Homebred Gavoo Bids To Provide Gormley Family With Emotional Fillip At Royal Ascot

[Wandering Eyes]

David Marnane knows a thing or two about taking aim and plundering big-race riches at Royal Ascot but the trainer admitted that success with his juvenile Gavoo could potentially beat all given the Coventry Stakes outsider is bidding to provide his owner-breeders with an emotional fillip next week.

A recent winner at Listowel, Gavoo was bred in County Roscommon by Seamus and Bernadette Gormley. Sadly, Bernadette passed away earlier this year and Marnane has commended the A Touch Of Leather Syndicate, which is made up by family and friends of the breeders, for resisting the temptation to sell their Royal Ascot contender in favour of living in the moment with the rapidly-progressive colt. 

“We're taking a bit of a step here but Gavoo will run in the Coventry Stakes,” Marnane said on running plans for the colt. “He built on a lovely debut run at the Curragh to win nicely at Listowel and, while I know Royal Ascot will represent a big step up in class for him, he's not just an early two-year-old and I think he's a very nice horse going forward who should acquit himself well next Tuesday.”

He added, “I'm not really running him on what we have seen from him already – we think there's an awful lot more under the bonnet. He has always worked like a really, really good horse. He has size and scope and he also has the temperament for Royal Ascot. We're under no illusions. A Coventry is a Coventry and he'll be taking on the best in Europe but he's done nothing wrong and deserves to take his chance.”

Gavoo can be backed at odds of 33-1 for the Coventry Stakes but this doesn't quite illustrate how far the owner-breeders have come with the horse. The dam, Daddy's Gal, beat just two horses in all five of her starts on a racecourse before connections decided to go another route with the daughter of Scat Daddy. After seeking out the advice of David and his brother Ed, a plan was hatched to visit the then Ballyhane-based stallion Elzaam with Daddy's Gal. Lo and behold, up popped a Coventry Stakes contender. There is no law to this game at times.

Marnane explained, “He's owned and bred by lovely people, the Gormley family, based in Roscommon over in the West of Ireland. They've a lovely horse on their hands and it's a great advert for what can be achieved in this game. Gavoo's dam Daddy's Girl beat a total of two horses during the entirety of her career. The Gormley family are great friends of ours and, when they asked what they should put the mare in foal to, my brother Ed suggested Elzaam because the mare is by Scat Daddy – and they can be a bit hot – but Elzaam was inexpensive and gets solid racehorses. He was a gorgeous foal. He came to us to be broken before Christmas and he just hasn't put a foot wrong since.”

He added, “Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd end up at Royal Ascot with the progeny. Now, the mare does have a decent back pedigree, so it wasn't like they were feeling around in the dark here and I'm just so glad for them because there's a huge amount of poignancy given Seamus Gormley's wife Bernadette [co-breeder] passed away earlier this year. They have been offered a few quid for the horse but they syndicated him out and there are a good few family and friends involved so they are rolling the dice. I commend them for it because it's great to see people being involved in ownership for the pure enjoyment of it all. The horse may well be sold in time but they are enjoying the ride for now and please God he can reward them with a big run next week.”

Gavoo will be joined in transit by stablemate Tokenomics, who is looking increasingly unlikely to get a run in the Royal Hunt Cup, a race the trainer won back in 2018 with Settle For Bay. Connections do, however, have a Plan B in the shape of the Buckingham Palace Stakes on Thursday, with Marnane quietly confident of a bold showing in whatever race the four-year-old son of The Grey Gatsby rocks up in. 

“He's being aimed at the Royal Hunt Cup but it's going to be a bit of a sweat I'd say. Now, if it was a normal year, he'd have got in but the handicapper dropped him 2lbs so it's looking doubtful. We have a Plan B, which is the Buckingham Palace Stakes on the Thursday. We were actually second in that race with Jamesie a few years back so it would be nice to go and win it.”

Marnane added, “Niall Molloy took a gamble on this horse. We brought him to the Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale at Tattersalls last year but he wasn't vetting clean so he sold for 70,000gns. He just didn't x-ray wonderfully but, listen, we were delighted to have him back and fair play to Niall for stepping up to the plate. He's been a fantastic supporter of the yard for a good number of years and this is a new foray into sole ownership for him and I hope it works out for him now at Royal Ascot. We think he'll run a big race.”

 

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