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By Chief Stipe · Posted
It amuses me these middle aged men some of whom are ex-trainers and jockeys suddenly having this epiphany of enlightenment and a wish to atone for their sins of the past. I call it The Hindsight Hypocrisy Syndrome. They also buy into the "social license" BS construct. Do you realise that the anti-racing mob don't want ANY racing!!!! -
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By Chief Stipe · Posted
What if they are? Isn't that at the trainers discretion? All this anecdotal stuff doesn't amount to anything. Essentially what you are suggesting is that Thoroughbred Racing falls down the same rabbit hole as the Greyhounds. -
By Chief Stipe · Posted
Give us a break @curious words like: "tend" to have "may" reduce "often"... may be the standard in the social sciences but hardly strong enough evidence to base policy on. -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
It has been a strangely discombobulating week in some respects. It started in Westminster last Monday with the All-Party Parliamentary Group issuing its stark warning of the triple threat to the industry posed by potential betting duty harmonisation, affordability checks and an overdue Levy reform. This came on the back of an industry update in Newmarket the previous week at which the TBA chairman Philip Newton warned of a potential catastrophic collapse in the supply chain of young Thoroughbreds in Britain. Then, stepping through the golden gates of Royal Ascot, the Union Jack emblazoned across grandstand and bandstand, is to enter a sun-drenched racing fantasy land, where the roses are ever in bloom, champagne flows, prize-money soars into the many millions and the King dishes out trophies to the lucky few. Surely, nothing is rotten in the state of Britain? That these two scenarios exist side by side is a reminder of the fact that while waving the red, white and blue at the summit of British racing is undoubtedly something of which to be proud, the sands are shifting around base camp to an increasingly alarming degree. Royal Ascot is branded 'An event like no other', and that is patently true. Because let's face it, while other nations have their special days and festivals, where else does such pomp and circumstance go hand in hand with racing at its very best? Whether you're partying in the car parks or punting from the comfort of your own sofa, it is an unmissable, stamina-sapping five days. The King and Queen were in attendance for all five of those days. Their presence is vital, and the importance of their association to British racing cannot be understated. Continuity from the younger members of the royal family will be essential. In the lead carriage on the final day of the meeting, Their Royal Highnesses would doubtless have enjoyed sharing the voyage from the Long Walk to the Ascot parade ring with Sir Mark Prescott, one of the trainers on the royal roster. With Sir Mark's deep well of rip-roaring anecdotes on racing, hunting and all manner of topics, the journey will have sped by. Firsts for Many OTI Racing had both the first and last word at Royal Ascot. Terry Henderson's Australian syndicate has long enjoyed success both in Europe and in racing European-bred horses closer to home, and the victory of Docklands in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes set the tone for a meeting which somehow successfully combined the elite with the egalitarian. Docklands, whose sire Massaat stands for £3,500, and whose dam was bought by his breeder Richard Kent for £9,000, keeps the dreamers dreaming. His record at Ascot is something to behold: three of his four wins have been at the track, including when he provided his trainer Harry Eustace with a second Royal Ascot win in the Britannia Stakes two years ago. In seven runs at Ascot he has never been out of the first three, and he was second in the Queen Anne last year before handing Eustace his first Group 1 win when nosing out last year's Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Rosallion (Blue Point). Eustace may well still be floating up there somewhere on cloud nine because this was a week in which his stable shone. As well as Docklands on the opening day, Divine Comedy (Le Havre) was beaten by less than two lengths when fifth in the Ascot Stakes, while La Botte (Too Darn Hot) lost out on becoming the trainer's second winner of the Britannia by just a neck when finishing second. Then came Time For Sandals, a second Group 1 winner in four days for Eustace and an important first at the top level for her young sire Sands Of Mali, who is alone among the second-crop sires in having two group winners for this season. The Ballyhane Stud sire currently leads the table for this division and has 4.9% black-type winners to runners. The breeding and training talents of Jim Goldie have hardly been a secret but his first Group 1 win with American Affair, a homebred for Goldie's close ally, Glasgow-based John McGrandles, provided another opening-day highlight. “I thought I would go to the fastest stallion that I could afford,” McGrandles explained of his decision to send American Affair's dam Classy Anne (Orientor) to Washington DC at Bearstone Stud, where he too is advertised for £3,500. Adam Houghton discussed with Goldie his decades-long association with American Affair's family in TDN some weeks ago, and if you missed it, it's well worth a read, via this link. Diversity the Hallmark of a Memorable Meeting Continuing the theme of good horses coming from varied sources, it was a notably good Ascot for graduates of the lesser heralded Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale. Both Time For Sandals and the G1 Coronation Stakes winner Cercene were bought at Fairyhouse in 2023 for €35,000 and €50,000 respectively, while two years earlier, when the sale had to be moved to Newmarket owing to Covid restrictions, Docklands had effectively passed through the same sale for £16,000. Three Group 1 winners for not much more than €100,000 is not bad going at all. Since her appearance at public auction, Cercene has had cheque books waved in her direction on showing early promise for Joe Murphy. We'll hear more about her trainer later this week in TDN but it was clear from the moment that the daughter of Australia crossed the line how much of a popular result this was among the Irish racing fraternity in particular. Thanks to the intervention of her owner Shane R Stafford, who took a larger share in the filly to ensure that Cercene would remain in training with the Murphy family, the filly gave her connections a truly memorable day, which included sharing the Royal Ascot podium with the King. Cercene's victory was just the latest success at Ascot for an equine family which has long been associated with Fulke and Gaie Johnson Houghton, who bred and trained her second and third dams Roo (Rudimentary) and Shall We Run (Hotfoot). Four years ago Cercene's half-brother Perotto (New Bay) won the Britannia Stakes for Marcus Tregoning and, prior to that, Accidental Agent (Delegator), also a descendant of Roo and trained by the Johnson Houghtons' daughter Eve, won the G1 Queen Anne Stakes. Eve Johnson Houghton was back among the winners this time around when claiming the Windsor Castle Stakes for a second time with Havana Hurricane. She won the same race four years ago with Chipotle, and both her winners are sons of the late Havana Gold, bought respectively as yearlings for 9,000gns and 10,000gns. In an emotional aftermath to the race, the trainer's thoughts understandably turned to her father, who died in February at the age of 84. He would no doubt have been immensely proud to see the family's Woodway Stables continuing in such a successful manner. Elite Forces John and Thady Gosden wrested the Royal Ascot trainers' title from Aidan O'Brien and had arguably the three most impressive Group 1 winners of the week, led by Field Of Gold. Any time the three Guineas winners of Britain, Ireland and France meet is special indeed, and Field Of Gold stamped his superiority over Henri Matisse and Ruling Court, just as his sire Kingman had done over Night Of Thunder 11 years earlier. If Field Of Gold continues to plot the same course as his illustrious sire, all eyes will be on the Sussex Stakes next month. The Gosdens' old foe Night Of Thunder turned friend when supplying the next day's Group 1 winner Ombudsman, an emerging force in the middle-distance ranks who had only started his racing career in the same week a year earlier. Now he's a Prince of Wales's Stakes winner. The first of four winners at the meeting in the Godolphin blue for three different stables, Ombudsman was followed into the winner's circle the next day by the mighty stayer Trawlerman, who also broke the Flat Group 1 duck for his sire Golden Horn in the Gold Cup. Trawlerman and the G2 Hardwicke Stakes winner, his fellow seven-year-old Rebel's Romance (Dubawi), are both geldings, as are American Affair and the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner Lazzat (Territories). None of them will therefore leave their mark on the breed, but they will on the sport, and that is an important consideration. Detractors of Flat racing will point to the fact that its best horses are merely shooting stars – burning brightly across the scene momentarily and then gone. There's a reason for that, of course, but what we are guaranteed by a sound gelding with enough talent is that he will stick around long enough to become beloved of the sport's fans. Witness the reception given to Rebel's Romance at Ascot on Saturday following his 18th win in six different countries. Wathnan's Winners There was no messing around for Wathnan Racing, whose buying team had been out in force in recent weeks to build the team of Royal Ascot runners to 38. Five of those ended up in the winner's circle: Lazzat (G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes), Crimson Advocate (G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes), Haatem (Listed Wolferton Stakes) Humidity (Listed Chesham Stakes), and French Master (Ascot Stakes). Of those, Haatem was the sole winner not having his first run for Wathnan at this year's Royal Ascot – he had been bought a year earlier, prior to winning the G3 Jersey Stakes. It is easy to imagine that in the coming years Wathnan Racing will switch its focus more towards being an owner-breeder operation. Indeed, the outfit already has a stallion, Isaac Shelby, and some broodmares based at Newsells Park Stud. In the meantime, its buying sprees leading into the royal meeting in particular have started to resemble racing's equivalent of the football summer transfer window. All three of Wathnan's Group 1 winners in Europe to date have come at Ascot, Courage Mon Ami having started the ball rolling in the Gold Cup two years ago, and Kind Of Blue taking last season's Qipco British Champions Sprint. In America, the team has also enjoyed Grade I success with Subsandor. Wathnan Racing's Humidity may have been the most aptly named horse during a roasting hot week but the Ulysses colt was also noteworthy for the fact that his full-brother Holloway Boy had won the Chesham three years earlier on his racecourse debut. The duo was bred by Cheveley Park Stud, who retained Humidity at 120,000gns when he was offered at Book 2 last year. He was subsequently sold to his new owner after his own successful debut at Newbury's Lockinge meeting in May. Bragging Rights Through The Price Range While Europe's most expensive stallions Dubawi, Frankel, Wootton Bassett, Kingman, No Nay Never, Lope De Vega and Night Of Thunder all got their names on the scoresheet with at least one winner at Royal Ascot, it is worth reflecting that 29 different stallions provided the 35 winners across the week. They range in covering fee from £350,000 down to a hundredth of that price, as noted above for the sires of two of the Group 1 winners. Another two Group 1 winners were by Golden Horn and Australia, who were available for £10,000/€10,000 this year. No Nay Never led all comers as the sire of two of Aidan O'Brien's three juvenile winners Charles Darwin (G2 Norfolk) and True Love (G2 Queen Mary) as well as Rockliffe Stud's homebred Never Let Go, one of two winners of the week for Ed Walker and Kieran Shoemark in the Sandringham Stakes, and Never So Brave, who took the Buckingham Palace Stakes for Andrew Balding and Saeed Suhail. Breeding is a tough game, whether you have champagne or lemonade pockets, but, year in and year out, we see big-race results for small-time stallions. This makes the sales polarisation, both by selection teams and purchasers, hard to fathom and harder for breeders to make choices in the best interests of their mares. And Finally Last word here must go to Simon Sadler of TBT Racing, whose colours are becoming ever more prevalent on runners from the Ed Walker stable, which continued its fine run of form through Royal Ascot. Sadler, who won the Jersey Stakes with 25/1 shot Noble Champion (Lope De Vega) and was second in the Coventry with 80/1 outsider Do Or Do Not (Space Blues) is donating all prize-money won at Ascot to a pancreatic cancer charity. That's more than £120,000 going the way of a very deserving cause. Good on you, Simon. The post Seven Days: A Royal Ascot of Diverse Delights appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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