Blog Seventy three
Good Monday Morning
To start the week off, in hope of some warmer weather and quicker ground; “When you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine..”
Ascot’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes was the jewel in the crown of the European mid summer season when I last worked in the U.K. . Indeed it could be argued back then it was THE race for the 12f performers to win in Europe. This seasons renewal had all the makings of a race worthy of its glittering past. Until a few weeks ago it was mooted the 3 Derby winners would line up against each other for the first time in the history of our great sport but Adayar fluffed his lines big time at Newmarket when well beaten by by Israr in what was supposed to be a penalty kick. Still we had the Derby of 2023 one two namely Augusta Rodin & King Of Steel renewing rivalry, last seasons brilliant Derby Hero Desert Crown & Hukum who gave Sir Michael’s star his first taste of defeat in the Brigadier Gerard @ Sandown in late May. Ballydoyle had 6 entries after Monday’s latest entry stage including the likes of Luxembourg and Adalaide River who were about 20/1 on Monday whereas in a ‘normal ‘year ‘ they’d have been single figures. Frankie was due to renew his association with Emily Upjohn after missing the ride on her when banned in The Eclipse & we still haven’t mentioned last seasons hero Pyledriver or the recent Group 1 winner in France Westover. Some race in store. Sport at its best - competitive. There’s been various articles in the Racing Post this week bemoaning the lack of competition in racing & other sports such as motor racing. Predictability in sport can’t be healthy and racing needs to address the problem of the decreasing number of trainers in the U.K. The powers that be in racing need to encourage new trainers by setting up starter yards - an ideal site would be adjacent to the proposed AW track at HQ if it ever gets built . In racing there must be an ideal number of horses to train; I reckon it will be about 60 as the astute Sir Mark Prescott has trained that number for many seasons now & declined the chance to exceed that number when he had the chance. Back to the King George, racing like all sport is a slave to the weather and injuries. The KG field was down to one Derby winner with Desert Crown not among the declared field of 11. Racing is not alone in suffering anticlimax’s in sport - look at The Ashes series. Rain intervened at Old Trafford to rob sports fans of an almost certain deciding Test at The Oval.
Our yard had an anticlimax of its own with Battleofbaltimore running poorly when well fancied at Lingfield on Wednesday. As I’ve said before you have to ride the punches in this game and from Lingfield Taryn and I drove to Sandown to saddle Ace Rothstein. Ace ran as expected ; a real good effort in 3rd. He’ll improve again and will be hard to beat next time out. He’s a lovey stayer and Sandown is a fantastic racecourse.
On Thursday I was at Yarmouth as we had Faro de San Juan running representing The North in the first Racing League meeting of the season. He looked ideally drawn with pace either side of him. Expectations were high but with Faro you can’t be overly confident as he’s run a few poor races for us before when well fancied.
The race itself was a no show. The pace or what looked like the pace didn’t materialise. Crows Nest in 5 was a non runner & Showbiz missed the break the result was Faro didn’t have the cover he required. After a 100 yards I turned to John and said “Game Over.”
Friday morning Silver Sword worked on the Round Gallop with his intended Goodwood target less than a week away.. He worked well -he always does. I feel he needs fast ground to be seen at his best, he just floats over it.. Later that day Havana Smoke made his debut at Newmarket in front of a full house - most of those in attendance were there for the music( Hacienda Classical - each to their own ) but hopefully a handful were inspired by our sport, but I wouldn’t put my mortgage on it. Havana Smoke ran a satisfactory debut without likely to go in many trackers. He’ll have learnt plenty and will be more competitive next time.
Saturday was a busy day with owners at the yard and on the gallops. We’ve got an open door here at our yard, all our owners are more than welcome to come and see their horses in their stables and out on the gallops. Back to the King George and although a few of the fields stars failed to give their running it was one hell of a race. Hukum just managing to get the better of Westover after a pulsating battle as they pulled clear of King Of Steel in third.
On Sunday Silver Sword worked with Confederation on Side Hill. I was more than pleased with both horses. Sunday was a big day back home in South Africa with Greyville putting on a card that would match anywhere in the world. The World Pool was in operation at the meeting which demonstrates the significance the meeting holds in world racing, though I was rather shocked not to find the card in the Racing Post, especially as they keep banging the drums on the importance of the World Pool to racing here in the UK.
This week we hope to run Silver Sword at Goodwood on Thursday as long as I’m happy with the underfoot conditions. If by some meteoroligacal miracle Goodwood misses the rain and the going is on the fast side I can’t see any other result other than victory. Silver is 12/1 at the moment but hang fire until the day of the race as its heads or tails if he will be declared. We’ll put him in another race at Goodwood on the Saturday as a precaution. We’ve entered Confederation at Bath on the Friday; if he can transfer his work at home to where it matters on the course he’ll be competitive- but sadly that’s a Big ‘If’. His owners Catch Us If You Can will be at Bath in force - they’ve great faith in him. We’re also looking at a race for Faro de San Juan at Chester on Sunday; he’s come out of his race at Yarmouth well ( more like a day out than a race ) & we’ll have a look at the entries before making a decision whether he goes back to Chester or not.
Catch Us If You Can Racing & Dylan Cunha Racing have our first anniversary coming up, and we are having a Prosecco, Bbq, Gallops morning at 8am on the 19 August. Everyone is welcome, it will be a fun morning with the horses, staff, owners and fresh air, so feel free to join. All are welcome.
We have very few shares left in “Ozzie” named Wannabeawallaby who is by Australia out of Yeah Baby by Danehill Dancer. He’s a lovely 2 year old who is going to train on as a 3/4 year old as well and go over a bit of ground, so he has an exciting future. Get involved with Catch Us If You Can Racing, contact Andrew today.
Our yard is still actively looking to partner with the right brand in a sponsorship deal and grow together. We are ever expanding and there’s lots of opportunities for a brand as exciting as ours for the future.
As the yard grows, we are looking for a bigger newer yard to grow our own identity as well. Newmarket is not the easiest place to grow, but I have a team working on finding us a permanent yard for the future. Exciting times!
On topic to close todays blog; “Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet!”
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