Burke Brands Windsor Castle Changes as ‘Ridiculous’

[Wandering Eyes]

Karl Burke, who has sent out more Royal Ascot-winning two-year-olds in the last decade than every other trainer bar Aidan O'Brien, has emerged as a fierce opponent to planned changes to the Windsor Castle Stakes, describing the new race conditions announced by the British Horseracing Authority's Flat Pattern Committee (FPC) as a “ridiculous idea”.

In a press release issued by the FPC on Tuesday, it was revealed that the distance of the Windsor Castle will be increased to six furlongs from 2026. In addition, the Listed contest will be restricted to juveniles whose sire won at least once over seven furlongs plus at two, or a mile plus at three and above.

According to the FPC, these recommendations are part of a wider effort, in conjunction with the European Pattern Committee (EPC), to strengthen the middle-distance and staying horse divisions, and to broaden the appeal of sires beyond those predominately aimed at producing precocious speed.

Burke, however, believes that the new-look Windsor Castle will simply prove low-hanging fruit for the major owner-breeder operations with a monopoly on the best progeny of the top middle-distance stallions.

“We've got that many quangos trying to make racing for everybody, but the only people going to benefit from this are Coolmore and Ballydoyle and Darley and Godolphin, so far as I can see,” Burke told the TDN after learning of the proposed changes. “The Windsor Castle has always been a race where the average man in the street has got a chance of buying a relatively cheap horse and having a runner at Royal Ascot. This is going to take that away from them.

“I'd say, nine times out of ten, the conditions of the race that they're suggesting will see a Ballydoyle horse at 6/4, a Godolphin horse at 2/1, and then it will be 10/1 bar. To me it just smacks of elitism and I don't know who thinks that this is going to promote the breeding of staying horses. I thought it was a ridiculous idea. It will be a crying shame if it goes through and I think it will be to the detriment of a lot of people.”

Journalist and broadcaster Lydia Hislop is the chair of the FPC, with Burke's fellow trainers William Haggas and Simon Crisford also featuring among its 11 members. Hislop was contacted by the TDN on Friday and strongly refuted the suggestion that the changes recommended by the FPC were in any way “elitist”.

“The idea that it's elitist, I think that's looking at it through a very narrow end of the telescope,” she said. “I understand that people who have commercial irons in the fire might feel that this is not a positive thing, but we're trying to ensure the diversity of the breed and that the supply of horses fits the race programme in the longer term, which couldn't be a more democratic argument.

“If we think about what people want to watch and how our sport is funded, via betting but also via TV coverage and attendances, people wish to see a diverse and competitive sport. At the moment, the supply chain is not delivering what the sport needs it to deliver, in order for it to carry on in that way.

“So, we can either be ruled by sectional, short-term interests, which I fear have often won the argument over the past 10 or 15 years. Or we can think about the long-term future of the sport, and I think that's what this decision is being made for.”

Expanding on the rationale behind the changes, Hislop added, “At the moment, there appears to be a bias towards precocious speed. We're conscious that Royal Ascot already offers many opportunities for that. There is still the Queen Mary at five furlongs, there is still the Norfolk at five furlongs. It seemed that there was perhaps an over-emphasis and that these races were creating a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

“The concern is that there are a lot of horses being bred for a two-year-old target in June. If you have a disproportionate number of horses being bred for that target, then I don't think that is good for the long-term health of the breed–it certainly isn't good for the short-term health of the British racing industry.”

It will likely be many years before we know whether these changes have been successful in their aims but, make no mistake, the fields assembled for future editions of the Windsor Castle will immediately look unrecognisable compared to those we've come to know since it was first awarded Listed status in 2004.

Last year, for example, only four of the 27 runners would have been able to eligible to run had the new race conditions already been in place. It would have been 4/23 in 2023 and 5/24 the previous year. All told, six of the last 10 winners would have needed to look elsewhere for a run at Royal Ascot.

Neither Little Big Bear nor Big Evs, two of the best winners of the Windsor Castle in recent times, would have qualified which, in hindsight, might have been for the betterment of the Norfolk. Big Evs, for example, ran to a BHA performance figure of 111 when winning the Windsor Castle in 2023, whereas Norfolk hero Valiant Force came away from the meeting with a Group 2 success on his CV despite running to a figure of just 108.

No Nay Never, the sire of Little Big Bear, and Blue Point, who produced Big Evs from his very first crop, were both winners at the meeting themselves, but at shorter trips than the new conditions demand.

And they're just two of the big-name stallions who will have one less chance to sire a Royal Ascot winner in years to come. When you throw into that mix other active stallions such as Dark Angel, Mehmas, Kodiac, Havana Grey, Showcasing and Ardad, then it's a safe bet that a few powerful stud farm owners out there didn't welcome the news with open arms, either.

“It's disappointing from my point of view,” confirmed Simon Sweeting of Overbury Stud, home to the 2016 Windsor Castle winner in Ardad. “Whilst I completely understand that they want to try and encourage the breeding of more middle-distance horses, you can't just forget about the more precocious, commercial type of stallion.

“This will obviously rule them out [of having runners in the Windsor Castle] and I think it would be a mistake to do that in one fell swoop. I don't think you can make a rapid change and I don't think it's going to have a particularly beneficial effect, as quickly as people might want it to.”

Referencing the insatiable appetite of owners on the hunt for juveniles capable of running at Royal Ascot, he added, “It is a quick way to have success at the Royal meeting, which is what most owners aspire to and is a very, very important factor. If people can come in, buy a horse and taste success–or just enjoy the pleasure of being at Royal Ascot–then that in itself could lead to people getting more involved going forward, including with the middle-distance type of horse.

“I understand the reasons for the changes but, when you're standing stallions, there's no point trying to sell people pears when they want to buy apples.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Burke, who provided some insight into the pressures faced by modern-day trainers when it comes to recruiting Royal Ascot juveniles for their owners.

“I would say 70-80% of the owners who we buy yearlings for are asking us to look for a precocious two-year-old that has a chance of going to Ascot,” he explained. “That will be the case when we go to the Premier Sale at Goffs, the Somerville Sale at Tattersalls or the September Sale at Tattersalls Ireland. We know that 90% of them don't make it, but there are a lot of horses bought at those sales I've just mentioned, specifically for an Ascot runner.”

Burke has saddled five two-year-old winners at Royal Ascot since 2020 alone, from Dandalla winning the Albany Stakes five years ago to a double in 2024 courtesy of Queen Mary heroine Leovanni and Norfolk scorer Shareholder. Dandalla was a relatively cheap buy at €22,000 from the September Yearling Sale, whereas Shareholder struck at Royal Ascot little more than a month after being bought for €460,000 at the Arqana Breeze-up Sale.

The Middleham trainer has certainly delivered on the brief for his owners, be their budget big or small, but the obsession with five days in June that Burke and his colleagues are having to accommodate leaves Hislop with questions.

“If that percentage of owners want a precocious two-year-old, what happens to that two-year-old in July? And August? And September? And when it's a thee-year-old or four-year-old?” she asked. “I think on the [Nick Luck Daily] podcast, Nick spoke with Jane Mangan and the view was that the horse is for life, not just for Royal Ascot as a two-year-old.

“I think the industry needs to step back and look at that as a business model and ask itself, 'Is that sustainable?'. And do we think this is a position that British racing can be proud of?”

It was also suggested by the eponymous host on Wednesday's Nick Luck Daily that exceptions could be made for the likes of Blue Point, advocating even a possible tweak to the conditions which would allow runners by stallions who won a Group 1 at the age of three or above. Burke, too, was said to be incredulous when he learned of the identity of some of the elite sires whose progeny would be barred from the start line for the Windsor Castle from next year.

Hislop concedes that a horse like Blue Point might have been somewhat caught in the crossfire of these changes. The Kildangan Stud resident who completed a memorable Group 1 sprint double at Royal Ascot aged five is far from the flash-bang two-year-old type that has saturated the stallion market in recent years, many would argue to the detriment of the breed.

It's worth remembering, however, the extent to which stallions of Blue Point's ilk will still be catered for at Royal Ascot, a fixture where nearly 30% (10/35) of the races are run over six furlongs or less.

“I thought that was a very interesting suggestion, although I'd imagine some might say that that was an even more elitist way of going about it,” Hislop said of Luck's compromise. “I agree that it is a shame that the progeny of a horse such as Blue Point, who was a proper top-class sprinter, might not be eligible for the Windsor Castle. But there is still the Coventry, there is still the Queen Mary, there is still the Albany, and there is still the Norfolk.

“There are opportunities for two-year-olds and, almost more importantly for the long-term health of the breed, there is also the Commonwealth Cup, there is also the King Charles III, and there is also the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee. There are many, many, many races at Royal Ascot for the likes of Blue Point's progeny to be running in–the Windsor Castle just won't be one of them.”

She added, “I think it [the changes to the Windsor Castle] might help strengthen the Norfolk which has been under some pressure in recent years. I think there was almost too much of a crossover between the two races in the end and horses that you really felt ought to be running in the Norfolk were instead running in the Windsor Castle. So, I think that is potentially a big positive, ditto for the Queen Mary. It could help in that regard.”

As for the older sprinters, it was only last year that the Group 1 status of the Commonwealth Cup was reported to be at risk, with Malton trainer Richard Fahey describing himself at the time as “hugely surprised” by the development. In 2022, he registered his second win in the race courtesy of Perfect Power, Ardad's first crop son who'd already won the Norfolk the previous year.

Consulted by the TDN about the changes to the Windsor Castle announced earlier this week, Fahey again expressed his concern with regards the apparent downward trajectory of the domestic sprinting scene.

“What's amazed me really is that in the past few years our sprinters seem to have gotten worse,” he said. “Why aren't they trying to protect the sprinters as well? There was talk about changing the Commonwealth Cup from a Group 1 to a Group 2 last year. This won't help that situation but, look, it is only one race. It's not going to make a massive difference to me, but I'm sure a lot of people will disagree. As you get older, whatever they do you just carry on!”

Carry on we all will, no doubt, but those with the power to instigate genuine change cannot just bury their heads in the sand any longer, according to Hislop who, whilst agreeing with Fahey's comments about the sprinting scene, warned against conflating speed and precocity.

She also stressed that the Pattern Committees remain intent on strengthening the quality of the sprint division in Europe, with the upshot being that the likelihood of the Commonwealth Cup being downgraded in the near future is very low, even in the event that the annual and rolling three-yearly ratings dictate that the matter must be discussed by the EPC.

“For a good while now–probably for the same 20-odd years we've seen the staying division in slow decline–we've been breeding more precocious types, and yet we're not breeding better sprinters,” she asserted. “We made improvements to the sprint programme. The Commonwealth Cup was created out of nothing by the EPC as part of a coherent sprinting programme, an opportunity for three-year-old sprinters to have something to focus on. There are challenges, but you have to stick with it.

“Quite often in this conversation, precocity and sprinting can become conflated. They are not the same thing. We would like a thriving sprint programme, in the same way that we would like a thriving stayers' programme, but the Pattern Committees are only part of that equation. It also requires broader, industry-wide prioritisation and focus.”

Of course, the plan for the Windsor Castle is not the only intervention we've seen brought in with the aim of safeguarding the production, retention and racing of quality horses with stamina in Europe. This population has been dwindling over a number of years, with an already threadbare programme being decimated further by the loss of talented stayers to different racing jurisdictions such as Australia.

The Pattern Committees first began work on the stayers' project in 2016, before generating a framework of pan-European upgrades to the staying Pattern programme the following year. As recently as February, the EPC announced a series of Group 1 upgrades in this area.

Hislop also highlighted the way the BHA Development Fund has been utilised in recent years. In 2025, over £3.3 million in prize-money will be available across 88 High-Value Developmental Races in Britain, with an increased focus on potential stayers.

“This is the thing we're really good at here, producing middle-distance horses and stayers,” Hislop added of European racing's traditional strong suit. “Those pedigrees are so old and well developed. What they are is class, that's what they are. It's not just stamina. And we seem to be valuing that so cheaply that we're prepared to mortgage our future for the sake of some two-year-old races in June.

“I don't think that the sport can carry on just looking at that and thinking, somehow, it's all going to be fine, because it isn't.”

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