‘Hopefully My Beginner’s Luck Hasn’t Worn Off Just Yet”

[Wandering Eyes]

Middleham trainer Ed Bethell on a career-best season in 2024, stable star Regional and some exciting new recruits to the team at Thorngill Stables

Everywhere from Doncaster to Dubai, Ed Bethell is preparing to unleash a handful of his stable stars in the next fortnight, fresh from a “tremendous” 2024 which saw the Middleham trainer scale new heights in his fourth full season as the licence holder at Thorngill Stables.

“I couldn't have asked for it to go any better,” Bethell says of the latest campaign, which yielded 58 winners and over £1 million in total earnings in Britain, with Mickley (Ire) (Soldier's Call {GB}) providing the highlight when he came out in top in the cavalry charge that is the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot.

“Having a winner at Royal Ascot any year is huge, but to have my first one was very exciting. It was just a tremendous year and I was really proud of what the team achieved. Hopefully, we've got a bigger and stronger team this year to keep the improvement going.”

After saddling 22 winners in both 2021 and 2022, Bethell then nearly doubled that tally with 43 in 2023, before last year's exploits which, he freely admits, would have been beyond his wildest dreams when his father, James, handed over the reins at the start of 2021.

“When I took over, if you'd said I'd be doing this, I would have laughed at you,” Bethell sums up. “I was just hoping to get by and make ends meet. We've just been very lucky to be blessed with some nice horses who have come through the yard. Hopefully my beginners' luck hasn't worn off just yet.”

If Bethell has outperformed even his own expectations, then what about stable star Regional (GB) (Territories {Ire}), the now-seven-year-old who has been with the trainer pretty much every step of the way? Successful in a class 2 handicap at Haydock when making his stable debut in September 2021, he has since added three more victories to his tally, notably providing the stable with a first Group 1 success when returning to Haydock to win the Sprint Cup in September 2023.

Last seen finishing fourth in the G3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury in July, after he'd gone close to doubling his Group 1 tally when runner-up in the previous month's King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, Regional now has his sights set on the $1.5-million G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan on Saturday, April 5. Not bad for a horse who was picked up for just 3,500gns at the 2021 Tattersalls July Sale.

“He owes us all absolutely nothing,” Bethell says of his pride and joy, whilst on his way to Southwell to watch the sprinting star participate in a racecourse gallop. “He could retire today and I'd be very proud. I'm grateful to even know a horse like him because he's an absolute gentleman to have around. He's one of a kind, especially with the amount he cost, to be able to turn him into a Group 1 winner. I'd imagine we'll never be able to do it again.”

He adds, “It [the Al Quoz Sprint] looks like the right type of race for him. He's obviously exceptionally good and this year he seems more forward. Last year was a bit frustrating really. I pushed him pretty hard during an awful spring over here to try and get him to Dubai. It didn't happen and I just had to back off him.

“We're going for the racecourse gallop today and then, hopefully, we can put him on the plane to Dubai in a weeks' time. The spring has always been a tough time for him, but I think his work has been as good as ever–I'm really pleased with the direction we're going in.”

Bethell later confirms that Regional is an intended runner in Dubai, all being well, after pleasing in his Southwell workout, but one horse who will not be ready for an impending big-race engagement is James McHenry (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). A general 14-1 shot for Saturday's Lincoln at the time of writing, the five-year-old is set to be taken out of the race at Monday's confirmation stage, with a trip to Doncaster just coming too soon.

“Jimmy is fine, but he's not going to be confirmed for the Lincoln,” Bethell says of last year's Cambridgeshire second. “He's a big, rotund horse and, to be fair, he's taken his work like a champion because I've been pretty hard on him. I think he's improved from four to five and I'm very pleased with him, but it's just fitness which is the deciding factor.”

One horse who could be in action on Town Moor on Saturday is Point Lynas (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), who ended last season with an impressive victory, by five and a half lengths, in the Listed Pomfret Stakes at Pontefract.

A four-time winner for Bethell, Point Lynas has the option of joining Regional at Meydan, with an entry in the $5-million G1 Dubai Turf, but at this stage his trainer is leaning towards an appearance closer to home in the Listed Doncaster Mile Stakes. The six-year-old has already been on his travels this year, having filled the runner-up spot in last month's Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup in Doha, Qatar.

“He had six months off the track prior to Qatar,” says Bethell. “In hindsight, maybe I should have taken him for a racecourse gallop somewhere, but he still ran an almighty race on a pretty treacherous racetrack. He came back safe and sound and he's ready to rumble again. He's picked up in his condition and his coat, and he's really there for me now, but I would be questioning whether or not he'll be going out to Dubai. I think he might be getting entered in the Doncaster Mile instead.”

Now up to a BHA mark of 112, having joined the stable from Charlie Hills when rated 84, Point Lynas will have little option but to try his luck in a higher grade at some stage this year. Whether he has the ability to be a factor at the top level, only time will tell, but he's clearly a character who has found his way into the hearts of those closest to him.

“He's an enigma of a horse–he does what Point Lynas wants to do and that's that,” Bethell explains. “He basically trains himself and I'm very fortunate to have him. He's a fun horse to have around and he's actually very kind. He's never done anything naughty. He just does what he wants and you have to go along with him.

“He's been tremendous and he won his Listed race by five lengths last year. He's now rated 112, which puts him between a rock and a hard place at the moment. He's high enough to be competing in Group 1s, but whether he's good enough to be competing in Group 1s is the question. We all know the Group 1 category for milers is normally one of the toughest.”

As for the rest of the team, Bethell immediately identifies the four-year-old Paborus (GB) (Recoletos {Fr})–now rated 103 after his five-length win in a class 2 handicap at Southwell in October–as his horse to follow in 2025, with the three-year-old Danger Bay (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) also earning a favourable mention.

“I love Danger Bay–he finished second on his debut at Haydock in August and he had absolutely no right to be running then,” says Bethell, who has also taken charge of Return Of The Gods (Ire) (Tasleet {GB}), the top lot at last year's Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale at £350,000. A half-brother to last year's G2 Gimcrack Stakes winner Cool Hoof Luke (GB) (Advertise {GB}), he's described by Bethell as “a very nice horse”, with a late-May/early-June debut potentially on the cards.

Like Danger Bay, Return Of The Gods will sport the purple and green-starred silks of Fiona Carmichael, while Bethell is also excited to welcome Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum into the fold this year, with three juveniles on their way to Middleham for the owner who has given us the likes of Mtoto, Ameerat and Elmalka.

“That was a really proud moment for the team to have Sheikh Ahmed joining us,” Bethell added. “They're colours that I grew up watching as a young child and it's kind of a dream come true to be able to train for him. If you'd said I'd be in position five years ago, I would have A) snapped your hand off, and B) probably laughed at you and thought absolutely no chance. It's really rewarding and I'm just hopeful that we can do some damage for them.”

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