Blog Sixty-nine
Good Monday Evening
As I sit with a cold glass of Drakenstein’s finest fermented grapes, a thought to start the week; “Ships don’t sink because of the water around them, ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down!”
Mid season report
With Ascot behind us now is as good a time as any to assess the 2023 flat season to date. At the start of 2023 I set myself target of 10 winners. Bearing in mind at the time we only had half a dozen or so horses in training but I had great faith that Quest Thoroughbreds & Catch Us If You Can Racing would purchase more horses at the Sales. Also success breeds success and winners would surely bring more owners in.
At the time of writing we’ve had 8 winners from 33 starts which is a healthy strike rate of 24%. There’s no chance we can maintain such a healthy strike rate - anything around 16% is more than acceptable. In the UK with the handicappers once your horse has reached his mark then we have to run them several times until their mark eventually drops to a level which is winnable off. Silver Sword is without doubt the star of the class. He has progressed from the mischievous school boy ( he even had the dreaded Timeform ‘ sqiggle’ ) to school prefect who will be carrying our hopes at the big meeting as the season progresses. Silver’s jockey Greg Cheyne and I will be meeting shortly to discuss which route to take with him. I’ve put Silver in the 10f Bet 365 Heritage handicap at Newmarket in a few weeks time. All been well, we’ll run in that or the £50k handicap the following day also at HQ. Greg and I had many successes together in South Africa and I’m sure we’ll pick the right race for him nearer the time. Since Silver won so impressively at Pontefract the phone has not stopped ringing with offers to buy Silver. I was hoping for offers of horses to train not take the stable star away! The offers by the way are serious sums of money - the thoroughbred currency it would appear is immune from recessions and when considering such offers I have to put my Bloodstock hat on - its not in the real world. Saying that the highest offer I’ve received will have to be doubled before I start considering selling him. Silver has come out of his race well and was back on The Heath on Tuesday.
I’d give the yard a ‘B+’ mark for the mid season report. How can we improve? Well we must continue to increase our number of horses in training. This is Jordan’s special talent; he is busy introducing new clients to the yard through Quest & owners who prefer to own horses outright. Jordan is already planning on raids to France with our recent acquisitions from Arqana to take advantage of the French Premiums. Another major supporter of the yard Catch Us If You Can Racing are always on the look out to add to their number with us. Andrew Catch Us’s manager is a great supporter of our yard and works tirelessly to give his syndicate members a unique experience not just when they go racing but with stable visits, taking clients to the gallops & regular detailed updates of his horses. John Nel is an important cog in our well oiled machine. John is indispensable in the yard, he has so much experience with the thoroughbred and there’s no horse yet he’s not managed to get going the right way. John also does the paperwork for the yard and it was John who had the vision of Quest( who he formed with Jordan & Luiz )
Luiz @pedigree_to_win never ceases to amaze me with his ability to pick up bargains due to his pedigree knowledge.
Our Head Lad Amedeo is as good as they get . A perfectionist with a huge amount of experience. As I’ve said before we’re lucky to have quality work riders whose accurate feedback is essential. Can’t fail can we with such a team, with Mae settling in well don’t the traveling and Arabella and the team running the yard like a well oiled machine, as well as Bob and Jordan race planning to perfection with me constantly throwing hook line and sinkers to check their sense of humour.. I’m optimistic for the second part of the season . With such a team I’m going to take a few days off this weekend and go to Dublin for a few days with Taryn and my boys. They only grow up once and I don’t see enough of them - I used to have more quality time with my family when I was flying but with such an efficient team at the yard I’ll not only be able to enjoy the weekend with my loved ones but relax & recharge my batteries to be ready for the second half of the season. As I look back on the successes of the season I can’t help but think that this would not be possible without the support & love of my family who have left their home country and in Taryn’s case her loved ones to help me fulfil my dream of training quality horses here in the UK.
I’ve come down with covid this week which has meant I’ve missed seeing our horses run. All About Alice showed enough at Leicester to think we can win a race with her. Ace Rothstein ran in the Northumberland Vase ; I’d hoped we could wait until the Ladies Derby @ Epsom this week - but his owner Angela wanted a runner Plate Day and we’d failed to fill her order for a runner in one of the supporting events, so Ace went North instead of South. The owner pays the bills and of course has the final say ; a good day was had by all. I was still struggling to beat off the after effects of covid so watched from home. Ace ran a decent race; prominent from an outside draw he was wide throughout and he stayed in contention until 2 out. I was proud of our lad & remain convinced he’d have gone close @ Epsom and he’s come out of the race in fine form.
We had a major setback this week with Quest For Power who has done a tendon and will be out for about a year. On the plus side this boy has ability and I’m sure he will repay his owners ( Quest ) patience when we get him on the course. The Quest syndicate members understand the game nevertheless this sort of news is never easy to take. Another 2yo El Bufalo (Jezza) has had a slight setback. He’s got juvenile tendinitis (common amongst young horse) we’ll back off him and put him on the walker for a few weeks and then ease him back by trotting until he is ready to step back up into his work. It’s a mathematical fact two negatives make a positive so I’m expecting a change in fortune this week….
Mid season, injuries should be expected. If you’re not getting them now, they aren’t fit enough so we have to accept it, as part of the fitness process like any sports team.
We’ve two runners on Thursday evening. First up is Gold Medal at Newbury over 7f. This is his first run on turf for us and a positive showing will give us plenty of options going forward. Kyle rode him in a piece of work on the short gallop over at The Limekilns last week and was pleased with the way he stretched out. Kyle will be in the saddle @ Newbury. Assuming he acts on the going he’ll go close for his enthusiastic bunch of owners Quest Thoroughbreds and Stable Silks Inv.
Greg rides Confederation at Kempton over 6f shortly after Gold Medal’s race. Here’s hoping Confederation wins to give his owners Catch Us If You Can Racing their first victory. By the way the Catch Us 2yo Battleofbaltimore (Star)more than held his own on Saturday with Gold Medal over on Cambridge Road. Star showed a lot of speed and I’ll be discussing with Andrew if we drop back to 5 or not for his second run.
Don’t give up; it’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock!
As I take my last sip for the evening, a final thought to close todays blog; “To be successful, you don’t need a better job, you don’t need a better phone, you don’t need a better home, you don’t need a better car, you don’t need better clothes, YOU NEED A BETTER MINDSET!”
Stay updated and in touch and following our social media daily and check back next Monday for another blog.