Blog Eighty 2
Good Monday Morning
To start the week off, a thought as always; “Do the work others aren’t willing to do, and you’ll get the things others will never have!”
We head to Tattersalls this week where Book 1 starts and follows into book 2-3-4 and then the Horses In Training Sale later this month. Now is the time to stock for the future and everyone should join us and get involved. Every year you need to restock and keep growing to stay competitive and active in the game. Get in touch with us. Be part of the growth and fun into the future at Phantom House Stables.
Clipsham Gold ran on Monday @ Leicester finishing disappointingly well down the field . This was a step backwards from her debut for us. I’d expected her to be running on strongly at the line not fading out. She has run like that before on soft ground previously. We will step her up but she wouldn’t have won over any distance with that performance on that ground. She will be back. Follow her.
Tuesday’s Racing Post had an article on me taking over at Phantom House Stables. I can’t stress how honoured I feel to be taking over such a distinguished historic yard. The French bred Gladiateur won the Triple Crown from this yard in 1865 and he was known by the French as ‘The Avengee of Waterloo.’ The French delighted in his victory @ Epsom & he was given a Hero’s Welcome when winning the Grand Prix de Paris @ Longchamps; so much so that there is a statue of him @ Longchamps to this day. As was expected at the time of Derby winners he won the Ascot Gold Cup to cement his greatness - imagine that now …. Who was the last Derby winner to compete in the Gold Cup let alone win it? Fashions change of course but not always for the better. The thoroughbred was a hardier breed back then - it probably took a turn for the worse when watering of the courses became widespread & undoubtedly the influence of American Breds who’d ran with the aid of drugs. Oops opened a can of worms there; I’ll leave it at that! William Jarvis trained many winners out of Phantom House including Grand Lodge and Lady Bowthorpe more recently, both Gr1 winners and it’s exciting to be taking over the yard and making it our base and giving us our own identity. Another positive is that some of the great staff who’ve been there for years also join us in staying at Phantom House Stables.
On Tuesday Luiz @pedigree_to_win & I went to Ireland to attend the Goffs Orby Sale. Just as we were boarding the plane we noted Silver had gone up 5 pounds for his Sandown exertions -Fair. The owners connections & I had taken him out of the Cambridgeshire the day before - Absolutely No Regrets though. Andrea & I were adamant it wasn’t his race. Silver has come out of his race well & John tells me he went round Side Hill with his usual enthusiasm. Back at the sales we managed to have the final say over a Sottsass filly out of the Barathea mare Sanaya. This is a beautiful & successful Aga family and she’ll stay 10f standing on her head at 3 & will more than likely stay 12f. Exciting page with Luiz’s beloved Darshaan in the right place by a sire who will have his first runners in 2024. She’s the best bred horse in our yard for sure. She only has to win to be a valuable broodmare but I’m hoping for much more than that ….
We were then lucky enough to purchase @pedigree_to_win pick of the sale for the Goffs Millions Race, an Invincible Army colt who will be prepped for that race next year. I highly recommend getting involved if you want to join us at the Curragh.
Our final purchase was a Mastercraftsman Colt again out of a strong female line with Saddlers Wells and Darshaan exactly where you want it. He’s exciting and could be a classic horse for us.
@pedigree_to_win and myself had a great experience and besides the good Irish Guinness and hospitality, we were well impressed with the quality Goffs had on offer.
We watched Ace Rothstein run a decent race at Nottingham finishing 4th of 14 @ long odds in The Stayers Series Final. He naturally has a high head carriage which makes him an awkward ride. It was a performance that showed without doubt he’s capable of winning soon if things fall into place for him and he will enjoy the ground October should offer.
All About Alice finished 4th @ Southwell on Thursday. She’s gone up 5 pounds for her win at Lingfield last time out which makes things difficult for her at the moment. She had the run of the race at Lingfield & nothing much went right for her this time.
Whilst all eyes were on Longchamps on Arc Day ours were at Ffos Las with Makuri but less than half hour before the first race I was informed there was to be an inspection after persistent rain. Sadly the course was deemed not fit enough to race & Makuri, Mae, Arabella & Quest Thoroughbreds had a fruitless & costly 500 mile round trip -infuriating. Ffos Las is under the ARC banner & we’ll see what ARC offer in way of compensation. As for Makuri we’ll see how she takes her days travelling. These winning opportunities don’t grow on trees, there’s not much for her unless we look at a race at Wolverhampton on Saturday. She wants soft ground and not the all weather so it’s double annoying. I’ll assess her in the morning.
Dirtyoldtown makes his first start for us at Kempton. He’s well handicapped on his best form and will win if we’ve got him back to his best, which I think we may have.
On Friday Faro will make his return after a break in the Amateur’s race at Ascot with Fletch riding for us again.
Whereas Faro wouldn’t mind a drop of rain if it was a dry week at Redcar then we’ll be seriously considering running Silver in the Listed Guisborough Stakes @ Redcar. Black type for Silver’s breeders is a priority & the sooner the better. A Listed win for our yard wouldn’t go amiss either with the Sales season in full flow. We do have 2 other options locally and abroad though before the year closes out for him.
We have two of our 2yo fillies making their racecourse debut this week. Jordan has long had the race at St Cloud picked out for Charlotte’s Luck. Christophe Soumillion takes the ride. We obviously wouldn’t be going to France if we didn’t think we’d be competitive. Cerulean Summer kicks her career off at Chelmsford with Marco Ghianni riding. Both fillies did their final pieces of fast work on Saturday & are ready to run and will run well.
We hope to finish the turf season strongly this month so keep an eye on us. Our whole focus has never been multiple all weather or lower grade winners, so we will be aiming high as we’ve done all year, having had winners at Epsom, York, Chester etc and keeping the strike rate up around 20% as we’ve done throughout 2023.
To close today’s blog; “Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream..”
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