clear – the more we can mimic the thoroughbred’s natural way of feeding and living, the more we can prevent EGUS in the first place. Moving away from cereal-based feeds, and striving to meet energy requirements through alternative sources, is absolutely vital and something which is now accessible to all, thanks to the dedication of feed companies, nutritionists, veterinarians and researchers alike.

“Always look for products that have been backed up via clinical trials”

SPECIALLY FORMULATED TO PROVIDE:

Research proven, live yeast

2 prebiotics, MOS and FOS

Long-lasting gastric acid buffer

High in antioxidant Vitamins E, C, and selenium

Elevated levels of biotin

Nutri-Gard is a scientifically advanced supplement to support stomach and hindgut health. Containing 12 active ingredients, including prebiotics, postbiotics, and B-vitamins, it is designed to support the entire digestive tract.

CONTACT OUR SPECIALIST THOROUGHBRED TEAM:

OATAALIN

Horse Feeds Ltd.

OATAALIN

WHY USE OATAALIN?

OATAALIN mix is designed to give horses the best of whole natural foods in three key grains: the digestibility and energy of Oats, the Calcium & Vitamins and buffer to acidity in Alfalfa.

Linseed aids skin & coat condition and is antiinammatory with slow release energy.

KEY INGREDIENTS:

• Superior Rolled Oats from Highclere Estate

• Pelletised Alfalfa

• Micronised Linseed

“At Highclere we have been feeding OATAALIN to our thoroughbreds. Highly palatable, its excellent qualities are reected in the shine of their coats, their energy levels and their relaxed attitudes.”

mix is designed to give your horse the best performance, energy and shine.

Richard Hannon Jr., Pink Lily’s trainer, commented:

“Pink Lily when she came in she looked great, she has managed to put on all that weight over the winter and looks better than ever. She is a month further ahead than most of mine in her coat and I am looking forward to running her. Very happy with her indeed!”

World Pool boosting British racing

On World Pool days in the UK, Tote-sponsored owners will now be asked to carry the World Pool logo on the chest of their silks, instead of the Tote logo on these feature Flat racedays. The Tote logo will remain in place on the collar.

The remaining UK World Pool events in 2023 are:

• QIPCO King George Diamond Day at Ascot, Saturday, July 29

• Qatar Goodwood Festival at Goodwood, Tuesday, August 1 to Thursday, August 3

• Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York, Wednesday, August 23 to Friday, August 25

• QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot, Saturday, October 21

World Pool is now in its fifth year, having started at Royal Ascot in 2019, and is a collaboration of 28 pool-betting operators from around the globe.

During a World Pool event, certain pools operated by the UK Tote and other totes from around the globe are notionally commingled with pools operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club

to create a World Pool. This results in enormous liquidity, and a multi-millionpound betting experience and better value for the customer.

World Pool is proving increasingly popular with horseracing fans and is generating new funds and significant financial returns for British and Irish racing via media rights for participating racecourses, which is in turn being put into prize-money increases.

After such a strong start to the year, we would like to wish all ROA/Totesponsored horses continuing luck for the rest of 2023.

ROA VAT Solution – maximising your racing VAT reclaim

There are many benefits of being VAT-registered as an owner. All owners can recover the VAT paid on:

• Horse purchase

• Registration fees

• Training fees

• Vet’s fees

• Expenses incurred whilst watching your runner

• Keep fees (with the intention of returning your horse to training)

As a VAT-registered owner you will also receive 20% VAT in addition to prize-money. This may mean that your VAT return will be a payment to HMRC. However, this will have a net zero effect on your financial position, as illustrated in the table alongside.

Income

Scenario 1 – owner not VAT-registered

Scenario 2 – owner is VAT-registered

Prize money received £5,000                    £6,000 (inc. VAT)

To pay HMRC £0                                          £1,000

Received £5,000                                        £5,000

Expenditure

Racing fees   £2,400 (inc VAT)                    £2,400(inc. VAT)

To reclaim from HMRC £0                         £400

Calculations

Receipts +£5,000                                       +£6,000

Expenditure -£2,400                                 -£2,400

HMRC nil     -£600

Total £2,600                                             £3,000

To discuss any aspects of becoming VAT-registered or to appoint ROA VAT Solution as your

VAT Agent, contact our team on vat@roa.co.uk or call 0118 3385685.

Our contact details:

Badge allocation in the spotlight

An open letter to all owners, trainers and jockeys regarding secure allocation of guest entry badges at race meetings from the Racecourse Association

Dear racehorse owners, trainers and jockeys,

As you will appreciate, this is a time of heightened security for all racecourses following the recent protest activity at a number of racecourses, and the statement of intent by protesters of continued activity over the summer.

Therefore, we are asking you all to support and protect the industry, especially the racecourses with their security arrangements. Under the existing and agreed protocols with regard to complimentary badges allocated to you by racecourses, we must ensure that these do not get used inadvertently by protesters.

We must all ensure that any complimentary badges are allocated in advance via the PASS System and are only used by yourself and your guests; they must not be offered for use by third parties who are unknown to you either via personal requests or via social media.

If you are unable to allocate any badges allocated to you in advance using the PASS System, please collect these personally from the relevant Owners & Trainers/ PASS entrance on the raceday.

Should you require additional badges to the number allocated to you, please contact the relevant racecourse directly in advance. Please do not arrange reallocation of badges from another owner, trainer or jockey.

To support the racecourses security protocols, any tickets or badges that are found to have been allocated to unknown third parties, including those offered on social media, will be voided.

Please be aware that misuse of badges is a breach of Rule J(24) of the Rules of Racing, and the Terms and Conditions of Racecourse Entry.

Thank you for your continued support in this matter, which is greatly appreciated by all of the racecourses.

The Racecourse Association Ltd

The Racehorse Owners Association

Win exclusive Glorious Goodwood experience with Bid to Give

The ROA and Racing Welfare are proud to launch Bid to Give, a new monthly online auction that will offer unrivalled luxury experiences and opportunities throughout the year.

Proceeds from the lots sold through Bid to Give will directly benefit the people working on racing’s front line.

The first lot up for auction is a unique two-day experience at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, which runs from August 1-5. The successful bidder will enjoy a two-day money can’t buy experience, with day one centred around hospitality for four in The Charlton Hunt restaurant at the iconic meeting.

On the day, guests will be met by a top jockey who will accompany them on a course walk and provide a preview of the day’s racing. They will then enjoy the top-class racing with unrivalled views of the course, parade ring access for the feature race, and a five-course A La Carte lunch in The Charlton Hunt restaurant.

An overnight stay with two rooms at the fabulous Goodwood Hotel follows before playing a round on Goodwood’s award-winning golf course to end the weekend in style. The auction is now live with bids accepted until midday on July 14. To secure the ultimate Glorious Goodwood experience head to www.bidtogive.co.uk.

ROA Forum

CHELTENHAM 100

Members of an intrepid Racing Welfare team have scaled the highest peaks in Ireland, Wales and England and then ascended the summit of Arkle in Scotland – the mountain that lent its name to the greatest of all Cheltenham Gold Cup winners – to raise money for the charity.

This is one of many special events that Cheltenham racecourse is organising during the countdown to the 100th running of the Gold Cup next year.

As part of our countdown to the centenary we are also looking back at owners who have experienced Gold Cup triumph over the years. We move onto the 1940s, where a famous family were getting their first taste of triumph on the track.

Ralph Beckett, 3rd Baron of Grimthorpe (1891 – 1963)

The names Ralph Beckett and Lord Grimthorpe may now be synonymous with Flat racing, but the third Baron Grimthorpe – grandfather to the current Lord Grimthorpe and his

cousin, trainer Ralph Beckett – was initially heavily involved in the National Hunt sphere.

A partner in the Leeds banking firm Beckett & Co, Beckett’s passion was aircraft, and he was also partner and chair of Airspeed Limited, which built aeroplanes in York and Portsmouth. The company eventually merged with de Havilland during the Second World War, during which Beckett was mentioned in dispatches during his time in the RAF. After the war, he frequently took part in the Cresta Run at St Moritz.

During 1946, a striking French-bred chestnut called Fortina had finished second in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris as a five-year-old. That autumn, the entire was snapped up by Baron Grimthorpe and placed into training with Hector Christie in Wiltshire. He made a successful British debut in the Lancashire Chase.

Unable to get to the racecourse again until the delayed Gold Cup because of the exceptionally harsh winter, Fortina lined up against Dorothy Paget’s hot favourite

Happy Home in the rearranged April running of the 1947 contest. Amateur jockey Richard Black had survived some early drama on the way to the course, with the meeting proving so popular that the heavy traffic meant he had to abandon his car and run the final two miles to the track. The race itself proved far easier, as they scored by ten lengths from the favourite in a then course-record time. He still is the only entire to win the Blue Riband event.

Fortina raced just twice more before the lure of the covering shed. He finished his career unplaced in the King George behind Rowland Roy and retired to Grange Stud in Fermoy. He proved a great success, siring two Gold Cup winners in Fort Leney and Glencaraig Lady. His best horse was Fortria, a dual Champion Chase winner who also won an Irish Grand National and finished runner-up in the Gold Cup twice. All of this in spite of his trainer’s misgivings, having proclaimed that Fortina had the smallest private parts of any horse he’d seen. Who says size matters?

THE RACEGOERS CLUB COLUMN

Tony Wells looks at the racing scene

Thankfully, the Derby went ahead despite Animal Rising’s plans to disrupt it. The Jockey Club and the Epsom team, along with Surrey Police, deserve praise for handling a difficult situation extremely well. As an Epsom resident, it was disappointing that the locals were unable to stand by the rails at the start, but it was understandable in the circumstances. We must hope that Animal Rising now divert their focus away from horseracing. Notwithstanding all the extra work it entailed, the additional security costs of £300,000 would be better used elsewhere within racing. If anything, the protest group should pick up these costs, as it was only incurred because of their threat to disrupt the greatest Flat race.

Standing by the rails as the horses arrive at the start of the Derby is something I’ve done several times and to be able to get that close to these beautiful animals is a joy to behold. Let’s hope this year’s disruption is a one-off and we return to normal next year. It just didn’t look like the start of the Derby with no racing fans there to add colour and atmosphere.

Frankie Dettori was the star of the show at Epsom on Ladies’ Day. He is riding better than ever it seems and his final season couldn’t be going any better. The frisson of excitement as he brought Emily Upjohn from last to first ignited the day and he then brought a smile to so many faces after repeating the sweeping run down the outside on Soul Sister. It’s sad to think we won’t see that flying dismount again at Epsom. He is irreplaceable. A special mention must go to the Gosdens for the handling of their fillies. John has taken over the mantle of Sir Henry Cecil in his ability to know when his fillies are ready and surely it’s only a matter of time before he becomes Sir John Gosden. He has done so much for our sport and a knighthood would be richly deserved.

With four of the Classics completed, the rest of the season promises a treat of middle-distance clashes. Of the Epsom and Chantilly winners, only Ace Impact has an undefeated record to protect, so you’d like to think Soul Sister and Auguste Rodin would be looking to

enhance their value by adding at least another Group 1 to their CV. The runnersup in each Classic should definitely be showing up in future Group 1s and it would be extremely disappointing if we didn’t see Emily Upjohn again. Add to these the two previous Derby winners, Adayar and Desert Crown, who will surely try and land a ten-furlong Group 1 to enhance their value as stallions. Chuck in Hukum, Luxembourg, Bay Bridge and several others and suddenly the Eclipse, King George, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes could have racing fans salivating at the prospect of almighty clashes.

This season the field sizes in the big Flat races have stood up well. Let’s hope that continues throughout the summer and sets up an Arc with several of these vying to become a champion of champions. After all it’s rare to have so many existing and former Classic winners in training at the same time. It could be reminiscent of Dancing Brave’s Arc in terms of quality.

The BHA should be applauded for announcing its ‘Premierisation’ plans. After years of stagnation, it’s refreshing to see something radical being tried. Whether it works, only time will tell, but it may take a number of iterations before they get something that all racing

groups get behind. Racecourses should be paying a premium as far as prizemoney goes for a Saturday afternoon fixture. For too long they have been getting away with midweek prize-money levels while reaping the benefits of Saturday afternoon crowds.

I’ve had the thrill of racehorse ownership with the Racegoers Club over the years and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with several winners. From Epic (Mark Johnston), who won seven races for us over ten years ago, through to Tenaya Canyon (Ed Walker), who won three times and achieved black type last year, it has been a pleasure to have a small share in these horses.

I had never been tempted to get involved in micro shares – that is until very recently. Scampi won the first race at the Dante meeting and I was intrigued by the colours, as I didn’t recognise them. I did some investigating and soon after I was investing in a share of four horses with RaceShare. I have been impressed with the quality of their communications and the horses are housed with top-class trainers. I’ve been a member for less than a month and I have had a runner each week, for not a big investment. I haven’t had the chance to enjoy a raceday experience with them yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.

MAGICAL MOMENTS

Roger Vicarage finds that patience is a virtue with Cloudy Rose

It has been a case of like mother, like daughter for ROA member Roger Vicarage, who has had to exercise plenty of patience in both cases before, remarkably, back-to-back wins arrived –and in the case of daughter, a fabulous hat-trick.

After buying Zarosa at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2010, she got off the mark on her ninth start a year after making her debut, and then after breeding Cloudy Rose from her, he had to wait even longer, with the five-yearold scoring on her 20th start just over two years after her first run.

Both followed up, with Zarosa’s wins coming at Nottingham and Newcastle, and Cloudy Rose winning at Brighton at the start of May and going in again at Beverley at the end of the month – and for good measure returning to Brighton last month to complete a hat-trick.

No-one was more delighted for Vicarage and his fellow owners than trainer John Berry, who handled the dam and now trains the daughter.

Vicarage says: “For as long as I can remember I’ve been a racing enthusiast, from very early memories of the Grand National aged nine with Nicolaus Silver emerging from the gloom of a black and white TV set to win the race.

“Racing was part of the family viewing, sandwiched between the wrestling and rugby. Through a family friend we all got invited to Newbury for the September Flat meeting in 1966 – it was enthralling, with horses such as Be Friendly and Dart Board in action, together with Lester Piggott, John Lawrence and other top names.

“We holidayed then with grandparents in Hereford and went to a number of meetings there; you could get closer up there by the rails and shout at the jockeys. I still have the racecards. And Grand National day is now an annual family outing.”

He continues: “I suppose I always dreamed of ownership without ever thinking I’d be able to afford it. My wife Maggie bought me some ‘grow your own racehorse seeds’ to plant and is, and always has been, fully behind my passion for racing.

“As my career progressed I set aside

money in a sort of racehorse fund and eventually took a share in the shortlived Newmarket Thoroughbred racing and breeding organisation, which had a few winners, and then graduated to Diamond Racing, where horses such as Diamond Rachael – trained by the redoubtable-looking but really kindhearted Norma Macaulay – and Jools were victorious.

“We went to Norma’s yard a few times and were treated like royalty. Through Diamond Racing I met John Berry and, wanting a bigger share, got involved in Anis Etoile, who won a bumper first time out at Uttoxeter – she was a beautiful mare, like an Aynsley China statue.”

That progression was extended, with the vital breeding ground of syndicates and partnerships leading to Vicarage branching out on his own.

“Plunging further into the sport, I put money from an inheritance and a bonus into buying a horse outright at Tattersalls Book 2,” he says. “John advised me, drew up a shortlist and sat down with me, while I bid remembering the words ‘you have to be prepared to buy any of them and you have to be prepared to let any of them go if your budget is exceeded’. It was a condition of helping me that John would train the horse.

“John is great at letting horses mature in their own time, rather than pushing them through the mill. He also likes racing’s traditions and stayers, both of which I like too.

“I think in a bigger stable Zarosa and Cloudy Rose wouldn’t have made it as racehorses, they’d have been pushed too early. Also, John makes it clear that every member of the syndicate is

welcome at his yard in Newmarket.”

He adds: “From an unpromising debut run – 42 lengths last having unshipped the rider and bowled over the stable assistant before dwelling in the stalls – Zarosa won two races, the first at Nottingham as a three-year-old and the second at Newcastle at the start of the next season, which resulted in my biggest ever mobile phone/text charges to listen in and speak to family, as I was working in Moscow at the time.”

The giant leap to breeding is not one taken by most owners, but Vicarage was game.

“Having retired Zarosa we wondered what to do next,” he says. “Retraining her was one option but Maggie had always wanted to breed a foal so Emma Berry [John’s wife] introduced us to Richard Kent, who owns MIckley Stud, and he agreed to go half-shares in Zarosa as a broodmare.

“We used several of the Mickley stallions - Multiplex, Proconsul, Heerat and then Massaat. Two offspring died very young, and Cloudy Rose is the only one to make the racecourse so far, though we shall have her yearling halfbrother by Massaat for sale later on.

“Richard is a wonderful horseman, lively character and a real enthusiast, first on the phone to congratulate us when we’ve run well. And what makes Mickley a great nursery is the horses live together in large groups and learn to compete early across the rolling Shropshire grassland.”

As for himself, Vicarage says: “By profession I’m an organisation development consultant, now retired. That is focused on helping organisations develop structures, leadership and culture which enable them to thrive. Within that come leadership development training, executive coach and programmes to create engagement and commitment to new ideas and strategies.

“As you can imagine I’m very interested in the recent reorganisations within racing and how they’re approaching the introduction of significant change. One of the key distinctions for me is the difference between passive commitment – not

getting in the way, providing resources, saying something is a good idea –and active commitment, i.e. personal participation, taking a stand, taking a high personal risk.”

In addition, Vicarage has a degree in accountancy, experience of management in a global pharmaceutical business and ten years of running his own business.

While Zarosa ran in his name, her daughter represents Runfortheroses, so the recent delights have been a shared experience.

“I set up a syndicate, which I manage to race Cloudy Rose,” says Vicarage.”She was in pre-training with Alan Creighton at the time. She was very weak, being a June foal, and we decided to give her three months’ holiday before she went into full training. All members were

discussion about whether to continue and everyone was fully committed to another season. Now, after 19 unsuccessful runs, she has won three times, with both Adam Farragher and Oisin Murphy excelling in the saddle. The experience of being with this group at the races is joyful and everyone is buzzing.”

Continuing the upbeat message, Vicarage says: “The real joy of racing is the variety of courses and the thrill of seeing the action close up. I got into racing because it was so exciting to stand by the rails or a fence to watch a race. That close-up experience seems to have been lost at some courses.

“As far as attracting newcomers to racing, I think the old plethora of Bank Holiday meetings used to achieve that –everyone seemed to go racing on Bank Holiday Mondays and they progressed from there.

“I’m pleased the bigger meetings now seem to be establishing sensible crowd limits, but there seems to be a move towards elite-level racing and people need to realise that a pyramid requires a strong foundation and the lesser horses are necessary.

fine with this – I think if you manage expectations well, people will generally be patient enough.

“There was a lot of paperwork involved in setting up the syndicate and getting all the registrations completed, but the ROA, Weatherbys and the BHA were very helpful.

“Five members had not had any prior experience of racehorse ownership. Myself, Maggie and our daughter Zoe are all involved. We had them voting for which colours to choose, for the name and so on, and we’ve had gatherings in Newmarket to see her gallop.

“As a three-year-old she ran with determination but couldn’t really keep up; at four she nearly won at Chepstow – she got to the winner, Infiniti, but not beyond!

“At the end of last season we had a

“And at that level of involvement I can dream we might get into a 0-85 handicap and get a run at Ascot or Goodwood one day. Put that out of our reach and we’re left rooting around minor tracks at the crack of dawn or late in the day as pure betting fodder.”

Indeed, owning racehorses tends to not always be a bed of roses, and when breeding is added to the mix, the chances of downs accompanying ups increases.

“The heartaches have been the loss of Zarosa’s first foal, who had some complications at birth, and then losing Zarosa herself when her foal by Massaat was born,” says Vicarage.

“The foal went to a foster mare who had her own foal, and it was magical to see the three of them together.”

The three Vicarages, Roger, Maggie and Zoe, celebrating together at Brighton last month was a magical sight too, and hopefully for the family and Runfortheroses there are more special days to come.

“John [Berry] is great at letting horses mature in their own time”

ROA Forum

Sponsorship update

The ROA/Tote Owner Sponsorship scheme continues as one of the most important benefits of membership, allowing owners to register for, and reclaim, VAT on the costs of ownership. This equates to an average saving of over £4,500 per annum per horse in training. With over 1,600 horses sponsored already in 2023, that is over £7.2 million reclaimed for you by agents such as the ROA VAT Solution team.

The Tote logos carried on owners’ silks are a very familiar sight on racecourses up and down the country, and in just the first five months of this year were carried nearly 3,000 times. The logos aren’t just for show though, as over 10% of these runners also visited the winner’s circle, rising to nearly 33% when looking at winning and placed horses.

Amongst those winners were Walk In Clover, winner of the Grade 2 British EBF Mares’ Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase Final at Cheltenham, and Araminta, winner

In brief

New tier of ROA membership

The ROA is now offering a new tier of membership to owners, partners or syndicate members with a horse in training, as well as racing enthusiasts.

The new primary membership package is available free of charge, allowing members to be included in all our regular digital member communications containing racing’s news, views and events. To join, please call the ROA team on 0118 3385680.

To make sure existing members continue to receive the Inside Track email bulletin and can access the members’ area on the website, make sure we have your up-to-date email address by dropping us a line at info@ roa.co.uk

Racing Together Community Day a success

A record 75-plus employee teams from across racing volunteered in their local communities for this year’s Racing Together Community Day. They volunteered over 700 hours for over 40 charities, making the day the biggest yet.

Food banks were a focus for many given the current crisis and

of the Listed William Hill Height of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood.

Honourable mentions also go to Group/ Grade 1 performances from Bo Zenith (Jewson Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, Aintree), L’Astroboy (Unibet Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle, Sandown) and Straw Fan Jack (placed at both the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals in novice chases).

If you require sponsorship for a new horse, or one returning to training, and the horse is owned wholly by ROA members (for syndicates and clubs this means all syndicate/club managers are required to be ROA members), then the July sponsorship scheme is now open for new additions.

For those requiring renewal from the July 2022 onto the July 2023 scheme, emails were sent out in early June. If you have not yet replied then please do so.

The ROA/Tote Owner Sponsorship scheme pays £100 + VAT per horse per

annum, with this payment made as each scheme closes. The March 2023 scheme has now closed, so payments will be made to all owners with horses on this scheme automatically and should be showing in your racing account by the end of August.

racing’s efforts will have a direct and immediate benefit to families needing help nationwide.

The Racing Centre in Newmarket organised drop off points, supported by Michelle Fernandes, Lycetts Insurance, Dylan Cunha Racing, Simon Pearce Racing and ROA Board member Gay Kelleway.

Racing Welfare staff were to the fore as usual and volunteered at regional food banks, including Lambourn Junction, supported by Ed Walker Racing and the Injured Jockeys Fund.

It was the fifth such community day, with 11 racing yards also volunteering this year, a record. The team at Kubler Racing delivered homemade cakes to the elderly in Lambourn, while staff at Susan Corbett’s stable volunteered at their local care home. Fergal O’Brien’s colleagues supported Cotswold Riding for the Disabled.

Racecourses were also involved in the initiative through various litter picks, local community-tidying schemes, and helping the needs of local causes and collecting items for riding schools.

Starlight Day raises over £175,000

The Starlight Charity Raceday at Newbury racecourse on Friday, May 19 raised £176,500.

Starlight is the national charity for children’s play in healthcare. They help children to experience the power of play to boost their wellbeing and resilience during treatment, care and recovery from illness.

This incredible amount of money will go to fund vital services supporting seriously ill children and their families.

Go Racing in Yorkshire Festival

New dates have been announced for the Go Racing in Yorkshire Summer Festival. Now starting at Pontefract’s evening meeting on Friday, July 21, the summer festival will take place across Yorkshire’s courses until Saturday, July 29 where it will finish at York.

The other significant change is that the meeting at Doncaster on Thursday, July 27, traditionally an evening fixture, has now been moved to the afternoon.

Get involved in National Racehorse Week, September 9-17

National Racehorse Week will return from September 9-17 for the third consecutive year. Bookings for the event are now open, with some yards already sold out.

As a racehorse owner, the week provides a fantastic opportunity for you to show your passion for the industry and its horses by volunteering at a local event.

You can offer to help out at your trainer or breeder’s open day by talking to the general public and answering questions about racing, channel your baking 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.

As well as open days at training yards, studs, aftercare and rehoming centres, trainers and owners of former racehorses will be taking them 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.

Run by Great British Racing, with principal funding from The Racing Foundation and Levy Board, National Racehorse Week provides a vital platform to further racing’s community engagement and draw new audiences to the sport. It also provides an opportunity to integrate racing’s many recruitment, diversity and inclusion initiatives to create a stronger, more powerful message.

Last year, 87% of attendees that were not regular racegoers, or were new to racing, said National Racehorse Week positively changed their opinion of racehorse care and 97% of attendees would promote National Racehorse Week to a friend after visiting an event in 2022.

With more than 130 venues already signed up to participate in 2023, including Nicky Henderson, Charlie and Mark Johnston and Emma Lavelle, as well as Rockcliffe Stud, Chapel Stud, Greenlands Farm Stud and aftercare centre HEROS all hosting events, racing can once again boldly open its doors to create a positive impression of the sport for existing and new racing fans alike.

There are still many opportunities for racing’s participants to get involved in National Racehorse Week and show support, so do volunteer or encourage anyone you know to take part. We are also collecting images of owners and their horses – please send any high resolution images to slyons@greatbritishracing.com.

To book a place during National Racehorse Week visit nationalracehorseweek.uk.

Racing to Cricket event raising money for RoR

Tickets are now on sale to join Retraining of Racehorses for its biggest fundraising event, the RoR Racing to Cricket tournament, on Sunday, September 3 at the prestigious Wormsley Cricket Ground on the Getty Estate, near High Wycombe.

Sponsored once again by Irwin Mitchell, the event has become a special day of cricket and hospitality with family, friends and racing connections. Guests will be welcomed on the day with a champagne reception, as well as a sumptuous buffet lunch and traditional cricket tea in the private marquee which overlooks the picture-perfect cricket ground.

The cricket tournament sees the return of top Flat and jump

yards fielding their representative teams in the limited overs 8-a-side knockout competition at Wormsley. Teams from the yards of Nicky Henderson, Richard Hannon, Ben Pauling and Jack Channon, as well as the combined Newmarket trainers’ team of George Boughey, James Ferguson and Charlie Fellowes, will compete to win the RoR Racing to Cricket Trophy.   Henderson’s team will be hoping to win their third successive tournament, so there’s no doubt the competition will again be fierce and fun.

Tickets and sponsorship packages are available for the event. For more information please contact Sue Wallis - suewallis@pacems.co.uk - or call 07748 653336.

Taking the Three Peaks Challenge

On Saturday, July 8, as part of Team ROA, Louise Norman and Ruth Diver, along with Kate Freeman from the BHA, will be taking on the Racing Welfare Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, raising vital funds for Racing Welfare and in support of all racing’s people.

The challenge is 25 miles long and includes over 1,500 metres of ascent, reaching the three summits of

Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent and Whernside.

With every step along the Yorkshire Three Peaks trail, and every penny raised, you can be confident that you are actively contributing towards Racing Welfare’s services, which are so valued by racing’s people.

To sponsor Team ROA, please go to www.roa.co.uk/threepeaks.

SUPPLEMENTING FOR SUCCESS

Educational courses

Amongst Racing2Learn’s industry courses, there is a free Guide to Handicapping course designed by the BHA to help anyone with an interest in horseracing gain a better understanding of handicapping. Topics covered include how handicap ratings are decided, what race a horse can run in once they have a rating and appealing a handicap mark. More details can be found on racing2learn.com.

Overview of British Racing

After the successful virtual BHA Overview of British Racing on June 4, an in-person event has been planned for November 21 at Newbury racecourse. The agenda includes sessions on the funding of the racing industry, racecourses, racing administration and the Rules of Racing, horse and people welfare, ownership and breeding. For more information see thenhc.co.uk.

New date for conference

The Horseracing Industry Conference, due to take place at York racecourse on June 1, was postponed due to the nationwide train strikes. The conference will now take place on Tuesday, October 24, again at York. A core objective of the conference is to attract a diverse audience and create a valuable networking opportunity.

Tickets purchased for the original date will be automatically transferred to the new date. Those unable to attend will receive a refund from the Racing Foundation.

MUSCLE PREP

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.

TBA Forum

The special section for TBA members

British NH breeders celebrated

David Futter and Yorton Farm were the big winners at this year’s TBA NH Breeders’ Awards Evening, sponsored by Goffs UK. The event, hosted by the ever-brilliant Nick Luck, was a celebratory affair which provided many memorable anecdotes and laughs.

A total of 14 awards were awarded at the event, which was positioned on the Monday evening of the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale and TBA NH Committee Chair, Simon Cox, said: “The British National Hunt breeding community is a tight-knit group, and it is only fitting that it comes together to celebrate each other’s successes. This past season was certainly the passing of the baton from one sublime British-bred hurdler in Honeysuckle to another in the shape of Constitution Hill.

“The evening’s most prestigious award, the Queen Mother’s Silver Salver, was given to David Futter. A valuable member of the TBA’s NH Committee, the award recognises David’s forward-thinking nature, the energy and innovation he has brought to the NH breeding industry, and passion for widening its audience.

“National Hunt breeding is accessible by all, and this year’s recipients are testament to that – from one-mare entities through to some of the larger operations in the game. I would like to not only congratulate each award winner, but also each of the award nominees.”

The event’s most prestigious award, the Queen Mother’s Silver Salver, was this year

presented to David Futter on account of his outstanding contribution to the British National Hunt bloodstock industry.

A noted pinhooker – think Easysland and French Dynamite – Futter’s breeding operation has hit its strides too with Inthepocket, co-bred with Tessa Greatrex, who gained a first top-level win at Aintree in April, whilst Gentlemansgame, co-bred with the late Maggie Luck, is a three-time Rules winner and thrice placed in Grade 1 company over hurdles.

A keen advocate of bringing new people into the industry and the main driver behind the creation of the Yorton Sale each September, Futter has also stood stallions which have been highly valuable contributors to British National Hunt breeding. From Sulamani’s time at the stud Honeysuckle was conceived, whilst from the time Blue Bresil was stationed in Welshpool, Constitution Hill was born.

Earlier in the evening, Greatrex and Futter were on stage having been awarded the Peel Bloodstock Trophy (Leading Novice Hurdler) for Inthepocket.

The third award that Futter received was the Whitbread Silver Salver, which was given to Blue Bresil. The award is given to the leading active stallion by prize-money accrued during the 2022-23 season for progeny sired in Britain.

David’s son Lester was on hand to present the Yorton Trophy, which this year was given to the leading novice chaser Thyme Hill, a previous winner of leading

NHF horse and leading novice hurdler. Breeder Simon Sweeting was on hand to collect the award. Sweeting later collected the Horse and Hound Cup. Given to the leading active British-based stallion by individual chase winners, it went to Schiaparelli for the third consecutive time.

The Highflyer Trophy, this year awarded to the leading hurdler, was presented to Sally Noott for Constitution Hill, whose unbeaten record under Rules was extended to seven last season with four Grade 1 wins. His performances on the track also meant that Noott was presented with the Dudgeon Cup, sponsored by Alne Park Stud, awarded to Queen Of The Stage as broodmare of the year.

The past season witnessed the great Honeysuckle bow out and retired to the paddocks. Her performance in the David Nicholson at the Cheltenham Festival meant that she earned a seventh trophy (Mickley Stud Trophy) for connections as she was crowned leading hurdler mare. Doug Procter of The Glanvilles Stud represented breeder Dr Geoffrey Guy on the evening.

Last season Robert Abrey and Ian Thurtle picked up the leading novice chaser award following the exploits of Edwardstone. Twelve months later and the son of Kayf Tara was crowned leading chaser. Ian attended the evening with his two daughters, Alice and Katie, to pick up the Batsford Stud trophy.

Pink Legend ended her 2022-23

TBA Forum

campaign with three victories from seven starts. Her wins included giving upwards of 17lb to her rivals over two miles at Cheltenham in April and backing up over three miles at Perth six days later in the Listed Fair Maid of Perth Chase. Her exploits meant that she was crowned leading mares’ chaser and owner-breeder Frank Mahon picked up the Elusive Bloodstock trophy from James Gray.

Nick Luck had an engaging and

entertaining discussion with Jane Makin following the announcement that dual Grade 2 winner You Wear It Well had won the Midnight Legend trophy, which was awarded to the leading novice hurdling mare.

Camilla Scott was suitably surprised to pick up the Eric Gillie Special Achievement Trophy. Scott picked up the award on account of the season’s performances by Dashel Drasher.

The first two awards of the evening were awarded to bumper performers. The Overbury Stud Trophy (for leading NHF mare) went to Sarah Turner, who bred the Listed EBF bumper runner-up Casa No Mento. The geldings equivalent, the Shade Oak Stud Trophy, was awarded to Liz Lucas, breeder under the banner of Swanbridge Bloodstock of the most impressive Goffs UK sales race winner Crest Of Glory.

Breeders' lunch

On May 12, QIPCO Champions Series and GBR hosted the breeders of winning horses from last year’s Champions Day at Ascot. The TBA wishes to thank QIPCO, GBR and Ascot for hosting breeders and the presentation of mementoes in recognition of their success. Pictured from l-r are Nick Smith, Nevin Truesdale, Jack O’Connor, Henry Bletsoe, Anita Wigan, Kate Hannam, James Wigan and Rod Street.

Breeders gain access to premier fixtures

The TBA is delighted to once again offer members who have bred a horse declared to run at a premier meeting (or the country’s leading racecourses and race meetings) two complimentary badges.

This illustrates a strong collaboration between racecourses and breeders and shows recognition of the vital role breeders play and their investment in

the sport.

Forthcoming meetings offering badges to breeders include:

• Newmarket July Festival

• Goodwood Festival

• York Ebor Meeting

• Doncaster St Leger Meeting

To apply for complimentary badges (following declarations) please email alix.jones@thetba.co.uk with the

following details:

• Breeder ’s name

• Horse’s name

• Race declared for

Thanks are extended to the Jockey Club, Arena Racing Company and Independent Racecourses for their kind support in allowing our members the opportunity to watch horses they have bred and race at the highest level.

Regional visit to Lawn Stud and Weatherbys

The second regional day of the year took place at Lawn Stud near Towcester where members were lucky enough to view the mares, foals and yearlings under bright blue skies.

Sarah Richmond-Watson kindly opened up her home, serving refreshments in the sitting room overlooking the lake where grazing deer and water buffalo were visible from the picture windows.

Sarah walked the group to the paddocks to view the stud’s stock. Mares shown included Regardez, a half-sister to home bred Prix Royal Oak winner Scope, whose daughter Remarquee had captured the Fred Darling Stakes the previous weekend. She is one of a number on the stud whose family features the 2008 Oaks heroine Look Here.

Also amongst the stud’s broodmares is Skipinnish, who holds an interesting back story. A homebred daughter of Exceed And Excel, she was sold unraced as a three-year-old to Cypriot connections. Three years later she reappeared back at Tattersalls a dual winner and was bought back into the fold. She is a half-sister to Kinross, who was then a Listed winner, since a multiple Group 1 scorer.

Weatherbys kindly hosted the second part of the day, which started off with lunch before the group was taken on a tour of the offices and library where the original volume of the General Stud Book published in 1791 is housed. Presentations on the various services followed including a lively and amusing

discussion on the thoroughbred naming process. Weatherbys generously donated many different publications to the group. The TBA thanks Weatherbys and Lawn Stud for hosting such an enlightening regional visit.

Classy Chaldean collects Classic

Mayson, snared the Athasi Stakes.

The Essafinaat UK-bred Just Beautiful bounced back to form in the Lanwades Stud Stakes. In Germany the Lady Legardbred Lady Ewelina won the SchwarzgoldRennen and over in America, the Dermot Farrington and Canning Downs-bred Kingman filly Queen Picasso took the Soaring Softly Stakes.

In Australia, Zaaki landed a third successive victory in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes. The son of Leroidesanimaux was bred by Kirsten Rausing.

There were numerous Listed wins across the globe. In Britain, Castle Way, bred by Highclere Stud and Floors Farming, won the Newmarket Stakes, whilst the same weekend, the Bella Nouf Partnership-bred Running Lion, a daughter of the late Roaring Lion, was victorious in the Pretty Polly Stakes. The Heron Stakes went to the Sheikh Mohammed Obaid homebred Captain Winters

At York’s Dante meeting, the Oaks Farm Stables Fillies’ Stakes went to Sounds Of Heaven, a daughter of Kingman bred by Fairway Thoroughbreds, and the Marygate Fillies’ Stakes to the Regatta Partnershipbred Got To Love A Grey

The heavens opened ahead of the first British Classic of the season, yet the downpours failed to dampen the spirits of Frankie Dettori, who captured a fourth 2,000 Guineas aboard the Whitsbury Manor Stud-bred Chaldean. The son of Frankel, who was taking his second Group 1 win having landed the Dewhurst, was one of six individual stakes winners for the Harper family during a marvellous May.

The Classic winner’s half-sister, Get Ahead, a daughter of resident stallion Showcasing, became a fourth stakes winner for their dam Suelita when taking the Listed Cecil Frail Stakes at Haydock Park later in the month.

Another progeny of Showcasing is Cold Case, winner of the Group 3 Commonwealth Cup Trial Stakes at Ascot.

The three remaining Whitsbury stakes winners, all at Listed level, were by Havana Grey. Elite Status showed a sharp turn of foot to quickly put the National Stakes field to the sword, whilst the rapidly improving Great State captured the Westow Stakes at York. Another improving three-year-old, Shouldvebeenaring, won the King Charles II Stakes before running second in the Sandy Lane Stakes.

Whilst Juddmonte might not have bred Chaldean, the operation was on the mark in stakes contests on either side of the Atlantic. Last season’s demoted St Leger

runner-up Haskoy (Golden Horn) made a triumphant four-year-old debut in the Al Rayyan Stakes, while the same day, but at Pimlico, Whitebeam put in an impressive performance to win the Grade 3 Gallorette. Zarinsk captured the Group 3 Cornelscourt Stakes at Leopardstown for Ger Lyons, whilst former inmate Juncture, now in the care of Brad Cox, took the Ouija Board Distaff Stakes at Lone Star Park in Texas.

Winner of the Listed Tetrarch Stakes on the first day of the month, the Dayton Investments-bred Paddington made a further leap when winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas just over three weeks later.

There were quite a few homebred Pattern winners during May. Shadwell homebred Mutasaabeq won the rearranged bet365 Mile at Newmarket and a day later, Vadream, bred by Crispin Estates Ltd, enjoyed the wet conditions to take the Palace House Stakes. The following week and the Brian Haggasbred Hamish landed back-to-back wins in the Ormonde Stakes. Switched off the turf to the all-weather, Cheveley Park Stud’s Sacred won the Chartwell Fillies’ Stakes in good style.

On the opening day of the month, the Car Colston Hall Stud-bred Tribalist, a son of Farhh, captured the Prix du Muguet. In Ireland on the same day, the late Peter Tellwright-bred Honey Girl, a daughter of

Martin Hughes and Michael KerrDineen’s homebred Shaquille captured the Carnarvon Stakes at Newbury, whilst the Cocked Hat Stakes went to a Normandie Stud homebred for the second successive season. Gregory, a Golden Horn halfbrother to last year’s winner Lionel, won the contest well. Also at Goodwood, the Fortescue Bloodstock-bred King Of Conquest captured the Festival Stakes.

Down at Salisbury, the Cathedral Stakes, brought forward a couple of weeks in the calendar, went to the Mrs Wilson homebred Run To Freedom

Across the Irish Sea, Fix You, bred by Rabbah Bloodstock, won the Polonia Stakes. Mashkoor, a son of Kingman bred by Grenville Bloodstock Ltd, took the Orby Stakes, whilst the Sole Power Sprint Stakes was won by the Dukes Stud and Overbury Stud-bred Ladies Church

Across the English Channel and the Godolphin homebred Calistoga won the Prix des Lilas and the Pocock Family-bred Melo Melo took the Prix Gold River.

Further afield the Newsells Park-bred Big Everest gained further stakes success when winning the Cliff Hanger Stakes, while Bois d’Argent was the winner of the Lord Mayor’s Cup at Rosehill.

Over obstacles, Black Poppy took the Swinton Handicap Hurdle in good style. The son of Kayf Tara was bred by Hilary Fitzsimmons and Smarden Thoroughbreds.

Results up to and including May 31. Produced in association with GBRI.

Community Day

As part of Racing Together’s Community Day, racing’s national day of volunteering on May 25, the TBA team were out litter picking amongst the roads, verges and pull in spots around Chippenham, near Newmarket. In total eight full bags of litter were collected.

TB-Ed launches new identity

TB-Ed, the TBA’s digital education hub, has launched with a new brand identity and both TBA members and TBA ACCESS subscribers can access content on the platform for free.

Free access to the TB-Ed hub (tbed.co.uk) provides a range of content containing essential knowledge and guidance to anyone with an interest in thoroughbred breeding – from new enthusiasts through to existing industry participants experienced owner-breeders.

Courses will continue to be

Diary dates

July 12

Flat Breeders’ Awards Evening Chippenham Park

July 21

Regional Day

The Household Cavalry & Osborne Gallery

August 22

Worm Workshop

Askham Bryan College

August 31

Stage 3 GBB deadline (2020-born NH 3yos)

September 28

Regional Day

Lucinda Russell & forum at Perth

September 30

Stage 1 GBB deadline (2023-born foals)

October 19

Regional Day

Paul Nicholls (below) & The Glanvilles Stud

uploaded to the site and those already included range from biosecurity, paddock management, nutrition and understanding pedigrees.

Courses soon to be uploaded include business essentials and stud administration.

Registration increase for GBB

At the beginning of June, the Great British Bonus (GBB) scheme celebrated its third birthday and since its inception it has awarded over £10 million in bonuses to breeders, owners, trainers, stable staff and pinhookers.

With that success has come popularity and registrations have been running 15 per cent higher than anticipated. Regretfully, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, it has reached a point where registration fees have needed to be increased and changes will be implemented from July 1, 2023.

The new fees are as follows:

• Stage 1 - £450 (£200 discount to TBA members, £50 increase)

• Stage 2 - £250 (£50 increase)

• Stage 3 - £450 (£100 increase) The second change relates to limiting the value of bonuses that can be won. At present, there are no limits but from July 1, bonus wins will be restricted to £100,000 for 100% GBB fillies and £50,000 for 50% GBB fillies. For more information visit www. greatbritishbonus.co.uk.

Secure your ticket for Flat Awards evening

Time is running out to secure your place at this year’s TBA Flat Breeders’ Awards Evening. The event, which celebrates successes from the 2022 season, takes place on Wednesday, July 12 at Chippenham Park, near Newmarket.

Hosted by Gina Bryce and taking place during July Festival week, tickets, priced at £80 per person, can be secured via the events section of the TBA website. The ticket includes a drinks and canape reception, followed by a dinner and the awards ceremony.

Breeder of the Month

BREEDER OF THE MONTH (May 2023) Whitsbury Manor Stud

Father-to-son lineage is a fundamental feature of thoroughbred breeding. Its influence can apply equally to humans as equines, hence the nomination of Whitsbury Manor Stud as the TBA Breeder of the Month for several outstanding achievements in May owes as much to owner and long-time manager Chris Harper, 82, as to his son and successor Ed, 39.

May was a stellar month for Whitsbury, with stakes-race successes marked down to Cold Case, Elite Status, Great State and Shouldvebeenaring, but the destiny of the award was sealed by Chaldean, winner of the 2,000 Guineas, and his year-older half-sister Get Ahead, a close sixth in the Palace House Stakes before winning Haydock’s Cecil Frail Stakes.

The siblings’ achievements can be traced to the intervention of Chris Harper, who was barely beyond his teenage years when his uncle, bookmaker William Hill, asked him to take on the management of Whitsbury in the early 1960s. Fast forward to December 2013 and his purchase of the four-year-old Dutch Art filly Suelita, a four-time winner over sprint distances in Italy, for 21,500gns has paid off many times over.

The investment has returned six foals of racing age, all winners and five at stakes level, including Chaldean and the full siblings Get Ahead and Alkumait (by the Whitsbury-based stallion Showcasing), and sales totalling £2.5 million, of which one million guineas – a Whitsbury record – came from Juddmonte’s purchase of Suelita’s Kingman filly foal in November last year, two years after the same owner had

Sponsored by Distributer of

covered early next season.

“It was fortuitous that we had one last crack at a cover, but I have to say that as well as being being born on May 10, our last foal of 2020, the fact he was a chestnut out of a bay mare by a bay stallion probably caught us by surprise, so our first reaction was that it was great we had a healthy colt but everything else was a little underwhelming. Pretty soon, though, when he was out in the fields, it was clear how confident and precocious he was.

acquired Chaldean for 550,000gns. Originally sold for 3,200gns as a foal, Suelita owed her attraction to Harper to his long-time association with Eydon Hall Stud owner Gerald Leigh. At one time they shared Suelita’s great-grandam Ahead, who won once and was Group placed in six outings for Guy Harwood, and her daughter Horatia, who compiled a similar record under Luca Cumani.

Ahead, who became the dam of smart stayer and million-pound earner Opinion Poll after her sale to Sheikh Mohammed, and Horatia were both moved on from Eydon Hall, but Harper had his memory jogged when he spotted Suelita in the Tattersalls December Mares catalogue.

Ed Harper describes Chaldean as “an unlikely creation”, explaining: “We wouldn’t usually cover a mare that late. It was actually the middle of June when Suelita went to Frankel. Through a sequence of events, including the fact that his older half-sister Get Ahead was not foaled until the end of April, it was by far our latest covering of the year. Plus the fact we were sending our best mare on a long journey, it would have given us every excuse to say let’s stop and get her

“He was very quick to lead properly and do things well. For instance, he was very straightforward when you went to catch him in the paddock.

“As he was born so late, and being by Frankel out of our best mare, he got more attention than any other foal we have ever bred. People who work on the stud took their children to see him; I took my nephew and nieces. Yet even with young children he would come over and be patted. In that sense he was a good connection with people who probably wouldn’t otherwise see a thoroughbred that young. He always did his bit.”

Maybe Chaldean inherited his relaxed nature from his dam, for Harper says: “Suelita is one of the calmest mares we’ve ever had. We set up a photo recently of Dad and her, manoeuvering the mare and her foal, getting the right background with the other foals out of the way, doing things that 99 per cent of thoroughbreds wouldn’t do, and she just stood there like a mannequin, as if to say, ‘Do you want one from the other side?’

“She’s not very big but is a pretty mare who’s perfectly made for Frankel physically. She’s been back to him this year and has been tested in foal, so everything’s positive.”

More than £10.9 million paid out in bonuses

On the Flat

Almost £7.9 million in bonuses paid out in 543 races

Everyone

Over Jumps

More than £3 million in bonuses paid out in 238 races

The Finish Line with Adam Waterworth

Adam Waterworth had a tough act to follow when he succeeded Rod Fabricius as Goodwood’s Managing Director, but in his early days he had worked for two more legends of racecourse administration in Edward Gillespie and Charles Barnett, so he had learned from the best. The beautiful Goodwood Estate comprises some 11,500 acres and it stages a huge range of events and activities besides horseracing, including motor sport, the aerodrome, golf and clay shooting, but when Waterworth was appointed Events Managing Director in 2020 it was at the height of the Covid pandemic and so no events were allowed. The business as a whole is still recovering, while motor sport is thriving, but Waterworth doesn’t shy away from the difficulties faced by horseracing, which has been staged at the West Sussex venue since 1801.

My best memories from about 12 to 16 were of going to Haydock with my father, running up and down the line trying to find the best prices in the era of chasers like Twin Oaks. It was my father who saw an advert in the Sporting Life for the Jockey Club’s graduate scheme, the first year they ran it, and having been accepted I ended up with a placement at Cheltenham under Edward Gillespie. When I graduated a year later, Ed asked me to join him and I was there for a year, before I was lucky enough to get the job as general manager at Huntingdon when only 21 or 22. I had a very happy time there, then at Haydock and Doncaster, before the Goodwood position came up in 2010.

I’ve been incredibly lucky that the opportunities have come up at the right time – when a track like Goodwood comes up you can’t say no. I’ve loved my time at each course, but I’m ambitious and so I was always vaguely looking at what might be the next step. I had big boots to fill following Rod’s retirement but I’d always loved the racecourse and loved the racing side there.

In my 12 or 13 years at Goodwood I’ve been lucky enough to have been given additional responsibilities by the Duke [of Richmond], and now that I’m Events Managing Director I look after all events

on the estate. The Festival Of Speed and the Goodwood Revival are two of the biggest events in motor sport and taking them on has helped give me a different perspective when I look at horseracing. The Festival Of Speed is the biggest car culture event in the world and attracts 240,000 people over four days, so it’s on a completely different level to racing here. The Revival gets around 160,000 over three days and, for comparison, ‘Glorious’ gets between 100,000 and 120,000 over five days, and racecourse attendance is perhaps 200,000 over the full season.

Goodwood is an events business and Covid was hugely damaging. We weren’t insured and we had no events whatsoever in 2020, then no paying customers in 2021 until we were allowed to run the Festival Of Speed at 75% of capacity. Thankfully while Royal Ascot missed out that year, we were just on the right side of things when the rules were relaxed. If we hadn’t staged those two events that year it would have been unbelievably bad.

We’ve bounced back, but we are probably between six and ten years behind where we would have been in terms of debt management. It had been looking pretty dark, but fortunately the Festival Of Speed and ‘Glorious’ were a great success. We had a decent end to 2021, followed by a strong 2022, particularly in motor sport, which is on a different level to where it used to be thanks largely to the popularity of Formula 1.

While demand in motor sport continues to grow, horseracing is stalling. Our members are incredibly supportive, and the top end is fine, but in the Gordon and Lennox enclosures it’s a real struggle. I think people still want to do these things, but many can’t afford to and so ticket sales at that end of the market are lower

than I’ve ever known them. Horseracing is in a difficult place one way or another.

In order to thrive we have to continue to differentiate ourselves at Goodwood from everyone else. People have to value a day at Goodwood and in that respect we are blessed by our location and surroundings, and by the timing of Glorious Goodwood. But we still need to make sure we get everything right, so that racegoers value a day here ahead of a day on another track or doing something different altogether. With regard to owners, prize-money is a big factor, and it’s important we are seen as a place where on average an owner gets a better return when their horse runs well.

Next year will be the last under our current ten-year deal with Qatar, so we are in conversation about renewal. The deal has been beneficial to us, especially in terms of the investment we were able to make into prize-money and the impact that has had on our international positioning. The enhanced global recognition of Qatar’s brand was what we promised at the outset, and so I’d like to think it’s been positive from their side too. I’m optimistic we’ll have some certainty by the end of the year.

We have three Group 1s at present and we’d love five, but they are limited in number and you have to earn them. We upgraded the Goodwood Cup in 2017 and it’s been a great success, but I think the industry has now recognised the City Of York Stakes as a better fit than the Lennox Stakes for a Group 1 over seven furlongs. Our other possible option for upgrade is the King George Stakes, but the Nunthorpe comes only three weeks later, so it won’t be easy. The money is there though if we could get Group 1 status, and it would obviously make it more attractive to Australian sprinters.

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For more information on how the scheme works visit www.roa.co.uk/sponsorship Need more help on your VAT? Our ROA VAT Solution team are here to help.

The biggest names in the business

PINATUBO

Sensational Horse of the Year as a two-year-old, the best in the stallion-making family of Invincible Spirit and Kodiac and the outstanding youngster by the sire of Lope de Vega and Blue Point. First yearlings at the sales soon...